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There was a small candy shop that she always walked by, and the scent of sugar was disgusting.
The shop itself was rather sweet, a small corner one that she saw many children enter and come out of when she was getting her coffee from across the street, and they always wore large smiles as they held small, green and yellow paper bags full of, presumably, sweets.
She never gave the shop a second thought, since she didn’t find any interest in buying anything from there. She had never had a sweet tooth before, even when she was a child. Sure, that had led to her having strong teeth with a lack of cavities, unlike any of her peers, but it had also led to a hatred towards anything remotely sweet.
That had also led to a personal preference in the people she spent her time with.
Today was however an unfortunate day that demanded her to give in and buy the candy that she so despises. Of course it wasn’t by any means something she wanted to do, but one of her coworkers had gotten on her nerves. Well, more so than usual.
And it was about such a petty thing.
He had complained about a lack of a welcoming feeling in her office. Her office at the hospital, where she was pretty sure the patients were more focused on their wounds than the atmosphere. She doesn’t snap back, but her pen seems to have lost the ability to click on and off.
Lack of a welcoming feeling.
What does that even mean?
So, despite how much she hated that comment and the implications of it, she sets out to the store with the mindset of only buying one bag of the cheapest yet welcoming sweets available, and she does exactly that.
Nothing was out of the ordinary, she kept her distance from the nosy kids, and she found a bag of very brightly colored Taffy’s that would do the job perfectly. Then she walked to the counter, and she had not noticed how pretty the worker was, nor how the room seemed to suddenly smell like strawberries and lime.
The bag of sweets is gently placed on the counter, and Charlotte hopes it’s not obvious that she is making an effort in looking away as the clerk rings up the item and asks if she wanted a bag with it, in which she responds with a quick nod. She also doesn’t try to think about how her voice sounded as sweet as the candy she was selling, and she felt sick to her stomach by the noise. She felt very bubbly, and she hoped she hadn’t caught something.
‘’You don’t seem like the type to buy any sweets.’’ The woman suddenly states, awkwardly starting a conversation that seemed to come out of nowhere. Charlotte finally turns to her, furrowing her brows as she gulps. Even if there was a distance between them, made by the counter, she felt like they were far too close at the moment.
‘’What do you mean?’’ Charlotte asks, her voice edging on sounding annoyed, and she was ready for whatever slightly racist comment to come out of her mouth. There always seemed to be a catch, so she wasn’t one to have her hopes up.
The blonde tilts her head, looking pointedly down at the buttons on the cash register, before shrugging. ‘’It’s nothing mean, it’s more like- it’s some sort of feeling I get, I guess.’’ she explains, fiddling with her hands and looking embarrassed.
She purses her lips, trying to keep the oncoming smirk away. The chances were far too slim, she had to remind herself, and the woman in front of her was not her type. Her eyes shift to the bright neon green shirt she was wearing, reading over the small tag on her chest.
Cordelia. That name seemed fitting for a store like this.
She sighs and looks at the bag. ‘’You’re right. I am buying this for my patients. The sight of candy seems to always make them relax.’’ She explains, though keeping out the part where she was basically forced to buy this, then watches Cordelia perk up with interest as she hears that.
‘’Patients? Are you a doctor?’’ She asks, though she didn’t seem shocked. Charlotte nods. ‘’Holy shit, that’s gotta be stressful.’’ she continues, letting out a very exaggerated sigh.
‘’Sometimes, though it is very rewarding.’’ Charlotte counters with a shrug.
‘’I bet’’ Cordelia responds, a rather captivating grin on her lips that keeps Charlotte looking, as she hands over the bag and smiles farewell. It was in such a sweet way, that fits the overall vibes of the store, and she wanted to hate it.
She keeps thinking about it the days that come after.
—
“Is there another shortage of sweets in your bowl, Doctor?” Cordelia asks with a grin, leaning against the counter and smiling brightly, and Charlotte’s heart flutters. She had not expected this sort of greeting on their second meeting, like they were close friends, and she desperately wanted more of it as soon as possible.
Though, she manages to keep herself in tact, nodding slightly and offering a smile right back. ‘’They surprisingly made a difference.’’ she lies to her, since the small bowl still had many pieces left. The bell above the door dings again before the blonde is able to answer, and three boys enter behind her, making her move out of the way and Cordelia light up even more.
She doesn’t know why, but she decides to look around the store with no goal in mind. She wasn’t looking for anything, but she kept stealing glances at Cordelia as she tended to those children with a smile that she wished could be hers. She shakes her head and turns to look at all the jelly hearts in many colorful jars and packages.
