Gertiewho? Chapter 10: Oh what a night!, a hey arnold fanfic

Chapter 10: Oh What A Night!

After 10 minutes of getting ready, the two of us were off to the movies. We decided that it was such a beautiful night that we should walk there. Phoebe had explained earlier that Gerald was going to meet us there. I decided to be completely upfront with Phoebe about ' the dream' I had and how much of it was true. She had a shocked look on her face and told me that everything I told her was accurate for most of the night anyways. The dream started after all the girls played cards in the kitchen. To which I said goodnight to everyone and went to bed.

I stopped walking and asked her "Are you kidding me now?"

She smiled " I can't believe you think that happened. You are so falling for him again. It's not happening Pataki and Gerald will help me make sure of it."

Rolling my eyes I replied "Whatever you say Pheebs."

We started walking again. " Based on everything you've told me, there is no way you can play him."

I gave her a confused look as she continued. " Obviously by the part in the dream on the roof, you really aren't over him. I won't allow you to be tortured all over again. It's your sub conscious telling you that you want to forgive and forget."

I let out a small laugh. " Pheebs I think you're over reacting. It won't happen."

She gave me a questioning look. " So you're not going to see him, and as you once put it, fall into his deep green eyes and feel mesmerized by it as if you would you anything for him. You told me that once. Remember. Like I said, I won't allow you to get hurt by that creep."

We stopped walking again." Maybe I just don't understand. When did he become such a creep?"

She looked concerned as she said. " Well, it's funny it was about a year and a half after his parents came back. They went away on a camping trip or something, not really sure what happened but it's like he changed. At that time he spent all of his energy on Lila so Gerald doesn't know anything about it either." She saw the look on my face and quickly added " But don't think that you can be the one who changes him back. It won't be that simple. So please don't do anything stupid."

I smiled and said " I can't promise anything but I'll try." She smiled back as we both looked ahead of us only to realize that we were a block away.

Within minutes Gerald was walking up to us with four tickets in his hand.'wait four tickets?' I looked back and forth between my best friend and her boyfriend. " Gerald there are four tickets...why?" Before he could answer a deep voice said "Hi." A shiver was sent down my spine the sound of his voice made me think of the dream I had. I gave Phoebe a look and she knew what it meant. On occasion whenever something was wrong and it was in front of other people we spoke Japanese. It made it so we wouldn't excuse ourselves but they would also not know what we were saying. It is a double edged sword but I really needed to talk with her.

[ Japanese]

Phoebe looked at me " What's wrong?"

" I don't think I can do this. We talked about this on the way here remember...You were right, I'm not that strong right now, my emotions are going crazy and I don't know what I should do...can do. I'm so confused."

She sighed and put a hand on my shoulder. " It will be ok. I'll talk with Gerald later."

" But what if it's not? what if something happens. I "

She sighed and put a hand on my shoulder. " It will be ok. I'll talk with Gerald later."

" But what if it's not? What if something happens…I " I continued rambling about nothing for at least five or six minutes. Both men looked confused as Phoebe and I kept talking.

She took both of my shoulders in her hands. "Snap out of it! Stop freaking out. Everything will be ok, just remember I wont let anything happen." I took a deep breath and whispered "Ok."

[Back to English]

We both smiled and turned toward the boys. "Ready to go?" Phoebe asked as she took Gerald's arm.

We both smiled and turned toward the boys. "Ready to go?" Phoebe asked as she took Gerald's arm. I walked next to Pheebs and Arnold stood next to Gerald as the four of us headed towards theatre five.

It was 'The Return Of Evil Twin Part 7 The Next Generation".

Arnold sat next to Gerald and I sat next to Phoebe. It felt a lot better knowing that he wasn't sitting next to me and he was only paying attention to the movie. Thank God. The movie was boring after the first 20 minutes or so. At some point I fell asleep and Phoebe woke me up when it was over. The three laughed at me and I joined in.

As we were walking outside of the theatre Arnold asked "Hey, it's only nine o' clock. You guys wanna get something to eat?"

"I could go for a cheeseburger about now...maybe from Eddie's." Gerald said. Phoebe agreed "I love their fries, let's go." She looked over at me and winked. As if saying it will be ok because they are there. After so many years of being best friends…more like sisters we had a type of ESP.

