Revised chapter nine as promised.
Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold!
Arnold and Helga…
Arnold drew in a deep breath as he fought to find the words he was looking for, he looked at Helga, and all he could do was smile inside. He was having trouble finding the words to tell her, apparently this didn't go unnoticed.
"Arnold, are you ok?" Helga asked, tilting her head to the side a bit.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just…I'm…" Arnold tried to find the words, he took a deep breath.
"So….today was fun. I hope we can get a chance to do it again." Arnold said, mentally slapping himself multiple times. He couldn't understand why it was so hard to just tell her, he wanted to, wanted to just say it.
"Oh. Yeah it was, I hope we can to." Helga replied, a small part of her was hoping for something else.
The two sat for a minute each turning their focus on their feet in the grass. The others had noticed this and started to make their way back over before things got too awkward. A slight look of disappointment on Gerald's, Phoebe's, and Chance's faces as they walked closer to Arnold and Helga.
"Jeeze, why can't these two just say it?" Gerald whispered to Phoebe and Chance.
"I have an idea." Chance whispered back to Gerald, "My party on Saturday."
Gerald's eyes grew wide, "Yeah, I almost forgot man. That might work, since it doesn't look like they are going to say much more here."
"I have another idea on top of that." Chance started. "Just trust me ok, I think I know someone who might be able to give him that push he needs."
The three of them nodded in unison as they walked the remainder of the way to where Arnold and Helga were sitting.
"So you two about ready to head out of here?" Gerald asked as they walked up. Arnold and Helga both looked up at their friends, then at one another, "Yeah." Arnold finally spoke up.
"Oh hey, don't forget I am having a party on Saturday. You two going to be there or am I going to have to drag you both?" Chance said, looking at Arnold and Helga with an eyebrow raised.
Helga laughed nervously, "Yeah, sure I will be there." Chance now directing his attention over to Arnold, "Yeah, I already said I was. Remember?"
"Yeah, well we all know how you tend to forget certain important things." Chance said, shifting his glance over to Helga.
Helga's room….
Helga was sitting on her bed reading when she heard her phone go off, it was a text message from Chance. "Don't forget my party tomorrow. You are still coming right?" he text.
Helga read his text, thinking about hanging with everyone again made her smile.
"Yeah, Phoebe and Gerald are going to pick me up." She text back.
"Sweet! See you tomorrow." He responded.
The party…
Arnold arrived at the party, noticing a few other people were there helping finish set up and just mingling. He walked around looking at everything, the party was being held at Chance's house in the back yard.
"Hey Arnold!" Arnold turned around, it was Chance calling from the far side of the yard. Arnold took a deep breath and headed over to see what he wanted.
"Hey." Arnold replied, "It's looking nice. Almost done getting everything?"
"Yep. You ready for this?" Chance said looking around the backyard.
"Well yeah. I mean it's just a party with some friends, nothing new." Arnold replied.
"That's not what I was referring to." Chance said looking at Arnold a half smirk planted on his face. Arnold just stood there in silence, not really making any effort to give Chance and answer.
"Well, Helga will be here for sure." Chance finally said as he turned back to what he was doing.
…..
It was about 7 o'clock when Helga arrived with Phoebe and Gerald. Walking in they saw a decent amount of people standing around. After scanning the crowd for a minute, they spotted a group of people that they knew and made their way over to them. There was of course Harold who was now officially with Rhonda, Eugene and Sheena, Stinky and Nadine, and Sid with himself. He kept claiming that his date was just running late, more like running away Helga thought silently laughing.
Right about then Helga spotted a girl she recognized, red hair in two braided pigtails, freckles, and a light green sundress. No doubt about it, it was Lila. Helga didn't see anyone with her so she decided to walk over and have a talk.
"Hey Lila" Helga said waving. Lila gave her a questioning look, "It's me Helga Pataki."
"Oooh my, Helga? You look amazing!" Lila said in her soft girly tone. Lila walked up and gave Helga a friendly hug, "It's ever so nice to see you."
"Yeah you too." Helga replied, "So are you here by yourself?"
"Oh no, he is in the bathroom….oh here he comes now." She said waving to someone behind Helga.
Helga turned around to see….."Arnie?" He walked up putting his arm around Lila's waist, giving Helga the once over before shooting her a creepy half smile. Helga shuttered at his smile and turned her attention back to Lila.
"So who are you with?" Lila asked. Helga just shook her head, "Myself I guess."
"Oh I'm ever so sorry." Lila said as she covered her mouth.
"It's ok." Helga replied trying to smile nicely shrugging her shoulders.
Helga stood there talking to Lila for a little while longer which kind of surprised her. Now she seemed to be able to deal with her better than when they were in grade school. After a few minutes had passed by, Helga suddenly felt someone nudge her. She turned around, it was Chance, he looked over at Lila with an eyebrow raised and turned his attention back to Helga.
"You doing ok?" Chance asked.
Helga nodded.
"Good." Chance said, now a curious look on his face. "So, have you seen Arnold yet?"
As she was about to answer, Arnold had walked up to them, "Hey Arnie,…..Lila. Oh hey Helga, I didn't see you standing over here." Arnold said, emphasis on the displeasure of seeing Lila.
"Guess I'm doing a better job at blending in with the crowd than I thought." Helga said jokingly, earning a laugh from all of them.
