A/N:
I hope you guys like this! It was a little complicated to work out but I think it's a fun time all around. Chapter 5 is also going to have a few interesting complications to this dinner, so please stay tuned!!! Thanks for reading!!!
Dinner AND a Show!
Chapter 4:
Hell's Dining Room
"Hey, Arnold, pass me another Yahoo soda." Gerald held out his hand, putting down the pencil he had just been using to solve yet another math problem.
"Sure." Arnold reached into the small cooler beside the couch, which he and his best friend were currently sitting on in the den of the Boarding House, and handed Gerald another ice-cold bottle.
There was a small sound of air releasing as Gerald popped off the bottle top and then gulped down a few ounces of the drink. He let out a refreshed sigh, and then put the drink down on the coffee table in front of them. "You know, we've been working for an hour straight. You think maybe it's time for a TV break?"
Arnold glanced down at his almost complete sheet of homework and then back up at his best friend, smiling. He pushed the assignment and textbooks scattered around him to the side. "That sounds like a good plan." Gerald reached for the remote on the coffee table and turned on the television.
He flipped through the stations for half a minute but, being ten years old and desperate for some entertainment, it felt like forever. He sighed, "Man, it's Saturday afternoon—Where are the cartoons and monster movies and baseball games? News, infomercials, government debates…sheesh!" He kept going through the stations, though at a much quicker pace this time.
"Hey, wait a minute—go back! That looked like one of the Evil Twin movies!" Arnold suddenly called out.
With a hopeful look, Gerald flipped back a few channels and suddenly saw what Arnold was talking about. His face quickly fell, though, as he realized what it really was. "Aw man, it's just another commercial for Evil Twin IV: Cannibal Twins, but it's not comin' out 'til next weekend." He sighed and crossed his arms over his chest, tossing the remote on the couch between himself and Arnold.
"Yes, that's right—It's more blood, more gore, more terrifying moments with the fourth and final installment of the Evil Twin franchise: Evil Twin IV: Cannibal Twins!!! Coming to the tri-city area next Friday starting at midnight!"
Gerald rolled his eyes at the announcer's voice. "Yeah, but how does that help us NOW?" he couldn't help but mumble to himself.
Arnold chuckled.
"And, to thoroughly prepare all you Evil Twin fans for the most frightening weekend of your soon-to-be-over lives, come down to any major theatre in the city THIS weekend for a special TRIPLE FEATURE showing of Evil Twin I and Evil Twin II and Evil Twin III:Country Cousin back-to-back starting at 6pm! That's right—pay only ONE price for THREE great, gory films! This Saturday night ONLY!!! Be there! And be dead!"
Gerald stood up, smiling, and turned to his best friend. "All right! Maybe today won't be so bad after all! Come on, Arnold," he glanced at the clock which read 5pm, "let's go get tickets now and spend the entire evening scared out of our minds."
Arnold sighed, disappointment in his voice. "Sorry, Gerald. I can't go."
Gerald did a double take. "What?! Oh, come on, man—What could be better than a half price triple feature guaranteed to scare us both for the rest of the weekend? Besides, if anyone needs a night out it's you—You're the one who's been getting all worked up over the last week trying to talk to Helga."
Arnold rolled his eyes at this last statement and tried to ignore it. "Gerald, I'm sorry, but I already made plans for tonight."
"With who?" Gerald asked, an eyebrow raised.
"Well, I'm going to dinner at Chez Paris with some people."
Gerald almost smirked, "Arnold…this isn't another one of those 'Helga has a gift certificate' things, is it…?"
Arnold gave his friend a slightly miffed look. "No, Gerald. It's got nothing to do with Helga. I was just talking to Patty today after she helped me with…something with Helga," Arnold hastily added this last bit of information, trying not to make eye contact with Gerald, "And she mentioned that her and a bunch of other people were going there tonight and she asked me if I wanted to come too, and I said yes."
Gerald sighed, "Oh, come on, Arnold: an overpriced dinner or five straight hours of horrific mayhem? Can't you get out of it?"
"Gerald, Patty helped me a lot yesterday and I don't just want to ditch her. Besides, I think it sounds like it's going to be fun." Suddenly, Arnold had an idea. "Hey, do you maybe want to come with us? Patty said it was just going to be a bunch of people, so I'm sure one more person wouldn't matter."
Arnold's hopeful look was shut down by an emphatic shake of Gerald's head. "No way, man. I am not getting roped into another crazy misadventure at that place. The first time we went there was Valentine's day and you nearly got yourself killed by three women at once, and then the second time I ended up having to sit through a whole meal with Helga only to end up with cockroaches everywhere and scrubbing pots and pans for six hours. You can go there if you want to, man, but I'm definitely doing the movies tonight. Case closed."
Arnold shrugged his shoulders. "Okay." He shut off the TV and stood up. "Do you still want me to come with you to get tickets now? It's only 5 so there should be plenty of time to do that and then for me to get back here so I can change for the dinner at 7."
"Yeah, okay…" Suddenly, Gerald's eyes widened and the smile returned to his face. "Hey, Arnold—this dinner thing starts at 7?"
Arnold looked at Gerald. "Yeah. Why?"
Gerald stood up. "Well, that's perfect then. The theatre's only a block away from Chez Paris and the second movie probably doesn't start until around 8. Why don't we buy tickets now and I'll go to the first movie and then when you're done eating I'll meet you out in front of the theatre just before the show starts. What do you say?"
Arnold looked hesitant. "I don't know, Gerald…What if the dinner goes past 8? I don't want to have to leave early—it'd feel kind of rude."
Gerald put a reassuring hand on his friend's shoulder. "Come on, man, there's no way dinner could take more than an hour. Besides, you'll already have the ticket so you won't have to waste any time in line for them. And if it does look like you're going to cut it close, just say that you can't stay for dessert or something because you've got some plans later. I mean, you don't have to…I don't know…go to the bathroom and never come back or something." Gerald smiled smugly at his friend, referring to one of the excuses Arnold had used often last Valentines Day when trying to keep two dates at once.
