Rocket to the Moon

Chapter Twenty Seven

Smooching in The Village

AN. To this hour I guess everybody already heard or read that Nickelodeon is going to make a new Hey Arnold TV movie.

If you want to leave a commentary about your reaction or your thoughts regarding this news please go to the forum "Welcome to Hillwood" to share your impressions. We'll be happy to read everybody opinion.

Now let's start...

.

"I told you! We should have left the car at home!" Arnold complained as they drove along the same street for the third time and being still unable to find an empty spot to park. Patient as he usually was, he was getting exasperated.

"Oh, Arnold! We need the car. We don't know what time the party will end. It might be till morning." Claire said heartily as she looked up at the building where the party was being held.

Arnold rolled his eyes "This is New York. We'll be able find a cab at any time." he said dryly.

"Don't be grumpy, honey" She put her hand on upper arm and smiled sweetly "You'll have fun, I promise… and we'll find a place soon, you'll see."

He shook his head. Her nice ways didn't persuade him.

"I'm not going to be the last to leave, you heard?" Arnold announced, throwing her a hard look. Claire smiled smartly. He grumbled to himself.

She was having an early Christmas party with her friends from the volunteering groups and he was accompanying her almost against his will. Maybe he should put more from his part to enjoy the night, but truth was that as of late he couldn't stand her friends anymore.

Several minutes passed and at every time it seemed more improbable that they'd find a goddamned place. Arnold was beside himself.

"What about if I go out to get Jenna and ask her if she…" Claire started when he interrupted her.

"You're not going anywhere, missy!" he warned as he turned down the street for what it felt like the umpteenth time.

"Come on, Arnold!" her lips crumpled.

"If you go I'll just turn around and head back home. Call me when the party is over. I might be in good mood to come and pick you up." He looked at her through the mirror. "It is your party. I didn't even want to come in the first place."

"Don't be like that!" she complained "Come on! You'll see you'll have fun. You know? Andrew's gonna be here? Arthur too."

"Yay! The triple A." Arnold exclaimed with sarcasm. He shook his head. Only because he spent one evening talking to the pair of losers everybody thought they were his party buddies now. He grumbled again. If it was on him he'd rather go party with his coworkers. He chuckled. Even the guys from Operations would be more fun.

They passed once again by the apartment building where the party was held and Claire looked up enthusiastically. She kept saying she wanted to see this and to do that. But overall, Arnold knew she was dying to meet the guy Brenda's been dating lately.

"Do you know that he already wants to take her to meet his parents?"

"Really?" Arnold asked uninterestedly. "That's good. I guess."

"Good?" Claire turned to see him apparently shocked. "Do you think it's a good idea that she meets his parents this soon?"

"Well, you said he's rich and handsome; and being that she's your best friend I suppose you want the best for-"

"Handsome, right!" she puffed out.

Arnold turned to scold her, but then his sight went back to the road. Truth was that he didn't want to hear whatever she was dying to say. He took the same street once again and all of the sudden he stopped the car in mid street and said: "Alright, you can go."

"What?!" she seemed surprised for as long as a second, but then hurried out of the car "You're coming, right?" she asked cautiously as she got out.

"Yeah, as soon as I find a place," he exhaled "but I don't know how long it'd take. I guess there's no point that you also miss the party."

"You sure?" she hesitated, leaning over without closing the door.

"Yeah," he nodded "Now go." He shooed her away when the car behind him honked. "Go."

.

About ten minutes later he was back to the same street. There were no vacant spots and he'd driven a five blocks radius. He cursed in low voice though truth was that he wasn't that angry anymore. He was getting to the end of the block when the rear lights of a parked car turned on and he stopped in mid street, waiting for it to pull out. He didn't care now if he looked like those people he used to despise; those who stubbornly waited for a particular parking spot till it was clear.

Over a minute and several loud honks and middle fingers later, he was parking his beige Camry at the goddamned street. He couldn't believe his luck; finding a place right here, almost in front of the very building that held the party. He checked the surroundings and the other cars parked around before leaving. They were all nice cars. He hoped his car would be safe in here. He was vaguely recalling someone telling him about the safest places to park cars in downtown when his sight fell on the white car parked two places behind his.

It was a white Land Rover SUV whose plates read OL-BTSY. An involuntary chortle left his throat. Then he remembered. It was Helga who told him about parking spaces in The Village and there he thought she was just making small talk. Arnold turned around, recognizing the place. This meant the ice cream parlor they visited the other night was on the next street. He smiled seeing the small park where they played ball all those nights ago, when the old man chased behind them calling them hooligans. So here it was. He smiled as he touched the shiny exterior of the white car as he passed by its side.

