Cocoa Remix

Chapter Five: The Magician's Cave

Avery and James left work that evening side by side as they usually did, rode down the elevator together as they usually did, and found that when it came time to depart their metal carriage - which squeaked in a mildly disconcerting way as it came to a halt - that it felt just a little unusual to leave the building together either. Sure, they’d gone drinking together after work to blow off steam before, but Avery knew that this was not the same; this was definitely a date. And, from the mildly awkward way that James stepped quickly ahead to get the door for her, it seems that he felt the same way.

“Thank you.” she said, chuckling lightly at his gentlemanly display of manners. It was cute. Unnecessary, but cute. Maybe the unnecessary bit was what made it work for her.

“Your welcome.” James replied with an wry smile, realizing that while his behaviour was a touch awkward, Avery wasn’t bothered by it. She actually seemed to like it.

James had always found Avery alluring - in the way that fire was alluring. He loved to watch her flicker and sway, but knew what would happen if he tried to grab at the flame. He’d just end up burned.

That said, he could never resist flirting with her. Something about a whip smart, hard working woman did it for him - that and her silky black hair, and the way her long legs looked in those heels. James had never thought of himself as the kind of man who would enjoy getting stepped on, but if Avery was doing the stepping he might consider it.

He was a little concerned that this date, which it definitely was a date even if neither of them had explicitly said it was, would be taking things a step too far. There was a reason they’d never done more than flirt. Even if interoffice relationships weren’t strictly forbidden, it was risking too much. Not only were they friends, but they were work partners as well. If this went wrong it could go very wrong. Though, James supposed, if it didn’t work out they would probably just tell each other that it wasn’t a date in the first place. When he played that scenario out in his head, it could see it being awkward for a while before reverting to how they had been before.

But what if it went right, instead?

As usual, James found it hard to resist Avery’s allure. He couldn’t help himself; he just had to see how things played out. 

Avery breezed past her partner and into the less than fresh, but still brisk, near spring air of the city. Flurries of snow swirled down around them as they walked toward the subway entrance, but melted as they hit the pavement. The tall raven haired business woman led the way, stepping lightly over the growing puddles of water slush.

“So, where is this chocolate shop that you’re so interested in?” James said as he came up alongside her, matching her quick - but not rushed - pace. 

The pace at which people walked was something that had taken some getting used to. James had heard that the city was frenetic, and he knew that cityfolk had a tendency to talk fast - but he didn’t realize that the harried pace of city life applied even to the way that people moved. As he’d grown up in a small town in Georgia, where people’s drawling accent could be even slower than their walking pace, he’d been distinctly afraid that he wouldn’t be able to keep up.

That was almost a decade ago now, when he first arrived in Darcingtowne, a fresh graduate with an MBA and not much else to show for it besides a pile of crushing student loans. Though he’d proven himself, gotten rid of his own southern twang and a hefty chunk of his debt load, there was still a part of him that felt like an outsider - especially when seeing how naturally someone like Avery moved through the city. 

She was, in many ways, everything he wasn’t - and that was probably part of the attraction. A born and bred city dweller, and an only child raised by a wealthy Aunt on the upper west side, Avery graduated summa c*m laude from the city’s top educational institution. Though he knew that her parents died when she was young, it seemed to him that she had lived an otherwise charmed life. Not to say she didn’t work hard, because she definitely did. But, he often found himself hoping that some of that innate charm and class might rub off on him.

“It’s a couple blocks from my place.” Avery said with a shrug. Then, she paused and looked up at James. “Oh right, you’ve never been to my place before. I live on the upper west side, 8th Street East and Jones Avenue station. Is that far from our dinner spot? I don’t want us to be late...you made a reservation right?”

“Yeah, but it’s not until 7:30. We have plenty of time.” James replied easily, smiling. “I snagged a cancellation at that-”

“Shhh. No, don’t ruin the surprise.” Avery said, putting a finger to his lips. She blushed a little when James puckered his lips against the offending finger, giving it a light kiss. This was maybe a little too bold for their simmering will-they-won’t-they vibe but, well, she started it.

“James…” Avery said, her voice low and a little breathy. She withdrew her finger, hand curling against her chest, sparks of excitement flickering to life in her eyes. “Do you want to stop by my place for a drink before dinner?”

