Page 46 of The Baby Dragon Bakery (The Baby Dragon #2)

L avinia cried herself to sleep, then slept for hours and hours. She finally woke around one in the afternoon the next day, by which point she had missed most of her classes for the day, but she would worry about that later.

She pried her eyes open. She had been hit by a cab once while crossing the street, but this felt even worse than that—like being hit by a truck. Her body felt embedded in her mattress, as if last night she had slept in softened clay that had hardened come morning.

Lavinia attempted to move, but nothing happened. Perhaps she would be fossilized like this. She could end up in a museum with a tag: “Local Girl Lost Will to Live After Breakup”.

She tried to get up a few more times, her limbs stiff, but she couldn’t manage beyond pushing up to lean against the headboard. She grabbed her phone from the side table.

Releasing a long breath, Lavinia scrolled through the endless notifications she had, not reading any. She could hear her heartbeat very clearly, like someone was playing the drums right into her ears.

She had done the right thing, she reminded herself. Theo never would have done it; he would have stayed with her and been unhappy, just so he wouldn’t have to hurt her feelings, and she loved him too much to allow that to happen.

Staying with him would have meant success for her—she would have met her self-imposed deadline—but she didn’t care about any of that if he was miserable. She would rather be alone and dejected herself than see him unhappy.

With a whimper, Lavinia threw herself out of her bed, nearly falling. When she looked back, she half expected a mold to appear where she had lain, but of course, the mattress only held a small indent from where her body had been.

She grabbed her water bottle, downing half of it, then took a deep breath. Tears sprung in her eyes, and she swore, then started crying again. It hurt, all of this hurt. She loved him. Her heart could be so stupidly stubborn.

“Fuck’s sake,” she muttered, wiping her cheeks, which were starting to feel rough to the touch and not baby smooth as they usually were. She grabbed tissues and cleared her eyes and nose, trying to get it together.

There was no convincing herself she was fine—she wasn’t, she absolutely wasn’t—but she needed to keep going.

After about three tries, Lavinia made it out of her bedroom. Alfie was at school, while her parents were at work, and Biter was with Famke’s caretakers. The entire house was quiet, swirls of dust shifting in the shafts of sunlight.

Lavinia went to the bathroom, and she was afraid to look in the mirror, but it was unavoidable. She caught a glimpse of her own face, and watched as her features broke into a sob once more, like a marble statue, crumbling.

“You’re okay,” she tried to tell herself, but her voice was rasped from sleep and crying.

“You’re okay,” she tried again, this time smoothing her dark hair, tucking it behind her ears. Her face was colorless and pale but her eyes were bloody red.

After freshening up, she felt slightly better, but as she went back to her room, tears began rolling down her cheeks again, so consistently that she almost didn’t notice them, just like she didn’t notice breathing.

She changed out of her pajamas and into something comfortable and dry, and it felt like she was moving through a gel because when she looked at the clock, an hour had passed. She opened her bedroom window, letting in a gust of frigid air.

She took a deep breath, until her lungs stung. Then, she went down to the kitchen. She hadn’t eaten anything since lunch yesterday, but she wasn’t hungry.

Even so, she knew she should have something, so she warmed up a glass of milk. After drinking the warm milk, she went back to her bedroom, where she saw one of Theo’s flannel shirts hanging over her desk chair.

It was like a knife sliced clean through her, tearing at all the careful threads she had used to pull herself together to exist all day.

She began crying again. Feeling horrible, she slipped his flannel shirt on, then curled into bed once again. She just lay there, staring out the window, watching the clouds move and the sky darken as time slipped away.

A little after five o’clock, she heard the front door open downstairs, and dread coursed through her. She would have to face reality. Her family would ask her, and she would have to tell them the truth.

She listened to the sound of Biter’s baby dragon babble as her parents and Alfie chatted downstairs, her parents done with work and Alfie done with football practice. Then, she heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

It was Beena; she must have seen the light on in Lavinia’s room, and she approached.