It only took us five, maybe ten minutes to get to Eddies and it was packed with people. Some familiar faces from earlier Sid, Stinky, Harold and Patty were sitting in a booth close to the door. Gerald grabbed Arnold's shirt and said " Remember man, she's Gertie not Helga." He looked at the three of us, gave a small smile and a quick nod as he opened the door.

The four sitting in the booth had spotted us immediately. " Hey, you guys want to join us?" Sid said.

As we were walking outside of the theatre Arnold asked "Hey, it's only nine o' clock. You guys wanna get something to eat?"

It only took us five, maybe ten minutes to get to Eddies and it was packed with people. Some familiar faces from earlier Sid, Stinky, Harold and Patty were sitting in a booth close to the door. Gerald grabbed Arnold's shirt and said "Remember man, she's Gertie not Helga." He looked at the three of us, gave a small smile and a quick nod as he opened the door.

The four sitting in the booth had spotted us immediately. "Hey, you guys want to join us?" Sid said. Before I could respond Stinky slid out of the booth. He walked towards me and said "You can sit next to me…if you want." Sid chimed in "Yeah, it's not every day that we get to sit next to such a beautiful woman such as yourself." I felt my face turn red and could only nod. I turned around to see Phoebe smirking at me and shrugging as if saying 'why not?' I turned back to the tall muscular man with the southern accent, gave my award winning smile and said "I'd love to."

Within seconds I slid in the booth between the two guys, both attempting to slid their arm over my shoulder. This proceeded for a couple minutes before I told them to 'cut it out!' Gerald, Phoebe and Arnold pulled up a nearby table. As I was talking to Phoebe and Patty about my life back in Mass, I saw out of the corner of my eye a very pissed off Arnold. He glanced from Sid back to Stinky.

I snapped out of it when I heard the waiter take our orders. I got a diet coke and chicken finger with fries and honey mustard on the side.

I started think that I'm not sure if Arnold was pissed or just over protective. Then I heard Phoebe's voice in my head. 'He's a player Helga. He only wants to have sex with you, then hurt you and leave you. Remember what happened before. Don't be fooled.' She was right. She always is when it comes to him. 'I have to get into character. Pretend like you don't really know him.'

" So Gertie, what do you do for fun?" Patty asked.

" Well, even though these guys think I'm pretty." I pointed back and forth between Sid and Stinky. " I'm really not. I mean I'm not a girly, girl. I like dirt biking, playing basketball, reading, hanging out with friends. On occasion go to a movie or two." I smiled at her and she smiled back.

" So.." She asked. "How did you meet Phoebe?"

I drew a blank, and then quickly said. "You know, I've known her so long I can't remember. But with all the fun we have it seems like forever." The food came out and we all started to eat. I quickly started thinking of other topics to talk about. " So… what college's are you going to next year?" Patty smiled and said "NYU, they have a great photography program, and who knows" She did a theatrical pose " Maybe I'll get to meet a few celebrities while I'm there." Phoebe, Patty and I laughed. Apparently the boys didn't think it was funny.

Harold was going to work in a deli close to the college. They were going to live together until college was over and had talked about moving west afterwards.

Sid and Stinky were going to a technical community college for auto repairs. They were going to try to transfer the credits to another college to save money. I pretended to hear for the first time that Phoebe was going to Brown on a scholarship for forensic sciences and Gerald was going to Emerson. They were also planning on living together.

Arnold was last and I acted like I had just met him yesterday; that there was nothing between us. "I'm also going to Emerson College." He said quietly. Patty looked at me and said " What about you? Where are you planning on going?" I smiled. " Well, I was in the top of my class and got full scholarships to Brown, Harvard and Simmons. But I think I might choose Brown. But I'm thinking of going to Law school so I'm not sure how long I'd be able to stay there before switching to Harvard. So I guess I'm not sure yet."

Sid changed the subject about movies and television. Gerald and Arnold started excited as they explained the movie that I had fallen asleep in. 'They thought it was exciting? It was so boring.'

I excused myself and went to the bathroom. Phoebe followed. Once in the bathroom and checking that we were the only ones in the room we started talking.

" What's wrong? Are you ok?" She looked concerenced.

" I'm fine." I said pacing back and forth.

un-huh. Is it dessert that has you worried? Because we can always skip it."