Arnold couldn't help but smile. "Yeah…I guess you're right. Besides, I really could go for some Evil Twin…" His mind wandered to Helga for a moment, "…and I guess I could use a night to relax from some things…"
"Great!" Gerald smiled. "Well, let's go get those tickets then before everyone else gets the same idea."
"Okay." Arnold smiled and with that both boys left the Boarding House to purchase their seats for the film that night.
"No…no…absolutely not…ugh, why do I even own anything green? I hate green!" Helga felt her heart skip a beat as she found herself adding mentally with a dreamy smile on her face, 'Well…most kinds of green…but not jelly bean green…' On instinct, she felt herself begin to reach for her Arnold locket to look at the smiling face of her beloved and those beautiful eyes of his that would stare in that sultry way back at her.
She stopped herself, shaking her head and scowling. "Whoa, easy, Helga old girl. Remember—'Arnold-free weekend.' If you're going to lay in your room swooning over pictures of him, how is that any different from actually leaving the house and following him around all day?"
She took a deep breath and resumed rummaging through her closet, which she had been doing for the last hour. It was currently 6 pm on Saturday evening and Helga was trying to find something to wear to dinner tonight at Chez Paris.
Pawing through the same outfits for about the billionth time, though, she sighed in frustration and looked once more at a dress currently laid out on her bed. "Let's face it, that pink dress is the only thing that I have that's decent enough to wear to a place like that." Helga approached the dress like she was finally going to pick it up and put it on, but then hesitated. "But it's also the dress I wore there when we almost got arrested for not being able to pay the bill and for letting all of Nadine's cockroaches loose in the dining room. If that maitre d' recognizes me in it and starts giving me a hard time or worse, kicks me out, not only is it going to be completely embarrassing but then tonight's just going to end up being another evening all about the consequences of my love for Arnold." Helga had been doing pretty decently in her resolve to make this an Arnold-free weekend so far and, to be honest, even though it was a bit frustrating at times it was actually taking her mind off of all of the drama with him quite a bit, which she desperately wanted and needed. "Ugh, why did I even agree to go to this in the first place!? Do I NEVER think before I say things?" Helga was suddenly reminded of her confession and tried her best to put the memory away for now.
Helga sighed and walked back over to her closet, trying to put some of the other clothes away. "Oh well…maybe if I accessorize the dress differently or change my hair or something I can make it work." Helga continued to head deeper into her closet to re-hang up jumpers, shirts, and the occasional black ski mask as she thought these things aloud. After a minute or two she had the bulk of the mess picked up and she glanced down at the row or two of shoes that were now no longer covered up in layers of clothes. "Let's see…nope!" She had picked up a pair, examined it, and then discarded it. This pattern continued. "Nope, brown doesn't go with that dress…Can't wear sneakers to a fancy dinner…Too small…Ugh, why do I even own these ugly things?!"
A few more unsatisfactory pairs of shoes later and Helga found herself reluctantly glancing back at the dress on her bed, next to which she had the white pair of heels that she had worn with it last time she had gone to Chez Paris. She rolled her eyes. "Perfect, I don't have any other shoes that go with that dress!" She glanced back at the pile of shoes now in the middle of the floor of her bedroom. "Heck I don't even have any other pair of shoes besides that one that's nice enough to wear to a place like Chez Pari—"
Instantly, a memory resurfaced in Helga's mind that caused her to pause. She remained silent for a moment or two, thinking. Finally, she slowly reentered her closet, propped open a small step ladder in one of the corners, climbed it, pulled a string that opened a panel in the ceiling, and climbed into the empty space above. Helga clapped twice and suddenly several rigged up lights suddenly turned on revealing her Arnold shrine. Trying not to make eye contact with it (once again, this was 'Arnold-free weekend,' after all), Helga moved some random candles and some boxes of poetry books aside. Finally, in a back corner she came upon a rather dusty large shopping bag. She grabbed it by the handles and made her way back through the opening to the small attic space, descending the ladder carefully and finally exiting the closet to be in her room once again. Helga wasn't exactly sure why she had suddenly gone to the trouble of actually getting this item from her shrine—it wasn't like it was going to be able to help her very much with her problem, and it was already bringing up a lot of thoughts about Arnold that she wanted to avoid.
Still, Helga peered inside of the bag and pulled out the small item on top—a single, slightly dusty, red shoe. She blew some of the dust off of it and observed it for a few minutes in her hand. "If only I had the other one. They'd go great with that dress."
Finally, Helga just sighed and tossed herself on her bed, the shoe still in hand. "Oh, who am I kidding?! I could change the shoes, the necklace, the hair—I'm still gonna look like I did the last time and then I'm never gonna get a moment's peace tonight because of what I did at that restaurant the last time." She glanced with a scowl at the red heel. "Forget another pair of shoes, what I need is to look like a totally different person!" And with that, Helga chucked the shoe across the room.
She had expected to hear it hit the floor or the wall, but she sat up as she heard a rather different sound and suddenly saw that it had collided with the large shopping bag, spilling its other contents onto her floor. At first, Helga scowled at the sight of another mess to pick up. Suddenly, however, an idea occurred to her and she continued staring at the striped top and dark pink skirt that were now upon her carpet.
Suddenly, Helga shook her head violently. "Absolutely not—What am I thinking?! There is no way I can ever wear that outfit ever again! If Arnold ever saw me in it, I'd be busted. Completely busted!"
