Disclaimer: I don't own Hey Arnold, or anything else that I've mentioned.
Full Summary: Helga, never imagined that one rash decision at a party, would turn her life completely on its head six years later, and leave her in a twisted web of secrets, lies and deceit. The skeletons are coming out. For Hillwood, it's the crime of the century. A love/crime/triangle drama! R&R!
A/N: Alright, I figured I'd just go ahead and throw up the second chapter instead of sitting on it. One and two were originally just one giant...thing that I'd started into so I split it. So yeah, you know the name of the game with me, if this isn't your first rodeo with me, MANIPULATION. How much can I bend somebody until they break? How far can I push a character before everybody sits back and says, "Damn...I guess I could see that happening." I want this story to be one of those, 'whose really telling the truth,' type deals. I just hope I can pull it off. I don't know if I'm all that good enough though. We'll see!
Tear up my Reputation.
"Mmm...ah...Shit-shit Right there," Helga groaned as Arnold thoroughly pummeled her into the couch cushions. The earlier attack fest that they'd sprung on one another at her front door had rapidly spiraled into a round two for them. And much like before, Arnold had completely taken control of her. They'd made it as far as the couch before the clothes started coming off and the primal want to explore every inch of each other set in like a fever.
Something that they hadn't been able to do in the quickness the night before.
"Don't stop."
"I can't," He growled out an assurance, "So...good." He then dropped his mouth down, capturing her awaiting lips with his own before resting his forehead to hers, eyes squeezed shut.
"Yeah...yes-ah! God, I'm coming..." Her nails raked across his back when he felt her start to ride the waves of her orgasm, shuddering underneath him, her face flushing a light pink.
Arnold moaned in a low voice, "Ah...so am I."
Once he'd completely drained himself, he leaned in and gave her a quick but lingering kiss on her flushed lips before rolling off of her, as much as he could, being on a couch, just to prevent from dropping his full weight onto her, but still halfway pinning her down.
They stayed like that for a little while, neither feeling the need to speak to one another. Helga was the first one to move, wiggling her way out from underneath him and then sliding from the couch. "You need to go," She said. Arnold watched her snatch her shirt from the floor and throw it on, and then slide back into her underwear.
Damn. Now he wanted her again.
He sat up and slung his legs over the couch, reaching into his lap and sliding the spent condom off of himself, knotting the top to prevent spillage. Leaning forward he picked up his jeans and stuck it in one of the pockets. "Are you always this friendly of a host?" He leaned back, reaching over to the far end of the couch, grabbing his boxers, giving them a a shake before standing up and pulling them on.
Helga glared at him, "I'm not itching to get caught."
Arnold rolled his eyes at her, "Then why did you let me in?" He asked. When she failed to answer him he raised his eyebrows high and widened his eyes a little, "Well?"
She huffed, "Look, I've got a million and one things going on in my head right now and I need to figure some shit out."
"You don't think I need to figure some things out too?"
"Then figure them out on your own like I will," Her eyes darkened towards him, "I've got a boyfriend."
"And I've got a girlfriend."
Helga wasn't in any mood to discuss and compare moral compasses between them. Instead her face turned to stone as she stared at him, "Arnold. Get out," She demanded in a low voice. He sighed, a small smirk tugging at his lips and he knew that it was probably irritating the ever living daylights out of her. However, instead of responding back to her demand, he closed the gap between them and placed both of his hands on her hips, a move she made zero attempt to pull away from, in spite of her demanding he leave.
"Fine," He agreed. "If you really want me to leave," He leaned down and kissed her lips, "I'll leave then."
By the time Arnold did slip out of her apartment, it was not far from midnight, which was a little while past her original attempt to boot him out. What could he say? They had gotten occupied again, and again. He was beyond tired too, but damn, that girl was like sexual napalm to him. It was the whole reason he'd gone through the trouble of getting her address from Gerald, and then uncharacteristically showing up at her place, having no idea, or any care, if Jeremy would be home or not.
'Hi, here's your underwear from last night. Now what do I have to do to get inside of you again?' Had basically been what he knocked on her door and said. Of course, not in so many words, though, he had been completely truthful when he told her he'd had a really good time with her at the party. He really had. They had clicked in a way that he hadn't with any of the other girl.
