It seemed the Good Boy had finally admitted to himself, and someone else for that matter, that the reason he was so infatuated with Veruca was because she was forbidden. She was old money, she was crass, she, at least at first appearance, did not fear anything or anyone, in other words, the exact opposite of Charlie. Oddly enough, the heir's actions could easily be explained by invoking one of the oldest clichés about teens. The goodie-goodie nerd always fantasizes about being with the popular bad girl, but he can never achieve his dreams as a teen, it's only as an adult when the school hierarchy becomes irrelevant that the nerd can even have a chance to get the girl. Had Charlie tried to have gotten Veruca to be his girlfriend the first time they met during the tour of Wonka's factory, he would have been rejected on the spot. Had he reunited with the brat when they were teenagers, she would have sadistically rejected him in a publicly humiliating way. It is only now as an adult that a shy nerd like Charlie has enough courage to pursue his desires, but, unfortunately, wishing for something to happen, like getting the popular girl to be your girlfriend, and having something happen are two vastly different things. There needs to be consent from both parties in the relationship, something impossible when one party screams at the other because they believe the other is inferior due to something out of their control. And that there was the largest obstacle blocking Charlie's dream from becoming reality.
Sigmund continued to take notes on Charlie's case, but the more he talked about how Verruca dumped him because he was born poor, the more Charlie found himself sliding back into a depressive state, all the while leaning back into the black chaise lounge sofa as he elaborated, "It's a shame that she let herself be blinded by something as arbitrary as the class I was born into. Whenever I was with her it didn't matter that she was rich, she could've been poor, I would have felt the exact same way I feel about her. Although, if she had been born poor, I find it hard to believe she would have turned out the way she did. The first time I ever heard of her, I knew instantly that she would never survive an hour in my shoes. She got everything she ever wanted just by throwing a fit, meanwhile all I ate at home for years on end was cabbage soup. My interest had to experience a traumatic comeuppance just so that her parents could begin instilling some appropriate child rearing techniques with her. But, from what I heard, they instilled an insignificant amount and something tells me she still doesn't know the value of an honest day's work. If I had to name the worst thing about my interest, it would be her lack of understanding about how the real world functions. I know she wouldn't be able to survive on her own, but the sad truth is that underneath her rough exterior is a damaged child crying out for help. On the other hand, poverty taught me that life will hurt you, bang you up and leave bruises, but you must persevere. The only problem with that was that the opposite lesson was instilled in me. My harsh upbringing taught me that a good life can only come your way after so much hardship, giving and tragedy. I mean, imagine growing up with nothing but one day being given the entire world. Sure, it's swell that your life is no longer agony incarnate, but now your life is void of purpose as the biggest obstacle you faced every day before has been removed from your life. You have no more hills to climb or battles to win."
"That there summarizes the polar nature between my interest and myself. My love interest learned the hard way she couldn't always get what she wanted while I got everything I could have ever dreamed of, and with no more adversity to face, my schedule was cleared up for nonstop introspection about what I wanted from life. And now, my only so-called struggle is something so trivial, something so first-world-problem; I can't talk to women without freezing up or panicking internally and stumbling over my words. I embarrass myself and fail every one of those social interactions and truth be told, my initial interaction with my interest was no different either. Except, she actually did respond to my approach. Sure, it wasn't anything out of a fairy tale, she didn't gush over what I said like happens in romance films, but she did engage with my questions enough that a conversation managed to take form. That's more than what most girls have ever given me, a moment of their time," the heir added before taking a pause to truly digest what he had just told his therapist, and the longer he processed those words, the clearer his true feelings became.
"I guess that's why I keep pursuing my interest. Even the slightest bit of attention from the most uptight, self-obsessed woman is still better than no attention from women, I suppose. And sure, her bad behaviour causes a lot of problems, but..."
It was at that moment that it all clicked, the reason Charlie, the Good Boy, could ever have feelings for a repulsive little brat like Veruca. He immediately sprung up from his seat as he informed his therapist of his Eureka moment, proclaiming, "That's just it, isn't it? All I ever knew before becoming Mr. Wonka's heir was struggle and loneliness. So now that the world has been delivered to me on a silver platter, I pick the most spoilt, entitled, difficult person who will tolerate my presence for more than a minute to become infatuated with. And I do this so that I can feel like I have a purpose in life, helping my crush adapt to the real world."
Suddenly, therapy no longer seemed like some kind of Yank crackpot invention, but a helpful tool to assist the everyday person navigate the problems they face, for The Lucky Boy, and when he turned to face Sigmund with a joyful grin on his face, he let his therapist know, "You're very good."
