"Hello?" said Arnold into Helga's cell phone.
"ARNOLD? Is that you? Why are you on Helga's cell phone?" shouted Phoebe so loudly that Arnold had to hold the phone at arm's length. He quickly decided that it would be better to put her on speaker so that he wouldn't kill his hearing.
"Well, uh, yea about that. She's pretty drunk right now…"
Phoebe gasped and Arnold was pretty sure he could hear the clunk of her cell phone hitting the ground, indicating that she had dropped it in her shock. "What happened? Oh goodness, Arnold, I wish I had gotten her voicemail earlier!"
"Rhonda and Harold challenged her to a drinking contest and…well, you can figure how that went."
"Ohh yes. Hmph. Oh my this is quite a conundrum. I really wish I was there!"
"Yea, wish you were here too right now, Phoebe." At the sound of her best friend's name, Helga immediately stopped twirling, ran up, and snatched the phone from Arnold's hand.
"PHEEBS! I MISS YOU! You should have been here tonight because I am having a HOOT!" Even in her drunken state Helga was able to outmaneuver Arnold as he tried in vain to regain possession of the phone.
"Uh, Helga. I miss you too, but do you think you could put Arnold back on please? I really need to speak with him."
"Phoebe I gotta tell ya! We kissed! We did we did we did!" Helga bounced up and down giddily as she kept on repeating herself, giving Arnold the chance he needed to grab the phone. His cheeks began to feel very flushed and warm at the memory of the kiss.
"Phoebe, it's Arnold again."
"Did you take advantage of her? Because I will ki-!"
"NO! Gosh no, Phoebe," he nervously laughed as he said this. "It all just happened suddenly, and…gah that's not what's important right now! Look, I'm just going to take her home and then check on her in the morning." Helga lunged forward as Arnold moved the phone from her reach, causing her to tumble to the ground. She simply laughed and tried to get up, falling on the sidewalk again.
"You can't leave her at home, Arnold! Her parents are out of town, so she'd be by herself! Do you know what could happen?" shrieked Phoebe in a sharp tone.
"Erm…no?" he said meekly.
"She could vomit in her sleep and aspirate, where her vomit would collect in her lungs. From there best case scenario would be that she just gets a lung infection in the following days, worst case is that she stops breathing and dies. Either way, it's horrid and I will not allow any of that to happen to her, do you hear me?"
Arnold vigorously nodded, then quickly shouted yes into the phone when he realized that Phoebe definitely could not see him.
"Good. Now I would suggest that you take her home with you and have her spend the night. That way you can ensure that she makes it through the coming hours all right, because it is not going to be pretty."
A sigh escaped Arnold as he looked over at Helga who was now attempting to balance on one foot. Taking care of her for the night was going to be a handful, but it was something he was going to have to do.
"All right, Phoebe. I'll take care of her, don't worry."
"Good, well good night, Arnold! Good bye, Helga!"
"Tell Gerald I said hey okay?"
"Aw man, I knew you'd figure out where I'd gone!" piped up Gerald. A slight giggle that sounded like it came from Phoebe emanated through the earpiece.
"It really wasn't a mystery, Gerald. Your girlfriend goes on vacation to Kentucky and you just happen to decide to take a road trip around the same time? Very sneaky."
"Yea yea. You just be careful, all right?"
"We'll be fine! Now good night!" Arnold snapped the phone shut and walked over to Helga, who appeared dejected at the sight of the phone.
"You didn't let me say goodbye," she sadly noted.
"I'm sorry, but we really need to be getting to my place because it's getting late." Helga nodded at this and wrapped her arm around his, beaming up at him. He couldn't help but smile in return.
For a little while they walked the sidewalks in silence with Helga wobbling every so often and Arnold helping her maintain her balance. Eventually, her walking in heels became too much that they turned down an alleyway that was dimly lit by a street lamp so she could take them off. After a small amount of struggling on his part, Arnold managed to work the straps of the heels off and removed them from her feet.
"Thanks, they were starting to get really sore," Helga said as she pushed her hair back behind her ears. He couldn't help but notice how beautiful she looked in the dim light and he was slightly taken aback that he had never really seen it before. Her blue eyes told him so much about how she felt about him and she had a half smile on her face. "Dance with me," she murmured as she put his hands on her waist and placed her own upon his shoulders. Slowly they began to shuffle from side to side in place, gazing into each other's eyes. Arnold couldn't help but smile, but he noticed that Helga's smile had turned into a devilish smirk. Next thing he knew she was flinging him out then whipping him back in.
"Whoa!" he shouted as he grasped her waist again. In retaliation he twirled her out then brought her back into him, where he smoothly dipped her down tracing her spine with his fingertips. When he brought her back up he noticed that she looked a little funny. Quickly, she clasped her hand to her mouth and turned around, dashing to the nearby dumpster where she promptly vomited. After she was done retching, Arnold walked up to her and placed his hand on her back. "Are you all right?"
"Now I am," she replied as she bent down to pick up her heels. As quickly as the moment had come, it had dissipated into memory.
"We better get to my place quick," Arnold said as he grasped Helga's hand and began walking at a fast pace.
It didn't take them much longer to reach the Sunset Arms building. As Arnold opened the door, Helga shrieked when nearly a dozen different animals stampeded out. Arnold laughed at her reaction, then helped her up the stairs to the hallway. Thankfully it appeared as though everyone was asleep. However this turned out to not be the case when he pulled down the staircase to his room and watched as Helga walked, well crawled, up, for his grandpa poked his head out of his room at this time.
