Sunday, December 10th 1:25 PM
"Sure, I guess. Where are you taking me?" Helga asked. Arnold's face broke into a large grin. "Well it's kind of a secret. Can you keep this secret better than my other secret?" Arnold asked. "Well Arnold, you're so secretive and mysterious these days. I don't think I can keep up with all your secrets," Helga said. "Just grab your coat Pataki," Arnold said smiling. "Oooh I like forceful Arnold," Helga said winking at him and grabbing her jacket. "This isn't weird, he's just surprising me with something he seems really jazzed about," Helga thought to herself as they made towards Arnold's car. "Your family seems…. Nice," Arnold said. "Yeah, my sister is really flirty. She doesn't realize when she does it. She has no boundaries. That's why her husband was so indifferent about it. He's used to it," Helga answered. "She is a bit handsy I noticed," Arnold said under his breath. Which Helga caught and started snickering. "You seem pretty close to them, I always remembered you hated your sister," Arnold observed. Arnold started his car and started driving. "Well, I did. For a long time. Then Olga moved out after college and started her life. She found a job that she loves and got married. All that misplaced attention she got from my parents made her unbearable. Once she got out, we started talking more. She'd call me insistently, and try to talk to me. Eventually she bothered me enough where I just broke down and started having actual conversations with her. It helped that she stopped acting as if she was the only person on the planet," Helga said. "Seems like you guys are a lot closer now. I'm happy for you, Helga," Arnold said. "Oh yeah, we're a great big family now," Helga said sarcastically. "I like when they come into town though," Helga said after a while. She was staring out of the window. "Bob keeps his distance from me and Mom attempts and fails to stay sober enough to be present. At least when they're around I can bear being in the house. Owen and I get along great," Helga said. "I noticed," Arnold said.
They drove for a while. Helga hooked up her phone to his radio, so she was disk jockey to this car ride. Helga knew they shared the same musical tastes so she went wild delving into her most esoteric music to show him. They drove to an old building, where Arnold entered the parking lot and parked. "Uh, what the hell is this place?" Helga said, starting to fear for her safety. "I've known Arnold my entire life, I don't have to feel weird about this. Where the hell is he taking me?" Helga thought, as she exited the car. She looked over at Arnold who was smiling. "You trust me right?" Arnold asked. "I don't know, do I?" she asked herself. "I…." She stammered. Arnold walked over to her and looked down. They locked eyes for a minute while Arnold smiled deeply at her. "I think I trust him with everything I am when he looks at me like that. I can't imagine that anyone who looks at me like that would ever hurt me. This is weird. I do trust him though," she thought to herself. "Yeah, I trust you. You're probably one of the only people I trust," Helga said. Arnold still smiling at her said, "don't worry, this is something I've just wanted to show you." Arnold motioned his head to follow him. Helga complied and they went to the door where Arnold took out his keys and opened the door.
"Does he like have a secret apartment or something?" Helga thought to herself. Helga started becoming flustered at what that might mean. "He isn't taking me here because he thinks he's getting in my pants is he? What if he does expect that?" Helga thought to herself. They both go into the elevator, and Arnold selected the floor. "Where are you taking me?" Helga asked. "You'll see!" Arnold said happily. "Oh my god, if he makes a move on me what do I do? I mean, I've fantasized about him doing things to me before. It always helped me finish whenever I was… alone. I don't think I'm ready, for that with him. At least I don't think I am. Would he get mad if I said no? Do I want to say no?. What do I do?" She kept thinking, panicking in her mind.
