Chapter Twelve | Whatever It Takes
"Hey, where did Gerald go? I was looking forward to meeting him." Phoebe's cousin Megan asked.
"Um—he back to the room. He wasn't feeling well." Phoebe responded. Phoebe attempted to reason in her mind that she wasn't lying. Gerald did go back to the hotel but she knew that it was all her fault. Typically she shared everything with Gerald—but she didn't even tell Gerald that she applied to Stanford, much less that she got in.
It wasn't that she was trying to keep secrets—it's just that if she got in, she wasn't certain about how she was going to approach the topic of her leaving Hillwood for college. Especially since she knew that Gerald received a full scholarship from University of Washington.
Phoebe walked into the hotel room, uncertain of what to expect. Gerald was just climbing into bed when she arrived.
"Gerald—I-" Phoebe started to say before Gerald interrupted.
"Don't. Just don't." Gerald responded, rolling over in the bed to face away from Phoebe.
The next morning was even more awkward, Phoebe and Gerald woke up and barely spoke two words to each other, they got dressed in near silence and when Kyo picked them up for the wedding he sensed an awkwardness.
"Trouble in paradise?" Kyo asked, looking back in the rearview mirror at them. Their bodies facing away from each other.
"Everything is fine." Phoebe said in an unusually high pitched voice, the blatant lie caused Gerald to roll his eyes.
The wedding went off without a hitch. It was obvious that the couple was deeply in love. Gerald envisioned a future where he would marry Phoebe—the thought brought a smile to his face. He looked over at his girlfriend who had tears in her eyes from the beautiful words the couple were sharing. He reached out and grabbed her hand, and saw her face change into a smile.
"I'm sorry I got so upset." Gerald admitted as they left the ceremony to head to the reception.
"I'm sorry I wasn't the one to tell you," Phoebe responded, "to be honest, I didn't know how."
"I'm so proud of you for getting into Stanford." Gerald remarked, he was happy for her but he was afraid of what this meant for their relationship. Phoebe could sense his worry.
"Now that it's out there, what does this mean for us?" Phoebe questioned. Gerald didn't want to admit that he'd been worried about their relationship since he found out that they would be attending schools so far apart.
"I think that we should enjoy these next two months before we decide on anything too rash." Gerald offered as a solution. Phoebe quietly shook her head in agreement. Two months. Gerald thought to himself.
Rhonda walked into the hotel lobby wearing a form fitting Herve Leger dress and a pair of her favorite Manolo Blahnik heels and headed straight for the bar. Rhonda wasn't sure how this outing was going to go—she had never been to this particular bar before but she figured the way that she was looking tonight no bartender would deny her service.
Rhonda observed her surroundings, the bar wasn't very busy for a Saturday night. Her heels clicked across the marble floors as she made her way to the bar top.
"What will you be having?" The bartender, Scott, asked. She looked Scott up and down. He was tall and slender, with light brown hair and a five o'clock shadow. Plain, moderately attractive. Rhonda thought to herself.
"Belvedere Martini, up, three olives, slightly dirty. Please and thank you." Rhonda responded, the bartender raised his eyebrow but went about making the drink.
"That's quite the order sweet cheeks." A voice spoke behind the girl. The bartender slid the girl her martini. "No worries, I'll just sit."
Rhonda turned to her right and looked at the man who was now sitting by her side. He looked like he was about the same height as Rhonda without the heels. He had a pair of red eyeglasses and short buzzed black hair.
"Curly?" Rhonda questioned, taking a sip of her drink and turning up her nose.
"Well, Thaddeus, I haven't heard that nickname in years." Thaddeus chuckled.
"Listen up Thad, I didn't like you before and I don't like you now." Rhonda quipped, waiving her hand in his direction.
"Another?" The bartender asked and Rhonda shook her head yes. "Anything for you sir?"
"Throwing them back pretty quickly aren't you?" Thaddeus criticized, looking at Rhonda over the rim of his glasses. "What's your plan for tonight?"
"Well, I suppose my plan for the night is to get drunk." Rhonda responded.
"Sir, a drink?" The bartender questioned once again.
"You know that drinking never really helps anything, right?"
"Well, it helps me."
"Well, in that case—I guess we're drinking buddies tonight." Thaddeus responded. "Um—I guess I'll have what she's having."
The bartender rolled his eyes in slight frustration before making a pair of martinis.
"Why are you here? Shouldn't you be in the looney bin or something?" Rhonda questioned.
"You'd think so, wouldn't you?" Thaddeus chuckled at his own joke, "I've done my time. It was a nice bid in the looney bin, nice bed too if you catch my drift."
Thaddeus nudged Rhonda in the arm causing her to spill her martini a bit.
"Seriously? Curly, you're such a spaz sometimes." Rhonda complained, throwing her arms up in an exaggerated motion.
"Come on, you're Rhonda Wellington Lloyd—live a little hot stuff!" Thaddeus exclaimed, "The world is your very expensive oyster!"
"If you're going to keep talking, we're going to have to drink more." Rhonda remarked, "Oh Scott dear, two shots of Don Julio please—dressed."
After many martinis and shots, Rhonda started to think that Thaddeus was actually kind of cute in his own way. She leaned over and grazed his shoulder giving her best seductive smile.
"What are you doing?" Thaddeus asked nervously.
"Haven't you always adored me?" Rhonda slightly slurred, placing a wandering hand on his leg. "Why don't we take this over to my place?"
"Actually—my place is probably closer. Scott, charge it to room 2213." Thaddeus remarked before leading an intoxicated Rhonda up to his room.
"Wow, doesn't this place bring back memories?" Arnold asked, taking his seat at the table for four at Chez Paris. "I mean, technically this was our first date and I guess our first double date too."
