Chapter 15 | Past, Present and Future
Eugene could feel sweat forming on his brow as his saw his mother and father staring at him. Mr. and Mrs. Horowitz were looking at the members of the table with a cross between confusion and impatience. Lila looked over and could see how nervous Eugene looked so she gently placed a hand on his knee.
"Eugene and I broke up." Lila blurted out. "We decided we're better off as friends."
"No. No more lying." Eugene quietly said.
"Mom, Dad. This is Evan Lewis—we've been dating for about a month and a half now." Eugene admitted.
Evan's eyes widened as he looked back and forth between Eugene and his parents. The table eagerly waited for his parents' response.
"Oh son, why would you do this to us?" Mr. Horowitz questioned.
"This is who I am and if you don't accept-" Eugene began to rant.
"Hold it right there Eugene." Mr. Horowitz interrupted, "I mean why would you lie to us? We've always been so supportive of anything you do and instead of being upfront with your mother and I, you lie to us."
"So, you guys don't care that I'm gay?" Eugene questioned with a very confused look on his face.
"No, we care that you would lie to your own parents." Mr. Horowitz explained. "That is not the way that we raised you."
"Evan, I'm sorry we couldn't meet under better circumstances." Mrs. Horowitz spoke in her son's boyfriend's direction. "Perhaps you can come over for dinner sometime. I would love to get to know you better."
"Well, you enjoy your meals. Eugene, we'll have a talk some other time." Mr. Horowitz remarked before leading his wife back to their table.
"That went better than expected." Eugene remarked.
"I can't believe that your parents believed that you and Lila were dating!" Evan teased.
"Is that really so preposterous?" Eugene questioned.
"Yes!" Evan, Aston, and Lila stated simultaneously causing the group to burst out into laughter. Eugene thought to himself about how supportive his family was throughout the years. He really did need to find a way to make things up to him. But for the time being, he couldn't stop smiling at how fortunate he was to have his family's support.
"I can't believe we're going camping." Helga stated from the backseat of Phoebe's Prius, "What was wrong with a nice trip to the beach!?"
"Helga, the cost of spending a weekend at the beach was astronomical for peak season." Phoebe responded from the passenger's seat.
"Yeah, besides, football practice starts in two weeks so I'm just enjoying my free time with my best friends before I have to eat, sleep and breathe football." Gerald remarked, staying focused on the road ahead.
"We're staying in a cabin—is it really camping at that point?" Arnold questioned.
"Yes it's still camping Arnoldo!" Helga said rolling her eyes, "We had to bring our own food and unfortunately the cabin that Phoebe chose doesn't have any indoor facilities. We're roughing it."
"I hardly call that roughing it." Arnold remarked.
"Not all of us spent nine years in the jungle Arnold." Helga stated as a rebuttal, "We're not all built like you."
"Hmmm... I think you like the way I'm built." Arnold whispered, causing Helga to swoon slightly.
"Well, this place is pretty cute!" Phoebe remarked as they pulled up to their home for the next two nights. It was a traditional log cabin, with very modest furnishings. The girls carried the groceries in while the guys carried the duffel bags.
"Jeez, how much do you girls need for camping?" Gerald remarked, before dropping the bags in the middle of the living room.
"You've got to be prepared for anything out here tall hair boy." Helga quipped, causing Gerald to roll his eyes.
"We still have a few hours of daylight. Is anyone up for a swim?" Phoebe asked the group once the groceries were put away.
"I'm down for a swim." Gerald responded.
"I'm in too." Arnold answered.
"Well, I'm not going to be the party pooper!" Helga exclaimed.
Arnold was taken aback when he saw Helga in her swimsuit. She emerged from the house wearing a small black triangle bikini with a pink bow at the top of the curve of her butt. He had a good glimpse of what her body looked like from the night that Helga came to see him at the boarding house a few days after breaking up with Stinky. However, it wasn't on display like this.
After swimming the guys grilled up some hamburgers and they ate at the picnic table outside before making a small fire and roasting s'mores a little after sunset.
"Ugh, these mosquitos are eating me up!" Helga commented, smacking her arm as another mosquito landed on her wrist.
"Let's head inside." Arnold suggested, "We can find something to watch on Netflix or something."
