The Strange Man

Emotionally Unstable

  Dahlia sat in her apartment anxiously sitting on her bed and hugging her pillow. She felt incredibly guilty for standing up Charlie, but glad that she didn't have to face him. She didn't want yet another relationship to go down the drain because of false hope.
  There was a sudden knock at her door that made her jump. She calmed herself down before walking to the door and looking through the peephole. It was Charlie. He looked anxious; he had one hand shoved deep into his pocket and the other rubbing the back of his neck as he shifted his weight.
  'What is he doing? Should I let him in?', Dahlia thought. 'Maybe he's mad at me, after all, I didn't even show up for coffee.' Her thoughts were racing and her hands began shaking (that happened a lot when she got anxious).
  "Hello?", Charlie said, "Dahlia?" 'He's not going to leave, is he?', Dahlia thought. 'Crap.'
Charlie knocked again. This time, Dahlia answered. "What, Charlie?" She saw his surprised expression through the peephole. He didn't know that she would actually answer. "I just need to talk to you," he responded. "About what?", she questioned. "Can I just come in please?" What Dahlia didn't know was how to respond. On one hand, she wanted to just ignore him completely, but one the other hand, she knew that she owed him an explanation.
  She sighed and opened the door, trying to steady her hands as she turned the lock and then the handle. Charlie looked into her eyes and smiled. "Hi," he said happily. For a moment he had forgotten what she'd done. "I am so sorry, Charlie," she said softly. She was ready for him to yell and for her to stand there and take it.
  Charlie suddenly remembered what had happened and why he was there. "We were supposed to get coffee today," he said sadly, "and you never came." The feeling of guilt in Dahlia's stomach made her feel nauseas. She couldn't seem to speak, so she just looked at the floor and nodded shamefully. Charlie tried to bend down and look into her eyes. He saw that she was upset. Why was she upset? He didn't want her to be upset.
  Charlie then noticed her hands shaking and grabbed them, making Dahlia look up at him in shock. "It's okay," Charlie said calmly. "Just help me understand."
  If the gang had been there, they would've been amazed. Charlie himself was amazed by how calm and caring he was being. 'What am I doing?', he thought. He couldn't even recognize himself. Did he like who he was at the moment? Maybe he did.
  "I'm sorry," Dahlia said again. She wasn't sure quite what to say. 'Just let words form and go with it,' she thought. That worked for her sometimes.
  "I don't think that we should speak to each other anymore," she said. Charlie nodded and smiled. "We don't have to speak if you don't want to!", he said excitedly. "We can use sign language or maybe write notes! I mean... I can't really read... or write, but..." Dahlia stopped him and she kept a mental note of his illiteracy. "That's not what I mean, Charlie." She couldn't help but smile a bit. He wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but he was very sweet and passionate.
  "What do you mean?", Charlie said. He had become confused and disappointed that his idea had been shot down. Dahlia stopped smiling. "I just don't want either of us to get hurt." She sighed, then continued, "I'm not exactly friend material... I'm like... emotionally unstable most of the time, and just weird when I am stable." She started shaking more intensely.
  Charlie let go of her hands and stood silently for a second, thinking. He then smiled and responded, "Me too!" Dahlia looked up at him. "What?", she asked softly. He smiled and nodded. 'Is he crazy or something? Is he making fun of me?', Dahlia thought. "Look," he said, "I'm a completely unstable, illiterate weirdo who's friends are almost as insane as me!" He started moving his hands around excitedly. "I don't understand," Dahlia said. The situation seemed to be getting more and more confusing. "Well," Charlie began to explain, "if I'm unstable and you're unstable too and all of my friends are unstable, then your unstableness won't be a problem! Besides, I've owned a bar with people like us for years and been friends with them for even longer!"
  In that moment, not many people would have quite understood Charlie. Most people would have closed the door on the man (after all, he was acting pretty crazy). Dahlia was not most people. She smiled and nodded. He was acting like a puppy again. She loved when he had that kind of energy.
  "Do you want to come in?", Dahlia asked as she opened the door more and moved out of the way. Charlie smiled. "Sure," he said and entered the apartment.