Let's Be 'Friends'

Chapter Fourteen: Fearless (Deux)

Arnold had no idea what this movie was about.

He had to watch it for Spanish class and right now some woman was wondering the desert naked after her outdoor shower caught on fire and, oh, she was just picked up onto a horse by a solider or something.

Helga was paying attention, actually, taking notes on the dialogue. She needed to bring her grades up and decided to do it one class at a time. Finals were next week and this was her last chance.

They were on his flip out couch, watching the library's DVD on his laptop set up on his desk. His arm was draped around her shoulder, but other than that they weren't doing anything.

They still hadn't talked about what happened at Brainy's.

He wasn't sure what to say. They had only been intimate for ten weeks as of today (not that he was counting), with at least seven as Friends with Benefits instead of a couple.

He wondered if she had felt pressured that night. Maybe they should have waited. . .he should have stopped or. . .done something else.

He couldn't stop thinking about it. He really needed to, it was distracting to remember her moans and the writhing of her hips or the sound of his name escaping her lips-

No. Focus on the now.

Arnold watched Helga writing notes, her wrist smearing against the ink she'd just put down. Most of it was in English, every once and a while he's see a Spanish word underlined, or with a question mark next to it. Her writing would get messy for a line or two, swirling close against each other as she rushed to take it all in, then it would become even and neat again when there was a lull in plot points.

Arnold's head fell back against the couch. He was definitely bored. He knew he should be taking notes, or at least watching, and preparing for their aural exam on December 15, the Monday before finals started. They'd have tests for the rest of the week all throughout the day, then be free for winter break on the 19th. Maybe it would snow again, instead of just the cold wind.

He felt Helga shift, pulling her legs up to sit cross-legged, leaning her notebook against her other thigh. Her head fell against his side. She began writing furiously again, trying to catch the dialogue.

It was hard to believe it had only been a couple months since Homecoming in late September. It seemed like such a longer amount of time.

Every night he found himself just laying on his bed, staring at the sky. He'd done this millions of times before, almost every night of his life, but his thoughts had moved on from his parents. He accepted their fate early on in high school, but still held onto a small bit of hope. Now his thoughts drifted around colleges and his future and Helga. Sometimes he'd think about becoming an astronomer since he could never stop looking at the sky. Other times he'd consider following his parents profession, or even becoming a doctor, maybe a therapist.

And with Helga, well, he didn't know. He cared about her a lot, he liked her a lot, and every time he thought about his past he'd be overrun with images of Helga. Every time she smiled at him in class before replacing it with a scowl, every nice thing she did or said to him. It made him wonder. . .that gut feeling telling him to say yes to her so long ago had to have gone deeper than curiosity and lust. It just had to be more than that. There was another element in it, another emotion. Maybe he. . .could he actually love her?

Did he?

Then his grandparents would pop up in his mind and that only made his mind cycle back to fourth grade and that one tortured nightmare he'd had about being married to Helga.

But things were different. His feelings had evolved since then.

. . .but love?

Helga stood up suddenly and stretched, bending down to touch her toes and to get blood flow back into her legs. The movie was over and she ejected the DVD.

Helga felt badly about the ending of the movie. The couple finally ended up together after everything, then caught fire during sex. That was literature-turned-movie for you. She felt that the symbolism and deep feelings of passion expressed in words were lost in their acting. But who was she to judge? She'd only had a few minor acting bits in her past.

She wiggled her toes before collapsing on the couch. She looked up at Arnold, laughing as he shifted again and sat up, stretching his arms. He hadn't been paying attention to the movie at all.

Over the past few days, Helga noticed he was zoning out a lot more. It would upset her because she'd be in the middle of saying something and he'd just go blank. Eyes glassy, head nodding randomly. So she started to point it out in fun and torturous ways.

Helga smirked, "I will have sex with you right now if you can tell me the name of one character in the movie."

Arnold started laughing, shaking his head. "I can't."

Helga shrugged, laughing along, "Bummer."

He poked her stomach playfully. "One of these days I might actually win."

"I choose certain moments when I know you're absolutely clueless." She crossed her arms over her chest, "So you'll never win."

"I didn't know the idea of having sex with me was that bad."

Helga's cheeks flared up, jaw dropping a little.

Arnold mentally hit himself. This was not how he wanted to go into this conversation. But he figured he should roll with it, just like everything else that happened with them. Just going with it seemed to work.

The blush had spread from her cheeks and down her neck, splotches appearing on her collar bone. "I. . ."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to just," he groaned and ran his fingers through his hair. "I figured we should talk about it. 'Cause of what happened at Brian's."

"Right, no. . .you're right." She laughed a little, then took a deep breath to collect herself, "I'll try to be adult about this."

"Okay."

Helga rubbed her red neck, pressing her knuckles against the hot skin to cool down. She wanted to laugh, but this was serious. Sex was a serious thing. Which meant Arnold. . .holy shit, he was serious about her.

