Starlight ★ TENTH DOCTOR

The Second Worst Birthday

July 14th, 2020

Croydon, England

It was a humid summer afternoon. The busy streets of Croydon were full of people coming back from their lunch breaks, going shopping or just taking a walk. At the centre of the town stood a small family-owned bakery, it wasn't very popular, but it had its fair share of regular customers. "The Starlight Bakery" offered traditional french pastries made with passed-down recipes from the families matriarch - Marie Baudelaire.

Marie and her only granddaughter Elizabeth co-owned the bakery. Elizabeth's been helping out her granny for as long as she can remember. The young woman knows every inch of the two-room shop and can make everything by hear. The two women have a very loving and respectful relationship, from Elizabeth spending most of her childhood and teenage years with her grandmother. When she's not with Marie, she's off somewhere looking for trouble and adventure. Marie, of course, would have loved to not have her only granddaughter be constantly living with her head in the clouds, but she can't do anything, except wait for her to grow out of it. 

So knowing this, the older woman was very hesitant to leave Elizabeth alone for a couple of weeks to run the bakery, while she's off in Scotland visiting some friends. Lizzie's very hardworking and headstrong, but Marie still prepared numerous notes with instructions and important information for every appliance they owned. And when finally came the day for Marie to leave, Elizabeth had to practically drag her granny to the train station and beg her to quit worrying, saying that she's gonna be fine and if anything happens she'll call immediately.

It took Elizabeth a week and a half to finally get in the groove of running a successful business all by herself. This would have been ten times easier if she had some help, of course, but her granny had a strict rule about only the family working there, seeing as it is a family business. But this didn't apply to Lizzie's best friend David, who, at this point, was practically family. 

When they were teenagers, David used to come and help out almost every day after school. At first, this was only an excuse to spend more time with Elizabeth, but with time he grew to love the little bakery and the family that came with it. Sadly the young man has been off at college now, studying photography, and hasn't got the time. But that doesn't stop the adventurous Barnes girl from, occasionally, dragging him along in random adventures or explorations of some abandoned building.

This morning Elizabeth had overslept and opened the bakery an hour later than usual, so she was running around like a headless chicken from trying to finish baking to serving customers. After the afternoon rush hour, it got a bit less busy, and she even had some time to sit down and have some peppermint tea. 

Elizabeth was closing a bit earlier than usual because it was her 23rd birthday today, and in her granny's eyes, that counted as a valid excuse. Granted, she didn't celebrate her birthday - the exhausted girl just needed a day off from the world.

She was sitting by the cash register and drinking her tea when David came in with a big grin and one arm behind his back. He had switched up his usual outfit, which consisted of a t-shirt with a button-up thrown over it and blue jeans to some shorts and a tank that looked a little big on his skinny frame. Elizabeth met him with a slightly less dimer smile, mostly from how tired she was, but also a bit because she already knew what was coming. He was well aware of the fact that she didn't celebrate her birthday and why but, every year, without question, he would gift her a bouquet of roses. Last year they were orange.

Elizabeth got up from her seat and greeted the boy with a simple hey. David planted himself firmly before her, the cash register between them, and extended his arm out from behind his back.