The Candymakers' Gala was the grandest guise, the highest to-do event of the year wherein the world's sugar entrepreneurs filled an entire grand ballroom, peppered with celebrities and news reporters from around the globe – an event so gaudy seemed incongruously paired with something and whimsical as candy. The event took place in a grand ballroom, complete with a central grand staircase and a chandelier. The entire venue was decked out for the day with rich colors and plush fabrics.
A soda pop fountain flowed at the same table as the chocolate fondue, and every glass was laced with sugar crystals – it was dentist's worst nightmare, and frankly, no one knew that better than Willy Wonka. Every year, it amused Willy to no end how – though no one knew – they attempted every year at this event to recreate what they probably assumed his factory would look like.
This year, however, Willy appeared and took no amusement at the contraptions the gala's facilitators managed to cook up, and he merely shuffled about to make the necessary niceties – it did not evade Willy that the same colleagues who in all the previous years had seemed to grovel at the recluse's feet now looked at him with the utmost pity, though none of them spoke of it. Every pat on the back or firm handshake held the message, 'It was nice knowing you, Wonka.' The only thing that made the entire horrid ordeal even worth the shame was the fact that Charlie, at the very least, had come along with him and held him with complete reverence. Now it was only Charlie who didn't seem to disdainfully notice that Willy was the most colorful character in the room, the only break from the flat muted hues that surrounded them.
Thankfully, Willy was given at least a momentary reprieve from small talking with his colleagues when a familiarly tall, svelte redhead took to the center podium. Shay was clad in an overly bejeweled, steel grey gown and a ridiculously tall hairdo, styled in a fashion that made it painfully clear that she was new money with the means to do so, yet no one seemed to mind. She tapped on the microphone and cleared her throat, placing a saccharine grin across her cheeks.
"Good evening," she said in a faulty attempt at sounding regal, "the owner of Scoopreme Sundaes on Delaney Street was scripted to be your master – or, mistress – of ceremonies this evening." Shay paused and allowed for the statement to sink in, fully aware that everyone expected Alyssa to be in her place. "And here she is!" she finished finally with a flourish. "Miss Cabot unfortunately will not be joining us this evening, but, as I'm sure my associate, Cullen Calloway, would say, the show must go on," she giggled with a sort of nonchalance that Willy of all people could tell was feigned. "I welcome you all, and I'll leave you to enjoy the refreshments until the presentation of the awards."
And just as easy as that, the room returned to its previous bustling. Willy had just gestured to Charlie that they step aside for a bit of air, only to find that they were stopped halfway across the room by none other than Cullen Calloway, dressed monochromatically as usual. He gave Charlie a toothy grin with oddly raised eyebrows, and the young boy gave an uneasy gulp.
"Mr. William Wonka," Cullen grinned stiffly, offering a hand for a handshake as Willy winced at being referred to by his given name. "Cullen Calloway."
"Pleasure, always a pleasure," Willy said casually, reverting back to his presentation-only half-smile.
"It's good to know you're not a sore loser, William." Calloway guffawed, pulling back his hand and crossing his arms, puffing himself up haughtily. "It appears my new formula has them hooked."
"Indeed," Willy grinned, though a glance at the side of his face made it clear that he was smiling with great concentrated effort through clenched teeth. "I don't suppose you'd be interested in swapping recipes over tea?"
"Going down with a laugh," Calloway chuckled shaking his head, taking a step away from Willy to leave now that he'd done his intended deed of riling him up a bit. "Humor's a good trait to have. You're a good man, Wonka," he huffed somewhat condescendingly as he turned on his heel and walked away.
"Only wish I could say the same, Calloway," Willy chirped in a sing-song voice under his breath. He looked down at Charlie, who still looked a bit perturbed at the encounter, and the two continued their trek outside. When the two arrived at the main entrance hall, however, they were met with a rather unexpected sight: a small girl dressed in a candyfloss pink party dress was twirling around in front of the large mirror situated by the entrance to the ladies' lounge.
"Kellie?" Charlie called out, the girl grinned, running over and hugging the boy, then Willy in turn – this, no doubt, was the first time this evening Willy was actually glad to be greeted by anyone. "What are you doing here?"
"Uh –" Kellie said, thinking for a brief few seconds, then grinning at the two with a tiny twinkle in her eye. "I just thought it would be fun," she giggled, digging the toe of her patent leather shoe into the carpet. "I've never been to a party like this before!" she yipped, give a whimsical little spin in her dress.