'Still,' came a voice at the back of Helga's head, 'When you wore that to Chez Paris the first time, you actually were a 'different person'—there's no way if you wore it this time that that maitre d' would put together that you were the same person who got the restaurant closed down and tried to skip out on a full dinner for four. Besides, it IS a nice outfit…'
Helga rolled her eyes at this last thought. "Crimeny, I've been spending too much time around Rhonda and Olga…" Helga did have to admit to herself, though, upon quickly glancing at it once that it was, indeed, one of her better fashion creations.
"But…NO! This is ridiculous! I can't believe that I'm even considering this!" She turned away from the outfit. "Still…" the resolve in her voice was weakening, "Technically, the only people who saw me in that outfit were Arnold and Gerald… And it's not like they're both going to be randomly there tonight...what the heck would they be doing anywhere near a French restaurant on a Saturday night, anyway? I mean, it's not like they've got me roping them in to one of my crazy Arnold schemes like last time or anything, right?"
Helga slowly approached the outfit, picking up the top in one hand and the skirt in the other and looking from one to the other. "And I will have different shoes of course, since I've only got the one red one…" Helga glanced back at her bed. "The white ones I was going to wear with pink dress should go alright." She turned back to the clothing in her hands. "I might change my hair a little bit from how I had it that night too—Heck, I don't want the restaurant staff to recognize me but I don't want Patty to NOT recognize me," she said to herself, recalling how utterly fooled Arnold had been by her disguise.
Helga walked back over to her bed to place the top and skirt with the shoes in question. "You know what…I'm going to do this!" She smiled to herself. "It's not like there's any real risk here and besides I'm SO sick of doing things in my life based around keeping my secret about Arnold. If I have a nice outfit, then I should be able wear it…Granted, not around anyone who would recognize me from the first time I wore it…But, still, I should be able to wear it!"
Helga smiled to herself as she proceeded to grab the long pink dress and white gloves from her bed and went to place them back in her closet. "I need to seriously relax…This night is going to be fine." And with this confident thought Helga closed her closet door tight and prepared to change for her dinner at Chez Paris.
"Okay, Mom, I'm leavin' for work now!"
"Okay, Torvald, honey. Are you sure you don't need a ride?" came the raspy but warm voice of a woman in the kitchen.
"That's okay, Mom—I've got a little while before my shift starts and I've got an umbrella, too, just in case the rain starts early." The young man glanced out the window at the grey clouds that were slowly building in the sky above. "Besides, you just got back from work—you deserve some time to relax."
"Okay, honey." The older woman exited the kitchen and walked over to her son, giving him a warm hug. "Have a good night at work—and I'm so proud of you, Torvald!" She gave him a kiss on the cheek. "You've really turned things around this year with school and getting a job…you're not my little boy anymore, are you? You're my young man now."
He pulled away, smiling, though, at how happy she seemed. "Thanks, Mom." He opened the door. "I'll see you later…is there any thing you want me to order from the restaurant and bring home la—"
He was cut off by the sound of the phone on the end table suddenly ringing.
Torvald's mother grabbed the receiver. "Just a second, honey." She cleared her throat, "Hello?...Oh, yes, he's here." She turned to her son and pulled the receiver away from her face, whispering to him. "Torvald it's one of those girls that's been calling here all week."
She offered the phone to hi, and Torvald took it. 'Hmm…I wonder if it's Patty or…' "Hello?" The sound of the voice on the other end cleared up this uncertainty for him and actually had the added effect of making him smile quite a bit. "Oh, hey, babe…Oh no, sorry, I can't tonight—I've gotta work…I get off around eight though. Do you wanna meet me at the restaurant after my shift and maybe we can grab some ice cream or something?...Great! Do you know where the place is…Yeah, that block near the fountain and that other French restaurant. Great, I'll see you then. Bye, babe." And with that Torvald hung up the phone.
Torvald's Mom smiled at him. "Sounds like things are getting serious between you that young lady…Is she the one who came by here a few times to drop off some books?"
Torvald smiled and shook his head. "No, that's Patty. She's just been helping me with some stuff for, uh, school. We're just friends. You haven't met the other girl yet. She's just called here so far. We've actually been hanging out with each other for a couple of weeks now, though. She's pretty cool."
Torvald's Mom smiled. "Well, you should bring her by sometime. Maybe tonight after you're done at work?"
"Well, we were gonna get some ice cream afterwards…and we're both kind of busy with school this weekend," he added as an afterthought, recalling the sixth grade placement test he secretly had to study for. "But maybe next weekend. I'll see if she wants to come by for dinner Friday night."
"Okay, son. Have a good walk to work!" Torvald's Mom waved to him as he stepped out the front door.
"Thanks, Mom!" He was about to close the door but popped his head back in quickly, "Oh, and was there anything you wanted me to bring you from the restaurant?"
"Hmm? Oh, maybe some of that good Steak Tartare if it's not too much trouble."
"Sure thing. Bye!" And with that Torvald closed the door behind him and proceeded down the sidewalk and to work.
"Oh for the love of—seriously, I finally work things out with my outfit, and I get half way to this stupid restaurant with just enough time to not be late, and it starts pouring like crazy! And with my luck this is just one sign of the chaos to come tonight!" Helga turned a corner and finally had the lights of Chez Paris in her sights, though they were very obscured by the pouring rain around her. "Whew! Finally!"
Helga raced up the street and finally found herself safely under the awning of the restaurant. She looked down at her skirt and shirt. "Ugh, great—I am drenched!" She felt her hair. "Oh and just perfect—my bun fell out!" She wrung out her hair a bit. "Oh well…I'll just put it up again when I get inside. No big deal."
Helga took a breath to collect herself, opened the door, and walked inside of the restaurant. There was no one at the hostess table at the moment, so walked a little farther inside and looked around, searching the tables for wherever Patty might be. As she scanned the place, she recalled the need to fix her hair (which was now in wet shambles around her head.) Her back to the door, she removed her ribbon, and ran her hands through it a few times to get it straightened out so that she could put it up properly…
"Thanks for dropping me off, Grandpa! I can't believe all this rain—It was great outside this morning."
