As promised here is another segment of the saga that is Lizzy and Timmy's story. If you haven't read the first part, why don't you head on over there now so you can get caught up to speed:

I'm asking that everyone leave their comments for this group of hubs on the first hub, that way we can make sure that everyone can see the comments without necessarily reading the entire series of hubs. At the end of each hub I'm going to give a little advice and would love it if you, the readers, would chime in with your own stories or advice, as well!  Now on to the story already in progress:

I hung up amid her protestations and called Sheila. Apparently I wasn't the first person Lizzy had called, but going over it once was just not enough for our friend Lizzy. Sheila also had a knowledge of the guy in question and told me in confidentiality that Lizzy should really go get tested for STD's. I laughed at the situation, because at that point I realized that if Lizzy had to go get tested we all would. Basically, Lizzy had slept with Sheila's husband, (Sheila was there,) and Lizzy had slept with a good guy friend of mine who I had been with recently. Of course, we all used condoms, I was actually quite fanatical about it at the time, and Tim was too. I wasn't sure about Lizzy, though, and Sheila told me that Lizzy told her that she hadn't used a condom with this guy. I immediately stopped all extra-curricular activities, as did Sheila and Tim for the time being. It was less than a week later that I got a tearful call from Lizzy.

“Oh my god, Nicole! I think he's going to kill me!”

“Lizzy, what are you talking about?” I could hear china being shattered in the other room and Timmy's voice cracking with rage, sobbing incoherently. “Are you still in the house?”

“Yes, he is completely freaking out!”

“Lizzy, get out of the &%!*% house, grab your purse, keys, and drive over here. Don't hang up!”

For a few seconds all I hear is fumbling on the other end of the phone. Further away there is still the sound of glass breaking in the other room. “Hey, Lizzy, you still there?”

“Yeah, I got it, heading out the door, now.” I hear Timmy in the back-ground screaming epithets at her, none of which are fit for reprint.

I hear the car door slam. “Okay, lock the doors, start the car and head over here, but hang up, I don't want you crashing into something on your way here.” I hear the engine blast to life and the insanely loud clang of her car doors all locking at the same time. She tells me one last time that she is still okay and hangs up.

I call Sheila as soon as I get off the phone with Lizzy. “Hey...”

Sheila immediately can sense something is wrong: “What's up?”

I start telling her what's happening and before I can even ask Sheila offers to get in the car and come over straight away.

Lizzy gets there first, falling into my arms for a big bear-hug, her tear-streaked face soaking the shoulder of my shirt. I take a deep breath and ask her to sit down on my front step while we wait for Sheila.

“Why did you call her? I don't want to talk to her about this!” At which point Sheila is at my place getting out of her car.

“Too bad, Lizzy, I'm already here. What's going on? Get in the car, let's go for a ride.”

I'm the only one of the three of us who doesn't drive, I sit in the front seat with Sheila while Lizzy is in the back seat, filling us in on what happened.

“Timmy found out that I was cheating on him. I thought you told him, Nicole.”

I've already started to protest, when she laughs bitterly, cutting me off.

“No, I know you didn't tell him. Dr. Yahoo,” (whose real name I can't remember, so we'll just call him that,) “told him when he diagnosed him with genital warts.”

The front seats in the car went utterly silent for a couple of heart beats. “Aw, &%*#$!&,” Sheila and I both say at the same time.

In any situation, if you find yourself talking to a friend who is going through this kind of domestic hurricane, even if they caused it themselves, don't hang up on them. Sure, they brought it upon themselves, but they don't deserve to be beaten or worse yet, killed because of their idiocy. Tell them to get out of the house, (most important,) and come immediately to your place or the house of someone else they trust. Eventually, after calming down you will be able to decide together what the next best course of action is to take.

If you don't know how to drive or have a car, have at least one or two good friends who know how to drive and memorize their phone numbers.

Take a self-defense class: The confidence you will get from knowing how to defend yourself will serve you, time and time again.

Always call in a second opinion. Even if your friend doesn't want you to tell somebody else, chances are there is another friend she's been blabbing her infidelities to, call that person up whenever you need some perspective or a wheel man.

Use condoms. If you aren't in a seriously committed relationship make sure you protect yourself as best as possible from STD's / STI's. Thankfully, I have never had to go through the pain of getting an STD, or worse yet, giving it to someone else that I love, but if you're hanging around with friends who are engaging in risky behavoir make sure you protect yourself, even if you don't think you're sleeping with anyone they've been with. (You're sleeping with everyone your partner has been with, who is to say s/he hasn't slept with someone your friend has been with?)

Don't allow a cheating friend to use you as an alibi.  It's bull-hockey.  It's disrespectful to you, demeaning and it lowers your moral standing in the eyes of others if it is ever discovered.  Simply tell your friend that you will make it known to their partner that their girlfriend / boyfriend was not with you on the night in question.  Tell your friend that you will tell their partner you think they were with another guy or girl.  This will keep them from making you a scapegoat since the whole point of having an alibi is to avoid getting caught.