cardigan, a. butler

one hundred & forty

one hundred & forty, all too well

elsie sat nervously in her dressing room as she got ready for her appearance on the tonight show starring jimmy fallon.

after her breakup with hayden was announced, she was asked by many different talk show hosts to come onto their show.

one of the main ones was the late late show with james corden and elsie knew better than to appear on his show again after she mistakenly appeared on his show right after her breakup with luke that led to her taking her hiatus.

he had asked her so many invasive questions that she politely tried to dodge and she was overall uncomfortable after the interview ended.

elsie said no to the other shows and she thought she was done with talk shows until jimmy had personally reached out to her and invited her on the show.

none of the other talk show hosts had personally reached out to her like jimmy did and from her friends that had been interviewed by him before, including austin, they spoke highly of him and it gave elsie a sense of comfort knowing so many of her friends had good experiences with the talk show host.

plus, jimmy was the only one who had reached out to elsie when she was rushed to the hospital.

he had sent flowers and a get well soon card, not wanting to overstep his boundaries but wanting the actress to know that he wished well for her.

which is why elsie had immediately said yes.

now, the actress nervously scrolled through her phone, trying to find the contact she knew would ease her nerves.

as she pressed their contact, she took a deep breath in before clicking the call button and waiting for their voice to come through her phone.

after a few seconds of ringing, the ringing stopped before their familiar voice filled elsie's ears.

"hello?" they asked as elsie began to smile.

"hi elvis." elsie breathed out as a smile found its way to austin's face at the sound of her voice.

"hey cilla." he replied as he leaned back in his seat.

"are you busy?" she asked as she looked down at her lap.

"no, i'm just at home right now. why? what's wrong?" he asked, noticing the tone of her voice.

"my anxiety is getting the best of me." elsie chuckled causing austin to frown.

"you're nervous about your interview with jimmy." austin stated as he realized why the girl sounds different.

"i just, the last time i was on a talk show after a breakup, the host was very invasive and rude and did not care that i no longer wanted to talk about the subject. i'm just scared it'll be like that this time around." elsie stated as she looked at her image in the mirror.

"jimmy is a very understanding person, ellie. if he notices you're even the slightest bit uncomfortable, he'll immediately change the subject. he's a really kind person and i'm sure he just wants to ask you about your success and not just about your breakup with hayden." austin reassured the actress.

"but lately it seems that all anyone ever wants to talk to me about is him as if he defines me and my career. i made it to where i am now without him. my success has nothing to do with the fact that i dated him or luke or..." elsie started but stopped.

"or me. you were more known than i was when we met and yet it seemed like all anyone could do was tie your success with your album to me. you're an incredible person all on your own. you don't need anyone else to define you." austin reassured her causing the girl to smile in relief.