That meant she was back in town. Helga had mostly been absent lately. Henry told him she was in 'Hunting Season', which meant she was tracking down buyable companies all around the globe for the upcoming spring season. He could only imagine what her actual work was. Seeing enterprises numbers and trying to read in them projections, prospects and probabilities of success or failure was beyond his understanding, probably the same way that legal terminology was like Korean language to some people.

Letting out a yearning exhalation, Arnold hurried to the party. Could she be in there? He wondered. She had to be. Why other reason could be for her car to be parked right here. It was great. It meant that coming all the way here wouldn't end being a waste for time; that the party would be worth it. He didn't know why he found now this particular type of parties excruciating. He wasn't like that before. There was a time when he enjoyed the humor and camaraderie at those parties, but not anymore.

He wondered if it had to do with the partygoers. Claire's friends were amongst the most insufferable people he'd ever known. 'Let's get over with this', he'd been clinging to that thought regarding the gathering, but if Helga was present it would be a completely different panorama. Could it be possible that Jenna or any other of the organizers had invited her?

He reached the fourth floor and got into the place without problem. He greeted some people as he walked down combing the place and looking for her, but after several minutes of fruitless search he came out disheartened. She wasn't here. He should have assumed it. What would be Helga doing with these people especially after having spent almost an entire month out of town? Surely she had more important things to do on a Saturday evening. Suddenly he blinked. Maybe she was at the ice cream parlor. Or strolling nearby. Why it didn't occur to him before coming up, he berated himself. He looked around until he located a window with a sight to the street below. It was behind the snack table. He found his way towards the wall and then looked outside to the end of the street. Her car was still in there, if only partially visible because a tree and a lamppost with a banner hanging from it. His Camry, in the other hand, was completely visible from this spot. He sighed. He was condemned.

.

Where could she be now?

He wondered about half an hour later. Taking a beer and some snacks he headed for Claire's group trying to convince himself that he just couldn't elude them anymore. He mustered all his patience because he knew he was going to need it. It was weird to realize that before he considered the possibility that Helga might be present, it seemed that the party would be dull but tolerable, but now that he knew that it was no possible, the thought of spending the next hours in here was a torture.

He couldn't pinpoint the time when he had become this intolerant; he wasn't even able to tell if it was him who become intolerant, or them who came to be obnoxious. He knew he shouldn't make a sweeping statement of this kind because there were always pleasant exceptions, but he really found most of these people being phony, hollow, and insincere. It was like if at the same time that they showed interest in the wellbeing of other people they managed their own agenda; their own interests. He shouldn't blame them, of course. Everybody has the right to earn their money and pursuit happiness the way they wanted, but if he was prone to believe Claire and Brenda's tales, there were some scary stories about people who got involved with people of these groups and found love, only for their love story to become a bloodcurdling nightmare before they realized.

He could take Brenda as an example. She was dating a guy who – so far he'd heard - was rich and nice and handsome, but as he had witnessed right now he was also, let's say, very corpulent. Of course this fact didn't take from him any merit, as the fact that he found Brenda 'attractive' did. Arnold snorted to himself. Truth that he shouldn't take merits from Brenda either. Maybe she was a nice girl even though he hadn't been able to find lovable qualities in her for as long as he'd known her.

Anyway, he exhaled; he didn't know why he'd become so grumpy lately. He wasn't like that but dealing with all Claire and Brenda nonsense related to their 'voluntary' work put him in bad mood. He was no patient anymore and he couldn't fully understand why, especially now that he had been getting to know closely the work that large charitable foundations did. Maybe this was precisely why he was that intolerant. Charitable work has little to do with what Claire and Brenda did, at least in the aspect regarding the appreciation they think they deserved for being such 'good girls' and 'oh so charitable persons'. It was as if they were a different and superior kind of people only because of this.

Arnold frowned. Maybe it was indeed him who had changed; who had become… made him morally superior anyway? He shook his head. Maybe the best thing to do was stop judging people and try to enjoy the evening.

He looked around and groaned again. Then snorted. It was him or he was becoming a grumpy old man?

.

. . .

