You're Always You

Chapter Forty-Eight

Lydia Petrov

Blocked.

Lydia stared down at Richard's name in her phone and furrowed her eyebrows when she noticed that his name was blocked. She had already thought it was strange that Richard was, well... not talking to her.

But, blocked? Lydia hadn't blocked him. She had just... assumed Richard had been ignoring her. Had not wanted to talk to her because he was upset.

But figuring out he was blocked... it made a lot more sense.

It was also the first thing Lydia questioned David about when he came home.

"Hey, uh..." Lydia held up her phone in the air and waved it around somewhat. "...Did you block Richie on my phone?"

"Yeah, why?" David said as he set the keys down onto the table. He turned his head over to look at Lydia and blinked his eyes somewhat.

Lydia shook her head and glanced down at her phone. "Just... didn't know." Lydia told him. "I thought he was ignoring me. Not... unable to talk to me."

"It's better that way, Lydia." David stepped over to her and wrapped his arm around her back, sitting down next to where she was on the couch. "Trust me."

Letting out a breath, Lydia let herself drop her head onto David's shoulder. She had been... cautious showing too much affection to David, even though she... is increasingly growing fond of him.

Getting in a relationship with him, honestly, sounded... scary. Not that he was scary, but she hasn't exactly had a good track record for relationships.

"Do you think I can really... avoid him, though?" Lydia mumbled. "I mean... I have to talk to him at some point. Don't... you think?"

David gave a soft sigh, rubbing his thumb against Lydia's far shoulder. "No, you're right. As much as I would like to help you avoid him forever, that's... unrealistic. But the thing is," David angled himself to look at her, catching her eyes. "...When you do see him, it needs to be... under control."

Lydia furrowed her eyebrows together. "Under control... how? Like... bringing him here?" She frowned more at that, not entirely certain if she loved the idea of bringing Richie to her safe space.

At all.

"No, God no." David shook his head, and Lydia watched him. "Not here. I'd be an idiot telling him where we're hiding. I just mean... not alone." He clarified. "You can't see him alone, and I don't think doing it privately is smart either. Somewhere public, with witnesses."

Lydia nodded her head slowly as she glanced back down at her phone. She had a frown on her lips as she proceeded to click Richie's name in her contacts. After a few more clicks, and with David watching, Lydia unblocked Richie from her phone.

She knew that unblocking him wasn't a good idea... but how else would she contact him? Lydia didn't know.

Though, a short while after she had him unblocked, her phone began to repeatedly buzz with texts and missed calls. Lydia took a breath as she opened up her text messages with him. David was watching closely over her shoulder, obviously, making certain that she was being careful.

Lydia decided to ignore her previous text messages sent by him and instead started to compose a new text to her... sort of boyfriend.

Hey. I think we should talk.

Lydia set the text to Richie and set her phone down on her lap. She closed her eyes, for just a moment, while waiting for his response. Instead if texting back, his response was to start calling her.

...

Picking up her phone, Lydia stared down at his name. Her thumb hovered over the answer and hang up button, uncertain as to if she would answer, and casted a look towards David.

David, on the other hand, seemed to pull out his own phone. From what she could see, he was beginning to use his device to record.

"Put it on speaker."

...

Lydia decided to listen and answered the phone, pushing the speaker button with her thumb. She took a breath before speaking. "Hello?"

"Lydia," Richie said, and Lydia cast a glance over towards David before returning to look at her phone. "Where the hell have you been? Jesus, you can't keep hiding from me, Bambi. You're making me worried sick." Richard said. "Where are you. I can come and get you."

...

Turning to look over towards David, David merely shook his head and squeezed her far arm. Lydia opened her mouth and began to speak. "...I'm okay." Lydia said slowly. "I just thought that we could talk, Richie."

"We can talk when you're home," Richie said, and Lydia could even hear the strain in his voice. David merely squeezed her far arm softly and tugged Lydia against his own side.

"...You... hurt me, Richie." Lydia murmured softly into the phone. David rubbed his thumb up and down her shoulder soothingly.

Richie sighed. "God, baby. It was an accident. I didn't mean to hurt you. My hand just, y'know, does things out of control sometimes. It's like, I don't know, it's not talking to my brain first. Just come home, Lydia."

...

"I know," Lydia murmured instinctively, though David's grip on her tightened. He leaned over to kiss the top of her head.
"Then just... come home!" Richie exclaimed in frustration. "I want to see you, babe. See you where some psycho stripper reject isn't holding a knife up to me. And I know you're not there anymore - I checked."

Lydia cast David a slight look at that. He checked?
"...I... can't come home, Richie." Lydia murmured.

Through the other side of the line, Lydia could hear something shatter most likely in his anger. She winced and frowned slightly, glancing down. "Why the fuck not, Lydia?" Richie snapped through the phone. "Get your ass home, now."

Lydia was a bit stunned and fell silent for a moment at his familiar aggressiveness. Usually when she heard it, she just... did what he said. It hurt just not listening to him. "...I'm sorry," Lydia mumbled into the phone.

"If you were sorry you wouldn't be acting like a child." Richie snapped through the phone to Lydia.

David placed his hand on the side of Lydia's head and turned it softly so that she was looking at him. Though, David only had an encouraging look on his face as he mouthed, 'Break up with him.'

...

That sounded terrifying.

Though, doing it in person sounded worse.

"I... I...." Lydia casted her eyes from David back to her phone. She bit her lip for a moment before eventually closing her eyes entirely. "I... can't do this anymore, Richie."

...

"Do what?" Richard questioned and Lydia could only imagine how red his face was at the moment. "Keep hiding from your boyfriend?"

...

"K-Keep dating you." Lydia mumbled out.

Though, Richie was silent for a long, long time. It made Lydia nervous and David only hugged her tighter against his side to soothe her. "It's okay," David murmured quietly against her ear - not loud enough for the phone to pick up.

"You're going to fucking regret that, Lydia." Richie eventually snapped into the phone. "You're going to regret it. You're just a whore and you've got nothing better going for you. Nothing. Good luck drowning."

Click.