ARNOLD'S PROLOGUE

…

Arnold was always the nice guy at school. Always. And presented the problem of the Friend Zone. The one time he complained about it, it was Helga Pataki who heard him.

"Your too nice, that's your problem," she said. Then she slammed her locker and walked away, not even looking back once.

It was the first time she had spoken to him since Middle School.

"Man, I hate that girl," Gerald muttered.

"Who, Helga?" Arnold asked. "Why?"

Gerald just shook his head and threw a glare at her retreating back.

He had joined the swim team. As much as he loved team sports, it was safer for him to be in a more solo sport. Any sport involving a ball was no good. Baseball - he'd hit someone, Basketball - he broke several people's noses, and one guys arm, lacrosse . . . Oh, what a mess, he didn't even want to remember that. Swimming. Perfect. Eugene had told him to try cheerleading, which is what he did. Everyone who had grown up with Eugene gasped, except Helga who had laughed and laughed and told Rhonda and co "your all doomed" and then walked off cackling. Rhonda almost quit the squad, but Lila talked her out of it.

Eugene was actually really good. At first he was laughed at, but then it dawned on the guys that he was always surrounded by girls. Fit girls. Girls in short skirts. It was also the only time he never hurt himself. No one was ever able to explain that.

Helga was in the Drama Club, worked on the school blog as an editor, writer and sometimes photographer. When she wasn't busy with that, she would hide away and write, or be in the art room painting, or putting together some sculpture. Arnold had the pleasure of being in the same class, but she never spoke to him. In fact, she spoke to very few people. If she did, it was for a reason, never from joy. Unless you were Phoebe.

Phoebe dated Gerald for all of a month before she dumped him. Everyone who grew up with them was shocked, except Helga. Arnold watched her with Phoebe after it happened. Arnold heard her say "cest la vie", and then it was completely forgotten. Gerald took it hard. Phoebe moved on a couple of weeks later. Gerald moved on too. Three times. Each time he tried to throw it in Phoebe's face, Phoebe rolled her eyes and walked away telling him to grow up. The girls he went out with didn't appreciate it too much either. It was painful for Arnold to watch.

Graduation came and went and he moved on to University to study medicine, but ended up in anthropology. He took advantage of the fact that no one knew him here to do a kind of overhaul of himself. He joined a fraternity, and became a moderate party animal. He dated here and there but nothing really serious til the third year in when he met Lucy.

She was cute, she was funny, and she wasn't blonde with blue eyes, a trait in all his other "girlfriends" that he hadn't even realised til one of his brothers pointed it out to him. He spent that first summer with Lucy, travelling with Gerald and his new girlfriend Elizabeth, who was blonde with blue eyes. They went to some tourist states, and happened to bump into Phoebe in Boston. Elizabeth and Phoebe, it turned out, knew each other from a camp they went on together during high school. Gerald was quiet, but Elizabeth and Phoebe went out together one night, taking Lucy with them. Gerald made a bigger deal of the whole thing than Elizabeth did. Elizabeth and Lucy added Phoebe on Facebook and stayed in was how Arnold was able to sometimes spy on Helga. He knew she was backpacking in Europe with some friends. He saw it while her profile was public. But then it went private. He added her as a friend, but she never accepted. It hurt. He would see her pop up in pictures Phoebe was tagged in, which mostly of scenes in various European countries. When he asked Phoebe about her though, Phoebe just explained that Helga didn't stay in contact with anyone other than her, which Arnold found to be true.

Lila, he found out, was now married with a child. When she moved back to her old hometown with her dad after her grandmother got sick, she caught up with some old friends, and married her "first oh-so-special someone!" She also had Helga on her face book, and Arnold tried to get some info out of her. All he got though, was that she was an artist these days, living in an apartment in town.

It was such a generic answer, that Arnold swore they were protecting her.

After leaving University Arnold asked Lucy to marry him. There was excitement and they set the date for exactly one year after the proposal. They moved in together, Arnold got a job teaching high school students in Science, History and Social Studies. He was envious of Helga's travelling. It was what he had always dreamed of doing, but it hadn't worked out that way.

A week before his wedding and he was starting to feel desperate. He wanted to see Helga one last time. He didn't know what it was, but it was getting stronger and stronger. He knew there was no point in asking Phoebe or Lila. They would tell him nothing, give him some kind of not-answer. In fact Lila had admonished him once, telling him to concentrate on his current relationship, not on a past not-relationship. She lectured how it wasn't fair on Lucy, blah, blah, blah. Arnold never broached the subject with her again.

Then came the night before the wedding. Out drinking, he decided to sneak off to Phoebe's. he knew she was out with her friends. Telling his friend he was going to the toilet, he left the strip bar and caught a cab to Phoebe's house. Out of habit he knocked, and was surprised when the door actually opened.

"Elizabeth?" he asked, surprised.

"Arnold? What are you doing here?" she asked. He thought fast. He knew she had a bit of a crush on him, so used it to his advantage. Something he normally wouldn't do, and spent the night with her, sure Gerald would never find out. While she was sleeping he entered Phoebe's office and found her address book. Flipping through H he found nothing, so tried and P and there. There she was. Pataki, Helga. He tore off a piece of pad paper and grabbed a pen and wrote down her phone number and address. Putting it back where he found it, he then snuck out of the house.