"You know you can't be in here by yourself," Willy said, raising his eyebrows knowingly, though the look was void of any annoyance – quite the contrary, he was glad to see someone being truly genuine in this place. Heaven knew he hadn't yet tonight.
"Oh, but I'm not!" Kellie said excitedly, though when she realized what she'd said, her eyes went wide and she clapped a hand over her mouth, glancing briefly over to the ladies' lounge. Seeing the girl's wandering gaze, Willy had every intention of asking about it, but Shay's voice once again was heard from the inside of the ballroom, signaling the start of the awards presentation, and tactful etiquette required Willy to be present. Kellie wrinkled her nose in amusement, and Willy felt a stab of affection for the fact that Alyssa had a habit of doing the exact same thing, she always had when she knew something that no one else did. The little girl pushed Willy and Charlie back into the ballroom, just as the awards started being present.
Willy obligingly tipped his top hat and gave a few polite golfclaps at each award presented – he silently mused about golfclaps, and the fact that he'd never played golf, because it was terribly boring. Terribly.
Quite similarly to this ceremony, he mused also.
It was all the same business as Willy had heard at this place every year, and only now was he realizing how pointless his presence seemed to be.
"And finally," Shay said, her smile widening into an all-out beam as she placed a large crystal statuette onto the podium, taking a card from beneath it, "I'd like to present the most prestigious award of the night – the Ambrosia Award, which will go to the top seller of the year from the entire candymaking world. And the award goes to –" Shay paused, as though there could be any question as to who the winner would be. "Cullen Calloway!"
The room erupted in hurrahs and cheers and haughty claps and whoops as Cullen Calloway stepped up to the podium, the perma-grin still locked inextricably onto his face. He took the award and gave Shay a wink, then tipped the microphone upward to say the usual, trite words of gratitude that everyone knew he didn't feel.
"Mr. Calloway," said a grinning young reporter in the front row of the crowd. 'What is it about Calloway Chocolates that keeps everyone coming back for more?"
Calloway chuckled heartily into the microphone and clicked his tongue, winking at the crowd. "Magic, I suppose – don't you watch the commercials?" he joked, leaning forward onto the podium and making himself comfortable and basking in the attention, purposefully giving a cocky glance in Willy Wonka's direction. "And the thing about magic is that I really couldn't tell you –"
"Oh, but I can."
The attention of the room was shifted to the source of the voice, standing at the top of the grand staircase. A woman dressed in a royal purple, floor-length gown, with her hair upswept smoothly at the nape of her neck had entered, and immediately had the room enthralled. She was obviously from a family of influence, and had a fair bit more class in her upbringing than the woman who'd been hosting the event thus far – indeed, Shay looked at the woman with an expression of mixed surprise, revulsion, and humiliation as she realized how very foolish she must have looked, coifed like an overgrown peacock. Cullen's lips tightened as he stared at the woman who had dared to interrupt his moment of glory, and his grip on the podium tightened as he realized who the woman was – she looked quite different when she was cleaned up.
"Miss Lyssa!" Kellie cheered jovially, jumping and waving her arms in the air as Alyssa began to descend the staircase – she gave Kellie a pearly grin and a wink as she passed.
Willy had unknowingly had his eyes trained on Alyssa from the minute she first appeared on those stairs, and he couldn't help but feel his stomach tighten at how stunning she looked, however simple her appearance may have been. He allowed himself a momentary lopsided grin at the idea that perhaps his own favorite colour had influenced her choice of attire. He couldn't speak to her, his pride would not allow it, but looking as grand and elegant as she did, and bearing the expression he had always come to – to love – his heart gave a long-suppressed kathump-kathump as he realized that in this moment, he couldn't for the life of him muster an ounce of anger towards her.
Alyssa stopped just short of the stage where the podium was situated, looked Cullen Calloway briefly in the eye with a small devilish smirk, and turned toward the anxious audience. "Ladies and gentlemen," she said, her voice carrying clearly throughout the room, and Willy mused at how well she had remembered the things she had been forced learn at the charm school of Oscar Jarvis Academy. "Calloway Chocolates do indeed have a secret that keeps you coming back for more, but I can assure you, it's not magic. Mr. Calloway, it appears, has made an incredibly daring business venture," Alyssa said, stepping aside slightly and briefly gave Cullen a sidelong glance – he now looked as though his collar was a bit too tight, his jaw was clenched and he was practically petrified at the podium. After a good while's pause, Alyssa opened her clutch purse and pulled out a small vial filled with a bright green liquid and held it up to the audience. The room seemed to hustle to stand on its toes and see.
