These characters are from the sweat-beetled brow of Craig Bartlett... lucky stiff. Rated T cause I felt like it, and some characters (namely, Arnold and Helga)might just end up nude later. We'll see...
Let me just say a few things about a few of the recent stories I'm working on. Right now, my writing fascination is with "Necropolitan", "The Strangers In My House", and "Braided together", all three of which are byzantine and subtle; all I ask is that you be patient and stick with the stories a bit because TRUST ME, none of the situations are as they seem. Lots of twists and turns, lots of intrigue. But I promise you, when all is said and done, you'll probably be happy with it. Critiques I'm okay with, but not whining, and especially from Arnold/Helga shippers. Chances are good that you've made it through all 100 episodes without Helga confessing her feeling to Arnold, it won't kill you to go through a dozen chapters of story without it either. Arnold and Phoebe together in chapter four doesn't mean Arnold and Phoebe together in chapter nine. Just give me and all the other fictioneers a chance, you just might be surprised at what you get.
Enjoy.
PS- NO reviews for "Burning Love"! Did anyone even read it? Sigh...
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This was all a little much to deal with so early in the morning and on so little coffee. Arnold sat mulling over Phoebe's suggestion. The three of them... living together? Notions of carnality aside, this seemed like a sound enough idea, but what had prompted Phoebe bring it up?
"Ummmm, okay sure. Make your case. I mean, what brought this on?" asked Arnold as he stroked her hair. They were relaxing in the livingroom, in various stages of dress, he in jeans and a tanktop, the girls in panties and t-shirts, which was a fairly typical comfort level for this group.
"Well... it's just that we've all been so close the last few years and we know each other quite intimately... and, well, um... we all trust one another, right? A shared apartment would serve all three of us well. Don't you think this would be good for us?" she asked hesitantly, looking between Arnold and Helga.
"Y'know Arnold, that's not a bad arguement on the surface. We're already practically family as is, and we all DO need someplace to live. I mean, don't get me wrong, my mom is great and all but... she's still my mom, know what I mean? A shared apartment might work out okay. Just make sure we get two bathrooms..." sighed Helga as she headed to the kitchen for more coffee.
"Hmmmm... Well that's certainly something to think about. A place together might be pretty cool. We could afford a really nice townhouse if we pool our capital... we'll need a king size garage for the Packard... " mused Arnold as he placed a gentle kiss on Phoebe's forehead.
"And one big King Sized bed for us all the share..." grinned Phoebe as she gave Arnold a squeeze.
As one, Arnold and Helga said, "HUH!"
Before she could elaborate any further, there was a rather emphatic knock at the front door. Only half dressed, Helga and Phoebe let out a panicked yelp and bolted towards the bedroom as they yelled, "Arnold, get that!"
Grumbling to himself, he rose unsteadily and got the door.
"Boy howdy, this is some kinda weather, eh bro? I can't believe some stores are actually open today..." grinned Sid as he entered with two large bags of groceries. Dressed for the weather, only just, he shook off a few stray blobs of slush as he entered the apartment.
"Holy crap! Sid, what'r you doing here? Lemme get that..." grinned Arnold as he took control of what looked to be the heavier of the two bags.
Dressed now in jeans, Helga and Phoebe peeked out from the back room at this all too unexpected visiter.
"Sid! Whatever are you doing out on a day like this." grinned Phoebe as she trotted forward to hug him. Taking the second bag of comestables, she followed Arnold into the kitchen as Sid shed his Navy surplus Pea Coat.
"Well, talking to the football head here, it sounded to me like there were no real plans for today, so I thought a little dinner together might help a bit to shake off the chill." he said, grinning like the cat who ate the canary.
Helga was stunned beyond words. Arnold and Phoebe had done a good job in keeping her up to date in the previous four years away from her friends in Hillwood, and so she was pretty much up to speed on everyone's lives. But it began to dawn on her that what she'd neglected to inquire about more immeadiate data such as physical changes they all might have gone through, and no where was she feeling this more than now.
