Charlie and Veruca's dinner had yet been brought out for them to enjoy and their conversation seemed to have reached an impasse; there was only so much about your past you could recall right on the spot, let alone tell another person about without having to also recant a litany of things in order to establish a backstory. Up to this point, there were no real surprises in what each of them had said; Charlie had grown up to have the many responsibilities needed to run the chocolate factory whereas Veruca grew up without responsibilities and continued to throw fits in order to get what she wanted. The only thing that really changed for The Bad Nut was that her father occasionally told her "No" to what she wanted, yet it all depended on how he felt at the moment and whether or not the cost of doing so outweighed the benefits. But even though such a paradigm was still beneficial for the little brute seeing she could still get most of what she wanted by whining, the problem was that when you lived in a world where not submitting to her rule and obeying every command was the same as if you were against her, as Veruca did, Mr. Salt might as well have abandoned her on the front steps of an orphanage, in her eyes. He failed to so what a Daddy must do, give her whatever her heart desired; but, in reality, she was mistaken, a father's job is to raise his kids to be well-adjusted and productive adults and it would not be too difficult to argue Veruca was not that, so at least both of them could agree that Mr. Salt had failed at the most important job he'd ever have. But, that was enough about the child-rearing methods used on Veruca, what mattered now was continuing their dinner conversation which had stalled, luckily, Charlie came prepared for when such an event occurred. He pulled out a small piece of paper he had folded into four pieces from his right pocket of his pants and opened it up, revealing a list of items he had written down in blue ink. The items were a list of icebreakers for a stumped conversation like this one, and there was no better time to keep the conversation moving than after Veruca's latest outburst.
Clearing his throat and lifting the hand-written list up to his chest to get a better view of it, Charlie turned his attention back to his guest, and said, "I took the liberty of researching different topics for discussion before coming here. I actually found a great list of suggestions on an article about great first date questions, believe it or not."
Those last few words sent Veruca's stomach descending down a garbage chute of its own, she did not sign up for what it seemed Charlie was insinuating, and she let her discomfort be known, bellowing out, "This is not a date, what are you talking about?!"
"I didn't say it was a date," Charlie responded, beating his eyes side to side as soon as he realized the way he described the source of his notes made it sound to Veruca that he thought they were on a date.
But it was too late for Charlie to try to remedy the situation, in the brat's eyes he was already knee deep in lies about his wonderous past with the deranged Willy Wonka and now he had the audacity to try to seduce her. She watched as the heir twitched uncomfortably when confronted about the nature of the points he wrote down, and even after he denied thinking of their dinner together as a date, she continued to press him on the matter, asking, "Then why did you look up first date questions?"
"No...I was looking for regular dinner conversation starters and ended up finding these by mere coincidence," Charlie revealed, his open-palmed hands up next to his chest to demonstrate he was not a threat, or a manipulator.
It seemed like Charlie was rather sincere in his explanation, so Veruca decided to stop accusing him of having some sort of hidden agenda, but not before scolding him about the status of their relationship, stating, "Just so you understand, this is not a date of any kind, it was never intended to be, nor will it turn into one. You got that?"
Charlie nodded in agreement with his lips pursed, all wide-eyed and submissive to his bratty guest, and as he seemed to sink into the safety of his sweater vest, he began speaking in a quiet voice about what exactly he had researched which seemed to have gotten him in trouble in the first place, whispering, "Well, one of the suggestions on the...list...was that we play a game of Two Truths and a Lie. Would you like to initiate, Veruca, or do you want me to go first?"
Both intrigued and disgusted by Charlie's fear of her, Veruca agreed to start off the game, but not before voicing her frustration with him, growling, "Ugh, I'll go first."
The little brute repeatedly tapped her chin with her right index and middle fingers as she thought up three statements for the game before coming up with her responses, saying, "Alright, I spent the summer when I was 14 traveling across the European Mediterranean coast, I was a professional ballerina with the Dollinger Ballet Company and I once got in a fight in a Manhattan night club with another woman that ended up dying."
That last part about someone dying in a fight quite frightened Charlie even more than he was already, what kind of mind would come up with such a twisted idea, he thought. Although, he didn't want to seem like any more of a coward than he actually was in front of Veruca, so Charlie began pondering her three statements out loud in hopes of identifying the lie.
"Mmm, I can see you taking such a breathtaking trip, so I'll say that the first one is true. Now, the ballet...," Charlie stopped and thought to himself in order to ensure Veruca couldn't uncover what he really thought, that she didn't have the discipline for such a career, only then to return speaking out loud, "...but, then again, why would you admit you were involved in a crime."
Out of those last two options, Charlie couldn't tell which one was the lie, he couldn't believe the second one but he didn't want to believe the third one either. In the end, the Good Boy chose to see the good in another person, and responded, "You know, this is a tough call, but, I think it's clear that the third one is a lie."
Veruca just sat back and watched as Charlie struggled to unravel the sordid details of her past, but seeing as how he'd made his decision as to which statement was false, the brat just smirked back, revealing, "Interesting choice, but wrong. I traveled along the Mediterranean coast when I was 13, not 14."
As it turned out, the first option, the one Charlie was certain was true, was technically the lie, and the other two were truths. The little brute, who at her worst caused migraines in everyone else in the room where she was throwing her tantrum in, had really taken the life of another human being. The tension between the two of them rose as the atmosphere in the room shifted, and with fear striking at the core of Charlie's heart, so he leaned over to Veruca, and whispered, "Wait, so you...killed someone?!"
For a second, the brat's face looked more like you were accusing her of shoplifting instead of murder, and her reaction was even more odd, retorting, "What? No, the coroner couldn't conclude the cunt died because of me!"
An awkward silence descended over the two of them; Veruca's rebuttal was not really a denial, it was nothing more than a statement saying a legal loophole was the only thing in between her freedom and a prison cell. Even though that whole episode of Veruca's past was an accident, Charlie was almost too afraid to talk now, before, her rage seemed to come from a place of entitlement, but after hearing what she was capable of, her bursts of rage took on a more sinister tone.
With that said, Charlie tried to shift the conversation, or lack thereof, away from this horrendous revelation to something more appropriate for the dinner table, like Veruca's other revelation, treading carefully into a new dialogue and asking her, "So...you say you were a ballerina?"
"Well, you finally ask an interesting question," Veruca replied as she straightened herself in her chair as she was actually intrigued by this topic of discussion.
"Yes, I had been taking ballet classes since I was six, likewise for horse riding and polo. After I started drifting away from professional modeling, Daddy got me a position with Dollinger. I was in New York at the time and I didn't want to leave, so I thought performing on stage was the best option to stay."
The more Charlie studied Veruca, the more he could believe she was a former professional ballerina. Veruca had been rather tall for a nine-year-old when she went on the tour of Wonka's factory, she even stood a tad bit taller than Charlie, and now at 24 she was only about two inches shorter than the heir to the Wonka empire. Both Charlie and Veruca were above average in height, aided by their possession of extra-long limbs, but the physical similarities stopped there. While Veruca's muscles appeared toned, following years of intense workouts associated with the grueling training it takes to become a professional ballerina, Charlie was just gangly. The most exercise he ever did was lift cylinders of chemicals to pour them into beakers and spoonful's of new candies into his mouth.