“Well, this was a failure,” Dev says, grabbing the plate and sliding the contents straight into the trash. “Should I send Jules to get takeout? I’m thinking breakfast burritos.”
Charlie stares at Dev in his hideous cargo shorts and his ill-fitting T-shirt, toothpaste in the corner of his mouth, and he finally accepts Dev is never going to pull out the rug.
Charlie hasn’t met many people like this—people who don’t make assumptions about you when they discover your brain doesn’t work like theirs; people who don’t judge you; people who simply stay with you and ask what they can do to help. People who trustingly hand you all of themselves in PDF form.
“You’re staring at me. Do I have something on my face?”
“Literally always,” Charlie says, and Dev laughs again, louder this time. Charlie feels the sound unlocking all his twisted fears. “I have OCD,” he says before he can’t.
Dev props an elbow on the countertop and leans into his hand. “Okay.”
“Real OCD. Not the thing where people think it’s cute that they’re anal about organizing their pen cup.”
“Yes, I figured.”
“And I have generalized anxiety. And a panic disorder.”
“Okay,” Dev says again. Like it truly is okay.
Charlie feels a loosening in his chest, an unburdening. He’s only ever talked about this with Parisa, but she always looks at him like he’s a rare, exotic bird living in her attic, and she’s hoping he’ll one day fly out an open window into the world.
Dev is looking at him like he’s a man sitting on a kitchen stool who didn’t like his pancakes. It’s as if nothing has changed.
Charlie takes only one breath. “Okay.”
Dev comes around the counter toward Charlie on the stool. For a second, he stands close, like he did last night, crowding between Charlie’s legs. Charlie becomes hyperaware of his skin against the seams of his clothes. Dev reaches up to ruffle Charlie’s hair again, but he’s got a pained look on his face. “You know you still deserve to have this love story. Right?”
Charlie swallows a weird lump forming in the back of his throat. Dev’s fingers are still resting in his hair, and Charlie looks up.
“You deserve love,” Dev says again, “and I honestly think Angie and Daphne are both good fits for you. I think both of them will love you, Charlie. Just as you are.”
Dev steps back. Charlie closes his legs. “Angie and Daphne,” he repeats.
Dev nods. “Oh, yeah. It’s definitely going to come down to the two of them. So, breakfast burritos?”
Charlie tries to smile. “Breakfast burritos.”
Story notes for editors:
Season 37, Episode 3
Story producer:
Ryan Parker
Air date:
Monday, September 27, 2021
Executive producer:
Maureen Scott
Scene: Daphne, Angie, and Sabrina debrief Daphne’s Courting Date Location: Poolside, Ever After castle Daphne: The date was going great. He was so sweet when I panicked about the hot-air balloon, and then I ruined it by pushing him at dinner.
Angie: It sounds like he ruined it by being unable to answer a fairly basic question.
Sabrina: It’s not unreasonable to expect a man you’re dating to be able to articulate what he’s looking for in a partner.
Angie: And if he’s looking for a Thomas Kincaid thousand-piece jigsaw, we should all know that now.