No one would know. After he was married he would track her down, chat to her, find a way to get her out of his system. That's all he needed right? To get her out of his system. Like Lila had said, it wasn't fair on Lucy for him to always wonder what might have been had he returned Helga's feelings all those years ago.

What could have been . . .

…

Looking around Arnold was wondering where Gerald was. Where anyone was for that matter. He heard an argument down the hall, but put it out of his mind, concentrating on getting himself ready. It was forgotten seconds later. eventually though, he got fed up with waiting and went looking for him.

"I saw him go to the toilets," Timberly told him. He thanked her and entered.

It was all he needed to make up his mind. They hadn't even closed the stall door. There, in a stall in the toilets of the church, was Gerald and Lucy. Getting close, so to speak. Lucy opened her eyes and looked at him, eyes glazed over, then she seemed to realise what she was seeing. Confusion, shock, then fear.

"Arnold!" she cried out.

Gerald practically dropped her, spinning around, mouth open in shock.

"Uh-"

"You know what?" Arnold said. "Never mind. Sorry to interrupt."

"Arnold wait!" he heard Lucy's voice cry out, but it was cut off by the toilet door closing. He walked down the hallway, towards the door, and saw Phoebe on his way.

"Arnold where are you going?" she asked. "The ceremony is due to start in-"

"Call it off," he said to her and walked out the door.

"Arnold wait!" Lucy called out again. "Arnold!"

Phoebe looked that way to see a tousled, flustered Lucy exiting the toilets, Gerald right behind her, looking smug.

In another room, Elizabeth was crying. She had confessed to Gerald that she had slept with Arnold the night before.

Gerald had obviously decided to get his revenge.

It worked.

…

He got into the Packard, and drove off. He loosened his tie, put his foot down, threw his flower away.

Freedom, was the first thought in his mind.

Helga, was the second.

He no longer had Lucy hanging over his head. There would be no guilt in chasing after Helga. He smiled.

Man, was Helga going to be surprised!

….

He parked his car in the parking lot of the apartment building that Helga was staying in. he smiled at the doorman as he entered, and the people behind the desk as he entered the lift. He made polite chit chat with an elderly lady in the elevator, and mentioned Helga in passing.

"Oh, she's such a lovely girl," the lady said. "Did a painting of my grandkids, she did. Beautiful work. She did it pro-bono too, which was lovely. They got it for me for my eightieth."

"Really?" he asked. Finally, someone willing to talk about her!

"Oh yes, travels a fair bit, too," the woman continued. "Lucky young woman, making the most of her youth. She often comes by after a trip and shows me pictures and tells me stories about where she's been, who she's met, what she got up to, her various little love affairs. Oh to be young again!"

He smiled, but said nothing. They both got off on the same level.

"Her apartment is to the left, dear," she said. He watched her go to the second door on the right. He gave her a smile and wave, then made his way to her door and knocked.

He would never forget the look on her face as long as he lived.

….

"Heya, Hell Girl," he said, smiling at her and inviting himself in. "Nice place."

"Football Head?" she asked astonished. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I happened to be in the neighbourhood and thought to myself, 'You know who you haven't seen in a while? Helga.' So here I am," he told her smiling.

"Dude, you look like you're getting married," a guy's voice said. Arnold turned around on his heel and smiled at him. This was one tall guy, and built. He was obviously someone who worked out, but not to the point of being over muscled.

"About three hours ago I was," he told him.

"What happened?" Helga asked curiously. "And why are you here?"

"Cold feet, and I need to lay low for a while," he told her. "Mind if I stay here?"

"Here?" Helga asked. "What? How did you even find here?"

"I looked you up in Phoebe's phonebook, matched your number to name in the phone book and voila! Helga Pataki, 779-"

"I know my address!" she snapped.

"Hey, how about we finish this tomorrow?" the guy said suddenly.

"What?" Helga asked, breaking eye contact with Arnold and looking over at him. "Oh, um, yeah. I'll see you and Gladys tonight though."

"Alright, see you then," he said, leaning in and kissing her cheek. He nodded at Arnold and left, closing the door behind him.

"Boyfriend?" Arnold asked, walking over to the couch and sitting down.

"No," she said, not saying anymore. "Please. Make yourself at home."

"Does that mean I can stay?" he asked.

"Do you have a job?" she asked. "Cause I'm not going to support a bum."

Arnold nodded, looking her over. She had improved. A lot. Her blonde hair was loose, she had a sort of hippie vibe going on above the shoulders, then more of a grungy look down.

"Fine, a hundred for my spare room, split the bills, and no strangers," she told him. "This is too bizarre." Helga dropped down on the couch next to him.

"Tell me about it," he added. "A few hours ago I was getting married!"

"What made you change your mind?" she asked.

"Saw her fucking Gerald in the bathroom," he told her.

"Aren't you mad? I'd be screaming murder! No, I'd just go straight to murder, no screaming. Wouldn't want to bring witnesses," Helga said.

