Page 24 of The Baby Dragon Bakery (The Baby Dragon #2)

T heo and Lavinia had become friends in the fall the year they were seven years old, and Lavinia thought back to that time now.

They were in the same class that year, just as they had been the year before. While they were friends, Lavinia had other friends as well, and so Theo wasn’t her very best friend just yet.

Until they were eleven and, one day, she was hanging out at his place.

His parents weren’t home because they had to go somewhere, but she hardly ever saw his parents, anyway, no matter how often she and Theo hung out.

They did not stick around the few times she came round to his place, unlike Beena, who was constantly watching the kids, making them snacks every little while, ensuring that Theo had eaten and was comfortable.

It used to annoy Lavinia how Beena wouldn’t leave them alone, so she didn’t mind when they hung out at Theo’s and his parents weren’t there.

Lavinia’s parents could be too nosy sometimes, and she thought it was pretty cool that Theo’s parents trusted him on his own—she and he could be little grown-ups.

That day, it was October, and they were playing outside after having eaten a casserole his mom had left for them. Lavinia had a sweet tooth, and wanted something for dessert, and an idea popped into her mind when her gaze fell upon the apple tree in Theo’s backyard.

“Theo, get some apples,” she’d said, tugging on his sleeve. “We can have caramel apples!”

Back then, they were the same height, but he was half her size because he was so thin and wiry.

He had a lot of hair, as if his parents had forgotten to take him to get a haircut, and his eyes were huge on his gaunt face.

He looked a little lopsided, like a character from a cartoon, but in a good way, like he was her sidekick, and they were important enough to have a show about themselves.

At Lavinia’s words, a worried expression came over Theo’s face, even though she hadn’t asked anything too demanding. All she wanted were some apples!

“Come on!” she urged. He looked as if he was going to say something in response, but she pouted.

“I haven’t done it before,” he said, bouncing his leg.

“Don’t worry!” she reassured him. “I have an apple tree in my backyard, too, and I climb it all the time, you know I do! I can pick them, just come with me.”

“No!” he said in a panic. “No—I’ll do it.”

She shrugged. “Okay. I’ll dip them in the caramel, then.”

He looked scared but nodded. Taking a deep breath, he walked over to the apple tree, and she skipped behind him, excited. “They’re going to be so yummy!”

Theo stood at the bottom of the tree. He tipped his head back, looking up, his throat moving as he swallowed.

“You can do it,” Lavinia said, giving him a little push forward. She didn’t get what he was so scared of. He took a deep breath, then started to climb. “Woo! Go Theo!”

She cheered him on until he got to the branch with ripe red apples hanging. “See! That wasn’t so hard!”

Theo’s eyes were wide as he looked around, as if he couldn’t quite believe where he was.

She thought for a moment he’d be upset she had made him go up there, but then he smiled.

He closed his eyes, tilting his face to a patch of sunlight between the branches, and his brown skin glowed.

He looked so happy that she smiled, feeling happy, too.

He opened his eyes, then reached for an apple.

He picked one and threw it down. She lifted the end of her dress and caught the apple; it bounced on the fabric, and she laughed.

He smiled, grabbing another apple, and the both of them made a little game out of it—they could make a game out of anything.

He kept throwing and she kept catching. Lavinia’s dress was getting stretched out, apples falling; they had more than enough, but they kept going, laughing, giddy. He climbed onto a higher branch, reaching, and it all happened so fast—

The branch snapped, and he fell. She heard his high-pitched scream, and then saw his crumpled body. There was so much blood.

“Theo!” she shrieked, running to his side. She saw that he had split his knee open against a sharp rock. There was a flash of white amongst the red, which must have been his bone. He was crying, and she started crying, too.

They were both sobbing: him in pain, and her because she was scared. She had never seen so much blood before and she worried that he was dying or something; she didn’t know! She took off her cardigan and tried to wrap it around his leg, ruining her favorite sweater in the process.

Theo continued to cry, his face wet with tears and sweat, and her cardigan changed from a soft pink to a bloody, bloody red.

Lavinia searched Theo’s pockets for his phone, her hands shaking.

He had gotten a cell phone early—which she had been jealous of—because his parents often left him home alone.

Lavinia swiped open his phone, saying, “Don’t worry, I’ll call your parents.”