"This is the secret to the success of Calloway Chocolates," she said, her voice rising in volume to make sure it fell on no deaf ears. "It is an insoluble nicotine based compound not divulged on the label: very addictive, and very illegal," Alyssa said, her voice turning sharp at the very last word to make sure the point was piercingly lucid. A collective gasp ran through the room, and the crowd compacted in order to hustle closer to Alyssa. Kellie gave a yelp as she was pushed along about because of her small size, but Charlie managed to take a hold of her hand to make sure they didn't lose her.
Willy stared on with an unreadable expression, brow furrowed and lips slightly parted – he knew why Alyssa had done this, but now that it was done, he could hardly bring himself to admit that he had been wrong in underestimating her character. Willy very much disliked being wrong, even more than he hated being interrupted.
"You have all been subjected to drug exposure," Alyssa continued, and eyes shifted angrily towards Calloway, who's eyes darted around as he seemed to be looking for somewhere to run, only to find that every path to the exit was covered by the swarm of people now completely focused on Alyssa Cabot. "As we speak, steps are being taken with the Food and Drug Administration toward a total recall of all Calloway products," she said, then looked back at Cullen with a tiny smirk, "Along with total reimbursement of all customers, out of the pocket of none other than Mister Calloway himself, who will face a formidable fine, and the possibility of incarceration." Alyssa paused and stepped up onto the small stage and pulled the statuette out of Cullen's hands with a mighty tug, then looked at Shay, who looked at Alyssa with a look of complete humiliation. Alyssa gave her head a slight, nigh imperceptible shake, then nudged her way past Cullen to the microphone at the podium.
"Therefore," Alyssa said, making sure she still had the room's rapt attention. "It is my pleasure to present the Ambrosia Award to its rightful owner for the seventh year running, the highest grossing seller by scrupulous means," she paused, and gave a glance at one person in particular clad in the purple coat she had very much been fond of. " –Mister Willy Wonka."
The crowd erupted into victorious cheers and Willy, after a brief incredulous pause at the night's turn of events, strode up to the stage and to the podium. He placed his hand on the base of the crystal statuette, a grin spreading across his face, but as he looked Alyssa in the eyes, it finally hit him that he could not have done this without her. He could no longer blame her, he decided, for a mistake that she had now more than atoned for. Willy gathered up his resolution in that tiny millisecond and leaned forward to kiss her – even Willy, the recluse that he was, didn't give a damn that the press was having a frenzy clicking photos at the four on the stage: Willy Wonka, Alyssa Cabot, Shannen O'Shaugnessy, and Cullen Calloway.
Alyssa's gaze, however, fell away timidly and before Willy moved more than an inch closer to her, she turned and slowly began to walk away, an action which Willy did not understand. Before he could think to stop her, however, Cullen Calloway blocked her way, his face stiff and blank. Behind the podium so no one could see, Calloway took a firm hold of Alyssa's forearm, staring down at her.
"You're a foolish woman, Cabot," he seethed.
"And you're a penniless man, Calloway. I do hope you brought your checkbook," Alyssa smirked, pulling her arm away from his grasp and glancing out at the audience, which resembled a pack of lions, ready to pounce. "It appears some unhappy customers want their money back." She gave him a sardonic wink, quite pleased at the sour glare on his face, and cocked her head upwards, brushing past him.
As the crowd began to close in on Calloway, Alyssa attempted to scuttle away for the door, only to be stopped yet again by Kellie and Charlie, both looking incredibly pleased by the turn of events.
"Miss Alyssa," Charlie said with a polite, grateful smile, and she couldn't resist the urge to kiss the sweet angel of a boy on the forehead. He was so kind, she thought, and so strong to maintain his kindness in the face of all the things surrounding him.
"Oh, Charlie!" she doted, giving the boy a warm hug with one arm and gracefully embracing Kellie with the other. "It's so good to see you again. Congratulations on your big win," she beamed, her laugh tinkling pleasantly amidst the noise.
"So things are going to be normal again, aren't they?" Charlie asked expectantly, and Alyssa felt a bit of her heart drop a Charlie continued with so much hope in his eyes. "You and Mr. Wonka are going to make up, and you can come back to the shop, and –"
"Charlie," she interrupted gently, and at this, both Kellie and Charlie looked at Alyssa in surprise and disappointment. "It's too late, Willy and I, we can't – I did this because it was the right thing," she finished, forcing herself to look calm for the children's sake regardless of the fact that they were asking her the very same questions she'd been asking herself for a few days now.
