Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold.

I can't believe she said yes. Then again, maybe she's just being nice. Dad was right; we're not going to be here long and not going to visit often either I should make the most of the time we have left.

Even though it's not going to end up the way I would've liked.

"So, ready to go? Helga asks, pulling Alex from his thoughts. He smiles a little, focusing his eyes on her.

"Yeah, I am," he says and gets up from his chair. Everyone else at the table watches them silently as they leave, except Sally who cheerily says goodbye to their retreating figures. Alex turns around when she speaks and smiles. "I'll see you later, Squirt. Have fun today."

"You too!" she replies and turns to her parents. "So, what are we going to do?" she asks with a curious expression. Her parents exchange a look; one that clearly says they know they're supposed to take her somewhere 'fun' by the little girl's standards. The idea doesn't seem to please them.

Alex suppresses a chuckle, making Helga give him a questioning look. He nods towards the door, indicating that they should step outside first before he explains. She shrugs and leas the way. Once outside, she folds her arms, waiting for his answer. "Whenever Sally says something like that it means she wants to go shopping."

"That doesn't sound too bad," Helga says.

"Not when it comes to her. When she shops, she buys everything." He pauses. "And I do mean everything. I'm surprised we're not broke yet." He shrugs and starts walking down the street. Helga follows suit and walks next to him, matching his stride.

"Well, if your parents don't like taking her shopping, then why do they still do it?" she asks distractedly, staring off into the distance.

"Because then she'll start throwing tantrums. It's better to lose money through shopping rather than listening to her complain and scream out of frustration all day. It gets really annoying. She's persistent, too. She'll keep asking to go every five minutes until they give in. They always do, eventually. I guess they couldn't stand it for very long." He chuckles. "I know I'd give in after the first ten minutes."

"Really that annoying, huh?" Helga asks, scrunching up her face as she thinks of something.

"Very," he says and laughs. Helga joins him for a moment before abruptly stopping and glancing away, suddenly distant. His smile falters a little, pretends he doesn't notice. Did I say something wrong? He feels like asking, but doesn't know how to phrase a proper question without sounding awkward. How would I ask about something like that? 'Hey, why do you suddenly seem distant? I thought we were doing okay just now.' It'll probably just make her uncomfortable, and embarrassing on my part for even bringing it up.

They walk down the pavement in silence for a few minutes. Alex starts feeling awkward and runs his hand through his hair nervously. The golden locks just fall back over his eyes, hiding his increasingly furrowed brow. I need to say something. Anything.

"So…" he says, startling Helga from her own thoughts. "What's interesting in this neighbourhood?"

"Nothing," she automatically says and shrugs. "It's a regular neighbourhood with regular people and regular sights. Why'd you want to explore it so much?"

"I didn't," he blurts out before he could stop himself. Helga gives him a questioning look. He sighs, deciding to come clean. "I just said that so the adults would stop pestering me about it," he admits. "I figured that if I said I had plans, then they wouldn't drag me off to do something I don't want to do."

"And you'd rather spend the day walking around a boring old neighbourhood and doing nothing?" Helga cuts in, sounding skeptical.

"Walking around is something," he says defensively. Plus I get to spend more time with you. But he stops himself from saying that out loud. When Helga still looks skeptical, he sighs and shrugs his shoulders. "Believe what you want, I'm sticking to my story. Walking around a neighbourhood you've never been to can be fun. I mean, it's basically exploring a new place. There's a lot I don't know about the history here, or the people who live here. Why did they choose to move to this particular place? Did the townhouses appeal to their tastes? Is the crime rate here so low that people feel safe to walk around and go about their daily lives without fear for their safety, or their children's for that matter? I see a lot of kids just walking around with no adult supervision, which is quite rare in these troublesome times. Is there a neighbourhood watch? It seems to me like everyone here knows each other, since they greet each other somewhat warmly when they pass by someone or see a bunch of kids playing on the street—"

"You talk a lot," she interrupts, making Alex pause mid-sentence to look at her. She has a calculating look on her face, as figuring out something about him that she didn't see before.