“No!” he cried out. His expression was panicked, and he grabbed her hand, squeezing it so tight it hurt. “No, you can’t tell them, Lavinia, you can’t.” And he started crying harder, which only made her chest hurt.

“I won’t,” she said. “Theo, I won’t.”

She squeezed his hand back, then called her parents. Her father’s number was the only one she had memorized; he had made her memorize it in case of emergencies.

Garrett picked up after the first ring. “Hello?”

Hearing her father’s voice made her start crying all over again.

“Daddy,” she sobbed.

“Pumpkin!” he said, his voice frightened. “What is it? What happened?”

“It’s Theo,” she said, hardly able to get the words out. “He fell.”

“Hey, don’t worry, okay?” He was trying to sound calm, but she could feel that he was freaked out. She heard a commotion in the background, as if he was running. “I’m coming. I’m coming right now.”

“Okay.” She sniffled, unable to say anything else, and hung up. She turned to Theo. “My daddy is coming, okay? Don’t worry.”

That seemed to calm Theo down a little, and he nodded.

Lavinia bit her bottom lip, unsure what to do.

She pressed on the wound with her sweater, since that was what her mom always did when she got a cut, she would press down—but this wasn’t doing much, her sweater was already wet and it made a squishing sound when she pushed on it, which made her feel sick.

Luckily, her parents arrived shortly thereafter, and she didn’t have to think about anything. Garrett gathered Lavinia into his arms, inspecting her to make sure she wasn’t hurt while Beena went to Theo.

“He fell,” Lavinia said, holding onto her dad. Now that her parents were here, she knew everything would be okay, and she stopped crying. “Theo, don’t worry, okay? They’re going to take care of you. My mom’s a nurse, remember?”

Theo nodded, but his eyes were wet with tears. Beena turned back to Garrett, and Lavinia didn’t hear them say anything, but they seemed to understand each other perfectly. Her parents always did that, talked without really saying anything.

Garrett left Lavinia’s side and, in the same moment, Beena came next to her, the two switching. Garrett scooped Theo up, and he shrieked with pain as they moved him.

“Mama!” Lavinia cried, admonishing.

“It’s okay,” Beena said. “We’re going to take him to the hospital, okay?”

Lavinia nodded, and Beena went to hold Theo’s leg, keeping it wrapped in Lavinia’s sweater. Lavinia ran to her father’s other side, reaching for Theo’s hand. He held onto her hand as they made it to the car, and she held on the whole car ride to the hospital.

She felt so horrible—it was all her fault. She had told him to get the apples!

When they arrived at the emergency room, everything was so busy, people running around, the white lights of the hospital blinding.

“I’ll take him in,” Beena said, after Garrett had deposited Theo onto a hospital bed. “Stay with Lavinia.”

“No!” Lavinia shouted. “I’m coming, too.” She didn’t let go of Theo’s hand and gave her parents her absolute scariest face, so they wouldn’t dream of refusing her.

“Okay, gudiya, okay,” Beena said. “We’ll all go together. Okay?”

Lavinia’s face softened. “Okay.” Her voice was small.

They all went, but Lavinia wasn’t focusing much on what the grown-ups were saying or what was going on. She was holding Theo’s hand with both of hers. Soon, a doctor came in to stitch his wound, and she saw how scared Theo was.

He moved his face all the way to the side so he wouldn’t see, and she put a hand over his eyes just for good measure, then squeezed her own eyes shut.

Her parents were there, holding on, too, but Lavinia hardly noticed, until Beena said, “It’s done. You can open your eyes.”

She released a sigh, opening her eyes, but she didn’t move her hand from Theo’s just yet. She looked at his leg, which was covered with a massive bandage, no longer gruesome. Then, she moved her hand from Theo’s face. His hair was matted down with sweat.

“You’re almost there, sweetie,” Beena said, brushing Theo’s hair aside. “They just need to put a cast on, and then they’ll be done.”

Theo nodded, barely moving his head. Lavinia had never been more unhappy in her entire life.

Eventually, another doctor came and put on the cast, and Lavinia tried to think of games to distract Theo while the doctor did so.

“What number am I thinking of?” she asked. He didn’t respond, and she said, “Come on, guess.”

“Sixteen,” he replied in a whisper.