The Packard had just pulled up in front of Chez Paris and was now stopped right by the door. Grandpa turned to Arnold. "Sure thing, Short Man. Any particular time you want me to swing by and pick you up?"
Arnold straightened his tie. "Actually, I'm going to meet Gerald at the movies right after this, and we're probably going to be out until pretty late. We'll just take the bus back to the boarding house and he can spend the night on my couch, if that's okay."
He smiled. "Well, okay, but if you change your mind or your plans just find a payphone and let me know." He winked.
Arnold smiled back. "Okay, Grandpa.'' He opened the car door.
"Now have fun on your little date!" His grandfather called to him teasingly.
Arnold rolled his eyes. "Grandpa, I'm not going on a date. I'm just meeting a bunch of people here to have dinner."
Grandpa grinned slyly. "Sure, Shortman…and one of those people doesn't happen to be your little friend with the pink bow and the one eyebrow, does it?"
Arnold couldn't help blushing slightly. "No, Grandpa, Helga's not coming. And, she's—she's just a friend of mine anyway…"
"Mmm Hmm…" Phil replied, the suspicious smile still on his face. "Well, I'll let you get inside then." He glanced at the car clock. "Oh, and you'd better hurry, Shortman—it's 7 now! Don't wanna be late!"
Arnold blinked at hearing the time and stepped out of the car. "Bye, Grandpa! Thanks again."
"Bye, Shortman! And say 'hi; to Helga for me! Heh, heh, heh!" Grandpa called this last part out just as Arnold shut the door. He drove away laughing to himself while Arnold just sighed and shook his head. 'I don't know…maybe I should just tell Grandpa about Helga—He already seems to know that she likes me. At least if he knew everything then I could come to him for advice about her.'
Arnold took a breath and turned around to look at the large doors of the restaurant before him. 'I can worry about Helga later…right now I just don't want to be late. Especially if I might have to leave early.' Arnold reached into his pants pocket to reassure himself that he still had his ticket for the Evil Twin movies later. Feeling that it was indeed safely there he smiled and opened the doors of the restaurant.
Arnold was about to approach the hostess stand and ask if there was anyone already seated who was waiting for him. He stopped though as he saw no one appeared to be there. 'Hmm…I'll just look around and see if I can find Patty's table anywhere.'
Arnold glanced around at a few of the tables. Suddenly, his view was obscured by a person standing a few feet away. Arnold was about to step forward so that he could see around her when, suddenly, he did a double take and blinked several times as though he couldn't believe the sight in front of him.
"Stupid hair! Oh well, at least I got enough water out of it so I can try putting it up again."
"Cecile!"
Helga froze. Her hands dropped from her hair. Her eyes went wide. 'I did not just hear that name. I did not just hear that name said by that voice. I am imagining things because in the back of my mind I am still being paranoid about wearing this outfit. It was just the sound of the rain. Yes. I feel better now. Silly old Helga…like Arnold would actually be here.'
"Cecile!'"
She felt a hand on her shoulder. 'Okay, okay, don't panic! Potential ways out of this: uh…okay, maybe I fake being Cecile again but then tell Arnold that I'm just leaving…Good, okay. Yeah, and then I sneak out, change my hair, find some kind of clothing store that's open and come back here as plain old Helga Pataki. Alright, I can work with that. Now let's see—'
"Helga! Hey, Helga—over here!"
Helga's jaw dropped as she saw Patty standing up and waving to her from a table about a hundred feet away.
"Arnold, you too!" Patty called.
The hand on her shoulder tensed and didn't move. And Helga didn't move. Her eyes remained wide and her mouth remained open. 'Okay, maybe…maybe there's a chance he doesn't realize that she's talking to me. I mean, for all he knows, Helga's right behind him or something, right?'
"Helga!" Patty put her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow. "What's with the two of them? Why aren't they moving?"
Harold turned to look at the two people Patty was referring to and blinked in surprise. He raised an eyebrow at Patty. "You invited Arnold and Helga?"
Patty rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. "Uh…yeah. You know…they're both pretty cool and I figured they could use a night out."
A doubtful look came back to Harold's face. "Yeah, but…Arnold and Helga? Patty you're in the sixth grade so I don't know if you know this but those two hate each other. A lot! Those fights they've been having are just extra—They argue all the time and she's always calling him names."
Patty raised an eyebrow at him. 'How does he not realize that…' She mentally sighed to herself. 'Boys…' She rubbed her eyes with her thumb and forefinger, then looked at him. "Look…it'll be fine. They're both nice people, right?"
Harold hesitated. Sure, Arnold was great guy, but Helga…Suddenly, the memory of how Helga had helped him on the bus yesterday resurfaced in his mind. Yeah…she was okay.
"Yeah…" he answered without much conviction.
"And they're our friends, right?" Patty continued.
"Well, yeah, but…"
"Okay, so there's no problem." She stood up and pushed in her chair. "Now, I don't think they see us, so I'm just going to go and bring them over. I'll be right back."
Harold gave a defeated sigh. "Okay, Patty…but I just hope they don't kill each other."
Patty shook her head and walked across the restaurant floor toward the two fourth graders. She couldn't help but feel just a bit more confident than the she had the previous day in the potential success of this dinner. Her and Harold had arrived at the same time and hadn't had to sit alone awkwardly for more than a couple of minutes before both Arnold and Helga had walked through the door (usually, they could spend a ton of time together and never have it feel weird, but somehow being in this restaurant setting made things a little more intense). And now the two of them had arrived and, instead of the World War III she had been fearing, they just seemed to be standing by the door together looking around the restaurant. She couldn't help but raise an eyebrow, though, as she got closer and noticed the strange looks on Arnold and Helga's faces.
