Just a little warning, this chapter contains spoilers for the movie Freddy VS Jason if you haven't yet seen it!
"Helga...are you sure about this?"
"Of course I am! How else are we going to get into an R-Rated movie? Freddy VS Jason isn't exactly Free Willy, you know."
"True...but I don't know, what if we get caught?"
"We won't. I've been sneaking into Dino Land since I was five, we're going to be fine. Just keep quiet and let me do all the work, football head."
"Whatever you say, Helga..."
"Shh! We're here! Okay, now remember, keep quiet and try not to move!"
The ticket lady made a strange face for a moment, and then smiled. "Hello, welcome to Downtown Hillwood Theater!"
Indeed, it looked very strange what she was seeing.
Helga was sitting on Arnold's shoulders, wearing an over-sized trench coat, a matching fedora and sunglasses. Arnold's bum leg was sticking out, and it made it look as if Helga was a very tall woman with a broken leg...and a bit of a bulgy body. Thankfully, the wheelchair didn't tip over with the two of them on it like this.
"Two-I mean, one for Freddy VS Jason, please." Helga said as coolly as she could.
"Um, okay." The ticket lady printed up a ticket and handed it to her and took the money Helga slid to her. "Theater Six, enjoy the movie."
"Thanks, toots. Keep the change." Helga said, and reached down low to wheel the chair inside the theater.
"O-Ow! Helga, your leg is digging into my head!"
"Sorry, Arnold."
"Ow! Your foot is digging into my leg!"
"Sorry."
"Ow!"
"Sorry."
"Okay, turn left."
"Okay."
"Your other left!"
"Oh, sorry."
Finally, after about five excruciating minutes of getting some popcorn, they made it into the destined theater room. Once the usher and nobody else was looking, Helga got off of Arnold's shoulders and took off the coat, hat and sunglasses.
"Wow, I can't believe we made it." Arnold remarked, situating his wheelchair next to the aisle seat where Helga seated herself.
"Told you we would." Helga smirked. "Teach you to doubt my brilliant plans, football head."
Arnold smiled. "Whatever you say, Helga."
A college student passed the two of them and stared. "Aren't you two a little young to be watching this movie?"
Helga immediately shot him a glare. "Aren't you a little old to be wearing braces?"
The guy covered his mouth in shame and ran off.
"You sure know how to tell them, Helga." Arnold said, albeit hesitantly.
"I have my ways, darling." Helga ran her fingers up his arm in a suggestive manner. "So what say we sit back, relax, and enjoy this movie?"
"Sure thing." He smiled and held her hand in his, chuckling at her swooned response.
Pretty soon, the movie began. As expected, Helga was drawn in, enraptured and quite impressed by it so far. Even Arnold found himself actually enjoying it, in a strange way. It was pretty well done, and had an interesting premise, as they'd read in the newspaper.
"Man, this Jason is so boss!" Helga said, munching eagerly on some popcorn. "He's right up there with Kane Hodder, that's for sure! And what can I say about ol' Fred?"
"I don't know, you tell me." Arnold said, snickering. "This is pretty good."
"It's better than good! Think about it, how often do two horror legends actually come together?"
"Not very often, that's for sure."
"Darn right! This movie is the bomb!" Helga whispered loudly.
"He just won't stop! That...Hockey Puck!" Freddy Krueger then said on the screen.
"Hockey Puck!" Helga laughed. "Oh, now that's brilliant! Where does he come up with these things?"
"Probably has some time on his hands between movies." Arnold guessed. "All right, I know you're dying to say it. Who's gonna die next?"
"Gibb's already dead, I knew she'd be the first to go. Other than that other guy." Helga said. "Mmm...I hope it's Lori, she's getting on my nerves."
"Lori's not so bad."
"You're just saying that 'cause she's pretty."
"Am not! She's okay."
"Come on, she's like Little Miss Perfect a few steps up!"
"Lila? No way."
"Yes way."
