cardigan, a. butler

seventy-six

seventy-six, forgiveness

elsie was walking around the streets of london on her day off, wanting to explore the city she loved when she was a kid.

most of the cast were busy filming so she didn't mind spending the alone time on her day off.

her twenty-four birthday was in less than a week and she didn't feel the same excitement she used to feel for her birthday.

it felt different this year.

she felt that there wasn't much to celebrate if she wasn't celebrating with the one person she wanted to.

it hurt to think that just last year, they were planning on moving in together and in a blink of an eye, it was all ruined.

her perspective on love had changed and no longer believed that everyone was meant to be work one person for the rest of their life.

it was bullshit.

love was bullshit.

first, she had given her all to luke and in return, he betrayed her by cheating on her.

and what killed her perspective was that austin had hurt her more than luke had.

she never expected to be betrayed by austin.

he made love seem like a wonderous thing to experience.

and she believed it was. she really did.

but things weren't meant to last forever.

people weren't meant to be together forever.

the only exception was her parents.

if only she was able to experience a love a great and as epic as her parents love.

she often wondered how she had received the short end of the stick when it came to love.

no matter what she did, she could never escape the never ending cycle of betrayal.

jackie had dated lou and even then, they were perfect together.

even after the breakup, they remained best friends and in each others lives.

elsie believed it was her that was in the wrong.

that it was her fault that they betrayed her.

she must have done something to make them hurt her the way they did.

she hadn't realized she was crying until she had felt a hand on her forearm.

elsie looked up and froze as she stared at luke.

"what are you doing here?" she gasped as she stared at her ex boyfriend.

"the boys and i are just exploring london." he informed her causing her to nod.

"i, uh, i should go." elsie started as she began to walk away but was stopped by luke's hand on her wrist.

"can we talk? there's some thing that i need to clear up and if you'll let me, i want to sit and talk with you for a few minutes."

elsie stared at him and could tell he was being genuine.

"sure." elsie breathed out before the two sat down in a nearby coffee shop.

"these past eight months, i have been someone i don't recognize and i've hurt many people, one of them being you. i didn't realize how many people i was hurting until calum sat me down and explained what i was going wasn't right.

i had no right to ask if you and austin were together and i had no right to reach out to you after all the hell i put you through in our relationship.

this was our first relationship and i completely ruined it by acting incredibly disgusting and being completely vile towards you.

you deserved better than what i gave you. i should have respected the fact that you weren't ready to marry me or have children with me and yet i tried to force you into keeping the baby when it wasn't my choice. it was yours.

i know how hard that must have been for you to abort it when there was a possibility you wouldn't have been able to have children. it was a sacrifice you made for yourself and for me.

you knew we weren't ready to be parents even though we had been together for nearly a decade. and i repaid you by cheating on you when we went through a rough patch and i just want to say i'm truly sorry.

you were the best girlfriend to me and i completely betrayed you and i'm sorry. if i could take it all back, i would.

and despite you not giving the paparazzi details of our relationship, i allowed for fans and news outlets to slander your name and im sorry that i let it get that far.

and i'm sorry for trying to tell you what you can and cannot release when it wasn't even my business.

you had the right to write your experience on what you went through.

i'm also sorry about the song that i wrote. it wasn't right of me to write a song about you while you were in another relationship and it wasn't fair to sierra either.

it also wasn't fair of me to show up to your apartment completely wasted and pouring my heart out to you when you had a boyfriend.

i didn't realize how damaging my actions were until recently and i just want to right my wrongs.

you deserve an apology far better than this but no amount of words or apologies could makeup for what i put you through."

"i admit, everything that you put me through was hell but it made me stronger. it made me realize how much better i deserved. i want to put everything past us and move on because before there was an us, we were just best friends.

i want the same fifteen year old luke as my friend because he understood me far better than most people could. i don't want to hate you anymore."

"i don't want you to hate me anymore either." he admitted.

"there's still a lot we need to work on as people in order for us to be considered best friends again but i'm willing to try if you are." elsie informed him.

"i am too." he smiled before the two stood up and hugged the other.

"i'll always wish you the best, elsie. you deserve it." he whispered.

"me too, luke." she smiled.

although elsie couldn't forget everything that luke had done to her, they were now a step closer to mending their friendship.

BELLA'S CORNER
luke apologizing has me crying

elsie birthday is in two chapters, i wonder what will happen 🫣

also, anyone interested in a lucas scott fanfic or ricky bowen fanfic?