It was a shame she was involved. And she seemed to have no desire to explore other options. Well, now that wasn't exactly true. She'd explored him as an option, she just seemed to have no want to trash a relationship-that there was obviously something wrong with if she was hooking up with him-over it. Fair enough.
He supposed she had her reasons. He was just kind of finding himself wishing he'd had the same connection with her back in high school. Or wishing he'd even noticed her. He hadn't paid much attention to her after elementary school, they hardly talked in middle school, they never talked in high school and ceased seeing one another completely after graduation.
And it seemed that two nights would have to be it for him, because Helga had banished him from ever coming there again, and with that she had told him to never speak to her again as well. It seemed rather harsh, but whatever, he respected that, and he supposed he wouldn't come looking for her again either.
Arnold stepped off the elevator in the lobby and saw a dark headed guy heading towards him, dressed in a white long sleeve collard shirt and a pair of black dress pants. He stopped, held his hand out to prevent the elevator doors from shutting, seeing the guy was obviously wanting to catch the lift up. "Hey thanks man," The guy walked past him but then spun around, "Arnold Shortman!" He said, a note of audible surprise in his voice.
Arnold turned and really looked at the guy, indeed recognizing him immediately, though it had been a few years. If the toothpick hadn't been a dead give away, his scarred left eyebrow was, "Jeremy Kirk," He put on a wide smile. What were the freaking odds of that? "It's been awhile," He reached out and offered his hand for a shake, playing cool as ice.
Jeremy shook it, "Yeah it has been. Are you living here now? I thought you still lived over in South Tower with Brian Davis?"
Arnold swallowed, "Um, no, I uh..." was banging your girlfriend while you were at work, "...was here doing some late night studying with a class mate."
"I hear you. I can't be done with school fast enough," Jeremy nodded, rubbing the back of his neck kind of tiredly. "Well hey man, next time you're here, stop by. Helga and I are apartment 301." Now that was some damn irony, considering Helga had forbidden him from ever stepping foot in the building.
Ha!
"Yeah," Arnold nodded, "Absolutely. Thanks."
"Take it easy," Jeremy waved him goodbye and finally let the elevator doors shut. Arnold waved back before turning and striding out of the lobby and into the parking lot in search of his SUV.
Upstairs, Helga had torn the sheets off of their bed, mildly pissed that she'd even let him in it. Okay, so she was furious she'd let him in her apartment to begin with, but, whatever. Now, with a much clearer head, she couldn't help but notice what a extra, extra, extra insult it was letting him in her and Jeremy's bed. It was already bad enough that she was sleeping with him, but damn, her boyfriend had to come home and sleep in that now too?
What a fucking whore thing to do. God this had gotten out of control too quickly. The only saving grace that she had to correct this ship was that she had told him to never come there and to never talk to her again. That night was it.
Whatever it was.
Helga had resigned herself to the idea that it was the 'seven year itch.' Of course hers would have to technically be a five year itch. Her relationship with Jeremy had hit a stale, bored spot and the natural urge to want to find some excitement and explore what was out there had started festering within. Arnold and his badly mangled moral compass had been the perfect foil for her and their chance collision at that party the perfect spark.
But it was out of her system now. Surely. The itch had been scratched, thoroughly and repeatedly. She'd gotten her kicks knocking boots with her old childhood friend and now, she would tuck it away, lock it up, throw away the key and go on with her current life, never uttering a word about it, and Jeremy none the wiser.
What he didn't know, wouldn't hurt him.
She just had to make sure she got rid of any evidence first. And the sheets had to come off. Had to, because they reeked of Arnold and she knew there was no way Jeremy wouldn't notice the smell of cologne-that he didn't wear-lingering all over his pillow and sheets. She'd gotten the old sheets off and stuffed into the dirty hamper and crammed into the closet to wash tomorrow and a clean pair on when she heard the front door open.
Two weeks later.
Two weeks had slipped by and Helga hadn't heard a peep from Arnold. It both surprised and relieved her, because she wasn't constantly having to look over her shoulder, so-to-speak. She had settled back into the daily grind with Jeremy, beginning to not feel so awkward around him. She was a little taken aback by herself though. She had been oh so sure that her little micro-fling with Arnold would bring into focus everything she loved about Jeremy, and while she did thoroughly appreciate his devotedness, and the fact that he'd always treated her like she was the only girl on the planet who mattered, she was still bored as could be with their relationship.
