Helga stepped into the stoop of the boarding house. She opened the door and walked in, somehow knowing that it was unlocked. Taking her first steps, she carefully walked in and looked around. No one was there, but she heard noises coming from the kitchen, almost as if someone was cooking. She then walked into the kitchen and saw someone there, confirming that the person was indeed cooking something. Whatever the person was cooking, it smelled good. Curiously, and in order to get a better look at the figure, Helga walked into the kitchen.
At first, the figure was a mere shadow, given that the kitchen was entirely dark, giving Helga to ponder just how this person was able to cook under such circumstances. She quietly walked in, but then the floor creaked, just as she put her foot on the floor, prompting her to stop and nervously look at the person.
"Helga?" The figure asked, but with the room still dark, it was impossible for Helga to see if the the figure even turned around. However, she didn't need to see him/her.
That voice...Helga thought.
"Arnold?" She asked.
Finally, the room brightened, revealing an teenage Arnold Shortman, in the kitchen, with an apron on, cooking. He came back home.
"Welcome home, Helga." Arnold said with a bright smile.
Helga meanwhile, said nothing, completely stunned at what she was seeing. There was so many emotions that she was experiencing at that moment, that she was unable to even respond; happiness, relief, confusion, hesitation.
"It's ok, Helga. I'm back." Arnold said, as he turned around to face her. "And I'm never leaving you again." He then opened his arms,
Finally, no longer taking it, Helga, with almost tears in her eyes, ran up to Arnold and hugged him tight.
"You're-You're back. I've missed you...so, so much." She said tearfully.
What seemed like many minutes, it was only almost a minute of them both hugging each other.
"I've missed you too." Arnold said.
"But when did you get back? How? Did you managed to transfer to a high school here?" She asked.
"It doesn't matter now." He responded. "I'm back now, with you, and that's all that matters."
Both continued to just hug each other, not wishing for either of them to let go.
"Here, I made you dinner." Arnold finally said, letting her go, but still holding on to her hand.
"Oh Arnold..." She said as she wiped a tear from her eye. "You shouldn't have."
"Please." Arnold offered and he gently lead Helga towards the kitchen table. There was a lighted candle, with a red rose inside a flower vase. A typical, but romantic environment.
Helga said nothing and with a smile, allowed Arnold to guide her to sit down. He then went back to the kitchen, gathered their plates, then went back to the table and put the plates on the table. It was a nice, cooked meal. Steak, with mashed potatoes and vegetables.
"Well, well, well. You've really outdone yourself, football head. I'm impressed." She said.
The two then proceeded to eat their dinner without uttering an sound and just enjoy each other's company. Helga was still especially immersed in it, happily staring at Arnold constantly as they both continued to eat, giving him loving glances throughout the evening.
*sighed* She sighed.
After finishing their dinner, both then made their way into the living room, where they both just quietly and lovingly sat on the couch, hugging each other. Arnold lied at one end of the couch, with Helga leaning in front of him, allowing Arnold to wrap his arms around her and holding each other's hands.
"I still can't believe you're back." Helga commented as she snuggled with him.
"I know. I'm so sorry for ever leaving you, Helga." Arnold said. "It was a dumb mistake to have ever tried to leave you. I've been regretting it every day."
"It's done now. You are here and that's all that matters." Helga said with a loving smile on her face.
Finally, after all these years, Helga can truly say that she was happy, so, so happy. Whatever struggles she went through, it all seemed to be in the past now.
"By the way," Helga asked. "where is everyone?"
But Arnold did not answer.
"Arnold?" Helga gently called out, but again Arnold didn't say anything.
"Hey, I was asking you a que..." Helga began to say when she turned around, but saw that Arnold had completely disappeared.
"Arnold? Arnold? Arnold!" Helga frantically called out, but again no answer.
Getting worried, she got up and started walking around house, trying in vain to find him.
"Arnold, Where are you?!" She called out.
As she anxiously ran around the house, calling out his name, Helga began to notice that the house was...disappearing. Replacing the walls and ceilings with darkness, Helga began to grow increasingly worried, realizing that Arnold has left her...again.
