A/N: What does this chapter make it? Three chapters in one day? Wow, I'm on a roll! This one isn't as long in length, but it took me just as long as the last one, I wanted to make sure that Helga's reaction made sense, and that she was able to work through it in a believable fashion. But let me know what you think!


Helga couldn't get her body to sit still. Her breath was coming in rapid spurts, her limbs jittery and shaky, her legs refusing to stay still for longer than a few seconds, and above all, her lips would not stop trembling. She had her shaky fingertips up to her ajar lips, rapidly tapping them against her still very alive lips. It was not suppose to be this way! He was not suppose to actually like me. I wasn't suppose to fall for him again! She couldn't shut herself up as she paced the kitchen floor, her feet now bare, and slapping loudly against the linoleum.

In an irrational panic, she quickly grabbed her cell phone off the counter and forced her fingers to calm down enough to where they slid across the screen easily enough to call Phoebe. Once the dial tone started, she placed it to her ear, and nervously ran her fingers behind her ear. "Phoebe Heyerdahl..." Her friends slightly groggy voice said through the phone.

"It back fired." She said in a rush.

"Helga?" She was obviously sleeping, but she needed to talk to someone now.

"It back fired, Phoebe!"

"Helga, slow down and tell me what's wrong." Phoebe's voice was now much clearer, and a lot more calming.

"He wasn't suppose to be so charming!"

"Who, Arnold?"

"No, the pope. Of course Arnold!"

"Helga... calm down, and... you know what, just stay put, and I'll be over in a few minutes, okay?"

"No, Phoebe, you-"

"Just wait there, and I'll be over. You are at home, aren't you?"

"Yes, I'm home."

"Great, I'll be over as soon as I can, okay?"

"Yeah," Helga quickly replied and ended the call and set her phone haphazardly back down on the counter, and continued pacing the floor of the kitchen. What happened, what have I done, what has he done? Her mind was a jumbled mess of feelings, and that, she could handle, her mind was a jumbled mess most of the time anyway. The thing that was driving her insane was that she could still feel his sweet, soft, warm lips on hers.

She must have been lost in the wilderness of her mind longer than she thought, because she was startled out of her maze of a mind by a soft knock on her front door. She quickly sped walked over to the door, and looked through the glass to see who it was, still paranoid that he was still standing out there, just waiting for her to come back out. She breathed a heavy sigh of relief, that did nothing for her nerves, and opened the door. "Helga, what's-" Phoebe stopped when Helga quickly turned away and briskly made her way back into the kitchen, leaving Phoebe to make her way inside and shut the door behind her.

Phoebe made her way into where Helga was still rapidly pacing across the floor, still clad in her skimpy red dress, which showed off a side that even Phoebe didn't know she had. "Helga, you look... sexy."

"You're not helping, Phoebe." She replied in a rushed tone.

"Helga," She urged, taking a step forward, and grabbing onto her friends wrists to halt her. Helga stopped, but her pupils were very dilated. Something obviously had Helga very worked up, and it obviously had something to do with the dress Helga was sporting. She pulled her friend over to one of the stools, and pushed her back until she was sitting down. "Tell me... what happened."

Helga let out a stuttering breath, and closed her eyes. "Okay... I just got back from my date with Arnold."

"So that's what this is all about. What did he do?"

"What didn't he do? He opened the car door for me, he told me how incredible I looked, he bought us an over-priced bottle of wine which I had ordered, he wouldn't let us split the check, he told me that he had the best time he had in years, he gave me the best kiss I've ever had, and then I slammed the door in his face." She rambled off.

"He kissed you?! I thought that you were going to act like you weren't interested, what happened?"

"I don't have any will power, that's what happened! I wore this stupid dress fully intending to tease him all night, but all it did was make me feel like a cheap prostitute. I fully intended to act just like I used to toward him, and I was doing a pretty good job of it until he goes and tells me that he took a day off for the first time in four years just for this date."

"He told you that?"

"Then he tells me that he never had a good enough reason to take a day off before I showed up. How was I suppose to act after that, and especially after I just made him buy me a sixty dollar bottle of wine?"

"How'd you end up ordering a sixty dollar bottle of wine?"

"I was still in the mind set of getting back at him for standing me up! Phoebe, he was just so sweet, he was so charming, he was so kind, he was so... so... so Arnold! All this date managed to do is make me fall for him all over again."

"So... what about this kiss? How'd that happen?"

"As we were leaving the restaurant, he asked me if I still wanted to see a movie, or if I wanted to go home, and I told him that I needed to get back to Bob, and to take me home. And I only told him that because I didn't want to waste any more of his time with my crappy attitude. All that was suppose to happen was he was suppose to drop me off, I get out of the car and he drives off. He was not suppose to open my car door for me, tell me that even after I made him pay a fortune for a dinner that neither of us really ate, and made him sit through my bitchy attitude, that he had the best time he's had in years. He was suppose to just drive off, and never look back. But he just..." She trailed off and let her head fall, and Phoebe watched in anguish as she saw her lip start to tremble. She lifted her head and saw her eyes brimming with tears. "He just gives me the most breath taking, heart stopping kiss that I've ever felt."