She couldn't exactly ask him to change himself. She couldn't ask him to be more spontaneous, or a little more unpredictable. He was a grounded individual. She'd known that when she'd started dating him in high school.
And so, her mind had started its wandering, thinking about how alive she had felt with Arnold. Of course, the reasonable side knew that some of it was because she knew it was wrong. She postured herself as an individual who wasn't a cheater, but some of her knew that part of what was so hot about being with him was knowing that she could get caught.
She supposed that was the rebellious side of her wanting to rear it's ugly and unnecessary head.
He was all she could think about. She thought about him in the morning, she thought about him in class, at work, before she went to bed...when even she was with Jeremy. Talk about a mind fuck. It was borderline sick at that point.
So it wasn't any surprise that she'd finally come to her wits end with the whole thing. The timing could have been better, she'd admit, because she had been sitting in the auditorium of her final class for the afternoon, listening to the droll of her professor, when she finally decided she just couldn't stand the madness anymore. Her body was practically hurting at that point. Sliding out her phone, she thumbed over to her text messages and selected Gerald's number and typed out, 'Hey - What's Arnold's address?' She asked and then hit send.
Tall Hairboy replied back almost immediately with, 'Why?'
Helga rolled her eyes. Why everything had to be so difficult with him, she'd never know. She quickly texted back, 'Crimeny, just give me his address. Please.'
After a few moments he finally sent back, 'South Tower. Next to MUHL. Dorm 225.'
'Thanks'
She then threw her phone and notebook into her bag, having had about as much as she could take of...whatever was going on with her, and her professors rambling lecture, and slid out of a side exit, where she bolted to her car. She wasn't surprised that was where he lived. A lot of medical students lived in South Tower because it was literally next door to the Medical University of Hillwood.
Made it easy to find. Not that a peculiarly placed dorm, on a one way street, that wasn't clearly named with a questionable parking situation in the rain would of stopped her or anything.
She found a parking spot in his, very easy to find, parking garage, second floor, so she literally just had to walk in and figure out which way the numbers ticked, which turned out to be straight on down the hall. Couldn't have been easier. Almost too easy. Her heart was thundering up in her ears, feeling a little bit of heat rising up her face, as she timidly reached out and knocked on the door. She heard no footsteps, though she figured she wouldn't, but quickly enough, the door cracked open, but not by who she was looking for.
Helga stared up at the still lanky young man with short dirty blonde hair, and black rimmed glasses, left brow quirking high, "Brainy?" She phrased as a question, but she already recognized him.
"Helga..." He smiled, a noticeable amount of surprise on his face. "What are you doing here?"
She returned his smile and nonchalantly peeked around him, "Arnold home?" She asked, before shifting her gaze back up to him, "You're in med school too huh?"
Brainy nodded, "Uh...Biology actually, and yeah, he's in his room," He finally stepped aside so she could come through the door, "I can go get him if-"
"Nah, that's okay. Just point me to which one."
"That one," He gestured to the second door off of the living room. Looking around at the set up, Helga assumed that in addition to Brainy, he probably lived with two other people as well. The dorm was huge.
She walked to the door, heart really pounding in her chest as she gave the door knob a twist and walked in. Arnold looked up from his desk, where he'd been intently reading a large book and scribbling some notes on a pad beside it, "Helga?" His eyes widening as he saw her whisk into his room, shutting the door behind her and locking it. He twisted around in his chair, unsure if her being there was a good thing or a bad thing and followed with, "Is everything okay?"
God, he hoped this wasn't a bad news drop by.
She didn't say anything at all as she practically skipped over to him, jumping into his lap, straddling him while her hands jumped to his face, attacking his mouth with her own. His shock instantly melted away, his arms wrapping around her, and his tongue greeting hers for a much needed play date. In between her oral assault she whispered, "Everything's fine. I just want to fuck you."