"But, he'll want you to come back, I know it!" Charlie said, his hope shifting quickly to franticness, taking a slight hold onto Alyssa's forearm. Alyssa felt a bit yanked on from both ends as Kellie did the same on her other arm. "And ma misses having another woman to talk to, Grandpa Joe misses having someone to play poker with – everything's okay now! How about yours and Mister Wonka's invention –"
"It's not that simple," Alyssa sighed, attempting to keep her attitude up regardless of the fact that the disappointment in these two wonderful children's eyes was starting to tear away at her. "Things are never that simple."
"Oh, aren't they?" came a bright voice behind her, the one person that stood a chance of breaking Alyssa's resolve to stay away. She turned around, and found that Willy, with the statuette still in hand, had managed to tear away from the photographers and meet with the others in the middle of the ballroom, away from the hullabaloo of the crowd haranguing Cullen Calloway.
"Willy," she said, unable to resist from smiling a bit at the proximity between his wonderful purple coat and the purple dress she'd chosen for the evening because it seemed appropriate. She blushed a bit, and murmured, "Congratulations."
"Thank you," he said, tipping his top hat and taking her hand quite endearingly. "And, not just for the congratulations."
"I was just doing the right thing," she repeated, still smiling, but reluctantly sliding her hand gently out of his. "Please don't thank me, I've done a lot I ought to be sorry for –"
"I think you've done enough," Willy interrupted with a mild chuckle, raising a hand gently to silence her, and quite effectively doing so. Alyssa wasn't quite sure what to think – her plan had consisted of Willy still being angry with her, refusing to speak with her. Not this. "You've left your shop," Willy said, rather than asking. Alyssa merely smiled and nodded.
"It was time," she said simply. "It just wasn't right anymore."
"Then what is right, at this particular point in time?" he asked with a small grin, a twinkle reappearing in his eye for the first time in a considerable while.
Alyssa opened her mouth to answer but found she had nothing to say that fit along with the way she had planned for this evening to go. She glanced up at the grandfather clock in the corner, then down at Kellie. "I ought to get you back home, it's awfully late for someone so young," she said.
Kellie looked at Charlie, then between Willy and Alyssa with a bit of sadness in her eyes.
"But Miss Lyssa, I want you to go with Mister Wonka," she pleaded, wide eyes batting directly at Alyssa, who felt it stab her to the very core. She sighed, kneeling down in front of Kellie.
"A lot of things are going to happen now – I need to stay here," Alyssa said. "Mr. Calloway isn't going to let us off easy, I need to make sure everything's alright."
"But Mister Wonka would make everything alright…" Kellie said, though a slight yawn betrayed that fact that she was indeed very tired and needed to go home.
"I know he would," Alyssa said knowingly, glancing up briefly into Willy's eyes. "But I want to make things right for myself first," she said. Alyssa pursed her lips in anticipation, not really wanting to see what response would elicit from Willy, but he merely nodded, the twinkle in his eye saddening a bit. "When the time is right," she said with a simple nod before taking Kellie by the hand and walking the sleepy girl back out to the car.
When the two had left, Charlie looked up at his mentor. "Mister Wonka?" he asked, his voice laced with concern. But before Willy could even feign the response that he felt fine, Cullen Calloway ran brusquely past them towards the exit, pausing only for a moment to glare at the two before making a getaway from his former doting colleagues.
"Come on, Charlie," Willy said, placing a hand on Charlie's shoulder, though the glance at Calloway's retreating silhouette mirrored the concern he held for whatever was coming. "We have a lot of work to do."
A/N's
My gosh. That was one of the most difficult things to write so far, and it took a few tries to get it just the way I wanted. But it's finally here! Aren't you proud? I also like this chapter because it's one of the few where I actually write out one long, continuous scene. And it's long - a good thousand words longer than many of my other chapters. Hee!
iCraft, I hope I'm not torturing you too much by not having Willy and Alyssa back together, so to speak, but I'll make up for it soon! Yva J., this chapter took me a bit, but I've finally restored order to the cycle of updating in the Wonka fandom, haha. I like the dynamic between Charlie and Kellie too, because they're sort of the angels on Willy and Alyssa's shoulders. Jimmy-WonderBoyOncologist, you were incredibly dead on with your prediction! And thanks to my newest reviewer, haha21. I hope any other readers out there follow suit and review as well, even if just to get your name into the author's notes. I'll try to get the next chapter up soon, but until then, cheers!