Chapter 10 | Blurred Lines
Arnold woke up with the sun beaming brightly through the skylight, with his arms wrapped around a sleeping Helga Pataki who was wearing nothing but a pink thong and the white t-shirt he was wearing the night before. He couldn't help but to smile at the sight. He went downstairs to quietly make some coffee before anyone else woke up.
"Long night son?" Miles chuckled, causing Arnold to jump a little. He turned around to see his 6'2" father standing behind him.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Arnold shook his head and blushed.
"Well you're so tired that you need two cups of coffee this morning." Miles shot him a knowing glance, before grabbing a granola bar from one of the cabinets above his head.
"You don't have to say anything." Miles chuckled to himself, "Just remember, your mother is much more prying than I am." With that statement Miles disappeared from the kitchen.
Arnold headed back to his room and Helga was sitting up on the bed, her hair was wild and disheveled and the look on her face indicated that she was definitely not a morning person.
"Good morning sunshine." Arnold smiled.
"Good morning, football head." Helga smirked, Arnold leaned in and gave her a kiss before handing her a cup of coffee. The pair sat in silence for a few minutes, neither of them wanting to acknowledge the events from the previous night, but yet neither one could wipe the smirk of their faces. They were both slightly startled when Helga's phone broke the silence.
"Hiya Pheebs." Helga spoke into the phone.
"Hey Helga. I'm so sorry, I'm running a little late today—but I'll be at your house at 10:00." Helga looked down at the time on her phone, 9:30.
"Criminy, I totally forgot. I'm going to head home now and get ready. I'm sorry!" Helga exclaimed into the phone.
"Head home? Where are you?" Phoebe interrogated.
"I'll explain later." Helga responded before abruptly hanging up the phone. Arnold was looking on intently and curiously. He raised his eyebrows as if to ask what was going on.
"Arnold, I'm so sorry." She said, spitting out the words as she searched for her pants. "I forgot that I was supposed to be meeting up with Phoebe today. Girl stuff. You understand."
Before Arnold could respond, she laid a kiss on his lips and headed out the door. Arnold rolled his eyes and started to get up from the bed before the door reopened.
"Um—do you maybe want to—get together later." Helga stumbled over her words.
"I'll meet you at your house at nine, we'll do dinner." Arnold smiled and Helga returned the smile before shutting the door again and rushing down the stairs.
"Phoebe, why are you staring at me like that?" Helga questioned raising an eyebrow at her best friend. Phoebe tucked a piece of her black hair behind her left ear and stared intently at her best friend.
"I'm just wondering where you were last night." Phoebe tried to say nonchalantly but instead it came out concerned. Helga pondered on what exactly she was going to say. "Well?"
"Hold your horses Pheebs. If I tell you, you have to promise not to freak out." Helga demanded. Phoebe looked over at Helga who was trying desperately to contain her smile, but it was plastered all over her face.
"I don't know if I can keep that promise—but I promise to try." Phoebe responded eagerly. Helga rolled her eyes and let out a small giggle.
"If you must know—I was at Arnold's last night." Helga answered, causing Phoebe's eyes to widen in surprise.
"You were at Arnold's house?" Phoebe asked, trying to comprehend exactly what her best friend was trying to tell her. "You were there—all night?"
"Yes, Phoebe! I spent the night there, are you happy?" Helga giggled.
"So does that mean that you and Arnold—um, how should I say, went all the way?" Phoebe asked, blushing slightly. Helga was always surprised that her best friend lost her virginity years ago but still found it extremely uncomfortable to talk about sex.
"Criminy Phoebe, what do you take me for? Stinky and I just broke up a few days ago. How easy do you think I am!?" Helga exclaimed, throwing her arms dramatically in the air.
"Well, I know that you and Arnold have had strong feelings for each other for quite some time. If you chose to display your love for each other in that manner, I wouldn't be one to judge." Phoebe responded seriously.
"No worries, you'll no doubt be the first to know when I finally take that step." Helga responded giving her friend a playful nudge.
"Alright, so you were at Arnold's all night—does this mean that you're dating?" Phoebe asked curiously. Phoebe had a long held belief that Arnold and Helga were meant to be together; but she soon realized that Helga Pataki was very stubborn and Arnold Shortman was very dense. Still, her hope never faltered.
"That's the problem. Phoebe, you know that I've been waiting on something like this to happen for so long. I'm just afraid that I'm going to screw it up somehow." Helga confessed.
"Oh Helga. I know that you have very strong feelings for Arnold and I know that he reciprocates those feelings for you. Just be you and nothing can go wrong." Phoebe offered as advice.
"Nadine, come on—you're hardly ever home and now you're ditching me to spend time with Peapod Kid?" Rhonda pleaded, as she stood in front of the oversized mirror in her bedroom, trying to choose between two outfits.
"His name is Vincent and he's my boyfriend. Why wouldn't I want to spend time with him?" Nadine stated matter-of-factly. "Besides, all we've done the past two days is binge watch Netflix. Don't get me wrong it's been fun but I need to get out of this house!"