The elevator came to a stop at the top floor. Arnold slid open the elevator door and they were faced with a large sliding door. Arnold got his keys out and unlocked the door, sliding it open. "Here we are, come on. Be careful though, this place has stuff everywhere. Let me just get the lights," Arnold said looking for the switch. Helga timidly entered the room, hoping not to run into anything. The lights clicked on, and Helga's eyes were assaulted with bright lights and color. Helga took a second to adjust her eyes, and began looking around. Around her was a bohemian style loft apartment. On all of the walls where paintings and landscapes. On one wall looked like a freshly painted mural of a Vincent van Gogh painting Helga recognized. In one area there were several easels set up with various paintings on them. Against the wall was a couch and table strewn with books. Helga continued to wonder through the loft. She saw one area where there was one easel in front of a stool. With a few other easels around it. There were also two or three halfway completed sculptures. One of a women surrounded in water, another one was a child at play. She looked at the section where the several easels were displayed, when she recognized the picture she first saw in Arnold's room a few months ago. "It's the women reading in the field. He did something to it though. It looks way better," Helga said to herself. Helga looked again at painting and noticed a small sticky note affixed to the easel. It read:
"Great job on this one, Arnold. I have at least two clients interested pretty sure you'll clear at least $10,000 for this. We need to talk, call me."
-Vince
"What is this place?" Helga turned to Arnold who was watching her. "This is my studio," Arnold answered. "Your studio? You're in high school. How do you have a studio?" Helga said looking around. "Well the guy who owns this place, Vincent. We met a few years ago and he really liked my art. He's an art dealer. He let's me rent the place out to work. I keep all my stuff here. I usually come here after working out and work for a while," Arnold said. Helga was flabbergasted. "Hold on, so this guys rents this place to you, by yourself? How do you afford all this?" Helga asked. "Well, Vince is an art dealer and sells some of my work. That's how I pay for this," Arnold said rubbing the back of his head. "Hold on, so that note that says you can get ten grand for that painting is real? Like real money?" Helga asked her mouth agape. "Well, yeah…" Arnold responded. "I knew you painted, but all this? Wow," Helga said at a loss for words. She continued looking at his work. "You did all these?" Helga asked pointing to all the easels. "Yeah, this is all my work. I'm the only one working out of here," Arnold responded. "His work is amazing," Helga thought. "Some of this stuff is really good, Football Head," Helga said. "Thanks," Arnold said smiling
"So, you come here a bunch of times a week?" Helga asked. "Uh yeah, most days I end up spending a couple hours here. Especially if I'm on a hot streak. You know?" Arnold said. "So this is where you go when you're not working out, or humiliating amateur MMA fighters," Helga said still looking around. "How long have you been working out of here?" Helga asked. "Three years," Arnold Answered. "Holy crap," Helga thought to herself. "Who else knows about this place?" Helga said. "No one, accept my grandpa and he only found out by following me," Arnold said. "You're the first person I've ever brought here. My parents don't know about this place. Neither does Gerald," Arnold admitted. Helga walked up to him, he was looking at the ground. "Why don't your parents know?" Helga asked. "They could never understand, they want me to forget painting and focus on something productive. They couldn't understand why I need this place," Arnold said. "He seems almost sad about it," Helga thought to herself. "You know, for someone so straight edged, as some call it, you seem to live two completely different lives," Helga said. Arnold starting looking down again. "So I'm the first one to see the place huh?" Helga asked. "Yep," Arnold said looking up smiling at her. "You don't bring girls up here to fuck, do you?" Helga asked. "No," Arnold said starting to laugh. "Well, don't I feel special?" Helga said smiling back at him crossing her arms.
Arnold walked up in front of Helga and took her hands in his and looked her in the eyes. "I guess, you've become such an important part of my life. You make me feel like I can be exactly who I want to be. I don't have to pretend around you. I wanted you to see this place because…" Arnold trailed off looking to the side. "Is he nervous?" Helga asked herself. "Because this place is important to me. I can be myself here. I'm free here. I figured I would show you since you make me feel the same way," Arnold said. Helga had never felt this way before. She had never been one for others to depend on other than her mother. Helga never felt like she could be close to anyone. This is the closest she felt to anyone in her life. "Oh." Helga said looking back up at him. He held her hands even tighter and smiled down at her.
