(Put your guesses in the reviews, though I think I've made it very obvious!)
….
…
"Are you okay?" he asked, sitting on the bed next to her.
"What do you think?" she demanded tearfully. "That was supposed to be me!"
He sighed.
"I know, and I'm sorry," he said, stroking her hair. "But it's better that you know now. Imagine if you had married him and then he had done this? I saved you from that, Helga."
Helga refused to answer him. Her heart was broken. Stupid Phoebe. Stupid Gerald. Stupid Arnold, Lila and Patrick. How could Patrick move on so fast. She had only been gone three months. All that time she had thought about him. Getting away and getting back to him. It was what kept her going. So she finally escapes, and sees him, opens her mouth to call out to him, but her voice crawled back down her throat as she sees Lila with him, arm linked through his, leaning into him, and him leaning back.
So focused on it that she didn't even feel the needle go into her arm. As her eyes grew heavy, and her body limp, all she could feel was her heart breaking. It didn't even cross her mind that she had just lost her chance to escape.
"I love you, Helga," he whispered to her, kissing her cheek. She didn't pull away or flinch. She didn't feel anything anymore. "I'll always be here for you, just like you were always there for me."
…
…
Three Months Ago, two days before the Wedding
…
"I'm so nervous!" Phoebe cried. Helga raised an eyebrow at her best friend since forever.
"It's just Gerald," she said laughing. She felt her phone vibrate and pulled it out. A message from Patrick.
~Cnt make it 2nyt, babe, sori. C u 2moro?~
"Great, Patrick just pulled out," Helga said, sighing and throwing her phone onto her bed. "Third wheel."
"Oh . . . Well, maybe we should cancel then?" Phoebe suggested.
"No, no, you go ahead," Helga told her, waving her hand in the air. "Have fun. I'll work on some last minute details."
"Okay," Phoebe said, and went into the bathroom. She sent Gerald a text telling him it was only going to be him and her because Patrick couldn't make it, so Helga pulled out.
~No worries, I'll bring Arnold~
Phoebe looked at his answer for a while and thought it over. Would it really be a good idea to do something like that? Especially right before Helga's wedding? What if Arnold charmed her and Helga fell in love with him again or something? That would be awful.
Outside Helga was sitting on the couch flipping through her notebook. There was so much to do still. She felt like she had been planning this wedding forever. When would it end? Would everything go alright. She sighed. And after the wedding, there would be house hunting. Then they would have to furnish the house.
"Good thing my advance came," she mumbled. She looked up when Phoebe came out looking a little distressed. "What's wrong?"
"Gerald is bringing Arnold," she said.
"So he's the third wheel?" Helga asked.
"No. it's so neither of you would be a third wheel," Phoebe said. She watched for Helga's reaction.
"Fine," she said, closing her notebook. "What are we doing?"
"To check out the new fun park on the Pier," Phoebe said. "And probably just mooch around, maybe grab something to eat and see a movie."
Helga looked down at her notebook then up at Phoebe.
"I could use a break," she said. "I already cant wait for the wedding to be over."
"Okay, great, I'll let Gerald know."
…..
"This is nice," Arnold said, looking out at the water.
"Yeah, it's great to just relax and unwind for a couple of hours," Helga said. "Organizing a wedding is exhausting! And just when you think you have it all done, you find there's some little detail you've forgotten."
"How are the plans going?" Arnold asked, not looking at her.
"Almost perfect," she said. "Just the Hen's Night, tomorrow night, and I'm good to go."
"Your going to be hungover?" Arnold asked, smiling and finally looking at her.
"Probably, but so will Patrick," she said laughing. "That's why you have wine at the reception. If you keep on drinking, you wont get the hangover."
"Until your finished drinking," Arnold pointed out.
"Good point," Helga conceded. "I have a plan, that both Patrick and I follow. For ever one glass of alcohol consumed, we have two glasses of the same amount of water. Keeps the hangover monster away. One glass of booze equals to glasses of water. Seriously, it works."
"I'll keep that in mind," he said, smiling at her. She looked away when she felt her pulse speed up.
'Wedding jitters, wedding jitters,' she kept saying to herself.
"Hey guys," Gerald said, coming over with his arm around Phoebe's shoulders. "Mind if I crash your wedding as Phoebe's date?"
"No, that should be fine," Helga said smiling.
"Sorry, Helga," Phoebe said, looking down.
"Not a problem," Helga said. "It's always a good idea to have an extra seat or two set aside for just this reason."
…
…
Helga opened her eyes, feeling nauseous. She sat up, and her head spun, but the prickling in the back of her neck told her she was going to be sick. As she grabbed a bucket and threw up the previous nights dinner at 2.20am she started to cry. He had succeeded, obviously.
At least he would be happy.