“Do you like kids?” Charlotte asks once the three of them are gone, wondering if there was another reason as to why she seemed to own a candy shop than having a sweet tooth. Well, Charlotte guessed that she did have one, since that would make most sense.
“No.” Cordelia responds, and by the flabbergasted look on Charlotte’s face, she laughs lightly. “I love the excitement they get at the sight of candy and desserts. It’s pure and so innocent. Everything else is-“ she sticks her tongue out and scrunches her nose, letting out a tiny “blegh” as a sign to show her disgust. Charlotte nods, her fingers tracing the counter tops with small, wrapped up lollipops on it.
Cordelia leans in closer, her eyes bright, and Charlotte’s eyes dart down to her seemingly soft and peach stained lips, briefly wondering if they would taste like syrup.
“What about you?”
“Huh?”
“Do you like kids?” Cordelia smirks.
“Never been a huge fan, but I don’t have anything against them. Though, my family keeps telling me I'm great at handling them.” She responds, distracted once again but this time by Cordelia’s bright shine as she nods along when she was talking. She doubted that what she was saying was interesting enough to prompt such an exaggerated motion, but she loved the way Cordelia’s shiny, blonde curls bobbed along. She wondered, if she were to run her hand through it and tug, if it would make her —
“How many would you like this time?”
“Two bags.”
‘’What’s your name?’’
‘’Charlotte.’’
The new bags stay in a drawer in her home, and she curses herself for buying two this time. She had wanted to keep herself away, but she couldn’t get enough of it.
—
She came by per usual, right after getting her morning coffee. The fact that she now left her home an hour before she needed to didn’t seem to bother her, since she would rather be there when the candy shop first opens and get to spend time alone with Cordelia. The fact that Cordelia alway seemed excited to see her did bother her, and she had to stop herself from cursing each time they met.
“Why are you wearing that?” Charlotte asks, pointing towards her neck. Cordelia blinks for a second and looks down, realizing that she was gesturing to the candy necklace that was around her neck.
“It’s a candy store. It makes sense to wear a candy necklace!” Cordelia responds, then gets a bright smile as she thinks of something. “You should wear one! We can be matching!” She suggests, already walking around the counter and to the jars of the shelfs, where one had a bunch of necklaces in it. Charlotte shakes her head.
“I'd rather not wear sugar around my neck.”
“Oh come on! How bad can it be?”
Charlotte narrows her eyes, looking at Cordelia as she comes closer to her with the offending item. It wasn’t exactly the worst thing in the world, but she wasn’t one to play around and seem silly by wearing such things. After a second, Cordelia pouts and looks at the necklace in her hand, twirling the sugary beads in her fingers, and it would be absolutely disgusting to eat a candy full of bacteria from the body, but she sighs and gives in.
“Fine.” She says, holding out a hand for Cordelia to give her the necklace. Instead, Cordelia swats her hand away ever so gently, coming closer to her with a grin back on. Charlotte’s eyelids drop once their faces come inches away from each other, then she frowns once she feels the string of the necklace around her head.
Cordelia’s soft fingers ease the candy necklace down to her neck, then starts combing her hand at the tips of Charlotte’s hair, making sure that nothing was tangled in the string, and Charlotte stares at her focused expression. After catching herself in the middle of the act, she looks down at edible accessories instead.
“You look cuter now.” Cordelia exclaims once she was done, stepping back and clapping her hands out of excitement. Charlotte tries not to think too much of what her statement implied.
She forgets to take it off until she goes home and catches sight of it around her neck. The thought that she had practically humiliated herself the entire day by having this on made her mad, and she throws it off and into the garbage.
—
There were three pieces of salt water Taffy’s left in the bowl.
She swiddles her pen around, staring intently at it. She tilts her head, stopping her pen abruptly, then looks around, as if expecting someone to be here when she knows that her next appointment was in ten minutes. She takes a piece and scrunches her nose at the sound of the wrapper opening, a harsh contrast in the quiet of the hospital room, then closes her eyes and places the green candy in her mouth.
The taste of sour apple washes over her a moment, along with an unpleasant amount of sweetness as the candy turns chewy in her mouth.
She takes the wrapper and throws it in the garbage, then spits out the candy and decides that she needs something to cleanse her palette.
—
“How can you drink that?” Cordelia asks one afternoon, leaning against the counter as she was filling up a jar full of peppermint candy. Charlotte raises an eyebrow, the warm cup of coffee in her hand being looked at like it was something foreign.
‘’It’s just coffee?’’ she states, confused as to why Cordelia seemed to be so invested by it.