"This book is insane!" Helga said leafing through one of the books Arnold had about textures. "I love that one," Arnold said sitting on the other side of the couch. They had been hanging out on the couch, talking for most of the afternoon. Arnold had his sketchbook out, and was working on something. Helga was engrossed by the book she had randomly plucked off of the table. Helga noticed Arnold continuing to look up at her. She tried to ignore it, but turned a slight pink hue. Helga not being used to the attention. "What do you keep looking at me for, Football Head?" Helga snipped at Arnold. "No reason," Arnold said not looking up from his pad. "What are you drawing?" Helga asked narrowing her eyes. "Nothing," Arnold said still not looking up. At this, Helga became annoyed and crawled towards the other side of the couch. Reaching for the sketch pad, Arnold caught her movement and moved the pad away from her reach. "Hey, don't be nosy!" Arnold said laughing. "What are you drawing?" Helga asked, getting more annoyed. "Nothing, don't worry about it," Arnold said attempting to get up from the couch. It was too late as Helga had moved closer, crawling on top of him. Arnold moved his arm again so that the pad was out of her reach. Helga made another move for the sketchpad, slipping and landing on top of Arnold. Helga looked at him and he looked back. She was laying on top of him their faces only a few inches apart. "What the fuck! Why does he make me feel like that?" Helga said internally. Arnold smiled at her, he moved his head upwards towards her and kissed her. Helga stiffened feeling his lips against hers. Arnold pulled back and he smiled again. Helga realizing what had happened and not knowing how to respond, raised her hand bringing it down with a hard slap to Arnold's face. "Oof," was the noise that came from Arnold as he head moved in the direction of the slap. He dropped his arm and Helga was able to grab the sketchpad from him.
She scurried back to the other side of the couch, and looked down at the pad. As Arnold sat up rubbing where she had slapped him. Arnold had been sketching Helga. It was her looking down reading the book with her legs on the side as she lounged on the couch. She studied the image for a few minutes not saying anything to the guy she had just struck. "This is really good, Arnold," Helga said still looking at the drawing. "Thank you, maybe next time you don't hit me to get it," Arnold said smiling sideways at her. "Maybe next time you don't kiss me without warning and just hand over the sketch pad," Helga responded. She threw the sketchpad back at him and he caught it. "Don't draw me!" Helga said. "Why are my tits so big in that, you perv? They're not that big are they?" Helga said looking down at her chest. At this Arnold started laughing. "You're very cute, you know that?" he said smiling at her, the slap in the face forgotten. Helga scowled at him, and Arnold continued to smile at her. "I kind of want him to draw me again. I don't think I've ever had someone do that. It feels different. Like he can see something no one else can," Helga thought to herself.
"What are you smiling at?" Helga grumbled at Arnold. "You. Just smiling at you. I'll warn you next time," Arnold winked at her and got up from the couch. Helga brought her knees to her chest and watched him go over to one of his canvases. He started drawing meticulously with one of his smaller brushes. "God he's beautiful. Why did I do that? I should have just went with it. It's not like I didn't want that. I'm so dumb!" Helga was arguing with herself. "Hey," Helga heard his voice cut through her inner argument. He was right in front of her again. "Relax, alright? It's O.K.," Arnold said. He brushed some of her hair back behind her ear with his fingers. He looked into her eyes. "You're eyes really do give you away," Arnold said, smiling at her. "His eyes are so beautiful. They're like an emerald, almost forest green," She thought to herself. "What am I doing? He always makes me feel this way when he looks at me," Helga thought. Arnold smiled and stood erect again heading back to his canvas. He sat in the stool and started drawing again. Helga watched him for a long time. Watching him add detail upon detail to his work. Every once in a while he would look over to her and smile, turning his attention back to his work. "I think, I'm starting to fall in love with him again," Helga thought to herself as she continued to look at Arnold.