After his conscious decision to not become a younger version of Walter Matthau playing Mr. Wilson in Dennis the Menace movie, Arnold changed his tune and he found himself enjoying the party. He'd danced and small-talked and mixed around; avoided philosophical dissertations and had a couple of beers with Andrew and Arthur, his party buddies. Everything seemed alright. Every now and then he'd walked over the snack table to take a look to the street. He smiled to himself when heard their host, Jenna - Brenda's friends who invited them to the Ball all those months ago - talking about an old neighbor, who used to complain about everything, was now complaining because all of the noise and was threatening to call the cops on them. Arnold was almost sure it was the same old man he and Helga had met the other night; the man Helga had cleverly supposed that loved noise so he had something to complain about.

Helga.

He sighed when he thought of her. He kinda missed her. He had gotten accustomed to know she was around; to run into her at any moment in any hallway. Always smiling to him with that smirk of hers; always calling him names when there were no people around. Helga. His heart skipped a beat every time he got a sight of her. After all this time he'd already admitted to himself he was in love with her, and it crushed him that there was not a chance that his feelings would be reciprocated anytime soon. The way she behaved towards him told him she harbored no feelings for him. Even when he'd caught her throwing weird looks towards him he knew they didn't mean love.

Fortunately to him, Henry's behavior had changed and now he was not that boastful anymore. He didn't talk too much about her either, but when he actually did he always regarded her with respect and adoration. Henry also had been throwing him weird glances. He wondered if he, Arnold, was a usual topic of conversation between them both; if they knew he had feelings for her and if so, do they know the intensity of those feelings?

Intensity. His breath hitched.

Arnold often wondered how he'd react if suddenly they announced their engagement? What would it feel like? Helga was a single woman, but being single now didn't mean she was going to remain single forever, right? Somewhat he was unable to see Helga married to someone else, let alone to someone like Henry. He just couldn't picture them together. Truth that he didn't pictured her married to himself either. Helga seemed way far from those youth yearnings. His illusions about her were limited to have her circled in his arms; to have her, in its full meaning. To let the world know she was his.

He sighed. No doubt that he had been growning-up lately. No more foolish illusions about white weddings, perfect honeymoons or stuff like that.

Someone who Henry talked much about was, actually, his nephew. Henry was seemingly proud of him but at the same time it seemed that the boy had disappointed him in not few aspects. Arnold had the impression that those were aspects where Dick contravened his uncle wishes.

Nevertheless, Arnold thought as he looked down the street for like fiftieth time in the evening to see that Helga's car was still parked in the now more desolated street, he wasn't about to spend the night thinking of them. He turned back to talk to to the other two A-named guys who were keeping him company and also looking out, like him, although their intention surely wasn't to check certain car. Time went on. It was three past midnight and the party didn't seem to be losing its swing anytime soon.

His eyes searched the crowd looking for Claire. He'd been keeping an eye on her. He had to admit that at the same time that he looked for something that indicated that she thought it was time to leave, he was also discreetly looking for a hint that she liked another guy, but she didn't seemed particularly driven to someone special. Maybe it was only his subconscious trying to find her guilty of the same transgression he was. Claire, in fact, seemed pretty much more interested in Brenda's beau, but Arnold didn't really think it was due a personal interest as much as it was as a source of juicy gossip. Arnold shook his head. In any case, he went looking for her to let her know he was ready to leave.

"For God' sake Arnold! Can't you wait a little longer?" she puffed, rolling her eyes at him minutes later. It seemed that the group of friends was having some dirty girl talk because the red faces and the loud guffaws. Arnold shook his head. He turned around only to bump into Brenda and her boyfriend, August. An unusually friendly Brenda handed over the responsibility to entertain her voluminous boyfriend.

Arnold turned to look at her with his mouth agape as she walked away. He had the impression that he'd lost his ability to react. Or maybe it was only that he was a nice guy through and through, and there was nothing he could do about it; he wasn't going to fight against his nature. He turned to the guy as he led the way back to his group. Fortunately, August turned out to be nice, smart and with that nerdy sense of humor that he'd learned to enjoy with the A-pack. They started talking about videogames. August was also a Forza Motorsport's enthusiast and Arnold found himself chatting away with gusto for first time in the entire night.

The blond young man managed to keep his friends around of the now almost empty snack table as he took his chance to keep looking out the window. After a few hours of inconstant surveillance nothing has changed. Well, there were fewer cars on the street each time he took a look out, but the white Evoque was still at its spot. Arnold and the group kept talking. Andrew told the group one of his last experiences in the helpline center; and then August asked them if it they think it was right that his new girlfriend met his parents at the upcoming Christmas gathering of the family.

"No way!" Andrew exclaimed.

"Isn't it too soon?" Arthur asked.

"How long you've been dating her?" Arnold asked.

But whatever answer August was about to pronounce died when the guys' attention was stole by something happening down on the street. The deep rumble of a powerful engine made them gather around the small window.