She couldn't deny that she'd definitely thought about it, considering past events.

Oh, God, this was going to be a difficult conversation. Maybe being blunt was the best way to approach this? Helga took one more deep breath, calming herself. "So, you think we should have sex."

"Eventually, maybe. I don't want you to-"

"Relax, Arnold." Helga smirked, "We're just talking about it. Stop worrying so much."

"I just don't want you to freak out."

"I think you're taking care of that for the both of us."

He chuckled, "I know, but, uh. . ." he cleared his throat, "Lila and I tried to talk about this, but she freaked on me and kicked me out."

"Well, I can't do that, because this is your place." Arnold laughed again, feeling himself relaxing against the couch. Helga looked at him, confused, "Wait, does that mean-"

Arnold nodded, "Still a virgin."

Helga heart was going to beat out of her chest. She really couldn't believe this. If they did have sex in the future. . .holy shit. They'd be each other's firsts. Holy shit. "Huh. I always thought six months was like the time to give it up."

"Well, neither of us were ready. It just didn't feel right." It feels different with you. Right and perfect, he thought.

"Okay. So. . .if it feels right, we'll take the next step."

"When."

"What?"

"It's not an 'if' for me, Helga." Her heart dropped. Arnold bit his lip. That sounded bad. "That's too much pressure, sorry, I just-"

Her hand clamped over his mouth, "Arnold, shut up, you're being an idiot." She slid closer to him, getting into his lap and looking into his eyes. "If it wasn't obvious after homecoming, or after that stupid rain storm, or even at Brian's, I'll make it obvious now: I want you." He smiled behind her hand. "So stop flinching like a little kid at a fireworks show. It's okay. You should feel comfortable telling me anything. Isn't that what you said?" He nodded. "Saying you want to have sex with me and trying to have sex with me are two different things."

Her hand left his mouth and ran through his hair before she gently kissed his cheek.

"Besides, Arnold," she laughed a little as he kissed the hinge of her jaw, "We still gotta work to getting your pants off."

Arnold found her pulse against her neck, making it race slightly as his fingers ran down her back before kissing it's beat. She was getting better at not shying away. She'd become slightly paranoid that his grandpa would burst in, especially since he made suspicious comments. She was really jumpy, probably focusing on their last serious rendezvous. But now this was progress, and he wasn't screwing that up. "There's really no rush."

Helga's head fell back and she laughed again. She pulled back up again, kissing him slowly. His hand had pushed up the end of her t-shirt to just touch her skin, revel in it's softness. "Why are you so perfect?"

"I'm far from it, sweetheart."

"Guilty until proven otherwise."

He laughed, "Isn't it the other way around?"

"Who cares?" she mumbled against his lips, lifting her hips, pressing against his stomach. His head met with her shoulder and he pulled the sleeve back to expose her skin. He kissed along her collar bone, lowering her bra strap with his teeth to continue peppering her with skin with kisses.

He could never get enough of just touching her. She had him completely hypnotized with a simple brush of arm against arm, hand against hand. He never wanted to stop feeling this way.

Hopefully he never would.

Someone's phone started vibrating. He didn't want to stop kissing her, but when the phone rang again she groaned and pulled back. She laid down against Arnold's legs as she felt around the floor for the source of the noise.

It was then she realized she couldn't get enough momentum to get back up. "A little help, Football Head?"

He grinned and kissed her bellybutton, "Does this help?" He pushed up her shirt a little bit more and kissed and licked along the edge of her abdomen. She shrieked and pulled back, body meeting his floor with a dull thud. "Oh, shit, are you okay?" He got down beside her, trying to stop his laugher. She frowned and punched his shoulder. "I'm sorry."

She rubbed the back of her head, "Why am I the one always getting hurt?"

"Because you're kind of a klutz."

Instead of getting up, or calling back whoever left a message, Helga nodded and slid closer to Arnold. She pressed her hand to his chest, feeling his heart beat, while their legs became entangled on the carpet. She shut her eyes and counted her breaths against his heart beat. He kissed her forehead before massaging the back of her head.

She sighed, "I don't want to go."

"You should just start keeping clothes here," he whispered, feeling a little tremble in the back of his throat.

"Kyo and Reba wouldn't allow that. Hell, Phoebe wouldn't either."

"Hasn't Gerald spent the night with Phoebe?"

"No it was at Phoebe's. He slept on the living room couch."

"So, just tell them you wanted to be at your house."

His hand traveled down to the small of her back. Helga slowly relaxed into his touch. She was falling under his spell. The damn bubble was back. She forced a relenting sigh, "Just one more night, okay?"

He felt himself leaning forwards and nuzzling his nose against hers, agreeing with a quick "Okay" before kissing her.

*The movie they watched was Como Agua Para Chocolate (Like Water for Chocolate), based on the novel by Laura Esquivel.