"Arnold! Please, don't leave me!" She tearfully called out to him, but again no answer.
The boarding house slowly continued its disappearance until it was only her, alone in absolute darkness, with no one to hear her. Realizing just how alone she was now, Helga fell into despair and began to cry, tears running down her cheeks and falling without hitting any ground. The cold, hard truth permeating her entire body, Helga felt utterly alone, cold, insignificant...dead.
"ARNOLD, PLEASE COME BACK!" She screamed into the darkness.
*GASP*
Helga instantly woke up, breathing heavily and frantically looking around to see where she was. She was sweating. After a few seconds, she realized she was in her own house, inside her room, on her bed. Once she regained some composure, she realized what had happened; she was dreaming. She then looked at her clock and saw that it was 3 a.m.
Ugh, not again. She groaned in thought. It's too early to think about this right now.
Still feeling rather sleepy, Helga then lied back down and attempted to get some sleep.
Four hours later...
By the time Helga woke up again, it was 7 a.m...on a Sunday.
"You've got to be kidding me..." She groaned as she pulled her covers on top of her head, hoping to be able to get back to sleep.
After trying for almost twenty minutes, she realized that it was futile and grudgingly got up from bed. Helga went to her mirror to see her reflection and saw a grumpy teenage girl who hadn't sleep well. No worse, her grumpiness was slowly giving away towards anger, frustrated about the dream that she had.
This was the third dream that she had about Arnold in the past two weeks and Helga was utterly frustrated, if not just confused.
What gives? She thought. Why am I having these dreams about Arnold again?
After brushing her hair a bit, Helga then went back to her bed to think about all of this.
"Crimeny, this is seriously confusing me!" She exclaimed. "Why am I having these dreams again? I thought they went away when I got together with Rodrigo. I haven't had any of them until about two weeks ago. Why?!"
"Ever since we've started dating, I've felt myself being more and more drawn to Rodrigo." She continued to talk to herself. "Well, at least I think I've felt being more and more drawn to him. That's gotta count for something! With each passing day, I've been thinking less and less of that football head. Heck, there were even times when days went by that I don't think of him at all! So why all of a sudden have I been dreaming about him? "
Helga rubbed eyes and forehead as she thought more and more into this, but she was kidding herself. She knew full well what the reasons were; she just didn't want to admit it to herself. Realizing that it was futile, Helga simply dropped her arms and gave out a defeated sigh.
"I'm still in love with him..." She softly admitted to herself.
It's true, ever since she started dating Rodrigo, Helga had been thinking less and less about Arnold. At first, it was only minor instances, with on some occasions having to force herself to not think about him. But as she spent more and more time with Rodrigo, she found herself slowly replacing her focus and thoughts from Arnold to him. She even recently stopped fantasizing about him. But that did not mean that she was yet out of the water. She still thought about Arnold. She already knew it was going to take a while before she would completely get him out of her system. What was bothering her was that up until recently, she thought she was making progress! Now she felt that these recent dreams were a step backward in the opposite direction.
Not feeling any good about herself, Helga just groaned at the fact that she was now questioning her decision in being with Rodrigo, hence putting the Latino kid's heart at risk of breaking it.
"Maybe going out with him wasn't a good idea." She said sadly. "I still have feelings for another person; how is that fair to Rodrigo? Maybe I should have just taken Arnold's offer to go to San Lorenzo with him. Why didn't I take that offer? I mean, what compelled me to actually say 'NO' to him? Heck, even he was surprised when I declined his offer."
Helga didn't have any doubts in her heart and mind that she liked Rodrigo, a lot. She felt it before they got together and she was feeling it now that she was with him. The problem laid in that her feelings for Arnold were still stronger than her feelings for Rodrigo and she was now afraid that her feelings might go back to loving only Arnold, thereby abandoning Rodrigo to his fate.
Yet, as much as she was questioning her decision to be with Rodrigo, she was determined to see this relationship succeed, albeit with some reluctance.