Helga's were very VERY wide, and her mouth hung open. She wasn't moving. Arnold had his hand on her shoulder and, even though he kind of had a smile on his face, it was like he had been about to fully grin when something had interrupted the facial expression, leaving it half done and almost creepy looking.
Patty stopped a couple of feet from them. She put a hand on Helga's free shoulder. "Hey, Helga." She glanced at Arnold. "Hey Arnold." She lifted her hand off of Helga's shoulder and noticed that it was wet. "Wow, it must have been raining a lot out there." She smiled and jerked her thumb behind her. "Come on, the table's right over here."
They still weren't moving.
Patty sighed and rolled her eyes. "Okay, you guys…Look, I'm sorry I invited you two here tonight without telling you, but I figured that maybe this would give you guys a chance to just kind of hang out in neutral territory. Besides, I know you don't really hate each other. And we're all already here and the food smell's great so, come on—let's sit down like friends and enjoy ourselves. What do you say?" She smiled at them hopefully.
Patty had to raise an eyebrow as, all of a sudden, Arnold used his hand that was on Helga's shoulder to spin her around so that she was facing him. He looked her up and down several times, his eyes getting wider and wider as he went on. "Cecile…Helga, you—"
"Okay, well, let's get to that table because I am STARVING!!!" Helga suddenly whipped around and made a beeline for Patty's table, leaving both Patty and Arnold standing near the door looking quite surprised at the abrupt action.
Patty turned back to Arnold. "What's up with her? And who's Cecile?"
Arnold didn't say a word to her but suddenly walked quickly after Helga, leaving her alone by the door.
Patty watched him walk across the dining room, a look of complete confusion on her face. As they neared the table she saw Arnold reach for one of Helga's arms and Helga bump into the table so hard in an attempt to get away from him that she knocked half of the silverware onto the floor.
Patty took a breath. 'This is not a good sign, is it?' She tried to console herself a bit. 'Okay, so, let's say they get into another fight tonight? What's the worse that could happen—We're in a public place so it's not like they're going to make a scene. And besides, it's not like there's anyone we know around to see it if something goes bad tonight.' She reminded herself of this thought, which she'd had the previous evening after calling Harold's house. She tried to smile. 'They were both probably just surprised to see each other. They'll get used to it pretty soon. No problem.'
"Patty, darling! Oh so you did decide to come here after all?"
Patty felt a hand on her shoulder and turned around in surprise to see Rhonda Wellington-Lloyd smiling at her, her parents in tow.
"Rhonda?" She raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing here?"
Rhonda brushed a bit of rain from her coat and then removed it. "Oh, you wouldn't believe it—You remember that fashion show at the country club I was telling you about? Well, it was outdoors and all of this rain just completely flooded the entire thing." She squeezed out her hair a bit. "We were just going to go home but, you know, ever since I mentioned this place to you on Friday I've been thinking about the time Mummy and Daddy took me here in second grade and, even thought the atmosphere is a little cheap, they have the best vichyssoise. Well, pretty soon I was just dying for a bowl so we decided to stop for dinner on the way home!" Rhonda glanced around a bit at the other tables. "So, who did you and Harold end up coming here with?"
Patty felt her stomach twist just slightly. "Um, well…" 'This isn't good.' Rhonda was the social queen of P.S. 118…and, as she had informed Patty yesterday, she was in the market for some good gossip. 'Still…there's nothing that weird about Arnold and Helga being here, right? I mean, she's not jumping all over me and Harold eating together, so what's the big deal?' "Well, actually…I ended up inviting Arnold and Helga." She smiled hesitantly.
Rhonda blinked. "Arnold and Helga…?"
"Uh, yeah…I mean, Harold's pretty good friends with Arnold and I'm pretty good friends with Helga so I just kind of ended up asking them."
"Rhonda, darling, the table's ready?" Mrs. Wellington-Lloyd's voice coming from across the dining room interrupted the conversation between the two girls.
Rhonda, however, didn't budge…and Patty didn't like that curious look she was giving her.
"Uh, well, it sounds like your Mom wants you so I'm just going to get back to our table. See you later, Rhonda." And with a wave and a sheepish smile Patty quickly walked back over Harold, Arnold and Helga.
She couldn't see it but Rhonda remained right where she was for a few seconds more, looking from Patty to the table in question...and its unusual second set of occupants. "Hmm…"
'OH...OH…OH…' Helga couldn't even begin to form a coherent thought as she suddenly found herself bolting away from Arnold and Patty to get to the table. This was beyond nightmare, this was…this was… 'OH!' Continued to be the only word playing over and over again in Helga's head.
"Hey, Helga." Harold Berman smiled at her and waved as she reached the table.
The sound of another person's voice broke Helga out of her 'OH' thought loop. She blinked and looked at him. "Oh…hey…Harold." The response was very high pitched and obviously nervous sounding but, at this point, she was just impressed that she had managed to say anything at all.
"Helga!" A familiar hand grabbed her wrist and she practically jumped out of her skin and slammed into the table, jarring its contents. She whipped around, her eyes wide. "Helga, you're the girl who—"
"ARNOLD!" She cut him off. "Why don't you have a seat next to HAROLD? You know, HAROLD—the person at the table BESIDES you and me!" She grabbed Arnold's arm and pulled him around the table so that he was in front of the seat across from her.
Arnold blinked a few times, a little dizzy from being suddenly whipped around like that. Upon getting his bearings again he looked to Helga who was now sitting with her hands folded neatly on the table, twiddling her fingers and trying to make eye contact with anything that wasn't him.
"Helga, why didn't you tell me that you were her when you told me how really felt about m—"
"ARNOLD!" she yelled again, scowling, "You know another interesting thing about Harold is that he can not only hear everything we might say but he can tell OTHER people about it too. Isn't that INTERESTING?!?!"
