Alrighty then Everybody!
Hope you enjoy part 7!
Thanks & Bunches ~ Stargaziey
Disclaimer: I don't own Hey Arnold! (Though it would be nice.)
Magic Remembered Part 7 ~ Paris Isn't Always a City for Love
by: Stargaziey
At La Petite Café Rose, Arnold sat in a little table with Helga under the stars. The night was warm and a soft breeze tickled all that it touched. Helga sipped a mocha latté and Arnold stirred creamer into his cup of coffee.
They hadn't said much on the way to the café. Helga asked most of the questions. She was mostly intrigued at how Arnold could afford to have a chauffeur. He had only said that it was a favor from a friend and he only worked at the local museum in Hillwood.
Arnold didn't want to ask the one question that was on his mind, he was afraid that it would push Helga away. She would become defensive as she always had been. Arnold decided to stick to the present for now.
"So, uh, I was wondering who was that Kohlven Relmont guy?" He asked sipping his coffee.
"Oh, he's my boss. I'm his personal secretary." Helga replied, not looking at Arnold. She was trying to the keep her eyes from his.
"You actually work for that guy?" He asked, a little shocked that Helga would put up working for someone like him.
"Well, yeah. I know he's not the greatest person in the world, but the job pays well and I get to travel a lot." She said defensively. Arnold nodded, he could understand that. "So, uh, how is everyone. The gang, I mean. I've been so busy the past couple of years that I've lost touch will most of them...or all of them, to be perfectly honest." Helga asked, staring into her latté.
"Oh, everyone's doing pretty well. Gerald is still in town. He went to Washington State with me and is now a DJ on MJZZ."
"It fits him." Helga said, still watching her latté.
"Stinky tried going to the Hillwood Community College, but he dropped out and moved back east. He's a farmer somewhere in Oklahoma. Eugene is a highly demanded choreographer for Broadway and Nadine has her own local nature show." Helga only nodded and Arnold continued.
"Harold went to some Gourmet School and he's now a chef at some fancy restaurant in LA. Rhonda wet to Princeton, mostly because her parents wanted her to. Then she got married and decided to relocate to Aspen. Last I heard, she was trying to make her debut in fashion design. Most of the others left for college and I haven't heard from since." Helga's heart sank. She knew Phoebe had gone off to Yale, but she had hoped that Arnold had at least heard from her once or twice.
"So you haven't heard from anyone else. Like, I don't know, say...Phoebe." Helga asked quietly, she refused to look up at Arnold. He wondered if she had taken her eyes off of her latté since it was set in front of her.
"Actually, I have heard from Phoebe. We keep in touch through email and stuff like that. She's coming back to Hillwood soon." He said with a smile. Arnold had purposely left out Phoebe just to see if Helga would ask about her.
"Really?" Helga said, looking up for the first time, "What's she doing?"
"Well, she went to Yale and is just now finishing up her fifth year there. She got her Ph.D. in medicine in only five years. She's going to open up her own clinic in our old neighborhood." Arnold said, his eyes capturing Helga's.
Helga felt stomach turn flip-flops when Arnold gazed at her and she tried to keep her mind on the subject. "I'm surprised that she's coming back. I thought she get a job as some neurosurgeon or something in New York."
"Yeah, I did too. But I get an email from her the other day. Said she really missed the old neighborhood and decided to come back. She's also been keeping in touch with Gerald over the years and I think that has something to do with it too." Grinned Arnold.
That made Helga think. "Is Rhonda the only one who's gotten married so far? I mean, it has been five years." She asked and Arnold shook his football head.
"No, I know Stinky got married, that's one reason why he dropped out of college. I think Sheena is married and a homemaker now. I'm not sure about anyone else." Helga nodded and she let herself gaze at Arnold.
"Just out of curiosity...what ever happened to Lila?" Helga asked. She didn't want to, but she just had to know.
"Actually...that's who Stinky married." Arnold replied and Helga sat strait up in her seat.
"What?! Stinky and Lila married?! Why that's the most...amazing thing I've ever heard." Helga thought the idea of Stinky and Lila married was just completely stupid, but if Lila was married to Stinky and off in the boonies of Oklahoma, she wouldn't ever had to worry about her again. 'What am I thinking?' Helga thought to herself. 'Why should I care if Lila is out of the way or not. I've moved on from Arnold.' But even as Helga told herself this, she gazed at him and knew she would never "move on" from Arnold.