"I know I like Rodrigo a lot, so there should be no reason why I should break up with him." She said to herself. "Arnold is not here and he has made no indication that he will ever come back. Quite the opposite, in fact. Rodrigo is here and unlike Arnold, Rodrigo is willing to be with me. And I am will...no, I want to be with him."
As determined as she may sound, Helga still slumped back into her bed, knowing that not even she was 100% convinced about this enterprise. There was just too many ifs and buts for her to not ignore.
"At least one of us is confident in this relationship." She tried to reassure herself.
Later in the day...
Rodrigo stepped out of his house, ready to go for a jog. It was a beautiful Sunday late morning and Rodrigo was looking forward to jogging at the park. Although still a bit chilly, he was prepared. Wearing a sweater and sweat pants, he was confident that was all he needed. That and bottled water. Taking a deep breath to smell the sweet, but polluted, urban air of spring, he then put his headphones on and began to head to the park.
It took a while for him to get there, but using that distance as an opportunity, he decided to begin his jog early and started jogging while still on the pavement. That made things a bit better, as he arrived at the park in no time.
As he entered the park, Rodrigo was amazed at how alive everything was. The flowers were just beginning to sprout, the grass was growing and the leaves were just coming out from the trees. The park was coming alive with very slow, but much activity. Rodrigo even saw some squirrels and a gopher coming out from their homes. Feeling satisfied, Rodrigo took his jog with full force.
After 30 minutes of jogging, he stopped next to a tree to catch his breath. While breathing heavily, he took out his bottled water, opened it and drank. After consuming enough water, he put his bottle away and leaned on the tree to rest a bit, with his palm touching the trunk. It was then when he felt a scrap on that very trunk. Then he felt another scrap. At first, it didn't register to Rodrigo what it exactly it was, but as he continued to unconsciously fiddle his fingers with it, he realized that those scraps contained a pattern. Curiously, he turned around to see what it was and saw that there was a carving on that tree.
It wasn't just any carving. It was the carving of a heart with two names inside it. Rodrigo would have probably thought that it was a typical, love induced couple carving their names on the tree, had it not been for the two names he recognized! Upon reading it, his heart sank.
"Arnold + Helga 4ever..."
Rodrigo took his time and examined the romantic carving with both his eyes and his hands. Upon feeling it and glancing at it whenever his hand went, he noticed just how painstakingly it was carved, with small little designs on it, giving it an artistic feeling to it. Even the names were carved out pretty well. He realized that the carving was made out of love, dedication, patience and endurance. Just like them...Almost immediately, Rodrigo began to feel down.
No longer desiring to continue his jog, he just walked to a bench that was nearby, slumped down and thought about what he just saw. Almost immediately, the same emotions that he experienced back in March were resurfacing; sadness and guilt.
I don't know why that carving is affecting me. He thought. Helga made it very clear that she wants to be with me. I gave her the opportunity to be with Arnold and she still refused! She chose me over Arnold. It's over, it's done now, it's in the past...isn't it? I mean, I know she hadn't yet exactly moved on, but things have been going pretty well between us and it's not like Helga has been having any second thoughts about us...does she?
Rodrigo didn't know the answer to that. Ever since Arnold left back in March, both teens made it a point to not really discuss, nor even mention Arnold within their presences, unless it was necessary. Rodrigo had understood that despite Helga choosing to be with him, she still harbored strong feelings for Arnold and it would take some time for her to completely get over him. Although Helga seemed genuinely glad to be with him and had not been showing any indication of regret, he still couldn't be a 100% sure of that.
Yet surprisingly, that didn't bother him. What was bothering him was that he never came to terms with his own guilt in coming between Arnold and Helga. Even now, he still felt he had somehow trifled with something that was deterministic, with something that was destined to happen, but then was abruptly interrupted and diverted by him. In other words, he felt he shouldn't be with Helga. It wasn't that he thought he didn't deserve her. No. He just thought that he shouldn't be with Helga; that somehow their feelings for each other was a form of forbidden love that was never supposed to have happened. Until now, he was able to simply repressed such feelings, but seeing that carving now had ignited such guilt back into consciousness and it was making him feel really down.
