A/N: This chapter involves some disrobing (not all the way) and some possible sexual tension. But it won't be acted upon in this chapter.
We made our way to Hillwood Lake, and both of us sat down on the dock. The scenery of the crystal blue waters was nothing short of gorgeous.
"Wanna go swimming?" Helga blatantly suggested, still staring ahead.
"But we don't have bathing suits..." I pointed out, lightly rubbing my upper right arm with my left hand in awkwardness.
"We don't need them." Helga said.
I gasped and covered my mouth as blush crept to my face at Helga's bold statement.
"Are y-you suggesting that we-?!" I started to say, sounding very flustered.
"No, I didn't mean that. I just meant we could just swim in our undergarments, football head." Helga clarified.
I was relieved that Helga didn't actually want us to go skinny dipping. I wasn't comfortable with it and I didn't think I could handle something like that. But I was also sort of irritated with Helga for making me believe that was what she was alluding to. Knowing her, she probably did it on purpose.
"How could you scare me by making me think you were suggesting something else?" I thought out loud.
"Well, believe it or not, getting a reaction out of you is pretty fucking fun, football head." Helga quipped.
"Let's just go swimming." I suggested.
"Sounds good to me." Helga replied.
I turned away from Helga so I wasn't facing her. I then removed my clothing, except for my boxers, and set them on the dock.
I shortly walked to the edge of the dock and lightly jumped off into the water, making a little splash. The frigid sensation immediately overtook my senses. The water was colder than it looked.
I was still facing away from Helga, and I heard footsteps treading down the dock behind me. I immediately heard a splash in the lake waters following. A few cold droplets from the splash hit my skin.
I turned around to face Helga, and she had just emerged from underwater since she had jumped in. Her long blonde hair was wet and water was dripping from her tendrils. I had to admit to myself that Helga looked good with wet hair. I hoped that didn't sound creepy.
Helga and I had a good time swimming around in the body of water that was not too deep, but not too shallow. It was cold at first, but we started to get used to the temperature.
"I have a question, Helga." I said while splashing around in the water, listening to the calming noise of it.
"Okay, but don't expect an answer." Helga shot back.
I took a deep breath before blurting out the question on my mind.
"Why do you always act like you're so bad, like don't care?" I asked.
Shit, shit. Did I really just ask that to her face so casually? It wasn't supposed to be that direct. Stupid Arnold. I thought.
It wasn't even like it was the first time I'd asked her that. In elementary school, I'd brought it up numerous times. But something felt different about this time.
"Do you really wanna know?" Helga nonchalantly asked me.
"Yeah, I wouldn't have asked if I didn't..." I said.
"Okay then, here's my secret..." Helga started to say, but something about the vibe felt suspicious.
Helga slowly swam over to me to the point where our proximity was pretty close. Her face was directed towards my ear, and leaned in at a slow speed.
"I'm not acting!" Helga exclaimed.
While Helga wasn't yelling, her voice was a lot louder than I expected, which made me jump in a startled manner.
What I did sort of expect from her was the kind of response she gave me. Her immediately agreeing to answer my question like that was a bit skeptical.
"Whatever you say, Helga." I said, which was reminiscent to years ago.
"Yeah, you got that right. Whatever I say!" Helga exclaimed.
I let out another chuckle at her quip, and Helga turned to face me, giving me a subtle glare.
Our close proximity did not change, despite Helga not needing to "whisper" in my ear anymore. We were facing each other as we both treaded the water. I looked into her eyes that were the same hue of the calming, splashing waves, but brighter and clearer. I found myself getting lost in her eyes as water droplets trickled down her tendrils of dampened hair. It was probably abrupt for someone like me to think this about a girl whom I'd just got back in contact with, but she looked beautiful in my eyes.
Our nearness caused my heart to go pitter patter like the droplets of the water we were in. I prayed that Helga couldn't hear the beating of my heart. She probably couldn't, since the sound of it was only faint to even my own ears, but there always had to be at least an ounce of paranoia in my inner thoughts.
It was kind of embarrassing for me to admit, but as we looked into each other's eyes, it felt like I wanted to kiss her. But I decided not to act upon my hormones until I knew for a fact that it was more than just hormones. Especially since we had just reunited the previous day after a few years.
