Something Sweet

Disclaimer : I do not own anything related to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. That is the property of Roald Dahl/Warner Bros. I especially do not own Johnny Deep/Willy Wonka, if I did then I would be off indulging in my little fantasies instead of writing them down here ; )

Chapter 3

The next month or so passed in a whirl of inventing and fun for Willy Wonka. Soon it was the day of Annabelle’s arrival. Despite the Buckets’ protests that he should join them, he had insisted on leaving them for the day, saying that Annabelle should meet them first.

Actually, truth be told, Willy had begun to feel quite nervous about the whole situation. He didn’t find it easy to socialise with other people. Look how long it had taken him to feel comfortable around Charlie and his family!

As he sat down on the throne chair in his office he sighed. “Mr. Mouth, what have you gotten me into?”

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It was now 6 O’clock and Willy Wonka didn’t know what to do with himself. He’d buffed his top-hat, re-arranged his desk, thought up 4 new recipe ideas and rode in the Glass Elevator at quadruple speed until he thought he would throw up. He had to admit it. He was….bored. There wasn’t even an Oompa Loompa around to have an intelligent conversation with.

For what seemed like the millionth time that day he sighed. “Guess I’d better go meet the new kid.”

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As Willy knocked on the Buckets’ rickety front door, he could hear the laughter coming from inside. “Someone’s having fun,” he muttered. Suddenly, he felt uncomfortable, as though he was gate crashing a party. Before he could turn and run however, the door was flung open and there before him stood a girl.

Willy took in her appearance. Annabelle wasn’t tall for her age, she barely came to his shoulders. She was wearing a simple white t-shirt and faded hipster jeans. Her body was taking on the curves of womanhood, although he could see that she was slim, too slim in fact, although nowhere near the starved look Charlie had had when he first met him. She was pale skinned like Charlie too, but Willy Wonka knew that he of all people had no right to criticize anyone for that!

From this quick once over, Willy could see that she was quite pretty. It was her hair however that he noticed the most. Straight, shiny and very dark, it fell just past her shoulders. He found himself wanting to touch that hair, to twist it around his long, gloved finger and see if it would curl or fall back into place (a thought he quickly pushed out of his mind). That hair, it reminded him of someone. Someone he’d known long ago.

*FLASHBACK*

Thirteen year old Willy Wonka put the finishing touches to the Valentines card. Holding it up, he admired the dark red, heart-shape he had painstakingly cut out, the soft, white lace around the edge and the neat, handwritten poem. Tomorrow he would give this very card to Abigail, a girl in his class, the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Smiling through his headgear, he climbed into bed and turned off the lamp.

The next day, he marched up to Abigail and presented her with his card. She read, flicked her long, dark hair and fixed her blue eyes on him. “I don’t want your stupid card metal-mouth!” she sneered. And she ripped his loving prepared card into tiny pieces. Then, seeing the hurt on his face, she laughed and all Willy could do was stare into those cold, blue, mocking eyes…..

*END FLASHBACK*

“Mr. Wonka, right?” Willy jumped, startled out of his flashback by Annabelle’s voice. Fearfully, he stared her in the face and…relaxed. For it wasn’t Abigail’s eyes that stared back at him, but Charlie’s - warm, sincere and soothing as a cup of cocoa.

Without warning, Annabelle began pulling his arm. She was surprisingly strong for such a small person. And surprisingly chatty (although so were the Oompa Loompas. Honestly, sometimes those guys never shut up!)

“I’m so happy to meet you, everyone’s been telling me so much about you. Thank-you so much for letting me come live in your factory Mr. Wonka, can I call you Willy?” Annabelle babbled. Stunned speechless by this ball of energy, Willy Wonka simply let himself be led into the house, to greetings from the entire family.

A/N So that’s Annabelle! Next chapter, uncomfortable silences and is Willy becoming enamoured with a certain aspect of Annabelle?

I’m almost finished correcting Chapter 4 but I want to know what people think so far before I post. So REVIEW please! Even if it’s only a sentence long it still makes me so happy! :D