"Whatever you say. But fine, if we're going to wager, I'm betting the next one to die is going to be...that guy there, with the hair."
"Ah, all the victims are disposable, really. Except Will, he's okay. It was pretty nice of him to come back and check on his friends, I gotta say. Mm, you'd do that, wouldn't you?" She playfully batted her eyelashes.
"Well it'd be hard, since breaking out of a mental asylum is against the law...but I know if I could, I definitely would."
Helga giggled and kissed him on the cheek, making him blush. Deciding to keep quiet, they went back to watching the movie. Thankfully, not a lot of people were in the theater, or sitting near them, anyway, so that was good. None the less they did speak in whispers so as not to disturb anyone. A few times they jumped a little at shocking moments, and held each other's hand since they couldn't get too close to one another.
"Whoa! How did Jason know they were there?" Arnold uttered in shock as the scene where Jason had kicked down the door inside the mental asylum Will had escaped from. "That's so weird."
"Mmm...I don't know, but I bet you he and Freddy have this...mental connection thing that helps guide Jason around." Helga said. "I mean, that's the only logical explanation I could think of. I mean, you remember at the beginning when Freddy...well, disguised as Pamela Voorhees I mean, told Jason he had to go to Elm Street? Even if Jason wasn't as stupid as he is, I hardly think he would've known it to be the one in Springwood, Ohio. Not to mention he had to go all the way from Crystal Lake, which is in New Jersey, to Ohio! And I'll bet there are hundreds of Elm Streets in the United States! Heck, I'll bet there's tons in New England alone! So I'll bet you they have a mental connection."
"Mmm...you have a point, that makes a lot of sense." Arnold nodded. "I guess it would be the only option, unless Jason somehow knew. Then again, I doubt that."
"Like I said, even if he wasn't as dumb as he is, he wouldn't have known unless by chance he knew who Freddy was, which I bet is not the case. So it's obvious Freddy's guiding him. After all, Jason was sleeping in the beginning, right? Or, well actually...he was in hell, facing a nightmarish thing, and then was awakened, I guess. Point is though, I'll bet you that's what's happening here."
"I guess their movies don't always defy logic." Arnold laughed. "Okay, who do you think will win?"
"Ooh! Good question. They haven't fought yet, so I guess we'll have to see. But let's assess the situation, shall we? Jason's incredibly hard to kill, and pretty much immortal, right?"
"Yeah, he is."
"Okay, and then we've got Freddy. He's unstoppable in the dream world. But, when he's drawn OUT of the dream world and into the real world, he becomes very vulnerable and practically a normal guy with burnt down skin and a knife glove, therefore losing all his power. So, in the dream world, they both would be fighting forever. But, in the real world, Jason would have the advantage. So I guess we'll-ooh! Freddy's injecting Jason with that sedative! He'll be in the dream world in a minute!"
"Wow, this should be good."
They shared excited glances before going back to the movie, watching as the fake Pamela Voorhees was now yelling at Jason, whom was very confused and possibly a little ashamed of disobeying her. Then Freddy made his appearance, with that ever present maniacal laughter, and of course, revealing that Pamela was only a fake.
"Oh, man! I bet Jason's jaw just dropped there!"
"No kidding, when you find out someone is pretending to be your mother, you can get pretty angry." Arnold remarked.
"Feh, like I'd care that much if someone impersonated Miriam." Helga said nonchalantly.
Deciding not to press the subject, they continued to watch the movie again, this time interested in the possible showdown to happen in the dream world. During the torturing scene, Helga went into hysterical laughter when Freddy was knocking Jason around the pipes of the boiler room like a pinball. Arnold even got a laugh out of it.
"Look at him go! Hahahaha! Pinball Jason!"
"No wonder, he's practically the only one who wouldn't die from that kind of action and-ohhh! Now he's dropping a big tank on him!"
"Whoa! Freddy's really goin' in for the big one! Man Arnold, I'm so glad you found this movie in the paper! It's so boss!"
"No problem, Helga. I figured we'd get a kick out of it."
