cardigan, a. butler

twenty-six

with each notification that kept popping up on her phone brought more and more hateful messages for her to read and she didn't know if she could take anymore of it.

she quickly grabbed her bag and rushed out of the airport causing many people to turn her way but she didn't care.

all she wanted was to get out of there before another way of hateful comments and tweets would appear on her phone.

as she slipped into her car, she knew she couldn't go home to her sister. not when there were paparazzi awaiting her arrival, wanting to get the girls comment on the entire situation.

and so, she called up the only person who wouldn't give her location away to anyone that wanted to know.

"hey, can i stay at yours for a bit?" she asked as she bit her lip anxiously as the driver awaited to know where he would be taking her.

"of course, are you back in town?" the voice asked as they shuffled around in the background.

"yeah, just landed." elsie answered softly.

"yeah, come over. you can stay as long as you want. i'm making chicken parm if you're hungry." the voice suggested causing a small smile to appear on on elsie's face.

"chicken farm sounds perfect. i'll be over soon." elsie smiled before the two hung up.

elsie then gave the address to the driver before she leaned back and watched as paparazzi arrived at the airport and rushed in, unaware that the girl had already been in the car.

the driver glanced back at elsie before he drove off towards the unknown location.

soon enough, elsie had arrived at her friends apartment, not a paparazzi in sight.

"thank you terry." she smiled before she grabbed her things from the trunk and hurriedly walked inside.

it didn't take long before elsie arrived in front of the familiar door and knocked before waiting a few minutes.

the door opened and the blonde smiled as she pulled elsie into a hug she so desperately needed.

"hi ellie bellie." she greeted with a smile.

"hi dovie." elsie breathed out before the two walked into the apartment and shut the door behind them.

"you're just in time. i just finished the chicken parm." she announced as she gestured to the two plates sitting atop of the counter.

"you are an angel sent from heaven!" elsie exclaimed before the two sat across from each other and began to eat their dinner.

"tell me, how was australia?" dove asked with a bright smile on her face.

"it was absolutely amazing, dovie. no paparazzi, no new scandal, it was like being problem free." elsie explained excitedly.

"sounds like heaven. we should go back sometime." dove told her as she took a sip of her lemonade.

"sounds like a plan." elsie winked causing dove to laugh at her antics.

"now to the real question. don't get me wrong, i love spending time with you any chance i get but why did you ask to stay over after a long flight? aren't you jet legged?" she asked softly.

"you don't know?" elsie asked in disbelief. everyone in her life had known before her. she at least expected that dove would have checked her phone.

"no, i haven't checked my phone recently, why?" she asked nervously.

"why don't you see for yourself?" elsie asked as she handed dove her phone, the article she had read in the middle of the airport being displayed on her phone.

"oh my god." dove gasped as she scrolled down the article, some of elsie's notifications popping up and dove seeing the terrible names that elsie was being called.

"why would they write this?" dove asked in pure disgust. how could anyone sit behind a screen and write so many horrible things about a person they didn't know?

"because they hate me for something i didn't do. anytime i spoke with luke, he intiated the conversation, not me. i spoke with him to be polite and this is what i fucking get?" elsie exclaimed as she stood up from the table.

"why does the girl in the situation always get more hate than the guy?" elsie asked as she looked at her friend with tears in her eyes.

"because everyone in the media are misogynistic assholes." dove retorted causing a chuckle to escape past elsie's lips.

"all of this hate and drama happened because i liked a fucking boy." elsie spat angrily.

"a boy you haven't like in years, elsie. you two broke up and you moved on. what i don't understand is why he's allowing everyone to slander your name when you did absolutely nothing wrong." dove informed her friend.

"because it would bring bad publicity to the band and he wouldn't want to drag down the boys for his break up." elsie explained with a sigh.

"all because i liked a boy." elsie scoffed before she thought over what she just said.

"all because i liked a boy." she muttered with a small smile causing dove to look up at her.

"what was that?" dove asked, not hearing elsie correctly.

"nothing, just thinking out loud but um, do you mind not telling anyone i'm here? i just need a few days alone without anyone bombarding me with questions." elsie asked as she sat back down.

"you can stay as long as you want, ellie. how about we do each others makeup before putting on a fashion show?" dove asked with an excited smile.

"you know me so well!" elsie gushed before the two women got up from their seats and rushed to dove's room.

elsie was glad she had a friend like dove to help her escape her reality that she liked to call hell.

BELLA'S CORNER

if you get where i'm going with this, elsie about to become a singer 🫣

i promise, elsie and austin will be fine.... for now 🤭

dove and elsie's friendship >>>> 🥹