"What is it?" Arnold asked as he stood in tiptoes, pushing his way to get a peek out through the crowded window.

"Look at that!" Arthur exclaimed with admiration.

"What is-?" Arnold repeated but then stopped himself when he saw what they were talking about.

"Man oh, man! I can't believe it. I'm such a good kid. Why God doesn't reward all my good deeds with one of those." Andrew whistled.

"You mean the car or the chick, dude?"

"The car, dumbass!" he snickered "Granting I wouldn't say no to the girl."

Arthur laughed and slapped the back of his friend's head. "I wouldn't either!" he announced. Arnold sighed lowly as his eyes followed the sophisticated and feminine figure that stormed out from the passenger door as soon as the luxurious car made a halt right behind the Evoque. "What is it?" he vacillated "It's a..."

"A blonde?" Arnold offered.

"... Carrera?" Arthur ended.

The other guy chortled.

"Nope. It's a Porsche 911 Turbo S." August replied, also enthralled with the vision down there. They all went silent as the girl flounced out towards the car ahead and her footsteps echoed in the empty street.

"How could you tell?" Arnold asked. "There's no Porsches in Forza."

"Because the tail," it was now Andrew who pointed out, drawing out a sinuous curve in the air "Because it's written down there, and because it's my favorite car in the entire world. How couldn't I tell, huh? I even have a poster on my wall."

"You have a poster on your wall?" Arthur snorted. "Like a little kid?"

Andrew turned to him with a derisive expression.

"Dude! You have a Princess Mononoke poster on your wall!"

"Shut the hell up!" Arthur warned.

"Hey, I'm not criticizing." The other guy laughed.

"Let me see." Arnold pushed them so they made room for him. They continued mocking each other, but Arnold wouldn't care. Something felt heavy in his stomach when the driver of the expensive car got out as soon as he could and followed the blonde girl.

His buddies howled.

"I think I'd choose the blonde instead," August said.

"The chick?! Right!" Andrew said mockingly "I'd rather have the car."

Arnold wanted them to shush so he'd be able to hear something, but he knew it'd be ridiculous… and suspicious.

"In this country, you gotta make the money first. Then when you get the money, you get the power. Then when you get the power, then you get the women." Arthur quoted in false Italian accent.

Andrew laughed at his impersonation but August snorted.

"Believe me, dudes! Tony Montana didn't know what he was talking about." He paused as he drank from his beer "It's not that easy to get the women. At least not a woman like that." He pointed down with his beer, to the exact spot where the tree and the banner shielded the couple from their viewpoint. "Looks like that guy also knows it. He's going after her."

Arnold cursed under his breath. 'A woman like that!', he snorted. His friends were now whistling and cat calling. The guy had obviously convinced the girl and he was now making up for whatever that had made the girl angry in the first place. Vague shadows of the couple wearing heavy coats and making out down there were partially shielded from prying eyes by an advertising banner.

It felt like forever. To the guys the girl accompanying the owner of the expensive car was just some unknown beautiful and blonde New Yorker; a Midwestern girl, probably, who moved to the big city to capitalize on her beauty but he knew better. He knew it was her, Helga Pataki, and she wasn't a random girl at all but the former bully from the PS 118 playground; the girl who left public education to go to a private high school fifteen years ago; and the one who was now the unofficial CEO of Mueller Enterprises.

Arnold could feel his heart beating against his ribcage as he lessened his breathing with deliberation, trying to get over his astonishment, over his shock. The almost CEO of Mueller Enterprises was shamelessly making out in the middle of the street at ungodly hours. The impetus of their smooching made the Evoque sway slightly.

Well, what else could he do that keep looking like the others? Should he turn around and leave the window? Arnold looked to the room. Everything was the same. The three other guys kept looking as little as they were able to see from the scene down the street. What was Helga thinking, for god's sake? Didn't she realize-?

The lights of the SUV finally turned on. The usual noises of car doors and engines turning to life could be heard. The dark shadow that belonged to the guy walked back to his sumptuous white car, got in and waited until the SUV pulled out. Then he fell behind. Arnold breathed out slowly. Chance and darkness had been their allies. If he didn't know Helga the way he did he had never guessed it was her. Her lover was other thing, though. He didn't look like someone who Arnold had ever met, but then again, he actually didn't see him at all so he was unable to put a name to the shadow, but one thing was sure, however,

He was not Henry.

.

They are making the movie!

Thanks for reading. A Thousand thanks to my faithful reviewers. I'll be back soon.

December 4th, 2015.