“It’s been so long since I’ve had coffee. Like- over 5 years?” She says, narrowing her eyes as she thinks about it for a moment. Charlotte swirls around the half empty cup.
“Want to give it another try?” She suggests, holding it out for Cordelia to grab. She seems to be conflicted, staring at the cup for a long moment then glancing up at Charlotte. There’s just a second before Cordelia’s hand wraps around the cup, and the lack of warmth from the cup as she releases it was almost terrifying.
She watches Cordelia tilt the cup up and close her eyes, then to only open them again as soon as the dark substance hit her mouth. she immediately sets it down
“God, that’s disgusting” she complains, sticking her tongue out in disgust. “How can you drink that?” She asks again, this time far more exaggerated as she glares at it. Charlotte laughs, grabbing the cup away from her.
“The taste grew on me.” She shrugs, not quite remembering if that was true or not. She remembers that she had needed it throughout college and some part of high school, though she doesn’t know why she was still drinking it. She guesses that it was a type of routine now that she bought it everyday, and she stares down at the opening of the cap on the coffee cup.
“Then, with that logic, you can grow to love candy.” Cordelia says, smirking like she had made a great realization. Charlotte raises an eyebrow, ready to fire back an argument as to how the probability was low, but she watches Cordelia for a second. She had been willing to give coffee another try when she knew that the taste wasn’t something she would like, and Charlotte admired that.
‘’Indulge me’’ she boldly states, almost shocking them both.
“Anything?” Cordelia asks after a moment of silence, and Charlotte smirks at the excitement in her voice, along with her accepting the slight challenge she had prompted.
“ Anything .” She confirms, and she could just feel how this was going to be a bad idea. She hated being unable to make her own decisions herself, and she had just handed Cordelia a ticket to take control.
“Close your eyes.”
Oh No.
No matter how innocent the situation was, Charlotte could still felt a slight chill down her spine. She wanted to respond with something that was perhaps far too out of place, though she bit the inside of her cheek and silenced herself. She didn’t want to make this weirder than it already was, so she just closed her eyes and leaned against the counter.
It was weird to only hear what was going on, which didn’t exactly tell her much since Cordelia seemed to be very quiet. She does hear a jar opening from behind her, and she gulps almost anxiously one she hears footsteps come closer to her.
‘’Open your mouth’’ she does, and her breathing slows down as she realizes how close Cordelia actually was. There was a brief moment where nothing seemed to happen, then she felt a hand at the corner of her mouth and it all seemed to stop.
Licorice.
She felt a taste of licorice, and Cordelia had taken a step back.
She hadn’t even noticed that her eyes were open again.
To say that she was disappointed would be an understatement, but she still kept the small piece of salted candy in her mouth. She didn’t understand her disappointment, but at the same time a part of her had been hoping for something else. She just smiled at Cordelia and continued chewing, the taste of licorice almost subsiding as she took a gulp from her cup.
She had never minded the bitterness until now.
—
“Have you tried these?”
“I think you know the answer will be no.” Charlotte responds, grinning stupidly wide like she always does. She reaches for the bag that Cordelia was just about to hand her, where she had bought her usual bag of taffy’s, but the blonde rolls her eyes and takes it back.
“They’re really yummy, you should try one!” She suggests, placing the bag on the counter and reaching for another one. An orange package, that was nicely decorated with orange circles in a polka dot pattern.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea—“ Charlotte starts, raising both hands up. She’d rather keep herself away from any types of sweets after the disastrous try last time.
The bag was still opened either way, probably because Cordelia needed to empty it out in a jar like the other candy’s, and she picked one up. Instead of offering it to Charlotte, like she had expected her to do since she does it every time, she keeps it in her hands.
It was a jelly peach, hard sugar on the outside and soft jelly on the inside, and they did look rather pleasing to the eye, with its pastel like colors that were most certainly artificial. She watches as Cordelia takes a bite from it, a slight smile on her lips as they get covered in sugar, and—
And she knows she’s staring. Staring far too intently at the store owner's lips, as she is standing less than two feet away with just a counter between them.
And she knows that Cordelia noticed it.
—
She stops buying taffy’s. Actually, she entirely stops going by the store.
She chooses to buy cheap, kopiko bags instead, which made her bowl lack the colors it usually had.
Even with the coffee flavor infused to the hard candy, she hates it more than the taffy’s.
—
On her way home from the hospital, later than the usual time she leaves, she passes by the store, just like any other day. It was raining, the entire week had been rather unpleasant when it came down to the weather, and she had thought it would be a good idea to trust herself with just a raincoat.