"If it was so amazing, then why are you crying, Helga?"

She squeezed her eyes shut as a pair of tears fell, "Phoebe, look at me. I'm a bitchy twenty seven year college drop out, taking care of her bed-ridden blow hard of a father, whose been hopelessly in love with the same boy since preschool, and doesn't have the will power to get over him. If he had just driven off and we never spoke, then at least I could go on and think that we just weren't meant to be. Maybe I could actually move on. But now... if I give myself a chance with him, and we end up breaking each others hearts, I don't think I could move on from that."

"Helga, you don't give yourself enough credit. And loving the same person for as long as you have is not pathetic, all it means is that your heart knows what it wants. And the heart wants, what the heart wants, no matter what you try and tell it. Now, your brain may be telling you to think logically, and to rationalize the whole thing. But Helga, you should know better than anyone that love is not rational. Now, if you give yourself a chance to be with him, then yes, it could end badly, and yes, you could end up breaking each others hearts. But that only means that it wasn't meant to be. But, on the other hand, you could end up spending the rest of your lives together. You're the one who taught me how to be brave, Helga. Now it's my turn. Give him a chance, give yourself a chance, and just see what happens."

"But Phoebe, so many things could go wrong."

"But so much more could go right. Helga, you just told me that you just had the most breath taking, heart stopping, passionate kiss that you've ever had, and from what I can gather, you two didn't exactly have your tongues down each others throats, am I right?"

"No, it was... soft. It was sweet, it was... exactly the thing you'd expect from him."

"And what if you were never to see him again? You'd end up meeting another guy some time down the road, you'd end up kissing him, but it probably wouldn't compare. I told you, Helga. The heart wants what the heart wants. There are some people that are just made for each other."

"What, are you saying that I'm 'made' for Arnold?"

"Or maybe he's made for you? Helga, if anyone deserves to be happy, it's you. Don't throw away the present just because you fear the future."

Helga smiled sadly at her friends never ending wisdom, and slid off her stool and wrapped her arms around her. Phoebe lovingly returned her hug and wrapped her small arms around her best friend, and ran her hand comfortingly up and down her back. "You're the best, Pheebs."

Phoebe giggled and tightened her hug, "I know."

Helga laughed and stepped back, smiling warmly down at her. "So... what am I suppose to do now? I kind of... slammed the door in his face. He probably thinks I don't want to see him again."

"Well, the best course of action would probably be to call him tomorrow morning."

"Phoebe, I don't know if I can, so soon after..."

"It's not like I'm telling you to ask him to elope or anything, just call him and talk. Maybe mention that you do want to see him again."

"I guess you're right."

"And maybe... next time you two kiss, you could actually enjoy it."

They started walking toward her front door together, and Helga was in a much better mood than she was before. Her muscles much less jittery than they were before, her heart now clear enough to where it had the ability to take flight at the mention of kissing him again. "I swear, Phoebe, I can still feel him kissing me."

Phoebe barked in laughter as she came to a stop at the front door, "Wow, that must have really been one hell of a kiss."

"I'm sorry for waking you up like that, and making you come down here and listen to me whine."

"Hey, it's what best friends are for. You did do the same for me, remember?"

"Yes, I remember." Phoebe smiled brightly and held out her arms again, and Helga smiled back, stepping into her friends embrace.

"I'll call you tomorrow. We can go out for lunch again."

"I'd love to."

"And Helga," Phoebe called as she opened the door, "please don't make this your new look."

She laughed, "Trust me, I won't. I feel ridiculous in this damn thing."

"I'll see you tomorrow, Helga." Phoebe waved behind her as she descended the stairs of her stoop.

"See ya," Helga shut the door behind her and leaned against it, letting a smile play at the corners of her lips. She looked down at herself, and this tiny excuse for a dress, and wanted nothing more than to put on a pair of baggy, concealing pajamas, and try to go to bed. Maybe Jeffery's purring would help her sleep, as it usually did. She dragged herself upstairs, went into Bob's room and turned off his TV, then went into her room, pulled off the dress, and pulled on a baggy t-shirt, plaid flannel sweat pants, and put her hair back into a low pony tail.

She fell down on her bed and Jeffery jumped up into her lap shortly after, already very happy to see her again. "Well, at least you're happy to see me." Her cat meowed and began to rub against her, while she started to play with his ears, which always turned him into putty in her hands. She giggled as Jeffery's purring got louder the longer she scratched his ears, and climbed underneath her covers.

Jeffery got in his usual spot and nestled himself against her head, while she stared at the ceiling, replaying the last few heavenly seconds that she saw him. Phoebe had pointed out one thing; Helga was so wrapped up in her mind telling her that it wasn't suppose to happen, that she never got the chance to enjoy it. She didn't get the chance to actually kiss him, her lips just happened to react on their own. "Maybe next time, I could actually kiss him back, huh?" She asked her cat, knowing he wouldn't respond, but enjoying the fact that there was another pair of ears in the room.

"Maybe next time it will be different."