Sigmund, a psychologist with decades of experience at this point, could tell there were deeper issues than Charlie's need to save his crush from her self-destructive tendencies to unpack, such as why his criteria for a woman he could become infatuated with included that she simply acknowledge his existence. But, as a professional, he knew breakthroughs took time and multiple sessions for his patients to come to those realizations. Therefore, he decided to take things one day at a time and as gracious as ever, he took off his glasses and nodded in response, for what he required to feel fulfilled in his profession was that his patient experience a breakthrough, and did the Good Boy experience one.
Never would he have thought that therapy would actually work, but low and behold, Charlie was able to assess the reason why he was even interested in Veruca in the first place, the catalyst for everything that had transpired in his life over the past month. Charlie's heart was so big that it wanted to help literally everyone, even those who had demonstrated that they were not worthy of other people's time, but that realization only made Charlie's heart ache even more. It did not matter how much he wanted to help Veruca if she did not want to see him again, he could love her all he wanted from a distance, but unless she knew it and she reciprocated the love then it would all amount to nothing. It would have been times like these when the Good Boy would curl up somewhere and mope in despair as there appeared to be nothing he could do to alleviate his problem, nothing but something extremely radical for the heir. But for once in his life, he would not shy away from a problem and relegate himself to living a sub-par life. Instead, he would grab the problem afflicting his life by the horns and fight it for what he truly wanted. That is how he would fix his life, by being the assertive male girls respond to.
Charlie shook Sigmund 's hands and walked down the red carpet towards the Chocolate Room with a pip in his step and a plan in his head as he made his way back to his family's shack. And when he entered his home, he spotted his concerned mentor sitting at the dining table with his even more concerned mother, who then asked him, "So, my dear boy, how did your therapy session go? I assume it went better than you expected?"
"Oh, it did Wonka, thank you so much for introducing me to this new way of dealing with my issues," the heir replied with a bright smile on his face, something neither Wonka or Mrs. Bucket had seen from their boy in a long time.
"That's great to hear! So, I'll organize a few more sessions throughout the rest of the month and we'll make adjustments as Sigmund sees fit. But, for now, let's get back to the office. I have a brand new take on Doughnut Rings I've been waiting to share with you."
"Oh, of course I'll be returning to the office now. But I have something I need to do first," the Good Boy responded as he grabbed his keys and wallet from a table near the door in preparation to leave.
Wonka watched as his heir grabbed his belonging as if he was about to head out and at first he didn't believe what he was seeing, He chose to believe Charlie was going to do something inside the factory and probed him on that basis, asking, "What is it, my dear boy? I know you have a lot to catch up on, but you can start on that after today's work."
Unfortunately, the kind of work Charlie had to finish was not of the business variety, it was personal, and it was one that neither the amazing chocolatier nor the heir's mother were prepared to confront as the Good Boy came clean with his intentions, clarifying, "No, no, Wonka, it's not work related. I'm going to go win over the heart of my beloved."
Hearing the simple truth almost felt like running face-first into a brick wall. Hearing his heir proclaim that he was going to try to woo back the same woman who cast him into a fit of depression after dumping him was not just near-stupid on Charlie's part, but a failure on Wonka's part to help him except the truth that he had to move on for his own good, which led the amazing chocolatier to blurt out, "Why on earth would you do that?"
And, as it turned out, such a simple yet complex question had an equally simple yet complex answer. Charlie had gained a new perspective on life after his therapy session, now, he just needed to turn his wishes into reality, as he explained to his mentor, "It's what I learned by talking to Sigmund. There are a series of problems plaguing my life, but I also have the brainpower to fix them. I just needed the courage to act and now I have it."
Even though his explanation made complete sense in his head, even the kooky candymaker could tell how crazy his heir's rationale was, and Wonka let him know what he thought of his plan by frantically asserting, "What, no! No! That's not what you should have learned from talking to Sigmund! That's not what you learned?"
"That's not what you told him to do, right?" Wonka whispered down at Sigmund who had followed Charlie into the Bucket's shack and was now standing right next to the amazing chocolatier. Fortunately, the therapist simply looked up at his boss and shook his head to deny the claim levied against him. But tragically, it did not take a therapist telling him he could to make Charlie believe he could, and should try to, win Veruca back. For the first time in his life, the Good Boy got a taste of the thrill that was gallivanting out and about with a girl and it was like nothing he had ever experienced before. Not even one of Wonka's zany concoctions or contraptions could compete with the ecstasy such an experience created within him. For once, Charlie felt like a normal twenty-something, going out on dates and the like, but now that that experience had been stripped away from him, he was going to do everything possible to get it back.
