A Twist of Fate Chapter Three

After Adam got bored of being the swings he decided to play on the jungle gym, leaving Arnold and Helga sitting next to each other on the park bench once again. Helga kept a watchful eye on her young son with his earlier disappearance fresh in her mind. "So, you know I'm going to be the new creative writing teacher at P.S. 218 next school year, but I have no idea what you are doing for a living. I know you said you have been busy, what do you do?"

"I started my own architecture firm about three years ago." Arnold explained, "Despite the economy business has actually been fantastic."

Helga smiled, "Wow, Arnold. That is fantastic. Congratulations. Do you design any buildings here in Hillwood?"

Arnold nodded, "Quite a few actually…" He paused, hoping Helga didn't catch his sudden nervousness. He nearly frowned; he was twenty eight years old and he could not remember the last time he was nervous around a woman. "Maybe I can show them to you sometime?"

"That would be great. I'd really love that." Helga's smile widened, "Where are you living now? Are still at the boarding house?"

"I am actually." Arnold scratched the back of his neck. "I have been thinking about getting my own place, I mean with my parents there I don't really need to be there too. I actually almost bought one of the brownstones I just designed for a real-estate developer, but I thought about it too long and the one I wanted sold before I could put in an offer." Arnold smiled sheepishly, "Honestly, it just feels kind of weird when I think about moving…How about you? Where did you move to?"

"I moved to one of those new brownstones on Lincoln. It is the perfect place for Adam and me."

"You moved into one of the new brownstones on Lincoln?" Arnold asked in surprise. He couldn't believe that Gerald or Phoebe didn't mention that. "Those are my buildings; I mean…I designed those. Which one did you move into?"

"You designed those?" Helga asked, clearly surprised. She wondered why Phoebe or Gerald didn't mention it, but then again, she never asked about Arnold since she moved back. She realized she should have known because of the roof. "I live in the end one." She shook her head, "I should have known that you designed that. The roof. It's just like the boarding house's. That's my favorite area in the house. I can sit up there for hours writing."

"That's the one I wanted to buy."

Helga smirked, "In that case, I'm glad you hesitated." She laughed, "Talk about a small world. I can't believe I bought one of your buildings. That's amazing. You did a really good job, by the way. I've been here for less than a month and I love this house more than the penthouse in New York that I lived in for four years."

"I'm glad you love it. That means a lot." Arnold paused, "So you write?"

"I do." The blonde woman nodded, "I have actually been thinking about trying to get something published…" She chewed on her bottom lip. Why did she just tell him that? The only other person she ever told she wanted to get published was Jason and he didn't exactly have a supportive response. Though, she knew he probably didn't mean to. Jason Stanson was a realist, he had simply pointed out that Helga getting published was a long shot. Lots of good writers never get published so don't get your hopes up.

"That is amazing Helga. You will have to let me know when you get published, I'll read it."

Helga blushed, offering Arnold a small smile. "Thanks, but you don't even know if I'm even any good. I could be a crap writer."

Arnold shrugged, "Nah, you were a good writer when you are nine; I'm willing to bet you are even a better one now."

"How do you know I was a good writer when we were nine?"

"The anonymous poems that Mr. Simmons would read to the class, they were yours, right?"

Helga's jaw dropped. How did he know that? "How did you know that?"

"Come on, you wouldn't look at Mr. Simmons when he read them, you blushed, and got all fidgety. It was kind of obvious."

Helga rolled her eyes. Of course, that he picked up on…

"Mommy!" Adam ran up to Helga and Arnold, "I have to pee."

"I think that is our cue to leave." Helga smiled, getting up from the bench. She looked at Arnold, "It was really nice seeing you Arnold. I will see you at my welcome home party next week?"

Arnold nodded, "Yes, of course." He stood up too. "We should exchange numbers? So…uh, I can show you my buildings?" He shifted nervously. "Maybe we can go out for lunch or coffee to um, catch up some more. Does Adam like hamburgers?"

"He does. And that sounds fantastic." Helga began to dig through her purse in search for her cellphone.

"Mom! I have to pee!" Adam whined, shifting his weight from his left to his right.

"Walk to the bathroom with us?" Helga asked started walk with Adam towards the bathroom as she continued to search for her cellphone. They three of them stopped at the restrooms. "Do you want me to come in with you?"

"I'm four. I can go by myself." Adam opened the door to the 'family' bathroom and walked inside.

"Ah-ha, here it is." Helga pulled out her cellphone, "Stupid big purse. Everything gets lost inside it." She opened up her contacts and added a new one, she handed Arnold her phone, "Here, put your number in."

Arnold took her cellphone and handed her his so she could put in her number. "I'm glad I ran into you today Helga." He paused, "You look great."

