Twisted Paths
Part 13
Helga kept running through the events of the evening in her head as she got ready to go to sleep. She had told her secret to the one person she swore would never know, her friends also heard the same confession, and to top it all off, instead of staying with Arnold and talking it all out, she had run away like a coward…
"Good job Helga…" she said to herself, staring at the ceiling of her room in the beach house. "What else could happen?"
Well apparently the universe loves a joke, because as soon as she said it, someone knocked on her door.
She silently fumed, but opened the door to see her friend Phoebe standing in the hallway.
"Can I come in Helga?" she asked, rubbing her arms nervously, seeing her friend in her underwear.
"Sure, why not… I was just about to finish changing…" Helga answered, opening the door wider to let her in, shutting it behind them.
"I want to apologize for earlier…" Phoebe said, sitting on the edge of Helga's bed, "I should have tried to sidetrack the conversation away from your secret…"
"Don't sweat it Pheebs… It was bound to happen eventually… better now than later when it might be too late. Besides, Arnold didn't freak out… he just sat there. I'm sure by now he's in bed trying to forget the whole thing." Helga said, trying to convince herself more so than her friend.
"I doubt that…" her friend said cryptically. "I'll bet that he's still out there, thinking about everything... staring at the ocean and remembering everything you two have been together…"
"That's awfully detailed Phoebe… why did you say all that?" Helga asked, walking towards her friend.
"Because I looked out my window and saw him staring at the moon… he hasn't moved." She said matter-of-factly.
"Stalk much?" Helga asked, pulling some pajama bottoms on and throwing on an old t-shirt.
"Are you going to go talk to him?" Phoebe responded, ignoring her question.
"I think I have to Pheebs… wish me luck?" she said, walking towards the door.
"Good luck." Phoebe said, the door closing behind her friend as she stepped into the night.
When she got there, she was surprised to see Arnold had moved from the fireside to the waterline and was now staring at the moon. She crept up behind him careful not disturb him. As she stood about ten feet away, she heard him speak.
"It's so strange…" he said, "That all this time, you've liked me… even when I didn't notice you except as a bully…"
"Yeah… that was mostly me trying to cover up my crush." She admitted, shifting her weight from foot to foot in the sand.
"I thought there was a reason you would be so mean just to me… but then you helped me with my mom when she was sick… was that because you liked me as well?" he asked, looking back at her out of the corner of his eye.
"That was partly because I liked your mom… but mostly because I like you and I wanted to help you deal with the pain…" she said, walking a little closer.
"And did you like me when we were in San Lorenzo?" he asked, this time, facing her fully.
"Yeah… actually, ever since we were three…"
"You've liked me for that long?"
"Not liked… I've loved you this whole time Arnold." Helga said, sensing that he wasn't upset.
"I feel like an idiot." He said, looking down and laughing.
"Why?" Helga asked, this time she was the one confused.
"Because… Ever since I first saw how nice you could be… back in the fourth grade… I guess I've liked you too… I didn't realize it though… I covered it up by going after other girls, and then in San Lorenzo I told you the truth… I told myself the truth… and then I tried to cover it up by saying it was a mistake. I can't imagine what that had to have been like for you. I'm sorry Helga." He said, stepping towards her in the moonlight.
"Sorry for what?" she asked, still confused.
"I'm sorry for making you wait… and I'm sorry for not doing this sooner." He said, closing the gap.
"Doing this sooner?" she started to say, but was interrupted by his hands wrapping around her and pulling her close, his body heating hers instantly in the chill night air, their lips pressing together as if they were meant to be there. Her eyes rolled back and her other senses stopped working as she lost herself completely in his warm, tender kiss. She felt as if she was floating, suddenly crashing down when they broke away for air.
"Sorry for being so late with that." He said again, smiling at her, his blonde hair reflecting the moonlight.
"You know what they say." she responded breathlessly, "The best things in life are worth the wait…"
"And you are one of the best things in my life." Arnold said, kissing her again, interrupted only by a flashlight shining over the two of them.
"Told you guys this would happen." Gerald said smugly, turning to face the others, who had been woken up by Phoebe shortly after Helga left to talk to Arnold.
"I'm going to kill him…" Helga muttered into Arnold's chest, hiding her beet red face.
"Gerald… can we have a moment?" Arnold asked.
"Take all the time you guys need." Rhonda said, pulling Gerald by the ear, "I'll make sure they don't interrupt you again."
Arnold and Helga laughed at the sight of Gerald being led away by the ear, and the rest of the group whispering about the kiss they had just seen. Helga was sure that by tomorrow morning, word would have spread to at least the rest of their friends, but for the moment, she was just happy to be with Arnold.
"Where were we?" she asked, looping her arms around his neck an smiling up at him, his green eyes flashing in the dying firelight.
"I was about to kiss you goodnight…" Arnold said, leaning down to press lips to hers yet again, but this time, when they broke away, he steered her hand and hand back to the beach house where they fell asleep in each other's arms on Arnold's mattress.
Helga was woken up by a sudden chill, and when she groped around her for Arnold's arm, she was surprised to find it missing… she cracked open one eyelid and looked around the room, trying to get a gauge of the time, the clock on the wall said it was almost ten in the morning.
"Shit…" she hissed, trying to make herself get off the comfortable mattress.
"Morning sleepy head." Phoebe said form the doorway, sporting a rather obnoxious grin.
"Phoebe… why are you so happy?" she asked.
"Because it looks like you had a good night." She replied, not even trying to beat around the bush. "Can I ask you something?"
"As long as it doesn't take too much brain power." Helga replied, rolling over to face her friend.
"The ice cream… how did it taste?"
Helga thought about what she had just been asked, then remembered the old code word the two of them had used to describe her secret crush. Helga laughed when she finally figured out what her friend meant.
"Well?" Phoebe pressed, clearly wanting to know the answer.
"Let's just say that it melts in your mouth… not in your hand." Helga replied, blushing.
"I could say the same for you." Arnold said from the doorway, holding a tray with a plate of scrambled eggs and a cup of coffee.
"Arnold!" Helga exclaimed, sitting up in a flash, her face now a deep scarlet color.
"Sorry to interrupt you two ladies… but I thought you might want to get up before Eugene and Rhonda do… I heard from Lila that they wanted to wake us up with air horns this morning…" Arnold said, smiling at the girl he had spent the night with.
"Thanks for the heads up football head…" Helga said, standing up on the cold floor and walking over to give him a light kiss on the cheek, "I'm going to go get washed and dressed… save those for me when I come back down."
"Whatever you say Helga…" Arnold replied, looking into her ice blue eyes, sparkling in the morning light, "I'll wait downstairs."
Helga practically skipped down the hallway to the bathroom, her thoughts on nothing but the boy she had always wanted to be with. They were finally together…
A little clichéd I know… but I think it's cute. What do you think reader? I promise there will be plenty of drama later on in the story… but I think this is a nice way to kick off a new part of their lives.
The next chapter should be up tomorrow, until then…
Happy Living,
musicalreader