Page 28 of The Baby Dragon Bakery (The Baby Dragon #2)

F or the next week, Lavinia devoted her time to studying for her anatomy midterm. It was going to be her hardest exam, and she was genuinely worried she wouldn’t pass.

She and Calahan met at the university library for studying dates, and at the end of the night, they’d walk back to their cars together. He’d carry her bag, and she’d feel giddy.

Tonight was the same. They packed up their things and, before she could take her bag, he picked it up.

“Ready?” he asked. She nodded, and they walked away from the lamplit wood tables, passed the shelves of books, and went out into the main entryway.

“I feel bad,” she said, as they headed toward the door. “I’m carrying nothing and you’re carrying both of our bags.”

He wrinkled his nose at her. “It’s nothing,” he said, laughing.

“Really?” she asked. “Because my shoulder is always killing me at the end of the night.”

He was carrying her bag easily, though, holding the tote straps in his left hand while his leather messenger bag hung down his right shoulder.

“So I take my offer back—you can definitely hold onto that,” she said. He smiled.

They walked out into the cold evening, heading in the direction of the parking lot. It was late, and most of the campus was empty and quiet. Moonlight shone over the darkened buildings, casting the stone walls in white light.

They had taken a break for dinner earlier in the evening, before doing more work, and now, when she got home, there would be nothing to do but sleep. She couldn’t wait to collapse into her bed.

A breeze lifted the air, and a chill ran down her spine. She shivered.

“You didn’t bring a jacket?” he asked, looking over at her. The rain the last few days had made the temperature drop further, and the warmer autumn days had given way to chillier ones.

“Um, no,” she said. “But it was so nice during the day!”

“Because the sun was out.” Calahan stopped walking.

“What are you doing?” she asked, facing him. She watched as he set down both their bags. He took off his coat. “Oh, you don’t have to!” she assured him.

He came over and draped his coat over her shoulders; it was still warm. “I insist,” he said. She was hit with a wave of fondness for him.

“Thank you,” she replied, putting her arms into the armholes of his coat, a tweed blazer. It smelled like a museum, lovely and old. “Do I look like a professor?” she asked, putting a hand on her hip to strike a pose. “I mean a tweed blazer—it’s so classic!”

He smiled. “It’s cute on you.”

“It was pretty cute on you, too,” she said. “Maybe it’s just the blazer.”

“Nah, I don’t think so.” He came closer, and she bit back a smile, excitement sparking because she knew what was about to happen next. Calahan drew closer, hand on her waist as he pulled her in for a kiss.

He kissed her slow and sweet, and a soft feeling spread through her. This was what it was supposed to feel like, easy and calm.

Not intense. Lavinia was already an intense person, and maybe it was good to be with someone who made her a quieter and calmer one. She didn’t need to be so loud and obnoxious all the time, the way she was at home, and with Theo, or with Saphira.

She could be demure and mature. Maybe that was what an adult relationship was supposed to be like.

She tried not to think about it too much as she kissed him back. He pulled back, then kissed her cheek, wrapping her into a hug. Being enveloped in his arms was cozy, like being in a warm bath.

Someone walked past, giving them a look. “Oops,” she said, giggling. “We are in fact in the middle of the walkway.”

“Don’t worry,” Calahan said, looking over her shoulder at the retreating figure. “That was one of my students.” He picked up their bags, and they began walking again. “He’s probably just pissed because he failed the quiz I gave this week.”

Lavinia laughed. They continued talking until they reached her car, at which point she took her bag back. “Thank you, again,” she said, handing him back his coat.

“Of course.” He reached out and took her hand, and she squeezed. “Do you want to meet again tomorrow after class?” Calahan was working on his thesis, so he spent most of his time at the library doing work.

“Sure,” she said with a smile.

“It’s a date.”

He kissed her goodnight, then was on his way, and she got into her car.

Sitting down, she started the engine, and as the car warmed up, she pressed the cold fingers of her left hand against the vent while her right hand pulled out her phone from her bag.

She touched the screen and it lit up, and she scrolled through her notifications.

