Chapter 36: How Can I Help?
Four months until the wedding
It was Saturday morning. Arnold and Helga had spent the last two months being both nervous and excited about the wedding. The first two months had been filled with drama about whether or not they were making a huge mistake. Was love enough to make such a big decision at such an early point in their lives?
Finally, they came to the conclusion even if they're dreams were completed right away, what good would they do them if they didn't have anyone there to share them with?
That morning when the two awoke, Arnold asked Helga what she and the girls would be doing to prepare that morning. "Well Princess says today we'll be booking rehearsal dinner venues. You know, negotiating costs. Then Ordering the cake." Helga said, as she rolled over to face him.
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Arnold asked, hoping to take some of the pressure off her. "Well if you and Geraldo want to check the wedding invites to see who all is coming that would be good. Then we can give the list to Princess. She'll need it for the wedding shower." Helga rolled her eyes as the two sat up.
"That day doesn't sound too bad." Arnold insisted, hoping Helga would agree. "With any luck it won't take more than two hours, considering how fast she works. She always seems to have an idea of what she wants for something, whether or not she asks my opinion. If it wasn't for Pheebs, I wouldn't have a say in anything."
The two then went downstairs to see the family eating breakfast. "Hey shortman! Your mom and grandma made some blueberry muffins! They said those over there are Cranberry muffins, but I still don't trust they're not raspberries." Phil pointed out as the kids took a seat at the table.
Arnold grabbed Helga a few as he asked "Which would you like?" She took a blueberry, responding "As long as they're not strawberries, I'll eat them."
Stella looked over, pouring them both some orange juice, as she asked "So, what do you two have planned for today?"
Arnold immediately answered, "Helga is going to order the cake with the girls, and I'm going to see if Gerald wants to help me check the wedding invites."
"Sounds like fun." Miles said as Stella nodded her head in agreement.
Shoving the last of her muffin into her mouth, Helga got up from her seat. "Well I should get going. Don't want Princess to be angry." Helga insisted as she left the table.
As Helga left the house, she saw Phoebe waiting at the end of the steps. "Good morning Helga. How are you?"
"Not bad. Ready to get this over with." she explained as Phoebe had already known the answer.
"So, are you going to continue your choice of the chocolate mousse cake you and Arnold picked out." Phoebe asked as Helga looked at the ground. "Unless Princess decides to make me choose something else."
After a moment of awkward silence, Helga decided to speak up. "So, how are things with you and Geraldo?" Phoebe smiled, surprised at Helga's interest with her relationship. "Things are proceeding well. He's spent much of his free time helping Arnold get ready for the wedding."
"Yeah, that doesn't surprise me. Football head says he wants to help, but he can't do it without help himself." Helga sneered.
They then arrived at Rhonda's house, only she wasn't so quick to open the door this time. "What's taking her so long?" Helga scowled with her arms crossed. "Perhaps she didn't hear us." Phoebe suggested as she was about to knock again. The door then flew open, as they saw Rhonda on the phone. Phoebe made sure to slip in quietly, while Helga could have cared less about interrupting her. The two took their usual seats in the living room until they finally saw Rhonda walking in with the phone down.
"Girls, I have been negotiating the costs for the rehearsal dinner all morning." Rhonda said proudly as Helga sat and thought to herself Then what did you need US for?
"It looks as though we can keep everything under two thousand dollars...all thanks to me of course!" Rhonda placed a hand on her hip as Helga crossed her arms.
"I suppose that leaves us with the morning to research the cakes?" Phoebe suggested as Rhonda smiled "Right you are!"
Rhonda signaled for Helga to take a seat in front of the computer as she slowly dragged herself over to it. Helga found it a bit pointless to be looking at them. She already knew the type of cake she and Arnold wanted for the wedding. The design didn't matter to her. "Well, do you see anything you like?" Rhonda asked, as Helga flipped through the site. Helga kept searching until she saw one that resembled the cake from the menu at Chez Paris. The night she brought her friends to the wrong restaurant, the waiter had offered to bring it to them.
"I guess I'll take this one." Helga said, not giving Rhonda the reason why. Rhonda stared at the way it's dark features lacked the ability to show any type of decorations. For instance, the vanilla creme cakes easily portrayed the flower and heart decorations along the sides of them. As she was about to comment on it, she noticed Phoebe's annoyed face. "Uhh fine. I'll just click here to order. I must warn you however, chocolate is not an easy stain to remove from a white dress!" Rhonda couldn't help but add as Helga ignored the fact that she was indeed a sloppy eater.