Arnold laughed at Helga's reaction. "Yeah, I was pretty shocked myself when I heard that the two of them were going to get married and move to Oklahoma to become farmers. Lila has this idea that her and Stinky are going to feed the world." He said grinning.
"So you weren't crushed that Miss Perfect became Mrs. Peterson?" Helga asked. She wasn't sure what made her ask, but she just felt the need.
Arnold looked down at his coffee and said, "Well, I had always liked Lila. But after we graduated and all, I saw that she was a little manipulative. Honestly, it didn't bother me at all that Stinky and Lila got married."
Helga wanted to jump for joy, but she restrained herself and attempted to act like it didn't matter to her that Arnold wasn't gaga for Lila anymore.
"So what about you, Helga?" Arnold asked with his sly grin and half-lidded eyes gazing into her own.
"What do you mean what about me?" She asked, getting defensive again.
"I mean, you told me what you're doing now...sort of, but what have you been doing for the last five years? You said you were coming here for an art school, but you're the personal secretary of some creep. Doesn't sound very artsy to me." Arnold explained.
"Well, not that it's exactly any of your business, Arnoldo." Helga said, feeling a little irritated. "But I did come here to go to an Art and Lit Academy and majored in English Literature. After I graduated a year ago, I couldn't publish a story or poem to save my life and after four months of trying, I just had to get a job...a good one. I didn't have any money and my student loan payments would start coming in a couple months later." Helga paused as a waitress came by to refill Arnold's coffee. She winked at him and Helga gave her a dirty look, making the flirty waitress beat a hasty retreat.
"Anyway," Helga continued, still scowling in the waitress' direction, "a friend of mine at the Academy was the personal secretary of Kohlven Relmont. She bragged about the job and how well it paid. Just a few days later, she told me that she had been fired from her job because she wouldn't become Relmont's mistress. I decided to at least apply for the job. I was fortunate enough to get the job and I've been working for Relmont for the last seven months. Half the time he lives in Paris, the other half in New York. So usually where he goes, I go. The only reason he's in Paris right now is because of the benefits parties that are being thrown for him. All the businesses and such that he donates to give him a huge thank you party. Tonight was the first one and there's at least another two weeks worth. I'm not exactly fond of coming to them, but he prefers that I do. If I keep him happy, I keep my job and Old Betsy makes sure that he doesn't cross our employer-employee boundaries." Said Helga, slightly cracking her knuckles.
Arnold was a little shocked, "You mean you've hit your boss?" He asked.
"Not yet." Helga replied, "But he knows that I would if given the chance. He likes to push the boundary, but he's knows when to stop. And Relmont knows that he couldn't beat me in a fight."
"So what about your writings? After a year, you still haven't gotten anything published?" He asked. Arnold knew that Helga wouldn't have spent four years at a foreign literature academy if she didn't have the talent and Helga gazed at latté again.
"Well, after I started working for Relmont, I really didn't have the time to write anything. I haven't submitted anything to publishers in the last six months." She admitted.
"But Helga, you left your home and friends to go to this school. You love to write. You shouldn't let someone like Relmont get in the way of what you really love." Said Arnold, the idea of Helga throwing away her talent and life to work for Relmont made him sick.
Helga stood up and put her fist in front of Arnold's nose. "Look, Football Head! It's my life. If I want to work for Relmont and give up writing to make a living, then that's what I'm going to do." Helga took her fist away from Arnold's face and placed her hands on her hips.
"I have a choice, Arnold. I can sit on my butt and write all day, only to be rejected time and again by publishers and living off of juju beans to stay alive OR I can work for Relmont, travel the world and make enough money to retire twenty years early. Gee, I wonder what I should pick? DOI!" She yelled and stomped away from the café.
Arnold got up from his seat and ran after her. "Helga, wait!" He called.
"Just leave me alone, Arnold. I don't now why I let you back in my life." She said over her shoulder. Arnold caught up with Helga and stood in front of her.
"Please, Helga. I came all this way to find you. I at least need an explanation." He begged. Helga crossed her arms defensively and looked away from him. If she looked at him everything she had fought for over the last five years would be lost in vain.
"Look, Arnold, that part of my life is over. All right? I've moved on, I made a new life for myself and I enjoy it. Now leave me alone." Helga said icily.
"Why, Helga, I need to know why. Was it something that I did? Or Phoebe? What did we do that was so awful that you want to just forget about us?" Arnold hadn't realized that by the time he finished his sentence he was practically yelling. He couldn't help it, the fact that Helga just wanted to forget that he existed really hurt him.