The two exchanged smiles and continued to watch the movie together, leaning toward each other to the side and laying their heads together.
After the movie was over, and they had actually managed to make it outside without getting caught, they waited around for Gerald and Phoebe, since their movie was about ten minutes longer than theirs.
"Wow! That movie was awesome!" Helga cajoled, in a really good mood for a change as she pushed his wheelchair down the block so as not to get in the way of other people entering and leaving the cinema. "That ending was so not what I expected! And man, we even dive back in time to 1957 when Jason drowned!"
"It was pretty interesting." Arnold agreed. "Seeing Jason and Freddy together on the big screen was really something."
"Are you kidding? That was the best idea New Line has ever had!" Helga came around to face him. "Man, Freddy was just awesome in this movie! I don't know how Robert Englund does it, but man, he's flawless! Jason was kick-butt cool!"
"Wasn't the expression supposed to be kick-a-"
"Ah! There you guys are!" Gerald cut him off as he and Phoebe came over to them. "You guys enjoy your movie?"
"Darn tootin', hair boy." Helga smirked, crossing her arms. "Did YOU enjoy that cute little mushy romance chick flick?"
Phoebe giggled. "I did, it was wonderful!"
"It was...it was okay." Gerald scratched the back of his neck nervously. "Uh, so! Who's up for ice cream?"
"Ooh, yes!" Phoebe clapped her little hands. "It'll be our first double date!"
Arnold and Helga both exchanged shy glances, making Gerald and Phoebe giggle.
"Sure, let's go."
"Whatever floats your boat, Geraldo."
Later on, the four of them were at Slausen's, each couple sharing a new ice cream sundae dish known as a "Couple Sundae", that was meant to be shared by two people. Half price if you were married!
The dish itself was two scoops of vanilla and strawberry ice cream, with a banana half on each side like a banana split, real maple syrup poured along it, a cherry on top of each ice cream mound, topped with some whipped cream. It also came in a large, deep heart-shaped bowl.
"Wow, I can't believe you guys made it an entire week!" Gerald exclaimed with surprise. "A week! That's pretty long for a couple starting out!"
"Oh Gerald, a week is nothing!" Phoebe said.
"Well considering we both went from nothing to this, I'd say it's pretty big." Helga said nonchalantly, though she gave Arnold a loving glance, winking at him.
Arnold chuckled and winked back at her. "Whatever you say, Helga."
"Well man, at least you guys are happy. And if you're happy, then I'm happy too." Gerald said, plucking the cherry off of Phoebe's side and eating it.
"Gerald!" Phoebe exclaimed, but then she giggled.
"Oh, sorry, babe. Here, let me give you mine." Gerald said sweetly. He took the cherry off his side, and placed it into her waiting open mouth with the stem sticking out between her lips.
Helga couldn't help but give a soft smile at how happy and chummy Phoebe looked then. The normally cool and smart Phoebe really became sweet and demure when Gerald was around, but above all, he made her happy. She could see that clearly, and although she didn't say or show it often, she was happy for her. Very happy, in fact. She was glad her own best friend found a nice little crush in Gerald. While she (Helga) and Gerald weren't exactly pals, she had nothing against him and was glad he made Phoebe happy.
At the corner of his eye, Arnold noticed Helga's warm smile and couldn't help but smile a little himself. It was nice to see Helga showing her kinder side, even to her best friend. She probably even thought it was funny how their respective best friends were dating each other, and vice-versa. He sure did.
"Hey! Let's make a toast!" Gerald suddenly said, as if just getting an idea.
"With what, Geraldo?" Helga said crisply. "We don't have any glasses, and even if we did, drinking something with your ice cream is really not that preferable."
"Oh come on..." Gerald said, although he knew she was right.
"Why don't we use the bowls?" Arnold suggested. "Helga and I will hold ours up, and you guys can hold yours up and we'll clink them together."
"That's a good idea, Arnold. We can do that!" Phoebe said, nodding in agreement.
