Forever Never

Chapter Seventeen | Damaged

Leroy

Hearing about how Tim absolutely tore and broke down Ty until she shrunk a million sizes just so she would fit his mold, until she no longer felt like a real person anymore, was quite heartbreaking and if I was the aggressive confrontational type I'd be on my way to beat his ass as we spoke. But I failed to see what that would accomplish so I just did it in my head instead.

"Knowing how he treated you, why exactly are you allowing him back into your life again? I mean it's barely been a year since yall's breakup right? Doesn't it feel like a fresh wound type of situation at all?" I asked.

She seemed calm despite my invasive question as she shook her head. "Despite his faults, he was really there for me during dark times. I can't just erase that or ignore it," she said. "I'm sure you can relate in some way."

I could relate, but in my case it would be Axe. She still wasn't talking to me much, her little phases of icing me out didn't usually last this long but I still wasn't worried. "Yeah I guess." I nodded.

Watching Daisy and Ty interact was nothing short of adorable. Now that I knew Daisy staring at me in that weird creepy way wasn't that threatening, I could ease up.

"Your turn by the way," Ty said. But I was too distracted with her rubbing Daisy behind her ears and the cute noises she made. Ty then glanced at my lost expression. "About your ex?"

"So like I said he's not really an ex, but I guess if you wanna get technical he could be. Met him sophomore year of college. Dude was hilarious. Ok I ain't never laughed that much ever," I began.

To this day I had never met anyone funnier than Marcus. We initially started out as friends, bonding over comics we loved. But then this damn party happened where I got a little drunk for the first time and one thing led to another. Next thing I knew we were dating.

Despite my genuine interest in something serious between us it still didn't work out. He claimed I was too damaged to be able to truly commit the way he seeked and ended things. I couldn't understand where he was coming from and to this day I still don't. After Marcus I just stopped trying and decided to put fun above anything else, and instead focus on my ambitions.

"Nothing like serious came of it though. I guess we just weren't right for each other." I shrugged as I finished. "But I've moved on and I'm passed all that now." I added and couldn't tell if I was trying to convince her or myself with that. She seemed to believe me though.

I couldn't help but think back to what Axe told me about others deserving better than me. Was that really it? I was simply just unworthy of that type of connection? What would make me worthy? Being successful? I could fix that.

"You okay?" Ty suddenly asked and I wondered if my face was that transparent as I turned my head to look at her.

"Yeah," I said, putting on that smile of mine I'd developed specifically for wavering others' concerns. This time though I was doubting if she believed me.

I noticed Daisy's been staring at me the whole time I've been talking. She rose to her feet in Ty's lap and sat in the little space that was left between me and Ty, just looking up at me. Then she leaned closer and rubbed her chin gently against my arm. I had no idea what was going on but I welcomed it.

"She's trying to comfort you. My baby is a good lie detector," Ty said and smiled at me. Suddenly she grabbed my hand and interlocked her fingers with mine. "Thank you for telling me. Hope you didn't feel pressured to do it."

A different day I would've broken down in sobs. Living under the same roof as an aloof man for so long who couldn't be less interested in anything to do with me forced me to build this indifferent, invulnerable facade that it's become innate even when someone actually did care.

"I didn't." I told her, bringing her closer to me as Daisy had moved on to my lap instead. She put her arms around my neck and grabbed my face as our lips met in a deep and warm kiss that made me forget time and space along with all my problems for one fleeting moment.

***

I only had one day left on my trial and so far I had messed up once, and that was one of the coffee orders. They were out of cinnamon and I was forced to get an alternative because going to a different shop was out of the question, as Fabrizia had been very clear about several times. Apparently they could tell the difference.

The doors to the elevator opened wide and I headed to my office carrying the orders. There was a light knock on my door and I looked over my shoulder as I set my things down on my desk.

"Oh you got the orders already?" she asked and I nodded.

"Yeah. Got them on the way here. You got a meeting scheduled for today in like twenty minutes so I'll get down there and set it up."

She nodded slowly with a seemingly impressed expression on her face. "Well I hope you bring a pen and a notebook along with that cuz you're sitting in on this one to take notes for me," she said.

I grabbed my notebook and followed her back to the elevator. "So the way I understand it is this isn't a general meeting, correct?" I asked as we were descending to the fifth floor.

Fabrizia hummed a yes and nodded her head. The elevator came to a halt and we headed to the conference room where people were already sitting. I set the orders down before taking a seat with my pen and book out ready.

Giving back in more ways than one was important to Fabrizia and normally with crazy rich folks that was just talk, but she backed that up with action. She had already helped fund projects and programs focused on lowering unemployment rates by creating jobs and empowering the very same community she grew up in having nothing.

In a recent interview she had talked about doing more. Like helping fund things like medical research and renewable energy projects. This meeting was about the foundation she'd been working to create that focused on that and all the details that went into it. She had discussed it privately with me too. What really made her so engaged with it, specifically with medical research, was the recent passing of her grandmother who the foundation was also named after.

Finding like-minded people who share your vision that you can trust to work with was incredibly rare so I could only be impressed with Fabrizia managing to do that.

One day I hoped to get a point where I too could contribute to things I cared especially about, like my own community, in more ways than one.