Tired of their best friends' horrible behavior to each other, Gerald and Phoebe do something drastic. Language and Adult Situations.
That Long Summer Night
This particular summer afternoon was really just like any other summer afternoon. The sun was bright. Birds sung in twitterpation. Kids played ball in the street. Helga and Arnold argued at the lunch table.
This time it was over the ketchup. Helga, loving to douse her entire meal with the red, sugary goodness, used the last of the bottle before handing it over to Arnold. And Arnold, instead of reaching across to the empty table next to them, blew up, yet again, at the blonde girl sitting across from him.
"Did you really have to use all the ketchup, Helga? Couldn't you have been a little less selfish and thought about everyone else at the table?"
Phoebe and Gerald just looked at each other across the table, sharing the same annoyed, embarrassed look. The two were constantly at each other's throats. They had been every time that they were together.
"Can you be a little less lazy, Football Head? There are, like, four empty tables that you can get a new bottle from!"
Last summer, Phoebe and Gerald finally decided that they were going to give this dating thing a try. They were inseparable during those three months and when it was time for them to go back to their respective college and university, they decided to make it long-term and long-distance. Gerald was at Arizona State and Phoebe was down at Stanford's pre-med. California and Arizona weren't that far apart, but they always met home for any break they had at Hillwood.
And, of course, so did their BFFs.
At first it was just an awkward silence between Helga and Arnold. At least, for the first week. Then the insults started falling from Helga and it was only a short time later that Arnold started sending them right back to her. It was miserable and for a small amount of time, the four of them didn't hang out together. But that wasn't working for Phoebe and Gerald.
After Spring Break, Phoebe and Gerald decided that come summer, things were going to change. If Helga and Arnold still couldn't get along, they would make it happen. Or maybe their friends would end up killing each other in the process. Either way, Phoebe and Gerald were going to do something about it and have some very much peace and quiet.
"Oh for goodness sake!" Phoebe dropped her burger on her plate and stomped over to the nearest table. Grabbing the bottle, she slammed it in front of Arnold before sitting back down across from her boyfriend. "Look at you two! You're twenty-two years old and yet you act like you're in the first grade!"
Helga gaped at her and Arnold, shocked for a moment, suddenly felt a wave of shame flow over him. "Phoebe-"
"No, Helga. I'm serious. I'm sick of you two. Fighting over ketchup! Do you know how embarrassing it is to be around the both of you?" Slightly slamming her hand on the table, she jumped up again and rushed outside.
Helga could feel her face turn white as she watched her usually quiet and timid best friend walk out of the diner.
Gerald just stood and shook his head at them, giving them a disappointed look, before heading after Phoebe. "I'll be right back." Hopefully he would be able to bring her back to finish lunch.
Helga and Arnold stared at the door, stunned for a moment before both glared at each other over the table.
"This is your fault, Football Head!"
"My fault! You're the one that's being the bitch!"
Helga smirked at him but her eyes were narrowed tightly in a glare. "Oh, I haven't even started yet, you conceited jock. You don't know just how bitchy I can be."
Arnold threw his hands up in the air and stood up. "You are absolutely ridiculous. You have never had any regard for other people and you're just getting even more miserable with age. You're going to be nothing but a shriveled up old, witchy…cat lady and you'll have no one else to blame but yourself. And I'll just sit back and laugh."
Helga's smirk didn't waver although it did feel like she had just been slammed in the gut. "At least I'll have my cats. And you'll be thinking of me. Ah, Babboo. You're just the sweetest."
He threw her a look. "You're crazy."
She threw the look back. "Really? Is that all you've got, hair boy?" Annoyed as all hell with her, he had begun to turn around to leave when the door to the diner opened up, revealing a visibly upset Phoebe and an equally-upset, because his girlfriend was upset, Gerald.
"I'm sorry, you guys. I shouldn't have stormed off like that. Let's just…let's just take a few deep breaths and move on. Okay?"
"Sounds fine to me, Pheebs. It's Mr. Airhead here that has the problem."
Phoebe let out a sigh. "Helga…please." Helga just shrugged. "Great. Let's just go to Gerald's hotel room and watch a movie." Without waiting for a reply, Phoebe started walking out, abandoning her meal. Helga got up from her chair and brushed past Arnold, banging her shoulder into his arm as she quickly caught up with Phoebe.
