I'm a fool to do your dirty work
He breathed deep and then let the air go. He rolled his shoulders. He was standing in the back of the store surrounded by produce ready to be put in the front of the store. Helga was going to bring it out front. She looked at him. He was preparing for something but she wasn't sure what. Though it crossed her mind what it could be. "You're gonna say no today?"
"That's the plan, well if I'm asked to mop the store that is."
"How close to closing time are we?"
Arnold looked at his watch. "Half an hour so it should be about time."
Helga nodded and pushed the cart. Arnold followed. He looked around as they walked towards the front around he expected the ambush just about anytime. They arrived at the front. Helga picked up some packs they made and put them on the shelf. Arnold picked up some tomatoes and put them in their place. He had a strange feeling in his stomach. It was churning. He tried to breathe again. Helga looked at him after putting some heads of lettuce in their bin. "You alright there?"
"Yeah, just nervous."
"I don't think you have to be. I mean he's been using you but he seems like a decent guy otherwise."
"You're right." Arnold got some onions and put them in the bin of them. He noticed Andrew. Andrew was at the back of the store talking to Todd. Todd nodded a few times. Andrew turned around and saw Arnold. He walked towards him. He had a red bull. He took a sip and arrived.
"Hmm... aisle is still looking good. How's your day been Helga?"
"Good. Finally getting good at wrapping those snack packs."
"Good work. I have a favor to ask, Arnold. Can you mop the store real quick?"
"No, Andrew. That wasn't in my job description so I think I'm going to say no from now on."
"Well, alright. I guess I'm going to have to ask the janitor to stay a little later. I'll do it myself today."
"OK." Arnold felt the weight lift off his shoulders. "Later, Andrew."
"See ya, Arnold." Andrew tipped his red bull can and walked towards the back to get the cleaning supplies.
"How'd that feel?"
"Good I guess. I almost thought I wouldn't say it." Arnold put a few more things in their place. "Wanna do something tonight?"
"Hmm... what are you thinking about?"
"Maybe we could go to an arcade? I know this arcade downtown."
"An arcade, huh. I'm down."
"Alright. Pick me up at 6."
The store closed and Arnold rode his bike home. It was cool today. He arrived home. Gertie was walking through hall. "Welcome home, Kimba."
"Hey, grandma."
She ruffled his hair. "I see you've been spending a lot of time with Elanor. How is she?"
"She's good. We work together."
"That's a privilege, Kimba."
"She's a good employee. I'm going to meet with her tonight."
"Tell her old Gertie says hello."
"I will, Grandma." Arnold stepped up the stairs to his room. He hopped onto the bed and laid down. He sighed. Now all he had to do was wait. He felt a little anxious. He took out the notebook Helga bought him. He started to write. It was piece of fiction. Something about samurai and petty feudal lords. He felt the words he wrote. Sometimes they made him feel stupid sometimes intelligent. It was rough starting from nothing. He crumpled up some pages and tried again. He was ten pages in and he already felt like giving up. This writing thing was hard. It was not long before it was just about six. He walked downstairs, he looked and his bike was gone. Someone had taken it again. At least he didn't need it right now. He was going to have to get down to the bottom of who was stealing it. He stepped onto the stoop. He waited ten minutes. He checked his watch. It was 6:12. Then he saw the car.
She pulled up, Tool was blaring over her speakers. "Hop in." Arnold got in the car. "Alright, you're going to have to give me some directions." Arnold nodded. They drove. Arnold tried to remember the way. It was nearby but he was having trouble recalling the exact location.
Arnold called over the music. "Gertie says hi."
"Alright, alright."
"Maybe we should have printed out some directions."
"My god, Arnold."
"Turn left." For another fifteen minutes they were lost but eventually they found the place.
Helga sighed. "Finally. I thought you knew the way."
"I thought I did. I recognized some of the roads but that's it."
"At least we're here."