"Man, I always knew you were smart!" Gerald laughed. "All right then, lift 'em up!"
Arnold and Helga lifted up theirs with both hands, and Gerald and Phoebe lifted up their bowl as well.
"To all four of us here, on our first official double date, with our first boyfriend or girlfriend! To our futures together, whatever they may hold! To the warm and fond memories we'll have, even if the relationships end! To us!" Gerald proclaimed.
"Hear hear!" They all chorused, clinking their bowls together before setting them back down on the table and taking a bite of the ice cream.
Gerald was right. Even if their respective relationships didn't last, they would still work to make sure they could create good memories to look back on, to have a good childhood romance.
"And so then, Stinky placed the whoopie cushion on Coach's bench while Sid kept watch for him, and then later before practice, Coach sat down and he farted!" Gerald was recalling. "But that ain't the best part!"
"How can it be, Geraldo?" Helga said dryly. "We all know the typical place the whoopie cushion on someone's seat, they sit on it and then it makes the farting noise!"
"No no, you gotta let me finish!" Gerald insisted. "It was funny because a few seconds later, Eugene held up the whoopie cushion and said 'There's a whoopie cushion here, coach!', and the coach wasn't sitting on it!"
"Gerald!" Phoebe cried in disgust, but she giggled uncontrollably. "Good gracious, that was just...eww!"
"Couldn't help it, babe." Gerald said, and brought his arm around her, causing the petite girl to blush. "You ready to get goin'? We can go back to my house! Jamie-O has this buddy who brought over his Atari 2600! Heck, why don't you stay for dinner so you can meet my family?"
"Oh, really? Well, sure, Gerald. I'd like that." Phoebe said softly.
"Good idea, Gerald." Arnold complimented him. "Have a good evening, guys."
"You take care of her, tall-hair-boy." Helga warned him, holding her fist near his face.
"Chill, girl. Nothin's gonna happen to Phoebe, not while I'm around! All right Pheebers, let's go then!"
"Going!" Phoebe replied, out of habit. "Bye Helga, bye Arnold! See you guys later!"
"Later, Pheebs." Helga said, and winked at her.
"See you guys!" Arnold waved to them as the couple walked out. "You ready to go too?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah." Helga nodded and stood up, taking his wheelchair handlebars and pushing toward the door. "Want to head back to the boarding house?"
Arnold paused for a moment, considering an idea he'd thought of earlier. "Actually Helga, there's something I want to do first. Let's go to Mighty Pete."
"Huh? Why?" Helga asked, tilting her head.
He smiled at her over his shoulder. "You'll see, Helga."
Later that afternoon, the two arrived at Mighty Pete. Like last Sunday, the weather was taking a turn for the worse as gray rain clouds had closed in, promising it to rain. But they didn't see it as a depressing sign. It was, after all, how they'd first met. Beyond that, it was just the weather happening to take that turn. It was no one's fault, and in actuality, contrary to popular belief, had nothing to do with anyone or anything. It was just how mother nature worked.
"So, what brings us here, football head?" Helga wanted to know.
Arnold smiled. "Helga, do you still carry that little pocket knife around?"
"Huh? How did you even know I had one?"
"Sometimes at school I'd see you take it out and use it." Arnold shrugged.
Helga looked at him, a little weirded out, but reached into an inner pocket of her dress and pulled out a Swiss Army knife. "What do you want it for?"
"Flip out the knife and I'll show you."
She did, and he then placed his hand over hers, guiding it to the tough bark of Mighty Pete, placing the blade onto the bark, and carving into it. Helga's eyes widened as she realized what was happening, and looked at him in surprise. Arnold smiled at her, and continued to guide their hands. After a moment, she then moved her hand along with his so they were carving together.
Once done, they stood back to admire their work. It was a simple heart that was surrounding the words "Arnold + Helga Forever". Helga just about swooned, her usual dopey lovestruck smile on her face, unable to believe this was really happening, even if they'd now been dating a week. Arnold smiled, and still held her hand, even after she'd put the knife away.
