What now? He hadn't expected anything like that, even if the subject of, um......childhood feelings...did happen to come up.
He was still trying to convince himself he had heard wrong. But he hadn't--he knew he hadn't--and now...what would he possibly say to her?
Fortunately, before he could speak again, Helga shot him a strange look and scrunched up her brow in confusion.
"That's what she said...in the movie...two seconds ago," she explained. "'Je t'aime!' means 'I love you!' You said you couldn't understand her; it's because she's speaking French. I didn't really catch the rest. 'I don't know why, but I love you...' Something like that, anyway." Pause. More scrunching. "...Arnold? Hey, cut it out. You've got that loopy blank look again!"
Blink...blink. "Sorry Helga...for a minute, I --the mov...that's what she says? Wow--thanks!" A quick wave of relief had washed over him, but with it came the slightest twinge of ....disappointment? No, surely not.
"...Er--that's pretty cool...you speaking French and all," he said. "How much do you know?"
"Only un petit peu--a little bit--so far. But I'm getting better at it."
"I'm impressed. It isn't easy to learn another language." (And I'm glad she cleared up that little ...misunderstanding... before I got the chance to open my fat mouth and embarrass us both...)
"I guess not. Thanks..." Helga squinted at the screen, listening carefully. "...She's stopped now, so that's all the translating you get. Sorry."
(The man and woman in the film were fighting now. They continued their black and white conversation, even more overly dramatic than before.
--"What do you mean, you don't know how to handle that? I'm only telling you the truth!!"
--"Th' truth? he snapped. The TRUTH? The truth is, you act like you're always out t' get me...POW! Right where it hurts! .....Your kind of love ain't nothin' but a kick in th' head!" )
"That line always reminds me of one of those crazy old songs," Helga commented.
"What....'Love's a kick in th' head?'" He smiled, recalling the words to a certain melody his grandparents had belted out on a few occasions. "I think I know which song you mean."
They fell quiet--then Arnold broke the silence, singing very softly and slowly for no particular reason...
"....like th' fella once said--ain't..that..a kick..in..th' heeaad....?"
She heard him and looked up, amused. Arnold kept going, slightly louder...
"...my head keeps.....spinnin'..."
...and she suddenly joined in with the next line, twice as loud. People sitting nearby began to take notice.
"...I go..To sleep..And keep.....Grinnin'..."
Surprised by this, he grinned and turned toward her, still singing. They narrowed their eyes slyly--almost tauntingly--and continued the duet, growing even louder in a silly attempt to outdo one another.
"...IF..This...IS..Just...THE..Be...--GIN -Nin'..."
"...MY...Life...IS...Gon-NA..Be..........BEEE--YOOOOOOO--TEEE--FULL!!..."
People sitting nearby began to get annoyed.
"...I've SUN-Shine E-NOUGH To SPREAD..."
"...I'ts JUST Like Th' FE-llaaaaa SAID..."
"...TELL ME QUICK--AIN'T LOVE A KICK.......IN..TH'...HEEEEAAAAADDDD!!!"
At this point, the people sitting nearby got thoroughly fed up and started yelling...
"HEY, PIPE DOWN!!"
"We're Watchin' a MOVIE Here!!"
"SHADDUP!"
"Stupid KIDS!!"
...and so on.
Startled and embarrassed, they quickly stopped singing. Then after an awkward pause they exchanged glances... and that only made things worse. (If you've ever tried to keep a straight face when something stupid or funny happens, and then noticed someone else with the same problem.....you will understand exactly. People trying not to laugh at something almost always end up laughing even harder--once they catch sight of each other trying not to laugh in the first place. You know how it is.....Anyway, that's basically what happened next.) They started snickering, trying desperately to stay serious, but they couldn't prevent the goofy grins that stretched across their faces. Then one of them (probably Helga) accidently snorted--and they burst out laughing so hard that it was all either of them could do to not fall off of the branch. The annoyed, fed-up people were even crankier about this new noise and shushed them quite a bit before they managed to calm down.
"...(mmph)--S-sorry! I...didn't know we had..(phft!)..gotten so loud!..." Arnold sputtered quietly.
" ...(he--heh)..Me neither..."
"Where did you learn that song? I didn't think you listened to that kind of music."
"I don't--and I have absolutely no idea!"
Helga covered her mouth with one hand to stifle the giggling, and leaned the other on the tree branch to steady herself.
Taking a deep breath to finally bring his laughter under control, Arnold lay his own hand on the branch.
Or rather, he meant to lay it on the branch.
But instead of cool, bumpy tree bark...when he put his hand down, he felt something warm and slightly soft under his fingers. He knew at once that he had accidentally put his hand across hers, and the knowledge that it wasn't by any means an unpleasant feeling flitted across his thoughts. For a split second, he actually found himself thinking:
...Oops. Well, if she doesn't mind, I won't either.....
...before either of them realized what was going on. They looked down and saw for a fact that their hands were touching. A tiny, meaningless thing, really, and yet...
Slowly, they glanced up...otherwise frozen, as their eyes met again
*******************************
A/N: Kudos to those of you who guessed (more or less correctly) what would happen! To those of you who were severely disappointed, I say: C'est la vie. That's life. Eat a cookie and feel better.
Ok, two more things: 1. Please pardon my French. I don't know much yet, so I may be screwing up all kinds of grammar rules. And 2. I'm not sure who wrote this song. I do know Dean Martin sang the version I'm familiar with. It's silly, but very upbeat and fun and 'big band'; think Dino Spumoni-style, if that helps.
(Told 'ja the title would finally come into play. :) It doesn't just refer to the song, if you think about it. )
