She Knows – J. Cole, Cults
In the back of his mind is Coretta,
and she knows, she knows. And
I know she knows, I know
she knows.
ELLIOT WAS AWAKE, WAY BEFORE SALEM WAS, so he just spent his time staring at her. Which can be a little creepy, but to him it wasn't.
"Mornin' Juliet." He whispered, as her eyes fluttered open.
"Why'd you call me Juliet?" She asked, rubbing her eyes.
"Because your family hates me. So we're pretty much like Romeo and Juliet."
"So your saying that we're both gonna end up dead?" She laughed.
"They die?"
"You didn't know Romeo and Juliet died?"
"No..?"
"So you know that Juliet's family hated Romeo, but not that they died?"
"Hey, I payed attention when we first started reading it but by the end, I stopped."
"Dumbass."
"Mhm." He mumbled back, kissing her.
"Don't forget I'm still mad at you." She whispered as they pulled apart.
"Not what you said last night." He smirked.
"I hate you." She flipped him off, as he got a call from Jules.
"Hold on." He mumbled, standing up.
"The fuck she callin' for?" She asked, but got no reply.
"Jules, what the fuck?" He half yelled.
"What the hell?" She asked, putting on her shirt and standing up.
"I'm on my way." He said, before hanging up.
"The fuck?" She said, looking at him like she wanted to beat his ass.
"Jules told Rue's mom that she relapsed." He said, rushing to get his clothes.
"What?!" She yelled. "Fuck, that means she probably told Fez that I'm not clean." She started pacing, guilt settling within her bones.
"I'm sorry." He said, as he finished putting on clothes. He tried to kiss her but she dodged it.
"Just, just go." She pointed at the window.
"Whatever." He sighed, putting on his jacket and climbing out the window.
"Salem!" Fez called from the living room.
"Fuck me. I'm gonna murder Jules." She whispered, as she walked out her room.
"Your not clean?" Ashtray mumbled as she walked into the living room.
"Jules called." Fez looked at her– more disappointed than angry, and that seemed to only make her feel worse.
"I'm not. I'm sorry." She spoke softly.
"How long?" Ashtray asked.
"When Rue came back around. She would always offer it to me, and would," She gulped. "Do it in front of me, so when she offered it to me, I, I just said yes. And I'm sorry."
"Are you gon' try to get clean?" Ashtray mumbled.
"I want to, but I don't know if I can." Tears fell from her eyes.
"Aye." Fez's voice grabbed her attention. "You've done it before, Sal. You got us– you know you do. Can you.. can you at least try? For us?"
"I'll try. But first, I'm killing Jules." She whispered, walking back into her room.
"Imma let her." Fez said to Ashtray, before turning back to the TV.
Salem didn't know what the fuck to do. All she could feel was fuckin' rage. She wanted to literally kill Jules, and she wanted to do it now. She knew that Jules was at Rue's right now, and she wasn't about to do that over there. She needed to calm down, and she knew just the right person. Maddy.
"Hey Mads." She said as Maddy picked up the phone.
"Hey, Sal! I miss you!"
"I miss you too. Do you wanna hang out?"
"You read my mind, bitch. I'm at Cassie's."
"On my way."
Salem quickly threw on her pants, grabbed her cigarettes and jacket and headed for the door.
"Yo, I'm going to Maddy's." She said to all of them.
"Ight, call me if you need back up with Jules." Ashtray said.
"K."
Salem was seriously questioning if she should go beat the fuck out of Jules the entire ride. But she wanted to see Maddy, so she didn't.
"Hey! Oh my god, I've missed you!" Maddy practically yelled, hugging Salem.
"I've missed you too, Mads." She smiled, as Maddy pulled apart.
"Salem!" Kat smiled.
"Oh my god, I haven't seen you in forever!" Salem laughed, pulling her into a hug. "Oh, I've missed you."
"I've missed you too, Sal." She smiled.
After everyone said their hellos, they decided to go up to Cassie's room and just chill. Salem vented to her about the entire situation, and even though Maddy wasn't pleased with the fact that they slept together, she knew she couldn't be talking.
