A/N: due to popular demand, here's the second chapter! once again, comments and kudos are greatly appreciated but absolutely not mandatory. just makes the effort worthwhile and makes me feel nice.
There was a note stuck to the front of the double glass doors and her bus wouldn't be back for another half hour. The part of Marceline that didn't have any dignity kind of wanted to text Keila to pick her up, but she knew she'd never hear the end of it. 'Did you actually go back just to see the cute girl?' was something Keila would definitely say, followed by 'Oh my god you're such a useless lesbian' when Marceline told her that yes she'd gone back to the mall with the sole purpose of to talk to the woman with the pink hair.
The plastic bucket in her hand was more of a strategic plan, go in with the 'free refills' to scout the situation out. See if pinkie really was flirting. Marceline had her doubts on the entire situation.
Just as she was about to turn and leave, however, the lights in the store came on and Marceline found herself pressing her face against the window like a… well, like a kid in a candy store, to be honest.
The pink haired woman came out from the staff only door and Marceline watched with wonder as she hung her apron up on the hook next to it. Then she turned and spotted Marceline gawking.
"We closed a half hour ago," She greeted as she stepped out of the store, locking the doors with a key card that she then placed in her bag. "So did most of the mall, actually."
"Yeah, I know. Didn't know if you stayed open longer or not," Marceline replied before she remembered her strategic plan. "I wanted a free refill. And a name, maybe?"
The woman narrowed her eyes. "Bonnibel, why?"
Marceline stared at Bonnibel, taking in her pale blue eyes and equally pastel pink hair. Now that they were outside of the store, in more decent lighting, Marceline assumed that they were a similar age. At first she thought this girl was much younger than her because of how soft and youthful she looked.
"Curious is all. Marceline," Marceline breathed with a scratch of her head, stretching her other hand between them and smiling when the other girl shook it. "I guess I'll head back home, anyway. You're open tomorrow, yeah?"
Bonnibel nodded once, but caught Marceline's wrist before she could leave. "I'd hate to have you come all this way for nothing," There was a slight hesitation then, as Marceline glanced at Bonnibel's fingers gingerly wrapped around her wrist and the pink haired woman bit her lip in thought. Marceline wanted to tell her that she actually lived nearby, that she didn't mind waiting for the bus, but the other woman's grip on her wrist was tight and the look on her face was determined. "I'm going home myself, to make more candy for the store, would you like to join me? There might be promise of more popcorn if you play your cards right." She threw a wink in.
"Popcorn sounds convincing," Marceline said hesitantly, a grin appearing on her face. "But how do I know you're not some murderer who's planning on stabbing me?"
"You're a good three inches taller than me and I work in a candy store, Marceline, I'm pretty sure out of the two of us you're more likely to be the murderer." Marceline's name sounded sweet coming out of the other woman's mouth, something that made Marceline shift uncomfortably. The lining in her stomach popped and fizzed. "Also, if I were to kill you I'd have done something to the candies you bought."
"Touché, I'd like to know why you make candy yourself, surely you'd want to work for your own company?"
Bonnibel's brow arched and they began walking to the mall's car park. Marceline felt a tiny bit stupid carrying around the empty plastic bucket and discarded it in the bins near the entrance. "Wouldn't you like to know?" Bonnibel teased as they walked. "I'll tell you soon enough, only if you stick around though."
That was cryptic, but then again according to Keila everything that Bonnibel had said to Marceline the previous week had been coded words and hinted flirting. It made her brain hurt just the tiniest amount to think back and wonder if that were true.
She held the door open for Bonnibel and watched as the other woman strode up to a bright yellow beetle parked neatly near the entrance. It almost made Marceline laugh because oh yes that's of course what Bonnibel the candy store worker drove and why was Marceline expecting anything else?
D
Bonnibel Sugar lived in a tiny little cottage on the nicest part of town Marceline had ever seen. The older woman had learned of her (frankly fitting) last name on the car ride to their destination, and Bonnibel had rolled her eyes when Marceline began laughing at the revelation.
"You don't have anywhere to be tomorrow, right?" Bonnibel asked lightly, taking a key out of her back pocket to unlock her front door. "Making sweets and pastries isn't quick." She added on at Marceline's frown.
"No, got fired from my last job because apparently I was too grouchy." Marceline hunched over herself then, remembering the conversation she'd had with her boss.
Bonnibel raised her brow ever so slightly but said nothing more, instead opening the door and letting Marceline slink inside before her. The walls were a pastel shade of pink, as to be expected with a woman called Bonnibel Sugar who worked at a candy store and had pink hair, and Marceline's eyes widened when she was ushered into the living room.
"Are those vinyls?" She asked. Of course she already knew the answer, yes they were indeed, because Marceline had a collection in her apartment and oh goodie Bonnibel was into 60's music too.
"Do you want anything to drink before we begin?" Bonnibel sang as she stepped through another door into the kitchen. "You can put something on, if you like."
"Tea, please," Marceline replied in an equally singsong-y tone, thumbing over the numerous albums and pausing over one in particular. Bonnibel asked her if she wanted any sugar, to which Marceline replied with her usual 'just one' as she put the vinyl in the record player and placed the needle down delicately.
"Looky over there, sunshine in her hair
That's my girl, her name is Skooby-Doo."
"I can't believe you have this album," She breathed out in a sigh when Bonnibel brought her her drink and led her into the kitchen. Ingredients were already out; sugar, more sugar, syrup, evaporated milk, cream, butter and vanilla extract. Marceline squinted at the syrup. "This looks particularly unhealthy."
Bonnibel giggled. "We're making toffee. Just a batch, because they take an hour and this recipe serves sixty."
"The last time I had toffee was eight years ago," Marceline admitted, watching as Bonnibel began to gather a medium-sized pot and a tin from her cupboards.
"Can you grease this?" Marceline was offered the tin and a stick of butter that looked already worn down, and she obediently got to work with greasing the entirety of it. She still watched Bonnibel begin to pour in ingredients to the pot now on the stove, though. "The thing with this recipe is that you have to be patient," Bonnibel explained. "Can you pass me the candy thermometer?"
"The what?" Marceline asked incredulously, butter still held loosely in her hand.
"It's near the vanilla extract, I'll need that too." Marceline definitely felt a few hundred miles out of her comfort zone, yet that didn't stop her from staying up with Bonnibel until the wee hours of the morning.