Arnold glanced at Harold, who had a very confused expression on his face, and then back to Helga. "But, Helga, we can't just not talk about—"
"Oh, LOOK, here's PATTY!!!" Helga yelled, suddenly, as Patty reached the table following her little talk with Rhonda. "YET ANOTHER person who can hear EVERYTHING you're saying, FOOTBALL HEAD! So maybe you should stifle it before I do it FOR you!" She glared furiously at him.
Patty just looked from Helga to Arnold with an eyebrow raised. She glanced at Harold, who just looked at her with an equal amount of confusion and shrugged his shoulders.
Patty sat down in her chair next to Helga and across from Harold, still looking at Arnold and Helga with confusion. There was definitely something going on here and it was bigger than the two of them just being surprised to see each other. "Are you guys okay? You seem a little…tense."
"Huh?!" Helga blinked and turned to Patty, and the sudden motion caused a piece of her hair to fall over one of her eyes. With a start, she recalled that her hair was indeed still down in the Cecile style. She quickly put down her menu and started putting it back up. 'It's bad enough Football Head knows I'm Cecile now—I don't need my hair beating him over the head with it.' She cleared her throat and spoke as she was doing this. "Uh…no, I was just…just surprised to see Arnold."
"Yeah, and I was really surprised to see Helga." Arnold added in a flat voice with a distinctly annoyed expression on his face, not looking up from the menu open before him.
Helga blinked at this change in attitude. 'Oh great—now he's 'angry'.' She sighed and turned to Patty, trying to ignore him. Clearing her throat, she did her best to call forth some sarcasm though her voice obviously came off as a little shaky. "You know, that was a pretty low trick, Patty—inviting the two of us and not telling us."
Patty smiled sheepishly. "Well, I just thought a night away from school and everyone would give you guys a chance to make up a bit and, you know, be yourselves." She smiled at Helga.
"Well, if anyone could use a chance to be herself, it certainly is Helga." Arnold added, again in the miffed voice and again while flipping through the menu.
Helga blinked and looked at him again. Patty raised an eyebrow at him, this time, as well.
Suddenly, Arnold took a breath and closed the menu. He looked to Patty and Harold (or, more specifically, avoided looking at Helga). "Thank you again for inviting me, Patty. I really appreciate it." His voice was suddenly pleasant and kind, just like usual.
"Sure, Arnold. No problem…" Patty couldn't help the hesitation in her reply. His sudden change in attitude was a little disconcerting to say the least.
"Hey, Harold. It's good to see you. How's your weekend going so far?"
"Uh, pretty good…" He, too, felt something strange about the way Arnold was acting.
"Bon jour, mademoiselles and monsieurs. I will be your waiter this evening." A familiar maitre d' arrived at the table, pen and order pad in hand. He smiled at Harold and Patty and then, suddenly, his eyes fell on Arnold and Helga and he froze. "You two!" he yelled with indignation.
Helga just let the menu she had been reading drop onto her plat with a clatter. She closed her eyes and dragged a hand down her face. 'Perfect, just perfect…'
Arnold blinked at the strong address. "Us?"
The garçon scowled. "You two are the nasty little children who released cockroaches in this restaurant last winter and got us shut down for two weeks!"
Helga smiled sheepishly. "Uh…I-I don't recall…uh…"
"We have your pictures!" He instantly pulled a sheet out of his pocket with color headshots of Arnold, Helga, Gerald, Phoebe and Nadine (who had been the owner of the cockroaches in question).
'Great…' Helga thought to herself. 'Head shots and the one thing I decide to keep the same from that night is my hair. Fantastic. Now he's going to make a big scene and kick out me and Arnold, and—' Suddenly, her eyes opened wide and a slight smile came to her face. 'Kick out me and Arnold? Yeah, he'll kick us out! And then I won't have to sit through the torture of this meal with Arnold knowing about last Valentine's Day's little fiasco. That'll buy me until Monday to come up with an excuse for the whole Cecile thing! YES!'
Helga cleared her throat. "So, uh," she looked at the Garçon, feigning a disappointed look, "Guess you've just gotta kick me and Football Head out, right?"
He sighed and said in a very frustrated voice. "Well, technically we never filed charges and technically the meal was paid for by your washing dishes so no, I don't HAVE to…" Helga's smile began to falter. "However," he smiled smugly and her smile picked up again, "we do have a new policy of no children allowed without the supervision of someone 13 or older."
"Well, me and him are both 13," Patty chimed in gesturing to herself and Harold. "We'll vouch for them."
All color left Helga's face.
"Yeah, sure," Harold agreed. "They're our friends."
The waiter sighed and gave Arnold and Helga another disdainful look. "Still…you are not exactly welcome here so I think it might be best if you both just—"
Suddenly, from across the room, a familiar voice was heard. "Garçon, I have been waiting for my sparkling mineral water for five minutes and it comes to me in a cloudy glass! This simply will not do!"
The Maitre d' blinked. "Oh, oui, coming Ms. Wellington-Lloyd!"
Harold blinked and turned around. "Wait, Rhonda's here?"
"Yeah, I saw her coming in," Patty confirmed.
"RHONDA'S HERE!!!" Helga practically shouted, standing up.
The other three guests at the table as well as the waiter all stared at her. She took a deep breath and sat down. "I mean…" she tried to make her voice sound enthusiastic instead of appalled, "Rhonda's here…that's great!" She faked a smile. 'Oh great—if things weren't bad enough now there's someone across the room to keep a running account of everything that happens tonight and report it bright and early at school Monday morning.'
The waiter raised a curious eyebrow at the kids. "You four know the Wellington-Lloyds?"
Patty smiled and nodded. "Oh yeah...we go to school with Rhonda. Hey Rhonda!" Patty called to the other table.
