Chapter Three
"What note?" asked Cherie as she jumped trying to reach the suitcase that was on a shelf in her closet. She wasn't short, she was average height, but that wasn't tall enough to reach the suitcase.
"I left you a note when I left," said Willy as he reached up and took the suitcase down and she took it and brought it over to her dresser.
"Where did you leave the note?" she asked zipping open the suit case and throwing some shirts in.
"On your pillow, next to you," he said looking towards her queen sized bed, the same one from five years ago.
"Well I never saw it," she said throwing bottoms in.
"Maybe it fell," he said and got down on his hands and knees and started looking under her bed. Cherie threw the rest of her clothes into the suitcase with a few pairs of shoes. She left the room and got her toiletries before returning an seeing Willy straighten himself out again and brushing off his brown pants.
"Find it?" she asked closing her suitcase.
"No," he said.
"Well, we should go, I don't want to keep you from your shop any longer," she said. He nodded and took her suitcase down stairs. She grabbed her stuffed animal rabbit before pausing. She sighed and got on her hands and knees as well. She climbed under her bed and searched around till she saw something on the wall. She was now completely under the bed now when she saw a piece of paper on the wall. She grabbed it and shoved it into her pocket before crawling out and leaving her house; well it wasn't hers for another nine months.
Things were silent in the cab as they made their way back to the shop. Cherie kept her hand on her pocket making sure she didn't lose the note. She began thinking about living with Willy, above the shop. It was weird, how long she had tried to just see him and now she will be seeing him everyday just like when they were young. That's when she realized something.
"Hey, Willy, where am I going to stay?" she asked looking at him. He gave her a smile that was laughing at her.
"In my apartment, of course, silly," he said muttering the last part even though Cherie was but a few inches from him and could clearly hear.
"But, to my understanding, there is only on bedroom, which is yours," she said.
"Yes, the apartment is a one bedroom, one bathroom apartment, but isn't it really the owner who gets to decide how many bedrooms their place has. One bedroom could have a stove in it, or be long an narrow that could lead to every other room in the house," he said kind of thinking off to himself.
"I am not sleeping in a hallway bedroom," said Cherie.
"Course not. You'll be in a living room bedroom. No one ever goes in there anyway. And," he said putting a finger to his nose, "sofa bed."
"I didn't see a living room when I was in there," said Cherie trying to remember if she ever saw one.
"It's at the far end of the hallway, bit of a weird lay out, but it's there," he said then leaned forward towards the driver, "if you could pull around back please." The cab driver did just that and they got out, Willy taking the suitcase. They made their way up to the apartment and Cherie found her way to the living room was now her bedroom.
"See I told you it was here," he said putting her suitcase off to the side.
"I never doubted you," she said running a finger over the TV set and looking at her finger and rubbing the dust off.
"Sorry, but I must return to my shop," he said.
"It's okay, go, I have work to do with this room anyway," she said.
"If you need anything, you have full permission to come down and visit me in the back," he said smiling before leaving. Cherie looked around the room then walked to the sofa and took the cushions off before pulling it out into a bed. She sneezed at the dust that flew up and looked at the bed.
"Lots of work," she said.
The living room was now clean and Cherie had made her way to the shop. She looked around and saw a few workers here and there.
"Good afternoon miss, I was wondering when you would be coming in," said Joe, an elderly worker who was her favourite here, well besides Willy.
"Hello, Joe. I always love how that rhymes," she said smiling at him.
"We are a bit busy today, but I'm sure you can find something new to taste," he said.
"I bet I will, you should get back to work though, the shop is really busy," she said. It was the time just as kids got out of school so it was filling up. She made her way to the back doors and went through and just as she appeared on the other side one of the cashiers came in right after her, all guns blazing.
"You again? I told you, Mr Wonka never sees the customers and you aren't allowed back here," said the cashier, a red headed girl who looked to be about a few years younger than Cherie. She had been a pain for Cherie in the past and was someone she didn't want to deal with right now. She also had a bit of a high pitched voice so her yelling at Cherie had gotten the attention of everyone in the back, which included Willy who walked over.
"What's the problem?" he asked smiling and winking at Cherie, knowing full well what the problem was.
"I'm sorry Mr Wonka, but one of your customers here has come back here when the door is clearly labelled, 'employees only'," said the cashier.
