The Strange Man

A Nice Night

  "Wanna watch something?", Dahlia asked Charlie, who was looking around her apartment curiously. 'This is a nice place,' Charlie thought. Even though they lived in the same building, her apartment was much nicer than his.
  "Charlie?", Dahlia asked, pulling Charlie back into reality. "What?", he said. "Would you like to watch a movie or something? I have a ton of DVDs. I'm a movie person." Charlie sat on her couch in front of her TV and smiled. "Me too."
  They sat on Dahlia's couch watching movies and talking about weird and random stuff for hours. They didn't stop until there was a knock at the door. Dahlia opened the door to see Frank.
  "Hi, sweets," he said, "Charlie's not at our apartment, so I thought she might be here." He pushed past Dahlia after seeing Charlie on her couch. "Hey, Charlie! What're you doing here? I've been looking for you!", Frank said excitedly. He looked around. "Nice apartment." He walked over to the couch and plopped down next to Charlie. "We were just hanging out," Charlie responded. Frank looked at him, then Dahlia, then back at him for a silent moment before saying, "That means banging, right?" Dahlia's eyes widened. "Ew, Frank!", Charlie yelled. "Why does your mind always go there?!" "That's life, Charlie! People bang constantly!"
Charlie stood up and angrily said, "Maybe you do!"
  Dahlia became incredibly uncomfortable. 'What am I supposed to do?', she thought to herself. She looked at the door for a second before shaking her head. 'No... I can't just leave.'
  The two men continued to argue for a bit before Charlie noticed Dahlia standing there anxiously. "You need to leave, Frank," he said sternly. Frank looked offended and walked towards the door. Before he opened it, he turned around and said, "I'm eating all the cat food."
  Dahlia and Charlie watched as Frank slams the door behind him. They turned to each other silently for a few seconds, then Charlie ran after Frank. "Don't eat all the cat food!", he yelled as he ran out the door, leaving Dahlia alone and confused.
  'Should I... just go back to watching the movie?...', she thought. After a second or two, Charlie ran back in and said, "I'll be right back! Frank's trying to eat all the cat food, and I can't sleep without cat food!" He then ran back to his apartment.
  About an hour passed before Charlie returned. When he did come back, he found Dahlia passed out on her couch. 'She doesn't look like The Waitress does when she sleeps,' he thought. 'She actually looks kind of peaceful.' He didn't want to leave. Even if he did, Frank was having a fit and Charlie really didn't feel like dealing with him. He gently pushed Dahlia over a bit to make room for him to sit on the couch next to her. He fell asleep pretty quickly; being around Dahlia calmed him.
  At about 10 AM, Dahlia woke up. She had never slept so much. Once she woke up, she heard soft snoring and looked beside her to see Charlie sleeping blissfully. It made her smile. Only a few seconds after she woke up, Charlie woke up.
  He looked around and realized that he wasn't in his apartment. "Where the hell am I?", he said. Then, seeing Dahlia, he said, "Did we..." he raised his eyebrows. "No!", Dahlia responded. "Why are you people so obsessed with that?!" They fell silent for a bit, then Charlie laughed. "We are obsessed, aren't we?" "Yeah," Dahlia agreed, "it's kinda funny."
  The two laughed for a bit before Charlie realized that he needed to get to the bar. "S***!", he yelled. "What time is it?!" Dahlia looked at her watch and responded, "10:06." Charlie jumped up. "I've gotta go!" He ran towards the door, then stopped and turned towards Dahlia. "Thank you. This was nice," he told Dahlia with a big smile on his face. Dahlia smiled back. "Yeah," she said, "it was really nice."
  They smiled at each other for a moment before turning away and looking at the floor. "Bye, Dahlia," Charlie said softly with a smile. "Bye, Charlie," Dahlia responded, her smile mirroring his. He then left.