Maybe I shouldn't have given in so easily to her. He thought. Perhaps I should have been more assertive and just pushed Helga harder to be with Arnold. I just...I like her a lot, but I just don't think I'll ever be good enough to make her as happy as she would have been with Arnold...
Seeing as how his jog was now ruined, he decided to head back home and hoped to forget about the carving.
The Next Day...
Monday came and Rodrigo did not feel any better. The entire day on Sunday he felt bothered by what he saw and had hoped that it would go away by Monday, but much to his frustration, it did not. As he rolled into school, he still felt the sense of guilt weighing heavily over him, followed by a sense of sadness, a sadness that induced him to think that he shouldn't be with Helga, let alone enjoy it. As he walked towards his locker, he continued thinking about why that carving was bothering him so much and why he felt guilty about dating Helga. Rodrigo gave her the chance to be with Arnold, but Helga refused and chose to be with him. If anything, Helga should be the one to feel guilty, not him, and yet he still felt guilty about it.
Rodrigo approached his locker and semi-consciously, he opened it and prepared to gather all of his belonging for the morning classes. He was so consumed with his thoughts that as he closed his locker, he did not notice someone standing behind his locker door.
"Morning!" Helga yelled.
"Ah!" Rodrigo shouted, startling him so much that he jumped backwards and fell down to the floor.
"Hahahahaha, oh man you are so easy to scare, Latino boy!" Helga said as she laughed and leaned on the lockers, trying not to fall down to the ground in laughter. "I thought you would have learned by now, but I guess I still have that tendency to make you jump! Hahaha."
Students that were around them stopped what they were doing and looked at the couple when they heard Helga scare Rodrigo. However this time, none laughed and merely went about going on with their business.
"Oh, hey Helga." Was all Rodrigo said sadly as he slowly got up.
His somber and sad tone prompted Helga to immediately stop laughing and instantly replace her facial expression with a worried look.
"Hey, you ok?" She asked.
"Huh? Yeah, I am, just tired. Didn't sleep well last night." He lied.
Helga gave him a suspicious look. "Really? Was your brain 'active' all night like last time?" She asked him suspiciously with her arms crossed.
"Ya, something like that." He responded back nonchalantly, not really bothering in coming up with a good excuse for his mood.
Helga knew that response. It indicated to her that Rodrigo was not in the mood to discuss what was bothering him...yet. Although wanting to know how she can help him, she decided to let him be...for now.
"Alright, if you say so." She shrugged as she grabbed his hand and attempted to walk to her class. Rodrigo followed suit, albeit a bit slower.
"Hey, hurry up and walk faster. I don't want to be late for class." She said to him.
"Right, sorry Helga." Rodrigo said and started walking up to speed.
Throughout the day, Rodrigo tried very hard not to show that something was bothering him. He didn't have any explanation to offer to Helga or their friends, so he opted to stay quiet about it and just hope it would go away soon. However, Helga knew him better than he gave her credit for and noticed that whatever was bothering him, it still lingered in his mind. But as long as it wasn't causing any serious issues, she opted to stay out of it.
By Tuesday, things did not improve and by now Rodrigo was getting highly annoyed with his melancholy. The only good news that he had about all of this was that he was able to organize his thoughts and set his emotions straight in order to make it intelligible about what he was feeling. The issue was now what to do about it and whether or not tell Helga.
Since they started dating, Helga had been very careful not to mention Arnold around him, for fear of aggravating him. It suited Helga just fine because she was not willing to do or say anything that would remind her of her former beloved football head. Nor did she make any kind of direct or indirection comparisons between Rodrigo and Arnold.
Yet, Rodrigo was no fool and knew that Helga sometimes thought about him. He could tell. Whenever someone mentioned his name, or if they saw a picture of him, Helga would either cringe or become instantly nervous, if not turn her attitude a bit sour. But other than that, nothing serious. Yet, it was one thing if it bothered Helga. It was completely another thing if it bothered Rodrigo and he wasn't sure how she would take it.
By the time Wednesday rolled around, Helga could no longer stand seeing him like this and decided to speak with him right after school.
