This is a pretty random, but fun little chapter, and it was pretty fun to write :)
So I hope you guys enjoy it, and I'm excited to finally be working on chapter 4 which you'll get a few hints about throughout the chapter. It should be a fun one and more focused around Arnold and Helga instead of Arnold and Gerald's relationship. We're all on a journey to a certain chapter together... and I'm truly so excited to get there!
Anyways, lemme know what you guys think!
as always, I don't own Hey Arnold! and i'd like to thank AngelBlood666 for the help on some stuff I was a little shaky on! Means a lot and it really helped me finish the chapter and feel confident enough to post it now. So thanks! :D
And without further ado, here we go!
xoxo
Polkahotness
Laptop out, I sat on my couch and typed away at the lyrics Ray was spewing at me.
"Not so fast!" I said mid-chuckle and tossed the nearby bag of Cheetos at his face.
"Hey, hey, hey... what about, an ode to the Cheeto?"
"You're going to write a song about a junk food?"
"Why not? I bet it'd be famous."
"I bet it'd make people hungry." I retorted, setting the laptop next to me and stretching my legs out from their previous crossed position. Helga had ran downstairs to grab some Yahoo! Soda and bring it back up for us to wash all of our junk food down.
I had been surprised when she asked to hang out with Ray and I, but I figured it was out of curiosity for Ray's lyrics he had mentioned when they first met. Helga had been struggling pretty hard lately to write any sort of ANYTHING, and I knew she was trying desperately to find some sort of inspiration.
"Yahoo, Ray?" She asked, tossing him the bottle and sitting down beside my feet as I leaned down to kiss the top of her head.
"You were down there for a long time." I mentioned as she reached up to hand me my own bottle of the delicious soda from our childhood.
"Yeah, well Ernie decided to challenge me to a mad drinking contest and things got pretty out of control." She said nonchalantly and took a swig of her Yahoo.
"What?"
"Kidding, Arnoldo. Criminy! 20 years and you're still dense as ever."
"You're telling me!" Ray agreed, setting his guitar down to rest against my bed. "So we're in DS, right?"
"Always DS... Okay okay, I'm following. You're in DS-"
"And this girl comes up to our table, right?"
"Girl?" She raised a brow and shot me a quick look as I shook my head.
"Ray... come on."
"Cool it, man, I'm just telling a story."
"A really embarrassing story..."
"Which makes it a GOOD story, doi!" Helga said with a loud laugh as Ray pointed her way nodding his head.
"ANYWAYS, so this girl walks up, her name is Ashley, and she says to him, she goes," He could barely make his way through the story he was laughing so hard, and I could feel the blood race to my cheeks in hopes of drawing attention to something else other than his embaressing tale. "She says, Hey Arnold, you up for a drink tonight? And of course, he says sure and all that stuff, but when he actually goes to her dorm room that night to pick her up-"
"You went to pick her up?" She said, sounding enraged.
"Helga, first off the point of the story is how I misunderstood every single thing she was hinting at."
"Well sheesh. Way to ruin the story, Arnold." Ray pouted and picked up his guitar again.
Of course, Helga turned around to stare at me with that look she used to give me when we were in elementary school... but without that look of adoration hidden behind it.
"When was it?"
"Around a month or two before we met up again."
"...Oh."
"Helga, do you HONESTLY think I'd cheat on you?"
"Well... Arnold I... not... no."
"Then why would you get mad?"
"Because the way Mop-Head over there said it, it sounded like you were off shacking up in Daytona-"
"You got it all wrong, Helga. And Mop-Head? Really?" Ray said, looking up to us.
"Well your hair is always blocking your line of vision. I'm surprised you haven't ran into more walls."
"Besides," I said while moving to sit beside Helga and wrap an arm around her though she was clearly hesitant, "until she starts insulting you, you aren't one of the gang."
Helga grinned and nodded her head.
"So welcome to the club, PAL. And don't screw it up." she winked and I nudged her slightly, her nudging me back and standing up to walk over to my bed and lay down on it. "So what do you two even do in Florida? Football-head says you two play in some club?"
"Yeah. It's a pretty nice place. Small, really. But we have this weird cult following thing going on. Kinda funny, they made us t-shirts once."
