The Strange Man

Chaos

Charlie spent the entire evening and night sadly watching crappy cartoons on his couch alone (Frank was at Artemis's apartment yet again). His possibility of being with the woman he was infatuated with was crushed by Dennis. 'They're probably going to be banging in her apartment soon,' he thought with his mind full of anger and sadness. 'Then they're gonna get married and live a perfect life together.' He imagined the two happily growing old together in a house of cats. That's what he wanted with Dahlia. Dennis was taking that away from him.
Late that night, Charlie was startled by a loud bang and a scream coming from Dahlia's apartment. He shot up from the couch and ran to go see what was wrong. "Dahlia?!", he yelled as he knocked on the door violently. "Are you okay?! Please let me in!" There was no answer.
Luckily, Charlie kept Dahlia's keys with him at all times just in case, so he unlocked the door hectically and barged in. He saw a dent in the wall to his right, then looked down to see Dahlia crying on her knees. She was holding her hand against her chest in pain. Charlie was extremely shocked and worried. He dropped down next to Dahlia. "What happened?! Are you okay?!", he asked, panicking. "Let me see your hand!" He grabbed her arm and inspected her hand. It was red and bleeding. "Oh my god!", he shouted. "What happened?!"
Dahlia was happy to see Charlie, but upset and embarrassed that he had to see her like this. In the two years that they had known each other, Charlie had never seen her like this.
"I punched Dennis," she whispered shakily. "I punched him in the face and left him there." She stared at the ground, refusing to make eye contact with the man next to her. "I didn't mean to hurt him... I just wasn't expecting him to try and kiss me... I mean... I was in the women's bathroom, but that's no excuse."
Charlie was speechless for a long moment. "He tried to kiss you in the women's bathroom?!", he asked. Dahlia nodded shamefully. "I guess I must've been leading him on or something... it was all my fault! He was being nice to me and I punched him!" Charlie became angrier and angrier. "He tried to kiss you without your permission! He is the one that should be sorry!" He clenched his fists. "He will be sorry," he said coldly.
Charlie started to stand, but Dahlia saw his fists and the anger in his eyes, so she pulled him back down. She knew how angry Charlie could get and how much damage he can do when he's angry. "Please don't go, Charlie," she said as she clung to his arm. "I would really like it if you were here right now." It was true, she had always enjoyed being around Charlie; he made her feel safe and happy.
Dahlia's grip made Charlie calm down a bit. "Okay," he said to her. "I'll stay here for as long as you want me to." Dahlia looked up at Charlie before wrapping her arms around his torso. He hugged her close. Everything was calm in that moment.
  When Dahlia woke up, she was on her bed, and Charlie was gone. Her hand still hurt from the night before. Upon inspection, she saw how badly bruised it was.
  The events that had occurred came flooding back, guilt along with it. She soon heard a knock at her door. She saw Frank through the peephole. "What are you doing here, Frank?" "Have you seen Charlie?! He's not answering my calls or anything!" Dahlia opened the door for the panicking man. "Why would I know where he is?" Frank looked at Dahlia like her question was absolutely ridiculous, then answered, "Isn't he in love with you or whatever? He's always talking about ya and wanting to be around ya... he worships you more than that 'Waitress' broad, who's a total b**** by the way." Frank started exploring the apartment. "Nice crib," he said.
  Dahlia didn't hear his last comment; she was trying to wrap her head around what he had just said about Charlie. He was in love with her? That wasn't possible. They were best friends, closer than either of them had ever been to anyone else. She wasn't great with social cues, but she wasn't clueless... or maybe she was.
  Dahlia recalled the past two years with Charlie. She realized the amount of evidence she had missed: the compliments, the kindness and warm smiles, the excuses to be near her, the overall chemistry they had... all things she must have overlooked before. Maybe he was in love with her... and maybe she was in love with him too...
  "Hey," Frank said, snapping Dahlia out of her daze. "Do you know where he is or not?" Just then, she remembered how angry Charlie was last night and how he had said something about Dennis being sorry. "Where's Dennis?!", she asked frantically. "I saw him at the bar," Frank answered, a bit confused as to why she was asking about Dennis. Dahlia swiftly put on her trench coat. "We've gotta stop Charlie!", she said.
Dahlia and Frank took a cab to Paddy's. When they arrived and walked in, they saw Dennis arguing with Mac and Dee behind the bar. He seemed fine besides his large black eye, but Charlie was nowhere to be found. When Dennis saw Dahlia walk in, he glared at her in silent rage, but she ignored him. "Where's Charlie?", she asked the group. "Now that I think about it, I haven't seen him at all today," Dee answered.
Just then, Charlie came running into the bar, holding a gun above his head and screaming. "What are you doing?!" Mac yelled. "Stop, Charlie!", Dahlia then shouted. She grabbed his arm (which probably wasn't a very good idea, but she wasn't quite thinking straight). Like magic, he suddenly snapped out of his fit of rage and stood still, staring at her hand on his arm and then into her kind eyes.
"What do you think you're doing?", she asked sternly. He dropped the gun. "I just wanted to defend your honor," he responded softly. Dahlia smiled. "There's other ways to do that that don't involve screaming wildly or using a gun," she said. He smiled back and he realized how ridiculous he we being. "I guess you're right... you're always right," he said as he gazed longingly into Dahlia's eyes.
In that moment, Dahlia remembered what Frank had said about Charlie being in love with her. She ignored everyone and everything around her and said. "Charlie... are you in love with me?" Charlie was taken by surprise by her sudden question. He fell silent for a moment before looking shyly at the ground and nodding. "Did you seriously not know that?", Mac interjected. "It's pretty obvious," Dee added. "Shut up," Frank told them sternly, "they're obviously having a moment." The reminder that the rest of the gang was there on top of the fact that they all knew about how Charlie had felt about her before she did made Dahlia feel a bit embarrassed.
The room fell silent for a drawn out moment. "Do you... like... love me?", Charlie asked nervously. Dahlia didn't know how to respond. She looked back upon the last two years and realized how she had truly felt... she did love him. Her feelings scared her. What if she wasn't actually good enough for him? She wasn't used to love, so what if she ruined everything? There were too many "what ifs?" filling her head. She couldn't handle it, so she ran.
She ran and ran down the sidewalks of Philadelphia for what must've been half a mile before falling down against a brick wall. 'What have I done?'