Ugh! What's wrong with this kid? She thought annoyingly. He has been acting really weird lately. He has been really quiet and has been really distracted lately, not listening to what either our friends or I have to say, forcing us to repeat what we just said to him and I hate having to repeat myself! I don't care if he doesn't want to talk about what's bothering him, but coming after school we're going to talk about this! This is getting annoying!
Helga stayed true to her word. Once school ended, all the students were making their way towards the bus lane to go home. Rodrigo and the gang were already there, waiting. Just then, Helga arrived and tapped Rodrigo on the shoulder.
"And where are you going?" She asked him.
"Uh, home?" Rodrigo rhetorically responded back.
"No you're not. We have to talk." She firmly said.
"What, now?" He asked.
"Yes, now." She said. "Let's take a walk."
Despite his reservations, he nevertheless listened to her and started walking with her.
"Uh oh. I reckon Rodrigo is in trouble." Stinky remarked.
"Ya. It must be really bad. Helga is pulling off a classic Old Yeller scene; taking him to the park where she will put him out of his misery." Said Sid.
"Well, it was nice knowing Rod." Said Stinky.
The two teens walked quietly alongside each other, not uttering a word. Helga wanted to be clear enough away from anyone and of any distractions and so opted to walk silently for a bit. Rodrigo for his part was not willing to open up the conversation and was enjoying the silence; anything that delayed the inevitable. Actually, while they were walking, he was hoping to find some sort of excuse to not talk about what had been bothering him, but unluckily for him, he wasn't able to figure out anything.
After walking a bit more, well into the park that was close by the school, Helga stopped walking and began.
"Alight, spill it. What's been bugging you?" Helga bluntly asked him.
"Nothing has been bugging me." Rodrigo responded back.
"Don't play dumb with me, Latino boy." She firmly said to him with a frowning face. "I'm not stupid. It's been obvious that for the past three days something has been bothering you. Now I was willing to stay out of it, but seeing as how you are still whimpering over it, which is now starting to annoy the crap out of me, it's time to talk."
Realizing that it was useless to argue about this, and not wanting to lie to her, he relented.
"Ok, ok." He said. "I umm...I saw something at the park on Sunday."
"Ok...what?" She asked curiously.
"I...I went jogging at the park close by our neighbourhood and...well...I saw the carving that you and Arnold had made on a tree." He confessed.
The news completely stunned Helga and began to stare at Rodrigo with wide open eyes. Clearly remembering the memories of the day, it all of a sudden came flooding back, even the memories of when she would often go to the park to look at it after Arnold left Hillwood, painfully recalling the memories of when they were together. However, despite this, she tried to remain unfazed by it and just focused on Rodrigo. Although she could understand why something like that can bother him, she couldn't understand why it was having such a profound effect on him.
"Ok, and that bothered you?" She asked.
"Yeah." Rodrigo softly responded back.
Helga, not liking where this was going, was starting to regret asking him about this, but nevertheless, push forward.
"Please don't tell me that you are jealous." She said.
"No, I'm not jealous." Rodrigo said, much to Helga's relief.
Phew! She thought.
"I mean, I thought it was jealousy, but I realized that it wasn't. I feel sad and guilty." He said.
"That doesn't make any sense, Rodrigo." She said to him with a confused look on her face. "Why would you feel sad and guilty about my history with Arnold? If anything, I'm the one who should be feeling sad and guilty."
"I'll level you Helga," He said, "I never really came to terms about how I came between you and Arnold. I was never ok with that."
When Helga just continued to stare at him and said nothing back, Rodrigo continued.
"Initially, I just sucked it up and continued by repressed these feelings and for a while I thought it worked. But when I saw that carving on the tree, everything came back up again and I haven't been able get it out of my head. I know you made it clear to me that you want to be with me, but I can't help but still feel that I somehow came in between something that no one was suppose to."
"Despite it all, I still feel that you and...Arnold are meant to be together." He nervously continued, knowing full well that he was virtually entering a minefield. "And I feel I destroyed any chance of you two getting back together again. It just makes me feel guilty and remorseful. I don't know why I feel this way, I just do."
