The truth always comes out.

You have two choices in life: you can either own your truth or be outed. Well, Cassie thought she would have more time to decide.

Had she not been so lost in the euphoria of their evening, she would have noticed Maddy's car hastily parked outside her house.

Had she not spent the past hour getting fucked by Nate, she would have seen her phone and Lexi's text warning of her of an angry Maddy looking for her.

But she didn't.

From her own accord, Lexi Howard was used to always being on the sidelines. A wallflower, always there but mostly forgotten. She had lived her teenage years living vicariously through her sister's experiences, and Maddy's as well. An outsider looking in. The less pretty Howard sister. The boring one.

And that evening, she had been typing away on her computer, writing her school play, when the sound of screeching tyres and their front door being hammered by fists startled her.

"Who the fuck is that?" And as Suze opened the door, glass of wine in hand as usual, Maddy stormed in looking enraged.

"Where is that fucking CUNT? CASSIE?" Her screams had had been so loud, Lexi felt her eardrums about to burst from the sudden invasion.

In all the years she had known Maddy, she had never seen her this angry and especially not with her sister. Nate, maybe. But never at Cassie.

"Maddy, you need to calm the fuck down!" Suze had tried to calm her down, trying to understand what had sparked this sudden animosity between the two best friends. "Cassie is not here, what the is going on?"

"I am literally going to fucking KILL HER!" And Maddy had emphasised her point by knocking down a floral vase, resulting in her and Suze engaging in their own screaming match. Which then resulted in Maddy admitting her anger was due to Cassie sleeping with Nate. On multiple occasions, apparently.

"Did you know?" Suze had asked a shocked Lexi in the kitchen, while pouring herself a glass of Rose up to the very brim.

"No." Suze had stared at her down, knowing well her youngest was usually the holder of all secrets in their household. "Mom, I swear."

Suze had shaken her head at the thought of her eldest daughter, suddenly understanding more of her erratic behaviour over the last few weeks. She then asked Lexi to text her sister before trying to calm Maddy down.

"Look Maddy, you girls have been best friends for so long. I'm sure this is all a big misunderstanding."

"Misunderstanding? That your daughter is a SLUT!"

"Alright, you need it to cool it with the names-" And Suze didn't get a chance to finish her sentence when Cassie finally walked in through the front door with a smile on her face.

"You motherfucking cunt." Maddy had rushed to get into Cassie's face, Kat holding Maddy back from causing any injury to her former friend. "You fucked my ex-boyfriend?"

And Cassie's euphoric night came to a very quick end, as she faced her second biggest fear. Maddy finding out.

"What?" She asked nervously. Her stomach had dropped and it was hard to keep the tears at bay.

"Rue told me. I can't fucking believe you." By now Maddy's aggression had turned into tears. "How could you do this to me? You're my best friend."

Cassie finally felt the reality of her actions sink in, as she watched the tears running down Maddy's face, the look of disgust on Kat's face, the disappointed look her mother was giving her, and Lexi. Lexi was just analysing every little bit of her this interaction with a terrified look on her face.

As per Kat's words, this was bad, really bad.

In a moment of communal distraction, Cassie made a run for her bedroom with Maddy following close behind her. She had managed to lock her out on the other side of the bathroom door, but she hadn't managed to lock out what she was feeling in that moment. The guilt. The shame.

As Maddy continued to bang her fist on the door and pull on the door handle, Cassie felt the tears running down her own face. What had she done? 7 years of friendship down the drain for a boy. Not just any boy. Nate Jacobs.

"This isn't about Nate, Cassie. It's about you and me." Maddy had emphasised. "I would never have done this to you. Tell me why."

And in a barely there whisper, as she let her cathartic body slide down the door and on to the bathroom floor, Cassie had admitted: "I love him, Maddy."

"I loved you, Cassie." She then banged the door again. "Fuck you! You're so fucking desperate for a guy to love you, it's fucking sad. You think he loves you? He will destroy you, like he did with me."

"Maddy, we should probably go now." Kat plied a sobbing Maddy away from the door.

"He ruined my fucking life, put me through hell and now he's dating my BEST FRIEND. WHAT THE FUCK!"

From the other side of the door, Cassie could hear the group of women consoling Maddy and escorting her out the room.

She had completely alienated everyone in her life to be with Nate. Friends, family, all gone in one fell swoop.

As she cried on that bathroom floor, she let her mind travel to her greater purpose. To her life with Nate. To her love with Nate.

They would never understand what he meant to her, what his love gave to her. The probably never will.

But she knew she loved him more than anything, and no one could hold her back now.

And every time you speak her name, does she know how you told me you'd hold me until you died. But you're still alive.