"That was... honestly really awkward." I closed my eyes and leaned my head against the couch while laughing. "They said something about... I don't even want to say it-"
"They straight up said, 'I want to lick you head to toe' on the front, and on the back it said,"
we both shook our heads and said in perfect unison:
"'like you were buckets of cookie dough.'"
"What? You're joking, right?"
I took another sip of my Yahoo and rolled my eyes, nodding my head.
"You'd better believe it."
"Any significance to it?"
"Well," Ray explained, "we found out later it was the sister of my old manager from this ice cream place I used to work at, and they thought it would be funny to try and get rid of our following."
"But it only really helped." I finished. "I mean, all the talk around campus made the owners of the place book us permanently which is the only reason we have extra money on campus."
"And extra money to go around paying for everything." Helga smirked and set her bottle aside on a nearby shelf.
"Hey Arnold," Ray asked after a moment of plucking random strings on his guitar, "how come Gerald isn't here? He still mad about yesterday?"
"'Course he's mad. You totally owned him at the TWS burger."
"That's not why he's mad, Helga."
"Then why, hmm? Cripes, it wouldn't be because he has some weird man-crush on you, right? I could just see all those feelings he hides in that hair of his..."
"Helga..." I shook my head and walked to her side on the bed as she rested her head on my lap and looked up at me.
"Then what is it, jeez!"
"The legend thing."
"The legend thing? His legend that he was telling about that Alfred guy? I didn't even say anything about it."
"He thought you were making fun of his legend, Ray."
"Well I didn't mean for that. Think I should apologize?"
Helga shook her head on my lap, adjusting her attention to Ray as he focused on his fingers as they danced on the neck of his guitar.
"Nah, knowing Geraldo, he'll get over it."
"I don't know, Helga. He was pretty irritated. He even opted out of our guys night tonight." I was playing with a loose strand of her hair as it lay sticking straight up from her head.
"Oh, the night where you all order pizza, streak around, play video games, and then talk about how your masters of the universe? Sounds like some party."
Ray laughed and Helga grinned his direction like they were sharing some silent joke between themselves.
I frowned.
"We'll probably just talk and watch a movie."
"Like you did that time-"
"You popped out from behind my couch, smiled, and then proceeded to walk out my bedroom door and run home as if nothing happened?"
"Good times, Arnold. I tell you, we've had some damn good times."
"Got that right." I muttered, leaning down to gently kiss her as Ray rolled his eyes.
"What saps."
"Sap my ass." Helga snapped instantly.
"So you hid behind his couch? For what?" He asked, sounding intrigued.
"For... reasons."
"Like?"
I crunched on some cookies that had been sitting nearby and chortled to myself in anticipation for Helga's response.
"Like I just wanted to, sheesh."
"You just, WANTED to hide behind his couch. What were you? A stalker or what?" He was laughing, and Helga narrowed her eyes while pursing her lips.
"Stalker?"
"Well... yeah."
"You think...I'm a stalker?"
"Either that or you had one mad crush. Didn't you two just get together a few months ago?"
"It's kind of a long story, Ray." I explained as Grandpa knocked loudly on the already open door.
"Hello? Anyone home? There ya are, Shortman! Your little friends are here. And one of them is dripping on the carpet, so you'd better work that weird magic of yours and get them to stop before Grandma catches them."
"Lord knows my ears don't need to hear that song again..."
"The ukelele isn't a nice addition either..."
"Ukelele?" Ray asked, and Helga sat up as I walked down the stairs.
"If you knew what was good for you Mop-Head, you'd just let that go and nod your head and carry on."
By the time all the guys made their way into my room, Helga had her coat on and her pink umbrella in hand.
"Hey, bucko, plans for tomorrow?"
I shrugged and tried to remember just what it was Gerald had said we had planned as the guys started to file into my room.
"I think tomorrow Gerald planned for another guy day."
"Well sheesh. What am I supposed to do?"
"Have a girls day?"
"Right. Because I want to spend more time with Miss Rhonda Wellington Lloyd than absolutely necessary. I'll just hang in my hotel room."
"Don't your parents still live here, Helga? I reckon I saw your dad walking down the street today a'yellin' on his new cellular phone." Stinky asked, before spotting the bag of Cheetos that had made their way to every corner of my room.
"Wouldn't doubt it. Wouldn't care. I don't talk to Bob or Miriam anymore, Stink-O."
"Garsh, why not?"