Sid was... ADORABLE!
He'd jumped up to a full six feet in height, and had a physique that easily rivaled those of Arnold or Stinky. Unable to grow a good Van Dyke like his two friends, he'd opted for a soulpatch which added definition to the smooth and pleasing lines of his face. Add to this his lusterous long black hair and you had a man who could effortlessly set any little goth chickies heart aflutter, and for the record, had done so more than once.
Arnold was too busy in inventory of the groceries to notice Helga noticing Sid, "... two bottles of wine... onions, mushrooms, potatoes... EIGHT STEAKS! Jeez Sid, how many people were you planning on feeding with all this?" and he'd only gotten halfway into one of the two bags.
"The four of us, the Stinker and Sheena, but there's certainly nothing wrong with leftovers..." he said, grabbing the wine bottles. Going over to the sliding door to Phoebe's patio, he stepped out into the blizzard and stuffed the two bottles into a convinient snowbank up to their necks.
Phoebe looked up at him from the kitchen, "Sheena and Sticky are here too?"
"Oh no, not yet...", he smiled, shutting the winter chill back outside, "They'll be by a little later. I gotta lot to do before they get here if we're gonna have a dinner I consider even acceptable... Phoebe, I could use some help; you wanna give me a hand in here?" he smiled as he drew his cooking apron from the bottem of the second bag.
"Oh, um... would you mind helping him Helga? I need to discuss some things with Arnold in private." and she gave Helga smile meant to be innocent, but instead said so much else. Phoebe had missed Sid's sullen expression upon being given a new kitchen helper, though Helga had seen it quite clearly.
Putting on a good face, Sid laid out his dinner blueprints to Helga and began to divide all the tasks and set up a preliminary timetable as Arnold and Phoebe disappeared into the back of the apartment. As she busied herself preparing the veggies for the Caesar Salad, she cast a little glance Sid's way as he set about preparing a marinade for the steaks.
"Um, hey Sid... I suppose we need to bring you up to speed on current events... um, well y'see,... Arnold and Phoebe are back together. I'm guessing you were counting on her being... free, right?" she said quietly, her voice full of sympathy. Sighing, Sid looked at her with eyes sadder than he deserved and smiled, "Yeah, I guess I was thinking you and Arnold to be getting back together, y'know and Phoebe being open to dating or something. Kinda dumb, eh?"
"Hey no, don't talk like that... you couldn't know, okay? Trust me, this all has literally happened within the last hour. And y'know, for two people that love each other so much, it was a helluva lot of work getting them back together." she half smiled.
"Hold on now,... YOU got them back together!" she nodded, noting his baffled look. "Uh, Helga, haven't you and Arnold been burning up the postal service for the last four years? What the hell happened?" he asked as he transfered the chopped onions to a side dish.
"You've seen them together, right? What else could I do? Besides, I knew about all this for a while now and had a chance to get used to the idea. And don't sweat it, I'm actually VERY cool with all this. Maybe it will work out for them, maybe it won't. I just thought it best to let this play out. You may just get your shot yet." She grinned.
He smiled a little more, "Yeah, it was pretty funny. They both thought they were being SO descreet about it, but they couldn't keep their hands off each other. I mean, y'know in a nice way. Always little strokes of the hair, or she'd sidle up next to him so he'd be against her, or the number of times they caught themselves holding hands without realizing it. Don't think me and the Stinker didn't give him a hard time about that, either."
She grinned and ran a finger along his chin, "Yeah, well don't you go casting yourself as the hapless loser either Mister; your reputation precedes you! Fess up, how many frail beauties have fallen to your lusty, vampiric good looks? I'm given to believe there's quite a trail of sighing damsels waiting for you to return to them some moonlite night..." she was all grins now, and had him doing likewise.
"Well yeah, but it would have been different with Phoebe. We all grew up together, and y'know, she means more to all of us than just some other girl we know. She's... y'know, special."
