Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold!
The Day You Will
By Moonlight
The Truth?
The doors of Slausen's ice cream opened, and Phoebe stepped inside, looking for a place to sit with her friends who stumbled in behind her into the parlor. The place was fairly empty, save for a few people scattered about. It was a little odd for a weekend crowd, considering Slausen's was heavily packed through the weekday afternoons. One would have assumed the place would be filled with people coming to get their ice cream this time of year.
As Phoebe looked up at the "specials" menu, Arnold tightly closed his eyes and hid behind Helga, who looked frantically around the room. Her eyes were wide open, and darting from one table to the next in complete panic, until she noticed Phoebe walk away from them, towards a familiar figure sitting on the other side of the room from them.
Helga jumped in fear when she heard the small girl exclaim "Macy!" in surprise as she waved to the girl eating her perfectly crafted sundae. Macy seemed to be carefully eating around the fruit pieces, as if she was saving them for last.
Macy sat up straight in her seat, her eyes glancing from the two sundaes in front of her to Phoebe as she approached her. "Hi...uh, Phoebe!" she played with her spoon nervously as she tried not to make eye contact. Leaning in an awkward position over the table, Macy tried to hide the fact that there was a second person with her, "What brings you here?"
Quickly shuffling over to her friend, Helga shot Macy a look for pure resentment and disgust. She immediately noticed the two deserts. The second was pretty much empty, which hinted that it MUST have been Gerald's. Only he could practically INHALE something so sweet. "We're HERE to have ICE CREAM. Doi!" she finally growled. Her voice carrying a more menacing tone than she had intended.
Narrowing her eyes, Macy sighed in exhaustion. "Nice to see you too, Helga. Now could you please leave before you spoil my ice cream for me with your horrible attitude?" the girl scoffed and straightened up to look Helga right in the eyes.
"Oh PLEASE. As if you would refuse to eat ice cream for such a stupid reason. Oh wait! Yes you would! Or else you'd have to run to the bathroom and THROW IT UP when no one was looking. Criminy!" Helga exclaimed in her usual bully fashion. The words obviously bothering the girl before them.
Phoebe pulled tightly on Helga's jacket and gave her a look, "Helga don't."
"Yeah, Helga. You might damage your reputation, talking down to people like that. Oh wait! You don't have to worry about that, because you're the LEAST LIKELY person to ever get ANYONE to like you." Macy flipped her hair over her shoulder before looking to Phoebe again, "Besides her, of course."
Resisting the urge to strangle the girl with her bare hands, Helga took hold of Phoebe's hand to drag her towards the door.
"Helga. Could we at least get some ice cream?"
"But-"
"Don't let her get to you. Let's just get a cone and leave, okay?"
Helga growled under her breath and silently agreed by following Phoebe to the bar. As they sat down, Helga perked up and looked around them. "Hey...where's Arnold?"
"I know you're in here."
The sound of a leaky faucet filled the room, as Arnold finished washing his hands. He had slipped away from the girls to look for Gerald. He knew the guy's tactics, and Gerald had the bad habit of hiding when he didn't want to run into certain people.
Hearing something clatter loudly to the bathroom floor behind him, Arnold perked up and walked toward the stall it came from. He knocked on the door of the stall and sighed. "Gerald?"
Silence.
"Gerald!"
Nothing.
Finally, Arnold pulled out his Phone and proceeded to call him. He waited in the silence for a few moments before hearing the ringing of the familiar tone coming from behind the stall door.
"Why are you hiding from me? It's obvious you're right there, Gerald. This isn't like you."
A sigh escaped Gerald's lips as he finally decided to open the stall door. His face dawned a defeated look, and yet his eyes tried to convey a sense of animosity towards his friend.
"The better questions is, Arnold, why are you even HERE?"
Taken aback, Arnold stumbled over his words, trying not to reveal his plan. "I-I was coming to eat ice cream, and I saw you walk in from down the street."
Gerald's eyes narrowed, "Is that all?"
