Between a Rock and a Hard Place
"How was the date sweetie?" Bob asked from his recliner when he heard the front door of the brownstone open and slam shut.
"It was great Dad, really amazing. I can't talk now, I'm really tired and I need to go to bed." Helga quickly blurted out before racing up the stairs.
"Kids these days. I swear." Bob said looking over at his wife sitting beside him, shaking her head in silent agreement.
Helga changed into her favorite pink nightgown and let her long blonde hair fall down onto her shoulders before throwing herself onto the bed. She grabbed her cell phone and quickly dialed Phoebe's number.
"Hello?" Phoebe whispered into the phone.
"Please tell me that Geraldo isn't still at your house. I really need to talk to you." Helga exclaimed.
"He's here, but he's sleeping. Do you want me to come over?" Phoebe questioned.
"No, no, that's okay Phoebe. I already told my dad that I was heading up here to sleep, I don't want him wondering why you're showing up at my house at midnight." Helga responded.
"Alright, well how was your date?" Phoebe inquired.
"It was amazing until the end." Helga admitted, "Listen Phoebe, I have to ask- did you have any idea that Arnold was back in town?"
"Helga-" Phoebe started to answer, "He called Gerald about two hours ago, he said that he had just got into town and he didn't want anyone to know he was back quite yet. I wanted to text you to give you the heads up but Gerald didn't want me to say anything. How did you find out that he was here? Did he contact you?"
"Criminy Pheebs! No, he didn't contact me. After dinner, Stinky and I decided to go for a moonlit walk in the park. It was absolutely amazing, straight from one of those romance movies you always pick when it's your turn to choose. We were walking down the pathway when I just pulled him in for a kiss. When I opened my eyes Arnold was standing their looking at me—looking at us. Phoebe, I can't even begin to describe how I felt when I saw his face. At first, it was pure disbelief. He looked amazing, he had this sort of rugged Tarzan-esque vibe to him. You think I'm crazy don't you?" Helga revealed.
"No, not at all. You've always had quite strong feelings for Arnold. It's natural to still feel this way after all of this time. However, I must say that you could just be in love with the idea of Arnold, you don't know what type of person Arnold is now." Phoebe offered up her advice on the situation.
She remembered back when they were in fourth grade how head-over-heels in love with Arnold Shortman Helga really was. She had books of love poems written about his cornflower hair and his bright green eyes. To say that her feelings for Arnold were strong would be a complete understatement. Then she thought about the last time Helga had told her anything about Arnold. It was the summer before they entered senior year. Helga came to her house and dumped out all of her letters from Arnold over the years, there were 192 of them.
"I can't do this anymore." A younger Helga pleaded to her friend "I can't spend the rest of my life pining over some football head who never loved me back and is a million miles away!"
"Phoebe, Stinky and I are in a good place right now. He asked me tonight if I would be his girlfriend. I really do love him. We are going to have no hope for the future, if I'm still consumed with the past." Helga remarked, she unclasped the necklace that she had been wearing around her neck for as long as she could remember, took a last lingering look at the locket before placing in the top drawer of her dresser.
"I'm going to try to get some rest Phoebe, call me in the morning?" Helga asked.
"Of course." Phoebe responded before hanging up her phone.
Rhonda walked into the entrance of her favorite French café. It was her Saturday ritual to pick up a coffee and an order of macaroons to begin her weekend with. Her long, straight, black hair fell down her back, the red Herve Leger dress that she was wearing beautifully accented her hourglass figure, and her black Louboutin's made her long legs seem endless.
"Hey Rhonda?" A voice behind her called out. Rhonda turned around quickly and saw Patricia Berman. Rhonda cleared her throat before responding.
"Hello, Patty. It's been quite some time!" Rhonda responded, "How have you been? You look well!"
"Honestly, between the two of us, I am just ready for this baby to vacate the premises so I can have my body back." Patty laughed. Rhonda looked up and down at Patty who was wearing a simple blue maxi dress that highlighted her large pregnancy bump. "Have you talked to Harold recently?"
"No—no, we don't really keep in touch. Never really part of the same crowd you know?" Rhonda responded nervously.
"I just feel bad. The two of us were so close in high school, but once I graduated it's like we didn't really talk anymore." Patty revealed, "I feel like I could have been there for you a little more during your senior year, but everything was just happening so fast. Harold got his GED and proposed and the next thing that I know, I'm a married 20 year old with a baby on the way."
"Please, don't worry about it. It's not like I was alone in high school." Rhonda responded.
"I know, you were Rhonda Wellington Lloyd, every girl wanted to be you and every guy wanted to be with you. I know that you were able to hold your own, but our friendship was really important to me." Patty remarked, "Well, it was nice seeing you again."
Patty grabbed her decaf tea and order of beignets and started to walk out of the café.
"Patty wait!" Rhonda called out, causing Patty to stop in her tracks and turn around. Rhonda walked over to Patty and pulled out a gold envelope from her Michael Kors handbag, "I'm having a party tonight, it's a simple, classy housewarming party with finger foods and light piano music. Definitely pregnancy friendly. Please tell me that you'll be there?"