"You're a real romantic and a charmer, Arnold." Helga said dreamily.
Arnold blushed a little and smiled at her. "It's who I am, I guess. I've always tried to make the girls I liked feel special. Even if it never worked out, until now."
Helga smiled more, her eyes full of so much love and adoration, all directed at him. "You make me feel more than special, Arnold. I can't say how, it's too big a word to describe. But I guess the best I can say is that you make me feel so loved, and the fact that I want to be loved by you more than anything...well, it just adds to it more, I guess. I don't know how you do it, but you just do. All I can say is that you make me happier than I've ever been in my life. I know it sounds weird, but it's the truth."
Though her words did make his heart sink, realizing once more just how rough her life could be, Arnold felt good to know that he made someone he loved in return feel just as loved. Nothing made him feel better than that.
"You deserve it, Helga. You really do. Life's been tough for you, and I can understand a lot better now why you act the way you do in protecting yourself and letting people know they can't walk all over you. Beyond that though, you're one of the sweetest, most creative and fun girls I've ever known. I love everything about you, Helga, and your flaws. We all don't like our flaws, but it's all part of what makes us who we are. No one's perfect. I'm not perfect."
"You sure come close to being perfect." Helga said, swooning lightly.
Arnold laughed a little. "Whatever you say." He beckoned her closer and touched her cheek gently. "I love you, Helga."
"I love you too, football head." Helga smiled and placed her hand over his. It didn't matter that she was being as sweet and romantic as she was during one of her soliloquies, especially in public. Nothing mattered now, and she was never going to hold back being sweet to him again. "In all heaven and earth and the galaxies of the Universe I love you."
As it started to rain, they shared a kiss under Mighty Pete, which lasted for quite a while. Arnold by now was used to the fact that Helga was not known for giving short kisses and needless to say, he was far from complaining. They parted, albeit reluctantly, and rubbed each other's noses together in an Eskimo kiss.
"Hey football head, I just remembered something." Helga said as she stood up straight. "I still have those two books on lovemaking...so what say we swing by my house so I can pick them up, then we'll look at 'em when we get back to your house?"
Arnold's cheeks turned a lovely shade of pink. "Um, sure, Helga. We can do that. But um, why?"
She got a wicked gleam in her eyes and giggled, going around to take his wheelchair's handlebars. "Oh, you know. I thought it'd be fun to read on that thing like a couple of teenagers. And because I think your embarrassed face is so cute."
He blushed again and barely spoke a coherent sentence on their way to her house.
"Helga? Oh...honey, what are you doing home?" Miriam asked, surprised.
"Olga? What are you doing home!" Big Bob exclaimed from the TV room.
"It's HELGA, dad." Helga said with contempt. "And for your information, I'm just getting a couple of books...that I...er...borrowed from a friend...and I wanted to give them...you know, back." Helga said, unable to reveal that she had two books on sex.
"Oh, that's nice, dear." Miriam said absently. "And say hi to your little friend for me..." She noticed Arnold sitting out front in his wheelchair through the open door. He waved to her politely, and she smiled.
"Right, sure." Helga said with half a smile.
She rushed upstairs, managed to find the two books she was looking for, and hurried back downstairs, with barely a goodbye and shutting the door.
"Sheesh, what's her problem?" Bob wondered out loud.
"Oh, I don't know, B." Miriam said, shaking her head. "Although she does seem to be quite taken with that boy with the broken leg..."
Much later on after dinner, they went up to Arnold's room and both sat on his bed to read over the books she brought. One was The Joy of Sex, which she had stolen from Olga's room a year ago, and the other was Making Love And You, which she bought herself, having claimed it was for her mother to the cashier.
"Whoa! Look at THAT position!" Helga pointed out in a drawn picture in the book.
"Whoa!" Arnold gasped, taken aback. "Is that even comfortable?"
"I sure wouldn't like to find out!" Helga said, and turned a page. She stared hard at the drawn picture, and turned the book on its side, then upside down, to try to see it clearer. "Ohhh! Now THAT is weird!"
