Original publish date: February 3rd, 2023
Chapter 14, Out of control
(7 months later) Lyric was eating a late dinner at the kitchen table, glancing up at the clock. 9:03 pm. Where in the hell is he? She thought, scoffing to herself as she twisted her fork in her pasta. Lyric heard the front door open and she lifted her head..her eyes meeting Troys darkened one's. Troy sighed of relief at her presence, flashing her a smile, She looked back down at her food, not saying a word to him. "Hey baby" Troy spoke up, hanging up his car keys and his coat. "You missed her appointment..The one you told me you would go to." Lyric uttered, still staring down at her food. Troy pausing for a moment and letting out a sigh "Shit I'm so sorry..I got busy at work and I completely forget. How is she? Everything okay?" Troy questioned as he walked over, Lyric scoffing under her breath and setting her fork down quite aggressively in her bowl which made a loud clink sound. "Yeah, the doctor said everything is great." Lyric replied flatly. Troy hummed in satisfactory as he leaned down and kissed her, Lyrics anger melted away for a moment and she kissed him back, until his tongue attempted to melt into hers and she leaned back. She stared at him in silence for a moment, Troy slightly tilting his head with a confused smile before lyric spoke up. "Have you been drinking?" She whispered, Troy looked confused, chuckling a little. "I got a drink with a coworker after work, yes" Troy admitted, going to kiss her again when she scooted her chair back completely dodging his kiss, she picked up her bowl and walked to the trash can. Troy paused to let out a sigh and followed her, Lyric throwing what was left of her food into the trash and setting the bowl in the sink.
She turned and Troy was right behind her, Lyric taking a step back right as he took a step forward towards her. He had her stuck up against the counter. "What's wrong? Why won't you kiss me?" He inquired, Lyric inhaling calmly and sighing, gripping the edges of the counter. "You taste like the floor of a bar." Lyric stated. Troy chuckling in disbelief. "It was just a couple drinks." Troy said as he leaned forward and kissed her again, Lyric tried to push him back. "Stop." She uttered against his lips but he kept going. "Troy stop!" Lyric said sharply as she shoved him away from her, Troy caught himself from falling and his entire mood darkened, along with his facial expressions, staring at her in silence. It honestly horrified Lyric, shrinking a little. "What the fuck is up with you?" He asked quietly and Lyric scoffed. "You. You are what's up with me." She stated, "What the hell did I do?" Troy asked in utter disbelief. "You're missing important parts of our kid growing up Troy. You're never here, always off drinking somewhere" Lyric said calmly. "Lyric..I have a few drinks to relax at the end of a hard day, I missed an appointment..It wasn't anything important." Troy stated. "This time." She replied. "What is that supposed to mean?" Troy asked with a defensive tone in his voice. "This time it was an appointment, next time it could be her first word or her first steps. Your drinking is getting out of control, Troy." Lyric stated. Troy scoffing. "Seriously?" He questioned her with a look of disbelief on his face. "You're never here. I don't want somebody who's always absent. Especially somebody that i have a kid with. Y-You need to clean up your act." Lyric said..she was visibly nervous.
