A/N: Since I last saw you I started a new full time job and my laptop died on me. Eep! So sorry for the delay. Enjoy chapter 2, as typed on my iPad.
"We've been here before."
"Begging your pardon, Football Head, but I've literally never been here before in my entire life."
He paused to tuck a stray piece of hair behind her ear.
"No, I mean… kissing you. It's so familiar."
"You must be talking about the billions of times I came up with zany, elaborate, convoluted schemes to kiss you when we were kids."
A smile tugged at the corners of Arnold's mouth.
"Well that too, but… without realizing it, I think I've been dreaming about kissing you for years, Helga."
Their eyes met and her heart leapt into her throat. Her defenses fell as she turned away from him.
"M-me? Why me?" she cleared her throat and turned away, "Was there something about billy-goat ears and a caterpillar eyebrow that appealed to you, Arnoldo?"
He cupped her cheek, turning her towards him again.
"I've always admired you, Helga. I—"
He was cut off by the sound of his cell phone ringing from his pocket. He wrestled it free from the stiff denim and looked at the screen.
"LILA LOVE BUG" the caller ID read, with a picture of Lila glowing brightly on the screen. He glanced up at Helga, realizing that she'd seen it and was scowling her patented Helga G. Pataki scowl. He hurriedly answered it.
"Hello- yes, yup, I'm all settled- yeah, I- yeah, he's pretty nice, listen Lila I'm kinda in the middle of- oh, that's so nice, yeah I'm glad that worked out- okay, yeah I- yeah, listen I really have to talk to you about something kind of importa- oh, you are? Oh, yeah no, it's nothing, you have fun- yeah, uh-huh, just- okay, tell Rhonda I said hi…"
By the time he hung up the phone, Helga was gone.
"That stupid, good-for-nothing, pea-brained, two-timing Football Head!"
Helga kicked the frame of her lofted bed with all her might and then collapsed in a howl of pain, her bare foot no match for the cold metal. Her roommate sat in bed on the opposite side of the room, eyeing her warily over a very well-loved copy of Jane Eyre.
"So I just have to ask, when you say 'Football Head' do you mean he literally has a football for a head? Like was there some horrific transplanting incident?"
Helga glared over her shoulder at her new frenemy. She was every bit the ugly leading lady type, with dark, round eyes and a nose as big as a toucan's beak.
"You're not funny, Sal."
"Look, Helga. Can I speak plainly? I just watched you change your bra so I feel like I can. I think we're there, right? We've reached this point in our relationship?"
Helga rolled her eyes.
"Go on."
"It sounds like this guy is an opportunist, right? It sounds like he's this wholesome good-guy who does volunteer work and wears flannel, and like his girlfriend is just as peachy perfect, right?"
Helga nodded slowly, her brow furrowed.
"So I'm willing to bet that in the great scheme of things, his plan is to get a flashy degree, get a great job right out of college, marry this Pinterest dream girl, and squeeze out a couple cute babies. But! He thinks, 'Well while I'm miles away in college, I might as well enjoy my freedom. Meet up with some hot blonde, convince her I'm going to leave my Mary Sue back home. Get a little action on the side."
"That doesn't sound anything like him."
Sal shrugged, turning back to her book.
"I think it sounds exactly like him, but it's your funeral."
Helga tossed and turned that night wondering if the Arnold she once knew and the Arnold she had kissed just hours before were, in fact, completely different people.
Arnold couldn't sleep that night. A little after midnight he realized there was no point in lying in bed listening to the aggressive snoring of his roommate and snuck out into the warm, dry night to clear his head.
He found himself back at the garden where he'd run into Helga. In the soft yellow glow of the moon he sprawled out on the grass, breathing in its sweetness. He had the feeling that this place held a certain magic, that some power had been waiting in the tendrils of the ferns to bring him and Helga together.
The thought made his heart ache.
Lila had been good to him. For so many years she'd been patient and sweet and had not asked for much. She had helped him find his footing in a world that was constantly trying to throw him off balance, had helped him grow into the kind of person he could be proud to be. Lila was every guy's dream girl, but she had wasted her charms on Arnold for years. She could balance a checkbook and bake a perfect tarte tatin at the same time, all while making kale chips in the air fryer. She could sing the entirety of Song to the Moon in flawless Czech. She was truly perfect, and he had allowed himself to trail behind her on this dream of perfection that was never truly his, only because he loved her. He may not have been in love with her- his heart didn't quicken when he saw her- but he loved her in the very sad, sincere way that you love someone who has given you so much, and who you can never really repay.