They had both fallen asleep after, well, for a lack of better way of terming it, after she'd gotten some Arnold riding lessons in that afternoon. When she finally popped awake from her nice little nap, she noticed that she had fallen asleep with her head laying halfway between his shoulder and chest, her arm resting across his chest, her leg intertwined with his. His arm was curled around her and his breath and light snores puffed onto the top of her hair in a steady, if not a shallow rhythm.
She tilted her head up and looked at him, "Arnold..." She called in a soft voice. His vibrant green eyes fluttered open, blinking a few times as he looked down at her, then taking a deep wake-up breath and stretching his arms.
"How long have I been out?" He mumbled.
"I don't know."
Arnold gazed at her, taking the hand of the arm around her and twirling a strand of her hair between his fingers, smiling sweetly, "You can't kick me out. But, I'm surprised to see you still here," He teased, but was being perfectly honest.
He'd expected to wake up alone.
Helga could only image her hair probably looked like some fresh hell right then, and she only tossed him the most unamused eye roll she had in her. He was probably so full of himself because of her coming to him. And as much as she would have loved to pop his balloon, she couldn't find it in herself, simply because she was now in such a good mood and just really didn't care enough. "Yeah, yeah..." She sat up and moved his arm so she could prop her elbow up on the pillow and rest her head in her palm while facing him.
He mirrored her, propping himself up too, "Want to talk about this?" It was a serious question, but he was sporting a smile that border-lined on absolutely playful.
Sighing, she shrugged and replied with a, "Not really."
His smile wasn't at all deterred by her unwillingness to cooperate. He was in a really good mood too, "Well, we've got to discuss it eventually."
"Can I keep seeing you?" She raised her brows, biting her lip as she continued to stare at his handsome face, and into those sparkling green eyes.
"Yeah," Arnold leaned forward and pecked her on the lips, still smiling, "I want to keep seeing you too."
She kissed him back, a smile playing at her lips too, "Can we just keep it simple then?"
"So, I'm taking it, that means I'm still not allowed to return to your apartment because Jeremy is staying?" He sounded disappointed to her, but quite frankly he'd have to get over it.
"Look, I'm not ending my relationship, so give it a rest. I just want to see what this even is. I know that makes me the worst human being but, there is something about you that has become absolutely addicting to me, but I'm not sure it will last," She admitted, but it didn't make anymore sense to her saying it allowed. She wanted to keep seeing him, but didn't want to give up her cushy relationship with Jeremy.
She wanted her cake and to eat it too? Even she didn't know.
She wanted a fall back, is what it was. What if she left Jeremy for Arnold and this turned out to be nothing more than a complete sex soaked bust and ended in a relationship disaster? Then what? She'd be single, having thrown away a perfectly safe and comfortable existence with Jeremy.
Maybe Phoebe had been somewhat correct. Maybe she was more afraid to be alone than she was willing to take a chance at something else.
"I can live with that, and I don't think I'm going to wear off," Arnold confidently told her, looking as smug as he sounded about it.
It caused her to crack a rare, lopsided smile, "You don't think?" She flirtatiously countered with.
He shook his head, leaning into her again for another much longer kiss before saying, "You think I'm addicting? Girl, you are the best that I've ever had," He kissed her again, "And I'm not just saying that either."
"We will see," She teased him, "And, who knows the time, but I probably need to go," She said, even though she had just wound her arms around his neck as they continued to kiss one another. It was obvious she didn't desire to go anywhere.
She was kind of beginning to hate that. Her mouth said one thing, her body insisted on doing the exact opposite.
"One for the road?" He asked, eliciting a chuckle from her. "Could be another two weeks before I see you again."
"It will not. I assure you," She told him, running her fingers through his hair while he had already moved down, planting warm kisses all over her chest, acting as if he didn't hear her at all, "But yes, I'll take one for the road." He jerked his head up and smirked devilishly at her, coming forward to kiss her before reaching over to his bedside table's drawer to fish out another condom, which then he tossed beside them for whenever he was ready for it. "It didn't warrant mentioning before, but I guess it might now? I'm actually on the pill, so we don't have to use those if you don't want. Unless of course you don't trust me, which is perfectly okay. I'm not offended at all. Girls can be sneaky bitches. But, just giving you the option."
