Most places around the world have their local foods and Coolsville was no exception. Their local food of choice was the meatball and the most popular brand was CoolBalls, run by the Dinkley family since the early 1940's; in the 1960's they had branched out into pastries with the launch of 'Dinkley's Dunkers' coffee and doughnut shops. The business had seen its ups and downs but CoolBalls had remained loyal to Coolsville and Coolsville had remained loyal to CoolBalls. Meatballs and doughnuts were in the Dinkley's blood declared Mr Dinkley to anybody who would listen, Velma insisted it was just plain old B+ in hers as her interests lay more in mysteries than marinades but despite her protestations she found herself working Saturday morning, behind the counter of all places. Working behind the till meant she had to wear the uniform. It had taken her mother half an hour to tempt a reluctant Velma out of the restroom; finally she succeeded by laying a trail of mystery themed novels from the restroom door to the till. Velma looked out of the window at the bright sunny day she was missing; there was only one thing that could make this day worse.

"Like let's say hi to Velma, she must be really bummed out that she had to work today," said Shaggy as they walked down the street to where the main Dinkley's Dunkers shop was. They went inside and were surprised to see Velma working behind the counter rather than in the office.

"Nobody says anything and nobody gets hurt," said Velma looking at the rest of the gang as they walked up to the counter "I'm only wearing this as we're short staffed today." Her regular outfit having been replaced by a white tailored 'Dinkley's Dunkers' t-shirt and a pair of candy-pink slacks.

"What would you like?" said Velma looking at Shaggy.

Shaggy didn't say anything, he just stared at Velma. He'd heard rumours that it was possible for her to wear clothes other that the regular sweater/skirt combo but hadn't thought he'd ever see it in his lifetime.

"Four coffees and a large mixed selection box Vel, we'll eat in so we can chat with you," said Fred while Shaggy continued to stare.

If Shaggy's behaviour was lost on Fred and Scooby it didn't go unnoticed by Daphne and especially Velma. She was keenly aware that Shaggy was looking at her, looking. Not just the usual pointing eyes in her direction but directly at her. There was something in his gaze which made her feel unsettled but not in a creepy way. Velma desperately hunted for a better adjective, naughty… no, noticeable… better. Desirable? Velma's face began to grow warm; she suddenly became very interested in organising some paper napkins, all the while giving Shaggy furtive glances and the odd shy smile.

Shaggy managed to make his way to the table without any conscious involvement of his brain which was entirely fixated on Velma and despite her distracted state Velma succeeded in completing their order. Velma first carried over a tray with the coffee and cups next a box full of doughnuts. Shaggy was quiet when Velma brought the coffee over, even quieter when she brought the doughnuts.

"Still with us Shag?" said Daphne.

"Emm, yeah, just emm, just like looking." Shaggy couldn't take his eyes off Velma as she walked back to the counter; the uniform seemed to accentuate her curves. A uniform which had up till now only been associated with sugary treats now began to associate itself with a different kind of treat all together.

"You want frosting with that?" said Daphne mischievously, Velma was over moments later patting Shaggy on the back as he coughed and spluttered. When his coughing fit had passed Velma rested hands on his shoulders gently stroking his back with her thumbs. Fred, Daphne and Scooby chatted while Shaggy and Velma stayed in a little world of their own.

Shaggy's mind began to travel through previously unfrequented parts of his subconscious clutching the image of Velma in her 'Dinkley's Dinkers' uniform. The destination was a corridor full of picture frames with a number underneath, the numbers decreased as he walked down. Finally he reached the end and an ornate gilded picture frame with the number 1 underneath. He placed Velma's image in the frame and stood back to admire his work. The corridor was filled with a warm orange-red glow which slowly began to light up the rest of his brain.

At dinner that evening Velma could tell something was up, nothing bad, no one had used her middle name, but that she was soon to be on the receiving end of some big announcement from her father so prepared to put her brain into neutral. That's if he could get a word in edgeways as her mother kept asking questions about how her day at work had been and what had gone on, to whit what had gone one between her and Shaggy and was that why she'd had an ear-to-ear grin for the rest of the day. Finally her mother stopped to eat and her father saw his opportunity.

"Velma, remember you suggested that we open up stands in some of the out-of-town retail stores," Velma nodded "well we're opening a concession in FlatterPack this Monday to sell some of our most popular products."

"Can I help?" said Velma; it was her idea after all so she'd better show willing.

"Help? I want you to run it. It is a safe environment to put your business skills to use."

"It will also help you with your people skills," said her mother.

"How exactly mother?"

"Well you don't really have any do you dear," replied her mother not unkindly.

"Thanks, and on that bombshell I'll go and hang out with the gang and practice on them," said Velma collecting her dishes and putting them in the dishwasher.

"You go and have fun and say hello to Shaggy, he's such a nice young man isn't he? I hear he works at Flatterpack too, I expect you get to see him a lot more. Which will be nice for you both won't it dear?"

"Yes mother," mumbled Velma feeling her face redden; she exchanged glances with her father, that was her mother, as subtle as a brick through a window.

The FlatterPack concession duly opened on Monday with Velma at the helm and soon it was breaking all sales records, thanks mostly to Shaggy and Scooby. Even Velma began to warm to the work, secretly she had to admit that her people skills did need a bit of work but mostly it was because she could engage in some of her favourite pastimes, people watching and looking for patterns in the ebb and flow of people moving through the store. These were two things she found fascinating plus both skills were useful in mystery solving. Then there was her latest favourite pastimes, being with Shaggy, accidentally bumping into Shaggy, him accidentally bumping into her and all things generally Shaggy related. I've got a crush on Shaggy so sue me already she thought after receiving some inquisitive text messages from Daphne; it was her crush and hers alone. It might lead somewhere, it might not; but for now she was enjoying it and determined to keep Daphne getting too excited about it and ruin everything.

Shaggy himself became more dutiful, preferring to walk the store than just watch monitors; the Dinkley's Dunkers stall soon being the best guarded place in the whole state. Although he felt it a bit creepy about it he did keep a CCTV camera pointed at the stall at all times. It was nice to glance up at a monitor and see that Velma was alright. He didn't let his infatuation get in the way of doing his job, It was important to keep the store safe, as that way Velma would be safe. His boss didn't mind too much, he had a son slightly older than Shaggy and had seen him going through the same sort of thing.

A couple of weeks into her stint at the stall Velma became aware that there was a new concession about to open up near hers. Apparently it would be serving traditional foods from the FlatterPack's home country. She wasn't too bothered with that, there were more than enough people to go around and it would be interesting to taste food from another part of the world. The stall duly arrived and was set up by Fred so when Shaggy was round it was just like the regular holidays. When she found out the name, HerringBall, she wasn't too happy but one of the products on the stall menu did look like a ball so… she'd leave that to the company lawyers.

The stall opened the day after it was completed, Velma came into work that morning to find two people, one male the other female, making the final preparations ready to open. Competitors they may be but that was no reason not to be civil and polite, time for some advanced social skills practice.

"Hello, I'm Velma, Velma Dinkley I work the Dinkley's Dunkers' stall," she held out her hand.

"Sonia, Sonia Nordskov and this is my brother Rudi." Sonia shook Velma warmly by the hand as did her brother; they shared a knowing glance with each other then turned their attention back to Velma.