After Rhonda had ordered, she noticed Helga continuing to look through the cakes. "Are you having second thoughts? I knew you…." before she could finish however, Helga stopped her to scowl. "No, I'm not having second thoughts! Sheesh! I was just looking to see if it would be possible to order another cake to go with it." Helga explained as Rhonda thought for a moment. "Well, it's a bit unusual, but I suppose it wouldn't be a bad idea. I mean, not everyone will want to stare at that dark non-decorative stack all evening!"
Helga rolled her eyes as she sighed "No, I meant for Arnold and I to share. Later that night." Helga began to blush as Rhonda began to smile. "Ohhhh I see."
Helga then through her face into her hands as she thought to herself I knew I shouldn't have said anything.
"Well let's just click under 'special events'." Rhonda suggested as Helga blushed heavily.
Phoebe patted her friend on the back as she said to Rhonda "Perhaps we should give Helga a bit of privacy?"
"Uhhh fine! Let me know when you've chosen something, so we can order it." Rhonda insisted as she and Phoebe left the room.
Helga sat there flipping through the desserts. She was a bit shocked at what she saw. Rhonda had brought her to an erotic dessert page, when Helga just wanted a simple cake to share with Arnold. Criminy! Princess has gone off the deep end for cripes sake!
Suddenly, Helga saw a simple heart shaped cake. Even better, it was an ice cream cake! She stared at it, thinking about her and Arnold feeding it to each other after the wedding was over. Oh my beloved, is it destiny? For you are the sweetest dessert life could offer me!
Blushing heavily, Helga then called Rhonda over as she pointed and said, "I'll take this one." hoping she would ignore all the other desserts surrounding it. "Again with the simple desserts." Rhonda said shaking her head, as she ordered the cake for Helga.
Meanwhile, Gerald was in Arnold's room making phone calls to check the wedding invites.
"Thanks again for helping with this Gerald." Arnold smiled, as Gerald replied "No problem buddy. Glad you worked things out with your lady!"
"Yeah, I guess this whole event has just made us overthink our feelings from time to time. Deep down, we know we're meant for each other though. Arnold smiled, staring off into space, starting to creep Gerald out a bit.
"Hey Arnold! Snap out of it man!" Gerald exclaimed as Arnold shook his head. "Oh sorry, who's left on the list?"
"Just one person. Helga's favorite sister." Gerald said sarcastically, as Arnold sighed, picking up the phone.
Ring...Ring...Ring…
"Hello?"
"Hey Olga. It's Arnold."
"Oh! Arnold!"
"Yeah, umm I just wanted to make sure you were coming to the wedding shower next month and the wedding in May?"
"Of course! Don't worry, I'm still working on mommy and daddy!"
"Okay, well we'll be meeting at 'The Knot' at 6 am on May 31 to drive to the wedding."
"Oh goody!"
"I have to go."
"Bye."
As Arnold hung up the phone, rubbing his neck, Gerald shook his head. "Mm..mm..mmm! That family of hers!"
"Yeah, but at least everyone's coming. Now I can just text Rhonda and tell her nothing's changed." Arnold picked up his phone as Gerald replied "Well, at least there's a bright side to all of this."
Back at Rhonda's house, Rhonda had taken Helga's place at the computer, while she was sitting on the couch, trying not to blush too heavily. Suddenly Rhonda received a text. "I wonder who that could be."
Only one way to find out! Helga thought to herself.
"It's Arnold!" Rhonda exclaimed as Helga looked up, wondering what he could be texting her about." "Apparently, everyone is coming to the shower and wedding. This is perfect! Now we won't have to make any changes." Rhonda said excitedly as Helga thought to herself Yeah, we wouldn't want to make things more difficult for you!
"Well girls, I think that's all we need done for today. Tomorrow, we can go shopping for your wedding shoes and start scheduling your makeup artists!" Rhonda said nearly jumping for joy, as Helga headed for the door.
"Thank you for the help Rhonda. We are quite looking forward to tomorrow." Phoebe insisted, as she followed Helga out the door.