Troy stared at her blankly, reading her body language. No eye contact, Fidgeting, Nervous short breaths. Troy blinking three times before speaking up. "What are you getting at, lyric?" Troy asked lowly as he stepped towards her, Lyric swallowed quietly and she stared at him. "I think we should take a break" Lyric hardly said..Troys eyes widened slightly as he stared at her. Silence between the two for at least 7 seconds as he continued to stare. "Are you going to leave me and take Scarlett from me?" He whispered and took another step to her. "It's not permanent..you need to get help Troy." Lyric said as she quickly turned and walked away, she wasn't comfortable with his tone or the way he was coming towards her. He grabbed her arm, making her look at him as he walked closer to her which made her try to back up, but she failed to because of his tightly he was holding her. Her eyes fell down to his fingers gripping her forearm, then hesitantly meeting his darkened eyes again. "Troy, Let go" Lyric whispered "Lyric y-you can't take Scarlett from me..you can't." He stated, "Troy Please, You're hurting me" Lyric begged under her breath as she tried to weasel her arm out of his grip. Troy paying no attention to her words "I have it under control. I need you guys." Troy pleaded, she successfully got out of his grip and she took a couple steps backwards but he followed. Lyric let out a soft gasp as her back hit the wall, staring up at him with slight fear in her eyes. "I-I have to-" "No you don't" Troy stated. "Troy-" "You can't take my daughter from me!" He yelled as he slammed his fist into the wall above her head, Lyric let out a yelp as she cowered down. She stared at his chest as her breathing picked up rapidly out of fear, her heart was pounding out of her chest. Troy realized what he had just done and looked at his fist buried in the wall, gently and slowly removing it and staring at the hole in the wall, small pieces of drywall crumbling on top of Lyric. If she wouldn't have moved..he most likely would've hit her. Lyric began to softly cry, frozen in fear. "Holy shit.." He whispered in disbelief. "Lyric I am so sorry." "Are you okay?" He whispered with fear in his voice, gently setting his hands on her each side of her shoulder, Lyric trembled as she drug in a small breath, lightly shaking her head as he spoke. "I didn't mean to..I-I panicked..I don't want to lose you or Scarlett or-" "Get away from me.." She whispered, Troy shaking his head in disbelief. "Lyric..-" "Get the fuck away from me!" Lyric yelled as she shoved him back, tears streaming down her face. Troy went back into the table, holding onto it as he peered at her..Lyric was crying so hard that she was practically shaking.
(Ellas pov)
Taylor was standing outside of their bedroom door, listening in downstairs. Ella was holding Scarlett into her, she was rocking her to keep her content. "Get the fuck away from me!" They heard distantly and then a thud. Ellas eyes tightly shut, tears falling from her eyes as she did. Taylor hurried back into the room and quietly shut the door, hurrying over to Ella and Scarlett. She quickly climbed into the bed and held Ella, covering her ears. She was crying softly, trying to take deep breaths. "It's okay..it'll stop soon" Taylor whispered into her ear, clasping her hand over it again and pressing a kiss into her hair. Ella frantically nodding and letting out a whimper as she tried her best to believe her.
(Lyrics POV)
"I've got to get my daughters the hell away from you" Lyric hardly whispered as she began to walk away. Troy followed her and grabbed her hand, dropping down to his knees. "Lyric please" Troy barely said. "Please don't leave me" Troy begged, Lyric turning around and staring at him in silence for a few seconds. "Get off of your knees you look pathetic" She uttered, yanking her hand away from him. Troy began to cry and he wrapped his arms around her lower back just as she went to walk away again, setting his head against her stomach. "Please" Troy pleaded. "Please" He begged again, looking up at her with tears streaming down his face. "I need you" Troy admitted.. "Please" Troy begged breathlessly, Lyric stared down at him with a hesitant look on her face. "I didn't mean to..I-It was involuntary. I don't want to hurt you lyric, god I would never hurt you..please don't leave" Troy begged as he cried. Lyric stared down at him, tears flooding her eyes. "I love you..we can make this work." He whispered. Lyric hesitated for a moment, sighing out an exhale. "If you get help. Rehab. Or at-least AA meetings." She uttered..Troy began nodding frantically. "Yes of course..I-I'll get help, just please don't leave me. God I don't know what I'd do if you left Lyric" Troy sounded breathless and frantic. Lyric nodded and got down on her knees to be at his level, wiping his tears away before she kissed him. Troy kissed her back, delicately holding the sides of her head. When Troy leaned back he ran his hands over her hair, removing the crumbles of drywall from her hair and then he let out a sigh of relief, hugging her so tightly she could hardly breathe. Lyric wrapped her arms around his neck, slowly and hesitantly looking up at the hole in the wall. "I promise I'll fix the wall..I'll fix myself just don't leave me" Troy pleaded under his breath. Lyric blinked away the tears in her eyes as she listened to him desperately plead under his breath about how he needs her.