He sighed and dialed her number. Her voice was thick with sleep on the other end of the phone.
"Arnold? Whatever is the matter? It's almost one in the morning…"
"Lila, do you think we're soulmates?"
"Why Arnold, I'm certain you know that I don't believe in that sort of thing. I think… I think that a relationship takes work, and if you care about the person you'll put in the effort. I don't think there's some higher power drawing us to one-another or keeping us together. I think we're together because we met and we each saw something in the other person that we liked. It seemed worth my time to be with you. I think you're worth the effort. Why do you ask? Is something wrong?"
Arnold felt a crushing weight on his chest. He couldn't hurt Lila. Not like this, anyway.
"Let's talk in the morning. You deserve some rest, baby. It's been a long couple of days."
"I love you, Arnold."
"You too, Lila."
Helga couldn't sleep. The full moon sat in her window, its light taunting her through the palm leaves. She rolled out of bed, pulled on a sweatshirt over her favorite plaid nightgown, and cast a glance at her roommate's face, illuminated in the glow of some cheesy Korean drama she was watching on her laptop.
"Ya heading out, Helga?"
"Yup."
She slipped on her birkenstocks and slammed the door behind her. This time, she knew exactly where she was going.
She found her way easily to the garden, the anger building in her chest as she neared it. She felt so betrayed by what was supposed to be a haven for her. This beautiful expanse of grass and desert foliage held a vendetta against her, she was sure of it. She did not get her heart broken by Arnold Shortman yet again by coincidence.
As she rounded the corner and walked through the aged stone archway, she noticed a figure silhouetted against the grass. Her heart was racing as she approached. In the pale moonlight she could make out a very distinctive head shape.
"Arnold?"
"Helga?"
"What are you doing here?"
"I just… came to think. To clear my head."
Her eyes narrowed.
"Oh, yeah? Think about what, Football Head?"
"About… a lot of stuff. Helga, do you believe in fate? In soulmates?"
Helga sat cross-legged on the grass next to him and rested her hands in the dewy grass behind her.
"Soulmates? That's a loaded question."
"I know. Answer it anyway?"
"Well Arnold, I have to. I just have to believe in something bigger than us. I don't think there's anything scarier than the idea that we're all just pointless bits of matter floating through space, bumping into each other at random. So yeah, I guess I do believe in fate, and in soulmates."
"Can I ask you an even more loaded question?"
"I'm not stopping you."
"Do you think we're soulmates, Helga?"
She took a deep breath. Helga was certain that if she closed her eyes right now, the very soul of her would float away like a balloon and no one would be able to get her back. Her heart had all but stopped beating.
"I don't know how to answer that, Arnold."
"But try, please?"
"I think that saying we're soulmates would be wishful thinking on my part. I think you're meant to be with someone who can fulfill all your perfect suburban yuppie dreams, and that's not me."
"That's not my dream, Helga. That's not what I want."
"What do you want me to say, Arnold? 'Yes, I'm your soulmate, puh-lease dump your amazing girlfriend and ride off into the sunset with me'? What do you want from me?"
"You sound angry."
"No, I'm just tired. I'm tired of loving you, Arnold. It's been a lifetime of heartache, if I have to be completely honest."
Arnold placed his hand on her knee, his palm warm against her bare skin. He had never felt as hopeless as he did in this moment.
"Helga, I want to be with you. I know it sounds crazy, I know we haven't seen each other in years… I want to be with you."
"Is that so? You're going to break up with Lila for me and we're going to live happily ever after? Is that it? Or are you going to tell me you want me, tell me you'll break up with her, get me into bed and then at the end of it all run back to Lila? Tell me you're not full of shit, Arnold. Look me in the eyes and tell me."
There it was, laid bare on the grass between them. This was how Helga really felt about him, he knew it. He felt sick to his stomach.
"Helga… I called Lila to break up with her before you got here."
"You… you did?"
"I did, but I couldn't do it."
"Fat lot of good that does me, Arnoldo."
"She was half asleep. I couldn't wake her up in the middle of the night and break her heart like that.I want to do it in the daylight, in person… or at least over FaceTime or something. But I know that I have to, not because of you, but because we want very different things in life and I think we've been over for a long time now. Please believe me."
"Okay, I believe you."
Arnold's heart fluttered and he grinned, leaning in to kiss Helga.
"But…"
"But?"
"But until you break up with her, no touchie."
The smile faded fast from Arnold's face. Helga laughed and pushed him away from her.
"Think you can live with that, Football Head? You and I are just friends until further notice. Capisce?"
"Any time spent with you is worth my while, Helga. Even just as friends."