When the two of them made it outside, Phoebe turned to Helga "I can't help but ask why you were so embarrassed about ordering a second cake to share with Arnold?"
Helga's eyes widened as she turned to snap at her friend "Phoebe! Did you not see the page she got that cake off of?! I wasn't looking for anything sexual! If I had been, I wouldn't have let HER of all people know about it! I just wanted something to make the night special. I've really screwed up these past couple of months. Like you said, marriage is about sacrifices. I haven't been fair to Arnold." Helga's voice began to calm as she looked at the ground.
"It's okay Helga. Preparing for something this extreme isn't easy. It's perfectly normal to overthink things." Phoebe pointed out as Helga looked at her.
"Thanks Pheebs. You want to see if the guys want to grab a burger?" Helga suggested as they headed towards the boarding house. "Sounds delightful!" Phoebe replied.
Back in Arnold's room, Gerald was just about to head on his way home when he received a text.
"Who's that from?" Arnold asked curiously.
"Phoebe wants to know if we want to get a burger with her and Helga?" Gerald asked as Arnold immediately stood up. "Sounds great!"
"They're going to the steakhouse. I guess we can meet them over there." Gerald guessed as Arnold replied. "No, tell them to come back here, then we can all drive over together!"
Gerald went with the plan as he saw Arnold scatter to get ready. "Man, what's your hurry? They're not even here yet?" he asked, as Arnold began to blush. "Uhh sorry, I'm just...hungry."
Shaking his head in disbelief, he replied "Whatever you say Arnold."
The two went downstairs to see Phil sitting in his rocker in the living room. "Hey grandpa!" Arnold nearly shouted. "Hey shortman! What are you boys up to?" Phil asked.
"We're going to dinner with Helga and Phoebe at the Steakhouse. Can we borrow the car?" Arnold asked with pleading eyes.
"Hmmm….okay. But I don't want to wake up tomorrow and find that Pataki character left another dent in it! I'm not watchin' anymore golf videos!" Phil exclaimed as Arnold rolled his eyes. "Uhh right grandpa."
As the two of them left the boarding house, the girls were approaching the door. "Hey football head! Ready to eat?" Helga asked with her hands on her hips. "Yeah, let's go! Gerald and Phoebe watched Arnold practically yank Helga over to the driveway.
"What's got Arnold so excited?" Phoebe asked, still standing by the steps with Gerald. "I don't know. He's been acting that way ever since you and Helga were on the way back to the boarding house."
"Perhaps we should give them their privacy, and go eat somewhere ourselves? Afterall, we haven't had much time to spend alone together." Phoebe suggested, doing her best not to blush.
Gerald then walked over to Arnold's side of the car as he explained "Hey Arnold, I think Phoebe and I are going to go back to my place. We haven't had much time to spend alone together lately. I'm sure you and Helga would like to do the same." he said, winking at his best friend.
Arnold smiled as he replied, "Okay, see you later Gerald."
Watching them pull out, Phoebe wondered "I wonder what it is he has to tell her?" Gerald stood there shrugging his shoulders as he replied "Whatever it is, I'm sure we'll be hearing about it tomorrow!"
As Arnold drove his soon to be wife to the restaurant, Helga couldn't help but notice he was on the virge of breaking the speed limit. "Sheesh football head! What's your rush? It's dinner, not 'dessert'" she couldn't help but laugh at her own joke as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, um sorry Helga. I've just kind of got big news for both of us."
She sat quietly the rest of the ride, wondering what that could be. When they parked, she expected to be dragged out of the car and up to the door. Instead, he came around and calmly opened it for her. Guess all I had to do was point out his paranoia
The two then walked to the front door as they waited to be seated. Arnold noticed her searching the place as he couldn't help but say "Don't worry, I'm sure your family's not here."
"Pttss...Of course not, it gave him a heart attack, remember?" she said wittingly as the two were then taken to a booth.
After ordering some Yahoo sodas, Helga watched Arnold go from anxious to nervous. She took a sip of her drink as she examined him just staring at the table. Finally, she broke the silence by saying "You gonna tell me what this big news is, or is it just that you've learned to drive faster than you can speak?"
He looked up blushing, realizing he had gotten lost in his thoughts. "Oh, sorry Helga. I didn't mean to space out on you."
"Sure you didn't, football head." she said, raising part of her eyebrow.