Arnold stared at her for a moment, his smirk growing bigger. "I trust you," He told her and threw the foil pack back into the drawer.
About thirty minutes later, Arnold was finally seeing Helga out his dorm door after a well spent afternoon with her. The two walked, not saying a word, only smiling to themselves, down his hallway, and out into the parking garage where she dug through her bag for her keys as she led them towards her car.
"BMW huh?" He remarked when he saw the lights blink on the black sedan, "Fancy, fancy. Your dad get you that?" He was clearly teasing and she knew that, however, she couldn't resist granting him one of her unamused stares as she turned to lean against the side of her car, crossing her arms and coolly examining her nails with a smirk.
"Actually, yeah. When I told him I didn't really want to go to Wellington University, he happily bought me a nice car instead. It was still cheaper for him than paying for that high ass tuition. Even after all my scholarships."
Arnold chortled and leaned in with his palm on the top of the car door, "Gets into an ivy league school...extorts sports car out of father instead. Love it."
"It's how I roll," She chuckled too, "Literally," She patted the car, "It's how I roll. Besides, I didn't need an ivy league to do what I'm going to do. Would have been a waste anyway."
"I like that about you."
"What?"
"You didn't do something for the sake of doing it."
Helga copped him a snarky little look, "Yeah, I throw a lot of caution to the wind too."
He shook his head, smile never wavering, "I know, and I like it," She cracked a smirk, pushed off of her car and gave him a peck on the lips. He grabbed her and quickly made it more lengthy. "You should take me for ride in this thing sometime."
"I'll make your head spin," She grinned, kissing him.
He groaned "I know," and kissed her again. "Text me or something tonight, alright?"
"No."
"You're no fun."
"You're reckless," She smiled into his mouth, "You will be seeing me very soon."
After a few more minutes of trying to say goodbye, not really wanting to say goodbye, they finally said their goodbyes and she drove out of the parking garage, leaving him already hot with the anticipation of seeing her again.
By the time Arnold walked back through his dorm door, Brainy was seated on the couch across the room, pretending to watch TV, while he waited for his roommate to finally return so he could jump him with a million and one questions. As soon as he heard the door click he muted the TV.
"What the 'eff Shortman, you're banging Helga now?"
Arnold skid to a stop shot him a look, crossed his arms and proceeded to play dumb about it, "What are you talking about?"
Brainy narrowed his eyes at his friend, "Okay, so you do know that these walls might as well be paper right? You two weren't exactly the quietest in there earlier."
The green eyed blonde sighed and dropped his arms, "Alright, yeah, we've been sleeping together," He admitted.
"Wow, so is Taylor like...vamoose now? I hated her anyway."
"No."
Brainy's eyes widened, now trying to figure out this whole riddle, "Wait, so Helga's your side chick?"
"Yeah, sort of. I'm her side dude then too, I guess. It's complicated."
"Oh snap. That's right. She's still with Jeremy. Man, that's pretty jacked up. Even for you."
Arnold fixed him with a serious glare, suddenly realizing something that could make things hairy. One of his roommates, specifically the one standing across the room from him, had a class, and was well acquainted with his new side girl's boyfriend, "Brian," He sternly began, "You better not so much as make a peep to him about what you saw...or heard here, okay?"
Brainy appeared flat out offended by the warning, "Dude, I'm not going to rat you out. It's none of my business what you two have going on anyway. I was just surprised to see her here," He conceded, seeing the relief wash over his roommates face, "And even more surprised by what was coming out of that room," He smirked again, "Holy smokes, dude, what were you doing to her in there?"
Arnold rolled his eyes and she shook his head, heading towards his room. He didn't have time for his teasing. He had studying to do, "Get some ear plugs," He shot him his ear to ear smile as he closed the door.
Two weeks later.
Jeremy lackadaisically walked from his and Helga's bedroom a little before midnight, having been asked to take his movie watching to the living room because she wanted to sleep. Fair enough, he probably shouldn't have decided to start 'Transformers' at 10:45 that night, knowing she would be falling asleep around then. Fine. He didn't mind taking his party to the living room.
