Chapter Eleven
All day Willy and Cherie avoided each other. Even though they both had admitted to each other that morning that they liked each other, they both knew they would have to talk. Willy wanted to postpone that talk for as long as he could and Cherie was not really avoiding him, just was really busy with trying to make sure the factory was really back in action after the long hiatus.
It was kind of the end of the day and Willy was still working in the inventing room with an oompa loompa that was helping him. His body was doing his work, but his mind was on the future conversation. He was about to add a mixture to his candy when the oompa loompa stopped him. Willy looked down and placed the mixture down.
"Oops, guess that would have made quite the explosion. Sorry about that," he said adding the proper mixture to the candy. The oompa loompa just looked at him and Willy sighed.
"It's Cherie, I told her I liked her this morning, and she said she liked me, but we didn't have time to talk about it. Now I am worried about having that conversation because I'm not good with expressing how I feel," he looked at the oompa loompa and nodded, "I know I shouldn't be worried since she already said she liked me back, but I'm still nervous…I mean, what if she only likes me as a friend? She never did specify that it was or wasn't in a friend way," again he looked at the oompa loompa again, "but that can't be right, right? I mean when you go to the trouble to tell someone you like them it usually isn't in a friend way, it's something more, and something more is good, very good. So I don't have to worry, in fact I'm going to go find her right now."
Willy nodded to himself then put down his clipboard and quickly left the room. A few moments later he stuck his head back in and the oompa loompa looked at him.
"You're very good, ever thought of being a shrink?" he asked. The oompa loompa shrugged and Willy repeated the action and left to search for Cherie.
There was a mountain of paperwork that Cherie was buried behind. It was all papers on shipments of ingredients, shipments on their candy, and other various things. It all just added up and she was getting tired of all of it.
Willy walked into Cherie's office that he had made for her and saw her furiously writing. She looked up when he walked in and started digging around some of the papers and getting up.
"We need to talk," said Willy smiling at his realization he had earlier.
"Oh good you're here," she said walking to him and pretty much ignoring him, "you need to sign all of these and the need to be in the mail A.S.A.P."
"Cherie did you hear me?" he asked.
"And some of the oompa loompas said that there were some problems in administration but it was fixed and right now fudge mountain is looking more like fudge hill," she said moving back to her seat and back to her paperwork.
Willy looked around and then walked over to Cherie and pulled her up out of her seat.
"Um, yes?" she asked confused. Willy placed the papers she gave him back on her desk and then smiled.
"Come with me, you need a candy break," he said pulled Cherie to the elevator and they took it to the chocolate room. Cherie smiled at him and grabbed a few pieces of candy before they sat next to each other on the bridge with their legs hanging off of it.
"Thanks I needed to escape the paper mountain that was growing on my desk," she said as she bit into a candy apple.
"I wish there was a candy I could invent that would help you with those papers, but I'm afraid the best I can do is let you have a candy break," he said as he ate some chewy spree.
"That's fine by me," she said and they fell into a comfortable silence. Cherie was just listening to the calming waterfall and swinging her feet when a thought came to her.
"Hey Willy does any of the sugar from your other creations in the chocolate room ever fall into the river?" she asked turning her head to look at him.
"All the time," he said smiling, "it's actually what sweetens the chocolate."
"So all these other flavours get into the chocolate?" she asked. He nodded.
"It's what makes it special."
"I thought the waterfall made it special."
"Well, that too." Cherie smiled and they fell back into a comfortable silence. Cherie finished her candy apple and closed her eyes and breathed in all the scents in the Chocolate Room.
"Well I should get back to work," she said opening her eyes and looking at Willy and sighing. She made a move to get up when Willy stopped her.
"Wait," he said and she stopped her movement and looked at him.
"Hmm?" she asked.
"I want to talk about this morning," he said slightly nervously. Cherie settled back down on the bridge and smiled at him.
"What about this morning?"
"Well, the 'I like you' part. Is it just 'I like you like a friend' or something …else?" he shifted uncomfortably. Cherie took a while to respond and Willy feared the worse before she started talking.