She gasped dramatically. Her mouth fell open in amazement. “How did you know that?”

Finally, a very small and very tired smile appeared on his lips. “I can read your mind.”

The truth was, she had been thinking of the number three, but she wanted him to smile, so she had pretended. Finally, the doctors finished, and Theo was looped up on pain medications by then, so he had a dazed look on his face.

Until his parents came in. When they entered the room, they saw Theo, and Lavinia heard her parents telling his what happened, since Lavinia had told them everything, and she’d never forget—Theo’s parents sighed.

“Come on, pumpkin, let’s let Theo rest,” Garrett said, prying Lavinia away from Theo’s side, even though she didn’t want to go, and Theo didn’t want her to, either. He tightened his grip on her hand, but her fingers slipped through his.

“Come on, gudiya. His mom and dad are here, right?” Beena rubbed Lavinia’s shoulders. “They’ll take care of him.”

But Lavinia wasn’t so sure. She didn’t think anyone could take care of him, no one except for her. Theo was quiet, his eyes downcast. He didn’t outright ask her to stay, so she went.

The next day, she went to visit him at his house, running straight upstairs to his room once his mom let her in. When she entered his room, he was asleep, and he looked terrible.

“Theo,” she whispered, not sure if she should be waking him. He roused, and his eyes were so sad .

She thought he was mad at her for a second, since she was the one who said to get the apples. “Do you want me to go?” she asked, voice breaking.

He shook his head. “Please don’t.” So she stayed, crawling onto his bed. She had brought cards and she dealt them out. They played, and she stayed the whole day, but he was still so down. And she saw that his parents weren’t doing much to make him happy.

Whenever Lavinia was sick, she got the most special princess treatment ever: Beena made her favorite foods, and Garrett would bring her a stuffed animal or new toy, and she was allowed twice as many sweets.

Her parents even let her sleep in their bed with them!

Which she wasn’t allowed to do since she was bigger now, but when she was sick, they did anything to make her feel better.

Theo’s parents were not doing that. When Lavinia went home after visiting him for the second day, she begged her parents to have him stay at her place.

Beena and Garrett shared a long look before Garrett sighed. “Pumpkin, he has to be at his own home,” he said. “With his parents.”

“They won’t like it if he stays with us,” Beena added. Lavinia couldn’t believe her parents were saying no.

“They don’t care about him!” Lavinia yelled. “You don’t care either.” She started crying, and Beena hugged her close.

“Of course, we care, gudiya,” Beena said, stroking her hair. Lavinia felt awful, and yelling at her parents only made her feel worse. “He has to be in his own home, but you can visit again tomorrow. Visit as much as you’d like. I’ll bake cookies and you can bring them for him, how does that sound?”

Lavinia sniffled, acquiescing.

The next day, she visited Theo, bringing her best stuffed animals and her favorite blanket and a variety of books and the cookies that her mother had made.

She stayed with him all day, setting up camp in his room, crawling into bed with him.

His parents had set up a television in his room, and they played video games and cards and read books.

She tried her best to distract him and make sure he was comfortable, and she did the same thing every day for the next few weeks.

She went straight to his house after school, bringing him the classwork he missed, and she stayed until dinner, sometimes even after, the both of them falling asleep together until her parents came to pick her up, waking her.

Funnily enough, even though she practically lived at his house, she hardly saw his parents, and even then, she could see how quiet his house was. She understood a little about why he could get quiet sometimes, too.

She felt a fierce protectiveness of him then, and they became inseparable, and remained that way, even after he got better.

He still had a scar on his knee, and every time she saw it, she was reminded of that time, how much blood there had been. Of course now, looking back, she knew such an injury wouldn’t have killed him, but at the time, being eleven years old, she had truly thought she might lose him.

She and Theo had never fought, so that was the closest she’d ever been to losing him.

Just the thought sent a shiver down her back, and Lavinia turned to look at him beside her, no longer eleven years old but twenty-four. She moved closer, leaning on his shoulder. He slid down on the sofa so she would be more comfortable, tapping his head against hers.

He put a handful of popcorn in his mouth, then offered her the bowl, his gaze still on the movie. His face was lit up with light from the television, a small smile on his face.

“I love this scene,” he said.

“Me too,” she whispered, but she wasn’t looking at the screen—she was looking at him.