The Strange Man

The Start of a Friendship

  "What?!", Dennis yelled. "That's... that's not possible! I mean, look at me and look at him! If she liked anyone, it would be me, 100%!" He laughed maniacally. "I'm a god!" This caught Dahlia's and Charlie's attentions. "What?", Dahlia whispered to the strange man. "He just has a huge ego and a ton of mental problems," he responded. "Yeah, I know that, but what triggered his comment?" Charlie shrugged and Dennis took a deep breath before saying, "Sorry about that... you see, I just lost my dog..." he said sadly. "Shut up!", Charlie said sternly, "The DENNIS system won't work on her!" Dahlia felt lost. "The DENNIS system?" Charlie responded, "Yeah, it's just the method he uses to get women to sleep with him. It's really weird." Dennis tensed up. "Why would you tell her that?! You are ruining my image!" Dahlia leaned closer to Charlie and whispered, "He should be in the blood bucket." The two laughed. "What?!", Dennis said. He was obviously not used to being made fun of. "I should've known you were a freak when you walked in! Be gone with you!" Dennis waved Dahlia away. That comment made Dahlia frown, which made Charlie upset. He stood up and said, "Shut up, Dennis! You're being a complete jerk! She's just trying to admire my work, and you..." Dennis retorted, "Your 'work' is just a bucket of random blood! It's disgusting!" To that, Dahlia rolled her eyes and responded, "That's part of what makes it cool..." Charlie turned to her and smiled. No one had ever understood the blood bucket before her. It felt good to finally have someone who understood him and who backed him up. The gang had never appreciated him. Though he wasn't quite as hated as Dee, he wasn't respected at all by anyone.
"Dude..." Mac said with shock in his voice and on his face, "Dennis, she's making you look like a complete ass!" Dennis slowly turned to Mac, his face was completely red and his hands were clenched into fists. He stared his friend down for a second before relaxing slightly and quietly saying, "You know what? I'm a cool guy. I can handle my emotions. I know that I'm above you all." He walked to a door that lead to a small office, opened the door, turned to smile at the group, and finally went into the office, closing the door behind him. Everything was silent for a moment, then there was a loud rage-filled yell that was followed by lots of slamming and banging.
Dahlia's anxiety kicked in. She hated loud noises and anger, especially when she caused it. She began to shake, causing her to fall from her squat onto the floor. Embarrassment filled her body. 'I always do this,' she thought, 'I always ruin everything!' Her thought caused her to swiftly and clumsily get up and race towards the door. She ran for a short distance before her legs gave out and she fell to the ground. "Crap," she said shakily. She was off her game. She took out a pill bottle from one of her pockets and swallowed two pills. That's when she heard someone running towards her.
"You're fast!" Dahlia turned to see the strange man struggling to catch his breath. He must've been really out of shape. She responded with a sad nod. "What's wrong?" He asked, seeming genuinely concerned and confused. 'Why is he here?', she thought. 'Is he using the "DENNIS system"?' That thought made her squirm and consider running (though she really had nowhere to go at the moment, which caused even more anxiety). The man sat down next to her. "Dennis can be a real jerk sometimes," he said humorously, trying to lighten the mood. He didn't seem all that comfortable with the seriousness of the situation.
"I'm sorry," Dahlia whispered. "It was my fault, I mean, I shouldn't have made him angry." She sniffled a bit. "Especially after he was being so nice to me. After all, he gave me a free drink."
Charlie looked at her for a moment silently. Maybe it was because he didn't understand much most of the time, but he wondered why she blamed herself and why she was so upset. Dennis was being a douchebag and he had no right to snap like that.
Her sadness made him upset. He didn't want her to be sad. She was so nice. He needed to cheer her up.
"It made me really happy when you said that you like my blood bucket," he said softly, looking at the ground. This made Dahlia look up at him slightly. She was confused as to why he would say that, yet a bit happy at the same time. "What?", she questioned. Charlie responded, "Well... I... umm..." he struggled uncomfortably. "I put a lot of time and effort into making that bucket and no one ever seems to care, so it's nice to have someone appreciate my... you know... work or whatever." "Thank you," Dahlia looked at him and smiled. They looked contently at each other for a moment until Charlie snapped out of it.
It was obvious how uncomfortable he was; he scrunched up his face and rubbed the back of his neck. "Is it hot or something?" He began to ramble. "Maybe it's just me, but it suddenly feels very hot." He stood up and began pacing and mumbling about the weather. Dahlia (who had now stopped crying) wiped her tears away and stood up. "What are you doing?" She laughed uncomfortably as he continued to pace and ramble. Dahlia stood and grabbed one of his flailing arms. He froze right away. She put her arms on his shoulders and looked into his eyes. Calmly, she said, "Slow down and take some deep breaths." A sense of calm began to overcome him. He took some deep, exaggerated breaths, keeping his focus on her eyes. He was now completely calm and comfortable in a way that he had never been before.
  "Wow," he said, "that really works! you should be like a brain doctor or something!" She smiled and giggled a bit. "You mean like a therapist?" The man considered that for a moment. "Yeah, I think so..." he said, still contemplating her point. This made Dahlia smile; the man was so charmingly clueless and kind in her eyes. He had just met her and he ran to comfort her. No one had ever been so kind to her. Maybe she had finally found a good, genuine friend.