It wasn’t like it was raining that hard either way, since there was only a slight pitter pattering outside, though it wasn’t light enough for no type of rain shield. Only an idiot would step outside without anything.
Speaking of an idiot, from the corner of her eyes she sees the sight of a very familiar blonde exiting the candy store, and Charlotte stops.
What the hell was she doing?
She definitely couldn’t leave her outside alone, and with nothing that seemed to protect her from the rain. She would even like to scold her for it, though she fears that she lost the ability to do so when she stopped going by. But she couldn’t physically leave. She had already started walking there.
‘’If you want, I can help you--’’ she starts, then watches as Cordelia turns to her, startled and nearly losing balance.
‘’No! There’s no need!’’ Cordelia instantly replies, shaking her head as she folds the sign close. Charlotte rolls her eyes, knowing that Cordelia was saying that out of politeness, and before the blonde can pick the sign up, her hands swoop in and tug it from her. It was easy, since Cordelia was too shocked for a moment to move, and she nods for them both to go inside instead of staying outside in the rain.
It was far warmer inside, though there was still a chill rolling in. Cordelia thanks her and heads to the back, coming out a moment later with two towels, handing one to Charlotte. She guesses that this meant she could stay for a while.
They were both silent as Cordelia placed the towel over her head, frizzing her hair up even more as she dried it rather harshly. Charlotte looks down at the towel and then out of the window on the door, contemplating what her next move should be.
‘’You haven’t been over in a while’’ Cordelia finally breaks the silence, sounding hesitant, and Charlotte glances over at her. Even though she was facing Cordelia’s back, it was easy to notice her nervous hands as she fiddles with the towel.
Charlotte silently nods, unable to form anything to respond with. She wasn’t cheap enough to lie about what she had been doing, and she didn’t want to be brash enough to confess about avoiding her.
“Well… I missed you.”
She was speechless for a grand moment, and the long lasting silence seemed to make this far more uncomfortable for them both.
“I missed you too.” Charlotte finally says, her throat closing up as she sees the soft smile that spreads over Cordelia’s lips.
‘’If you missed me, how come you haven’t visited for over a month?’’ The question seemed to be phrased like a joke, since Cordelia let out a quiet laugh after it. Charlotte winces, watching the towel in the blonde’s hand start to wipe away the crayon writing on the sign that advertised a new candy bar.
‘’You know why’’ she mumbles quietly.
Cordelia is silent after that, her expression dropping to neutral as she continues to wipe the board, much faster. She seemed to be focused on her work at that point, and it felt weird to be tentatively standing by the door. This all felt far too weird for her taste.
‘’I can leave--’’ ‘’I actually don’t know why.’’
Right, so they were both lying.
Cordelia stops her movement, though she still keeps her back to Charlotte.
‘’I hate sweets.’’ Charlotte says, crossing her arms.
‘’That hasn’t stopped you from coming in here before’’ Cordelia instantly shoots back, turning around.
‘’I absolutely despise everything in this store.’’ She elaborates further, and Cordelia tilts her head.
‘’Oh?’’ those sharp, electric blue eyes seemingly being able to look right through her, as a tentative grin forms. ‘’Since when?’’ she asks, ever so innocently but daring to look at her defiantly.
Through their conversation, Cordelia had gone closer and closer to her, making Charlotte lean her lower back against the display of lollipops to keep some distance between them. She had decided to stay away for a reason, and this was making it much harder.
Cordelia stops once she is just a few feet away. ‘’I thought I did something wrong.’’
‘’You might’ve.’’ Charlotte responds without thought, which makes Cordelia immediately look at her with wide eyes, seemingly stunned. She bites her tongue as she sees a flash of hurt cross the blonde’s face, and she had definitely said the wrong thing.
She uncrosses her arms, taking her first step forward for once.
‘’So this is all my fault?’’ She whispers, her tone low but laced with a slight sadness, as she looks at her expectantly. She was definitely waiting for Charlotte to make the first move, and Charlotte had stalled long enough by now.
‘’ No, it’s all mine. ’’ Charlotte breathes out, her hands finally going to the blonde’s cheeks as she pulls them closer. She however isn’t the one to lean in and initiate the first of many kisses. Cordelia instantly leaned into her touch, her eyes fluttering close as she wraps her hands around Charlotte’s neck.
When Charlotte is released, or just pulled slightly away as they both breath heavily, her eyes widen once she feels the jolly rancher Cordelia had been anxiously biting on in her own mouth. The taste of watermelon, along with the mixture that is entirely just Cordelia, was one that she had expected to dread.
But Charlotte doesn’t hate it.