Rhonda smiled back. "Oh, hello Patty? How is your meal going?"
Patty smiled. "Great, Rhonda. Thanks."
Rhonda smiled once more and then turned back around to continue talking to her parents.
The waiter glared in frustration at the table before him and then finally sighed. "Well, I suppose that since you know the Wellington-Lloyds and have some supervision this time, that you two are welcome to stay…" he was looking at Arnold and Helga. His eyes then shifted to Harold and Patty. "…And you two as well, naturellement."
"Garçon, my water!"
The waiter rubbed his temples. "I must go attend to Ms. Rhonda. I will send a busboy over with water and bread, and then return for your orders later."
Harold and Patty smiled at this fortunate turn of events.
Suddenly, the waiter leaned over between Arnold and Helga scowling. "But I will be watching you two and if anything disruptive happens this evening I will have you banned from this restaurant entirely."
Helga couldn't help scowling and responding defensively. "For one bad dinner?"
He turned to her. "No, for two! I recognize you now—you were also that girl last Valentine's Day who left such a mess in the bathroom."
Helga felt herself blush hotly. She did not respond. Her eyes landed on Arnold as a small laugh escaped his lips. She scowled at him and growled slightly.
With a smug smile the waiter stood up and went over to Rhonda's table.
Harold and Patty couldn't help looking at each other with raised eyebrows again, and then glancing back at Arnold and Helga.
"Helga…" Patty began, "Is there something going on between you and Arnold?"
Helga swallowed hard and hesitated, hating the phrasing of the question.
Arnold sighed and smiled smugly again, taking the opportunity to answer for her. "A lot of things, actually...right, Helga?"
"Arnold!" Helga glared at him, slamming her hands down on the table. He gave a slight chuckle again.
Before Patty could ask either one of them to elaborate, the busboy came over.
"Would you like some water, miss—Patty?!"
Patty whipped around and felt the color drain from her face. "Torvald?!"
"Hey!" He turned to Harold. "Hey, Harold! What's up?"
Harold blinked, completely unbelieving that this person was at this place right now. He couldn't help scowling as he replied, "Hey, Torvald…what are you doing here, exactly?"
Torvald shrugged. "Aw, I work here." He looked at the other two occupants of the table. "Hey, Arnold! Hey, Helga! How's it going?"
"Hi Torvald," Arnold replied pleasantly.
"Uh, hey, Torvald," Helga concurred, letting out a sigh and resting her weary head in one of her hands. 'Sure, the more people from school who know I'm here, the merrier. Why not…'
"So, Patty…" Torvald turned to her, placing a breadbasket in between her and Harold. "You having good weekend?"
"Uh…" Patty glanced at Harold who was scowling darkly now with his arms crossed over his chest. She turned back to Torvald. "Yeah…pretty good. You?"
"Pretty good, too." He finished pouring the water for the table. "Can I get you guys anything else?" He glanced at all four of them.
"A new busboy…" Harold mumbled under his breath.
Patty glared at him and gave his shin a firm kick under the table.
"OW!"
"You okay, Harold?" asked Torvald with concern, obviously not having heard his sarcastic request.
"He's fine, Torvald." Patty answered for him. "And no, thanks, we're okay."
Torvald shrugged. "Okay, just call me over if you want me." And with that he returned to taking care of the other tables in the dining room.
Patty smiled and waved as he left. When it looked like he was sufficiently busy doing something else she glared at Harold. "Harold, what is your problem?"
"Oh come on!" He held out his arms in disbelief. "He's the busboy at the restaurant! What are the odds of that!?!?!"
"Oh, yes, Harold, you caught me—I planned this whole thing!" she replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes. She glared at him. "Come on, Harold, I had no idea he worked here. And so what if he does?! He's bringing us bread and water—it's not like he's not our waiter or anything! Now, come on," she picked up her menu, scowling, "let's just order and have a nice meal together, okay?"
Harold let out a grumble but picked up his menu as well and began to browse it, scowling equally as much as Patty.
Arnold and Helga just blinked and looked at the couple.
"Uh, Patty? Is everything okay?" Arnold asked tentatively.
Patty glanced over at Arnold and took a deep breath, her scowl subsiding. "Uh, yeah—everything's fine Arnold. Isn't it, Harold?" She glared at him and gave him another quick kick under the table.
"OW!" He glared at her. "Yeah, okay, we're fine! Now quit doing that!"
Patty rolled her eyes and turned back to Arnold, smiling. "Sorry, Arnold, Helga—we didn't mean to fight. Let's just all relax decide what we all want so we're ready when the waiter comes back." She turned back to her menu.
Arnold glanced from her to Harold once more, then just shrugged and went back to browsing his own menu.
Helga, meanwhile, continued to watch the two thirteen-year-olds at the other end of the table with a scrutinizing glare. Something was definitely going on between them and if anyone knew about crash-and-burn romantic dinners, it was her.
Suddenly, the waiter returned. "Are we ready to order?"
Patty rubbed her eyes and took a deep breath. 'Okay, just order—When the food gets here everyone will calm down a little and maybe we can actually enjoy ourselves.' She cleared her throat and smiled politely at the waiter. "I'll have the Coq au vin, please." She handed him her menu.
"Very good—Mademoiselle has excellent taste." He turned to Harold. "And for monsieur?"
Harold scratched his head, turning the menu upside down in an attempt to read the French. "I'll…uh…I'll have what she ordered."
The waiter nodded and took his menu. He turned to Arnold. "And for you?"
Arnold sighed and a slight smile came to his face as he scanned the meal options before him. "Oh, I don't know…I was actually thinking about the Cervelles Braisees avec les Oeufs Brouilles…cow brains and eggs, right?" He glanced at Helga very briefly and then looked to the waiter, who nodded his assent.
