Arnold sat in his apartment scowling at the at his cereal in front of him. He absent-mindedly swirled the little o-shaped pieces in the milk. "I don't know, Gerald."
Gerald sighed and sat down at the table in front of Arnold. "I think you should talk to her."
Arnold looked up from his uneaten cereal, which was now turning into mush. "Why should I? Helga and I have always been enemies. Being friends seemed to be too difficult for her. It would be easier to go back to hating each other."
Gerald rolled his eyes. "Come on Arnold, you know you've never hated Helga. Even when she tortured you when were kids you always said she was good deep down."
"Fine, I don't hate her. But I don't want anything to do with her anymore. I done with her stupid mood swings and the stupid way she controls things and her stupid pink bow," Arnold said, pushing his cereal away from him.
"If you wanted her out of you're life she would've been gone a long time ago. But you don't, and she's still here."
"She's not out of my life because I'm too nice. I let her walk all over me and tease me. I don't know why I let that happen. If I would've stopped bothering with her a long time ago my life would've been much happier."
"You let her do those things because you have feelings for her."
Arnold stared at Gerald, shocked. "No I-"
"And don't try to hide it from me. We're best friends, Arnold. I've known for a long time."
"You have?"
"Of course I have! You've never been great at hiding when you have feelings for someone. Remember when you had a crush on Mrs. Felter and you wrote her name all over your homework and put your clothes on backwards?"
Arnold blushed slightly at the memory, but then chucked. "Yeah, I guess you're right."
"Listen, you'll probably be pissed at me once I tell you this, Lord knows Helga was, but I'm going to tell you anyway, because it might help you out of this predicament. Remember the night I was supposed to meet you at that latin club but texted you and told you I couldn't make it?"
Arnold nodded, "Yeah, I do."
"Well I actually saw you when you were coming out of the club with Helga. I saw you both holding hands and I kind of sabotaged a few of the moments you were together."
Arnold glared at Gerald, "You what?"
"I just wanted you and Helga to confront your unresolved conflicts and Helga was not going to in the state she was in. So I...delayed that a little bit. Though it turns out you can't do that when you're sober either."
"That wasn't your place to do that," Arnold said, standing up and pouring his cereal down the sink.
"I know, I know. I shouldn't have done that. But I just wanted things to work out properly. I'm sorry."
Arnold sighed and sat back down at the table. "Thats ok, I forgive you."
"If it makes you feel any better, I ended up drinking too much and fell asleep in Helga's shower. She found me and then when I told her this she punched me in the stomach."
Arnold rolled his eyes, "typical Helga."
"Arnold you can't stay mad at her forever. I saw the way you both looked at each other that night. Its the same way Phoebe and I look at each other. You really need to talk to her."
"I don't want to talk to her. I'm tired of feeling this way. Besides, she doesn't care about anyone besides herself."
"You know thats not true," Gerald said.
Arnold glared at Gerald. "Either way, I'm done with her. And why are you defending her, anyway? You aren't exactly her biggest fan."
"I know I haven't liked Pataki in the past, but I have grown to respect her. And I just want you to be happy, man," Gerald said.
"I am happy. And I'm sure Helga is happy I'm out of her life too," Arnold said, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms.
Gerald sighed," Listen, man. Helga would kill me if she knew I told you this because it would ruin her "tough girl" appearance, but I've caught her crying a couple of times."
Arnold's expression softened. "Crying?"
"Yeah, crying. I was just as surprised as you. I didn't even think Pataki could cry. I caught her actually earlier tonight when I went to Phoebe's for dinner. I started talking about you and she excused herself. I followed her to the living room and I saw her sitting on the couch whipping her eyes and sniffling. Of course she denied the fact that she was crying but I noticed she had to take a few deep breaths before coming back," Gerald said.
The color drained out of Arnold's face. "I didn't think she cared if we were friends or not. I feel terrible, Gerald."
"After dinner she disappeared and has been gone for hours. Even Phoebe can't get in touch with her. She's pretty worried."
Arnold bit the inside of his cheek. "I think I know where she is."
A/N: Thanks for reading! Sorry updates have been slow, but I made the deans list! Now that its summer I'll try to update more often.