Salem's phone kept buzzing with missed calls and texts from Rue and Elliot. Mostly Elliot. Shit had just went down at the Bennett house, but Salem didn't know. That was until Rue came banging on the front door.
"Rue?" Salem smiled, as they walked through the entry way to greet her.
"Hi." She panted.
"You look like shit." Salem laughed, as she pulled away from the hug.
"Thank you." She said, still out of breath.
"Oh hi Rue!" Maddy smiled, hugging her also.
"Oh my god." Suze laughed, walking down the stairs. Cassie and Kat also hugged her. "Hey, Rue." Suze scanned her body, "Oh, jeez. You feelin' okay?"
"Yeah." Rue awkwardly smiled.
"You look terrible." Suze said. She tended to not have a filter, but everyone loved her.
"Yeah—"
"I mean, like, really terrible."
"Yeah, I think I just have, like, a cold or something." She lied through her teeth. Salem knew she was going through withdrawals.
"Well, don't get me sick. I have a compromised immune system." Suze said, as Maddy and Kat slowly walked away from the 'suck' girl, pulling Salem with them. "But, otherwise, are you doing okay?"
"Uh-huh." Rue yawned.
"How's your mom? I was thinking about her the other day."
"Yeah... she's good."
"And how's your sister?"
"Yeah, good."
"You stayin' clean?"
"Uh-huh."
"Yeah? Being a good girl?" Suze joked, and Salem looked at Maddy with a uncomfortable face, Maddy returning it by grabbing her hand.
"Mm-hm." Rue replied, trying to see a way out of this.
"How long have you been clean for?"
"Um, since the summertime." Rue looked at everyone else in the room, like she was announcing it, and Lexi looked at her like she knew something was up.
"Now, are you in AA, or are you in NA?"
"Um.. NA."
"NA?"
"Mhm."
"Okay, that's good to hear. That's just terrific."
"Can- Can I use your bathroom?"
"Oh, of course!" Suze replied, moving out of the way for her.
"Thank you." Rue walked upstairs, holding her stomach.
"Yeah, she's not doing well." Suze said to everyone in the room, as the door bell rang.
"Hell- Oh, Leslie! Hi!" Suze smiled, hugging her.
"Is, uh, is Rue here?" She said, panic laced in her voice.
"Yeah, yeah. She's usin' the bathroom. Come in." Suze opened the door for her.
"Salem, hi." Leslie smiled, pulling her for a hug.
"Hey. I take that it didn't go well?" She whispered.
"Yeah. She yelled at everyone and jumped out the car on the way to rehab." She kissed Salem's head.
"I'm so sorry. I'll come over after this to help you guys." She smiled up at her, as they heard Rue coming down the stairs.
"Thank you, love." She kissed her head again, as she set her eyes on Rue. Salem went back to Maddy.
"You okay?" Maddy whispered, pulling her into a side hug.
"I think a lot is about to go down, Mads." She whispered back.
Rue stopped at the top of the stairs when she saw her mother, "Ah fuck. It'll never fuckin' end."
"This can't make you feel good, Rue. Livin' like this." Leslie started. "Lyin' to the people you love, bein' mean to the people you love."
"Salem, you call her?" Rue looked towards her, and then laughed shaking her head. "I always knew you were a fuckin' snitch."
"Hey! Do not talk to her like that! She didn't call me, Rue. I figured this was the first place you would go." Leslie yelled, as tears fell from Salem's eyes. "This can't make you feel good about yourself."
"I don't care." Rue panted. "Just fuckin' leave me alone, please."
"I know your in pain."
"You have no fucking idea, Mom."
"Let's get back to the car, and let me take you to the hospital." Leslie slowly made her way to Rue as Kat held a crying Salem, Maddy standing protectively in front of her.
"I can't get clean. I can't do that shit forever." Rue mumbled.