"Lead the way football head." Helga commented, grabbing her boyfriend's hand and heading towards the door. Helga and Arnold were cuddled on the couch under a blanket in their pajamas watching Batman vs. Superman when Gerald and Phoebe finally came inside.
"We made popcorn if you guys want to join." Arnold said pointing towards the nearly full bowl of popcorn.
"Um—no, we're really tired." Gerald said quickly as Phoebe held back a giggle as they disappeared into their bedroom.
"Do you hear that?" Arnold whispered to Helga after a few moments.
"You know—for how quiet Phoebe talks you'd never expect her to be so—uh—vocal in there." Helga responded, gesturing towards the bedroom door as faint moans filled the room. "This is a little awkward."
Helga turned her head and saw a blushing Arnold.
"Don't get any ideas Shortman." Helga chuckled, before nuzzling her head into the fold of his arm.
"What are you talking about?" Arnold remarked, lightly grazing his fingers along her thigh. "We just starting dating—what do you take me for?"
"A slight gentleman." Helga smirked.
"Slight? Hmm… I guess I'll have to work on that." Arnold responded, wrapping his arm around her and placing a gentle kiss on her forehead.
"Are you sure that you have everything that you need for this weekend?" Patty questioned. It was Friday evening and Harold was taking Chase for the weekend. Harold and Patty agreed that as long as Patty was breastfeeding, she would get Chase throughout the week and Harold would have him on the weekends. Patty wanted to be fair to Harold but she couldn't help feeling a twinge of sadness that she wouldn't see her two-month old son until Sunday evening.
"Yes dear." Harold responded, "Don't worry, Chase and I are going to have some quality father-son time."
"Just keep me posted. Send me lots of pictures and snapchats of my munchkin." Patty responded, giving Chase a kiss on the forehead before placing him in his baby carrier.
"Don't worry. Chase will be home before you know it." Harold responded, giving his soon-to-be ex-wife a brief hug before grabbing Chase's car seat and heading out of the door.
Patty cleaned her quant home, which took less time than she expected. She attempted to call Helga, forgetting that she was going camping for the weekend. She contemplated calling Lila but she was at work. What the hell do single people do all the time? Patty thought to herself.
She grabbed her laptop and logged onto Facebook and saw her favorite sight, a small red notification indicating that she had a private message.
Jason Miller: I hope you and Chase had a great day today!
Patty Smith-Berman: Eh. How was your day?
Jason Miller: Why 'eh'?
Jason Miller: TGIF. That's the summary of my day.
Patty Smith-Berman: Chase is going to his father's for the weekend. I miss him already and he just left. Lol.
Jason Miller: So what are you going to do with your free time Ms. Smith?
Patty Smith-Berman: I have NO idea.
Jason Miller: I have an idea.
Jason Miller: Come with me and my friends for dinner and drinks.
Patty Smith-Berman: I don't know…
Jason Miller: Who can say no to Macho Taco?
Patty stared at her screen for a few minutes, weighing her options in her mind. Patty and Jason had been messaging each other back and forth daily for nearly two weeks now and she really liked his personality. It was very different than what she was used to with Harold and she was realizing that maybe that was a good thing.
Patty Smith-Berman: What time?
Jason Miller: Is that a yes!? Woo-hoo!
Jason Miller: We'll be there at eight o' clock.
Since moving out, Harold had only spent time with Chase when he visited Patty at their former house. He'd remembered how easy it was to take care of Chase in the first few days after he was born after work, while Patty was around. He knew that taking care of Chase for the entire weekend completely on his own was going to be a challenge, but it was a challenge that he had greatly underestimated.
It started when he arrived home. He'd set up a very nice dinosaur themed nursery at his new apartment with the help of Stinky, Lorenzo and his parents. While Chase slept for the duration of the drive from Patty's house to his house, he began to cry as soon as the door to his apartment shut behind them. He quickly realized that Chase's diaper needed to be tended to. He didn't realize that Chase may not be finished—and he was peed on almost instantaneously after opening his diaper for changing.
However, Chase decided that he was hungry. He accidentally spilled half of the first bottle of milk that he was preparing for Chase; something that he decided he wouldn't admit to Patty because she always complained about how much of a struggle pumping was. Then, once a full bottle was prepared—he realized that Patty never bottle fed Chase. After nearly an hour of a crying baby refusing to take a bottle, Chase finally began to suck the bottle down—and rather quickly. Harold thought that his night would be nearly over soon, until he forgot to burp Chase and he spit up all over himself and Harold's t-shirt.