"Ever since I met you, Willy, growing up together, I have always liked you as a friend," she said pausing purposefully to mess with him as his head fell. "And when you blurted out your feelings for me, since I have grown up with, I know what you meant behind it. You didn't mean you liked me in a friend way, correct?" Willy simply nodded his head. "Well, when I responded I simply said 'I liked you too'. Thus leaving it open to all possibilities."
She was drawing this out just to see the reaction will would have when she finally said,
"Willy, when I said 'I like you too' I meant it in your terms. Which means, I love you."
Willy's head shot up and he just stared at her, mouth open ready to respond with nothing coming out.
"You don't have to be too shocked," she said crossing her arms and glaring at him, "you are kind of the only guy I'm around, besides the oompa loompas."
Willy shook out of it and then grabbed her and pulled her into a hug. She laughed and hugged him back.
"So we're good?" she asked, "because I really have to get back to work."
"Right, the paper mountain," he said nodding. Cherie sighed and nodded and got up.
"Dinner?" she asked.
"Of course," he said. Cherie nodded and headed towards the door.
"Cherie!" came Willy's shout from his position now standing on top of the bridge.
"What?" she shouted back with her hand on the door knob.
"I love you too!" he shouted. Cherie smiled and nodded and quickly left. Willy smiled to himself then walked down the bridge and picked up a nearby candy cane and started doing a little dance around the chocolate room.
He had just finished a twirl with his cane when he landed in front of a oompa loompa who was tending to the chocolate river. The oompa loompa stared at him and he stared right on back.
Willy cleared his throat and straightened his vest and hat and looked at the oompa loompa.
"Right, back to work," he said and quickly left the chocolate. Well that was embarrassing.
Finally that mountain of paper work had dwindled down into nothing. Cherie had finished each and every piece of paper work, except for the things Willy had to sign, and was happy to be done for the day. She closed the door of her office and turned to see an oompa loompa walking up with a red wagon full of papers.
"Just put it in my office," said Cherie sighing before walking down the hallway. It was still a little early for dinner but she wanted something to drink so she went to the kitchen to find quite the sight.
"What are you doing?" she asked as she crossed her arms and leaned against the door frame with an amused smile on her face. Willy turned around from stirring a pot and she got full view of what he was wearing. His gloves were gone as was his jacket, his sleeves were rolled up and he was wearing a frilly housewife's apron.
"Making dinner," he said gesturing to himself. Cherie just burst out laughing and moved to sit down at the table.
"Cute," she said.
"Wait!" he exclaimed then rushed over and pulled her chair out for her.
"Oh, why thank you monsieur," she said as she sat down and he pushed her chair in.
"Dinner should be ready…soon," he said as he went back to stirring the pot.
"And what is for dinner?" she asked pouring herself a glass of water from the pitcher on the table.
"Spaghetti," he said as he moved to strain the noodles in the sink.
"Well it smells delicious," she said.
"Why thank you," he said moving the now strained noodles to the sauce that he had been stirring. He mixed up the noodles with the sauce before putting some into two bowls, topping with cheese than placing a bowl at the two spots on the table. He took his seat and Cherie just stared her bowl of food before bursting out laughing.
"What now?" he asked as he about to dig in and getting a little depressed that she kept laughing.
"It's just, when you said spaghetti I was expecting, well, spaghetti noodles," she said as she twirled her fork in and held it up and inspecting the noodles which were all different sizes and kind of lumpy.
"I made them myself," he said.
"How did you make the noodles?"
"I hand rolled them, isn't that how they do it?" Cherie laughed again.
"Stop laughing at me!"
"I'm sorry, but you are too adorable. Usually they have this machine that cuts the noodles or they roll up the dough and cut thin slices, not hand roll them."
"Oh."
"But I'm sure it still tastes great."
Cherie gave a reassuring smile and took a bite that was on her fork. She then closed her eyes and smiled.
"And?" he asked.
"It is better than good. Thanks Willy," she said.
"No more laughing at me," he said taking a bite as well.
"I'm not laughing at me, I'm laughing with you," she said.
"Right," he said. Cherie just smiled and continued to eat her dinner.
A/n: Thank you for reading, reviews are welcome and a new chapter will be out soon.