"You don't have to. Just take it one day at a time." Cassie sweetly smiled, and Maddy made a face at her telling her to be quiet. Salem wasn't crying anymore, but Kat was still holding her.
Cassie trying to be helpful obviously ticked Rue off, "Hey, Cass?"
"Yeah?"
"I have a quick question for you."
"What?"
"How long have you been fucking Nate Jacobs?" Rue asked. Cassie's face fell, and Maddy and Salem's faces turned from confusion to anger within seconds. Salem pulled apart from Kat, and walked next to Maddy.
"Wh-what, what, are you talking about?" Cassie nervously laughed. Everyone in the room had shocked faces.
"How long have you been fucking Nate?" Rue asked again. Maddy turned to Salem and Kat with a face, and they knew all hell was about to break loose.
"I'm not." Cassie laughed. "What? I'm not."
"What are you talking about?" Maddy asked, looking at Rue.
"Oh, I just— I, I saw her get into his truck, and then, kiss him and drive off." Rue explained. "That was, like, what, like, uh... a month ago?"
"Uh— Uh." Cassie nervously stuttered, looking towards Maddy, who was looking at Salem.
"Are you kidding me?" Maddy said, angrily.
"Cass, that's like, really bad." Kat mumbled, as tears formed in Cassie's eyes.
"You're fucking Nate? Are you kidding me?!" Maddy sternly asked again.
"No, I.. I don't even know why she would say that." She tried to reason, but it was no use.
"You're lying!" Salem yelled, her eyes set on Cassie.
"Yeah, can we table this conversation?" Suze tried to break it up.
"No, no. You expect me to stand here next to my bestfriend who's been lying to me about fucking my ex-boyfriend?!" Maddy yelled, as Leslie made her way to Rue. "I'm literally going to get violent!"
"Okay, no. Let's just-" Kat tried to calm her down.
"No, there is no need to get violent, okay, because we are having a intervention!" Suze yelled.
"I don't give a fuck about no damn intervention! We all just found out Cassie has been fucking Maddy's abusive ex-boyfriend!" Salem yelled, following Maddy who was headed towards Cassie.
"Oh, you're crying?!" She yelled. "You're fucking crying, you fucking bitch?!"
"Maddy, Salem, please-" Kat tried.
"You're the one who's hurt?!" She yelled in Cassie's face.
"Maddy, Salem, come on!" Suze tried.
"You're the most self-centered, idiotic person I have ever met!" Maddy yelled.
"Maddy." Kat said, trying to pull the girl away.
"You fuck my ex, and you're fucking crying?!"
"Maddy. Maddy." Kat and Suze attempted at getting her attention.
"Look, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but I don't give a shit who's fucking who, okay?" Leslie yelled. "If you gonna keep talking about it, leave the room."
"Yeah, absolutely. You're being an animal.." Suze agreed, trying to break up the fight.
"I don't even know why your believing her, she's a drug addict!" Cassie tried to defend herself.
"Oh, bitch, I'm about to beat yo' ass!" Salem threw a punch, it hitting Cassie's eye as Suze pulled her away.
"How long have you been fucking him? Be honest." Maddy took a breath.
"Maddy, let's just do this later." Kat said.
"Kat, shut the fuck up!" Salem and Maddy both yelled.
"How long have you been fucking him?!" Maddy yelled again. "Rue? When was this?"
"Right after New Years." Rue answered, as Leslie tried to convince her.
Maddy sighed, "You dumb fucking bitch! I'm gonna fuck you up!" She yelled as Cassie ran up the stairs, everyone following her, expect Salem.
"Goddamnit, I'm so sorry." Suze sighed.
"Rue?" Leslie looked around.
"Fuck." Salem sighed, as she followed Leslie out to the car.
////
holy mother of god. this episode was a literal reck. i was screaming and sobbing at my phone the entire time bro. i decided to make salem be at cassie's when everything goes down, so it's even more of a mess. next chapter expect jules versus salem, finally. i hope u all enjoyed this chapter, it's a little longer than most of my recent ones. anyways, give me ur feedback!