(2 weeks later, 8:08 pm)
Troy rolled onto his side and tried to reach for lyric, pausing when he didn't feel her. He moved his hand around to try to find her and opened his eyes, groaning when she wasn't there. "The..fuck" Troy said as he looked around. He got up and waddled out into the kitchen, rubbing his arm as he yawned. "Lyric?" He uttered, noticing a note attached to the fridge. Troy stared at it from across the room for a moment before hesitantly walking over to the fridge, He slowly took the note, beginning to read over it.
Troy, I've been trying to distance myself from you for a while now to prepare myself to make the decision that would flip my whole world. Leaving you. I'm not denying you any right to see the girls, but you need to get help. You promised that if I stayed you would get help. That was two weeks ago and you won't even discuss it with me, and maybe when you do finally decide to go to rehab or attend meetings..we can talk about us, but in the meantime I'm not going to be living at home. I'll be staying with my friend Anastasia, please don't hate me, and please don't try to change my mind. I need some space. I promise you that I'm not mad, I'm just scared..I'm scared of you. I feel like I'm walking on eggshells around you..trying not to provoke you when I know you've been drinking, because what will you do next when you're angry? I pray that you do get help Troy..because you're one of the best things to ever happen to me and I really don't want to lose you.
Love, Lyric.
Troys sobs were muffled by his hand, he dropped the paper to the floor and placed his other hand on his side. "No..no.." Troy uttered in disbelief, stumbling back into a dining room chair.. his breath was shaky, tears falling from his eyes. "This isn't happening!" Troy sobbed emotionally. "Fuck!" He yelled.
(30 minutes later, at Spencer's house on his front porch)
Spencer had just got done reading the note, letting out a saddened sigh as he lowered the paper and stared ahead. He was lost for words, his lips parting to say something but nothing came to mind so he clamped them back shut, offering Troy the paper again. "Yeah.." Troy whispered as he took the note, folding it back up and sliding it into his pocket. Spencer lightly shook his head and he grabbed his beer, raising it up to his mouth "Shes right, Troy" Spencer whispered into his beer before sipping it, Troy looked up at the sky and began nodding, still quiet for a couple seconds before whispering "I know" Silence between the two for a moment. "I'm just...In disbelief. You guys have always been Lyric and Troy, you know? You haven't spent a day apart since you got together. "I know" Troy whispered again, shaking his head at himself in silence for a moment before speaking again "I can't lose her permanently Spencer, I wouldn't be able to bare it, Or Scarlett, or Ella. I lost my whole family in one fell swoop...God I can't believe I made her feel scared. She thought that I was going to hurt her and I'm the one that's supposed to protect her!" Troy said in disbelief, scoffing under his breath and shaking his low hanging head before he looked up at Spencer again. "I'm a fucking monster" Troy uttered shamefully, disgusted with himself "I hardly recognize myself anymore." He admitted emotionally. "You're still Troy" Spencer said softly. "Would the troy you know almost hurt his girlfriend? Or be drinking his dinner? Or not be spending any time with the woman and the baby he loves so much because he spends every waking moment that he's not at work, in a bar stool?" Troy said as his eyes fell closed, hardly being able to look at Spencer. "You aren't a monster buddy, you're just a man who's lost." Spencer said as he sat up, still looking at Troy. "You grew up with an alcoholic mother and an abusive father, do you not know what that does to a kid? It fucks them up, and the way that they think. It's not your fault that it was drilled into your head that those things you parents did and said were okay, you hear me? Yes, you fucked up which you are a dick head for by the way..Lyric is the best you could ever have. But it's not who you are Troy. You can fix yourself because this isn't you..for lyric and your daughter and for her daughter who sees you as a dad..and for yourself. Okay? You can do this." Spencer reassured him, nodding as he wrapped his arm around him. Troy set his head against him, crying into his chest and stifling a sob. "I need help" Troy pleaded quietly through a cry. "It's okay Troy..I'm going to get you help, okay?" Spencer whispered as he held Troy, staring at the front yard as tears flooded his vision. "It's okay" He whispered again.