"Gosh, that IS weird." Arnold agreed. "So exactly where are the...you know, 'normal' positions?"
"Hmmm..." Helga turned back a few pages. "Well of course there's that normal one, the man on top, woman on bottom, they call that missionary. And then, ooh! I like this one. The woman is on top! Haha!"
Arnold blushed a little more. "I-I guess you would like that position..."
"Arnold my love, you're simply adorable when thinking of others!" Helga said in a teasing way, but still adoringly. She pinched his nose between her fingers in a playful way. "Relax, we're not gonna think of all this until we marry one day."
"Is THAT what some people meant that they're saving themselves for marriage for?"
"Yeah. You didn't know that? Traditionally or for religious reasons, couples tend to wait until marriage to...ya know, make little babies."Helga smiled and giggled. "I always did like to pretend we were married."
Arnold chuckled. "Actually, I did have a dream once that we were married."
"Oh?" Helga grinned, and plopped herself onto his lap again. "Well! Tell me all about it then."
"Okay, well, it goes back a few months. You remember when Rhonda had that origami love calculator thing?"
"Heck yeah! I overheard you taking the test a hundred and ten times and always ending up with me!"
"You heard that?"
"You bet."
Arnold blinked at this, and couldn't help but laugh a little. "I'm sure the gods of irony had a field day with that one. And I guess it was a dream come true for you."
"It was." Helga giggled. "Anyway, go on."
"So I went home and I felt all weirded out and telling myself it was all stupid. Then that night, I had a nightmare about us getting married."
"Nightmare?" Her eyes widened with hurt.
"W-Wait!" He placed his hands on her shoulders to comfort her. "It was like that at first, since I was pretty confused about my own feelings for you at the time." He took a breath. "I'm sorry, that all didn't come out right."
Helga softened. "I know, I know. I'm sorry. Go on."
"Okay. Well, so in the dream I'm in this church apparently about to get married. Gerald was my best man, and Rhonda was one of your bridesmaids. I was kind of confused, since I was practically still myself in the dream, nine years old, even though I had the body of a 25 year old. Or rather, it was just me but a lot taller."
Helga giggled. "That actually sounds a lot nicer than my vision of you in my dream that night."
"What? You had a dream of us getting married too!" Arnold's eyes widened again. "Wow...as if that day couldn't get any more ironic."
"I know, right? But never mind my dream, it was silly and over the top glamour. Still, it was nice. Tell me yours first, though."
"Oh, right. So then you walked in in your wedding dress...which now that I look back on, you looked really pretty. And it revealed to be you. At the time I was in dismay about it. So then you tricked me into marrying you, which was by pulling a Bugs Bunny on me! I kept saying 'I don't', and you kept saying 'You do', over and over until you said 'You don't?' and I said 'I do!'. That got us married, and you grabbed me and kissed me."
Helga laughed a little. "Wow, your dream captured my bullying ways pretty well."
"No kidding. Well then after we moved in with your parents, and instead of me carrying you across the threshold, you were carrying me!" Arnold recalled, and laughed.
"Man, that's crazy!" Helga laughed with him. "Okay, go on."
"Well, so we go inside and we're having dinner with your family. Of course, I knew at the time of your...dysfunctional home life." He noticed her gaze shift and he squeezed her hand in comfort. "But to add hilarity to it, Bob for some reason was wearing a crown and a cape like some King!"
Helga looked back at him, blinking her eyes, before bursting out laughing. "Oh criminy! That's hilarious!"
"I know!" Arnold chuckled. "Well anyway, so he said he was going to make me work at the loading dock of his beeper store...while you would stay at home all day and not work because you didn't feel like it."
Helga snorted. "Oh please. Obviously that dream me doesn't know me very well. I do have ambitions and I so would work! ...But you, at Big Bob's beeper store?"
"Me neither. But your dad made me do it. And in the dream, well, it's as if I had no power over anything."
