"Oh, man." "That was intense." "I need some fluids." "I must've been down a quart." "Guess that makes you up a quart, huh?" "Hey, you know what would be good right now?" "A pudding cup." "I've got some in the fridge." "Ahem." "You want one?" "Um, you have a bad experience with pudding?" "What are we doing, Charlie?" "Well, you're crying, and my best guess is I'm about to apologize for something." "Every time I come over, it's the same routine." "We have Chinese takeout, then we have sex then we roll over and go to sleep." "Which is why I suggested the pudding." "You know, mix it up a little." "Besides, what about all the wonderful talking and joking and, you know sharing we do?" " Sharing?" " What do we share, Charlie?" " Well, uh, we share Chinese takeout." "And, uh, hey, the other night we watched the Laker game together." "You watched it over my shoulder while we were having sex." "Oh, come on, it was overtime." "What kind of relationship is this?" "We don't go anywhere, we don't do anything." "Where do you wanna go?" "What do you wanna do?" " I can get Laker tickets." " I don't want to go to a basketball game." "I wanna know who you are." "I want you to know who I am." " I know who you are." " You do?" "Okay, what's my middle name?" "Your middle name?" "Okay." "I know this." " Sunburned boobs." " What?" "Hang on, hang on." "Sunburned boobs, red boobs, red breasts." "Robin." "A little memory trick." "My middle name is Christine." "Not a very good trick." "Who's my best friend?" "Where do I work?" "What's my cat's name?" "What..." "What's my favorite movie?" "What kind of music do I like?" "What religion was I raised in?" "And do I have any brothers and sisters?" "Okay, I'd like to start with the cat." "I'm gonna go with Fluffy." "Drop dead." "Snowball?" "Mr. Mittens?" "Tiger?" "Whiskers?" "Puss-Puss?" " Oh, come on, what's my middle name?" "Francis." " No, it's not." "Yes, it is." "Show off." "Oh, Chelsea, come on, how much do I need to know about you other than I'm crazy about you?" "It's not that you don't know, it's that you don't care." "I do care." "I just don't pay close attention." "Goodbye, Charlie." "I mean, uh, I pay attention, but I don't test well." "What did you do, bring out the handcuffs too early?" " Apparently, I don't know her middle name." " It's Christine." " How do you know?" " She told me." " Why did she tell you?" " I asked her." " Why did you ask?" " How else do you get to know a person?" "Go away." "Ahem, if a woman stormed out on me after sex, would you go away?" "That's beside the point." "So, what happened?" "I don't know." "We were having a nice night." "Little lo mein, little sex, then the crying started." "Oh, yeah." "Been there, done that." "No, she was crying." " She wants more out of our relationship." " More what?" "I'm not sure." "I know it's not pudding." "Well, what did she say?" "She said I don't know her well enough." "You tell me, what's more important to know:" "Her cat's name or which of her body parts you can't sneak up on?" "Well, I'm not sure one necessarily precludes the other." "Yeah, well, I've never been mule-kicked for not knowing a cat's name." "It doesn't matter." "There's more where she came from." "Speaking of which." "Where does she come from?" " I don't know and I don't care." " Davenport, Iowa." "Bite me." " Wanna know her cat's name?" " No." "It's Mandu." " Mandu?" " Yeah." "You know, "Cat Mandu. "" "It's cute, huh?" "Why was I thinking Puss-Puss?" "Because that's what you're always thinking." "What happened to all the pudding cups?" " I guess your uncle ate them." " All of them?" "There were two 12-packs." "Have something else." "No cookies?" "What the hell is going on around here?" " Hey, watch your mouth." " I am watching it." "It's empty." "I need dessert." " Son of a bitch." " Jake." "Frozen peas." "What am I gonna do with frozen peas?" "Well, if you want dessert, have an apple." "Not funny, Dad." "You sure I can't interest you in a pudding cup?" "Thanks, I'm okay." " How about a chocolate chunk cookie?" " No, thank you." " Did you quit drinking?" " God, no." " Why?" " You seem to be experimenting with a new sugar-delivery system." "Anything bothering you lately?" "Well, there is this one thing, but I don't know if it's medical or psychological." "Tell me." "Lately, I've passed up a couple of opportunities to get some strange." "Strange?" "Um..." "Women with whom I have not previously been acquainted." "Oh, right, strange." "Charming." "Go on." "I was wondering if there's something wrong with me." "Because you passed up meaningless sex with strangers?" "Exactly." "That's not like me." "Hey, you know, I bet "strange" comes from "stranger. "" "I wouldn't be surprised." "So, what else going on with your life?" "Not much." "I've been gaining a little weight for some reason." " Maybe I haven't been sleeping well." " Yeah, that's probably it." "Oh, and this one girl I've been seeing pretty regularly decided to dump me." "Huh." " "Huh," what?" " Oh, nothing." "It's just, sometimes I feel like I'm stealing your money." "So tell me about this woman." "Chelsea?" "Not much to tell." "She's beautiful, sexy, smart, independent." "Sometimes, when she laughs, she makes a little snorting noise." "It's really cute." "Kind of like:" "Not as cute when I do it." "Sounds like quite a catch." " She's okay." " Why did she dump you?" "Who can understand a womars mind?" "Yeah, we're pretty little puzzles, ain't we?" "So it's not just me." "Anyway, for some reason, she suddenly became dissatisfied with our relationship." " Well, describe the relationship." " It was great." "She'd come over a couple times a week." "Either she'd bring food or I'd have something delivered." "We'd have sex, then eat then maybe have sex again depending on what was on Tv." "And she became dissatisfied with that?" "I know, right?" "Ooh, butterscotch." "So how did you feel about losing her?" " What do you mean?" " What do I mean?" "Come on, Charlie, Dr. Seuss could diagnose this." "You're stuffing yourself with crap to suppress your negative feelings." "No, I'm pretty sure that's why I drink." "You have a choice here." "You can dig down and confront your feelings so they won't be controlling your behavior or you can keep eating pudding and cookies until you have more chins than a Chinese phone book." "Hmm..." "No." "What else you got?" " Do you have a better idea?" " What if I could get Chelsea back?" "That would only be a temporary solution." "So?" "That's what people said about bourbon and we've been together for almost 30 years." "Okay, you're right." "Go get Chelsea back, and all your problems will be solved." " I'm sensing sarcasm." " Oh, good, we're finally making progress." "Here you go." "What are you drinking?" "Chocolate caramel frappuccino with whipped cream and sprinkles." "My nephew turned me on to it." "You want some?" "No, thanks, I had a hot-fudge sundae for breakfast." "Ooh, that sounds good." "Ah, you look nice." "I've gotta get back to work, Charlie." "What do you want?" "I just wanted to see you, see how you're doing." " I'm fine." " Good." "And how's your family back in Davenport, Iowa?" "I'm from Champaign, Illinois." " You sure?" " I'm sure." "Bastard set me up." " What?" " Nothing, nothing." " I miss you." " I miss you too, but it doesn't matter." "Our relationship wasrt going anywhere, and you are incapable of change." "It's not that I'm incapable, I've just been unwilling." " Thanks for clearing that up." " No, no, no." "Wait, wait, wait." "I've been seeing a shrink." " Really?" " Yeah." "I'm making a lot of progress confronting my..." "What do you call them?" "Personal issues." " Well, I'm glad to hear it." " Come, sit." "And check this out, the shrink's a woman." "A real ballbuster." " I can't get away with anything." " Ballbuster?" "In a good way." "You know, a buster of emotional balls." "You should meet her." "Are you suggesting we go to couples counseling?" "Uh..." "Sure." "I mean, I wanna work on our relationship, and what better way than couples counseling?" " You're serious?" " Of course I'm serious." "You think I'd blurt out something like that in a desperate attempt to keep you from leaving?" " It occurred to me." " Well, clearly you don't know me as well as you should." " All right." "Couples counseling." "Wow." "I'm impressed, Charlie." "Ha, ha." "Me too." "Okay, I gotta run." " Let me know when our appointment is." " Sure thing." "Bye-bye." "Oh, God, what have I done?" "Davenport, Iowa?" "Oh, uh, did I say Davenport, Iowa?" "I meant Champaign, Illinois." " Okay, that's one for you." " Thank you." "Ow!" "And that's one for me." "Now, I need some advice." "Oh, and just a friendly heads-up you screw with me, it's gonna cost you some teeth." "I'm listening." "Wait a minute, what's this about?" "Oh, he bought some stuff with his own money and he doesn't want you eating it." " Huh." " You've been to couples counseling, right?" " Yeah, why?" "I'm going with Chelsea, and I need to know what I'm getting into." "Oh, you're gonna love it." " I am?" " Absolutely." "Once a week, you sit on a couch with your significant other while she snips off your testicles, reaches up inside your chest cavity and goes like this:" "To your heart." " That doesn't sound very good." " Oh, it's horrible." "But it's