"You didn't do anything, Arnold...that's just it." Helga yelled back at him. "Fifteen years ago, I gave you an answer that explained everything and that dense football head of yours still didn't get it. I practically spelled it out for you, Arnold, and you still completely missed it! I have to forget about that entire part of my life, because everything about it reminds me of you. Phoebe, Hillwood, my passion for writing, everything is linked to you." Helga stood there, chest heaving from her impassioned outburst.
Arnold stood before her, completely flabbergasted. He didn't understand what she was saying. Apparently her leaving was his fault, but he still didn't know what he did. "Helga...I don't understand. What did I do?" He asked.
"Nothing. You did nothing, you Football Head!" Helga said and she turned around, heading for the bus stop. "Now, just leave me along, Arnold." She said turning back to face him. She realized at that moment that was a huge mistake. She saw Arnold's dejected look and fought every urge to run to him and tell him that she was sorry and that she didn't mean what she said. But she turned away, telling herself that she would be lying to him. She meant every word she had said.
Arnold stood where Helga had left him. The tiny crowd that had stood to watch what they had considered a lover's quarrel, had disbanded and went their own ways. Arnold went to the nearest bench and sat with his head in hands.
"Wha' deh yeh think, Brenna, me dearie?" Felan asked his bewitching friend as they stood on top of the La Petite Café Rose. Brenna shook her head and stroked her cat's soft fur.
"I'm afraid I don't know, Felan. Helga has built up a very strong wall between her and Arnold and everyone else for that matter. This is going to take a lot more work than I thought." She replied with a sigh.
"Deh yeh really think the two o' them are meant for one ano'er?" He asked incredulously.
Brenna smiled and nodded her fiery tressed head. "Aye, that I do, Felan, me dearie. That I do. Besides, what good is magic if it can't be used to help in the affairs of love?" She asked giving him a sweet glance.
"Ach, yeh've always been a romantic at 'eart, Brenna O'Leigh, I'll give yeh that." Felan said with a smile. "I 'ave ta go. Arnold is a callin' for meh." Felan said, shaking his head and giving Brenna a small kiss on the cheek, he faded from site. Brenna soon followed suit.
Hope you enjoy part 7!
Thanks & Bunches ~ Stargaziey
Disclaimer: I don't own Hey Arnold! (Though it would be nice.)
Magic Remembered Part 7 ~ Paris Isn't Always a City for Love
by: Stargaziey
At La Petite Café Rose, Arnold sat in a little table with Helga under the stars. The night was warm and a soft breeze tickled all that it touched. Helga sipped a mocha latté and Arnold stirred creamer into his cup of coffee.
They hadn't said much on the way to the café. Helga asked most of the questions. She was mostly intrigued at how Arnold could afford to have a chauffeur. He had only said that it was a favor from a friend and he only worked at the local museum in Hillwood.
Arnold didn't want to ask the one question that was on his mind, he was afraid that it would push Helga away. She would become defensive as she always had been. Arnold decided to stick to the present for now.
"So, uh, I was wondering who was that Kohlven Relmont guy?" He asked sipping his coffee.
"Oh, he's my boss. I'm his personal secretary." Helga replied, not looking at Arnold. She was trying to the keep her eyes from his.
"You actually work for that guy?" He asked, a little shocked that Helga would put up working for someone like him.
"Well, yeah. I know he's not the greatest person in the world, but the job pays well and I get to travel a lot." She said defensively. Arnold nodded, he could understand that. "So, uh, how is everyone. The gang, I mean. I've been so busy the past couple of years that I've lost touch will most of them...or all of them, to be perfectly honest." Helga asked, staring into her latté.
"Oh, everyone's doing pretty well. Gerald is still in town. He went to Washington State with me and is now a DJ on MJZZ."
"It fits him." Helga said, still watching her latté.
"Stinky tried going to the Hillwood Community College, but he dropped out and moved back east. He's a farmer somewhere in Oklahoma. Eugene is a highly demanded choreographer for Broadway and Nadine has her own local nature show." Helga only nodded and Arnold continued.
"Harold went to some Gourmet School and he's now a chef at some fancy restaurant in LA. Rhonda wet to Princeton, mostly because her parents wanted her to. Then she got married and decided to relocate to Aspen. Last I heard, she was trying to make her debut in fashion design. Most of the others left for college and I haven't heard from since." Helga's heart sank. She knew Phoebe had gone off to Yale, but she had hoped that Arnold had at least heard from her once or twice.