"And..." He hesitated, unsure if he should even continue.
"And...?" Helga said with a raised eyebrow.
"And, I don't think that what we have will ever measure up with what you had with Arnold. I'm not saying that I'm trying to be like Arnold, nor am I saying that I want our relationship to be the same as how yours was with Arnold. Our is different. That's expected that I'm alright with that. It's just that I don't think I can measure up to the same expectation in order to make you happy, as happy as you felt when you were with him."
"I'm sorry Helga, but you asked what was bothering me this whole week, so I gave it to you. When we started dating you asked me to always be honest with you. So, here I am, being honest about how I feel about this. I know it's not really what you wanted to hear, but I didn't want to lie to you." He continued.
Helga said nothing and stared at Rodrigo in complete disbelief. She was speechless. She didn't really know what to say to him. Rodrigo too just watched her in silence, anxiously waiting for any kind of reaction from her, all awhile hoping that she wouldn't take this the wrong way. Then, he saw a change and it was what he feared. Helga's stunned and disbelief look gave way to a furious, scowling face.
I really can't catch a f****** break, can I? She angrily thought. It's bad enough that I have to deal with trying to get over Arnold, but now it is bothering him, and for noble reasons! Why do I always fall for these selfless guys?!
Helga's entire demeanour quickly changed and she looked ready to explode. Her piercing blue eyes looked like daggers, ready to slice up its victim. Rodrigo, rather disappointedly, was expecting this and was already preparing for the worst. He braced himself for the upcoming eruption. However, instead of her scoffing at him, he instead heard her say,
"Just...hold on..." She said, trying to restrain herself from exploding at him with full fury. "Just give a minute." Helga then turned around, closed her eyes and started her breathing exercise while gently rubbing both sides of her head, right behind the eyes.
Rodrigo was rather surprised by this and although he made no attempt to interrupt her, he couldn't help but look at her with a mixing sense of surprise, relief and joy on his face. He had expected her usual response; a mixture of insensitive remarks, followed by a stern face and telling him to just 'suck it up' and move on. Instead, here she was, trying to restrain herself from making such inconsiderate, if not just rude remarks, and just have an actual conversation with him, trying to see his side of this.
That is exactly what Helga was trying to do. She wanted to avoid repeating some of the mistakes that she had committed when she was with Arnold. One of them was her stubborn disdain for people who whimpered or coward in front of barriers or adversities, especially non-threatening ones in their lives, thereby ridiculing them without considering their feelings about those matters or topics. Although this was not a common occurrence, it was enough to force Arnold to intervene, disapprove of her behaviour and attempt to convince Helga to see their point of view, a factor that sometimes resulted in them butting heads. She knew this resulted from her unwillingness to see how other people might be feeling. Her usual tendency was to just toughen it out and anyone who did otherwise, she viewed them essentially as weak. Yet with time and patience, Arnold was able to turn Helga around and got her to see the need to be more considerate of other people's feelings. Arnold had to consistently explain to her that people are very different from each other, with various degrees of strengths and weaknesses. A person whimpering or cowering did not mean an overall sign of weakness, but as a sign of an inability to deal with it. Arnold explained that instead of ridiculing them, she should instead help them achieve that skill that they lack so they can actually deal with the issue.
This was a key lesson that Helga never forgot, although the lesson was a two-way process. Arnold in turn, learned that at times it was necessary for someone to be tough on the person who was cowering away at a barrier or challenge. Like Arnold, Helga had to consistently explain to him that sometimes being considerate and nice were not enough. Sometimes a good kicking in the butt and a scoff were needed in order to instill the necessary level of determination and will to overcome it.
Rodrigo anxiously looked on, hoping Helga would be able to calm down enough so they can talk instead of argue. He didn't have to wait long. Soon enough, Helga turned around again.
"Ok, let me get this straight." She began calmly. "You feel bad over a break up that you didn't make, but feel you aggravated it by going out with me?" she asked him.
Rodrigo nodded.
"That's sweet of you." She said to him. "Stupid, but sweet."