Helga's cheeks blushed into a light shade of pink, "Thank you. You look really great too." She licked her lips, "It was really nice catching up, I look forward…um, catching up some more."

On the walk home Arnold called Gerald, "Hey, guess who I just ran into?"

"I have no clue. Who?" Gerald asked.

"Helga Pataki." Arnold answered, "I met Adam; he's a cute kid." He chuckled, "A lot like Helga."

Gerald laughed, "Yeah, Adam defiantly has a Helga streak in him. Where did you see them?"

"At the park. Helga looks really great." Arnold told him, "I mean really great." He paused, "I know she just got divorced, but do you know if she is open to dating?" Arnold asked. He had to know. The attraction he felt towards Helga had happened in an instant. He couldn't remember the last time he had been this attracted to someone.

"I know she has been a few dates since she and Jason separated." Gerald paused, "You want to ask her out?"

Arnold nodded, "I do."

Helga Pataki liked to spend her afternoons writing. Today was no different and since Adam fell asleep watching one of his X-Men cartoon on NetFlix after they got back from the park Helga was actually making some progress. She was in the third story of her brownstone. It was her favorite area in the house. It was one giant room and was more windows than walls; the roof could be accessed from the skylight. She still couldn't believe that Arnold had designed it.

Currently, Helga was sitting on a cushioned bench that was pressed against one of the large windows. She was sitting pretzel style, her laptop sitting in front of her as she typed. A cup of coffee sat to her right.

Her fingers stopped hitting the keys abruptly when her cellphone began to ring. She dug into her pants pocket and fished out her cell phone, checking the caller id before answering.

Phoebe Johansen

"Hey Pheebs." She saved her Word document as she answered the phone.

"Kon'nichiwa Helga."

A smile tugged on Helga's lips. She loved that Phoebe still used Japanese for her greetings. "How are you doing today?" Helga asked before taking sip of her coffee.

"Good." Phoebe answered, "How has your day been so far?"

"Good. Really good actually." Helga smiled. "I took Adam to the park…Guess who I ran into?"

"Hmm…" She paused, thinking for a moment, "I have no idea. Who?" Phoebe asked.

"Ice cream." Helga told Phoebe, using their old secret code for Arnold.

"Ice cream?" Phoebe asked, confused. "Wait…Oh! Ice cream." It only took her a moment to catch on, "Really? How…How was that?"

"Good. Great even." Helga answered. "He is really hot." She told her with a giggle, "I mean I thought he was cute when we were ten, but now…ugh…He is so attractive." She paused, "Why didn't you tell me how attractive he is?"

Phoebe laughed, "Ice cream is my husband's best friend. I guess I don't see him in that way." She explained, "So how did it go? Did you two talk? Or did you just see him there?"

"We talked. Adam and I ate ice cream with him…" She smiled again at the thought of eating ice cream with ice cream. "Then he came with Adam and me to the swings and we played on those for a little while and just started to catch up a little." Helga explained, "Why didn't you tell me that Arnold designed my house?"

"Oh…I don't know. I never thought to, I guess. We haven't talked about Arnold since we were twelve." Phoebe pointed out, "Besides Arnold does so much design work it is hard to keep up with what's his anymore."

"He said he had quite a few buildings in the area. Arnold actually offered to take me around town and show me which buildings he designed."

"Oh? When are you doing that?" Phoebe asked.

Helga shrugged, "I don't know. We'll probably figure that out later."

"What does he think of Adam?"

"I don't know." Helga told her, slightly confused about why Phoebe would ask her, "He went on the swings with him and he invited Adam along when we check out his buildings. Why do you ask? Does Arnold not like kids?"

"No, Arnold is great with kids." Phoebe quickly told her, "I was just curious I guess." There was a short pause, "Anyways, I was calling to see if there is anything you want food wise at your party next week. Is there anything special you want?"

"No. I don't even know why you are throwing Adam and me this party. It's not necessary."

"I want to, besides this way you can get reacquainted with the old gang and Adam can make a few new friends before school starts in a couple of months." She cleared her throat, "I should get going. Harper is yelling for me. I'll talk to you later?"

"Of course, see you later Pheebs." Helga ended the call and flipped through her phone until she found the picture she took of Arnold at the park earlier that day. The picture would pop up when or if Arnold called her. She smiled down at it, old feeling that she had thought were long gone slowly resurfacing. She looked at his green eyes Hmm…She thought; Adam's eyes were the same shade of green as Arnold's. She off shrugged the weird coincidence. Helga clicked off of Arnold's picture and set her phone down next to her coffee mug, returning to her writing. The discovery of Arnold and Adam sharing the same eye color was quickly forgotten.

Author's Note: As always, please review. :)