"Yeah."
"So why did you follow me in here? To the restroom?"
The guy had a point, it was odd and awkward for Arnold to do something like this.
Defeated, Arnold finally sighed and looked his friend straight in the eyes. "Alright, Gerald. I followed you. I had a feeling you would be lying to me about Macy, so I took it upon myself to figure it out."
"What? Why?!"
"Well, you ARE here with her, are you not? You lied to me. This isn't fair. It's not fair to Phoebe." Arnold glared at him, the look sending Gerald into a defensive mode.
"Know what? FINE. I'll tell you what's going on." Gerald inhaled deeply, "Phoebe's birthday is coming up, and I needed someone to help me plan something for her that she would like. I couldn't ask Helga, because she was spending all of her time avoiding the three of us. So I started Hanging out with Macy, because she knows Phoebe pretty well. They spent some time in the literature club together last year, and keep in touch."
Relaxing a bit, Arnold looked away in slight embarrassment, "I...guess that makes sense, but-"
"Exactly. Why would you doubt me?"
Remembering the exchange Gerald had with Macy in the hallways, Arnold froze. "Wait. This isn't just about that, is it? The way you were talking to her before wasn't normal, Gerald. You… really do like Macy, don't you?"
Exasperated, Gerald gripped his phone tightly, "Really, Arnold?!"
"Gerald, you wouldn't send girls hearts in a text message. You only do that for Phoebe."
"How would you know that?"
"Because you ask for my opinion on how you should word your messages to her all the time, Gerald." Arnold rolled his eyes. "Just admit it… Gerald, I'm your best friend… Or at least I THOUGHT I was…"
Leaning against the wall by the mirrors, Gerald shot Arnold a look of anger, laced with disappointment. "I thought we were too. That is, until you started giving all of your mind's attention to a one Helga G Pataki. Honestly, it threw me for a loop, Arnold. It felt like you weren't all there."
With his lips dropping into a solemn expression, the blonde's brows furrowed in sadness. "It really bothered you, Gerald…? I'm so sorry… I just-"
"I know. You couldn't help it." Gerald snapped.
"Gerald-"
Standing up straight again, his narrowed eyes seem to pierce through Arnold's soul, "Do you know what happened while you were off in la-la-land, Arnold? My relationship with Phoebe was falling apart."
"I didn't-"
"You didn't know. Of COURSE you didn't, because you were too busy to even notice. I tried to talk to you about it, but it seemed like you never even payed attention to me."
"I-"
"Do you know who did, Arnold?"
"Macy did." Gerald said matter-of-factly. "So yes. Fine. I DO like her. She seems to understand me, and she's been better to me than Phoebe."
Arnold's eye widened as he took this information in. He began to feel like the entire situation was his fault.
Gerald continued, "She doesn't expect too much from me, like Pheobe does. She doesn't take her friend's side over me, like Phoebe does. She doesn't treat me like I can ONLY hand out with her, and nobody else, like-"
"I get it, Gerald." Arnold said sadly. He shoved his hands into his pockets and walked towards the door "It's just…I wish you could have talked to Phoebe about this first… you know, instead of just going behind her back."
With that, Arnold exited the restroom. He stood by the door for a moment, internalizing everything that took place in that conversation. His heart felt heavy and burdened to the point of breaking. He failed his best friend. He never wanted to do that.
"You want to take this outside?!"
He heard Helga's voice resound loudly through the small parlor, and perked up to look around the corner.
"Girls, please, not inside the store." the concerned, teenage, server did his best to deescalate the situation.
Helga stood, towering over Macy with her fists in the air, as if ready to punch her lights out. Macy, however, looked absolutely smug about something, and only stared back at the blonde with her hands on her hips.
"I swear I will make you regret what you said."
Macy giggled, "Oh dear. That reputation of yours, Pataki."
Grabbing Macy by the collar, Helga began to drag her towards the door, but was stopped by Arnold suddenly blocking her path.
"Helga!"