As far as he was concerned, it seemed that the more and more Charlie spoke, the more he kept stepping in it, he just could not keep himself from saying something that upset Veruca and risked ruining the fragile relationship he had formed with her over the past month. However, notwithstanding the revelation Charlie made about her bodily augmentations, Veruca did not actually mind having her physical appearance being mentioned, after all, that was the true reason she worked out and took great care of herself, for the world's attention and approval. Nevertheless, the little brute could recognize the consternation her jokes had on the Good Boy, he seemed downtrodden and confused after having been humiliated into submission by the little brute. So, she leaned in closer hoping some of what the Good Boy craved the most, intimacy between the two of them, would help settle things down. Veruca wrapped her right arm around Charlie's neck and rested her head on his left shoulder, signaling him to reciprocate which he expectedly did. The Good Boy gently wrapped his left arm around the little brute's tiny waist and pressed her closer to him, all the while still moving incredibly slow and carefully to make sure he did not touch her in a way that would upset her and cause her to go off on him, but even then it was one of the greatest feelings Charlie had ever experienced. The Good Boy felt so fulfilled when he held the little brute in his arm, her body felt firm but soft, and it allowed him to experience something he had been deprived of for years now, human touch. The feeling of touching someone else, and more importantly, someone else touching you, does wonders for a social species like humans, and Charlie was finally able to relax knowing he too had gotten to experience this phenomena that he had been deprived of for so long but seemingly everyone else had already experienced. And so, the little brute's plan seemed to have worked, she got the Good Boy to stop fixating his perceived failures by simply letting him embrace her, which was nothing more than an elaborate way of saying sorry for humiliating you without having to admit that she was wrong for having done what she did, meaning they both got what they wanted out of the situation.
And in another win for the little brute, the Good Boy did not much care is she apologized verbally or through any other means, he knew it was against her nature to even acknowledge that she had made a mistake, so just as long as she showed some sort of remorse, such as with her embracing him and her willingness to communicate like she did soon after, asking, "Charlie?"
"Yes, Veruca," the heir replied, turning his head to make eye contact with his fellow Golden Ticket winner.
"Now that we've spent so much time and gone on interesting journeys together, I was wondering, where are you planning on taking this relationship?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, seeing as how I thought Kerry Ganger was too meekly for me, what are you going to do to keep things lively between us, and are you even up to the task? It is like when your friend questioned us at dinner, what is the nature of our relationship?"
The more Charlie thought about it, the more Mr. Villareal's confusion began to fester in his mind too, what was the nature of his relationship with Veruca? They had grown comfortable with each other over the last month and were now spending a lot of their free time together, but what were they? Perhaps the answer would come out naturally the more time they spent together, and luckily, Charlie already had plans for that in mind, explaining, "I just thought we could do things together, like what we're doing here. We can do the occasional out of this world thing as well, but this way we don't have to stress ourselves out."
The Good Boy's not-an-answer answer rattled the little brute the wrong way, she did not see how his plan answered her question, and as she contemplated it over once again, she realized something was off in Charlie's reasoning, he said his plan wouldn't stress them out; stress ourselves out or stress himself out, she thought. She had heard of his type before, they did not like external stimuli getting out of hand, and what kind of partner could he be if he stopped pushing the limits after a certain point, especially after taking a ride in a flying glass elevator to get way across the world less than a month after reuniting? But the thing was that she knew exactly what kind of partner the Good Boy would be, and so she told him without holding back, "That's what I thought. Do you know what your problem is, Charlie? You're a wimp, inexperienced with women and a goodie-goodie."
In any other scenario, such a description of him by a woman would have told Charlie to quit trying to woo her and move along, however, as with all things Veruca, there were always twists and turns about, and this time, without turning to make eye contact with the heir, she added, "But, in my experience, maybe a bloke like you is what I need in my life this time around."
