You're Always You

Chapter Thirty-Four

Lydia Petrov

Lydia hadn't actually turned on her phone since she had been at the Minett home. Lydia just knew that Richie would be blasting her phone, so keeping it off for the most part was a safe idea.

When Lydia decided to turn on her phone in the car next to Monica on the drive over to her place, she wasn't surprised that it was blown up with phone calls and texts from Richie. Texts questioning where she was. That he was worried. That she would come home. There were voicemails, as well, which Lydia wasn't listening to with Monica.

The longer Lydia was gone, however, the less and less Richie was concerned. The later the text was sent from when she left, the angrier Richie became. The last text being telling her to get her ass home.

...In a way, she was.

"Can I have David's phone number?" Lydia questioned as Monica was driving, glancing over at Monica.

"Sure," Monica said. She fished around in her pocket while driving for a moment before passing her phone to Lydia. Lydia opened up Monica's phone to find David's phone number and ended up adding it to her contacts. However, Lydia decided to not text David. She figured that if she had his phone number, and he didn't know, that it would be a bit... creepy.

Therefore, she just left it in her phone to deal with later while passing Monica back her own cell phone. "Thanks."

Arriving at Lydia's home, Lydia felt her chest squeeze somewhat. She pulled out the key in her purse and moved inside with Monica where they began to move... relatively quickly. Lydia stuffed her clothes into suitcases and boxes that she found. Though Lydia did have a few valuables she wanted to keep, and breakable things, Lydia's approach was to shove them between her clothes to use her clothes as a cushion of sorts.

At some point, Lydia and Monica got into a groove. Lydia would stuff a box full and Monica would carry it out to the car.

It was near the end of their groove that Lydia thoughtlessly answered her phone without looking when it started to ring. She pressed it against her shoulder and ear as she folded one of the last few dresses for the box. "Hello?"

"Lydia!" Richard's voice came sharp through the phone, a mix between annoyance and concern. "Where the hell are you? Are you okay?"

Lydia felt herself hesitate upon hearing his voice. A part of her knew that she needed to hang up, to keep packing, but her packing process was stilled. The dress Lydia had been folding was now draped over her arm.

...And hearing his voice, his angry concern... Lydia didn't know how to feel. He hit her, yes, but... Richie wasn't heartless. "...Hi babe."

"Lydia, God... You scared the shit out of me." Richard said through the phone. Lydia felt her eyes drift shut hearing his voice, her arm crossing over her torso. "Where are you, babe? I'll come get you."

...

"I'm okay," Lydia mumbled softly. "I'm just... I'm staying with a friend right now."

"Fucking, Lydia. Just come home. You don't have-"

Lydia's closed eyes shot open when she felt her phone get yanked out from between her shoulder and cheek. The woman turned her head to the side just in time to see Monica hanging up on her boyfriend.

...

Opening her mouth to argue seemed futile, since Monica spoke first.

"No distractions."

"What if it was important-" Lydia started to argue. It was her boyfriend, and Lydia would like to see him as important. They were having issues- issues that needed to be resolved.