"Arnold." Helga then said very seriously, looking him in the eye. "I would never let Bob rope you into working at his store if you didn't want to. That's a promise."
Arnold smiled and brought his arms around her waist, hugging her closer. "Thanks a lot, Helga."
"Don't mention it." She winked at him. "Anyway, go on."
"Right. Well, so I worked on the loading dock all day while three workers just sat there and watched me, and I ended up tripping on a banana peel. Then later, me and Bob-"
"Bob and I."
"Right, sorry. Bob and I were walking home, and he tells me that the stork brought us kids."
"Kids! I guess your dream self didn't know where babies came from, eh?"
"Guess not. But I did say 'How did this happen? We've only been married two days!', which I guess means I did know that the stork story wasn't true. Well anyway, so then I was forced to take care of our kids...which by the way all looked like you, despite one of them having my head. They all had your unibrow, though."
Helga giggled. "Wow! Must not have been very cute."
"Nah, they were. Even if they were calling me 'Football head' and making me do things and going crazy. You were continuously lazy and then going out and leaving me alone with them and having apparently not done anything."
"Jeez-Louise, your dream makes me sound like a slob!"
"I guess it reflected your bullying nature and making me miserable, my perception of you at the time." He said, guiltily.
Helga smiled. "It's not your fault, football head. I can understand, I guess. But go on."
"Well later on, I eventually couldn't take it anymore. I grabbed you and was telling you that if we were going to be married to each other, you had to start acting like it. You know how I always said you were a nice person deep down?"
"Of course! Little did you even realize how right you were about me."
"That's what happened there, I was telling you over and over that I knew you were a nice person and had feelings, you kept denying it, saying that you weren't nice, that you were mean. I kept on insisting that you weren't, and then finally you gave up and said that I was right, that you were really just a shy and sweet girl on the inside. You said you didn't hate me, and then you..." He blushed a bit. "You were about to say you loved me, and then my alarm woke me up."
"Stupid alarm clock." Helga said. "Wow, that was some dream! I guess I also underestimated how aware you were about my feelings for you at the time."
Arnold gave a shrug and smiled. "I think I knew it all along, deep down in my subconscious, since it didn't come known to me yet. I still had to put all the puzzle pieces together and come to that conclusion. And I think the dream showed that I was having just as much trouble figuring out my feelings for you, too."
Helga giggled. "Guess your dream was a bit of an awakening for you, huh?"
"You can say that. It made me realize more and more that you were a good person. And at the time, I even said to Gerald that if you and I did get married one day, it wouldn't be so bad at all." He then smiled more and hugged her closer. "But now I think it'll be more than not bad."
"Oh Arnold..." Helga stroked his hair again, bringing one arm around his shoulder and neck. "I'd marry you in a heartbeat right now if I could!"
"Helga..." Arnold laughed a little. "We're only nine, so we still have a lot of time to think about who we're going to be with in the future. But no need to worry about that now. Let's just enjoy what we do have at the moment."
"Okay." Helga snuggled more into his lap and kissed his nose. "I love you so much, you know. Even now I still can't say how glad I am that you're all mine now."
Arnold smiled sweetly and kissed her on the cheek, reaching up to caress her hair. "I love you too, Helga. And you're mine too, you know."
"Mmm...hey, Arnold?"
"Yeah, Helga?"
"Um...I know it sounds crazy, but, um, can I sleep in your bed with you tonight?"
"Huh? W-What? Helga, are you sure? I mean, kids our age don't normally do this stuff no matter how much the like each other!"
"I know. But I want to, if you do. And hey, kids our age don't normally have little make out sessions, do they?"
"You got me there."
"Of course I did."
"Well...if you really want to, I have no problem with it. It'd be kind of nice to fall asleep with someone you like."
Her eyes pooled with tears of joy, and she let them fall, laying her forehead against his. For some time, they just looked at each other, eye-to-eye, forehead-to-forehead, nose-to-nose. If anyone saw them, they would see the immense love and joy radiating off them.