"Well, I'm not completely innocent," Arnold admitted.

"What do you mean?" Helga asked. Arnold shrugged.

"I spent last night with her maid-of-honour."

Helga jaw dropped.

"Are you serious?" she asked, leaning away from him. "What the hell?"

"Well, she caught me at Phoebe's and I had to think fast, and that's . . . how it all . . . happened . . ."

He watched as Helga raised a shaped brow.

"Happened? And what were you doing at Phoebe's?" she asked.

"Looking for you."

…..

Helga had her hair up. A complicated looking plait that Arnold was trying to figure out how Helga would have done it herself.

"Okay, so tonight I had arranged to go out with my friends," she told him. "Get dressed and you can come along."

'How gracious' he thought, as he went into a room. Helga threw some clothes at him.

"Let me know if they don't fit!" she called out. "I have others!"

Others? Why did she have men's clothes in her apartment? Old boyfriend? Old flatmate? A one night stand? He shook his head. He didn't want to think about it. Getting himself dressed, he went out and smiled at her.

"How do I look?"

She looked him over quickly and nodded.

"Okay, so here's the deal," Helga told him. "I'm a single woman. I am looking for a bit of fun, nothing else. So don't get in my way, and I won't get in yours."

"Deal," Arnold said, smiling. Man she was hot tonight. 'Keep it in your pants!' his brain screamed at him. He sighed. Yeah, that paid off well last time. 'You need a place to stay, don't stuff this up!'

"Okay, as long as we're on the same page here," she said. "Come on. We're meeting at a small restaurant down the road, then we'll go out to a bar."

…

He met her new group of friends and listened as they talked. They spoke mostly of authors and philosophies and artists and other people and teachers he didn't know. He realised then that he knew nothing about Helga. At all. Not anymore, anyway. She looked back and smiled at him a couple of times.

"I love you!" he could hear her childish voice yelling at him. He shivered. Was that young girl really this woman who was standing in front of him now?

He wanted to get her alone, get reacquainted.

Get her out of his system.

Finally he tapped her shoulder.

"Yeah?" she asked, turning around. Arnold smiled at her.

"So, you come here often?"

"Are you serious?" she asked laughing.

"Yes ma'am," he said.

"Don't call me ma'am," she said. She held her hand out to him. "My name is Helga."

"Helga it is," he said, taking her hand and kissing it.

…..

The touching started on their way back to the apartment. The kissing in the elevator, the un-dressing in the front room, the lovemaking on the couch. Helga's skin was soft, her hair smelled of apples. He was so lost in her kisses and caresses. She reached her peak before he did, at which point he took over, rolling her under him, and taking control. She again came, and he with her and something strange happened.

Although their upper bodies weren't toughing, it felt like an invisible force slammed into him, and as he looked down he could see she felt it too. As if their souls had reached out through their bodies and embraced, leaving their physical shells behind, yet somehow their bodies felt that connection.

Arnold had never felt anything like it before, and lowered himself to her afterwards, kissing her lips, her cheek, her eyes, her forehead, burying his nose into her hair.

"Did you feel that?" she whispered, still trying to catch her breath.

He just nodded. He couldn't form words.

"What was that?"

He shook his head.

He honestly didn't know.

Waking the next morning in her bed, he didn't realise she was gone until he opened her eyes. He could feel her body against his. Even as he woke and saw she wasn't there, he could still feel it.

What was that? Why? How was that possible to still literally feel her body against his, though she wasn't there?

He heard the shower going, and followed the sound into her ensuite. Did he dare?

His morning routine always started with brushing his teeth, then breakfast, then getting dressed so he would run the risk of spilling breakfast on his clothes. It was common sense to him. Though thankfully today he had no work.

He knocked a few times, but he got no answer, so he entered anyway. They had spent the night having sex. Surely this wouldn't be a problem. Entering he saw her standing under the water, face tilted up, running her fingers through her hair. He took in the scenery for a little bit.

"I need to buy a toothbrush," he said, standing next to the shower door. He had obviously given her a fright because she jumped and almost slipped over.

"Fucking shit!" she screamed. "What the hell is wrong with you, sneaking up on me like that?"

"Not my problem you didn't hear me knock," he told her smiling. "Can I join you?"

"No, my shower," she said. He opened the door anyway.

"Come on, Helga," he said from right behind her.

"Do you have any idea how weird and insane this is?" she asked. "You showed up on my doorstep yesterday, hours after you were supposed to get married, in bed with me last night, climbing in the shower with me this morning."

"Too fast?" he asked, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her up against his naked body, and kissing her neck. He wanted her again.

"Break neck," she said, wriggling out of his grasp, and getting out. "You need to sort your shit out, Arnold." She wrapped her towel around her and left him standing alone in the shower.

"What the hell?" he asked, looking in the direction she had gone in. after last night, really? This was how she was going to be. He stood there for a while longer, but the conceded she was right. It was strange, and weird, and insane, and what the hell was he doing? It dawned on him that he had technically been stalking her. He got her address deceptively, and just shown up. He followed her out last night, charmed her, bedded her.

He banged his head against the shower wall.

"I'm insane."

…..