"Fine—leave me in my time of need." Rhonda remarked, folding her arms in front of her chest. "I thought we were best friends."
"Rhonda, we're not in elementary school anymore. Your little guilt trip isn't going to work on me. If you're so desperate to go out, call one of your other friends." Nadine offered as an alternative, causing Rhonda to sigh in an exaggerated fashion before she threw herself onto her lush king sized bed.
"None of the other girls have been returning my calls." Rhonda admitted. "Why don't you just ask Vincent to come over here and we'll make it a threesome?"
Nadine's hazel eyes swelled up and enlarged to the size of saucers, her mouth gaped open and a loud gasp hit Rhonda's ears. Rhonda blushed slightly and realized her misspoken words.
"Nadine, you know what I meant." Rhonda remarked.
"You must be out of your mind if you think I would ever bring Vincent into this house. There's a reason why I haven't been here for the majority of the summer and there's a reason why none of the girls will accept your phone calls." Nadine snapped at her best friend, "You need to take a long hard look at yourself and then you'll realize why everyone has had it with your bullshit."
"Nadine Olivia Taylor— so help me, if you walk out of that door-." Rhonda demanded in the most powerful voice she could muster before her thoughts trailed off.
"Just add me to the long list of people you need to apologize to." Nadine responded, before leaving Rhonda's bedroom. Rhonda threw her face into her hands feeling more defeated than she ever had before. Lloyd's don't cry, pull yourself together. Rhonda told herself, before resuming her outfit selection. Where she was going, she still had no idea.
Arnold's palms were starting to clam up and his heart was pounding so hard he thought that it would escape his chest at any moment now and he wouldn't blame it for running away.
"Arnold huh?" Big Bob Pataki bellowed, releasing Arnold's hand from the handshake he'd forced him into.
"Yes, sir. Arnold Shortman."
"You look familiar, do I know you?" Bob raised an eyebrow, sizing the young man up.
"Dad—leave him alone." Helga demanded as she descended the stairs.
"Alright, alright—have a good time tonight. Don't stay out too long—you know your mother and I worry." Bob remarked, pulling Helga in for a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
"Dad, I'm eighteen years old—I can take care of myself." Helga remarked, before grabbing Arnold's hand and leading him out of the brownstone.
"I'm so sorry about that." Helga responded once they were outside.
"Your family has changed a lot since I've last seen them." Arnold remarked, causing Helga to blush slightly.
"They were embarrassing before—now they're embarrassing for an entirely different reason." Helga joked.
"Arnold, I love this place! How did you know?" Helga exclaimed as they walked through the entrance of the upscale sushi bar. Arnold smiled, he'd spent the morning on the phone with his best friend Gerald—drilling him for information on how to make his first date with Helga absolutely perfect.
"I had a little help." Arnold admitted. He pulled out Helga's chair before taking a seat across from her, the lights were dimmed slightly but he had the perfect view of Helga over the romantic candlelight. They chatted for a bit about television shows, movies, and music—dancing around any serious topics.
"So, what brought you to my house last night?" Arnold asked nervously approaching the elephant in the room. Helga shifted uncomfortably in her seat and chose her words carefully before responding.
"I don't know—something about timing I guess." Helga said flippantly with a hint of sarcasm as she flicked her wrist in the air. Arnold sat back in his seat and rolled his eyes.
"Helga." Arnold said sternly, shaking his head slightly. "I think there's a few things we should talk about, if we're going to have any chance of this working out."
"Right." Helga responded, "Sooooooo did you kick Lila to the curb or is that something that's going to creep back up?"
Arnold sighed in frustration.
"Lila and I were never a thing." Arnold deadpanned, "You and Stinky on the other hand-"
"Oh here we go!" Helga exclaimed, exasperated. "Stinky and I are over, finished, finite."
"Okay." Arnold responded.
"Okay." Helga stated.
"So—why did you stop writing me?" Arnold asked unrelentingly.
"Criminy football head! If I knew you were going to interrogate me throughout the dinner, I would've never asked you to hangout tonight." Helga hissed in Arnold's direction, crossing her hands across the front of her body. Arnold let out a long sigh.
"I'm sorry." Arnold murmured, "If I'm completely honest—I've just never had so many emotions for someone before."
"You!? How do you think I feel, I had a freaking shrin—erm I mean, uh this wine is making me a little hot under the collar." Helga blushed, tugging at her collar.
"We're not having wine." Arnold observed.
"I know we're not having wine football head!" Helga blurted out, the outburst causing both Helga and Arnold to laugh at the fact that they were having another argument about nothing.
"I'm not trying to be difficult. I just- I really have a lot of feelings for you too. It's hard for me to put myself out there because I'm so afraid of messing things up." Helga confessed.
"Well, I'm willing to give this a chance if you are." Arnold declared, looking into Helga's eyes. "Helga, will you make this official and be my girlfriend?"