Leaning forward on the table, he took a deep breath and began explaining. "Well, I sort of have big news for both of us. After you left this morning, I got two phone calls. One from Dr, Bliss, the other from Dino Spumoni."
Helga sat there thinking I'm sure Bliss has just decided to help him out with a job and some training as far as his major goes. What could either of them be doing to help me out?
"You probably already guessed Dr. Bliss called to tell me she agreed to train me next summer. Also find a starting position for me, just to learn some things about my major." Arnold began.
Bingo! Helga thought to herself as she smiled "Sounds great Arnoldo!"
"Yeah, but I have some even bigger news for you. I hope it makes you happy." he said as he nervously rubbed his arm on the table. Her eyes widened as she snapped, "Well, spit it out! I haven't got all night!"
"When Dino called to tell me about the music, he asked if I was excited about the wedding. I couldn't help but tell him things had been a bit hectic between us lately." Arnold began
"Of course not, being the honest person you are." Helga scoffed.
"Well, when I told him we had gone back and forth with deciding if getting married to early would hold each other back from fulfilling our dreams, he asked what your's were." Arnold gulped as Helga set her drink down. She wasn't one to pass out personal information.
"When I told him you had always been interested in journalism or some type of government job" Helga blushed at this "he offered to pull some strings with the mayor for an internship. Your grades more than qualify you for it. That is if you're interested in a government major?"
Arnold was shaking by the time he finished, not knowing what her reaction would be. On the one hand, he had passed out personal information between the two of them. Given out details about her personal interests to people who barely knew her. On the other, he was helping to make her dream job happen.
He looked across the table. The only look of reassurance he had was how her eyes went from wide and nervous to half lidded and dreamy…
Oh my love...so kind and giving! Even in a two way commitment such as marriage, you make sure to see I'm the one who remains happy!
"So, what do you think?" he couldn't help but ask, knowing what he was probably interrupting.
She shook her head as she laid her hand on top of his. "That sounds amazing!" she couldn't help but shout, as she leaned across the table to kiss him. The two were then interrupted by the waitress. "Here are your burgers and fries! If you need anything else, just let me know!"
Helga dove right in as Arnold began picturing their life together. Her one day becoming a government official while he worked in the medical field. Then the two of them sharing romantic evenings together, and one day, even having a kid to go along with it.
"We should have these burgers at the wedding! I've gotten to the point where I could care less what Princess thinks." Helga explained, with her mouth half full.
"By the way, how'd today go ordering the cake?" he asked as she set her food down. "Oh man, get this! I picked out our mousse cake, and she starts ranting about the color clashing with how decorative it should be! Sheesh."
"Sounds like something she'd say." Arnold admitted. "Yeah, then when I decided to pick out another cake for us, she takes me to some crazy erotic page. What a weirdo!" Helga exclaimed as Arnold blushed.
"What did you want a second cake for?" he asked as she rolled her eyes. "I just thought it would be nice for us to share when we were alone later that night. That's all!"
Giving her his half lidded eyes, he asked "What kind of cake is it?" She began to stare at her plate, as she replied "A heart shaped ice cream cake."
Seeing her blush, he reached over to rub her hand "I really do make you think of ice cream don't I? Should that be my nickname when we're married?"
"I think I'll stick with football head." she smirked, taking back her hand to finish her burger.
When the two finished dinner, they headed back to the car. "Try not to break the speed limit this time Arnoldo!" Helga insisted as he started the car.
"Whatever you say Helga!" Arnold replied, shaking his head at her.
The two sat quietly on the way back home. Arnold full of relief Helga was happy with his news. Helga once again feeling undeserving of his love.
When the two pulled up in the driveway, Arnold looked over to see the puzzled expression on her face. "Are you okay?" She looked up with troubled eyes. "I'm fine, it's just…"
"What?" He asked anxiously grabbing her hands. "That was an amazing thing you did for me! You keep making sacrifices for me. I don't feel like I deserve you." she replied, her eyes watering.
"Of course you do! You've looked out for me in more ways than I can count." he replied as he began kissing her sad lips. Tears began to stream down her face as he wiped them away, not breaking away from her lips.
Pulling away, he saw her let out a weak smile. "Well if that's the case, don't be expecting too much from me after we're married. I did all my good deeds when we were kids." she said, letting herself out of the car, as he said once more, "Whatever you say Helga."