cardigan, a. butler

six

six, queen of karaoke

ROB

(austin butler)

ROB
just heard the news, congrats (:

ELLIE
thank you (:

i'm honestly really excited

i've never been to australia

ROB
it's amazing over here

i think you'll love it

when do you leave?

ELLIE
i leave may 31 and i'll be in
australia until august 31

so you're stuck with me for three months

ROB
hopefully we don't end up doing a prank war

i'd lose terribly

ELLIE
at least you're admitting it  

ROB
now i take it back

just you wait, el

ELLIE
i guess we'll see butler

ROB
i'm in la for another day before i
fly back to australia

do you wanna get something to eat
to celebrate? my treat

ELLIE
sure (:

pick me up in 15?

ROB
see you in 15

ELLIE
sent current location

the duo sat in a booth across from the other as they enjoyed the food they had ordered.

"you know, i never thought i'd land a role in a major movie a week after i make my first public appearance after my acting hiatus." elsie confessed as she swirled the pasta onto her fork.

"you were on an acting hiatus? how come?" he asked.

"it's gonna sound lame." elsie admitted as she looked down at her.

"i won't judge." he reassured her with a small smile.

elsie stared at him for a moment before she sighed, giving in.

"before i announced my hiatus, i was in an eight year long relationship with someone who was famous as well.

when we broke up, i was really sad and i hardly had the energy to do anything and everyone around me began to notice.

that's when my manager suggested that i take a hiatus on acting and public outings so i could recuperate from the breakup. 

i ended up doing it and it honestly helped but i felt like if i continued to work instead of taking a break, i would've had a much better time getting over the breakup instead of having so much free time to think about it." elsie confessed as austin listened intently, nodding every now and then to ensure her that he was listening to her.

"i might be overstepping and i'd totally understand if you didn't want to talk about it but why did the two of you break up?" he asked as elsie took a bite of her food.

"he was ready to get married and i wasn't. even though we had been together for eight years, it wasn't enough for me. yeah, i loved him but i never knew what life was like without him.

i didn't know who i was without him and i wanted to find myself. i guess i just wanted to be my own person and build my career." elsie explained and austin understood completely.

he knew what it was like to be in a relationship with someone for so many years and not being ready for a commitment as big as marriage.

"it's ridiculous, i know." elsie sighed once she realized austin wasn't going to say anything.

"no, it's not. i, uh, i actually felt the same way about my past relationship. i wasn't ready for a commitment as big as marriage." austin told her causing her to sigh in relief.

"my mom and my sister both thought that my ex and i would get married and i guess that kind of put pressure on the relationship and it put pressure on me to get married before i was ready to." elsie admitted.

"do you feel relieved to not have the pressure on you anymore?" he asked

"yes and no. i feel relieved that i won't have people wanting me to get married but i did lose someone who was in my life for eight years." elsie shrugged with a small frown.

"yeah, i understand." austin nodded in agreement.

"i'm sorry for dragging you into this drama. we had barely met a week ago and you already had an article written about you because you were seen with me." elsie apologized, feeling terrible that he was dragged into this.

"whether we met a week ago or years ago, someone would have written that article about us regardless. you don't have to apologize because it's not your fault. i agreed to go out with you and your friends and it was by far, one of the best nights i've ever had." austin told her honestly, a small smile falling onto her face.

"i'm glad you had fun. maybe we should do a karaoke night again." elsie suggested with a small smile.

"as long as i don't have to butcher another song by abba." he remarked causing the girl to laugh.

"hey, you killed that performance." elsie told him sincerely.

"if anyone killed it, you did when you sang an old maroon 5 song." he pointed out with a smile.

"what can i say? i'm the queen at karaoke." elsie remarked with a smile on her face that mirrored austin's.

although the two hadn't known each other long, it felt like they'd known each other for years. austin felt like he could truly be himself with elsie and elsie felt like she could truly be herself with austin.

BELLA'S CORNER
crying because they're so cute 🥹

filming timeline might be off but this is a book so i'm not stressing about it too much

elsie opening up to austin about her break up and him doing the same >>>

is it bad that i love them already?

anyways, i'll probably publish two some chapters tomorrow so stay tuned 🫶