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     "Open the fucking door, Cassie," Maddy pounded a heavy fist on the door upstairs in Cassie's bathroom, where the blonde had retreated to after everything that just happened.  "Open the door and tell me it was worth it.  You owe me that," Maddy said before grabbing the doorknob and rattling it.  "Open the fucking door, Cassie!"

     "This is too much for me," Eliana threw herself back onto Cassie's bed while Maddy went at the door, Kat at her side trying to calm her down.  The thing was, despite everything that came into light, Eliana still felt comfortable in the room and in the bedsheets she caressed as she listened to Maddy.  But she knew this would be the last time they ⎯ she ⎯ would be in that room.  Because if it was Fez that Cassie was fucking, she'd already be dead.  "I can't breathe."

     "You're next," Maddy tore her eyes away from the door to look at Eliana.  "Miss hooking up with her ex."

     Eliana, scoffed as she placed a hand over her heart.  "Ouch," she whispered.

     "What kind of fucking friend are you?" Maddy yelled back into the door.  "What the fuck?  This isn't about Nate.  This is about you and me and our friendship, and if you wanna throw it away, then fine.  'Cause I don't wanna be fucking friends with you."

     "Come here, babe," Kat whispered too.  "Let it go."

     "I'm just sick of it," Maddy said, a tear now coming down her cheek.  "I'm sick of it.  He put me through hell and now he's with my fucking best friend?  Like, what the fuck?"

     "It's fuckеd up," Kat nodded.

     "It's mega fucked," Eliana agreed, rising from the bed.  "You're lucky you ain't cross me!" Eliana yelled as she reached the door where Maddy and Kat were gathered, pointing a finger at the door as if it was really her friend, yet her phone was still in her hand as she waved it around.  She imagined Cassie wasn't doing anything on the other side of the door except trying to block out what they were saying.  "Hell... you'll be lucky if karma doesn't bite your ass immediately," she continued before turning and taking one last look at the room.  The room where they had spent so much of their childhood, and yet it was all being thrown away.  Slowly, she turned to Maddy and spoke almost coarsely, "I get it, I really do."

     Maddy nodded, now obvious she was hurt.  "When is it gonna end?"

     "It's fuckеd up," Kat said again.  Eliana leaned against the wall facing Kat.  She nodded.  As I said, if it was Fez instead of Nate, Eliana imagined she'd rip Cassie's head off herself.  She couldn't imagine how Maddy felt.

     Maddy continued rattling the doorknob.  "Open the fucking door, Cassie!  Open the fucking door!"

     "She's not gonna open it," Kat said.  "Let's just go."

     "Open the door!" Maddy yelled, banging on it now.

     "Maddy, come on."

     "You're a fucking coward," Maddy decided.  You're a fucking coward, and I would've never done this to you.  I would've never done this to you."

     "I'm out of here," Eliana decided, and it seemed Kat and Maddy were nearly on the same page as they followed her out of the room and downstairs, abandoning Cassie by herself in her bathroom.

     Maddy stormed out of the house first, Kat quickly behind.  Lexi was still in the chair, same as when she left her, "So?" the brunette asked.

     Sighing, Eliana ran a hand through her hair, phone in an opposite hand.  "And then... there were three."

     Cut to the next day, when Maddy had gotten most of her anger out of her system and Eliana had time to process what the fuck had happened to her friends.  It was lightly raining outside, and the Romano girl was cuddled up on her couch, holding her bare feet with her hands as she tucked her legs under her.  Maddy was hogging the blanket on the opposite couch, the two staring at each other in silence.  Mikey's old pug Rocco was sitting near Maddy, resting his head in between his paws as they all listened to the soft pour of rain.

     "So, Fez, huh?" Maddy finally asked.

     Eliana's little sisters, Ginger and Gwen were around the corner in the hallway ⎯ Eliana could feel their little eyes preying on them.  Especially because they were now eleven years old, and going through a horrible phase where they wanted to be mini versions of the two friends.  It didn't help that Gwen was obsessed with Maddy.  This was ironic because all Eliana wanted to do was go back in time and be a kid again.  Her eyes lingered to her left, catching sight of their hands on the wall in the corner of the room confirming her thoughts that they were listening in.

     "Girls," Eliana said in a stern voice.

     Surprisingly, to her rescue, their mother entered the room.  The corner of her lips turned upward as her mother added in on the girls, "come on guys, leave your sister alone," their mother said, walking down the hall.  She waved her hands, scurrying them along.  Rocco's eyes followed them as they left.

     Maddy looked at her friend expectantly, to which Eliana simply shook her head.  "We don't have to talk about this right now."

     "Uh, no," Maddy said, hoops moving at her sides as she bobbed her head.  Eliana sighed.  "You have to tell me what the hell is going on with you.  You're fucking Fez again, what happened?  I thought that was done-zo."

     Eliana shrugged.  "I don't know, it just happened, Mads."

     "When?"

     "Mmm, around the time I got back I guess."

     "I need specifics," Maddy said like it was obvious.  "Dates, times, places."

     "That couch for one."

     Maddy groaned.  "Don't be such a boy, it's disgusting."

     Eliana couldn't help but laugh, however, the moment left as quickly as it came.  "Uh, we kissed at the corner store the night we were on the way to Kat's Christmas party."

     "Bitch get out!" Maddy said.  "Are you being serious?"

     Eliana nodded.  "Yeah, just a small kiss.  But then he came over here and..."

     Maddy smirked, her dimple popping out.  "You're such a slut, Ellie."

     Eliana rolled her eyes.  "Yeah, whatever."

     Maddy smiled in silence for a minute before clicking her tongue, gathering Eliana's attention again.  "I needed to talk about something else."

     "I know."

     "I could kill them."

     "I know."

     "What would you do, Ellie?  If you were me?" Maddy's demeanour turned more serious, resting her chin in the palm of her hand as she awaited an answer from Eliana.  Even Rocco looked up with his puppy dog brown eyes.

     With pointed eyebrows, Eliana asked, "honestly?"  to which Maddy nodded.  "If Cassie fucked Fez, I would probably kill them.  Because guys are always to blame as much as the girls, but Cassie was your best friend, she was our girl.  And she chose what she wanted."

     Maddy sighed.  "It's all just like... super fucked up."

     "I know, but she made her bed, and now she has to lie in it," Eliana said, a tear escaping from the corner of her eye.  She wiped it away quickly, but Maddy still caught it.  "Anybody who's willing to do that... I don't want to be friends with them.  I know you have an incredibly forgiving heart, but I don't think I'm capable of letting her get close to me again.  At least not until she figures herself out.  I'm currently a little too close, closer than I'd care to be.  Especially to Nate, no offense."

     The fact that Cassie had issues stemming from her parents, and mainly her father's absence, wasn't a secret.  Maddy knew what Eliana meant; Cassie liked guidance.  She liked being controlled, she liked having security.  Nate just happened to give her attention when she was at her lowest.

     "Thank you, Ellie.  For everything.  I love you, chica."

     "I love you too, baby."

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