"I guess I do," Alex says and smiles. "Is that a bad thing?"

"No," she says quickly and looks away. "I just didn't picture you to be the talkative type."

"You're kidding me, right?"

She looks at him again. "What?"

"We talked for hours when we first met," he states. "How could you not notice that I talk a lot?"

"I don't know," she says quietly. "I guess I didn't really think about it."

"So why are you thinking about it now?" As soon as the words are out of his mouth, he wishes he didn't say it. Maybe I don't want to know the answer to that question. What if she's trying to tell me to shut up because she thinks I talk too much and therefore annoying? "Helga?" he tries to catch her attention when he notices her staring into space.

"Well…" she trails off uncertainly, making Alex think that she's looking for a way to cushion whatever it is that's actually on her mind. "I guess there are some things you don't notice when you're younger, even if it was only two years ago. I mean, back then I had my fair share of talking too, so I guess I didn't realize how much you were talking. Now, since I prefer to listen than talk, I guess something just clicked." She grimaces. "Did that make any sense? Sorry, I'm rambling."

"No, I understand. I get like that sometimes, too. It's like everything I want to say makes sense in my head, but once said out loud it doesn't sound so reasonable anymore. You'd be surprised how much people do understand another person's ramblings, even though it doesn't seem like it to the speaker. That being said, I try to avoid talking about things I don't know how to explain, since it would somehow lead up to a bout of my own rambling." He pauses. "Kind of like what's happening now," he says and chuckles. When Helga doesn't say anything, he turns his head to look at her, only to find that she's staring at him with an unreadable expression on her face. "What?"

"What?" she asks in return, as if snapping back to reality.

"Why are you just staring at me like that?" he asks, exasperated. She does want me to shut up, doesn't she?

"No reason," she says quickly and looks away again. Alex just keeps his gaze on her, unimpressed by her answer. She caves in, sighing. "I'm just… fascinated."

"Fascinated," he repeats, highly amused. He looks away, trying to hide the smirk on his face and stopping the laughter threatening to burst out. Interesting answer. They keep walking down the street in silence, and Alex takes the time off from talking to look at his surroundings. I guess Helga was right; there's nothing very special about this place. But it has… character. I wouldn't mind living here. As they turn the corner, Alex hears a couple of voices on the other side. Helga stops abruptly, eyes widening. "What's wrong?" he asks worriedly and stops alongside her. A few seconds later, Arnold walks around the sharp curve of the street with a girl talking animatedly with him.

"Helga," Arnold says, surprise in his voice. His gaze shifts between Helga and Alex and unconsciously narrows his eyes. "Hey," he greets the taller blond, nodding his head slightly.

"Hi," Alex says in return, and smiles a little for Helga's sake. He knows what's going on between them. Maybe he doesn't know what exactly transpired the night before, but he knows something happened.

"Hello, Helga," the girl next to Arnold speaks up, drawing Alex's attention. "It's oh-so wonderful to see you here." The redhead smiles brightly in Helga's direction before moving her attention to Alex. "And who are you? My name's Lila." She extends a hand towards him, which he slowly shakes.

"I'm Alex," he says and smiles in a friendly manner. "Nice to meet you, Lila."

"Oh, the pleasure's all mine," she says and giggles.

Alex doesn't quite know why, but he finds the girl's behaviour… annoying. She's too bubbly. It's not natural.

Arnold let's Lila chat with Alex, quietly stepping away from her and moving closer to Helga. "Hi," he says and smiles at her.

"Hi," she says with a sad smile on her face.

"What's wrong?" Arnold asks, unknowingly echoing what Alex asked just a minute ago. He sees something flicker across her face, but it's gone before he could say anything about it.

Helga just shrugs. "Nothing," she answers offhandedly. "Where were you going with Lila?"