When she saw Lavinia in bed, she furrowed her brows, confused.

Beena was in dark blue scrubs, her hair tied back in a braid.

Just the sight of her mother’s face made Lavinia want to start crying again. She burrowed deeper into bed.

“What are you doing home?” Beena asked, voice gentle. “Were classes canceled?”

“I didn’t go today,” Lavinia said, not moving. Her mother came and sat beside her, and Lavinia avoided her gaze.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

Lavinia closed her eyes, not wanting to see Beena’s reaction.

“Theo and I broke up,” she somehow managed to respond, and then her voice broke.

She had spent all this time trying not to think of it, but there it was.

Her lip trembled, and tears rolled out of her closed eyes. “Please don’t ask me about it.”

“Okay, gudiya,” her mother replied. She sounded calm, which was good. Beena got up and stroked Lavinia’s hair. “I’ll bring you something to eat.”

Beena brought food up a little while later: a steaming bowl of hearty chicken corn soup. Lavinia hardly ate; her stomach hurt too much.

An hour later, Garrett came up to take the tray away, and Lavinia tried to give him a brave smile, failing miserably. He came over and kissed her cheek.

“Get some rest, pumpkin,” he whispered.

Hours passed, and Lavinia hardly noticed. She heard the door creak open and sincerely hoped it wasn’t her parents wanting to ask her about what had transpired. Luckily, it was only Alfie, in his pajamas. He was holding Biter, who was trying to jump out of his arms.

Alfie came over and deposited Biter on top of Lavinia’s stomach, then turned to go to Lavinia’s desk. As Lavinia petted the baby dragon’s head, Alfie grabbed Lavinia’s laptop from her desk and climbed onto her bed, getting under the covers with her. She turned her head, facing him.

“What?” she asked, voice small. He slid deeper into her bed, until they were at eye-level.

“Can we watch a movie?” he asked. Then, he reached under the blanket and she heard him rummaging around in his pockets. He pulled out candy, offering it to her.

Biter’s eyes lit up, and she reached a paw out for the brightly wrapped candy, but Alfie tsked at her. “Biter, no,” he said. “That’s not for you. This is for you.” He pulled out a chew toy from his other pocket, and Biter latched onto it, nibbling.

“It’s a school night,” Lavinia whispered. “You’ll get in trouble.”

He gave her a conspiratorial smile. “Don’t tell.”

She finally managed a small smile. “Okay,” she said, sitting up a little. Alfie popped open her laptop, balancing it between them, and then put on a funny animated movie while Biter played with her toy.

She pressed her freezing feet against his leg, which had long since stopped fazing him, but this time he squealed, making her laugh with his dramatic reaction, which she knew was for her benefit. Biter squealed, too, and Alfie said, “Biter, sh!” Biter hissed at him, swiping at the air with her paw.

“There, there,” Lavinia said, scratching Biter’s chin. She relaxed, nestling comfortably in Lavinia’s lap as they watched the movie. When it was done, she did feel a bit better.

Alfie closed the laptop, looking over at her. “Are you still sad?” he asked.

She nodded, tears welling in her eyes. “Only a little though,” she said.

Alfie frowned. “Do you want me to sleep with you?”

She was hardly keeping it together, and she didn’t want Alfie to see her at her lowest. She shook her head. “Otherwise Mama will find out about our movie night and she’ll yell at us,” she said.

“Oh yeah.” He giggled.

“But I love you,” she said.

“Love you, too.” He hugged her tight.

“Take Biter to her bed, too,” Lavinia said, and he scooped her up. The baby dragon was sleepy, too, and she yawned, flashing her teeth. Alfie and Biter left, leaving her alone.

Then it was time to sleep. She closed the lights and tried not to ache.

But as she lay there, she thought that this grief would last forever, that it would never go away. It felt like a rock lodged in her ribs, and she would never be able to push it out.

She would just have to carry it with her, wherever she went.