cardigan, a. butler

twenty-two

twenty-two, reminiscing

harry had decided that he and the boys wanted to spend some alone time with elsie to catch up so they all took her out for lunch that day while austin caught up with jackie.

"so, how does it feel booking two movies in less than a few weeks of returning from your hiatus?" niall asked as he took a sip from his sweet tea.

"it feels surreal, you know? i honestly can't believe that they wanted me to play priscilla and princess irulan in dune 2." elsie confessed with a shrug.

"i can. you worked hard to get where you're at today, elsie." zayn told his best friend with a smile.

"you earned it. i remember when we all first became friends and you were still modeling. you've come a long way and we're all proud of you." louis told her genuinely.

"yeah, it seems like ages ago when we were all young teens." elsie sighed as she remembered their teen years together.

"yeah, when we were all together." harry remarked as the others nodded. "when we were all on good terms." niall corrected.

"you four still haven't spoken to liam?" elsie asked in disbelief.

"no, we made attempts to reach out but he's never responded. have you?" harry asked.

"not since he spoke to a news outlet and blamed me for the breakup, insinuating that i was cheating on luke with one of my co-stars." elsie remarked as she shook her head.

"which one?" louis asked. "chris evans. we had gotten extremely close during my entire time filming the marvel movies and i consider him family.

we spent almost five years working together and luke knew we were strictly friends but liam didn't see it that way. he saw it as a way for me to say no to luke's proposal and find a way out of the relationship but liam didn't know the full story and he still doesn't. no one does other than my close friends."

"and the full story being you weren't ready to be married?" niall asked curiously.

elsie glanced around before she decided to let her best friends know why she really said no to luke's proposal.

"luke and i started dating in early 2011. we were just teenagers when we were together and throughout the whole relationship, i felt like there was something missing.

i loved him, i really did but i couldn't picture a future with him. no matter how hard i tried, i couldn't see myself marrying him and it broke me.

i loved luke more than anything and i knew how much he wanted to get married and have kids with me but i couldn't give him those things. i couldn't force myself to be miserable just to make him happy.

i was already doing that with my family but i couldn't do that with luke. i couldn't lie to him. everytime i came home, all i would hear is my mom talking about how excited she was for our wedding and for me to give her a grandchild.

the amount of pressure i felt throughout my relationship with luke to maintain this perfect relationship image and pleasing everyone around me killed me.

i mean, you all saw it. i wasn't happy. you guys saw that and begged me to tell you what was wrong but i just couldn't. i couldn't burden you guys with my feelings. it was all too much."

"you could never burden us, ellie. we're your family." zayn told her as he placed a hand on top of hers.

"we were your first family and we're not going anywhere. you could never burden us." niall reassured her with a soft smile.

"it hurt seeing how he treated you after you said no to his proposal, it hurt having to be on the phone with you because he hadn't come home yet from storming out on you. it hurt to see how scared you were to be alone and i couldn't do anything to help that." harry confessed with a small frown.

"and it hurt having to sit there and listen to you crying over him. i tried my best to comfort you but i knew i couldn't do anything that would make you feel better." zayn informed her.

"you guys being there for me was more than enough. i didn't feel alone because i had you four and i was extremely grateful." elsie smiled at the four.

"i'm just glad you ended things with him. you deserved someone who'd fight for you and luke didn't fight at all. he gave up on you the minute things got rocky." louis told her with a tight-lipped smile.

"speaking of luke, i ran into him at target the other day when i went to grab some things for the yacht." elsie informed them causing them to look at her in shock.

"and you're barely telling us now?" louis exclaimed in pure disbelief.

"i didn't want to ruin your guys' day. i knew you'd be furious that i even spoke to him after the breakup." elsie shrugged.

"we're furious that he even stopped to talk to you after everything he had done." zayn spokesman up from beside louis.

"he played the victim and wrote songs about you even after he knew he was the one in the wrong." harry scoffed.

"i know and i kept the talking to minimal. i even met sierra, who is an extremely nice girl, by the way." elsie added.

"for god sakes, you met the new girlfriend?" harry exclaimed.

"just for a few minutes before i excused myself. although, she was extremely kind, it was awkward standing in front of him and speaking to his girlfriend as if he didn't completely ripped my heart out of my chest and stomp on it." elsie remarked.

"you have the most amazing luck in the world." louis remarked teasingly.

"i know, it's quite annoying if i'm being honest. it's like i'm being punished." elsie laughed before she shook her head.

"but i've honestly missed this. being able to sit down and talk with the four of you in one room. it's like nothing has changed and we're still the same british and irish teenagers we once were." elsie confessed.

"we still are, we're just grown up now." zayn shrugged before their food came.

as their food was placed down in front of them, elsie couldn't help but feel grateful to have the four boys in her life.

they had been there for her since 2011 and nearly ten years later, they still were.

nothing had changed between them and it made her happy to know she still was able to call them family.

BELLA'S CORNER

elsie and the boys are making my eyes sweat

i just love how they're all like protective older brothers of elsie 🥹

anyways, this chapter is around mid july, like july 23 more specifically (1d fans, im sorry🤭)

what do you think will happen with luke? fyi, it'll be based off of a conan gray song 🫶