cardigan, a. butler

seventy-two

seventy-two, cruel reality

elsie was sat in her dressing room as she went over her lines that were in the scene they were shooting today.

she was highlighting her lines when her phone began to ring causing her attention to drift from her script to her phone.

a photo of florence and elsie flashed on the screen causing a smile to appear on elsie's face as she reached for her phone.

her thumb hitting the answer button before pressing the phone against her ear.

"hi flo." elsie greeted excitedly.

"hi ellie bellie. are you busy right now?" florence asked as she nervously bit at her nails.

"i'm just going over my lines for the scene today. why? what's wrong?" elsie asked as she placed her script down on her dresser.

"have you been on twitter lately? or any type of social media?" florence asked.

"no, i kind of silenced my notifications on those to focus on my film. why?" elsie asked nervously.

florence took a deep breath in, "i hate to be the one to have to tell you this but austin was spotted with kaia yesterday."

"oh." elsie responded vaguely.

"and they confirmed their relationship to the paparazzi."

elsie stayed silent as she tried to process what her best friend told her.

"elsie?" florence asked with worry.

"is that all?" elsie asked as she tried to calm her breathing.

"no. there's, um, there's fans claiming that austin cheated on you with kaia. is that true?"

"i, um, i don't really know." elsie whispered as she felt the familiar feeling form in the back of her throat.

"he didn't confess to anything but he couldn't even look at me when i brought it up so in guessing there's my answer." she shrugged as she felt the tears fall from her eyes.

"babe, i'm so sorry." florence frowned as she heard the quiet sobs coming from elsie.

"i had a gut feeling since the night of the met and i tried to ignore it but it turned out to be true. i didn't want to be right, flo." elsie muttered as she felt her heart break.

"nobody wanted you to be right, elsie. we all wanted him to be different."

"he's just like luke." elsie sighed as she wiped away her tears.

"don't say that, elsie."

"it's true. he lied and he saw some other girl behind my back. i never fucking learn."

"do not blame yourself for their actions, elsie. you couldn't have known this would have happened." florence tried to reassure her best friend but she could only do so much over the phone.

"i should have known better, florence. i should have known better." elsie sobbed as she covered her forehead with her hand.

"you couldn't have known, elsie. you are not to blame for their infidelity. you did nothing wrong."

"but i wasn't enough for them. they had to go to someone else to be satisfied. i was never enough."

"elsie gwendolyn verona, don't you dare say you're not enough when you're more than enough. those two did not deserve you. no man will ever deserve you. you are the greatest thing that has ever happened to me and the boys. don't you dare speak so low of yourself." florence scolded her.