Willy pulled me up, and we walked out of the Luminous Lollies Room, heading for the glass elevator.
"There is one more thing I have to check," he told me, smirking.
"What is that?" I questioned with a cocky eyebrow.
"That's for me to know and for you to find out," he giggled playfully, and I sneered at him, smiling.
We stepped into the elevator, and he pressed a button labeled Cavity-Filling Caramels.
"Really? What'd you make that for and when?" I asked, glancing at the button then back up at him.
His violet eyes rested on mine and he said, "Sixth candy I sold. No more dentists."
I nodded, figuring he made it when he was mad at his father.
As the elevator whizzed out, Willy slipped his gloved hand into mine. I smiled at the contact, and kissed his cheek impulsively. He flinched and peered down at me.
"What did you do that for?" he asked.
I smirked and said, "Just wanted to surprise you."
"You do that with everything you do already," he shrugged, still in a minor shock.
I smiled wider and said, "Good to know!"
The elevator slowed to a stop, and we entered a much smaller room with a huge manufacturing machine wrapping around the cream-colored walls. The rather steampunk-looking machine dispensed these roundish, square shaped caramels. Which are apparently meant for filling in cavities.
"How do they work?" I wondered as he trotted up to the dispenser. He picked one up and spun on his heel, showing me the chew up close.
"This clever little caramel fills up those gosh darn cavities so you don't have to get them filled in by that terribly painful procedure that dentists do," he explained, both bitterly and joyfully. "Kids also no longer have to suffer anxiety or fear going to the dentist for getting their cavities filled!"
I looked up at him skeptically, and erupted into laughter. His grin slowly fell, and he cocked an eyebrow at me, proceeding to squint in slight irritation. "What's so funny?"
I said in between laughs, "The fact... that... you made a... a candy for... dental purposes just tickles me. The irony is unreal." I exhaled a deep breath, sighing out my last giggles.
He didn't show any sort of reaction, except for a bit of irritation, turning around to place the chew back into the large basin that held the dispensed candies. He then turned around and passed me, going towards the elevator.
"Willy, I'm sorry," I said, worrying I hurt him. He then turned on his heel and looked me dead in the eyes, no humor in sight. I searched his for a moment, and, suddenly, he grinned, kissing my cheek.
"I'm not hurt by that," he whispered. "I was simply baffled with your sense of humor."
He planted a kiss on my forehead, then pulled me into a hug. I smiled and wrapped my arms around him.
I heard somebody clear their throat, and we immediately stepped away from each other, glancing around to see who it was. An Oompa-Loompa was standing there with his arms crossed, and then giggled in his high voice. I blushed, and Willy did too, swallowing his embarrassment.
The little worker walked up to Willy and handed him a little letter. Willy took it with a creased brow and asked the Oompa-Loompa who it was from in their native sign language. The worker signed back, then walked back to his assigned station. Willy thanked him as he left, not looking at anything else except the letter.
"Who's it from?" I asked, slowly walking up to him.
He opened the letter, and stuffed the envelope into his coat pocket, reading the letter silently. Willy smiled slowly, and said in a dazed voice, "My father."
"What's it say?" I wondered. He looked up at me then back to his letter, handing it to me.
"He's hoping to have lunch with us today. He doesn't have any appointments, and he wants to talk to the both of us... about us."
I grinned and handed him the letter back. "Well then, let's hop to it, yeah?"
<><><><><>
I had changed into more appropriate attire, wearing what I wore the day of the grand factory tour: my multi-colored sweater and black corduroy jeans.
Willy waited for me at the front door of the Buckets' house. I walked out the door, and greeted him with a wide smile.
He took my hand and we walked in silence to the glass elevator, Willy pressing the Up and Out button.
I gripped his hand tighter as I looked up at the fast-approaching glass ceiling. He noticed and pulled me to him, wrapping his arm around my waist. The glass shattered and I gasped when the elevator slowed down.
He pressed the button that stabilizes the elevator, and we slowly began to fly towards the lone apartment far out in the distance.
<><><><><>
Willy knocked on Dr. Wonka's door this time, clearly far more comfortable with being here than he was last time.
Dr. Wonka opened the door and smiled at our arrival. "Ah, Willy! Mary! Come in, please."
Willy smiled at him and we walked inside, still holding hands. I looked back at Dr. Wonka who looked over us studiously, glancing at our hands. Willy noticed and dropped my hand quickly, fiddling with the buttons on his cuff.