"Yeah, if you don't count the time I pretended to be your pen pal." Helga laughed.
"That was you?" Arnold exclaimed.
"Seriously?" Helga responded, "Well, I guess the secret is out now isn't it bucko."
"I guess I've still got a lot to learn about my girlfriend, don't I?" Arnold chuckled.
"I must say, it's quite comforting to have our little group together in this manner." Phoebe remarked.
"Yeah… it's great." Gerald attempted to muster enthusiasm but was failing miserably. He shoved around the mashed potatoes on his plate.
"Are you okay man, you're not really acting like yourself." Arnold observed.
"Yeah, I'm fine man. Just got a lot on my mind." Gerald responded.
"Okayyyy." Helga rolled her eyes and Arnold gave her a nudge. "Well, how was the wedding? Did you like Kentucky?"
"That's—that's kind of a difficult topic for us right now." Phoebe admitted.
"Okay, spill—what the hell is going on between you two?" Helga demanded, pointing her fingers in their directions.
"We've just have some things we need to work out but-" Phoebe started to state.
"Did you know that Phoebe is going to Stanford this fall?" Gerald blurted out and Phoebe's head dropped into her hands. Arnold and Helga looked at each other and then back at their friends on the other side of the table.
"Oh Phoebe." Helga whispered.
"Well—it's driving distance." Arnold remarked, attempting to smooth over the conversation. Helga shot him a look.
"It's like a thirteen hour drive." Helga said rolling her eyes.
"Okay, so it's a long drive." Arnold readjusted his statement, "Come on, you're Gerald and Phoebe. You've been together for so long, you can survive this."
"Yeah—what he said." Helga agreed, "I swear, is there nothing this man can't solve?"
Arnold blushed slightly and Helga leaned over and gave her boyfriend a kiss on the cheek. Gerald and Phoebe looked at each other uncomfortably. It looked as if there was a new lovey-dovey couple in town—and a newly bitter one.
"Okay, I'm ready!" Eugene said, bursting into Lila's room.
"Huh? What?" Lila asked, rubbing her eyes before sitting up in her bed. She looked over at the time. "Eugene, its 4:30 in the morning!"
"You told me to tell you when I'm ready to come out of the closet! Well honey, I'm here—I'm queer, get used to it." Eugene laughed.
"Have you been drinking?" Lila raised an eyebrow.
"Oh heaven's no!" Eugene responded, plopping himself next to Lila on her bed. "It just came to me in a dream. Get this—we'll go have dinner at my parents!"
"Ooohh ever so creative." Lila teased throwing a decorative pillow in his direction.
"Okay, so it's settled… we're meeting my parents at 6:00 tomorrow—well I guess, technically it's today." Eugene quickly remarked as he jumped out Lila's bed.
"Wait—I didn't agree -"
"Alright, good night, sleep tight don't let the bed bugs bite!" Eugene sang, backing himself out of Lila's room, turning off her light and closing the door. Lila rolled her eyes and pulled the blanket over her head—tomorrow was going to be a long day.
Rhonda was woken up by the sunlight coming through the floor to ceiling windows of the room that was in. She jumped up in the bed, covering herself with the basic white comforter on the bed. She looked around trying to place exactly where she was. She looked down at herself, wearing a bra and thin panties but she was in bed all alone.
What happened last night? She thought to herself. She remembered drinking martinis at a new hotel bar—then some man came up to her.
"Oh my god! Curly!" She gasped and yelled out.
"Hold your horses sweetheart, daddy is coming with breakfast!" Thaddeus appeared in the doorway of the bedroom with a giant smile on his face carrying a tray of brunch items.
"What on earth are you doing here?" Rhonda questioned, looking up and down at the man standing before her, "Please don't tell me-"
"What do you mean? This is my house darling!" Thaddeus responded, "I mean, technically it's a suite in a hotel but it's my place of residence."
"What? How?" Rhonda sputtered out, trying to place together the night but failing to put any of the puzzle together. Thaddeus looked back at her matching her level of confusion. He set the tray of food on the nightstand and took a seat next to Rhonda on the king sized bed.
"Rhonda—darling." Thaddeus responded slowly.
"Curly—don't come any closer until you explain yourself." Rhonda demanded.
"Well, my Uncle owns this hotel—my parents and I haven't really talked much since I went into inpatient care, so once I got out-" Thaddeus began explaining but Rhonda looked increasingly frustrated.
"Why am I in your room!?" Rhonda yelled, interrupting Thaddeus' story causing him to jump back in surprise.
"Oh—that." Thaddeus chuckled, "Well last night you had quite a bit to drink—you insisted that I come back to your place but I said my place was closer." Thaddeus grabbed a strawberry off the tray and bit into it. Rhonda's eyes widened.
"So you—and I?" Rhonda struggled to state.
"Yes!" Thaddeus raised his eyebrows up and down, Rhonda threw her face into her hands and screamed into them.
"This is a nightmare—I can't believe we had sex last night." Rhonda remarked. Thaddeus raised a single eyebrow in confusion.
"We didn't have sex last night." Thaddeus responded, "You were coming on to me—and a weaker man may have been tempted but I stayed strong. For my Rhonda deserves more than just a drunken one night stand. You my dear, deserve breakfast in bed, for starters."
Rhonda felt a small caring smile creep across her face. Thaddeus grabbed the tray and sat it next to them. Rhonda grabbed a mimosa and a slice of toast and smiled at her companion.
Well, I guess I have woken up to worse. She thought to herself.
AN: It looks like 17 is the magic number for this story. So, only five chapters to go. :) Thanks for your support. -BuzzLightyearr