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     As soon as Eliana's schedule cleared up, she marched her ass to Fez's house.  How stupid could he be, doing that in front of everyone?  When she was drunk out of her fucking mind she may have thought it was one of the funniest things in the world, but now, she was more concerned than ever.

     It didn't take a genius to know Cal Jacobs was into some dark shit.  Not only was he almost exclusively into dark shit, but he also played a hand over everyone.  In his world, he was in charge of everything.  It was parallel to his real life, of course, because the truth was that he was in charge of absolutely fucking nothing.  But as far as everyone was concerned, he played a long game of chess, knowing exactly how to manipulate everyone and everything to get what he wanted.

     Even if he currently had close to no idea where the tape was of him and Jules Vaughn, nor why some random white drug dealer would want to beat the shit out of his son, Eliana didn't know all that.

     To her, he'd always be the scary teacher in the back of the room at school functions charming away the teachers, the monster under your bed.  It was never really talked about, what with his son having dated her best friend in the entire fucking world, but Eliana had her own suspicions about the white boogeyman.  She saw the way he eyed her sometimes on the few occasions she'd been in the same room as him.  Let's just say she wouldn't be incredibly surprised if some dark shit about him came out.

     "Fez fucking Co," Eliana said, banging an arm on the closed door to Fez's house.  "I know you're in there."

     The sun was still out, she had come over after school with nothing but her Betsy Johnson backpack over her shoulders.  Her long blonde hair was in a straight high ponytail that cascaded over her backpack.  She dawned a two-piece outfit of cozy white pants and a matching tank top, her cherry stickered decorated phone case reflecting the sun off the plastic as she held it in her hand.  The hand that she was banging on Fez's screen door.

     "Ah, ah," Fez winced as he opened the first door.  "What you bangin' on my door at 3 in the afternoon for?"

     Eliana sighed.  "We need to talk."

     Slowly opening up the screen door, he met her eyes.  "Ahh... I haven't seen you since New Years," he spoke slowly.  "What's good, Ellie?"

     "Yeah... I'm sorry I didn't get to really say goodbye," she softened up a little bit.

     "It's okay," he slurred a little, but she knew it wasn't because he was particularly high on anything or drunk or whatever, it was just the way he spoke.  But she found his voice calming and relaxing, like a pool of water on a hot summer's day.  "Sup?"

     "They're asking around about you," Eliana said in a hushed voice, even though she saw no one standing outside with her, she still wanted to be careful.

     Fez nodded, bringing her inside, her insides flaring up when he placed his large hand on the small of her back, leading her in.  "What 'chu mean?" he asked once the bigger door was closed and the two were standing in his dimly lit living area alone.

     "They really wanna know who beat him that night," she said, not having to mention anything else at all for him to understand.  Understand that what he did was hella risky but also extremely worrying to Eliana now, now that there was a chance he could get caught.

     Well, well, well... if it isn't the consequences of our own actions.

     "I thought the cops had already asked—" he started, only to be cut off by Eliana.

     She shook her head, her ponytail swaying softly as she did.  "Cal's asking around now."

     "Cal?"

     "Nate's dad.  Word is he went to Cassie and Lexi's house asking for them to give up the guy who bashed his son's face in and gave him a concussion," she tapped her foot impatiently on the floor, she did that when she was nervous.  "Lexi didn't say a goddamn word but her sister opened her big mouth and now he's onto you."

     Fezco furrowed his red bushy eyebrows.  "Cassie?  I thought you was friends with her?"

     Eliana bit on her lower lip as she thought about everything in her head.  "I know, it doesn't make sense.  None of it.  Like I guess Cal was threatening to get the chief of police involved 'cause he's a family friend or some wack shit," she rolled her eyes.  "But Cassie is usually a good liar.  I mean, we used to steal liquor from her moms' cabinets all the time and she had no problem lying about that."

     Fezco thought about it for a second, looking down at the small girl.  "Yeah... maybe it's all that guilt building up."

     This wasn't a far off theory, Cassie had been struggling for a while since even before Eliana left for her dad's in Colorado.  She'd heard most of it unfiltered from Maddy and Kat; Cass had cheated on McKay briefly with some dude at a Halloween party and then had an abortion since she and McKay had decided they were too young and ultimately not ready — which was all fine and dandy — but her and McKay weren't on good terms anymore either.  Cassie was lost, more than usual.  Guilt.

     This is why Eliana didn't think too much about why she'd want to protect Nate Jacobs.

     "Maybe," Eliana zoned out as she thought, staring straight ahead at Fez's unhappily dressed chest.  "She's just been so different since I got back."

     Cassie wasn't nearly as great of a friend to Eliana as she should have been, Eliana knew that deep down.  But she still cared about Cassie deeply.  And whatever was going on with her, she was sure it would all be settled.

     "Are you staring at my chest, sweetheart?" Fez spoke lowly.  Talk about a mood changer.

     "None of this changes the fact that Cal Jacobs knows it was you, and now he's got a witness," Eliana said a tad bitterly, trying not to let Fez change the subject.  Which was hard with how he draped his large hands over her forearms as she spoke.  "You've been placed at the scene, your cover is blown, so it's only a matter of time before he comes after you."

     Fez stood there for a moment before speaking.  "Somebody's worried about me."

     "I can't lose you too," Eliana said in a whisper.

     Upon hearing her words, he bent forward and pressed a kiss to her full lips.  At first, it was chaste and fleeting, full of nothing but innocence and making up for time lost.  After pulling away for a brief moment, eyes barely fluttering open before lips finding their way to each other again, this time filled with more passion and definitely nothing innocent.

     Fez placed a hand behind her head, supporting her under her ponytail.  Her hands grasped at his fitted white shirt, needy.  Matte black coffin nails scraped against his skin, desperate.  He pulled her closer to him, needing her just as much as he did the day he first saw her.

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