Cocoa Remix

Chapter Six: Risky Business

“Welcome to Cocoa Remix,” the man behind the counter said, smiling brightly as Avery walked into the shop.

It smelled exactly as she remembered it, which caused her mouth to begin salivating and her vision to briefly light up with wafting shades of pink laced with caramel sparkles. Her vision cleared as she grew accustomed to the lighting of the little shop; it was much brighter outside than in.

The chocolate shop also looked exactly as she remembered it, though the chocolates on display were different; at least, she thought they were. She was fairly sure that there had been chocolate covered cherries before, and now there were none; the spot where she thought the cherries had been was now occupied by miniature chocolate raspberry tarts.

After doing a brief scan of the shop, Avery met the shopkeeper’s eyes with a look so intense it caused the man to frown. He’d stepped out from the back room when she entered, and had greeted her genially, though she’d barely heard him over the smell she’d been temporarily blinded by. He didn’t recoil or take a step back from her, but his body stiffened a bit, palms pressing flat against the counter. He looked her up and down, then his eyes snapped to the sparkly lapel pin, and his frown deepened.

“That’s a lovely pin. Where did you get it, if you don’t mind my asking…?” the man said, his voice holding the same warning as her fiery glare.

“Where do you think?” Avery said, not backing down in the slightest. Instead, she approached the counter, put her hands flat on the countertop to match his, and leaned in as she continued, “I got it from you.”

She could practically see the electricity crackling between them before the chocolatier’s expression finally broke into a knowing smile. Avery had no idea what to make of that expression, but did know that it annoyed the s**t out of her. He broke first, but she felt like she’d somehow been the one to lose their battle of wills.

“Of course I did. I suppose, the real question is… when did I give it to you?” he said, stepping back and crossing his arms over his chest. He tilted his head to the side, eyeing her. 

Avery thought this response would rattle her more, but instead she felt relief. She might have spent her entire life so far doing the prudent thing, trying to live as comfortable and productive a life as possible, but there were things that she remembered from her childhood, from before she was adopted by her maternal aunt - things that made no sense. Things that even today she couldn’t explain; mostly visual hallucinations that she’d trained herself to ignore as an adult - like the electricity that sparked between herself and the shopkeeper just moments ago. Plenty of people feel things like tension in the air; why did Avery actually see the tension?

Every psychiatrist she’d ever spoken to had insisted these were just the wild visions of a child with an overactive imagination who had lived through something profoundly difficult. After hearing that assessment the first few times, Avery had never been willing to admit she was still seeing things, from time to time, as an adult. But, some small part of her secretly hoped that her visions were a clue, a sign that there was something more to this world than what lay on the surface.

Was the chocolatier admitting that he had some kind of time travel powers? Maybe it had something to do with the flower? His eyes kept flickering back to it whenever he wasn’t paying attention.

“You gave it to me a year from now, today.” Avery said, returning his smile as relief spread over her. “I’m not sure I need it, if that’s what made me go back in time… I can’t help but feel that messing with time is dangerous. I’d rather not do it again if I can avoid it.”

The chocolatier, whose name tag she now noticed read “Pascal,” tilted his head the other way, eyeing her careful before he spoke again. “I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about. Surely I gave it to you last time you were here?”

“Yes, that was yesterday… but also a year from now, on the 14th of February. Look, shouldn’t you be the one explaining this to me, not the other way around?” Avery said, realizing belatedly she may have read his reaction wrong. “I had never even been to this shop before yesterday…”

God, did she ever hate time travel. Even books and tv shows with time travel bothered her. Time loops never made any goddamn sense to her.

Pascal’s lips pressed into a flat line, and he looked away from her. She knew that he knew something; this past version of Pascal must know that she’d never stepped foot in his shop before, right? Then again, he probably saw lots of people every day. Maybe he really couldn’t place her. This whole situation was throwing her for a loop; a time loop. Ugh, she hated time loops.

“Look, I’m not lying. I… I can see things sometimes. Like the electricity earlier. Were you trying to do something to me? And I resisted?” Avery said, hoping against hope that she didn’t just make herself sound more crazy.

“Ma’m, if you’re not here to buy chocolate I’m not sure I can help you.” Pascal said, coughing lightly. “The praline dreams are particularly popular this year.”