"Thanks for the invite. I'll definitely be there!" Patty responded. Rhonda watched Patty walk out the doors towards the southbound subway stop. She whipped out her phone and dialed Harold's number.
"Hello?" Harold answered.
"I invited Patty to my housewarming party tonight, so make sure that you're there with her tonight." Rhonda blurted into the phone.
"What do you mean you invited her to your party? I thought we talked about this? There's no way that I'm stepping foot into that house with Patty on my arm. Do you think that I'm crazy?" Harold shouted into the telephone.
"It would look worse if refused to come to my party than if you came with Patty. Besides, no one knows about us. Please just come, I'll make it worth your while." Rhonda whispered into the phone as a rebuttal. Harold was silent on the other end. "Harold?"
"This seems an awful lot like we're playing with fire, but I'll be there." Harold softly responded before hanging up the telephone.
Arnold looked around his old childhood bedroom. The walls that used to be filled with the latest technology were now empty walls, with vague memories of what used to be here. He looked at the three large boxes that sat in his huge empty room. The only things he brought along with him from San Lorenzo.
Arnold's cell phone began to ring loudly, he pulled it out from his back pocket and answered it.
"Hello?" Arnold stated, sounding more like a question than a phone greeting.
"Well good morning to you too man. How is your first 24 hours in Hillwood treating you? It's got to be a total culture shock returning after so long." Gerald remarked.
"Yeah, that's putting it lightly." Arnold chuckled, "this place is like a mansion after living in a dwelling that resembled a hut."
"So—what happened last night man?" Gerald inquired, "I heard that you ran into Helga and Stinky?"
"Yeah, by the way, thanks for the heads up on that man." Arnold quipped, as he tore open one of his boxes that needed to be unpacked.
"Man, I'm sorry. I really am. I wanted to tell you but I didn't think it was something that you needed to hear over the phone. I was going to tell you in person today." Gerald confessed.
"Seriously man, it's alright. I could do without that mental image but- " Arnold managed a brief chuckle before his sentence trailed off.
Knock. Knock. Someone knocked on Arnold's bedroom door.
"Arnold, sweetie, there is someone here to see you." Arnold's mother, Stella called into the room.
"Uh—Thanks mom." Arnold responded, "Hey Gerald, do you mind if we meet up later, there's someone here for me."
"That's fine man. Rhonda is having a housewarming party later tonight, I'll text you the details. It'll be a great way for you to see all of your old friends again." Gerald urged.
"Sounds great, I'll see you there." Arnold replied before hanging up the telephone and heading down the stairs.
"Kimba, if your friend wants to stay for dinner, it will be ready in 8 minutes." Grandma called from the kitchen.
"Grandma, it is 10 am." Arnold said with a deadpan face before opening the door of the boarding house.
"Good morning- I um- Hi Arnold." Helga fumbled as she tried to find the right words to say to him.
She looked up at him standing on the top step of his stoop, getting a much better view of him in the daylight. His long blonde hair was effortlessly pushed back, his green eyes sparkled in the sunlight as his brow furrowed in an attempt to keep the sun out of his eyes, and his mustache and beard were thick and luscious as though he had been growing his facial hair for the past several years. His basic white t-shirt hung nicely off of his 6'0" muscular frame.
"Helga, I wasn't expecting to see you today. I actually wasn't expecting to see anyone for quite some time." Arnold responded nervously.
Arnold also took the time to take a look at Helga. Her long blonde hair flowed softly behind her with the gentle wind. Her eyes, perfectly framed by her long eyelashes, were the brightest blue that he had ever seen. Her pink lips looked soft, plush, and kissable. Then his mind raced back to the previous night seeing Helga and Stinky kiss. He shook his head in an attempt to erase the thought from his mind.
"I just wanted to talk to you. I would have called before coming over—but I don't exactly have your phone number." Helga mustered up a soft, forced laugh. Arnold descended down his steps and stood directly in front of Helga.
"Helga I'm sorry." Arnold quickly blurted out, "about last night. I didn't mean to interrupt your date. I was just walking trying to clear my mind."
"Its fine, Arnold, I'm not really worried about that. Arnold, why didn't you tell me that you were coming back?" Helga asked, taking a seat on the bottom step of the boarding house. Arnold took a seat next to her.
"Why did you stop writing me?" Arnold questioned, "Is it because you started seeing someone?"
"No, that wasn't it at all. Things were just getting too real and you were a thousand miles away." Helga argued.
"I didn't even get a goodbye letter, the letters just stopped." Arnold rehashed, "I sent you letters for weeks hoping that I would get a response to even one of them—and you wanted me to tell you that I was coming back? Did you even mean the things that you told me—or did you stop writing me because Stinky came into the picture?"
Helga jumped up from her seat.
"Maybe this was a mistake coming here." Helga said starting to walk down the road towards her house.
"Helga wait- I'm sorry." Arnold pleaded.
"I'll see you around football head." Helga said walking away, leaving Arnold standing in front of the boarding house alone.