"Helga mind if I talk to you for a minute." Chance asked.
"Um yeah sure." Helga answered, glancing at Arnold then to the others, "Be right back."
As they turned to walk away Chance shot Lila a look, and continued on. Arnold noticed and looked over at Lila who was now scolding him, "Ok, what is this about?" Arnold said noticing the look on her face.
"You know exactly what." Lila said throwing off her sweet girl charade. "Why haven't you asked her yet?" she demanded.
"What?" Arnold replied, a little shocked by Lila's reaction.
"Look Arnold, I know we don't see eye to eye after what happened between us, but I think it's time for you to go after the person you really care about like I did." She said pointing to Arnie as her example.
"What?" was all Arnold could say.
"Helga!" Lila said in a stern tone, "I know you care about her Arnold, I could tell by the way you use to look at her."
Over to Chance and Helga….
Helga made her way through the crowd following Chance. They came up to where Gerald and the others had been standing. Chance looked at her, "Wait here a minute I need to go find my phone." He said. Helga nodded and made her way over to Phoebe to talk who was standing next to Gerald, hand in hand.
…..meanwhile
Arnold could just stand there and stare at Lila, trying to take in everything she was saying. "Ok, yes I care about her, but I don't see why that is any business of yours." He finally said, "I am just having a hard time finding the right words to say to her."
"Is that so?" Chance said from behind Arnold, making him jump slightly. "Well that explains why you haven't said anything yet." Chance giving Arnold a, lets get real look.
"Yep…that about sums it up." Arnold said.
Chance let out a little laugh, "Arnold, look now is as good a time as any. If you keep waiting you might miss your chance….think about it, the worst that she could say is no. Right? As long as you are sure you aren't getting into something stupid like before." He said as he shot a look over at Lila, who in return rolled her eyes.
Arnold closed his eyes, placing his hand on his forehead then looking at Chance before looking over at Lila asking, "So you are in on this too?" Lila smiled. That was enough of an answer for him.
"Does Helga know anything?" Arnold asked.
"I am sure she suspects something, but I am not sure if she knows." Chance answered. "She is about as oblivious as you are."
Arnold took a deep breath in as he thought about everything he had just been told.
"If you don't get your butt over there and ask her I will. Do it ever so quickly, time is wasting, and you have waited long enough." She said gesturing for him to get going.
Arnold raised his hands as if to be surrendering, "Ok…where is she?" Arnold asked looking over at Chance. He made his way through the crowd looking for Helga, going the way Chance had directed him, all the while he kept thinking what he was going to do.
…..back to Helga
Helga stood talking to Phoebe when she saw Arnold walking up. She paused her conversation with Phoebe who in turn looked at Arnold. She saw him waving his hand signaling for her to follow him, she looked at Phoebe and shrugged her shoulders. Helga walked over to Arnold who surprisingly took her by the hand and started leading them away from the group. Helga could feel her heart racing as he squeezed her hand tighter, walking through the crowd of people. Right about that time, as if on cue, a slow song started to play.
Helga stopped just short of running into Arnold as he had stopped suddenly at the change of the music. What the heck is up with the slow music? she thought. He turned around to face her and asked, "Want to dance with me?" Helga nodded, and he then led her over to where some others were dancing. She felt those familiar feelings coming back, the same ones that she got when she danced with him at his party.
Arnold brought her body in close to his, placing his hands on her hips. Helga slowly place her hands on his shoulders, trying her best to steady her breathing. As the song played on she felt him pulling her in closer making her blush furiously. Once again he had put her in such a daze, the way she felt his hands on her hips wrapping around her waist, the smell of his cologne.
They continued to dance slowly, taking each other in as the seconds passed. Finally, Helga felt his breath on her ear as he spoke, "Helga?" She pulled away slightly, the feel of his breath still on her sending chills down her back.
"Yes?" she finally answered, looking into his eyes. He leaned in close, their foreheads touching. He closed his eyes, "There is something I have been meaning to tell you." He said softly, "but I always seem to get interrupted. So I have had time to think about how I would say this." Helga just listened as he spoke, closing her eyes hoping to hear the words she had been waiting for.
"I finally decided that it would be better if I just stop trying to fight for the words, and show you." He finally said, opening his eyes. Helga opened her eyes, and looked up slightly at him, "What do you…." She was cut off as his lips found hers, slowly, passionately, Helga thought for a half a second she was going to collapse. She closed her eyes, returning the kiss, feeling his lips turn up into a smile as they stood still, the music continuing to play around them.
"Bout time" they pulled apart a little startle, seeing Gerald standing just outside the lines that made up the "dance floor". Gerald had a grin stretch across his face that could have been seen for a mile at the sight of Arnold and Helga.
"I'll say." Helga said, looking back at Arnold with a smile.
"Nothing is official," Arnold said jokingly shrugging his shoulders, making Helga look at him with a, what the hell look. Arnold turned his attention back to Helga and laughed a little at her expression, "Yet. Helga, I could think of nothing else right now that could make me happier than asking you to be my girlfriend."
Helga's look soften as a smile formed on her face, she chuckled, "I thought you would never ask."
"Is that a yes?" Arnold asked.
"Duh…..football head." Helga said a playful smirk now on her face.
Arnold let out a slight laugh at her answer, "Good." He leaned in to kiss Helga again.
Reviews please. Hope the changes were more appealing, and there will be more to follow.