Finally after a very hectic and dirty night, Chase was sound asleep in his crib. Harold turned on the baby monitor and headed to the living room. He turned on his PlayStation and searched for something to watch on Hulu but he was exhausted. He looked at the time and it was only 10:00. Harold couldn't think of a single person his age that would go to sleep at 10:00. He put the passcode into his cell phone and went on Facebook to see what his friends were up to. Arnold, Gerald, Phoebe and Helga were camping, making s'mores by the campfire. Lorenzo was heading to some movie premiere that his father had gotten him into. Stinky was enjoying a county fair that he was a judge at earlier in the day.
The most interesting item on his timeline was a picture his wife was tagged in with seven other people. Patty was next to a handsome, light skinned gentleman who had his arm wrapped around her shoulder as the group smiled into the camera. He clicked on the man's picture and found that his name was Jason Miller. He tried to find out a little about the man, but his account was private. He went back to Patty's page and looked at the photograph another time. He noted that Jason didn't have his arm wrapped around anyone except for Patty. He also noted how large Patty and Jason were smiling. He also noted that he had no idea who Jason was but for some reason, he hated him already.
Phoebe woke up and looked at the time, 7:00 am. She rolled over and looked at Gerald sleeping peacefully, threw on a set of pajamas and headed into the kitchen to get started on breakfast. She'd known Gerald and Helga for years and knew that they definitely weren't morning people, she assumed Arnold would be the same. She was wrong.
"Hey, do you need a hand with anything?" Arnold questioned, as he approached the small breakfast bar of the cabin.
"No, I think I've got a handle on it. Thank you." Phoebe responded.
Arnold grabbed a bottled water from the refrigerator before taking a seat on a stool. Phoebe grabbed a box of pancake mix and searched for a large bowl, frying pan and spatula.
"So—summer is almost over." Arnold remarked, in an attempt to make conversation.
"I know. This summer has been rather interesting to say the least." Phoebe responded politely as she poured the pancake mix, milk and eggs into a bowl and began to mix.
"Is it bad that I don't really want this summer to end?" Arnold commented, taking a gulp of his water.
"No." Phoebe answered, her eyes looking somewhat sad. "I don't really want this summer to end either—but Gerald starts football practice in two weeks, then before you know it—labor day will be here and we'll all be going our separate ways."
"Don't think of it that way." Arnold responded, he pensively thought about his next words carefully, "I was worried about coming back to Hillwood in June, now it's almost August and life is different than I expected it would be—but it's how it should be. If that makes any sense."
"So, you think things are the way they should be?" Phoebe questioned, pouring pancake batter into the hot frying pan. "You don't think I'm making a huge mistake going to California?"
"Phoebe, you're not just going to California. You're going to Stanford, the Harvard of the West Coast. How could that be a mistake?" Arnold incredulously responded.
"But, Gerald-"
"Gerald is so proud of you Phoebe. He's hurt that you didn't tell him about Stanford but he is so proud of you. What's more is—he loves you."
"I thought I smelled bacon." Helga emerged from the kitchen, her blonde hair tousled atop her head in a high ponytail.
"Helga, let me tell you, you've got yourself quite a catch in this one." Phoebe responded to her friend, shooting Arnold a quick smile.
"What am I over here, chopped liver?" Gerald chuckled as he entered the kitchen, wrapped his arms around his girlfriend and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"Can we go for a Starbucks run?" Helga questioned, her eyes half closed as she sat with her hands propping up her head on the breakfast bar.
"Starbucks and camping don't exactly go together." Gerald quipped, causing Helga to roll her eyes.
"I think we brought some coffee. I'll make you a cup." Arnold stated, giving Helga a quick kiss before rummaging through the drawers.
Phoebe grabbed four plates out of the cabinets and began plating meals of pancakes, eggs, bacon and toast. She looked around at her group of friends as they sat at the table eating their breakfast. She didn't know what exactly the future had in store for her but she was thankful that she had such a supportive group of friends for the journey.
AN: Happy Monday! Not a lot of action in this chapter but I like it, hopefully you will too! Happy reading, two more chapters to go! - BuzzLightyearr