"Yeah." They walked inside. It wasn't a big arcade but it had a ton of games packed into it. Arnold saw some racing games with the wheel and pedal setup. He looked at where the fighting games were. There was a japan imported Guilty Gear cabinet, some street fighter games, Tekken 4 and 3, and a virtua fighter 4 cabinet. Arnold had some games he wanted to play but he turned to Helga. "What are you interested in playing?"
"Maybe a racing game? I don't play a lot of video games except when I'm hanging out with Phoebe."
"Sure." They sat down at the two full driver's seat racing games. It was Daytona USA. They were asked to pick a track, they picked the beginner track. They were both in their starting positions near the back of the pack.
"40 other racers. That's a lot."
"Yeah." The race started and Helga immediately began passing other racers. She was ahead of Arnold before long, but he was riding her tail. Catching up. Helga smiled. She cruised. By the fifth lap she was in the front. Arnold was second. She was quite a bit ahead. He wasn't sure how he could catch up. He was used to playing Mario Kart 64 with Gerald and in that game you got power ups that could give the edge, this was just pure driving. Eventually he was close but it was the last lap. She kept the lead. They crossed the finish line. Arnold shook his head. "Again."
"Alright buddy, if you think you can beat the master, take another crack. I'm the only one who actually know how to drive."
"Give it a minute, Pataki. I'll win."
They raced again. It was almost exactly the same by the mid point in the race. She was at the front and Arnold was in second. Then they started to trade the lead back and forth. It was the last lap and it was all about who took the lead in the last moment. Arnold was concentrating more than he had ever on a game. He wanted to win. Bad. She passed him just before the finish line.
Arnold put his hands over his face. "Why?"
"Because I'm better Arnold. Admit it. You're second place to me." She looked at him with a grin.
He smiled and shook his head. "I can beat you."
"One more?
"Alright."
They played again. Arnold took the early lead. He was the front of the pack. He smiled. This was the race. He drummed his fingers on the wheel. They were on the last lap. Helga was close. Just a hair behind. They were nearing the finish line. She passed him. It was over. "Oh my god. I can't fucking believe this." He slapped the wheel.
"She got up from the machine and took a bow. "I know, I know. I'm INCREDIBLE."
"I have to admit it. You are." He nodded. He felt a little dejected but she won and that's all there was to it.
"You're admitting it. How cute." Arnold turned and looked to a different part of the arcade. They walked over to the fighting games. "I've never played one of these."
"They're a little complicated but I'm sure you can figure it out."
"Alright, which one do we play?"
"Well, depends on what you're interested in."
"We could play Darkstalkers, it's like a gothic horror movie fighting game."
"Interesting. Is that Street Fighter 2?"
"Yeah. There's also Tekken 4 which is a three dimensional fighting game."
"That sounds complicated."
"It kinda is."
"Alright. Let me play the classic one."
"Well a lot of these are kinda old."
"The real classic."
"Street Fighter?"
She nodded. They walked up to the machine. It had four giant buttons Two for each player. Two buttons labeled punch and two labeled kick, one of each kind for the two players. They stood in front of the machine and put quarters in. It came to a country select screen. Arnold picked America. He was a little bit confused at what he was even selecting, was it language? The match started Arnold was Ken and Helga was Ryu. Arnold tried to do a fire ball input but only a punch came out. Helga walked towards Arnold and began punching. Hitting the same button over and over. Arnold got hit again and again. He blocked. "This feels really awkward."
After Helga won that round Arnold finally threw a fireball it sent Helga's health bar down to half. "How did you do that?"
"You roll the stick forward and press the punch button."
She tried hard to do it, nothing came out. "What is this game? It sucks."
"Yeah it kinda does."
"You know I started writing a story?"
"Interesting. What's it about?"
"Samurai and stuff."
"Of course. Kill Bill is living in your brain and it doesn't pay rent."
They finshed the match. Arnold won but it felt hollow. Helga had basically quit by the end just letting him beat her up. "We're done with Street Fighter."
"Ok. I remember it being more fun." They looked around the arcade. Arnold pointed. "Pinball."