I stopped pacing and looked at her with a devilsh grin. " My dear Phoebe, there's always room for dessert."

Her face turned red. "You know what I mean." She said

I replied laughing " I know I'm just fucking with you."

She gave me a dirty look. "What is it then? Is it him?"

I was about to respond when we heard the bathroom door open and we turned to see Patty. " Listen Ladies, we gotta go. It was great to see you both and we should hangout tomorrow. We can have a girl's night."

"Sounds like a plan." Phoebe said. The three of us smiled as we said goodnight. After actually going to the bathroom and fixing our makeup we walked back to the table. I was expecting it to be just the four of us but there was Sid and Stinky who apparently hadn't noticed our coming back. Arnold and Gerald were silent as they argued.

" Listen Sid" Stinky said with a southern drawl. " You don't have a chance my friend. She's going to leave with me."

Sid had an irritated look on his face. "Oh Stinky, you must know that I am better for her than you are. We connect on a deeper level. I can feel it. She's definitely going to pick me."

Stinky laughed. "Yeah, right." "Thanks I knew I was." Sid said sarcastically.

I cleared my throat and walked around the booth. "Actually I'm not going to leave with either one of you." I said opening my purse and putting my half of the check on the table. I looked at both of them saying. "And I'm hurt that either one of you thought I was really that easy."

I could hear their apologizes over my shoulder as we left the diner.

I picked up my cell 11:30pm. It feels so much earlier than that. " So what do you guys want to do now?" Arnold asked putting his hands in his back pockets. I sighed and looked towards my friends. " You guys tired?" Phoebe and Gerald shook their heads. " Yeah, me neither." " You guys want to go out, out? Like clubbing or something?" Phoebe shook her head. " Too much time to get ready, we'd never make it."

Arnold nodded. "True." He paused for a moment then added. " Hey, Pataki. You said you were good at basketball , right?" I shrugged " Yeah...so?" He started to grin. "How good?" I gave a questioning look. "Um, head captain for three years and have played every position. Why?" He took a step forward. " I'm thinking a friendly basketball game, maybe Shirts vs skins?" I laughed "I don't think so football head." He smiled. "Well, I understand if you're too chicken. Maybe you're bluffing and can't really play." He knew that would irate the old Helga. Who am I kidding it's bugging me now. Phoebe came up next to me. "You know it's getting late, maybe we should just go home." Gerald chimed in. "She's right it is getting late." He pretended to yawn, hoping it would convince them to leave. I turned towards Gerald. " It's ok." I turned back around. "Ground rules no groping and when anyone says time out you have to stop. You can't say 'I didn't hear it so the points still count'." He nodded "Sounds good." I smiled before turning around. " Oh and by the way, if you try to grope me I will hurt you." Gerald stood in between us. " I don't think this is a good idea guys. What...what if…what if someone gets hurt. "He blurted out attempting to come up with an excuse on the fly. Arnold raised an eyebrow " You and Phoebe aren't playing too?" Pheebs gave him a dirty look." We weren't planning on it. Maybe we should just go back to my place." I gave a devilsh grin. " Good idea. I can get changed while football head and tall hair buy get ready and meet us at the court in a half hour. Sound good?" I asked putting my hand out and he shook it. "Agreed. I'll see you there."

Pheebs and I walked around the corner and we both stopped when we hear the boys arguing. We got close to the edge of the building so we could hear better.

Gerald said. " Arnold. What the fuck are you doing?"

Arnold gave him a look. " What are you talking about?"

" You know exactly what I'm talking about. You may be with Lila, you may cheat on her and use a lot of women. But I cannot and will not let you use Helga."

"You don't know shit man." Arnold turned his back to Gerald. Who turned around to face him.

"Tell me you're not trying to fuck Helga and I'll stop. Tell me you're not trying to use her."

Arnold sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. " You're right, I've used a lot of women. You're right I do cheat on Lila and lie to her. She doesn't care as long as she was popular. I'm not going to lie to you Gerald I want Helga. I mean who wouldn't, you saw Stinky and Sid. Every time I see her it's like I just want to…" He sighed again before continuing. "I'm so sick of it all. My hormones are on high and the majority of me want to get to know her, want to be friends and maybe one day lead to something…so yes I really want to fuck her but no I don't want to use her."