Helga stopped and considered him for a moment. "Sid... you were worried about her, weren't you? That is SO sweet of you!" she said giving his arm a little squeeze.
"Well, yeah... it's just, y'know... she deserves a good guy that'll take care of her and all, and maybe I'm ready to settle down a little, like after college, y'know? It could've worked." he smiled, and Helga returned his smile.
Don't worry Sid, it'll work out for you. For now she's right where she belongs, but someday she'll need you, she thought.
Phoebe's 'discussion' was pretty much what Arnold had hoped it would be, namely fooling on the futan. Even before the bedroom door had closed, they were in each other's arms and enjoying the kisses they'd denied themselves for so long. Finally breaking their liplock, they could do little but just look into each other's eyes as he gently caressed her face, then in one fluid motion, scooped her up into his arms and carried her over to the futon. Laying her out, he knelt above her and continued to run a careful hand along her cheek as she pleaded with her eyes.
Taking his place beside her, they shared a few more kisses before he slowy wrapped his body around hers and closed his hand around hers. Thre soft kisses to the back of her neck and he whispered, "I love you."
Wringling free of him, she rolled over to face him and asked, almost apologeticly, "Would... would you say that again?"
Smiling, he said softly, "I love you."
Trembling, she said, "A-again please." her eyes filled with hope.
Bemused, he smothered her with a deep long kiss and whispered, "I love you Phoebe."
Throughout their past affair, despite all they'd done and said, neither had dared utter those words to the other. Intimate moments, shared showers, nights of desperate, needful passion were tolerated, but for some reason those words were viewed as crossing some forbidden boundry. To hear them now almost tipped Phoebe over the edge.
Not much else was said as they just enjoyed the freedom of their renewed love, now both public and with Helga's encouragement. Still dressed (though not for lack of trying on her part), they lay together in the dim grey light of her room and merely enjoyed each others presence. It felt so right... so perfect... and yet... why was Helga so insistant on this?
From the soft purr of her breathing, Arnold could tell that she'd dozed off, her sleep never troubled when they were together. He closed his own eyes and tried to sort out his feelings. Aside from the joy of his love for Phoebe, Helga's cryptic insistance on their union made him uneasy. Why! From their years of letters, he thought she and he would instantly click, yet they both realized that they hadn't. They were close, intimate even, just not the fire either had expected.
It was as if Helga was holding back... keeping him at arms length, much as Lila used to do. As much as he'd convinced himself of his love for Helga, she just didn't make him feel the way that Phoebe did. But there was something different about the three of them now... he couldn't put his finger on it, but he was suddenly uneasy about his feelings for Helga.
He slowly became aware of a draft in the room, and began the feel around behind him for the comforter. But against any sensible explanation, the room continued grow colder... then he noticed the smell. Opening his eyes, he was shocked to see Phoebe's bedroom gone, only to be replaced by a large brick walled room much too large to fit in the same space. There was no obvious source of lighting, which while dim all seemed to come from the object which filled the center of the dank room... a butcher's meat case, as seen at Green's Meats.
He squinted to make out the contents of the case, even though he already knew what it was... the dismembered and neatly butchered body of his grandmother. Almost comically, her severed head rested upright on the scale atop the counter... watching them. The walls of the room were bare save for a butcher beef cut chart and the occasional blood spatter. As terrifying as he found the latest 'Pookie' thing, his only thoughts were "please don't let Phoebe see this'.
The 'Pookie' thing's mouth stretched into a ghoulish wide grin before saying, "Imago Now Readily Impregnates" and began to sag and lose it's structure, oddly like one of the melting smiley face candles in the burning boarding house. Closing his eyes tight, he wrapped himself around the sleeping Phoebe, more to shield her from this ghastly visage than anything. He felt a sense of relief as he began to feel the air around him warm again. It was over... but what did it mean? Opening his eyes, the room was back as it should be. With a sigh, he lay back down beside her and made his own game attempt at sleep.
