A/N:Final chapter up! Enjoy!
Chapter 3: Arnold's Heart
The rest of the day passed by and Arnold was hesitant about what he had planned. Surely he would fail but the idea of doing something like that to Helga kind of freaked him out. It wasn't that he found her to be unattractive. She was attractive and even though he refused to admit it out loud he'd felt all her curves when she'd hugged him at the airport so there was no way he could mistake her for a boy at all.
The sun was going down and they were heading back to camp to meet up with the rest of the group. Arnold was leading the way and Helga wasn't really worried until they reached an old shack.
"Great going, Arnold, you got us lost. And it's already dark."
Helga stopped her bantering when he grabbed her wrist and pushed her against the outside wall of the shack. Helga furrowed her brows and frowned, about to question Arnold's sudden roughness.
"What's the big deal? Is-"
Her words were cut short when Arnold pressed his forehead against hers and his hot breath fell on her face. She instantly became flustered and looked away from his heated stare. Helga pressed her hands against the wood behind her as Arnold had his hands against the wall with his elbows on either side of her head.
"Helga?"
His voice was husky and she closed her eyes as a shiver ran down her spine at his tone of voice and closeness.
"What?"
"Can I kiss you?"
Helga's eyes widened and returned to meet his emerald green orbs.
"What are you saying?"
She was stammering. Sure, there had been other boys who had gone out with her and kissed her. She had tried to forget him. To forget her Arnold had been impossible though and she'd long but given up.
"Would it be alright if I touched your lips, then?"
Helga's lips parted slightly as his finger traced her lips gently as he stared at them with half closed eyes. Helga wasn't sure what to do. She had dreamed about this moment millions of times, in different ways. Yet the fear of rejection was still present and she wanted to push him away and punch the daylights out of him before he could have a chance to hurt her.
But his touch had frozen her. It had been years since she'd been near him and talked to him. She had been happy to just see him, hear his voice and laughter. He was kind as always…
Arnold waited for her to shove him away but it never came so he leaned forward and closed his eyes to meet her soft dry lips.
Helga automatically raised her hands and placed them on his shoulders for support, but she was rigid and unresponsive to his tender kiss…
Helga never stopped him as he continued to kiss her and Arnold never found a reason to stop. Truthfully he didn't want to and that bought back memories… it wasn't about his past love lives but about Helga.
She had always been so mean and a bit of a bully, but he's always known of her insecurities and that she was indeed a good person. Her parents never paid much attention to her and he knew that she yearned for love and attention even though she seemed to reject it from everyone she came into contact with.
Even then he had always denied it to himself before, but he believed that he had hidden feelings for her. Helga was beautiful in her own way. Her blond hair, blue eyes, the way she carried herself, and the authority she commanded others with. It was all admirable. He liked her… a lot. Every time he had been teamed up with Helga or he hanged out with her, it had always turned out to be very pleasant in the end.
Over the years, he'd thought about her. Wondered as to how she had lived all these years and if she'd changed. She had, but not that much. She'd never been popular with all their friends nor had she ever cared for her appearance, except on occasions.
His hands caressed her face as he continued to kiss her and Helga found herself melting into the kiss.
This must be a dream…
Helga pulled him closer to her, wrapping her arms around his neck and tangling her fingers into his silky blond hair. She smiled into his kiss and Arnold moved his hands down to her waist. He then slowly broke the kiss and closed his eyes pressing his forehead against hers. Her cool breath fell on his face as he tried to figure out what to do next. Surely, she'd stop him. Wouldn't she?
Arnold took her hand and took a step back from her. Her sapphire blue eyes looked up at him in search of something and that's when he began to lead her into the old shack.
It was empty inside. Nothing more but sand…
He kissed her again as they stood in the center. Helga instantly went along with it. She wouldn't question him. Why would she? This was what she had waited for all her life.
She'd always wanted Arnold to return her hidden feelings of affection. She was walking on air.
His skin was warm against her skin and left a tingling feeling behind. His lips left her mouth and began to trail down her neck to her collar bone. With her eyes half closed she reached to touch his hand that was on her shoulder and gently placed it over his. Arnold didn't stop his advances and soon she found him pulling down her swimsuit strap down. She didn't stop him. Helga didn't want him to stop, but some part of her began to feel shy.
Would he like what he saw?
Apparently he liked the sight of her bare shoulder as his fingers traced over her bare skin in silence. Helga swallowed and stared at the sand beneath their feet. Arnold's shirt was on the floor…
When did that come off?
Arnold found himself unable to stop. He had intended to leave and apologize for kissing her so intently, but she had somehow forced him to stay. Whether it had been the look in her eyes outside the shack or the warmth of her soft skin pressed against his as they kissed the second time, he was not sure.
He pulled her swimsuit down to her waist revealing her torso to him. Her rib cage was slightly outlined in the moonlight coming through the window. His emerald green eyes stared at her small round mounds and made his way down to her belly button. Her stomach was flat and his hand reached out to graze his fingers over it to see if she was just as soft there.
Arnold was taking more than a few seconds to look at her and a deep rough color found its way to Helga's face by the time she decided to push him down on the ground and straddle him. It was his turn to blush as she forced his mouth open and pressed her hands against his firm toned chest.
Helga was latched on to him firmly in lip-lock and Arnold couldn't help but let out slight moan as she pressed her body more confidently against him. Helga set out a content sigh as she pulled away from the kiss and began to lead a trail of kisses across his jawline.
His hair smelled of the salty ocean and felt oh so silky against her fingers.
Then suddenly his kisses stopped and he pulled away from her. Arnold covered his face with his hand and shook it furiously.
"Sorry, Helga, I just can't."
Helga's brows furrowed together at his shaky words.
Could it be that this was all too good to be true?