Gerald sat on a nearby bench and Arnold followed suit. " What happened to you man? We use to be so close…like brothers. Then suddenly nothing, we went from talking everyday to not at all." Arnold shifted in his seat. " That camping trip changed my life. I would hang out with these bad ass group of people who had tattoo's and smoked weed. They made everything seem so cool. I smoked a couple times with them. That's when I met Daisy. She would hang out with us too. I liked her a lot but I couldn't figure out why. She ended up breaking my heart and I was completely crushed. One of the guys, Steve told me that no girls should ever be good enough. It's not worth it. Better a hit and run than a crash and burn." He looked at Gerald. " I'm sorry man, I'm sorry for everything. I had this mentality that I should cut off all ties to anyone I cared about."

"Look, as long as you stop acting like an ass, I think we will eventually be ok." They did their old handshake and laughed. "Gerald, the funny thing is after a while it made me realize Daisy reminded me of Helga."

I grabbed Phoebe by the wrist and we ran down the street. When we got in her house we were both out of breath and asked. "Phoebe, pinch me."

"What?" she exclaimed "JUST DO IT!" She did and it hurt like hell. That's when I realized this wasn't a dream. He really said all of that. I looked at my best friend, already knowing what she would say. "I can't let this happen. Phoebe you were right. I can't handle this." I looked at her with fear in my eyes. "I think we should just go to bed." She said to me as we both slowly walked up the stairs. I felt like I was having a panic attack. My hormones were on over drive and the more I fight them the worse it gets. The idea of getting short gym shorts, a sports bra and fitted tank top on felt like I was asking for trouble. 'There's always room for dessert.' I can't seem like a chicken and as bad as my hormones are my stupid pride is getting in the way. Some habits die hard.

I took in a deep breath as I put on my pair of green basketball shorts and gray sports bra and black fitted tank top I was ready to go…I think.

Phoebe and I were the first ones to get there. I started warming up running back and forth on the court. After the fifteenth 'lap' the boys showed up. One look on his face said it all. This was a bad idea. He had the same thoughts as me. I tried to shake the feeling with a joke. "Well, look on the Brightside football head at least we both feel the same, huh?" By the look of desire in his eyes it made me realize the joke wasn't so funny…once again a bad idea. 'Good going Pataki. You made it worse.' He started to walk towards me and I backed up with every step forward he made. "Look, this was a bad idea. Can't we just call it a tie or something?" I looked for my friends who were coming towards us, I just shook my head as if 'I can take care of it.' Which I am still questioning. I was backed up against the wall and he cupped my grin in his right hand and stroked my hair with his left. I tried to push away my hormones to remind me of the pain. The endless nightmare crying his name so loud my aunt would comfort me. The pain knowing I would never see him again. And now with three days being here he wants to nail me. As if I am easy. As difficult as it was I pushed him away.

"I have to go." I said as I walked past him and towards my friends. " What do you mean, you have to go?'" I turned around and looked at him. " I..can't…do..this." I said gasping for air. When did I start hyperventilating? " Helga, I still don't get it. What can't you do? What just happened?" He asked looking very confused. I sighed. " Don't you get it Arnold-o? You broke my heart and you didn't even know it. I told you once but I could never explain how much that really was. I had nothing but thoughts of you that kept me going from day to day, knowing life might soon be better. You had two loving grandparents, I had two neglectful parents. You might not have had your parents at the time but at least you had someone." I turned and looked at him. " It's funny though, all those years of people helping me let go of all the pain and become the woman I want to be is still the broken hearted girl from Hillwood. In three days you broke me all over again." I sighed again and he took a step towards me. "Would it be alright if I gave you a hug?" I looked at him through pain stricken eyes. " I want to say yes, but it's probably a bad idea." He put his hand on both my hips. "Please." He pleaded. " I've caused you so much pain, let me as least try to comfort you. I am so sorry Helga."

The smart thing to do would have said no. I should go with Phoebe back to her house. How do I know this isn't an act? How do I know I'm not going to lose control over this hug when I can feel my shorts riding up. When I felt the hard bulge in his pants I knew my answer. It was a game. He fooled me well.

I told him that I didn't feel comfortable giving him a hug and I needed to go. I got out of his embrace and Phoebe and I walked back to her place.