Helga just blinked. 'He is not doing this right now. He is NOT making this night even worse by taking even more cheap shots all because I won't lay my love for him out on the table in front of two other people. '
Arnold looked at Helga, fully grinning at this point. "What do you think, Helga?"
The intense emphasis on her name once again brought her out of her shock, and she found herself scowling. The good old tough-as-nails Helga was back. "Well…" she glared at him, "I don't know, Arnold…I was just going to order a hamburger like we're a couple of uncouth slobs at a fast food joint instead of two mature young people at a five star French restaurant!"
Arnold's eyes widened in surprise at the response and he blushed slightly. It was Helga's turn to smile smugly now. 'That's check and mate, Football Head!' She snagged Arnold's menu and turned to the waiter. "We'll both have the Steak Tartare. Well done on his." She handed him both menus.
"Of course." He took them. "I will return with your dinners shortly."
Arnold opened his mouth like he was about to say something to Helga when suddenly a familiar figure approached the table.
"Hello everyone? Enjoying your night out?" Rhonda had suddenly slid up near Arnold and Helga and was smiling…perhaps a bit too much.
Arnold blinked. "Oh…uh, hey Rhonda? Uh…yeah, everything's great."
Rhonda turned to Helga. "Oh, Helga—I simply love your outfit. A very smart choice!"
Helga rubbed her eyes. 'Ironic, since it was the stupidest decision of my life to wear it.' She looked up at Rhonda and tried to fake a smile. "Well, you know me—I'm just a closet fashion diva."
Rhonda laughed and then smiled. "Yes, it seems like you really pulled out all the stops for dinner with Arnold…"
Helga blinked and felt her heart drop into her stomach. "Well…uh, well…" She knew there was probably an easy way out of this but Rhonda was currently talking to her about Arnold and, needless to say, she was a bit nervous.
"Actually, Rhonda, Patty invited us separately. Helga and I didn't even know that we were coming until we saw each other at the door."
Helga's surprised eyes shifted to Arnold, who had just said these words of salvation with a pleasant smile on his face.
Rhonda glanced at him and a slight tone of disappointment came to her voice. "Oh…"
Helga felt like she could breathe again.
"…Helga just ended up looking so nice tonight all on her own." He smiled at Helga and then glanced down as he took a sip of his water.
Helga felt a slight blush come to her face.
Rhonda blinked at this little added comment. The smug smile returned to her face. She glanced from Arnold to Helga and then opened her mouth like she was about to say something.
"Hey guys, I—oh, hey, Rhonda! You here tonight too?"
Rhonda instantly turned her attention from Arnold and Helga to the surprising presence of Torvald at Harold and Patty's end of the table. "Torvald?! What are you doing here?" As she said this words, her grin became wider and wider.
Harold scowled and turned away from the busboy just as Patty sighed and put her head in her hand. Rhonda did not fail to notice these reactions.
Torvald smiled. "I'm a busboy. Hey, is that your table over there?" He gestured across the dining room. "I thought I heard my boss saying something about the Wellington-Lloyds being here."
Rhonda crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Yeah…we decided to get dinner here tonight as well. " She looked from Patty to Harold and to Torvald again with a smug smile. "Isn't it a coincidence that you happen to work at the same place that Harold and Patty are having dinner at?" She looked to Harold. "How do you feel about this, Harold?"
Harold blinked, surprised by the question. "Uh…well, I…"
"Rhonda, darling, enough visiting your little friends. The appetizers are here and so is your vichyssoise!"
Rhonda sighed in exasperation. "Coming, Mummy!" she called back to her mother.
She turned back to the table and Torvald and smiled. "Well, it was lovely getting to check in with you all. I might be back between courses as well—just to see how things are going."
Patty scowled. "Thank you, Rhonda, but that's really not necessary."
"Oh…" she feigned innocence, "It's really no trouble…This looks like it could be an interesting night for you guys…and for me."
"Rhonda, dear!" came her mother's voice again.
"Au reviour for now!" She gave a quick wave and left them.
Helga and Patty closed their eyes and sighed at the same time.
Patty opened her eyes at the sound of something being placed on the table before her and Torvald's voice saying her name. "Hey, Patty, I snuck an extra breadbasket for you guys."
Patty glanced from it to Torvald. "Oh…thanks, Torvald."
"No problem." He looked at the other kids. "Well, see you guys later."
"Hmph…now that's what's not necessary….OW!" Harold reached down under the table to rub his shin that Patty had kicked yet again. Luckily, Torvald had gotten far enough away from the table so that he didn't hear his comment.
Helga and Arnold couldn't help but watch this exchange with raised eyebrows. They turned back to each other, the same questioning looks on their faces. Then both of them became very aware of the fact that the end result of this action was them looking into each other's eyes, and they quickly blushed and went back to eating bread and drinking water. It didn't help, though, that as they both went for the small basket between them their hands not only touched but they also grabbed the same bread stick.
A/N:
Oh boy, there's some serious drama going on here! What other wacky things will come up during this dinner? Will certain secrets get revealed? Will Arnold get to see the movies? And WHO is Torvald's girlfriend and what role could she possibly play in this story that I would even mention her to begin with?!?! All the answers to these questions and more will appear in chapter 5 (well, actually, they'll appear in chapter 5 and possibly chapter 6 depending on how things play out). I hope you guys are enjoying this so far and stay tuned for the next installment of Dinner AND a Show!
TA UPDATE:
For anyone following Tutoring Arnold, guess what?!?! I finished chapter 12…I finished Epilogue 1…I'm almost done with Epilogue 2…So…as soon as I repost the other chapters with some minor grammar edits and find a closing line for Epilogue 2, the conclusion will be up and it is epic (like '50,000 words in total' epic). So, get ready guys, because it is coming soon ;) Sorry, I was so excited to get so much of it done that I had to tell someone, lol.
Happy Reading!!!
AXH FOREVER!!!