He plopped down on the couch, realizing the TV remote wasn't laying on the coffee table in front of him. He peeked underneath and saw nothing. He grabbed a couple pillows and didn't see it there either. Must have fallen between the cushions. He scooted to the side and ran his hand along the back, but didn't feel anything. Finally, he slipped his hand between two of the cushions and felt it crammed down in there. When he pulled it out, he hadn't immediately realize that his hand had grabbed something else. Something else that had been sitting right near the remote.
It was torn, gold, with ragged edges that were once joined to its other half that that seemed no longer present. It was something that had absolutely no business being in his apartment, because he had not needed the use of one for years at that point.
He held it to the light, "What the..?"
One week later.
Helga came rushing into the sandwich shop that she and Phoebe always had lunch at. She'd really had to scoot to make it across campus from Arnold's dorm to even have some resemblance of being on time. They were seeing each other a lot more than she imagined they would. Practically every other day, one of them was sneaking off to meet the other. It was surprising how many places could be found to have a secret rendezvous in that were outside of the traditional spots, yet despite her previous ban on going to her apartment, they'd wound up there a few more times because of the sheer thrill of it.
So when she came sprinting into the cafe, and slid into the booth across from Phoebe, it drew a very odd stare from her best friend who asked, "Did you just come from the gym?"
She half laughed and took giant gulp of her soda that, as usual, had already been ordered for her, "Not exactly," She replied and then went to flag the waiter down, "Hi, yeah can we go ahead and order?" She was freakin' starving. The two girls placed their order and made small talk until their sandwiches were delivered.
Phoebe mostly picked at her meal, more interested in the odd, yet energetic mood her friend seemed to be in. After waiting around for Helga to maybe be the one to tell her what was going on, or possibly what had changed since they last hung out, she finally just straight up asked, "Are you okay?"
Helga stopped, mid-chew, and looked up at her friend. She was about to give her a canned, 'yeah' response when Phoebe's brow raised high and she gave her a stern, almost mothery type look. Her way of saying, 'Don't bullshit me.' without saying it.
The blonde began licking her lips, "Technically...yes, but not really."
Phoebe shot her a 'wtf' expression, "How are you okay but not? What kind of trouble have you gotten into?"
Helga put her sandwich down and folded her arms on the table, looking around to see who might be in there before leaning into the table and saying, "So um...I've been..." She trailed off, not really wanting to admit it, but knowing she needed to. Phoebe was her best friend. She had to tell her, "I've been...sleeping with Arnold since Gerald's party."
Phoebe's mouth fell open, dropping her own sandwich and wiping her hands on her lap napkin, "So you and Jeremy finally took a break then? Or broke up?"
Her friend's eyes shamefully diverted to the table, "No," She admitted in a quiet voice.
"Oh goodness..." Phoebe uttered, still in complete shock. "So, you are sneaking around with Arnold behind Jeremy's back?" Yes. It sounded just as awful said aloud then as it did before. Her friend limply nodded. "Why? What good can come of that?"
Helga exhaled and looked back at her friend, "Trust me, I know. Arnold has just...he's just been like a dose of adrenaline for me."
"Then break up with Jeremy and go get it out of your system. That is just wrong what you're doing, Helga."
"You think I don't know that?" Helga snapped back, "Sorry..." She quickly apologized, "I...I really just don't know what I want."
Phoebe frowned, "Well, traditionally, if one is sneaking behind her boyfriend's back to be with another guy, it tends to suggest that one would rather be with the other guy."
Helga sighed and rocked back in the booth seat, leaning against the wooden back, "Yeah, you know what? You're right. I like Arnold. These last few weeks of being with him have made me incredibly happy."
"...but? Seems like you've answered your own question."
"I just don't know if there could ever be trust there."
Phoebe rolled her eyes, "Well of course not. You're both running around behind your significant other's backs. How could there be any real trust? You both have admitted to one another, via your actions, that you're willing to wander if you find something that interests you."
"I'm not a cheater," Helga shook her head, mostly to herself. She knew her actions made her a newly forged liar as well, but she continued, "I've never been, and I really can't explain why I've gotten sucked into this with him other than...there's just something about him. There has always been something about him. It's not just the sex either. I mean, don't get me wrong, it is incredible, but we can literally just lay in bed for hours and just talk about anything and everything, and I love that."
