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.

They made some small talk but it trailed off into an awkward silence. He made a mental note to have a shower before seeing Flora, knowing that she wouldn't approve of his smoking. Neither would his mother but if she didn't want him to move out any time soon, she would have to get used to him growing into an adult.

"Cheers for the spliff, man," Theo said once they finished, ready to get back to work.

"I've got some if you want to buy," Tommy trailed off like it was a question, a timid expression on his face. This just made him laugh and decline. "Come on, man. I've got others as well," he insisted, showing his supply of questionable substances.

It made Theo frown because Tommy didn't seem smart enough to get away with something so dodgy. He didn't want trouble at Jane's door and he definitely didn't want to get mixed up with anything that would stray him from his very strict path.

He walked back into the cafe, showing he wasn't interested at all. If anything, he was irritated by the insistence. Footsteps hurried behind him. "Come on. A guy like you surely uses something. Who's your dealer?"

Now Theo's patience ran out. He spun around and glowered at him. "A guy like me?" The scared look he received didn't do enough to lessen his irritation. "I better not catch you dealing to anyone in this cafe. And don't ask me again. I don't want anything to do with whatever this is."

"I just thought you were cool like.. I thought.. You're not going to tell Jane are you?" He asked anxiously. He was clearly annoyed to be in the situation showing his weasley self to the newcomer and embarrassingly failing a sale, but luckily for him, he wasn't stupid enough to act on it.

"No." Theo simply added. He knew Tommy was bad news, whether Tommy was aware of it himself or not. From experience being around all sorts of characters, the foolish ones were the worst. He made a mental note to keep his distance.

~~~

The rest of the day went quickly. He focused on his work - delicately piping personalised cakes in the back or clearing tables. Jane noticed quickly into his first day that Theo was not a talkative person, even forcing it was painful to witness, thus giving him all of the tasks that limited human interaction.

He spent the rest of the time playing random phone games against Flora. It made him smile imagining her trying to hide her frustration in class every time he easily beat her in virtual eight ball pool.

"Oh welcome home! How was work?" his mum beamed at him from across the kitchen counter. She hadn't lessened in her attempt to rebuild their relationship. While he did miss his parents, they all knew it would take some time to squash the resentment and betrayal he held for their decision years ago. This didn't stop his mum trying though.

His dad, however, was more subdued and showed his apologies with space. He stayed silent and waited for Theo to volunteer small talk, before enthusiastically replying every time. They weren't a very vocal father and son combination but a mutual respect was there, mostly due to Theo's uncle expressing how much he had turned a corner.

He was no longer the troubled, chaotic teenager. Theo knew he had a lot to apologise for as well since he was clearly sent away for a reason. He was lucky that verbal apologies didn't need to be made but his mum would've seen their relationship repair earlier if she wasn't trying to guilt trip him into loudly claiming his love for the family and show his affection.

"It was fine," he simply stated. There was nothing much to say about working in the café - besides the obvious incident with Tommy of course but he wasn't going to tell his mother that. "Where's Kate?"

"In her room. You've not eaten yet have you?"

He shook his head.

Looking pleased, his mum said, "perfect! Your dad made his stew tonight. Will you tell your sister to come down for dinner please dear."

It was no wonder she was in such a good mood as everyone loved his father's stew, a signature at family get togethers. His mother however was not so gifted in cooking, hence why they usually had a chef for their busy lifestyles.

Theo just nodded and walked upstairs, a box of mini cupcakes in hand. When he reached his sister's room, the largest room in the house, it was shut tightly and an unrecognisable tv show was playing.

"Come in," he heard after a few loud knocks on the door. He thought she should appreciate him knocking considering how many times she used to barge into his room without doing so.

His sister turned her attention from the tv show projection on the wall to scowl at him. "Why do you come home so late? We've been waiting for you for ages."

This made him feel bad but he explained to her, "I take extra shifts for the money." Opening the little box, he grabbed one of the two mini cupcakes and held it out as a peace offering. "Here."

Kate squinted her eyes in a scrutinising judgemental manner, something he was used to now, but still took the fastidiously decorated chocolate cupcake. "I don't know why you're so eager to move out," she said with a mouthful of cake.

"Very lady like," he scoffed. Theo was leaned against the wall, looking at his grown up sister showing the same tough façade that resembled his own. Only hers hid a scared sibling afraid to be alone with absent parents again. From the pictures and the brochures on in the room, it looked like she was also longing to leave the family home as much as he was.

"When I get my own place, you can come any time," he said genuinely.

This brought a smile to her face. "Can I help decorate?"

"Like you decorated this room? No thanks," he laughed.

She rolled her eyes and sat up with a huff. "Whatever. I'm hungry."

He ruffled her hair affectionately, the way he knew she hated, and they walked down for the long awaited stew, keeping in mind he had one more cupcake delivery to make before the long day ended.

