Rising Dawn (Willy Wonka X OC)

Chocolate

"You mean you can eat the grass?" Charlie asks, amazement in his voice, disbelief in his eyes.

Mr. Wonka nods. "Everything in this room is eatable. Even I am eatable, but that, my dear children, is called cannibalism, and is, in fact, frowned upon in most societies. Yeah." I giggle and clamp a hand over my mouth to stifle the annoying trills. Mr. Wonka smiles in my direction and distractedly waves his hand in the general direction of a majority of the beauty. "Enjoy!"

Everyone scatters. Everyone but me. I'm much too frozen with awe to do much else but gaze around at the incredible feats around me. Mr. Wonka stands not far from me, doing much the same. I study him silently, seeing the way he fiddles with his cane and surveys everything with such pride. He turns to look at me, so I look away, pretending not to have been watching him.

He takes a few steps toward me and leans in, taking on a very conspiratorial tone. "So, what did the Gloop do?"

I huff out a little laugh and shake my head. "Nothing, don't worry about it."

"Oh, but I know a murderous glare when I see one. And you, milady, were staring 18th century France at the boy." He smiles knowingly at me. His shoulder brushes mine, and out of instinct, I lean away. Mr. Wonka doesn't notice, just continues. "I should like to know so I don't make the same mistake he did. I don't have the protection of youth, you know. I don't want to be found belly up in the chocolate river." He snickers, more to himself than to me. "So tell me, dear lady, what did he do to anger you so?"

"Well..." I hesitate. Should I tell him? Would it be ratting the kid out? What will Mr. Wonka do? I banish the questions from my mind before they consume me. "If you must know, he was extremely rude to Charlie. He offered Charlie some chocolate, then recinded the offer, laughing the whole time. That boy is rotten, just like the others here."

Mr. Wonka has an agitated frown on his face and a furrowed brow. His hands are clenched into fists and he looks at me with sincere eyes. "I am terribly sorry that happened. I apologize with everything in me, really."

"It's not your fault. I'm kind of over it now, so...Thank you, though!" He nods, still appearing to be deep in thought. I pace a few steps to a tree neaby and put a hand on it. If it weren't for the rich chocolate color, I might think it was a regular tree. I still can't wrap my mind around the fact that everything here is edible.

"Break off a piece. Try it!" Mr. Wonka looks at me, smile returned to his face. He nods to the tree encouragingly.

I shake my head and look down, stepping away from the tree. I wrap my arms around myself in a defensive gesture. "No, I don't think I will."

"Whyever not? It's delicious!" His face falls, slightly offended, hurt curiousity in his eyes like asking his best friend why they just hit him.

Charlie wonders by, hearing part of the conversation and answering, "She doesn't like chocolate. I think she's crazy." He puts a sliver of chocolate and marshmallow into his mouth and runs off to explore more of the sugar landscape.

Mr. Wonka's mouth falls open as he looks at me with incredulous disbelief. Great. Now he's going to think I'm some brat like that Mike kid. I jump to my defense. "It's not so much that I don't like chocolate...I just...just..." I shrug and hug myself tighter. My eyes don't leave the ground. He can't know. He'll think I'm a weirdo. A poor, cave-dwelling weirdo.

Mr. Wonka closes the distance between us and tentatively, gently tilts my chin up. His fingers are warm and his touch is like butterfly wings. Heat sears my skin were he touched me. "Just what?"

"Just...I've never...never had chocolate before."

He looks surprised, not disgusted or pitiful. Just surprised. His eyes bore into me as if I'm the only person with answers that he desperately wants. No. Needs. He steps back and spies Charlie picking chocolate flowers from a bush and clearly enjoying them. A thought occurs to him. "And Charlie? He hasn't had-"