"So you haven't heard from anyone else. Like, I don't know, say...Phoebe." Helga asked quietly, she refused to look up at Arnold. He wondered if she had taken her eyes off of her latté since it was set in front of her.
"Actually, I have heard from Phoebe. We keep in touch through email and stuff like that. She's coming back to Hillwood soon." He said with a smile. Arnold had purposely left out Phoebe just to see if Helga would ask about her.
"Really?" Helga said, looking up for the first time, "What's she doing?"
"Well, she went to Yale and is just now finishing up her fifth year there. She got her Ph.D. in medicine in only five years. She's going to open up her own clinic in our old neighborhood." Arnold said, his eyes capturing Helga's.
Helga felt stomach turn flip-flops when Arnold gazed at her and she tried to keep her mind on the subject. "I'm surprised that she's coming back. I thought she get a job as some neurosurgeon or something in New York."
"Yeah, I did too. But I get an email from her the other day. Said she really missed the old neighborhood and decided to come back. She's also been keeping in touch with Gerald over the years and I think that has something to do with it too." Grinned Arnold.
That made Helga think. "Is Rhonda the only one who's gotten married so far? I mean, it has been five years." She asked and Arnold shook his football head.
"No, I know Stinky got married, that's one reason why he dropped out of college. I think Sheena is married and a homemaker now. I'm not sure about anyone else." Helga nodded and she let herself gaze at Arnold.
"Just out of curiosity...what ever happened to Lila?" Helga asked. She didn't want to, but she just had to know.
"Actually...that's who Stinky married." Arnold replied and Helga sat strait up in her seat.
"What?! Stinky and Lila married?! Why that's the most...amazing thing I've ever heard." Helga thought the idea of Stinky and Lila married was just completely stupid, but if Lila was married to Stinky and off in the boonies of Oklahoma, she wouldn't ever had to worry about her again. 'What am I thinking?' Helga thought to herself. 'Why should I care if Lila is out of the way or not. I've moved on from Arnold.' But even as Helga told herself this, she gazed at him and knew she would never "move on" from Arnold.
Arnold laughed at Helga's reaction. "Yeah, I was pretty shocked myself when I heard that the two of them were going to get married and move to Oklahoma to become farmers. Lila has this idea that her and Stinky are going to feed the world." He said grinning.
"So you weren't crushed that Miss Perfect became Mrs. Peterson?" Helga asked. She wasn't sure what made her ask, but she just felt the need.
Arnold looked down at his coffee and said, "Well, I had always liked Lila. But after we graduated and all, I saw that she was a little manipulative. Honestly, it didn't bother me at all that Stinky and Lila got married."
Helga wanted to jump for joy, but she restrained herself and attempted to act like it didn't matter to her that Arnold wasn't gaga for Lila anymore.
"So what about you, Helga?" Arnold asked with his sly grin and half-lidded eyes gazing into her own.
"What do you mean what about me?" She asked, getting defensive again.
"I mean, you told me what you're doing now...sort of, but what have you been doing for the last five years? You said you were coming here for an art school, but you're the personal secretary of some creep. Doesn't sound very artsy to me." Arnold explained.
"Well, not that it's exactly any of your business, Arnoldo." Helga said, feeling a little irritated. "But I did come here to go to an Art and Lit Academy and majored in English Literature. After I graduated a year ago, I couldn't publish a story or poem to save my life and after four months of trying, I just had to get a job...a good one. I didn't have any money and my student loan payments would start coming in a couple months later." Helga paused as a waitress came by to refill Arnold's coffee. She winked at him and Helga gave her a dirty look, making the flirty waitress beat a hasty retreat.
"Anyway," Helga continued, still scowling in the waitress' direction, "a friend of mine at the Academy was the personal secretary of Kohlven Relmont. She bragged about the job and how well it paid. Just a few days later, she told me that she had been fired from her job because she wouldn't become Relmont's mistress. I decided to at least apply for the job. I was fortunate enough to get the job and I've been working for Relmont for the last seven months. Half the time he lives in Paris, the other half in New York. So usually where he goes, I go. The only reason he's in Paris right now is because of the benefits parties that are being thrown for him. All the businesses and such that he donates to give him a huge thank you party. Tonight was the first one and there's at least another two weeks worth. I'm not exactly fond of coming to them, but he prefers that I do. If I keep him happy, I keep my job and Old Betsy makes sure that he doesn't cross our employer-employee boundaries." Said Helga, slightly cracking her knuckles.