Arnold shifts uncomfortably, feeling that his answer wouldn't be to Helga's liking. After last night, he doesn't quite know where they stand at the moment. "Well, she asked me if I wanted to grab some brunch with her, so I said yes."

"Oh," Helga says faintly, nodding slightly and glancing in Lila's direction. Arnold scrutinizes her expression, not expecting her to be so… indifferent about it.

"So… you're not mad?" he asks cautiously.

"No," she answers after a moment. She smirks, raising an eyebrow at him. "Should I be?"

Arnold relaxes a little, seeing Helga back to her old self a bit and smiles, though slightly confused. "No, I guess not." I was supposed to see you first thing this morning, but looks like you've forgotten about that.

A moment of silence falls between the two.

"…we should talk about what happened last night," Arnold finally says. Helga nods slowly, agreeing with him. She glances in Lila and Alex's direction again before speaking up.

"We should. I mean, we have to clear up stuff and all."

Arnold nods and smiles. "Right. So how about we have dinner soon? We can talk then."

Helga smiles at him. "Yeah, that sounds good."

"How about this—"

"Arnold?" Lila interrupts him. He and Helga turn their heads towards her. "We should go…" she trails off, glancing at Alex. Her face lights up as if an idea came to her. "I know! Why don't Alex and Helga join us? It would be oh-so much fun—"

"No," Helga deadpans.

"I wouldn't want to intrude…" Alex says apologetically, shaking his head softly and raising the palms of his hand a bit.

"I don't think that's such a good idea," Arnold tells Lila. "I mean, I'm sure they already had plans for today, since Alex isn't going to be here long?" he directs the question to Helga, not too keen on talking to Alex at this point, let alone sit through brunch with the guy.

"Uh, yeah," Helga says, nodding. "I guess you could say that."

Alex nods as well and smiles. "I'm just visiting for a few days," he explains to Lila. "I'll be leaving soon so Helga's showing me around while we still have time."

"Oh, that's so nice of you, Helga!" the bubbly redhead says and brings her hands together.

"Yeah, I'm a saint," the blonde replies and smirks. The other two boys try to hide their smiles at her sarcastic tone, and at how Lila doesn't seem to notice it.

"Well then," Lila says, looking at Alex now. He tries to keep a straight face. "I suppose we should leave you two while Arnold and I be on our way."

Helga's facial expression falls a little, which doesn't go unnoticed by both of the boys.

"Maybe I'll see you before you leave?" Lila asks hopefully, looking at Alex with puppy-dog eyes.

"Maybe," Alex says and smiles politely. "It was nice meeting you, Lila."

She giggles. "Like I said, the pleasure was all mine," she assures him and turn to Arnold. "Come on, Arnold. I'm starting to get really hungry."

"O-Okay," Arnold says and nods. He turns to Helga. "I'll call you about the…" he casts a glance at Alex and brings his eyes back to Helga again. "…thing, okay?"

Helga nods, smiling at Arnold briefly before focusing her attention on the pavement. In no way is she going to look at Alex right now. It would make everything seem so much more uncomfortable for her. For everyone, really, except Lila who remains oblivious to the slight tension in the air.

I apologise profusely for not updating sooner. I have no excuses give. I can only ask for forgiveness.

Needless to say, the previous chapter was a total disaster and I can tell you now that such an embarrassment like that will not be posted up in future. That being said, this chapter is basically the previous one, but explained in detail. I don't even know what was going through my head when I wrote that one. *headdesk* Such a fail.

Anyway, thank you to those who are still reading this, you deserve all the praise and love and hugs in the world. I am mentally transferring an image of myself hugging all of you. All of you.

I'll try to update again soon, but I don't know when as I am waiting for my parents to give me a new laptop. The old one doesn't want to connect to the internet anymore and currently I am using my sister's one. I refuse to write on this laptop in fear that she would read this. I sincerely do not want that to happen.

And I realise this author's note is getting ridiculously long. I'm sorry!