You're Always You

Chapter Twenty-Six

Lydia Petrov

Lydia was so bummed as the days came closer and closer to the opening of the museum. She was so excited to see the museum. To see everything that they put together - and nothing was as special as opening day. Opening day was always so exciting.

Exciting if you could go that day, that is.

At some point, Lydia started to confess to Sasha on how she had to talk to Monica. On how Lydia wasn't going to be able to go and Monica would be sad.

That is... until Sasha offered to cover for Lydia and take her shift.

...

How could Lydia not pass that up?

Sure, Richie would be upset if he found out... but... Lydia would just be careful. Sasha would be there to cover for Lydia. Make up a lie about how Lydia was in the back room with a customer. Something. Sasha was good at that and certainly more brave than Lydia was.

But, given how excited Lydia was for the opening at the museum, She decided it was worth. Originally it had planned on just being Monica and Lydia, but... Lydia ended up inviting David.

Solely because having him around at the club for the last week had been... fairly nice. Whenever Lydia wasn't extremely busy, she ended up being able to have a brief conversation or two with David which was... surprisingly nice. Nice, given the fact that David managed to talk to her face and not her breasts - despite what she was wearing.

Lydia was still convinced that he was gay.

Either that, or Lydia was a smidge offended that he didn't see her as attractive.

God, Lydia hoped he was gay.

...But he was still nice and a damn good security guard at that. The moment a man got a bit too handsy with Lydia, David was always just there to put the customer in his place. Or, occasionally, her place.

In a way, it felt like David was just watching her the entire time. Though, Lydia knew that it wasn't true. He was hired to be security to all of the girls, not just her. David was just... good at his job.

Lydia wouldn't expect less of someone who had been in the military for eleven years.

Either way, the number of times Lydia had someone pulled off from touching her by David was a bit unbelievable. It got to the point that Lydia offered him, if he was interested, to come to the museum opening.

With a wide, cheeky grin, he said yes.

So now it was herself, Monica, and Monica's brother. Lydia hoped that Monica wouldn't mind the sudden invite to David, but Lydia enjoyed spending time with both of them.

At least, Lydia assumed she enjoyed spending time with both of them. She never was able to spend time with David outside of the club, before. David had never... actually seen Lydia in normal clothes, he supposed.

Though Lydia did feel a bit guilty about wearing the sexy, but modest, dress that Harold had bought for her to the museum opening. If Lydia wanted to dress normal, she didn't feel like this was it.

...At the same time, it was a museum opening and Lydia felt like she needed to wear a nice dress. This qualified as not only a nice dress but a new one.

Lacing her fingers together, Lydia sat herself on a bench outside of the museum while waiting for David and Monica to arrive. Lydia showed up early, perhaps a bit too excited, and ended up watching as people entered the museum.

Lydia found herself being a bit impatient... but she was still waiting for both David and Monica before going inside.

Even if she was debating about leaving them.

Thankfully they arrived shortly after.

"Lydia!"

Lydia turned her head to search for the voice. Eventually, her eyes landed on a brother and sister approaching her. Smiling, Lydia pushed herself up off of the bench and pulled the purse higher up on her shoulder. "Monica," Lydia greeted happily and pulled her ex-coworker in for a hug. "I haven't seen you in so long."

"I know, I'm sorry. Been busy with the whole..." Monica waved her hand in the air. "...college thing. And my brother is in prison. But I'm here now!"

Frowning, Lydia squeezed Monica's shoulders and smiled softly. "Well, let me know if there's anything I can do to help. I'm not sure there's much I can do to help."

"If you know any officials that we can blackmail, that'd be fabulous." Monica's brother piped up, which caused Monica to have a horrified face before hissing her brother's name.

Lydia blinked her eyes. "Uh..." She started, shaking her head. "...I know strippers?" Lydia said with a slight laugh, rubbing her neck. "I guess one of the men I dance for works at the capitol. Does that count?"

"Not unless he can pull Brett out with a snap of his fingers," David commented.

Monica's horrified face continued as she now stared at David. "Oh my God, you're going to be his cellmate if you don't shut up, Jesus David." Monica said, shaking her head. "Let's go inside, shall we?" The sister pressed, placing her hands on both of their backs and pushing them forward.

Lydia giggled somewhat and stumbled along until she was able to walk on her own two feet towards the entrance.

...And walking into the museum was practically like heaven for Lydia.

Lydia knew that she would be excited for the opening, having her arms pressed against her chest while beaming happily at the tall ceilings and decorations around. It had been far too long since she had last been to a museum.

It was... sad, truly. Especially for someone who loved museums.

But Richie hated them and certainly didn't want to spend the money on going to them.

When it came for paying, Lydia offered to pay but David flat out refused and paid himself. Normally, Lydia would have put up a bit more of a fight, but... well, she was already going to be paying David back tonight.

Even if he didn't fully recognize it.

The day prior, one of her customers that she had been giving a private dance to decided to give Lydia a bit of a tip. Rather, a hundred dollar tip. Lydia quite literally started to bawl in the back room at the man's generosity, primarily because she wasn't sure how else to express herself.

Lydia knew that Harold had technically given her about the same amount in clothes, but... clothing was different. Lydia couldn't really... do anything with clothes aside from wearing it.

Money, she could.

...At the same time, Lydia didn't know where she could keep the money. Yes, she had money saved up away from Richie's knowledge... but Lydia didn't keep that much money hidden from him.

If Lydia kept too much away from Richie, she would start to feel guilty. At the same time, if she gave the money to Richie, Lydia felt like he would spent the extra cash on something like... alcohol. Something not important.

And considering the fact Lydia technically owed David money, Lydia decided to slip that along with a short note into his pocket as thanks. It wasn't as though she could give him it - he wouldn't have accepted it. Lydia could tell that much about David.

So, Lydia was prepared to stash the money and the note on him sometime at the museum.