Glaring at the bane of his existence, Arnold rubbed his arm, but spoke to Gerald. "Why a hotel room?"
Gerald shook his head, following after the girls. "We have that Japanese student over, remember? He's taken my room."
"Oh, right." Kenji obviously extended his stay a bit longer than Arnold realized. So much for the first day of summer vacation back home.
"It's not that bad. It's like one of those extended-stay hotels. You know…with the kitchens and stuff."
The car ride to the hotel was quiet. And extremely tense. Arnold didn't know why he was going to subject himself to watch a two-hour movie in the same, probably tiny room with Helga. She would no doubt find some way to piss him off. Like talk through the whole damn movie.
He didn't understand why she had become so mean. In high school, she had mellowed out and they had been very civil together. They had even gotten along. Any projects that they had been teamed up for were always evenly divided and they always got an A on them. So what had changed? Honestly, he didn't really care all that much right now.
Grumbling, Helga stomped out of the car and slammed the door shut behind her, stalking behind Phoebe as they made their way up to the third floor. "Really, Geraldo? You couldn't find anything better than this dump?"
The hotel was older, but it was close to home. It had three floors, but no elevator. Hell, it was so old, they were still using keys instead of cards. She didn't even think that those places existed any more!
Gerald just shrugged, knowing that Helga couldn't see him from behind her. "It was the only thing I could find in my price range. It was kind of last minute. I didn't realize Kenji was staying longer at home." Suddenly he stopped. Turning to Arnold, Gerald slapped himself on his forehead. "Shoot, Arnold, I left my phone at the diner. Can I borrow yours to call them so they can hold it for me?"
Arnold rolled his eyes and gave his phone to Gerald before walking into the room, leaving Gerald behind outside. Normally he'd make a comment, but they had left in a hurry and unexpectedly.
The room was dark until Phoebe turned on the light. Apparently the only light was on the nightstand and in the kitchen. So much for over-head technology. "They are remodeling the place, Helga," Phoebe responded to Helga's remark from earlier. "Unfortunately, it won't be done for a few more months. They're replacing the windows now though, to get triple-pane glass. That's why the window is boarded up. It's going to look really nice when everything is done though, I bet. I'm sure my family would love to stay here when they come to visit." Helga hadn't noticed the board over the window but didn't really care. What she did notice, though, was that there was only one double-sized bed and a couch that wasn't facing the TV. This room was tiny for an extended-stay.
"Well, it looks like Pheebs and I are taking the bed. You gentlemen can find your own seats." Snickering, she punched Arnold in the arm and started to walk away.
Suddenly, she felt a strong hand grab her right wrist before something slapped onto it. "Hey!" she turned around, thinking Arnold has just hit her with something and was preparing to punch him again with her fist when she saw Gerald. She started, watching him grab Arnold's wrist and slapped what looked suspiciously like half of a pair of handcuffs. Before she could make any remark, she looked down at her own wrist, still slightly throbbing from the earlier assault, and realized with horror that she had the other half of the cuffs.
"Gerald! What the fuck is this!" Helga took a step towards him, only to get caught up in her own arm. Twisting around, so her right arm was no longer blocking her, she took another step to the retreating Gerald.
Phoebe stood by the door, her shoulders back and chin up, staring at Helga and Arnold in defiance. Gerald rushed past her and out the open door, not wanting to have anything to do with this explanation. "We've had it with you two. You act like children, so we're going to treat you like children. You are going to stay in here until you grow up and learn to at least tolerate each other."
With a speed Helga didn't know Phoebe possessed, the girl slammed the door behind her. There was a small commotion outside as Helga leapt for the door, pulling a stunned Arnold behind her. Falling onto the horizontal handle and tried to pull the door open. But it wouldn't budge. Even though the handle moved, the door wouldn't budge.
"Phoebe Heyerdahl!" Helga screamed out and kicked the door. "Let me out of here!" Silence. "Phoebe!" she roared again, kicked the door harder.
"Helga, kicking the door isn't going to open it faster. Move." Arnold pushed Helga out of the way and tried the handle himself. Sure enough, it wouldn't budge.
Ignoring that their wrists were locked together in the handcuffs, she pulled hard to cross her arms across her chest, which resulted in Arnold's arm flying up. "Geeze, Arnold-o. You think you have some magical powers that the door will open when you try it? Heh." For good measure, Helga kicked the door again.
It was going to be a long day.