Forever Never

Chapter Five | Healthy Obsessions

Leroy

Watching Ty play on the piano and actually getting to hear her sing was a sight. She made it look so easy. All I could do was watch the master at work as she sang Until You Came Back to Me, the hundredth Aretha Franklin song it seemed and I had nothing but props. It was good to know Axe had taste.

"You look good by the way." I told her and there was that smile. This time I wasn't doubting if it was genuine.

"Thank you. So do you," she broke the eye contact to look down at the white and black keys her fingers moved along so effortlessly.

As I stood there staring at her I hoped I wasn't coming across as too thirsty. Of course I could simply fix that potential embarrassment by leaving her alone and going about my day. But I didn't want to. All I wanted to do was talk to her all day long, learn more about her, hear her talk about the passions that ignite the glint in those honey brown eyes.

"Where'd you learn this?" I asked.

"Guitar, self taught. Started when I was like 12. The piano is my mother's doing, started on it a bit earlier. She also helped me improve my vocals"

"You keep impressing. I mean self taught? I bet that took a lot of discipline and consistency." I said and she nodded with a light puff.

"And I'm still learning." she said. "Music's one of the healthier obsessions in my life so." she shrugged.

I took my eyes off her for a moment to have a look around before lingering on the dance floor behind me. By the bar I caught a glimpse of Axe talking to someone. But further inspection suggested she wasn't simply talking, that looked like an argument. I made way over there and their voices became clearer the closer I got.

"You have a problem with anything I do," the guy she was arguing with said.

"I'm not gonna tell you again. If you keep bothering my guests, you'll be made to leave." Axe replied firmly.

"We got a problem here?" I asked and both their eyes turned to me. Axe was a year younger than me and every time we've been out I've seen countless times how a guy would harass her after she turned them down. These types of fools genuinely believe they are entitled to someone's attention just because they bought them a drink or something.

To me whoever this guy was didn't seem in the right frame of mind. Which made people like that even more dangerous so I was on my guard.

"The only reason there'd be a problem is because she manufactured one that's simply not there. My mere existence bothers her. I'm just tryna enjoy this party and myself."

They both acknowledged my presence and yet it felt like I wasn't even here with the way they were glaring at each other, continuing arguing like nothing.

"The only reason you're even here is because Ty promised me you wouldn't cause a scene or be messy. Harassing my guests is definitely on the list. You gotta go."

I was confused. "Wait Ty? What's she got to do with this?" I asked.

"Yall what is going on here?" I heard all of a sudden and behind me was Ty herself. That's when I realized the music had disappeared a while ago.

"Finally! Let's go dance." the guy was definitely passed it with the way he was rocking back and forth, leaning a little too much on Ty with an arm around her shoulders. I finally understood this had to be Tim.

With the music gone everyone who was dancing and mingling were now watching us. Axe got her phone out her purse and started typing on it. "I am over this." she muttered.

A moment later one of the bouncers I saw earlier at the entrance was making his way towards us. He grabbed Tim's arm and dragged him away towards the exit. Ty followed after them while Axe seemed to focus on getting this party back on track. I followed Ty to make sure she was safe with that drunk mess.

Tim was hurling behind a car over at the parking lot when I stepped outside with Ty slightly behind him with a reassuring hand patting his back. The whole thing was like watching a mother deal with her difficult son all while he amused himself with frustrating her as she helped him get in the car.

"Ty," I jogged over to them.

She looked up. "Hey, will you tell Elle I'm sorry? I know I promised her something like this wouldn't happen and... well," she huffed, looking in through the window at an inebriated Tim in the backseat.

"Forget Axe. She'll get over it. I came to make sure you were ok."

Our eyes met and there was brief silence in the air. She broke the eye contact by glancing away. "Yeah I'm fine. I just need to take him home."

I didn't know the ins and outs of her relationship with Tim and how close they were. But what I could see clearly, along with anyone with eyes, was the emotional chain this guy had on Ty. I didn't know why she refused to call a spade a spade, maybe their history played a part. One thing I definitely wasn't going to do was leave her alone with a person in this kind of state. Not again.

"Let me come with you." I asked.

She wasn't looking me in the eyes anymore as she turned down my offer. "You don't need to. I'll be fine. Someone has to care for him, and with no one else it's gonna have to be me."

I tried to look her in the eye. "Please. I've been here before and I made the wrong choice. Let me come with, if anything to ease my mind." I pleaded.

Finally she was looking at me again. I could see a feeling of isolation in her eyes that no doubt tugged at my heartstrings. A feeling that hit close to home. "Okay." she said eventually, but neither of us moved an inch for a while.

I stepped aside so she could walk around to the driver's side and I got in the passenger's seat upon her verbal invitation. By the time we got to Tim's place he seemd to have fallen asleep in the back. He slurred something under his breath as I helped him up the stairs of the apartment building. Ty was ahead of us unlocking the door to his apartment and she took over for me once I got him to the bed, getting the shoes off and helping him get under the covers.

Looking around in a bedroom that desperately needed to be cleaned, I noticed a framed picture of two guys with an arm around each other's shoulders, one of them being a slightly younger Tim, and a another photo with just Ty in it placed on his dresser. I realized how right Ty was in saying there was no one else and I suddenly understood a little why she refused to call that spade for what it was. His entire apartment screamed out how alone he really was and maybe she genuinely was all he had.

"I know why he's acting like this." Ty sighed once we stepped back in her car. "The anniversary of his older brother's suicide is coming up and he's never processed it. Like at all. He refuses to acknowledge it even happened. But it's not an excuse for his actions."

"Just an explanation." I said, seemingly speaking her thought out loud for her. She turned her head in my direction and I gave her an understanding look.

"Every shrink I ever met always said grief hits different people differently. And Tim's always been the kind to refuse admitting that he's hurting, that he's not okay." she said. "But eventually it forces itself out, manifesting in some not so ideal ways."

I assumed the other guy in the framed photo was his brother. "So there's really no one else in his life?"

She shook her head. "No one he talks to. He was there for me when I lost my dad and throughout my addiction. We promised to be there for each other and I don't break promises so. Especially not after he kept his."

"I'm sorry for your loss." I found my hand on hers and we both glanced down before our eyes met. My hand remained where it was.

"Thanks." she replied softly, almost whispering.

"But I hope you know you genuinely don't owe him anything. You could walk away and continue living your life and no one would blame you." I told her and she huffed while shaking her head.

"I wouldn't be able to live with myself."

There it was again, that emotional chain. Only now it was visible to the informed eye. But I had to respect her choice and their history, which was something she couldn't in honesty disregard.