Charlie kept his head down as he nodded to confirm Veruca's suspicion, too ashamed to even look at her in the eye while he responded. For The Lucky Boy who won the world's greatest chocolate factory, he was fulfilled in all areas of his life except for the one part that really mattered in life, a significant other he could share the spoils of his accomplishments with. It's not that he did not try to find someone to share his life with, in fact, the Good Boy tried much more than most people to find a significant other, the only problem was that no one he shared an interest in seemed to reciprocate his feelings. In other words, Charlie had it in his heart to love, but no one was willing to love him back. Now, when it came to the two former Golden Ticket winners relaxing on the beach, the pair were walking polar opposites in many respects, and now, their outlook on this getaway could be added to the list. On the one hand, Charlie wanted to be like an ostrich and bury his head in the sand so that he would not have to face Veruca's judgmental stares for never even kissing a girl and being the total loser she always knew he was. But on the other hand, The Bad Nut surprisingly had a change of heart when it came to Charlie's timid personality, leading her to break with her default setting of mocking and degradation once again and instead she took pity on the poor boy. Something in her wanted to help him, the way one might want to help a baby bird who fell out of its nest get back up there with its mother, and that was when she took the initiative to do something so drastic it even baffled her that she even did such a thing.
Even though she knew it was just her and Charlie in this little secluded part of the world, Veruca looked over her left shoulder, then her right, and asserted, "Well, no one's around to see us."
"So, here's your shot, you loser," she added as she playfully teased him and leaned in closer to Charlie with her eyes shut and lips puckered.
The little brute was giving the Good Boy permission to kiss her, the very thing she pushed him away for attempting to do with her after their first dinner together. Never before had Charlie had a girl so clearly and directly give herself up to him, and while such a brave move was what he always desired from a female companion, the previous confession just made this entire experience feel odd. Not just did he have no experience kissing, he had no experience when it came to being the receiver of a first kiss rather than the initiator. Nevertheless, he knew such an opportunity would probably never arise again, if he was going to prove that he was worthy of her attention he had to buck up and go in for the kiss. The Good Boy too puckered his lips and leaned in for a kiss, and it seemed that after all those years of failing to even get a girl to notice him, things were finally going to pay off, he was just a few inches away from his first kiss. But as he got closer, he realized he just couldn't do it. The stress that came with crossing the line that separated acquaintanceship and friendship with romantic partners was just too much for him to confidently cross at that moment. Charlie panicked and maneuvered away from his initial target and instead landed on one that was more comfortable for him to do, Veruca's left cheek. He thought that after all these years and attempting to kiss Veruca before he would've been ready for this moment, but as it turned out, Charlie was just not ready for his first kiss. The Good Boy quickly retracted himself back to a safe distance the moment Veruca opened her eyes and realized he went in for the friendly kiss on the cheek rather than the exceedingly more intimate kiss on the lips. And soon after both locked eyes following this awkward encounter, Veruca watched as Charlie cowered and buried his head in shame, while all she could do was roll her eyes at this loser.
The power and confidence Veruca wielded at that moment stood in sharp contrast to Charlie's passive nature and reserved personality. And, just having had experienced the Good Boy wuss out from what could have been his first kiss only made the little brute's sense of superiority grow as she knew she never would have reacted like he did, and then she went onto grill him for his shortcoming, claiming, "No wonder you still haven't kissed a girl, you cower even when they're literally giving themselves up to you."
"I know, I know, I'm bad at these things," Charlie affirmed even more ashamedly, speaking as he buried his head even deeper in his arms to avoid having to face his fellow Golden Ticket winner.
Continuing to watch how more and more pathetic Charlie got every second only served to make Veruca more frustrated with her inviter, she just couldn't let the fact that he was so bad at interacting with potential romantic interests go unchallenged, so much so she added to her taunts, "Bad at these things? Ha, that's an understatement. I still can't believe you've been able to make it this far in life without even being able to confidently talk a woman."
Now, while Charlie had clearly failed to live up to the expectation of a man laying his eyes on something he wanted and proceeding to fight for what he desired and was now paying the social price for it, he still had a problem with what The Bad Nut claimed to be his history with women. And even though he did nothing when Veruca berated him for cowering instead of kissing her, an opportunity to defend his honor was enough to coax the Good Boy out of his shell and proceed to clarify the little brute's claim, stating, "That's not entirely true, I have had some experiences talking to women in the past...just not any that turned out great."
Unsurprisingly, Veruca had a hard time believing the Good Boy on this front. Nevertheless, he had told her outlandish but amusing stories before, so she decided to prod some more and see what she could get out of the Good Boy telling her more, asking, "Really? Alright, so tell me about these experiences of yours. What was your first time talking to a girl like?"
It wasn't just that The Bad Nut wanted some sort of proof that Charlie was telling the truth, she really just wanted to listen to gossip, especially the kind that made the individual in question look foolish, in other words, the kind of gossip Charlie in the ashamed and reserved state he found himself in was all too willing to tell her. Now, the reality was that if Charlie told her every single detail of what had occurred in this particular scenario, Veruca would immediately figure out what, and more importantly, who he was talking about and most likely storm off in jealousy and probably commandeer the Great Glass Elevator and take it back to Britain out of anger, leaving Charlie stranded in Mexico. Therefore, the Good Boy decided to take precautions and masked the truth behind this particular encounter as he revealed, "Well, the first experience of talking to a girl that I can remember was when I was ten. I was visiting a…botanical garden, I suppose."
"Visiting a botanical garden? Like on a school trip?" Veruca asked, trying to piece together an image of the place this supposed encounter took place.
It seemed that Charlie's use of vague language worked, the little brute had bought into the scenario he had described, and he continued to propagate that misleading assumption Veruca conjured up by replying in a monotone voice as he stared off beyond his guest, "Yes, yes, like a school trip."
The heir managed to snap out of the trance he had gotten himself into and got his mind back on track when it came to recanting a diluted version of the events he was reminiscing about before sharing them with his guest, adding, "Anyways, we were released to explore the garden by our tour guide, and I had a run-in with a girl I thought looked pretty. I tried talking to her by asking her something about herself, but all she did was call me a loser."
"I learned a lot about myself at that moment, actually. My heart didn't like what she said to me, but another part of me did…and now that I'm hearing myself say this out loud, I think I should leave it at that," Charlie amended at the end after almost giving Veruca, and himself, too much of an insight into his psyche when it came to relationships.
Now, apart from the fact that his story conjured the mental image in Veruca's mind of puberty hitting the Good Boy like a ton of bricks, it was nothing short of a look into the life of a little masochist that the brat did not fully understand what to take from such a story. But the thing was that the little brute was still not impressed with what he had told her. While the brat could spend the rest of the day telling Charlie about all of the guys she chased during her teenage years to more recent times, and the whole night about the hearts she had gleefully broken, the fact that Charlie's story lacked anything notable and worthy of discussion frustrated her. And, like always, she voiced her discontent with what had been presented to her, jeering, "So, that's it, just a girl taunting you? That's the farthest you've gotten with a girl? Surely, there must have been somebody else in your life who had an interest in you that you could have at least seen yourself with."
Fortunately, Charlie did have another experience that might suffice, unfortunately, it was one that he was not exactly keen on revealing, but that did not mean that he was averse to finally owning what had happened in front of another person.