It's About Us

He's not Him

Arnold was so angry, he b-lined straight for his room. Not stopping for anyone. He slammed his door shut and paced his floor. He couldn't believe Helga. After everything, she didn't even listen to him. Granted, she has a right to date whomever she wanted, but Chad wasn't okay.

Arnold couldn't hold still. He just didn't understand this. He was sure something was about to happen between them before the girls showed up. He thought they might have kissed, and new feelings came up. Something he's only felt a few times before but only briefly. This time it was almost uncontrollable.

There was a knock on his door.

"Come in." Arnold yelled.

"Wow. You, okay?" Miles entered, cautiously.

"Yeah, sorry Dad." Arnold rubbed the back of his neck.

"It's okay. Girls can be stressful." Miles motioned for them to sit on Arnold's couch.

"Did you ever have this problem with Mom?" Arnold sat next to his father.

"Everyone has arguments, it's how you resolve them that matters." Miles tried to be evasive.

"Thanks Yoda." Arnold sighed.

There was silence between them as both father and son thought. You could tell that both of them had more to say but we unprepared how to go about discussing it. It's not like they talk about stuff like this before. Most of the time Stella forced them to talk, giving her opinion sometimes unnecessarily.

"You know..." Miles started. "Your mother wanted me to keep my opinion about this whole ordeal to myself. She thinks you need to figure things out on your own."

"We'll what do you think?" Arnold looked at his dad.

"I think that you won't learn unless you ask questions, and you won't ask question unless you know that someone will answer those questions honestly for you." Miles placed a hand on his son's back.

"Okay. So, I do have some questions. First, she told me why she asked me what I wanted. She wanted me to tell her that I wanted her. That she didn't know if I really wanted to be with her or if it was because she helped me find you and mom." Arnold began his story.

"Yeah, Stella told me that Helga was worried about something big. So, what's your question?" Miles waited for his son to continue.

"I didn't know she felt that way. How did I not know that?" Arnold asked.

"You always assumed that everyone would come to you with their problems. Then who will they come to if their problem is you? You need to talk to and actually have a conversation with the girl you're dating." Miles answered.

Arnold thought about his father's reply. "I guess I didn't think about that. I guess I always believed everything was okay and never thought to ask. I mean, I had some doubt about why she was with me as well, but I just thought it would be bad to ask her about it."

"It's okay to feel doubt about someone's feelings after you've been together as long as you two were. To counteract that, you need to voice your concerns with the person you're with. As you grow up, your relationship will develop into one that's more adult. It happens." Miles smiled.

"That's another thing." Arnold stood up and started pacing again. "What's the rush in having something more grown-up? I was happy the way we had it, why change it?"

"Arnold, it's natural to want something more when you get older. The question I present to you is why are you so set on not growing up?" Miles posed a direct question.

"I don't know. I mean I'm happy how things are now." Arnold continued to pace.

"You mean, since your mother and I are back?" Miles asked.