A/N: Awkward talks are my specialty, considering that I go through them everyday...
So i'm here to say that there is more awkward moments, and the awkward moments can become good and bad.
Easter Egg: There's a Pitch Perfect reference, so see if you can find it!
Let me know what you think in the comments section!
Chapter 13
As the school day came to an end, Arnold walked outside to catch the bus, when he saw Helga by the bike rack. "Hey Helga." He tried to remain casual.
She looked up from unlocking her bike and smiled. "Hey Arnaldo."
Arnaldo. She always used to call him that when they dated. He felt reassured. Mixed emotions filled Arnold's heart, he was unsure of what he should say. He didn't even know what he was doing here. He was just drawn to her when he saw her out here after school.
His thoughts ended once a loud sound and a gust of wind flew past them.
"You missed your bus." Helga said, still working on her bike.
"That's okay. I wanted to walk to driver's ed anyway. Mind if I join you?"
Please say yes, please say yes…
She shrugged. "That's fine with me." Helga finished unlocking her bike and said, "Let's hop to it then, football head."
They walked down the sidewalk a little bit, when they saw Mr. Green up the hilly road, who was waving his hand trying to get their attention. Arnold and Helga waved back.
"Hey Arnold! Long time no see! How was San Fransisco? I see that you've been keeping a long distance relationship…" Mr Green said.
Arnold blushed, and looked from Helga to Mr. Green, "San Lorenzo?" Arnold asked, "And no, I haven't been keeping a long distance relationship." He said, rubbing the back of his neck like he used to do as a kid.
"Oh, well I knew you two had a thing before you left." Mr. Green winked at Helga, and she smiled nerviously, "Oh…well…that was…t-that was a long time ago… I'm ummm…I'm surprised you remembered that…heh." She She stammered, and Arnold saw Helga's flustered face.
"It wasn't that long ago. Only two years." Arnold reminded her, a bit ticked that she was pretending to forget their relationship.
"Oh yes. You two were quite the couple. I remember almost everyone in the neighborhood thought you should be together." Mr. Green recalled.
"Do you?" Helga snapped a little too defensively.
"Yep. Anyway, I've got to keep watch over the shop, it was nice seeing you guys! Tell your parents to give me a call!" Mr. Green patted Arnold on the shoulder and whispered into his ear, "Don't let her fool you any longer kid," and walked inside his butcher shop, leaving the two alone in another awkward situation. Helga was blushing, but her brow was crossed and her arms folded over her chest. "What was that all about?" She asked.
"Uh, nothing." Arnold replied.
The response he got was "Whatever," with rolled eyes, and she began to head down the street with Arnold following her.
They walked silently, considering Mr. Green basically ruined any kind of friendly statues they had built up. Arnold wished things could go back to the way they used to be. Happy. Even Helga was happier then. "You used to be so different then." He said abruptly.
"What?" Helga said a bit startled from his sudden outburst.
"You were so nice to everyone after we found my parents. I just wish you could show that side of you again." He confessed.
Helga took his words to heart, but couldn't let him break her exterior, "Yeah, well, life goes on bucko. Sorry I'm not the same person."
"Yeah you are. You just pretend to be one of those girls that are dark and mysterious, but then you take off her glasses and the ear spike and you realize that she was beautiful the whole time."
She felt like her penetrated though her skin with a bullet, but she simply replied, "I don't wear glasses," to keep the wounds from bleeding.
"Then you're halfway there." He smiled that cute, goofy, adorable, nerdy, little smile, and looked right into Helga's eyes, his emerald ones meeting her ocean blue. Almost that he could see right into her soul, right into her thoughts, and right into her heart (which felt like its pounding could be seen from miles away).
"You're a weirdo." Was all Helga could manage to say with a small laugh and a smile.
"Yeah. I am. And so are you," He nudged her shoulder lightly, and she smiled looking into his eyes, and then back to the ground, with her hand on her bike, leading their path to the old elementary school for driver's ed. She completely forgot that, she was too distracted by Arnold. It kinda sucked that they were going to have to end this conversation soon, they were almost at the school. This was the happiest she had felt in a long long time. She could almost feel herself glowing, and she knew Arnold noticed the state of bliss she was in. Almost all her problems had melted away in the little time they spent together, all the problems at home, all the problems at school, and all the problems with the world. Everything just seemed...perfect...
...when the sound of a car on its brakes and a booming stereo playing loud irritating music came from behind them, and they turned around to look for who it was. Wolfgang drove by in his car with Edmond in the backseat, and he turned down the music and rolled the window down. "Hey Helga, need a ride? I can take you over to my place, we can chill." Helga groaned and rolled her eyes, although thankfully Wolfgang couldn't see, "I have driver's ed. I told you this like five time in the last hour. Do you even listen to me speak?" she asked, but then mumbled under her breath, "Nope, all he knows how to do is slobber all over me when he gets the chance." Arnold tried hard not to laugh, because he knew she intended for him not to hear it.
Coming from the backseat, Edmond said, "Huh huh, Wolfgang you're girlfriend's a bitch." And then Wolfgang turned around in the car and shook his head, "Women," he said, then blasted his radio again and drove off, leaving a gush of wind chasing them and blowing onto Arnold and Helga. Arnold turned back to Helga, who looked very bitter.
"Let's go Arnold," Helga took Arnold's hand in one hand, and the other held her bike. She led him a few steps and then let go, leaving him rosy. He needed to talk to her about Wolfgang, so he decided to play it cool to get it out of her. He just couldn't stand the sight of her with him any longer. His desire to comfort her grew so strong it burned, but he didn't want to overstretch his boundaries. "I never liked him, you know?" The words slipped out of his mouth before he could catch them. He braced himself for her reaction, not knowing whether it was going to be a good or bad. That was stupid. That was a stupid thing to say.
She snorted "Tell me about it."
"Sorry it's not my place to talk," Arnold apologized.
"Oh, no. It's fine. I hate him. You know what? Hate isn't strong enough. I think loathe is a better word to use." Helga said.
"Okay, let me get this straight, you hate this guy, haven't gone on an official date, he's bullied you for almost two years now, and, oh yeah, you hate him. Then why are you dating him? I mean, it's kind of stupid to date someone you 'loathe'.'' he quoted with his fingers as they reached the school grounds of PS 118.
"Okay, first of all, I'm not dating him." She began as she locked up her bike outside.
"Yeah, that makes a lot of sense, because, you know you were sucking on his face like a lollipop…" he said sarcastically.
Crap. He thought, What happened to don't overstretch your boundaries?
Her mouth gaped open, "ARNOLD!" she scolded.
"What?" he asked innocently, trying to keep this from escalating even further.
"I do not suck on his face!" she balled up her fist with her free hand, and the knuckles on the other hand holding on to the bike turned white.
"Yeah, you were this morning before the power went out!" He countered before he could stop himself. Stop, stop, right now…you're going off the deep end my friend.
"You know, I don't even want to talk about this anymore. I don't even know why I'm talking to you. We're not even friends."
We're not even friends.
Spoken like ice, freezing him over in his place while she stomped inside.
We're not even friends.
The words were the most painful frostbite.
We're not even friends.
The ones that hurt the most