Helga stepped up to the machine. It was a Phantom of the Opera pinball machine. "Weird." She put in a quarter and started to play. It started to play a song. There was a woman on the machine, she was barely dressed. Helga started to play, it made funny clown sound effects. Helga was getting a headache quickly. She was good. She had played before, it was obvious. She eventually just decided to lose "Well, that's all the pinball I can stomach for the day."
"Anything else to play?"
"There's Pacman."
"Sure let's play that."
Arnold played. He lost pretty fast. "I haven't played in a while." After losing two more times he started to play better. He got through a few levels and lost again. Eventually they had played about half the games in the little arcade.
"I'm done with games for the day."
Arnold nodded. "I agree. Though I think it's closing anyway."
They got in the car and had an easier time leaving than arriving. "Wanna chill in my room again?" The clock in her car said eight P.M
"Well... it's getting pretty late."
"Like you're going to bed early?"
She looked at him. "I'm not you're right. Alright."
They went to the Sunset Arms and he let them in. They went up to his room. Surprisingly no one was in the living room as they passed by. They took same positions they had last time. Arnold on his bed and Helga on the couch Helga breathed in deep and then let it out slow. The breathing stuff wasn't working as well but she did feel a little calmer. A while passed in silence. Arnold looked at the sky. It looked almost purple right now.
Helga fidgeted with her fingers. "How about we do something else?"
"Are you feeling OK?"
She sat up and looked at him. "Yeah I'm alright. I'm just not feeling too soothed by this breathing stuff right now."
"How about I try to guide you again?"
"Well..., OK sure." She smiled. "My guru."
He guided her through the breathes again. Deep inhales, slow exhales. She listened to every syllable that left his lips. She was feeling better. "I hate being so anxious for no reason." She realized something and her eyes went wide. He didn't see it though. The breathing was nice but what really soothed her was the sound of his voice. It was calming, gentle.
"Feel better now though?"
"Uh, yeah football head. I can stay like this." They relaxed for a half hour.
She asked out of the blue. "Can I see that story you're writing?"
"If you want to."
"That's what I'm saying." She turned on the light. Arnold got out his notebook from a drawer. He put it on the bed. She sat on the bed and opened it. It was after the poems he was writing last time. She flipped a few pages and found the start. She read silently.
Arnold sat on the bed next to her. Looking at his own words. He noticed a few parts he didn't like as she flipped the pages. He looked at her face. Analyzing her features. She was pretty. The comment had emerged in his mind. She had shaved the unibrow. Her features were sharp. He said it again in his head. He looked back at the words. She finished. He was eager to hear what she thought. "It's interesting I'll say that. I think you misuse a bit of vocab but it's not bad. Better than when I started to be honest. I'll say you have potential, well if you make it a habit and practice."
Arnold smiled. "You think so?" She put it down.
"I'm a genius so you gotta take my word."
"I'm not sure what that means."
"You'll learn."
"You know what this means though, Helga? You have to show me one of your stories."
Her cheeks turned red. "Oh is that so, Football Head? Is that what this means?"
"Yes."
"Well... OK."
"You agree?"
"I do."
"Alright."
They looked into each other's eyes for a moment. Helga turned away. She looked back at the story. "It's got some style, Shortman."
"Well, I tried." They were quiet. For a long amount of time. Helga closed the notebook.
"Alright. I think I'm going to go." She turned to him. She was silent for a moment. She thought about doing something but it might be embarrassing. Fuck it, I'm not a coward. She leaned in, put her arms around him and gave him a hug. He was surprised. For a moment he didn't return it but then he did. She was warm. His cheeks were scarlet. She let go and they looked into each others eyes. "You're a good guy, Arnold."
"Thanks. Are we friends now? I mean officially?"
"I think so. I think I can call you a friend."
He looked at his watch. It was 9. "You better get home or else my parents might start checking in on us."
"OK. I'm out." She left the room. He turned out the light on the shelf next to the couch. He returned to the bed and laid down. He sat in the darkness. He was smiling. He wanted to erase the expression but couldn't. He had a new friend. It was a childlike glee he couldn't get rid of. He went to bed happy.