"Because I don't FEEL like it, kay?" She turned her attention back to me and reached up to touch my cheek. "Plans? You got two seconds."
"Tomorrow night, playing poker. Ernie says you owe him thirty five."
"Ernie also owes me fifty two. So I owe him diddly squat. Count me in."
"And Oskar expects more of that weird meat stuff you brought last time."
She laughed and leaned in to kiss me lightly on the lips; pulling back afterward to quickly wink at me.
"We'll just keep calling it meat, football-head. Will uh..." She glanced over to Ray as he continued plucking at his guitar. "will Ray be there too?"
I shrugged.
"He isn't necessarily a card-game guy-"
"Sure." He called out with a smile. "I mean, might as well, right?"
Helga smiled and nodded. "Sounds good. Seeya tomorrow."
She saluted in the direction of everyone before closing the door behind the room now full of testosterone.
I glanced around the room and frowned at the lack of the one person I had so hoped would join us... the best friend who had planned this whole thing in the first place.
I kept telling myself he was with Phoebe, but I knew he wouldn't be. Phoebe had mentioned sushi with her parents tonight, and we all knew that sushi was the one thing Gerald had clearly stated 'wasn't his thing.'
So where had he gone?
"Alright, what are we going to do?" Ray asked, setting his guitar down in the corner by his duffel bag of clothes that were sitting at the foot of the couch.
"I'm... not really sure. Gerald was the one who wanted to do this. And... he's kind of not here." I replied, looking around the room as if he would magically appear out of thin air with all the plans that he had mentioned last week on video chat. I pulled my phone out to check for any kind of phone call or text message, but the only thing I saw on the screen was the time; ever-telling that he was either late, or not coming at all.
"How about we play a game?"
"Like what, Eugene?"
"Well, I learned this really fun theatre game at college. I bet you'll all love it!"
"I bet we'll all hate it." Sid retorted, crossing his arms. "We could call up Gino, I still have his number, so we could call him and-"
"Sid. Bad idea. I thought you were done talking to him?" I asked, Ray watching us talk back and forth quietly as if a movie were unraveling before his eyes.
"Well..."
"I bet we could mosey downstairs and maybe your Grandma could makes us some-"
"Lemon pudding? Really?" Sid questioned as Stinky took on a large grin and shrugged.
"I don't know why, but garsh... I just love me my lemon pudding."
"Let's go to the arcade and play games till we're broke!" Harold yelled, his fist in the air.
"We already ARE broke, Harold." I cut in, my eyes looking to the only person from the original gang who hadn't spoken up yet.
"What?" He asked.
"What do you think we should do, Curly?"
"Don't you usually got some crazy old idear?"
"His ideas aren't crazy, guys. They're fun!"
"I don't know what you're expecting of me, guys. I already took my meds for the night." He smiled and raised his eyebrows a few times before leaning back to rest on the heels of his hands.
"We could go out to the park." Ray quickly said, a small smile on his lips.
"Ray, it's eight at night." My forehead scrunched together as I questioned his motives.
"We're all over 18, aren't we? It isn't like we have a curfew." He replied, and I shrugged.
"What will we do?" Harold asked, scratching his head.
"We could start a fire."
"Ooh... a fire?" Eugene mused and Sid quickly shook his head, making a cut throat motion.
"Ixnay on the irefay, Ray."
"Yeah. Eugene's the biggest jinx in the whole wide world. He'll prolly set the whole dang city on fire." Stinky said rather loudly and Sid closed his eyes with a heavy sigh in defeat at trying to be subtle.
"Don't worry. It'll be fun. Trust me."
"Okay..." The gang mumbled, not sounding too enthused, but it wasn't like we had anything else we could do.
"But first... we'll have to make a quick pit stop."
"What are we doing, Ray? Is this something you learned at home?"
"My friends back home and I would do this all the time." he explained as I drove the Packard from the supermarket; the guys already 'scoping' out a spot to make the fire at in the park. "It's really just the only way we found to get guys to talk."
"What do you mean?" I asked, glancing to him momentarily before returning my attention to the road.
"I mean, guys, plus fire, plus egos, equals a fun time. Didn't you guys ever set marshmallows on fire, eat them mid-flame and laugh when you spilled all over your shirt?"
"Well... yeah. But-"
"And didn't you guys ever sit around the fire and tell scary stories that weren't even scary, but the fact that it was pitch black outside and all you could see were each others faces in the flames so you couldn't sleep at night?"
