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     Eliana should have known something was up when Grace texted her.

     It wasn't extremely out of the ordinary for the two girls, but it was that Grace was asking for advice.  Now, Eliana felt that in no way was she qualified to be handing out advice, especially for what Grace was asking.  And Grace was asking something confusing.

     "What do you do when you know something but you don't want to insert yourself into more drama?"

     Eliana had stared at her phone screen in the dark of her room, her clock illuminating the numbers "1" and "34" AM.  "What do you mean?" Eliana had texted back.  She waited for a long while before Grace had texted back a "NVM".

     Now, what Grace had seen between Jules and Elliot had almost zero correlation to what Eliana was going through with Cassie and Maddy, except that Jules and Elliot were clearly making decisions that would impact how Rue's day was going to go.  Because Rue was determined, and she knew that she needed to start a riot if she wanted to slip away from the chaos that she started the moment she knocked on Lexi Howard's door.

     "Hey," Rue said from the Howard's front porch.

     "Hey, are you okay?" Lexi asked, her hand still on the doorknob.

     "Mm-hm," Rue hummed.  "I think I just have, like, a cold or something."

     "Okay, well, don't get me sick 'cause I have rehearsal," Lexi said with a chuckle.

     "I can't, I can't get you sick."

     "Okay, well, colds are contagious, so..."

     Eliana looked up from her phone as she heard the two converse from the other room.  She was wearing a baggy light grey hoodie, her hair down in natural waves, donning distressed jean shorts and some Nike shoes.  Really, she hadn't been doing much except accompanying Cassie, Kat and Maddy in their usual.  Besides, her sisters, the twins, were wreaking havoc on her home life currently as they were going through awful stages of puberty, so Eliana definitely didn't want to be there.  "Is that Rue?" she whispered.

     "Yeah, I realize that, but it's just... It's not that kind of thing," Rue stood around, wavering slightly.  "Can I use your bathroom, please?"

     "Hey, Rue!" Maddy outstretched her arms for the curly-haired girl in the doorway first, Eliana following, her own curls bouncing as she jumped in excitement.

     "Oh, hi."

     "Hey girly pop," Eliana grinned.  "Whatcha up to tonight?"

     Even under a dumb blonde facade, Eliana liked to think this was her way of checking in on Rue ⎯ even if it was at a distance.  "Hey, oh.  Oh, yeah.  Hey."

     Suddenly, Suze descended from the stairs.  "Oh, jeez.  Are you feelin' okay?"

      "Yeah."

     "You look terrible."

     "Yeah..." 

     "I mean, really terrible."

     "Yeah, I think I just have, like, a cold or something."

     "Well, don't get me sick," Suze flailed her hands in defense.  "I have a compromised immune system.  But otherwise, are you doin' okay?

     Rue yawned loudly.  "Uh-huh."  Eliana grabbed her hands behind her back and rocked back and forth on her tippy toes as she watched.  Frown lines formed in between her brows as Suze continued. 

     "How's your mom?  I was thinking about her the other day."

     "She's good.  And how's your sister?" 

     "Yeah, good."

     "You staying clean?"

     "Uh-huh."

     "Yeah?  Bein' a good girl?"

     "Mm-hm."

     "How long have you been clean for?" 

     "Um, since the summertime."

     But Eliana knew she was full of shit.  Rue looked like she'd been sweating for three days straight and had just wrestled a polar bear to get to their front door.  Plus, she knew she'd been around Fez's.

     "Now, are you in AA, or are you in NA?"

     "Um... NA."

     "NA."

     "Mm-hm."

     "Okay, good to hear.  That's just terrific."

     "I... "

     "I'm not a big fan of AA.  Honey, do you remember when your father sent me to AA that one time?" Suze laughed.  "I was just kickin' and screamin'.  Just a bunch of hoity-toity assholes giving their advice whether you ask for it or not..."

     "Suze, can I use your bathroom, please?"

     "...A nightmare.  Absolutely."

     "Thank you... so much."

     "Knock yourself out, sweetheart.  It's nice to see you," Suze smiled at Rue as she passed her on the stairs going up.  "You look great.  She's not doin' good," she said to the girls below after Rue closed the bathroom door.

     However, as Eliana had been thinking might happen in Rue's worst dreams, Leslie Bennett showed up on Suze's doorstep next.  And they knew exactly why.

     So when Rue got out of the bathroom ⎯ Eliana knew what was taking her so long ⎯ she had a full room of familiar faces to look at.  Her mother, thankfully, spoke first, as the other girls stood around cautiously.  Eliana nibbled at the skin around her thumb before Kat pushed her hand down from her mouth.

     "This can't make you feel good, Rue.  Livin' like this.  Lyin' to the people you love, bein' mean to the people you love.  This can't make you feel good about yourself."

     "I don't care," Rue spoke bitterly from a seat at the top of the stairs, looking down on everyone.  "Just fuckin' leave me alone, please." 

     "I know you're in pain."

     Rue was quick.  "You have no fucking idea, Mom."

     "Let's get back into the car, and let me take you to the hospital."

     "I can't get clean," Rue started shaking her head. 