Just listening to Veruca accept him with all of his flaws was music to Charlie's ears, that first statement was enough to get him to excuse whatever verbal smackdown she would engage in or temper tantrum she would throw after making such a confession to ensure that the Good Boy would not think she had gone completely soft. But surprisingly, she did not engage in any of that nonsense, she just went on to explain why the Good Boy's personality was not all that bad, claiming, "And I guess I could always just redefine your personality in a more positive light. You're not a wimp; you're just not going to rush into doing something stupid. You're not inexperienced with women; you're just not going to cheat on me because I'm the best thing that has ever happened to you."
"What about goodie-goodie? Let me guess; I'm a pure, noble and honest man in a dark world?" Charlie proposed enthusiastically, seeing as the little brute left it out of her explanation and he was eager to see how she would make this aspect of his personality seem positive.
Unfortunately, that was not meant to be, the little brute struck down Charlie's explanation and spoke bluntly, replying, "No, you're just a goodie-goodie, there's no way of getting around that."
"Oh, and speaking of goodie-goodie," the heiress added as she processed to get up from the sofa, kick off her shoes, strip off her socks and sit on the opposite side of the sofa, resting her tired, bare feet on Charlie's lap, only to then bark an order at him, "I want a foot massage while we watch the film. I'll let you pick it out, though."
The brat's idea of fairness would have been comical if it were not just another piece in a long line of making others do things that, in the end, only benefitted herself. Even after she tossed the television remote over to Charlie, she immediately began wiggling her toes to get his attention down to her unrubbed soles. But as was to be expected, Charlie did not hesitate to give into Veruca's requests and began to massage the little brute's right foot with his left hand while he used the remote to search through the mass library of a streaming service to pick a movie to watch with his right hand. A couple of the movies appealed to Charlie's taste, but every time he thought he landed on a winner he would hear the little brute moan and sigh, signaling she didn't want to watch that movie, something which immediately threw the idea that Veruca would let him pick the movie they would watch together if he gave her a foot massage out of the window. But, in the end, that was not all that surprising, the brat wasn't just going to let someone else choose how she was going to spend the next two hours of her life, even if she agreed to a different set of terms just a few minutes ago; she had to take control of every aspect of her life if she was going to feel comfortable and stay calm. The two eventually agreed on a movie to watch, a drama based on the true story behind the creation of Peter Pan and the relationship its author, J.M. Barrie, had with the boys who inspired him to create the iconic character. Charlie very much liked all the emotional aspects of the movie, he found himself tearing up when something depressing would happen, while Veruca simply agreed to watch this movie because she liked the artwork on the menu page and found herself rolling her eyes whenever the Good Boy began crying.
With the movie having started, Charlie's hands were free to go all in on giving Veruca a foot massage, and while most people would have hated to have to give one, especially if they were manipulated into giving one like he was, the Good Boy more than accepted his fate and began giving the Bad Nut's feet his full attention. There was something about the whole ordeal that he found so alluring and he quickly got into rubbing her feet with his hands. Charlie got a little too into rubbing her feet with his hands, Veruca thought, but then again, she got a foot massage out of this whole ordeal, so she was willing to look past the Good Boy's bizarre fixation with here soles if it meant she would get to relax even more. Now, Charlie continued to give Veruca the foot massage she so wanted until about thirty minutes into the film when she grew bored of it and chose to sit up straight on the sofa, only to later begin leaning on Charlie's side as the two continued watching the movie.
They were now over an hour into the movie, and it was past sunset, the only significant source of light was the one emanating from the television, and Charlie began embracing Veruca tighter to him, something she did not care all that much for much, yet she did not resist, she even leaned back some more. The heir turned to face his fellow Golden Ticket winner and saw just how nice she looked, she was so peaceful, so relaxed just watching the movie. Both of them were well relaxed as they cuddled on the edge of the sofa watching the movie, but Charlie wanted to do something else, something more meaningful. Veruca's face was right next to him, but it might else have been on the other side of the Atlantic ocean if the Good Boy used the feeling of butterflies in his stomach as a metric of what to do next, but Charlie learned that he had to overcome his fears to get what he wanted, and that is what he did. The Good Boy straightened up from his spot on the sofa and leaned in closer to the little brute, planting a single kiss on her right cheek. There was something about kissing Veruca that just made the butterflies in Charlie's stomach go away, unfortunately, it looked as if the good feelings were not mutual. While Charlie had conquered his fear of kissing Veruca's cheek and the butterflies were gone, Veruca, on the other hand, looked like she was irritated. She turned back to face the Good Boy and gave him what appeared to be a disgusted look, raising her nose up to her brow and rolling her eyes at him once again.