Avery’s expression fell as she deflated, her shoulders rounding as she turned her attention to the cases of chocolate. This was not going how she’d expected it to; though, to be honest, this was probably what she should have expected. Maybe she had finally cracked; she ought to make an appointment with her shrink again. 

“I’ll take three of the praline dreams, a slice of divinity, one of the raspberry tarts…” she said, her voice quiet and full of disappointment. Then, her eyes locked onto the tray on the back counter, where the shopkeeper had kept the special chocolate that he’d given her in the small bag. “One of those too, please.”

The chocolatier followed her eyeline as she nodded to the back counter. Without a word, Pascal closed up the full box of sweets she’d already selected, then turned and stepped up to the back counter. He looked briefly over his shoulder at her, the small frown reappearing on his face as he hesitated, hand resting on the little knob at the top of the glass cloche that enclosed the array of ‘special’ sweets. Finally, he lifted the cover away and set it aside.

Avery watched Pascal closely. Was he moving slowly on purpose? He definitely was; it seemed to her that he didn’t want to give her one of those particular chocolates. The determination that had cooled to embers as doubts rose up in her stirred to light once more; she just knew that she wasn’t wrong. There was something weird going on with this shop, and with the shopkeeper.

“This is a strong aphrodisiac chocolate, ma’m.” the chocolatier said, placing just one of the dainty truffles into a small bag for her. “Please use it wisely.”

“Aphrodisiacs aren’t any more real than time travel.” Avery scoffed, taking the small bag from him as he held it out to her. “Besides, I did not get hot and bothered when I ate one last night.”

Pascal muttered incomprehensibly under his breath as he rang her up. He was clearly unnerved; she’d apparently ruffled him enough to make him let go of his obsequious pretenses. Avery tapped her card to pay; choosing to overlook his rudeness in the hopes that as long as she didn’t push too hard he’d give in and she’d get some answers. 

She could tell that he was regretting giving her one of the special chocolates, so Avery decided to spare him a bit of worry. She removed the flower pin from her lapel, used it to shut the small bag containing the special sweet - as he had done himself when he gave it to her - and held it out to him.

“Here. This is for you, since you seem to be as alone this year as I was next year.” Avery said, holding the bag out to him.

Pascal took the bag, and met her eye again, blinking at her in mild confusion. “Er...thank you?”

“What was it you said to me?” Avery said, tapping a finger to her lip as she tried to remember. “Oh, right. I hope it grants your wish.”

Avery waved a bit as she took up her packages, and headed to the door.

As soon as the door clicked shut behind Avery, Pascal let go of the breath that hadn’t realized he’d been holding on to. His lungs actually hurt a little from the effort. Then, he looked down at the bag clutched in his hands, and saw that she’d slid a business card under the clip.

The chocolatier pulled the card free, and looked down at it. He smiled a little, and said softly to himself, “Avery Marks…? Huh. I thought the Marks line died out. Well… that explains some things.”

He looked down at the card for a long minute, seeming to consider something, before nodding to himself. “I suppose… I should thank her and ask her to please come again. That was rather rude of me not to just now, but perhaps a text would be all right?”

The chocolatier pulled out a phone from his pocket, and started composing a text message - but was interrupted when the door chimed again, and a rosy cheeked girl came puffing into the warmth of the shop.

“Irasshaimase!” Pascal said, tucking his phone away before he could finish sending his missive. He would just have to come back to that later; customers always came first.

“Ohayo, Pascal-san!” the young woman said as she skipped toward the counter, pushing her straight black bangs from her eyes.

She was young, and dressed in her school uniform, a jumper under her blazer for warmth - though she still wore her matching pleated skirt. Her fuzzy orange ears poked out from her ear, twitching a bit as she grinned at him. Had Avery still been there, she probably wouldn’t have noticed the ears, nor the tail that protruded from the back of the girl’s skirt. Glamors worked well on humans, even magically inclined ones. But, then, Pascal had been very careful about the door enchantment - setting it to allow one or one group of customers at a time - so as to prevent any unfortunate accidents.

It was a risky business trying to run a shop straddled the mundane and magical worlds.