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[shh_justin]

 Date: 11 July 2005
Character(s): Justin Finch-Fletchley, Eloise Midgen
Location: Just Desserts
Status: Private
Summary: Justin jogs past an opportunity disguised as a dessert shop.
Completion: Incomplete

Justin was heading back home after jogging all the way up to the observatory.  It was his favorite jogging route, to head up to the top of

Comments

[shh_eloise]

It had been a pretty quiet day. Eloise had taken the free time to experiment with toffee, but the flavors didn't suit her yet. There were several batches of various things now on the back counter, none of which demanded she add it to the shop's inventory. Toffee probably wasn't the best substance for experimenting, she finally decided. Perhaps she'd play with coconut, cream, and chocolate.

The sound of the door opening caught her attention. She glanced up and smiled when she saw someone enter. "Good afternoon," she said, walking out from behind the counter. "Are you looking for anything specific or just browsing?"

[shh_justin]

Justin jumped, surprised by the woman who had just emerged from the counter. The counter that was right in front of him and he hadn't noticed. It was just that the entire shop smelled so nice and everything looked so good...

"Oh, uh, hi. I mean, hello!" Justin said quickly. "I saw the flyer in the window and, uh, my name is - Eloise Midgen?"

His eyes widened in awe. He remembered her from Hogwarts, but it had taken a while for her face to register in his brain, since it seemed that she had completely lost her infamous acne problem. Underneath all those puberty pustules, it seemed that Eloise was quite pretty indeed.

"I mean, I'm not - you're - um..." He shut up for a second and then started over. "

Hi, I'm Justin Finch-Fletchley," Justin offered out an awkward hand. "We went to school together. Hufflepuff? Wow, I barely recognized you. You're looking...well!"

[shh_eloise]

When he said her name in that 'I know you' tone, she looked at him more closely. Familiar face and the right age for Hogwarts around the same time as her, which meant they'd obviously been at school together.

"Oh, Justin. Right," she said, taking his hand and shaking it. "Sorry, I recognize faces but names tend to escape me most often."

She laughed. "Well? Yes, I've managed to get rid of my spots without altering my love of chocolate, fortunately. You look to be in relatively good health, too."

[shh_justin]

"Yeah, yeah. I'm the opposite actually," Justin said. "I remember everyone's names, but tend to lose faces. Especially if I meet someone I haven't seen in years."

Justin felt his ears color up just a little bit when she mentioned getting rid of her spots. He hadn't wanted to bring that up on purpose.

"I'm fine, yeah," he nodded, hastily changing the subject. "I got here about a week ago so I'm still working on settling in and all that. Speaking of which, um, I was walking past and saw that sign in your window. This is a really nice place..."

[shh_eloise]

"Just a week ago? I've been here since December, though I didn't open the shop until a few months ago," she said with a friendly smile.

She glanced at the sign and then grinned. "Oh! You're here about the job? That's smashing. I'm looking for someone to work part time, just three or four days a week. It can be rather tedious if we're not busy and you'll be subjected to whatever experiments I happen to be performing in the kitchen, but there's free chocolate involved."

[shh_justin]

"That sounds perfect. I actually have another part-time job, over at Montgomery's Magical Shop," Justin smiled. "So my time can easily be split between the two. And I don't mind tediousness, I usually do find a way to entertain myself on slow days."

He swore his stomach just squealed in delight at Eloise's mention of free chocolate. Justin had to agree, though, the offer pretty much set in stone that he wanted the job.

"My taste buds are in perfect working order," he said. "Ready and willing for whatever you've got. Trust me."

[shh_eloise]

"Well, I know that my other part timer is off on Wednesday and Saturday, for sure, but I'm willing to work around another schedule for any other days," she said. "Do you have any experience with working a till and helping people find chocolate?" She laughed. "It's not really a difficult job at all, and I remember you from Hogwarts, but I want to make sure you're okay working with people."

She smiled. "You say that now, but I have many failed experiments," she assured him. "I bollocksed up several types of toffee earlier, just couldn't get flavors right beyond the original toffee flavor, so I decided to start working with coconut, cream, and dark chocolate."

[shh_justin]

"Oh, well I haven't exactly discussed a schedule with Connie yet - she owns the shop - so I guess if anything, you get first dibs on choosing which days of my life to steal!" Justin joked. "Uh, if I get the job, I mean."

Till? What on earth was that? It sounded easy enough to learn, though. That was just judging by its four letters and one syllable, of course.