The next day, Helga woke up with a smile on her face. When her nocturnal roommate rolled out of bed at noon, Helga was waiting for her with microwave omelets and hot tea.
"Gooooooooood morning, Sal!"
Sal squinted at Helga, yawning and scratching her head.
"What's your deal? Did you win the lottery or something?
"Are you going to eat this omelet or not? I made it myself."
"Thank God I have Martha Stewart rooming with me. Yeah, I'll take a nibble," The life came back into Sal's eyes as she chewed slowly, "Hey, where'd you go last night?"
"I went for a little walk, and I happened to run into your least favorite Football Head."
"Jesus… did you tell him off?"
"I did, and then-"
"AND THEN?"
"And then we agreed to be just friends until he breaks up with Lila."
"For the love…"
"He thinks we're soulmates, Sal."
"That's a line, Helga. And not even a very good one."
"You don't know him, Sal. He's a pretty good dude."
"Pass me the tea. I'm not going to fight you on this, I'm just saying. If I were you I'd tread very carefully. Maybe don't see him for a bit."
"Well we're meeting for lunch in an hour."
"That's… a bit. A teeny bit. It'll do. Go get dressed, Juliet. If you're expecting this guy to dump his dreamy girlfriend, you'd better slap on some concealer at the very least."
Lila was nestled in one of the plush armchairs by Rhonda Wellington-Lloyd's fireplace when she got the first call from Arnold that day. She immediately rejected it. The second time he called, she was at the mall trying on some shoes that she couldn't afford. She ignored it this time. The third time, she exasperatedly threw her phone across the room, where it bounced off of a faux fur pillow and landed, face-down, on Rhonda's retro-chic shag rug.
"Okay girls, I have to vent."
Rhonda, Nadine, Katrinka and Lila were all that was left of the old girl's crew of PS 118. After Helga had left, Phoebe mostly kept to herself, with the exception of her frequent rendezvous with Gerald. After graduating high school early, she went off to Yale at age 16. Sheena's parents had allowed her to transfer to a local performing arts school where she studied costuming and eventually started a Vlog with Eugene called "Raging Thespians". The remaining four were gathered around a bowl of guacamole for their final "girls day" before college classes started; Rhonda had been accepted to both the fashion merchandising and international affairs programs at the nearby university as a dual major, Nadine was going to the liberal arts college two towns over to pursue a degree in environmental science, Katrinka was planning on completing her generals at the community college and Lila was going to major in film studies with a French minor at the same school as Rhonda. Today was supposed to be their last day of idle gossip, junk food, and childishness before beginning their new, cool, adult lives. Unfortunately, Lila had more serious matters to discuss.
"Last night at one in the morning, I got a call from Arnold."
A resounding "oooooooooooh" came from the other girls before they collapsed into giggles. Lila waited for a hush to fall back across the room.
"Not that kind of call. He called me to ask if I think we're soulmates."
"And you said?" Katrinka goaded, waggling her eyebrow.
"Well, I said no. He knows I think that kind of thing is silly. I believe in love but I don't think that some higher power is sticking people together. I think relationships take effort and compromise."
"So romantic, Lila." Rhonda rolled her eyes and nudged Lila playfully.
"I mean, it does seem like he wanted a pretty specific answer from you, here…" Nadine shrugged, taking another chip.
Lila sighed and crossed the room to get her phone.
"There's more, you guys. He's been trying to FaceTime me all day."
"Maybe he just misses you?
"Yeah, I bet he just wants to see your pretty face!"
"I don't think so, ladies. I think… I think Arnold wants to break up with me. Why else would he call me in the middle of the night to ask if we're soulmates? I think he was hoping I'd say something to change his mind. Do you think he met someone new at college?"
"No!"
"Of course not!"
"Arnold's not the cheating type."
There was an awkward silence before Nadine grudgingly said what was on all of their minds.
"But if Arnold did meet someone, I bet he'd try to break up with you as soon as possible. He probably wouldn't want to be dishonest, and I'm willing to bet he'd want to do it face-to-face…"
"That's it, then!" Rhonda leapt to her feet, full of fire and determination. "You have to go down there and make him realize why you guys are the best couple ever!"
"Rhonda, you and I both know I don't have money to fly all the way down there, and with classes starting in three days, there's no time to drive."
"Nonsense. My parents never did give you a graduation present. In fact, we'll all go. It'll be a girls' trip! We could use some sun, anyway."
Three hours later, the girls were packed and waiting for their plane to board. Lila's phone started to ring just as their row was called- she immediately put it on airplane mode and handed the attendant her ticket.
