Adore

chapter.4

theo

The quaint cafe did well for his mood. He felt at peace putting professional grade icing on miniature cupcakes. After a few days, Jane had already given him a lot of responsibility in the baked goods, claiming that he quickly proved his talents well. She wouldn't have suspected from just looking at his tough exterior.

Theo knew his uncle would have approved of such a place for him to start his new life. He helped tame his childhood behavioural issues, making sure his silent unfounded anger was buried with a calm atmosphere, like a serene pond of water.

However, all it took was a small pebble to invoke chaotic ripples. That small pebble being Tommy, who had been not-so sneakily eating the new brownie cookies from the display kitchen. He hadn't shown any indication that he saw his colleague stealing because he was aiming to keep to himself in order to avoid unnecessary trouble. Any sort of confrontation would not be worth his energy.

Anyway, the boy was harmless, if not a little awkward.

A warm hand on his back paused his piping. "These are lovely, dear," Jane said, complimenting the cupcakes, all with equal, uniform flowers.

He smiled warmly and carried on with his work, causing a little laugh to leave the elderly woman. "Such a hard worker. Take some cupcakes home, ok?"

"No it's ok. Thank you though," he replied, not wanting to take away from her business when her other employee was actively stealing sweet treats whenever the feeling beckoned.

"Nonsense. You deserve a little treat. Who knew you had such talent. You've helped me incredibly since arriving. My daughter has told me to cut back from here years ago because I can't be doing the delicate decorations at my old arthritic age."

"Old? You don't look a day over 25, Jane," he jested, eyes sparkling at the woman.

She laughed heartily, a blush rising to her wrinkled cheeks. "What a charmer! I better hide my daughters from you," she said. "Now I'm going home, my dear. Tommy will leave you the keys to lock up tonight."

He nodded and said his usual quick goodbye to the sweet woman. It made him miss his own grandparents, or more the idea of them since they both died before he had any conscious thoughts. However when he was younger and Flora's grandparents would visit, he was given a glimpse into the unconditional doting that an elderly relative would give - they were very kind to him.

The shop door closed quietly upon Jane's exit but Tommy's enthusiastic goodbye told him she left. This was quickly followed by, "oi Theo, she's gone."

Ok?

He ignored him, since useless sentences irritated Theo incredibly.

"Want to take a break with me?"

The random question made him look up. He saw Tommy waving a small rolled up spliff in his hand, a cheshire cat grin on his face. This sparked his interest. Now he understood why he was always eating so much. The b*stard was always high!

While he wasn't an avid smoker, sometimes it helped settle his demons. So he accepted the invitation, contemplating that perhaps his colleague wasn't so bad. But that thought quickly vanished as he saw the boy stash another danish pastry in his pocket.

"So how're you finding coming back here? I heard you got sent to prison for a few years," he asked, lighting up the spliff when they got outside.

The rumour made him laugh slightly. "Is that what people have been saying? It was more like prison prevention. I just got shipped off to my uncle to spend some time with him," he explained - not that he needed to but he was feeling charitable as he was passed the spliff. "Nothing's changed here really. It's good to be back though," he added, thinking about who he was back for specifically.