Lukas's PoV

We entered the candy store after we exited the woods. We had walked for an hour, just talking and making jokes. Or rather, Jess was the one making the jokes and playing 'i-spy' or whatever that game was called.

"Hey Jess-." Xara stopped when she saw me, and I suddenly felt super awkward. "Hey Xara." I said, breaking the silence. Xara looked at Jess, as if asking something. "Xara. Hey." Jess answered Xara's unspoken question. "Uh.. this is my friend, Lukas. I'm sure you know him."

Xara nodded and I wondered if Xara knew Jess even more than I did. Then I noticed something else. There were boxes everywhere and stacked. Cookie was sleeping soundly on one stack and I hoped that it wouldn't fall over. "Xara, what's going on?" Jess asked, noticing the boxes as well.

Xara sighed and placed her hand on the counter. "I gotta close this shop. And move somewhere else now." Jess looked at her in shock. "What?" I exclaimed, looking at Jess. Why was she overreacting? "But we- you gotta move?" Jess didn't look at me but instead continued to look at Xara.

"Look, it's all useless talk. It's too late." Xara said angrily, "Unless I get some more customers, I gotta move." Xara said, looking back at Jess solemnly. Jess looked at me, upset. I knew she loved the candy shop a lot and I knew how much she liked Xara as a friend.

"Then we gotta find some new sweets for you to sell, Xara." Jess said, walking to Xara and hugging her. Xara smiles a little. "You know I don't like hugs," she said, and wiped a tear away, "But thank you."

I shrugged and walked around the shop. And spied some sweets in a jar, high on a shelf. Reaching up, I brought them down, and looked inside. There were hard round sweets which were a mixture of different colours. Cool. I popped one in my mouth. "LUKAS!" I jumped, whirling around to see Xara.

"What?" I asked, trying not to grin as the candy tasted super sour and super sweet at the same time. Like awesome pop rocks. "Oh I remember those." Jess said, looking at the jar in my hands. "They've been up there for ages.!" Xara said, looking at the jar as well. I blinked. "Say again?" I swallowed the sweet as Jess and Xara burst out laughing.

"But it tastes super good. Try it!" I held out the glass jar. "The last time I tried it, this was super rock hard and tasted super disgusting." Xara said, and ate one. "But this is super good.!" Jess said, taking another and another.

I looked at the sweets again. "Maybe... Leaving it out makes it better?" Jesse grinned, "Like butter?"

Xara glanced at Jess. "Leaving butter in the open makes cheese." she said. I held up my hands. "I didn't ask for a history of cheese or butter but yeah, you get my point."

"So.." Xara tapped the glass jar. "This is what's gonna save the shop?" she asked. I smiled triumphantly. "It sure is."

-End