Arnold was a little shocked, "You mean you've hit your boss?" He asked.
"Not yet." Helga replied, "But he knows that I would if given the chance. He likes to push the boundary, but he's knows when to stop. And Relmont knows that he couldn't beat me in a fight."
"So what about your writings? After a year, you still haven't gotten anything published?" He asked. Arnold knew that Helga wouldn't have spent four years at a foreign literature academy if she didn't have the talent and Helga gazed at latté again.
"Well, after I started working for Relmont, I really didn't have the time to write anything. I haven't submitted anything to publishers in the last six months." She admitted.
"But Helga, you left your home and friends to go to this school. You love to write. You shouldn't let someone like Relmont get in the way of what you really love." Said Arnold, the idea of Helga throwing away her talent and life to work for Relmont made him sick.
Helga stood up and put her fist in front of Arnold's nose. "Look, Football Head! It's my life. If I want to work for Relmont and give up writing to make a living, then that's what I'm going to do." Helga took her fist away from Arnold's face and placed her hands on her hips.
"I have a choice, Arnold. I can sit on my butt and write all day, only to be rejected time and again by publishers and living off of juju beans to stay alive OR I can work for Relmont, travel the world and make enough money to retire twenty years early. Gee, I wonder what I should pick? DOI!" She yelled and stomped away from the café.
Arnold got up from his seat and ran after her. "Helga, wait!" He called.
"Just leave me alone, Arnold. I don't now why I let you back in my life." She said over her shoulder. Arnold caught up with Helga and stood in front of her.
"Please, Helga. I came all this way to find you. I at least need an explanation." He begged. Helga crossed her arms defensively and looked away from him. If she looked at him everything she had fought for over the last five years would be lost in vain.
"Look, Arnold, that part of my life is over. All right? I've moved on, I made a new life for myself and I enjoy it. Now leave me alone." Helga said icily.
"Why, Helga, I need to know why. Was it something that I did? Or Phoebe? What did we do that was so awful that you want to just forget about us?" Arnold hadn't realized that by the time he finished his sentence he was practically yelling. He couldn't help it, the fact that Helga just wanted to forget that he existed really hurt him.
"You didn't do anything, Arnold...that's just it." Helga yelled back at him. "Fifteen years ago, I gave you an answer that explained everything and that dense football head of yours still didn't get it. I practically spelled it out for you, Arnold, and you still completely missed it! I have to forget about that entire part of my life, because everything about it reminds me of you. Phoebe, Hillwood, my passion for writing, everything is linked to you." Helga stood there, chest heaving from her impassioned outburst.
Arnold stood before her, completely flabbergasted. He didn't understand what she was saying. Apparently her leaving was his fault, but he still didn't know what he did. "Helga...I don't understand. What did I do?" He asked.
"Nothing. You did nothing, you Football Head!" Helga said and she turned around, heading for the bus stop. "Now, just leave me along, Arnold." She said turning back to face him. She realized at that moment that was a huge mistake. She saw Arnold's dejected look and fought every urge to run to him and tell him that she was sorry and that she didn't mean what she said. But she turned away, telling herself that she would be lying to him. She meant every word she had said.
Arnold stood where Helga had left him. The tiny crowd that had stood to watch what they had considered a lover's quarrel, had disbanded and went their own ways. Arnold went to the nearest bench and sat with his head in hands.
"Wha' deh yeh think, Brenna, me dearie?" Felan asked his bewitching friend as they stood on top of the La Petite Café Rose. Brenna shook her head and stroked her cat's soft fur.
"I'm afraid I don't know, Felan. Helga has built up a very strong wall between her and Arnold and everyone else for that matter. This is going to take a lot more work than I thought." She replied with a sigh.
"Deh yeh really think the two o' them are meant for one ano'er?" He asked incredulously.
Brenna smiled and nodded her fiery tressed head. "Aye, that I do, Felan, me dearie. That I do. Besides, what good is magic if it can't be used to help in the affairs of love?" She asked giving him a sweet glance.
"Ach, yeh've always been a romantic at 'eart, Brenna O'Leigh, I'll give yeh that." Felan said with a smile. "I 'ave ta go. Arnold is a callin' for meh." Felan said, shaking his head and giving Brenna a small kiss on the cheek, he faded from site. Brenna soon followed suit.