"I'm glad you two could join me for lunch." Dr. Wonka cleaned up his dental tools, then led us into a little living room. "Please, make yourselves comfortable. I will be back in a few minutes."
I looked around the room, seeing a little sofa and a leather chair. Willy pulled me over to the little sofa and we sat next to each other, but not too close. Willy and I looked at each other, studying each other's face.
"So," Dr. Wonka began, coming in with a platter of finger food. "How are you doing?"
"We are fine," Willy and I said at the same time, looking at each other and blushing as we looked away.
Our little awkward answer made Dr. Wonka chuckle. "I can see that. So I am assuming Charlie's family has moved into the factory with you?"
Willy nodded and grinned sheepishly. I smiled and said, "Willy really changed our lives for us Buckets."
"That's good to hear. I couldn't help but notice just last week that, for the first time, Willy, your candy sales were depleting. What happened?" Dr. Wonka asked him. Willy's smile fell a little and he hesitated.
"Dr. Wonka, what happened... was when we got back from the grand tour, Willy had asked if Charlie would like to leave behind his family to go live with him in the factory. But Charlie refused; he loved us too much to leave," I explained, taking a little sandwich and eating it.
Willy looked down at the floor, and said, "It hurt, hearing him not want to be with me in the factory, to not be my heir. But they helped me see that family was important, too. So I let them all come live with me."
He looked up at his father happily, beaming.
"But how did that affect your candy sales?" Dr. Wonka asked him.
Willy then grinned and said, "It's kind of funny."
He shifted in his seat and leaned forward a little, beginning his little story.
"I couldn't put my finger on why the candies were terrible. So I called one of my Oompa-Loompas down and had a little therapy session, hoping to figure it out. I told my worker, 'Candy's always been the only thing I was ever certain of and now I'm just not certain at all. I don't know which flavors to make. I don't know which ideas to try. I'm second-guessing myself, which is nuts. I've always made whatever candy I felt like, and I...'
"Then it hit me. 'That's just it, isn't it?' I had asked my worker. 'I make the candy I feel like, but now I feel terrible, so the candy's terrible.' I faced him and gave him a pleased look saying, 'You're very good.'"
I giggled at that, realizing that it made sense. He smiled at me with a sparkle in his eye. Dr. Wonka chuckled, too. "That's quite the story... er, what's an 'Oompa-Loompa'?"
Willy then went and told him the same tale he told me at the tour. I watched the two as they conversed about Willy and his factory, eating the little snacks in content.
An hour or two passed by, and suddenly, Dr. Wonka asked something I didn't expect.
"So are you two, well, dating, as the kids these days say?"
I nearly choked on my sandwich, and I swallowed down my bite with some water. Willy fought his own nervousness, and we exchanged a look.
"Well, technically, no. He hasn't taken me on a date," I said quietly, setting my water down on the little table in front of me.
"Willy..." Dr. Wonka scorned teasingly. "Don't tell me you are too nervous to ask her...?"
Willy then looked at him, and back to me. He took my hand and entwined his fingers with mine.
"We are, in a way, together. I guess..." he trailed off, looking at me with hope. I grinned.
"Yeah. We are together," I announced with confidence. "It was a decision I think we both weren't sure to tell each other, but we both felt the same."
"I'm glad to hear," Dr. Wonka said with a smile. "I know that he would want to slow down a bit once Charlie can handle the factory. I'm glad he found you. I think you are a fine young lady."
Willy gave him a look, begging him to stop. I smiled at him and back at Dr. Wonka, who grinned back kindly.
We spent a little longer there, eventually just chatting about the factory and the first tour a bit. Soon, we had to leave, and we departed from Dr. Wonka's home, wishing him our best wishes.
Willy pulled me along towards the glass elevator, and when we stepped inside, he shut the glass elevator's doors, and faced me abruptly.
"Willy?"
"Are we... um, t-together?" he asked me shyly. I grinned and dropped his hand.
"Do you want to be?" I counter, curious if he can and will be honest.
He ponders it over, pressing the Factory Return button. "Perhaps. It's still... um... weird—no, strange... no that's not the way to put it—"
"Different?" I helped, taking to leaning against one side of the elevator. "New?"
"New fits quite well, I think," Willy agreed, smiling. I grinned at his answer and peered out at the snowy ground below us.