Chapter 7: I Know How You Feel

Helga had slept soundly the night before. Arnold's sweet words of reassurance had lead to a peaceful night's rest for her. Perhaps it was best for her to talk things out with him, rather than keeping her feelings bottled up.

It was 5:45. Arnold and Helga had planned to have dinner at Chez Paris at six. When Arnold was approaching Helga's front porch, he heard "Hey Arnold!"

Arnold turned around to see Gerald waving in his direction. "Hey man. Don't let your lady sleep walk all over you tonight."

Arnold rolled his eyes at the unnecessary joke. "Uhh thanks Gerald."

After watching his friend walk away, he knocked on the door to wait for his girlfriend to answer.

Rather than seeing Helga answer, it was Big Bob Pataki.

"Who are you?" Bob asked, cocking his brow.

"I'm Arnold, Mr. Pataki. I'm here to pick up Helga."

"Who?" Bob asked suspiciously.

"Helga, your daughter?" Arnold repeated himself. Not knowing how Bob could be that clueless about his own daughter.

"Oh right right...Helga! You're little friend Alfred is here!" Bob scowled.

"Okay! Okay! I'm coming, sheesh!" Helga scowled, making her way down the steps.

Bob then walked away, as Helga stood in front of Arnold. She was wearing a carnation pink, knee length dress with spaghetti straps, black high heels and her signature pink bow.

"You look really nice!" Arnold said excitedly, as Helga began to blush, thinking to herself Accept the compliment, don't be rude, don't be aggressive…

"Uhh thanks. You do too." she said softly.

Although Arnold told her to be herself, it was sweet seeing her make an attempt to act politely.

He then held out a bouquet of roses for her, as he said "I got these for you. They're almost as pretty as you are."

Helga blushed even harder, thinking to herself Crimity! Why does he have to do that?!

"Uhh thanks. I'll just keep these in the kitchen. Hopefully Miriam won't drool all over them." she couldn't help but scoff.

Once she returned to the doorway, Arnold took her hand and lead her to the restaurant.

"Whenever I think of Chez Paris I don't know which of our dates comes to my mind more, you as Cecile or our dishwashing date?" he laughed as she began to roll her eyes.

"Pttss...It's too bad your real pen pal wasn't the one who got stuck doing the dishes!" Helga scoffed.

"I'm sure she would have if you asked her. From those letters she wrote me, I could tell she was a very sweet person." Arnold winked.

Rolling her eyes once again, Helga scoffed "Oh don't flatter yourself! I still can't believe you didn't know that was me."

"I knew she reminded me of someone." Arnold said, placing his free hand on her face.

The two turned to look at each other, as he gave her a short sweet kiss. "I'm really glad we're having dinner together." he said softly, as she couldn't help but swoon.

After her lovesick look faded, the two of them turned to see they were at the restaurant. "Geraldo's not spying on us again is he?" Helga asked, while they entered the restaurant.

"Well, I'm not meeting with anyone else tonight so no. Although he did come to check on me before I picked you up tonight."

"Oh crimity! He can't wait for us to break up!" she scoffed.

"Whatever you say Helga." he sighed, while looking over at the hostess.

"Hi, two please."

"Right this way!" the hostess said, leading them to a familiar table.

"Your server will be right with you." she insisted, while Helga wasted no time reading the menu.

"Make sure not to order a certain something that will keep you in the restroom most of the night." Arnold winked.

"Pttss...I ought to sue these people for not having an English version of this menu! That or just for waiting until after I took a spoonful of my order to tell me it was cow brains and eggs! Sheesh!" she scowled, while Arnold tried holding back his laugh.

"It could have been worse."

"Ya? How do you figure?"

"You could have finished the plate. Imagine how long you would have been in the bathroom for then?!" he had her picture, while she did her best not to roll her eyes.

After their waitress came and took their orders, Helga stared out the window at the restaurant Chez Pierre.

"What are you looking at?" Arnold asked.

"Huh? Oh I was just looking at those fancy tables outside of the restaurant across the street. Who in the right mind would want to eat where bugs could crawl up in their food...aside from Nadine." Helga asked.

"Actually, that was where I sat on my date with Ruth." Arnold rubbed his neck.

"Oh you mean when you kept running away from me/Cecile. A cheap table for a cheap date. Pttss...makes sense." she scoffed.

"Whatever you say Helga." he sighed.

After the two finished dinner, Arnold held Helga's hand out the door of the restaurant and asked "So, is there anything else special you'd like to do?"

Feeling his thumb run across her hand, her voice began to shake as she said "Maybe we could go back to your place?"

Arnold didn't see what was so special about that. They could hang out at each other's houses anytime.

"Sure." he replied, shrugging his shoulders.

When they made it back to the boarding house, Arnold gestured for Helga to step back. Not that there was any need however. It was simply done out of habit. After the sea of animals had passed, the two of them entered the kitchen to see a box of half-eaten chocolates.

Arnold wasted no time snatching them, while Helga said "Won't they get mad if you take those?"

"Nah, the only two greedy people in the house are grandpa and Mr. Kakoshka." Arnold assured her.

"Pttss...whatever." she scoffed, taking his hand up the stairs.

When they made it to his room, Arnold gestured for her to sit beside him on his bed. Helga took a seat with her hands folded neatly in her lap.

Arnold offered her a cookie as she quietly took it. He watched her eat quietly, until he finally asked "Is something on your mind?"

"Huh? Oh I was just thinking…" she replied, not wanting to reveal the information.

"About what?"

"About nothing that's any… I mean, it's nothing." she 'partially' scowled.

Looking over to see Arnold glare at her, she quickly turned her face back to the floor. Her attention was once again pointed in his direction when she felt his hand placed upon hers.

As she looked into his eyes, she watched him move closer and listened to him say "I know what's wrong, and you don't have to keep acting like this."

"What are you talking about foo...Arnold?" she quickly corrected herself, as he wrapped his arm around her.

"Helga, you don't have to keep trying to be sensitive. Look at how much you stressed yourself out this past week all because of that stupid list you tried to follow for me. I never said you had to be that way? I mean, it does get annoying when you bully me for no reason. Overall, you're just a more upfront person than I am. You're not afraid to let people know what you think...if it's aggressive. Not you're afraid to show you're aggressive." Arnold began to explain as he leaned his head against Helga's.

"I'm sorry Arnold. Whether or not that's true, I still feel guilty that I haven't broken my old habits yet." Helga said softly.

"It's okay. I don't mind waiting, because you've already shown me your sensitive side." he said sweetly, pressing his lips against hers. As he held her face in his hands, she wrapped her arms around his neck, taking in his loving words of accepting her for who she was. Stroking her face with his thumb, he thought to himself She doesn't realize how sensitive she is…

As they released their lips, keeping their heads against one another's, Arnold said "I told you you were sensitive."

"Whatever you say football head." she smirked.

"That's better." he winked.

THE END

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