won'th it because you're paying a stranger to watch while your life goes down the toilet along with your money and your house and your car and every last shred of your self-respect!" "You know, maybe you're not the right guy to ask." "Oh, no, no, no." "I'm the perfect guy to ask." "Uh, when Judith and I started, ha, ha, we were just a couple with a few problems." "When we finished, I came to live on your couch!" "God bless couples counseling!" "That better not be one of my pudding cups." "Nope, ahem." " Hi, Charlie." "Come on in." " Shouldrt we wait for Chelsea?" "She's already here." "Really?" "That seems a little ambush-y." " Hi, sweetie." " You're late." "I know, I know." "I'm sorry." "But, ahem, I have a good excuse." "Happy first day of counseling." " You brought a present?" " Yeah." " Isn't that the protocol?" " No." "So you don't want this bottle of champagne?" "Bastard got me again." " Why don't we get started?" " Hold on." "Hold on." "Does the name Mandu ring any kind of a bell?" " What?" " I'm gonna kill him." "Why don't we start out with why we're here and what our goals are?" " Chelsea, would you like to go first?" " Sure." "I want to know if my relationship with Charlie can be more than sex, Tv and Chinese food." " It can." "Right, doc?" " Of course it can." "Thank you." "Well, this is good." "This is progress." "I have to say, this has been a very good session." "Where do you think you're going?" "Nowhere." "Just stretching my legs." "Charlie, before you got here, Chelsea mentioned that she feels you've fallen into a rut." " A rut?" "We're not in a rut." "Whers the last time we did something new?" "Hello." "Great." "What else?" "Uh..." "He's got nothing." "Excuse me." "If this is gonna work, you can't jump all over me while I'm thinking." " I'm sorry." "Go ahead." " Thank you." "I got nothing." "Okay, might I make a suggestion?" "Would you be willing to commit to Chelsea that maybe once a week, twice a month you do something together completely outside your comfort zone?" "Done, no problem." "So we could go to the ballet the opera, visit my parents, hang out with my brother go hiking with my friends?" " Yeah, whoa, whoa." "I was thinking more like renting a chick flick and ordering Italian." " This is hopeless." " No, no, no, there's hope." "There's always hope." "Keep hope alive." "I can do those things." "Come." "Sit." "Charlie, has it ever occurred to you that you might enjoy doing new things and meeting new people?" "I know I'm supposed to say yes, but, uh every fiber of my body is screaming, "No!"" "All right, then I have to ask." "Given that you and Chelsea are such different people why do you want to be in this relationship?" "Well because I'm crazy about her." "When I'm with somebody else, I'm thinking of her." "Not that I've been with anybody else." "Tell her, doc." "He passed up strange." "See?" "That's gotta mean something, considering how I used to, you know live for strange." "First time in the sack, she was the strange." "Charlie, can I give you my opinion as your therapist?" " Sure." " Shut up." "Oh, God, I wish I could." "Chelsea, look." "I know I'm not perfect." " Ha, ha." " Hey, hey, hey." "I'm sorry." "That was probably unprofessional." "Anyway, you need to know that you mean everything to me and I'll do whatever it takes to make this work." " You really mean that?" " I do." "Thank you, Charlie." "Well, this has been very helpful." "both:" "Sit down, Charlie." "We're not done?" "Not even close." "Oh, boy." "What else could we possibly have to talk about?" "Well, there's always your mother and that your relationship issues are linked to anger towards her as well as fear of your latent homosexuality." "It was kind of a rhetorical question." "Charlie?" " Yeah." "How was couples counseling?" "You really wanna know?" "Sure." "Tell me everything." "Ow!" "Why?" "Why would you do that?" "You know, I..." "I've been asking myself the same thing and the only thing I can come up with is, it's really, really funny." "Go ahead, yuck it up." "Those were among the worst 50 minutes of my entire life." " I told you, didn't I tell you?" " Yep, you told me." "I bet you left with your gonads in a guppy bag." " I didn't get a bag." " Going back next week?" "Uh-huh." " Hundred-eighty dollars an hour?" " Two forty." "Ooh, licensed." "You two kids will patch things up in no time." "Counseling didn't help your relationships." "Doesrt mean it won't help mine." "Right, right." "Keep drinking that old Kool-Aid." "Looking for something?" "Don't screw with me, kid." "Now, hand over the pudding, or you'll be sorry." "Have an apple." "Little turd called my bluff." "Ow!"