~~~

Flora's parents weren't home as usual. Ever since he could remember, they acted like a young rich couple in love, always going on dates and work banquets with the occasional holiday that left Flora home alone with some food money. Their relationship would've been something to look up to if it wasn't for their disregard for their daughter. He tried to take solace on Flora's behalf in the fact that they were at least nice to her for the little times they were present.

The silver lining was that they never held judgement towards him, possibly due to being too absent to care. He liked to believe they knew she wouldn't be loved by anyone more than he loved her and thought of him as a worthy protector. With how he was raised by his own parents and uncle, he would've assumed every parent would want to protect their only daughter.

When he came back to his family home town, he was hesitant to see the Ryder family. But, being sent away due to bad behaviour clearly wasn't the last straw as they welcomed him with open arms.

Being a Friday however, he should've expected his Flora to be the one timidly opening the door. As soon as she saw it was him, she swung it open and jumped to wrap her arms around his neck in an excited embrace. "Teddy!"

"Hello, princess," he said with just as much affection but then just as quickly ushered her inside, away from the cold wind, and locked the door. "I thought you knew not to open the door before seeing who it was."

She shyly looked down at her feet, adorned with fluffy socks. "I forgot just this time."

"Ok well don't forget to look through the peep hole next time. I could've been anyone, silly girl," he scolded lightly, though utterly serious. It wouldn't take any effort to barge through the door with only the small fragile girl holding it open.

Flora nodded obediently as he softly rubbed her cheek with his thumb. "Good girl. Have you eaten?"

She walked into the kitchen where in front of her, a pile of papers littered the centre island. "I had a pizza. I was waiting for Kate to help me with this homework."

"She had too much stew and passed out on the couch straight after," he chuckled. He wasn't too far behind her but he wanted to see Flora. He didn't know how he went years without seeing her face. Now he could barely go a few hours. She was intoxicating and it amused him that she was completely oblivious.

He put both hands on her hips, eliciting an adorable gasp from her, before lifting her onto the kitchen stool. "Now how can I help." He was already trying to decipher the messy handwriting in her notes as he spoke.

"You don't have to help me I'll be ok," she tried to insist but he could tell from her expression since seeing her that she was riddled with stress and anxiety. His Flora had always struggled with school. Despite not falling behind in grades, she put pressure on herself to be better regardless.

"The quicker you get this done, the quicker we can hang out. I'm doing this for selfish reasons. Ok?" He wasn't completely lying but he knew it would make her feel less guilty to be making him do homework on a Friday night.

His heart warmed when she rested her tired head on his shoulder and agreed.

Theo's large hand stroked the back of her hair, the scent of a nice smelling shampoo reaching his nose. "I've even got you a cupcake that you can have while we watch our movie," he said, pushing the box towards her.

Her excited giddiness pleased him immensely. Flora's emotions were always so clear on her face, something he was always so thankful for. It meant he didn't need to guess what she was thinking, making a life with her perfectly simple, something he knew a lot of other people would envy in a partner.

"A movie and a cupcake! They're my favourite!" He laughed at this, remembering when she went through a phase of saying everything was her favourite. He followed by saying it too, genuinely believing it because if it was Flora's favourite, it was his too. "Why is it so tiny?!" she giggled, picking out the cupcake and putting it on the palm of her hand to squint at it. "Did you do the flowers?"

"Yes. Do you like it?" he asked, already knowing the answer as he replaced the baked good with a pen.

"Mhm. Thank you, Teddy."

"You're welcome, princess." He put his mental thinking cap on in order to get the work over and done with as soon as possible, impatiently looking forward to end the day with some well needed cuddles with Flora.

~~~

Thank you for reading!

Sweet? Or savoury? Personally I'm savoury.

I struggled a whole week with this chapter!! Hope you can't tell haha

It's been so long since I officially updated this book.
When did you first read this?

WORD COUNT: 2584

Much love <3

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