Not exactly the ugly duckling

"You look like shit." Gerald said bluntly as Arnold opened his bedroom door.

"I feel worse." He replied, stalking over to his bed and flopping down onto the messy covers.

Gerald scratched his head… this wasn't good. "So… you finally got in touch with her?" He squished his instinct to avoid the elephant in the room. Playing it straight was always the best way with Arnold.

The blonde nodded. "Apparently it's not a big deal… it just didn't work out… she wasn't feeling it." He sighed, put his hands over his face. "She's so full of shit."

"Yeah… she is…" Gerald agreed. "But it's Helga Pataki. Remember? That bitch be damaged goods." He caught Arnold's furious glare, put his hands up, feigning innocence. "No, really man… I like her, she's up for a good time, she's hot, she has a filthy mouth… I would happily hang out with her, which is good, cuz I'll have to when Phoebe moves back… but dating her?" he shook his head dramatically. "She has all sorts of issues that not even you could talk her out of."

Arnold squeezed his eyes shut. Gerald was right. Helga was messed up, but understandably so. It didn't change anything, he still wanted her, as much as she pissed him off. He had spent the last week swinging between a kind of desperate sadness, a need to talk to her, and being utterly fucking furious with her for blowing him off so easily. What the hell had happened?

Gerald nudged the bed with his foot. "Dude, I know you're heartbroken and shit… but you got a plane to catch at four."

They made their way downstairs, where Arnold said his goodbyes to his grandparents and the boarders, chucked Arnold's bag into the boot, and waved goodbye as they pulled away from the curb.

"Hey, Tims." Arnold smiled despite himself as he turned away from the back window.

Timberly, Gerald's little sister, twisted herself to look at him from the front seat. "Play." She said forcefully, pointing at the guitar that rested next to him on the back seat. "I can't get that minor change… show me."

"Nice to see you too!" Arnold smirked as he picked up the guitar and started to check the tuning. Tims was a good kid. Although he supposed she wasn't really a kid anymore… he still thought of her as one, almost like his own little sister, he had known her so long.

She had been there when Arnold had turned up at Gerald's late on Friday night, pissed and miserable. They had all spent the night playing Rock Band on Gerald's Xbox, and getting insanely wasted.

She had begged Arnold to teach her some guitar that was 'more exciting' than the classical and Spanish that her parents insisted she learned… so He, Gerald and Timberly had spent the majority of the week in Gerald's apartment… getting high and playing music.

If Helga had been with them, it would have been perfect.

He sighed, wishing he could stop himself from thinking about her, and started strumming the chords he had taught Timberly, slowing them right down so she could see his fingering.

She stayed in the car, practising, while Gerald and Arnold went into the terminal. They checked in, wandered a bit, bought a soda and milled about. Arnold thanked no one in particular that his boarding gate was FAR away from where he had kissed Helga for the first time. Just being here, remembering how small and nervous he felt, twisted him up inside.

"Thanks for everything." Arnold tried his best to smile as they leaned against a wall, waiting for his flight to start boarding. "Taking all the time off and stuff… it's been real."

"Don't mention it, Arnold my man." Gerald grinned. "Perks of being your own boss, choosing your hours. The tax stuff is shit though." Gerald's freelance marketing and business consulting was doing really well, he seemed to have a flair for it, especially the marketing side.

Flight 731, Austin, Texas, is now boarding from gate seven.

"That's me." Arnold hefted his bag up onto his shoulder and turned to give Gerald a hug.

"Have a ball, Shortman." Gerald grinned, slapping Arnold on the back. He watched Arnold scan his boarding pass, turn to wave as he went through the gate…

"… aaaaand, he's gone."