     "It's surely worth trying, isn't it?" Eliana said in a low voice, but it was loud enough for Rue in all her glory to hear.  She had no idea the hell she caused her mother that day, or Jules, or the hell she was yet to inflict on the group.

     Rue scoffed at Eliana's words.  "Rich, coming from you.  You can't even stop fucking your old drug dealer."

     It wasn't the worst secret ever, and it wasn't even partially true, but still... Eliana's cheeks heated up.  Surely embarrassed in front of not only her friends but their moms, who she had come to know closely all these years.  She could see all of them staring at her, or trying to pretend like they weren't.  Attempting to swallow down her dry throat, she tried to speak through a voice crack, "he was never my drug dealer."

     Rue, seemingly realized there wasn't enough power behind the words she spoke ⎯ Eliana carried her heart on her sleeves anyways ⎯ or maybe she took a bit of pity on her old friend because she then shrugged.  "Doesn't matter.  I can't do that shit forever."

     "You don't have to," Cassie spoke, closer to the staircase.  She was unaware that she became Rue's next victim.  "Just... take it one day at a time," she looked to the rest of the girls for support.  They all nodded in agreement, but Eliana thought it was some terrible fucking advice.  "Yeah."

     "Hey, Cass?" Rue swayed a bit as she talked, and Eliana knew the worst was yet to come just from that alone.

     "Yeah?" Cassie smiled sweetly.

     "I have a quick question for you."

     "What?"

     Nothing, absolutely nothing, in the world could prepare them for the next words out of Rue's mouth.  "How long have you been fucking Nate Jacobs?"  A question that caused minds to bend, jaws to drop and hearts to drop.  At least, between the group of friends.

     It seemed to be a true accusation because Cassie nervously laughed and began stuttering.  Even Lexi's hand was over her mouth as she sat in the chair to the back with Eliana sitting on the armchair.  "Wh-what, what, what are you talking about?"

     "How long have you been fucking Nate?"

     "I'm not," Cassie laughed.  "What?  I'm not."

     Maddy, the most intrigued, asked,  "What are you talking about?"  Kat and Eliana followed in watching the blonde's nervous actions.

     "Oh, I just... I, I saw her get in his truck, and then, kiss him and drive off," Rue explained like it was the simplest concept in the world.  "That was, like, what, like, uh... Uh... like a month ago?"

     "Uh..."

     "Are you kidding me?" Maddy asked.

     "Uhh."

     "Cass, that's, like... really bad," Kat noted.

     Almost immediately, since she was already hyperventilating, Cassie started crying.  But Maddy wasn't done.  "You're fucking Nate?  Are you kidding me?"

     "No, I... I don't even know why she would say that."

     "You're lying!"

     "Yeah, can we just table this conversation?"

     "Okay, let's go..." Leslie tried to reach for Rue.

     "No, no," Maddy waved a finger, the crimps in her hair flailing as she moved her head.  "You expect me to stand here next to my best friend who's been lying to me about fucking my ex-boyfriend!  I'm literally gonna get violent! "

     "Okay, no.  Let's just..."

     "No, there is no need to get violent, okay, because we are having an intervention!" Suze yelled.  Eliana's eyes widened as she stood around.  "Stop it!  I'm beggin' you."

     "Let's just get into the car."

     "Mom... I can't."

     "Let's just talk..." Kat tried to grab Maddy back by her shoulders.

     "Oh, you're crying?!"

     "No... Maddy!"

     "You're fucking crying, you fucking bitch?"

     "Maddy, come on!"

     "You're the one who's hurt?" Maddy moved to be in her face, Eliana rubbing her palms on her knees as she watched.  "You're the most self-centered, idiotic person I have ever fucking met!  You fuck my ex, and you're fucking crying?  Are you fucking kidding me?"

     "Let's just do this later."

     Leslie spoke next, clearly overworked with the girls.  "Look, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, but I don't give a shit who's fucking who, okay?  If you're gonna keep talkin' about it, get out of the room."

     "Yeah, absolutely."

     "You're being an animal... Do you wanna go on a walk?" Leslie spoke to Rue as she approached her daughter on the stairs.  "Right now... to my girl."

     "I don't even know why you're believing her," Cassie said.  "She's a drug addict."

     "Guys," Eliana said, but they didn't hear her.

     "How long have you been fucking him?  Be honest."

     "Maddy, let's just do it later."

     "Kat, shut the fuck up!  How long have you been fucking him?  Rue?" Maddy waved her nail at her.

     "Listen, let's just get into the car, okay?"

     "When was this?" Maddy tucked her tongue into her cheek as she awaited Rue's answer.

     Rue looked between her mom and Maddy once before ultimately blowing the lid off the night.  "Right after New Year's."

     "Oh!  You dumb fucking bitch!  I'm gonna fuck you up..." but Maddy was interrupted when Cassie started bolting up the stairs past Rue.  Eliana's eyebrows shot up, realizing she should follow in Maddy's footsteps before she did some serious damage.  "Don't fuckin' run away from me, you stupid fucking bitch! 

     "Why are you guys... Come on!"

     "Goddammit, I'm so sorry," Suze said to Leslie.  "Rue?"

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this took me so long love it