"Tell me, April," said Willy reading her name tag, "how do you know she is a customer?"
"Because she comes in here every week."
"How do you know I didn't hire her?"
"Er…well…I don't," she stuttered, "did you?"
"No," said Willy.
"So then she is a customer," said April.
"No," said Willy still smiling.
"I don't follow sir. If she isn't a worker and she isn't a customer than what is she?" she asked.
"Everyone can I have you attention! People!" he shouted to his workers who quieted and looked at him, "this here is Cherie Woods, our one and only VIP."
"A VIP?" asked Cherie looking at him.
"She can come in here anytime she wants and she can have any candy for free," he went on to saying.
"I can?" she asked shocked.
"Why her?" asked April crossing her arms, "she's nothing special."
"Oh, but she is, I've known her since I was five," he said simply, "Okay back to work." Everyone went back to work, not caring about this new VIP and April huffed before leaving back to her post.
"Willy, did you really mean I can have any candy for free?" she asked following him as he went to inspect some large pieces of pulled sugar.
"I am your guardian so as of now anything that's mine is also yours," he said.
"No catch?"
"Well you Will have to continue to be my taste tester," he said.
"I'm down," she said and he gave her a confused look, "I'll do it," she re-iterated. He 'oh'ed then went back to inspecting the sugar.
That's when Joe ran in a flurry and said they were out of chocolate birds. She decided to take this a cue to leave seeing how busy everything was.
That evening, after a dinner of chicken and a salad, Cherie sat there thinking about everything that had to happen.
"We have to have a funeral," she said after a while of them being silent. Willy was reading the newspaper, which was an interesting sight for her, and lowered it when she spoke.
"Of course," he said.
"It should be this weekend. I know who all her friends were, I can invite them, and there is already a spot next to my father ready for her," she said while looking down at the table.
"But your father died in France didn't he?" he asked.
"And then cremated and buried here in England, where he was born," she explained.
"Would…would you like some help?" he asked.
"No, it's okay. I can handle it," she said. He nodded and then hesitantly placed a hand on top of hers that was resting the table. He was still wearing his gloves but she could feel the warmth through them.
She gave a weak smile to him, "I'm going to go to bed now," she said getting up. He watched her leave the room before returning to his paper.
She sighed as she grabbed her pyjamas and went to the bathroom as she changed a piece of paper fell from her pants pocket and she picked it and opened it to finally read the note.
Dear Cherie,
Thank you for all you have done for me, not just this past week, but for the entire time I've known you. You have been my only friend and I know I can trust you with this information. I will be going to Switzerland then Belgium. I will become a famous chocolatier as soon as I possible can. Once I have enough money I will open up a shop back in our hometown.
Wait for me, I promise to be back, and once I am we can go right back to being friends. No, wait, we will still be friends, even with the distance. Also tell your mother thank you, she always acted like my mother as well.
Your friend,
Willy.
After reading this Cherie couldn't help but break out into tears. She tried to hold them back but the timing of everything was just too much. She broke out into sobs and leaned against the sink to support herself.
"Cherie?" asked Willy who had been walking to his room when he heard her start crying. "Cherie? What's wrong?" There was no response, "I'm coming in." He opened the bathroom door in haste and saw her there with tears down her face. He also noticed she was holding the note he left her.
Willy pulled her into his arms, despite the fact that he didn't like to be touched, and held her as she cried. Cherie was in a daze as she was led from the bathroom, down the hall, and onto her sofa bed. He tucked her in and stayed with her she fell asleep.
She had her head resting on his shoulder and her hand on his chest, her other hand was curled into her and was clutching the note. Noticing she was asleep, Willy carefully moved his way out from under her and took one last look at her before going to his bedroom.
He had changed so much. Before he was young and fun loving, curious and innocent. Now he was distant and strange, older and wiser, but he knew that even after all these years, he was still her only friend and now her only guardian and it was his duty to look after her and lighten her burden. There was no way he was going to let her organize this funeral so he picked up the phone and began to make a few phone calls.
A/n: I am currently working on a picture of Willy Wonka how he appears in the book, and then I will work on one of a younger Willy Wonka. I will post those on my deviantart when I am done, if you can't wait to see a younger version you can see exactly what I had in mind of doing (except not digital art) under my favourites on my deviantart (link is on my profile).
Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. Reviews are welcome, next chapter soon. And all that jazz.
-Charlotte