"Yes, but we were kids, Ray."
"We're always kids, Arnold. We just learn how to act in public, that's all." He grinned and I rolled my eyes, pulling in to park by the curb.
"I just hope this is as fun as you think it will be."
"Oh don't worry, Arnold. Just because I'm not part of your gang, doesn't mean I don't know how to have fun."
"Can't get it on fire, can ya Awrnold?" Harold said, laughing loudly as he shoved four blackened marshmallows in his face at one time; the goo dripping down his face to fall on his shirt, everyone laughing.
"Boy, Harold. 20 years old and you're STILL the fattest lug I done ever known!" Stinky said, his eyes watering as him and Sid laughed at Harold's misfortune.
"Hey! I'm not fat!"
"Right!" Sid said, shaking his head while laughing. "And I have wings and dance around like a little sissy-girl!"
"I'm NOT FAT! And if you say it one more time... I'll... I'll POUND YA!"
"Oh come on, Harold. You've been threatening that since we were kids." Curly said, popping a marshmallow into his mouth directly from the bag, the flames reflecting themselves in his glasses.
"I'm not the one who let an entire ZOO out in the fourth grade!"
"They were being treated like ANIMALS!" He suddenly piped up.
"They ARE animals, dufus!" Sid yelled and I shook my head, taking my badly-toasted marshmallow from the flames.
I was rusty in my toasting skills.
"Guys, are we really going to start doing this?" I asked, looking at each of the guys directly as they shook their heads.
"We were just having fun..."
"Have you guys always treated Arnold like he was your dad?" Ray asked, taking his golden marshmallow away from the fire and into his mouth, chewing loudly. "I mean... its kind of weird."
"He's always given really good advice." Sid answered, shrugging his shoulders. "I mean, you wouldn't BELIEVE half of the things he's done for us."
"Yeah. Like the time he didn't tell Principal Wartz about showing him our asses!" Harold recalled, laughing loudly. "I mean, Iwould have told! How did you do it?"
"Or the time you saved my life. I mean... you saved my LIFE Arnold!" Sid added, red quickly spreading across my cheeks.
"Guys..."
"Or the time you took me out on that great day when we were kids... That was one of the best days of my LIFE, Arnold! And you didn't even stop trying to make my day great when I had that concussion from the baseball hitting my head!" Eugene said with a larger-than-average grin on his face, nodding his head rapidly at the tale.
"And that time that you helped me get MY week of ball keeper after it was wrongfully taken away from me." Curly said, slightly shooting a glare in Sid's direction, but quickly stopping himself once Sid noticed.
"I ain't never gonna forget the time he helped me make my decision about them Hollywood agents who thought I was stupid. Arnold just sat there and listened to all I had to say... and it wasn't nice things, neither."
"It was really nothing, guys. You don't have to thank me-"
"Or how about that time that you taught me how to ride a bike?" a voice called out from beyond our circle, and we all turned around in search for the speaking shadow. "Or when you sat and made chocolate turtles with me all damn day because Timberly-"
"Tried to help us-"
"Screwed it all up. Or ran Vitello's with me even though it just made us fight. Or when you FINALLY talked me into asking Phoebe out a few years ago when all I was doing was making a fool out of myself. And I must say, don't take woman advice from my man, Arnold. Only took the guy TWENTY YEARS to figure out Helga G. Pataki had the hots for-"
"Gerald..."
He laughed and moved to sit beside me on the grass while reaching out for marshmallow and a stick to roast it with.
"Or stayed my best friend even though we've had some pretty rough times." He shrugged his shoulders. "And I wouldn't be too great of a friend if I just ditched you on our guys night... even if I was in a bad mood or not."
Ray grinned and I shrugged my shoulders.
"What a Gerald appearance." I stated, sticking my thumb out for him to complete our handshake. As he did, he looked around the fire and shook his head.
"What are you guys DOING? Do you realize how long it took me to FIND you guys? Man."
"We're uh... having a Pyro-Party." Ray stated, Harold chuckling. As a group, we all turned to look his way and he grew quickly defensive.
"What? It was funny!"
"So it was your idea, huh man?" Gerald asked, Ray taking a gulp as I chewed on the inside of my cheek.
"Uh... yeah."
Gerald paused, as I imagined, for dramatic effect. And for one of the first times in our history of friendship together, I had NO IDEA what he was thinking.