"Hey there, Shortman! You're back! And I see you brought some company." Mischievously he winked at his football headed grandson, who couldn't go red in the face fast enough.
"Grandpa," moaned Arnold. "It's not like that. I'm just making sure that she gets through the night okay. She's pretty well…drunk."
His grandfather nodded knowingly, understanding his grandson's need to ensure the safety of those he cared about. "Well, you let me know if you need anything. Night, Arnold!"
"Night, Grandpa," he replied as he followed Helga into his room and shut the door. "All right, um, we better, uh…" He blushed furiously as he thought about what he was going to say next. "We better get into some other clothes. Uh, you want to take your, uh, dress off and I'll find you something to wear?" Helga nodded in response as she began to fiddle with her side zipper while Arnold quickly turned around to look through his closet. He pulled at his collar as he suddenly felt very warm. Finding a long red and flannel shirt, he yanked it down and turned to find Helga still struggling with her side zipper.
"I think it's stuck. Could you help?" By this point, Arnold's face matched the red on the flannel shirt. He tread over to her and placed his fingers on her dress zipper, gulping as he did so. This was not a task that should be entrusted to a teenage boy, even one as well intentioned and good hearted as he was.
"I promise I won't look," he told Helga as he began to pull on the zipper.
"Oh, Arnold, my darling, I don't care if you look," chortled Helga as she sweetly smiled down at him. He wondered if the zipper had ever really been stuck as it unzipped with ease while he concentrated on staring fervently at the floor. The dress fell down to her feet and she stepped out in nothing but her bra and undies. Arnold kept looking away, but even he was vulnerable to giving in to temptation. Quickly he allowed himself to flit his eyes in her direction and saw that she was wearing a pink and white polka dotted bra with dark pink bikini underwear. Sweat began to bead up around his forehead and just as he was about to dart his eyes away, their eyes locked and Helga giggled as he rapidly began to focus on a random corner of his room.
"Um, I found this for you to wear. You can change here, I'll go down to the bathroom to change." He threw the shirt at her then hastily grabbed some pajamas and ran down to the hallway bathroom. While in the bathroom, he splashed cold water on his face and stared himself down through the mirror. "Keep your cool, Arnold. Yes you've got a girl in your room who is spending the night, but it's Helga! Helga G. Pataki! There is no way that she likes you in that way! She's drunk right now which is why she's so…opposite her usual self. Come on, Arnold! Get it together!" he shouted at himself as he waved his arms around. With a deep breath, he marched back to his room and immediately flew into a panic upon not seeing Helga there. It didn't take him long to notice that his skylight window was open.
Upon stepping out on to the roof, he noticed Helga standing near the edge staring out at the open sky that was decorated with numerous stars and a crescent moon. He called out to her and she turned, waving as the buttoned up flannel shirt delicately billowed at her knees in the light breeze. "What're you doing up here?" he asked once he reached her.
"Oh just contemplating the heavens and thinking about life. Usual stuff." Shrugging her shoulders, she leaned against the water tower and returned to looking up. Silently, Arnold joined her. Everything was peaceful as the two contemplated the evening and how they even ended up where they were now. A shooting star shot across the sky that Arnold did not wish upon, but he couldn't help but see Helga's lips curl up into a serene smile after it had passed.
Curious, he asked, "What did you wish for, just now?"
"You really want to know?" Arnold nodded, patiently waiting for her response. "Well, ever since I was three years old, I've been head over heels in love with this boy who is kind, good hearted, and has always been kind to me, even when I was completely cruel to him. I only told him the truth once, nine years ago on a rooftop ironically enough, and I had the nerve to redact it shortly after. However, my feelings never changed. So tonight, I wished for the courage to again tell that truth on this rooftop." Arnold knew that she was referring to him, but he decided to play along to see exactly what she was going to say.
With a deep breath and the courage that the vodka had given her, she turned and faced Arnold with a dead serious look upon her face. "Arnold, I'm in love with you. I never stopped and I just want you to know that. I know I said I built shrines to you and all that random weird stuff when I was a kid, but I don't do that anymore just so you don't think that I'm this creepy stalker or something," she nervously laughed as she said this. "Look, this is just me telling you the truth and hoping against hope that you feel the same." She searched his eyes for an answer, but when none came, she simply closed her eyes and leaned in a little hoping that he would kiss her in response.
Arnold was stunned by what Helga had just told him. He had thought that she still harbored some feelings for him, but he had never realized that she still loved him. Now he was staring at the girl who longed for him to kiss her back in that moment and make her dreams come true. As badly as he wanted to kiss her, for he was fairly sure that his feelings for her were much deeper and complicated than a simple friendship, he knew that it wouldn't be right. She was still in an intoxicated state and it would be too much like taking advantage of her in the moment. Helga's eyes fluttered open when she felt his hand upon her shoulder.
"Helga," he said as he took her hand. "It's not that I don't like you, it's that right now, in this moment, you're drunk. This wouldn't be the right way to start anything. I hope you understand." To show her that he did care for her, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a hug. She stifled a surprised squeak and returned his hug, resting her head upon his shoulder. For a few moments they remained in that position as the crickets chirped and the stars shone. As they broke apart, he smiled at her and took her hand, leading her back down into his room where he her lay down in his bed.
He placed the covers over her then sweetly placed a kiss on her forehead. Treading to the couch on the other side of his room, he was stopped in his tracks when he heard Helga softly murmur, "Good night, sweet prince."
Laying down on his couch he replied, "Good night, Helga." He couldn't help but smile as he fell asleep, finally assured of what he had suspected for so long.