Disappointment echoed through her. There was no reply from Theo. She had messaged him earlier today when she was going to the library to ask if he wanted to join her and Calahan, but he hadn’t replied, which meant no, obviously, but he could have just said that.

She had tried inviting him to join her and Calahan since she didn’t have too much free time with exams coming up, and this way, she could see both of them, but he either responded too late or made some excuse.

This was the third time in the last week, and she was starting to think it was on purpose, which was not good. If Calahan was going to be her person, the way she wanted him to be, Theo needed to be better friends with him!

As she drove home, she wondered what Theo’s problem was. He was being so moody, almost as if he was avoiding Calahan on purpose. Every time she even mentioned Calahan, he got this weird expression on his face, like he was pissed off and trying not to be and failing.

Ordinarily, he was never this weird with the guys she dated—he was usually so supportive! Something had changed, and she couldn’t pin down what, no matter how hard she thought about it.

A part of her did consider that maybe, just maybe, it was the kiss they had shared—but that was probably just her being delusional, and she didn’t need to entertain those thoughts because it only hurt.

Instead, she tried to think back to other instances he had behaved like this. Being friends for most of their lives meant she could usually track his behavioral changes based on their history. She knew him.

“What is going on?” she asked herself.

And then she remembered. This one time, in high school when they were seniors, he was really busy with the school’s football team, and she was really busy with the debate team. To make matters worse, they only had one class together, so they hardly ever saw each other.

She did, however, have almost every class with another girl—Ayushi—and they were on the debate team together as well. Lavinia and Ayushi became close, spending a lot of time together, and she recalled that Theo had acted strangely towards Lavinia for a few weeks.

He never wanted to hang out with her when she was with Ayushi, and when Lavinia finally asked him why he was being so weird, he admitted that he was scared she was replacing him.

She had laughed, thinking he was joking at first, but then she realized he was deadly serious, his face pinched with an expression of pain. “Theo, of course not!” she had told him, genuinely baffled he could think such a thing. “I could never replace you—I wouldn’t be able to.”

It took some time for Theo to truly believe her—but what if he was having a similar thought now? That she was replacing him with Calahan? She had been busy this past week, and it was easy to see Calahan since he was already on campus and they could meet up to do work together.

But of course Calahan couldn’t replace what Theo was for her—no one could! And no one ever would. Theo was her brightest star, her constant.

Plans needed to be made.

The next day, on Wednesday, when she was supposed to be paying attention in her Principles of Surgery class, she opened the messages app on her laptop to send a text to Theo: Earth to Theoooo where are youuuu.

His reply came a minute later: Hiya, sorry, been busy.

She rolled her eyes to herself, but decided not to be petty and say something sarcastic in response. Instead, she wrote, What are you doing later today?

He replied that he had a football match, and another message came immediately after: Do you want to come?

Lavinia smiled, no longer annoyed with him. Yes! she replied, Send me the time and place xx

He sent a smiley face back, and Lavinia opened up her to-do list, rearranging her tasks so she’d be free in the evening for Theo’s game.

“Oh shit,” she muttered to herself, remembering she was meant to be meeting Calahan at the library for a study date after class.

Lavinia bounced her leg. She really should have been paying attention in class, since she had a midterm coming up for this subject as well, but now she needed to text Calahan.

I can’t meet at the library tonight, sorry! I forgot Theo invited me to one of his football matches, and I already told him I’d go.

This was technically not true, but it would look bad if she canceled on Calahan after the fact. Lavinia shifted her focus back to her professor, quickly jotting notes down from the PowerPoint before the slide changed.

After Principles of Surgery, she had her anatomy class, and Lavinia turned all her attention to the reproductive practices of dragons, turning her phone to silent so she wouldn’t be tempted to check her messages during her hardest class.

As such, she didn’t see Calahan’s response until she was leaving class, heading in the direction of the parking lot.

He hadn’t texted anything; she had a missed call.

Lavinia called him back, walking. “Hey!” she said. “Sorry again to cancel, but I’m sure you’ll have a much more productive evening without me distracting you, anyway.”

Calahan laughed. “That’s probably true, but I was thinking—mind if I tag along?” he asked. “I could use a break from thesis work, anyway, and maybe we can grab dinner after?”