“I have heard that adults can choose whether or not to have dessert first. Chocolate and drinks sound pretty good.” James replied smoothly. 

Inwardly, he was grinning - though he didn’t want to congratulate himself too much just yet. Despite what the movies might have people believe, getting invited up for a drink didn’t necessarily mean anything more than that. Having high expectations was the easiest way to get hurt, so James did his best to keep his expectations low. It was better to be pleasantly surprised when things went well than have to stave off bitterness when they didn’t.

Avery’s heart was beating a touch erratically as she and James stepped off the station nearest to her building, and climbed up the stairs leading back to street level. They’d spoken little on the train, which wasn’t unusual - most people tended to keep quiet on the train to avoid annoying their fellow passengers. She’d always thought that must be why people from down south found the city dwellers rude; they tended to keep themselves to themselves.

She’d been a little embarrassed at just how turned on James had gotten her with that brief kiss, and still wasn’t sure if she ought to have invited him to her place for a pre-dinner drink. In most other aspects of her life she was confident; it was only romantic situations that made her tense. 

Well, romantic situations and confronting strange chocolatiers who seemed to run every branch of a multinational chocolate shop - but how else was a girl supposed to find out how she’d been inexplicably sent backward in time? She was sure the unanswered, still burning questions were also contributing to the tightness in her chest, but there was little else she could do for that right now.

Although nothing that had happened since she woke up this morning was something she didn’t put into motion herself, Avery couldn’t help but feel like her life was careening out of control. She’d been on a train, rumbling down a well worn track to a familiar destination, and now the car had veered off after an unexpected rail switch. To where these new tracks led, she had no idea - and that terrified her more than anything. Avery was a planner; there was nothing she hated more than not having control.

“This way,” Avery said, motioning for James to follow her. “It’s not far.”

The pair wove through the tide of humanity that was scrambling across the massive intersection where five roads met, heading in the direction of the strange little chocolate shop that Avery had only visited once in a future past that she still wasn’t sure had actually happened. She was still wearing the sparkly flower pin she’d gotten from the shopkeeper; she’d touched it several times just to remind herself that it existed - proof that something had happened to her, something that left behind tangible evidence. But maybe she’d visited the shop before, and her mind just made up the rest? The human brain was powerful. There had even been cases of people being spontaneously struck with genius in a field they’d never been particularly apt with before.

Time travel might be theoretically possible, but though Avery was smart she did not think she was accidentally discovering time travel while getting wasted on champagne smart. If she was going to be struck with sudden genius, she hoped that - at the very least - she’d remember it.

Right now she needed an explanation, and she was going to get one. 

Avery slowed as they reached the little side street where the chocolate shop was located, and said, “You don’t have to come in with me if you don’t want...”

The normally cool under pressure business woman wasn’t sure if she’d actually be able to keep her cool when confronting the chocolatier, and didn’t want to ruin her romantic prospects for the evening by making an ass of herself in front of James. Even if she didn’t flip her s**t, she didn’t want James to feel pressured to pay for her pricy chocolate habit. 

That’s right. Avery Marks wanted answers, but that didn’t mean she was going to leave empty handed. The chocolates had been pretty heavenly, after all. Surely not all of them were laced with hallucinogenic substances? That’s the explanation she was expecting to get, anyway.

“I’ll let you surprise me. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of sweets you think I’ll like. Only seems fair since dinner is going to be a surprise for you.” James said as they approached the shop’s doors. Then, he spotted a street stall on the sidewalk a few shops further down, and continued, “I’ll grab us some coffee. Black with two sugars?”

“You know it.” Avery said with a smile, the tension in her chest easing at the familiarity of his words. James often picked up coffee for them, while she usually placed their lunch orders when they were too busy to leave for lunch and had to order delivery to the office.

He sauntered over to the coffee cart, one hand in his pant pocket with the thumb hooked over and through his belt loop. Avery smiled a little as she watched him scratch at his chin, as if considering what to order, even though they both got the same thing every time - her a black with two sugars and him a two cream.

She shook her head and turned back to the task at hand. After taking a deep breath, she pushed past the doors of Cocoa Remix and stepped into the magician’s cave.