Page 87 of The Baby Dragon Bakery
“Oh,” Amaya said. “Well, that’s nice, dear.” Her voice was blank. He felt small. Awkward silence hung between them, before his mother cleared her throat. “What else is new?” she asked.
“Um.” He paused. “Lavinia and I are going out.”
Maybe Amaya would be pleased by that; his parents had always been impressed by Lavinia, at least, since she always did well at school.
“Lavinia?” Amaya repeated. There was something in her tone of voice that made Theo’s blood run cold.Why was she so surprised?“And you?”
“Yes, Lavinia and me,” Theo said. “Why?”
“Nothing,” Amaya replied. “I just wouldn’t have expected...” She trailed off, and the unspoken words hung over him.
He opened his mouth to ask his mother what she meant, but then stopped himself. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer.
“Anyway, do come visit soon,” Amaya said. “It’s been so long since we’ve seen you. Your father was asking about you, as well.”
“Okay,” Theo replied, voice quiet. They chatted for a few minutes more, and then he hung up.
All in all, the conversation made him feel like absolute shit. He continued pacing around his apartment, wondering if he had tricked Lavinia into being with him somehow. He didn’t know what she saw in him.
He was trying to be positive, to be full of light, the way Lavinia was, but it was hard. It felt like he was playing a long con. He didn’t like it.
She was the easiest person in the world to love. Who wouldn’t love her? But just because he loved her, did he deserve her?
She deserved a fairy-tale love story, with a knight or a prince or a lord, because she was just like the heroines of the romance movies she loved, beautiful and funny and clever, with such a big heart, and so full of life.
But there was nothing special about him. His own parents couldn’t be bothered with him, which must have meant that, fundamentally, there was something wrong with him.
It was a stroke of pure luck that Lavinia had been his best friend for all these years and her family liked him, but being a friend was one thing and being a partner was another.
Guilt stabbed at him, and no matter how he tried to ignore it, the feeling wouldn’t go away.
Chapter 32
Because Theo hadn’t visited home for a few months, his mother kept calling, and Lavinia suggested that perhaps he should go for a visit.
“Just for a little while,” Lavinia said. “And I can go with you! For moral support.”
She hadn’t seen his parents in years, probably not since high school. She didn’t like them because they always made Theo upset and because they didn’t appreciate Theo, which was unfathomable to her. But she knew that Theo didn’t want to cut them off entirely, and if he kept putting off a meeting, he’d only get more agitated every time his mother called.
“I don’t know,” Theo said, rubbing a hand over his face.
It was late at night, and they were sitting on the couch in his apartment. She was wearing one of his flannel shirts and a pair of his socks. Her legs were draped over his lap. She had a drawer of things at his place, but she still liked stealing his clothes.
He was wearing fleece shorts and nothing else. He absent-mindedly drummed his fingers over her bare legs.
“I do have to visit, though,” he said.
“So I’ll go with you!” she replied.
He frowned. “It’s going to be miserable.”
“So we’ll be miserable together.”
That made him smile, though he still hesitated. Finally, he sighed. “Alright. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
So, the next weekend, at the end of November, she got ready at her place and he picked her up. When she got in his car, she noticed that he looked different. He was wearing a sweater and slacks, his hair combed neatly. She resisted the urge to run her hands through his hair and ruin it.
“You look nice,” she said, reaching over to kiss his cheek. He gave her a tense smile.