"What's wrong, Arnold?"
His emerald green eyes were filled with guilt, "Nothing, it's nothing. I just can't continue doing this with you."
Helga felt a pang of hurt in her heart. This is what she had feared all her life.
Arnold is rejecting me… I knew it would happen but still… I had hope…
She pulled her swimsuit back on and rubbed her arm. Tears stung her eyes, but she tried to keep her emotions collected and calm.
"Yeah, guess I'm not as swell as you thought I'd be hu? I know I wasn't hiding much under all the layers…"
She chuckled in a hurt tone and ended up flinching at her own agony.
Arnold reached out to her but couldn't quite find the strength to touch her again.
"No, that's not what I meant at all."
"You don't have to lie, Football head."
"But I'm not."
"I know it's not in you to tell me that I'm ugly. It's alright. I get it."
His eyes tried to meet her sapphire blue eyes but she refused to meet them.
"Helga, really that's not what I meant at all. I know you don't dress pretty like all the other girls, but I don't care. I know you're beautiful."
She turned away from the blond boy, "Yeah, in my own un-pretty way."
He grabbed her arm and made her turn to look at him, "I'm serious, Helga."
"Whatever."
He released her and shook his hands in anguish, "Look, I just don't want you to think I did it for a bet."
Helga's eyes looked up at him in a suspicious manner, "What? Why would I think that?"
Arnold closed an eye, "Harold, wanted me to sleep with you."
"What?! All of this was some damn bet! So, I'm that ugly that you can't even take me in a bet!"
"No, that's not it at all!" Arnold waved his hands in front of him.
Helga bit her cheek. She wanted to cry and run away but she was tougher than that. She was a Pataki after all.
"I had planned on you beating me up and that way the bet could be called off. But it didn't turn out that way."
Helga slapped him and growled in anger, "What the hell?! Football head!"
Arnold had been thrown off balance and now he was sitting on the ground again, "Helga, I really do like you a lot. It's just… I couldn't tell you."
He looked away with a blush on his face, "I thought for sure you'd hit me or laugh if I even mentioned my attraction towards you."
Helga stared at him in surprise.
What is he saying?
"Look, Helga, I just didn't want to go through with my earlier advance… because I really want to do this the right way and form a formal relationship with you first."
"What?"
"I understand that you're mad at me, but really I wouldn't ever do anything to hurt you on purpose, Helga."
"And I'm supposed to trust you after you just played me?"
"No, I suppose not…"
Arnold clutched his hands against the sand underneath him. He looked ashamed and that was enough for Helga. Growing alongside him she knew that he was incapable of harming anyone with a malice intent.
Sure I have my insecurities… but Arnold… he actually likes me more than ever now.
"Tell you what, Football head, I'll forgive you, but in exchange you have to dig a hole so I can bury pink fat boy alive."
"Helga?"
"What? I'll leave his head out. I'm not that messed up."
The blond stood up and held his hand out, "okay, then."
She really was a great person wasn't she? He thought for sure she'd hate him for the rest of his life.
"Come on, let's find our way back to camp."
"Sure."
They were quiet for a while, walking along the shoreline again. It was slightly awkward and Helga decided it was best to break the silence.
"Hey, Arnold, remember that time you, Gerald, and me went to that abandoned train station?"
"Oh, yeah, I remember. Grandpa told us that story about the crazy engineer, so I dragged you guys to check it out."
"I told you that if science couldn't prove it then it was just fake."
"Yeah, and then Brainy scared us half to death."
"Haha, yeah we dumped him off the train."
"Haha."
The silence that followed didn't last but it wasn't awkward between them anymore.
"Turns out you were right, Arnold."
"Huh?"
"I read about it years later when I was doing research for a project at the library. Turns out that later that same evening, after we got off that train, it went off the rails and the people onboard died…"
"That's horrible."
"Brainy later told me that he was hanging out by the train tracks and that he saw the incident. He was the one who called for help. Heh, I don't know to believe it or not but he said he heard a deep voice singing when the train passed by."
"It could've been one of the passengers, Helga."
"Yeah, maybe."
"Why tell me this though?"
"Just though it would clear the air a bit."
"Helga?"
"What?!"
"Do you want to go on a date with me tomorrow?"
Her face heated up at his words, "Hmph, Whatever floats your boat, football head."
"Good, then, I still have a lot to tell you."
The next morning the whole group found Harold buried near the shoreline with a bucket on his head and with a red marker, the word MORON had been written on it.
"I guess Helga found out about the bet, hu Harold," Gerald smirked at his whimpering friend who had also always been a bit of a bully to everyone.
"I wonder what happened to Arnold." Sid flinched at the thought.
"He and Helga are finally where they're supposed to be." Phoebe smiled as she stared up at the boardwalk.
Helga was in a white dress with her hair loose and she was holding Arnold's hand as he stared into her eyes lovingly.
Brainy took a step towards the new couple but stopped himself. He knew that Helga would always choose Arnold but still he couldn't help but feel vulnerable.
Rhonda raised her brows, "Well, isn't this a very interesting surprise."
Lila smiled, "I wonder if Helga finally told him about her true feelings."
Stinky dabbed his tears away at the sight of Helga and Arnold, "Helga really is a fine dame."
Sid nudged Stinky, "What are you saying, Stinky?!"
"One word, Sid, Mr. Nuttybars."
"What, that doesn't mean anything!"
Gerald turned back to the group, "Let's leave Harold in there for a bit longer. He bought it upon himself anyway."
"Sure, whatever."
"No, wait get me out! HELP ME! MOMMY!"
A/N:I hope you all enjoyed the ending. It may seem too forgiving for Helga but I thought it fitting for her, besides we all know Arnold has a heart of gold. Well leave me a review and tell me what you think. Thanks for the patience! :3