Trades In The Tales of Candy

Never Have I Ever

[A/N I haven't reread over this yet, it's 2 am I'll do it later asdfghjkl]

She could still feel the quick zaps that fried from her neck all the way down her spine and back up. The feeling always felt fresh, even though it had been days after. Days of bathing and scrubbing away at layers of skin trying to get rid of the electric feeling in her nerves. She wanted to replace them with something else that would take her mind off what had happened. What had happened was so different than what she was used to; out of her control to the point, she wasn't sure if the thing she had done before left any real damage on her mental health. Was it the feeling of being in control that made those other events different? Was it that she always had a choice to walk away or say she didn't want to do something that kept her stable and balanced? Her morality was far gone, it left the first time she killed a man in the name of the business. She had spent hours that night, washing her hands and double-checking her clothes to see if the stains were out.

Wonka didn't bat an eye or ask if she was still mentally alive after that. He patted her on the shoulder and told her to go get cleaned up. She had told herself she was doing it for a reason. She had to prove she was fit enough to survive in his presence. She had to take care of herself before she could step up to the plate and take care of him. Had he allowed it, of course. He didn't need her protection, he had told her many times before, in the course of five years, she was meant to handle his personal deeds and stay out of his way. But now they were together romantically, her only thought was she finally proved she was able to stand beside him. He crumbled down to her level and kissed her as a form of acceptance. She would lie, cheat, steal, and kill anyone if it meant she could keep his approval.

Taylor came out from under the water and quickly wiped her face so she could breathe. She had been testing her patience in the past few days to see how long she could stay under the water. As much as she was a shower person, baths felt safer and more enclosed. The water was like a blanket that kept the nerves on her body busy with every rock and wave. The shocking feeling on her neck wasn't there, finally giving her peace of mind as she focused on other things. She looked around the bathroom, it was overly clean, not a single speck of dust could live without being quickly clothed away by the cleaning crew. Cream marble walls that swirled like freshly melted chocolate ran down to the white and gold tiled flooring, which had a giant 'W' painted in the middle of the floor. The sink was large and marbled, and the rim of the large double mirror was as well. There were also mirrors on the ceiling, surely that was a very narcissistic feature Wonka had installed. Taylor looked up and wrinkled her nose in disbelief of someone really needing to look at themselves so much. Even though she didn't want to indulge in the sight of herself naked, she couldn't look away.

What if Wonka didn't save her in enough time? What if she hadn't broken free from the cell when the guard wasn't looking. Would she had been able to escape when the person who was about to buy her had come to claim her? She was trained in combat for god sake, but that didn't stop Taylor from being a big ol' baby. She's slipped up so many times. So many times where she could have had a badass moment, but instead she screamed, ran away, fucked up, and Wonka had to save her. Taylor was only able to access her skills when she was in the right headspace. Not like the time on the island and the sleazy guard touched her. She was scared then and never had to deal with that. People never touched her, she didn't feel attractive enough to be touched until Wonka touched her. The attraction of other people wasn't a problem because Taylor felt plain as day. Sure she was a black girl with a peculiar fashion choice, but that didn't mean people wanted to come up and touch her willy nilly.

She could have handled the situation, she could have beat the shit out of Edgar when he broke into the penthouse, but instead, she was scared and really wanted Wonka to come back. She really needed to stop being selective on what scared her and what was child's play.