Phoebe ran her hand through her dark tresses before adjusting her glasses and sitting back in her seat, "Helga, you need to figure this out, and quickly, because this wont end well. Somebody is going to get hurt."
"I know," She sighed, a heavy amount of dread weighing on her chest at the mere thought, "I know..."
Three weeks later.
It had been eaten at him for almost a full month. Why? Why had the torn top of a condom packet been in his apartment. At first he'd almost been willing to cast it off as a mere misunderstanding. After all, they didn't own the furniture in that apartment. No. That was a fully furnished university apartment. Perhaps it had gotten crammed down in there from the last students that lived there and the the building management hadn't done a super thorough job cleaning the nooks and crannies before they moved in two years ago.
It was entirely possible.
But the keen observer in him couldn't help but notice the subtle change in her. How she seemed distant from him, yet happier. Like she had a little pep in her step. Not that he'd ever noticed her unhappy or anything.
Who was he kidding. She didn't seem distant from him, she was distant from him.
Something was going on.
And he'd finally let it chew at him enough that he finally cracked at work at about three hours into his shift. He'd told the floor manager he was feeling sick, gotten somebody else to cover his section and bolted from the restaurant.
When he walked into his apartment it was empty. Like he'd hoped it wouldn't be. He flexed his jaw muscles a little, "Uh huh..." That was when he knew.
He knew. He just knew!
But with who? He started pacing around. Of course he could just confront her, but she'd deny it. He couldn't prove it.
It was just a gut feeling.
Who? Who? Who?
His pacing around became more furious as he was trying to piece together some timeline that he could try to pinpoint when things had changed. Over a month. Okay that was a start. Right around the time she went to Gerald's party.
Honestly, like right after that party.
But who could she...
He stopped and looked up. Who, out of the ordinary, had he seen right around that time? "Motherfucker..."
Going into a white hot blur, he hurriedly changed clothes, grabbing his keys and grabbing her spare key fob before blowing out his front door like a storm. He knew exactly where that asshole lived. Brian had invited him and several others for a midterm study session that semester that he'd declined, having way too many other things going on.
When he got over to South Tower, he went straight to the second floor of the parking garage, parked, got out and immediately smashed the lock button on her key fob, first hearing it chirp and then spotting her black sedan light up. "Goddammit!" He yelled as he continued walking towards the building doors. Blasting through it, he charged down the hallway until he was standing in front of dorm 225, pounding the bottom of his fist against the metal door.
It finally opened, exposing a brown headed dude, not Arnold, or Briany, so he assumed it was some other roommate they had. "Can I help you?" He asked.
"Looking for Arnold," Jeremy quickly said and pushed inside.
"Whoa, hey I think he's busy."
"Oh, I know he's busy. Which room?" He demanded.
The brown headed guy sighed, shut the door and pointed to the room off of the living area and walked back down the hallway, "I don't have time for this crap..." He mumbled until he walked into his room. Jeremy walked over to the door, stood beside it and reached over and banged his hand on the wood.
He heard a very muffled 'what?' but didn't hear any attempt to answer it, so he banged again, and even harder. This time, he did hear some commotion and seconds later, the door yanked open, "What the hell!" Arnold barged through, suddenly confused by the lack of anybody being immediately there, and right as he turned to see the last person he'd expected, Jeremy reached out, grabbing him by the back of the neck and slinging him out the doorway.
"Arnold!" Jeremy heard her shout as her lover stumbled out into the living area and he walked into the doorway. Helga was coming off the bed, yanking her tee-shirt back on when she froze.
"Jeremy..." She gasped, and for what seemed like forever, they just remained in their respective spots, staring at one another. A million thoughts were speeding around her skull. The how's the why's the why now's. She also noticed, for the first time, the amount of darkness masking his deep brown eyes. An anger that she'd never before seen in him, as long as she'd been with him.
He looked back at Arnold, "That's why you were in the building that night," He reached in his pocket and pulled out the torn condom foil. "Found this between my couch cushions. Imagine my surprise right? Wasn't mine. We didn't need them. But I guess you're the paranoid type right? Well hey, you probably should take inventory. You know, next time you're fucking another guy's girl in his apartment," He flicked the piece of trash in the air and left it to fall to the floor.