I was told that I probably like Helga and she likes me, but I didn't know what to think. All I knew is that I enjoyed spending time with Helga, even though it had happened so suddenly. But I was afraid of getting too attached to her. What if I got too attatched to her, and she ends up not caring about me as much as I care about her? Helga was such an enigma, a complicated enigma. For years and years she pushed me away with all that yelling, teasing, and name calling, but it was never that one dimensional in my eyes. She also seemed to care about me, which she had shown evidence of, even if she was immensely reluctant to admit it.
Then, in high school, she put on an even tougher persona, but she just ignored me completely. I was scared to talk to her until yesterday. And now that we have basically reunited, she isn't pushing me away as much, though she is still being quite snarky.
I didn't understand why my mind always came back to Helga. Why was I so desperate to figure out everything about her like I was a detective solving a mystery case?
Though I liked spending time with the blonde girl in front of me, I didn't know exactly how she felt about me. I couldn't just ask, it wasn't that simple. I didn't want to get attatched to her and get hurt. But I also didn't want to push her away like she had done to me years ago.
I got so lost in my thoughts that I didn't realize I was looking straight into Helga's eyes.
"Um... sorry." I dismissed awkwardly as I broke eye contact.
Helga didn't say anything, she just continued swimming. I did the same until the tone in the sky got slightly darker, and the sun shone over the water less. The lake water was starting to get cold again, and I realized it was probably time to get ready to go back home.
"It's getting dark. You wanna call it a day?" I suggested.
"Okay, football head. I've probably had enough anyway." Helga agreed.
I stepped out of the lake, water dripping from my body. Helga followed me, facing my back and my hair that had drooped down from being in the water.
"Well, there's no towels and I bet you don't want to walk around in your underwear, so let's just air dry before we go home." Helga pointed out.
"Alright." I agreed. It would be more time consuming to air dry, but I was fine with it and there wasn't really any other option.
I got to spend extra time with Helga anyway.
Helga and I had stepped onto the ground, and laid down on our sides. It was starting to get dark out, but it was only just a tad bit darker than it was when we first arrived. I was laying on my left side while Helga was laying on her right, so I wasn't facing her. For the entirety of our time at the lake, I had avoided looking at Helga while she wasn't in the water, since I wasn't sure if it was okay to see her half naked. I fiddled with my fingers in awkwardness as we laid down in silence.
"I'm failing English." Helga said randomly, breaking the silence.
"I'm sorry..." I replied, unsure of how to answer.
Another silence overtook us before I thought of another response.
"Isn't English your best subject?" I questioned.
"You remembered?" Helga asked.
"I have a very good memory." I said.
"I bet you do, considering the size of your head!" Helga remarked, laughing at her own joke.
"Very funny." I deadpanned sarcastically.
There was another wave of silence before Helga spoke again, and this time, the mood quickly shifted.
"But yeah, English used to be my best subject. But not anymore." Helga said unenthusiastically.
"Why are you telling me about this?" I asked in genuine curiosity.
"I... I don't know, really. It's not like I care or anything!" Helga quickly shifted her tone of voice once again.
Just minutes prior, Helga's intonation in her voice conveyed an emotion of disappointment. Now, she was brushing it off like she didn't care.
Women.
That's when I suggested something else that popped into my brain. I wanted to see what Helga would say about it.
"I could help you if you want." I suggested.
"Like tutoring? Helga Pataki doesn't need a tutor." Helga scoffed.
"Well, if you want to go through with my offer, let me know." I said, smiling, forgetting she couldn't see it.
"You know you can face me, right?" Helga said, changing the subject.
Not only did Helga change the subject abruptly, she basically read my mind, about something awkward even.
A blush crept to my face before asking, "I can?"
"Why not, it's just like seeing me in a bikini. Just don't try to get all mushy or be starin'." Helga remarked half-jokingly.
I turned around to lay on my right side rather than my left. I was facing Helga, which is what I preferred when I was having a conversation.
Not too long after, I noticed a round, reddish-blue mark on her right shoulder, which appeared to be a bruise. I wasn't all that concerned about it until I saw Helga's reaction to me noticing it.
"Oh, shit." Helga exclaimed somewhat dramatically, smacking her hand over the bruise to cover it up. That was what caused me concern.
"I think I'm dried off enough, I'm putting my clothes back on and leaving." Helga said with agitation in her tone.
Helga wanting to leave right after I saw her bruise was a very hasty decision. I didn't even point out the bruise with words, yet me just glancing at it triggered this reaction.
With the events that occured today, I found myself expressing concern towards Helga.
But it wasn't the first time, now was it?