"I've never actually, uh, used a till before," Justin admitted. "But I'm a fast learner. And asking me if I can find chocolate is like asking Harry Potter if he knows a simple shield charm. Me and food are pretty tight."

[shh_eloise]

"Well, it's not too difficult to use the till. Right now, the worst part is because people trade and don't always use money. There's books to keep and you just document what was bought and how much money you took in, then carefully count back change if they need it," she explained, gesturing to the Muggle till she used.

She smiled. "I'll expect for you to have a nibble of every product that I make here. You can't really help someone find the perfect treat if you've not tasted them yourself, after all."

[shh_justin]

Justin looked at where she was motioning and felt the word "till" click in his brain. That's what it was. Obviously. Still, it was true that he'd never touched one in his life.

"Trading. Right." Justin nodded as she explained how business went on. He wondered vaguely how she figured the worth of each bit of candy. What if someone brought in a piano or something - was that worth a hundred boxes of toffee? And a chicken - fifty boxes? What if someone tried to trade something completely outrageous, like a bra or something? He'd be sure to look through those books and see what had been bartered in the past.

When Eloise mentioned the taste-testing, Justin felt like kneeling at her feet and building a little altar. The smell alone of the place nearly made Justin want to jump around in glee. He got to taste everything as well

[shh_eloise]

"You say that now, but there'll be several things you'll probably not be fond of at all," she pointed out with a grin. "You'll also want to make sure you don't try everything at once because I don't want to make you sick to your stomach from too many sweets."

She shrugged. "If they don't have money and have a chocolate craving, they'll trade any random old thing. I know we've recived awful vases before and clothes sometimes and little knick knacks that aren't really useful except for trading at the market. It's impossible to really know what something's worth, so we just have to guess or accept the trade as even."

[shh_justin]

Justin highly doubted that there was any candy in the world he wouldn't like, but for now he supposed it was best to go along.

"I guess there might be...some sweet confection out there I might not take a liking to," he said. "But I have to say, I haven't found it yet, and I've been all over!"

Okay, that wasn't exactly going along. But whatever.

"Oh, that sounds all right," Justin nodded as she described the trading. "So basically its a judgement call every time. That's cool. Wicked, actually. I haven't got any money, but I've been eyeing one of those chocolates in the display by the door and I've got one more bottle of beer in my flat."

He grinned. "How much do you reckon that's worth?"

[shh_eloise]

"Yeah, it is. The person who brings in the item generally has an idea what they're wanting to buy. Most everyone is fair about those sorts of things since it's most what everyone has right now, until the economy gets better."

"Well, when do you want to start work? I could always advance you a few sweets, so you can start tasting things and get ready for your first day," she said. "You can keep your beer, this time. What did you want to try first?"

[shh_justin]

"I can start whenever you need, since I still need to find Connie and ask her when I start over there. You said your other guy's off Wednesdays and Saturdays? I can stop by Saturday if you like," Justin said. "Who is your other employee, I don't suppose I know him? Or her."

The talk of just giving him sweets was bringing his stomach back to life. He was already starting to salivate.

"Um, if you're sure...I suppose I can try that," Justin pointed at a piece of chocolate in one of the displays. "It looks good. Classic."

[shh_eloise]

She laughed. "No, you don't. His name is Walter and he's in his sixties. He's smashing and really fun, but definitely a character."

"Maybe you can start on Friday? That way, Walter can train you on the basics while I'm cooking. Then you can work on Saturday and I can give you attention but not my entire day." She smiled.

"Simple fudge it is," she said, walking back around the counter and cutting a small square. She also cut a square of peanut butter chocolate fudge, mint fudge, and caramel swirl with milk chocolate fudge. "These are four of the more popular flavors."

[shh_justin]

Justin indeed didn't know any 60 year old men. At least he sounded interesting.

"Friday's fine. And yeah, I'll come in on Saturday to get the hang of this place."

He watched as she walked around and started cutting out some fudge for him. Then, to his surprise, she started to carve out a few others.

"Wow, you don't have to - I mean, I can..." He gave up. It was physically impossible for him to deny fudge. It just wasn't a function his body could perform. "Wow, thanks..."

Figuring it wouldnt be too rude of him to have a taste, he bit into the chocolate one.

Good Merlin. "You made this? Yourself?" Justin took another bite. "Um, marry me? I know, I have no money and I'm a bit weird and I probably smell a little funny right now, but bugger this is amazing!"