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Helga almost had to be helped to her chair, she was laughing so hard.
Arnold and Phoebe's letters hadn't truly done justice to the antics of their high school pals, and the story of Harold, the duck, and the copier machine was absolutely side splitting. As she desperately attempted to collect herself, Sid just grinned, glad to have a receptive audience to his tales. "That was so... so... Harold-like, y'know? I can almost see him all stained like that! That is just TOO much."
"Heh, yeah well, that's one of the reason's that Stinky and I stopped hanging around Harold... ONE of the reasons." Sid smiled as he finished up washing the mushrooms.
Before Helga could respond, another knock came to the front door. Checking his watch, Sid furrowed his brow. It's only 4:30, if that's Sheena and the Stinker they're early.
Wiping her hands, Helga opened the door and sure enough, there stood Sheena and Stinky, shaking the last remnants of snow from their shoulders.
Helga had gotten a good look at Stinky Peterson at her welcome home party, but just couldn't help staring anyway. Standing six foot eight inches of solid muscle, looked like nothing so much as a bigger meaner looking version of Arnold. Hair in a mullet, Van Dyke beard and piercing grey eyes, he was always portrayed as Mephisto in sports page charactures, and a demonic lineage couldn't be readily ruled out. Yet despite his Dante-esque visage, he remained the gentle Arkansas country boy at heart and could still charm the daylights out of Helga without breaking a sweat.
Sheena however, had not been able to attend Helga's coming home party, so this was her first chance to touch base again, and what a surprise it was.
Somewhere in the sixth grade, Sheena dropped her dolphin-kissing nature girl persona in favor of Western Swinger dealie. She dude-ranched every summer, went horseback riding and adopted the look and mannerisms that graced her with her nickname since seventh grade; Honky-Tonk Girl. Seldom seen out of jeans and a flannel shirt (though Stinky may prove the exception to that rule), she played fiddle in a local country and western band called Five Lonesome Cowgirls, and did so with flair.
Ignoring the boys, Sheena and Helga embraced each other and immediately scuttled off into the living room to catch up on four years worth of girltalk. Sid took their coats and when sure they enjoyed a bit of privacy, raised an eyebrow at Stinky and asked, "Well...?"
"Well whut?" Stinky's expression was unreadable. They walked to the kitchen as they talked, and Stinky stooped to look in the fridge.
"Uh... I um,... I couldn't help be notice that Sheena's pickup's been parked in from of your apartment for the last three days..." and again Sid hit him with a knowing look.
"Yeah, Ah reckon this way-ther really bahts all right." Craning his head into the living room, the devil's own called out, "Miss Helga, is this yur beer in the ahs-box? Might Ah git one?"
"Oh sure, help yourself, Stinky." Sheena's head popped up, "Ooooh honey, would you please fetch me one?"
Topping two beers, he dutifully carried one of the bottles to Sheena, which she accepted in exchange for a kiss on the cheek. Returning to the kitchen, he took a slow draw off his beer as Sid just grinned at him slyly. After an interminable silence, Stinky smiled and almost whispered, "Yall'd be surprised jus' how high her voice can go..." and took another draw off his beer as Sid did a little dance.
To Be Continued
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Okay, thanks to everyone for the reviews and interest in this story. I origionally wrote this in mid 2003, but stalled out on it after hitting twelve chapters. The reason's were many and varied, but a big part of it was feeling so dissatisfied about the direction I'd let the story go. I made several BIG compromises to my concept to please some of the readers, and to be honest, that was a big mistake. I should have stuck to my guns and just plowed ahead. Not only that, in the intervining months I rethougfht how I wanted to tell the tale and better ways to present some of the elements.
So I pulled the story and have been cleaning it up and bringing it more in line with what I'd initially planned. More fun coming up and things start getting REALLY creepy in chapter eight, not just for Arnold, but for Helga as well as you get a little peek at whjat she's really up to.