Helga then just sighed at this whole situation. As much as she felt exasperated by Rodrigo's seemingly selfless guilt, she couldn't really be that mad at him, especially if this had also been bothering her.
"I have a confession to make." She said rather nervously. "You weren't the only one who has been thinking about this."
When Rodrigo said nothing, she continued.
"For the past two weeks, I have been having these dreams about Arnold. They are romantic dreams; dreams of him and I getting together or being together. I'm not sure what the status is with us in my dream, but when I am in them, it is irrelevant."
Rodrigo took a took big gulp when he heard this, almost as if he was swallowing not just his pride, but his heart. Yet, he remained silent and allowed Helga to continue.
"These dreams aren't new. I've always had them. When we got together, they kind of disappeared and I was happy, thinking that I finally got rid of them and that I was getting over Arnold.'"
Helga then stopped and looked toward her side, almost shamefully and sadly, at the park. What she had to say next, she was finding it hard to say and was scared as to how Rodrigo would react. After a few moments, she turned back to face him.
"The man of my dreams, the man whom I always thought I would end up getting married to and have a future with, was Arnold. So, I would be lying if I said that I don't think about him still. My only reassurance about us is that those thoughts have lessened a lot since we started dating. Before, I used to think about him every, single, day. Now, it's very now and then, but I still think about him."
"So...where does this leave us?" Rodrigo asked. "Should we even continue this relationship?"
"For me, I just need more time to get over him." She said, trying to reassure him. "I know it may take awhile, but I am confident that I can break it. If I wasn't so sure, I never would have told you that I like you. Never. I didn't get into this relationship because this was a 'second choice'. I got into it because you mean something to me, something very important, someone whom I want to be with, so much so that I said no to the man of my dreams when he offered to get back together with me. I can't really explain why I did it. I still don't know what compelled me to say no to Arnold and be with you. All I know is that I want to be with you and since we have been dating, I have been really happy in this relationship, even thought I may not act like it." She continued with a small smile.
"I'll admit," She continued, "I don't really know either where this relationship going. I don't know if it will last. Heck, I don't even know if this whole thing is perfectly normal or messed up. The only thing that I do know is that I don't want to end this. I want to be with you. Whatever it is that we have, I want it to last."
"I know this may not be what you wanted to hear," she told him. "so I would understand if you want to end things with me..."
"What did you mean when you said that I was sweet?" He asked her, intentionally interrupting her from finishing that sentence.
"The way you feel about all of this; the guilt. You want to be happy, but you don't want it to come at the expense of others." She answered him. "It just shows what a good person you are. You care about others. And as far as I am concerned, that is further proof that I made the right decision."
"I used to believe in destiny." She continued. "I strongly believed that I was destined to one day be with Arnold; that whatever crap was I going through in my life, in the end, that is the one thing that I thought for sure was going to happen. I thought everything pinpointed to that. Now I realize that this world is fully chaotic with a lot of ups and downs and despite what you may think, there is no order in this universe, at least not in the way that we think it is. I never thought in a million years that I would ever fall for someone else. Had someone even mentioned that to me as a possibility just a year ago, I would have scoffed at them and laughed. Things have a way of turning out good in the end and being you is one of those good things." She said with a smile on her face.
Rodrigo smiled back and said, "Thanks Helga for the wise words."
"Don't mention it." She said. "So um, what do you want to do about this, about 'us'?" She nervously asked him.
Rodrigo just continued to smile at her, gently grabbed Helga's hand, leaned in closer to her and said, "I want to continue 'this'." And planted a soft kiss on her lips, much to Helga's delight and relief. Rodrigo then started moving away, but Helga immediately grabbed him and pushed him towards her again, continuing on kissing him.
After a few moments, the two teens then let go of each other.
"Feeling better?" She asked him.
"Ya. You?" He asked her.
"Yeah, I am now." She said.
The two teens than started making their way back towards the bus lane to go home.
"But seriously, you need to stop feeling sorry for yourself." She said to him. "That ain't cool."
"I won't anymore, Helga." He said.