Arnold could only glare at him, "Get the hell out of here," He demanded. Jeremy laughed because of the audacity of the situation and walked away from the bedroom door. Helga finally emerged from the bedroom once he had moved away, and it left the three of them in a triangulated stare off.
"Five years huh? Five years and this is the way it ends? You could have told me you were unhappy, but no, you have to do this." Jeremy's face hardened in disgust at her, "I loved you, and you whored yourself away to him."
"Hey!" Arnold's voice boomed at Jeremy. Helga knew it was an effort to defend her, and it made her absolutely want to puke.
The dark headed guy turned to his blonde foe, "No, no I think that it's an appropriate term here, and if you're into that, then great news. She's all yours now buddy," He then looked back at at her, "Because I'm done with you. Now I'm going home, and I am packing up my stuff and I'll be out by tomorrow morning, but don't you dare show up there tonight." He spared her one last blistering look before turning, walking past Arnold and out the dorm door.
When the door shut, Arnold looked back and Helga, who had the most unreadable look on her face, seemingly more dazed and confused than anything finally looked at him as if it were the first time she'd noticed him there. She the exhaled a breath she'd been holding in for awhile, shook her head at him and stepped back into his room. "Helga," He called to her as he began striding towards his room, only to have the door slammed on him, and locked for good measure, "Helga..." He said right against the wood.
On the other side, Helga had slid down to sit with her back against the door, steadfastly trying to process what the hell had just happened.
An hour ticked by before she came busting out of his room, now fully dressed with her bag flung over her shoulder, making a bee line for his dorm exit. Arnold jumped up from the couch where he had been waiting it out, "Helga!" He called.
"Leave me alone, Arnold," She coldly replied, not even bothering to look at him as she wrenched open the door and blew into the hallway. Being only in his pair of boxers still, he ran to his room, slung on the first pair of athletic shorts he could find on his floor and ran out the door after her. She was about halfway across the parking garage to her car when he caught up to her.
"Helga, please..." He reached out and grabbed her arm, which she quickly pulled away from him, spinning around, and shooting him down with a hard glare.
"Leave. Me. Alone!"
"Why are you being this way?" He exacerbated.
"I hurt him, Arnold!" She yelled.
Now he was getting angry, "I'm sorry that this happened! You think I liked him showing up in my dorm and yanking me out of my room? Hell no! Don't freaking act like you suddenly are sorry about hurting him!"
"It was a mistake. It was a big mistake."
"You two were over well before now. Why can't you admit that! You wouldn't have been fucking me on a regular basis if you weren't!" He yelled at her.
Helga's eyes thinned even more, "The fuck do you know?!"
"I know that you've spent more time with me in the last month than you have with him. Why would you want to continue to be with some somebody that you don't want to spend time with?"
"Well thank you Arnold. Thank you for helping me ruin my relationship. This stupid little fling was a giant fucking mistake," She rolled her eyes, turned around and started to walk off again. "And now I've hurt somebody that I cared about for this meaningless shit."
Arnold sighed, feeling suddenly drained by the entire situation, "But I don't think this was stupid at all," Helga stopped and looked back at him. He swallowed, "I don't think this was meaningless either. I'm glad he's finally out of the picture. I am."
She snorted, "Ah, so I can be even more available to keep your dick warm while you continue to prance around with your sorority bitch?" So help her, she didn't know why she was being so mean to him. One hundred percent of this was her fault, not his. "No thanks..."
Arnold stared at her, blinking at the obvious, "I'll get rid of her," He said, "Consider her gone."
Looking off, she stressed laughed and, ran a hand down her face, "I can't trust you. You can't trust me either. Look at the circumstances. We're both selfish people."
"Helga, you are the only girl I've ever done something like this with. And the only reason I kept her around and agreed to this whole set up, was because you wouldn't leave him," He took a few steps towards her, grabbing her hand and intertwining his fingers with hers, "We're free now. Why can't we just go with this?"
A/N: Well? What will happen next chapter? I told you all, after this one, it's going to go flying in a crazy direction. Anyway, thank you to those who left comments and followed, faved. Always interested to hear people's opinions because, sometimes, people suggest things that give me ideas or make me look more closely at a certain element of the story.