Marcia

Eric was broken out of his thoughts by a knock on the door.

Did she forget her keys? Immediately, Eric's anger at himself turned towards annoyance at Marcia, then to guilt for getting annoyed, then back to annoyed at Marcia for causing the guilt. He switched back and forth with every step towards the door, finally settling on annoyance as he turned the knob.

"You're lucky I'm in a good mood," he huffed as he pulled the door open. He was turned halfway around before he realized that something wasn't right. He turned back around to look at the person that clearly wasn't his girlfriend.

"If this is your good mood, I'd hate to see you when you're angry." They chuckled at their own joke before asking, "What's got you in such a tizzy?"

Before he could even think, Eric was already answering. "It's my girlfriend. We had a bad date and I thought she had forgotten her keys when you knocked on the door and I was trying to make her feel bad." Eric recoiled, surprised that he had not only answered but been so brutally honest with a complete stranger. He started to close the door but the stranger piped up with another question.

"Why don't you tell me about your girlfriend?"

Eric's hand froze on the door as he answered. "She's great, and kind, and beautiful. She's a wonderful artist and has a wicked sense of humor. We've been dating for five years and it's been great except..." Stop talking and close the door, his mind interjected, stopping him mid-sentence.

"Except for what? Perhaps I should come in to hear the rest of your story." They stepped through the half-closed door and Eric finally got a good look at this stranger. They looked... nondescript. Jeans and a heavy jacket hid any hint of their figure, and their face looked like someone that he might pass on the street 20 times every day.

Eric closed the door behind them. "Except something's missing. She's almost perfect, and it's killing me. Because even though I love so much about her, I can't help but focus on the things that drive me crazy."

The stranger smiled and stepped in close. A part of Eric wanted to flinch, to move away, but instead he leaned in. "What would make her perfect?"