"Well... that's a pretty cool idea. Adds to what I had planned."
"Which is?" I asked in curiosity.
"Man-talk."
"Man-talk? You mean gossiping?"
"Nobody used that word, Arnold. Man-talk. Man-talk about what the HECK happened between you and the one and only, Helga G. Pataki."
The guys talked amongst themselves, some louder than others.
"I betchya she made him-"
"If you say lemon pudding one more time Stinky, I'll pound ya!"
"I'll bet it's a really romantic story. Did you sing to her, Arnold?"
"Why would he SING to her, Eugene? That's not HALF as romantic as following her to Chicago and-"
"That actually sounds really creepy, Curly. No wonder why Rhonda thinks you're crazy!" Sid said while laughing hard.
"I'm not CRAZY!"
"Hey hey HEY!" Gerald called out above the noise, his hands out to get everyone's attention. "Let the man speak!"
Ray rolled his eyes and winked my way, Gerald clearly taking notice of this and nudging my shoulder.
"C'mon man. Your turn to tell the tale." he whispered and I shook my head.
"Gerald, I'm sure with your additions, it'd make for a great-"
"Hey man... it's not MY story. And this ain't no legend. Mm mm MM. This... this is TRUTH."
"So what happened?" Sid was already anxious, clearly more interested than everyone... with the exception of Eugene.
"It's really... not much of a story."
"She's been in love with you for AGES, Arnold." Curly spoke up. "Everyone knew."
"No they didn't." I said firmly, the group responding in unison with a resounding;
"Yes, they did."
The blood raced it's way to brighten my cheeks and I swallowed hard, rubbing the back of my neck and glancing down at my feet.
"I just ran into her. That's all."
"Really? You JUST ran into her? Sounds like a lame story." Ray interupted and I frowned.
"You already know the whole story."
"He already knows? I thought I was the only one who knew..." Gerald cut in with, his face hurt.
"I kind of had to tell him when he tried to set me up with his classmate's... who was it?"
"My classmate's lab partner's roommate."
"Anyways..." I calmly said, trying to finish the story and yet keep the more personal details to myself, "We bumped into each other and hung out for a bit during the rest of Holiday Break, that's all."
"But did she finally ask you?" Eugene asked, and I shrugged.
"Kind of."
"Kind of?" Sid said skeptically, turning to Stinky. "No wonder Gerald tells the stories."
"Look, it's just that I don't think I should be putting out Helga and mine's relationship..."
"Well you did it on Facebook, how much more public is that?" Ray asked with a laugh as he opened the bar of chocolate that we hadn't opened yet, even though we had planned to make smores with the marshmallows we demolished.
"That was more... because I wanted to."
"Seriously?" a few asked at once and I shrugged, feeling put on the spot more so than usual.
"Well... yeah. You know Helga, she couldn't care less about what all of us think, but I wanted to show her that despite what she thought and what everyone would surely say about it, I wasn't ashamed of dating her. If that makes sense."
"Not a bit, Arnold." Gerald was laughing and Eugene quickly cut in on the conversation.
"I think it does."
"You do?"
"Of course! Love shouldn't be something you understand completely, anyways. Right guys?"
They groaned and finally dropped the situation, but through the rest of the night filled with laughter, food, Harold throwing up from eating too much of it, Gerald continuously trying to one-up Ray, and the intensely awkward drive home with the two of them STILL trying to one-up each other, I found myself thinking about what it was that Eugene had said about love.
It made my brain hurt.
I hadn't told Helga I loved her yet.
Sure, there had been a lot of moments where I could have, wanted to, and decided against telling her my feelings. I knew I loved her, and I was starting to think everyone but Helga knew it. When it all came down to it, it wasn't fair to her. She was insecure, though she tried to hide it, and by her always telling me she loved me and being the nervous sap I was, I just kissed her forehead and never replied.
We'd already had a few messy fights about our feelings for each other, or more so, about how she was afraid I wouldn't see passed her hard exterior, but the truth was I already had. In fact, the more I thought about it, I ALWAYS had.
Maybe it was time I told Helga... Maybe it was time I actually spit out the words I was afraid to say.
Maybe saying it after she left to myself almost every time wasn't enough.
Maybe... maybe I had to grow up. And preferably soon.
Because tomorrow was our night together.