As far as he knew, Charlie thought he had crossed another line with Veruca and he knew he had to respect her wishes; he pulled back away from her, even letting her free from his restraint and grew that much more distant from her. The little brute noticed this and could tell how disappointed the Good Boy was that he could not express his affection for her and after seeing how her reaction might not have been appropriate to what she was trying to express she cleared up her thoughts on the matter, telling him, "I didn't say my spoilt arse didn't like it."
Not since he first set foot inside the wonderous Chocolate Room had Charlie's expression changed so rapidly; one second, he seemed disconnected from the world and the other his eyes lit up after getting the green light to continue his displays of affection. He did not understand why Veruca acted the way she did, but he did not really care, he knew she was difficult to understand but he also knew that was what he signed up for when he became a part of her life. Charlie once again cuddled with Veruca on her sofa and began giving her kisses on her cheek, something the little brute actually enjoyed when she got used to is because it meant she was to the Good Boy what she wanted to be the most, the center of attention. Each kiss demonstrated how much Charlie wanted to be with Veruca, each kiss was so passionate, so endearing, but also so juvenile. The gentile pecks on the little brute's cheeks were less like those of an adult smooching his significant other and more like those a child might give another child while the two of them hid inside the tube slide or another secluded part of the playground where they escaped the observing eyes of the adult responsible for their safety.
In fact, Charlie and Veruca might very well have been the same kids who won tours of Willy Wonka's chocolate factory once again, only for the two of them to hide behind one of the candied hills in the Chocolate Room, away from everyone else's prying eyes, and have the Lucky Boy begin kissing the Bad Nut's cheeks. Albeit, in that scenario, Veruca would have to have been the one to drag Charlie behind the hill and tell him that she wanted him to kiss her, after assuring him that she did not take him to this secluded place to beat him up, because the Good Boy never would have had the courage to go up to the little brute and ask her if she would be okay with him kissing her. But regardless of all that, the two adult Golden Ticket winners just leaned back on the sofa and enjoyed their time with each other, with Charlie stroking the locks of her hair that drooped over his left shoulder and her right cheek which she rested on the aforementioned spot, both acts which Veruca graciously took part in without any of her typical hesitation or frustration.
The movie wrapped up soon after, yet Veruca did not adjust herself, she kept on resting her torso on Charlie's left arm. And once the film credits began to roll, she then turned her head over and the Good Boy smiled back only for her to straighten her head to face towards the balcony and the view of South London, and declared, "You know what, Charlie? I really liked this film."
"I know, right, it's really good."
"Yeah, but, that Barrie and the little boy, Peter. I don't know, something about them just felt so…familiar."
Charlie guessed Veruca was referring to people she had met when he was not a part of her life, not that they had had all that many shared experiences to refer to anyways, because he could not think of anyone who reminded him of the aforementioned characters. If he was forced to make a comparison, Barrie's playful nature and glorification of childhood reminded him of Willy Wonka and his outlook on his career and life, but he was still stumped on who the boy, Peter, reminded Veruca of. Yet, that was all just a theory the Good Boy concocted using the few people he knew as references which his fellow Golden Ticket winner, someone who was much more social and thus knew more people than he ever would, would also know. But since there was no way of knowing who the characters reminded her of, and more importantly, he could not find a similarity between Barrie and Peter and people that he knew, all the Good Boy could do was simply respond, "Huh, I don't see it."