cardigan, a. butler

one hundred & one

one hundred & one, the last time

it was the day of premiere of the elvis movie at the cannes film festival and elsie wished she was excited for the event.

after everything that went down with austin at the met gala, elsie didn't even want to be in the same room with him, let alone sitting next to him.

she had tried to get the seating arrangements changed but it was all set in stone and it would seem off that she didn't sit next to austin when she played his wife in the film.

"are you nervous?" florence asked as she facetimed elsie with she got her makeup done.

"i wouldn't say i'm nervous, i'm just ready to get things over with is all." elsie sighed as she kept her eyes closed while the makeup artist did her makeup.

"which is understandable. these last few months have been quite tiring for you." florence nodded although elsie wouldn't see her.

"having to defend myself and my actions relentlessly is honestly getting exhausting and don't even get me started on all the negativity being pushed towards hayden and i."

ever since they had went public with their relationship at the met gala, they had received mixed feelings with their fans.

some claiming that they were perfect for each other and was only fitting for the chosen one and the midnight phoenix to be together.

while others were claiming that hayden was too old for her and that he was grooming her when elsie is a grown adult.

elsie felt like things were going completely wrong because of her connection with austin.

she had seen the thousands upon thousands edits of them together on tiktok and it didn't help that people had edited austin's reaction to her on the red carpet with hayden.

it was making austin seem like the good guy in the situation when he was the complete opposite.

all she wanted was to move on and be happy with hayden but he wasn't allowing it.

elsie had promised to herself and to hayden that after the film festival was over, she was cutting ties with the elvis film and was going to promote her upcoming tour and sinner's desire instead.

she had previously spoken to both baz and priscilla and they both agreed that it was best if elsie didn't promote the movie with austin.

there was already so much tension between the two actors that they were trying to minimize the chances of elsie and austin talking to a minimum.

which elsie was grateful for but austin was not.

he wanted elsie back but that wouldn't be possible unless the two spent time together.

"what would you do if he tried to talk to you?" florence asked softly.

"i'll be polite but other than that, i won't talk to him unless i have to." elsie confessed as the final touches to her makeup were applied.

"we'll, it seems you're just about done getting ready so i'll let you go but do call me when everything's all done, okay?" florence asked her best friend.

"of course." elsie smiled.

"tell hayden i say hello as well." florence told her pointedly.

"i will!" elsie laughed before the call ended.

soon after they had hung up, elsie quickly slid into her dress and heels.

it was a black tulle dress inspired by the one angelina jolie wore in her movie 'the tourist.'