#thread: eli3

[anniebaxterthefuture]

Annie looked hot. She knew it, June had known it when Annie had littered their chat with selfies from every angle humanly imaginable, and Duncan, her assigned driver for the night, knew it. After the horror of last year's celebrations, being stood up and left moping in front of Eli in the prettiest dress she owned, Annie had been adamant she was going out with a true bang this year. But not before she secured the perfect arm candy, of course. 

With a simple flutter of her long lashes, leaning in close enough to give him a whiff of her perfume, Annie had offered Duncan her prettiest, most sympathetic pout when she’d asked him to pull up outside of Eli’s apartment complex. She knew he was under strict instructions to take her straight to A Novel Idea, and people rarely disobeyed her father, but she also knew that Duncan had a soft spot for her. The way his cheeks flushed under her gaze, his lower lip wobbling as he stuttered over attempts to impress her, the uncertainty that flickered in his gaze whenever she offered up her arm upon entering some high-profile party she was being forced to attend. She knew fine well he was into her, and Jax had rattled off countless warnings to her that he might be a little more smitten than she was given him credit for, if the high-pitched giggle he emitted whenever she called him Duncy was anything to go by. All the same, it was benefiting her tonight, and she’d be sure to repay the favour by buying him a drink and redirecting him into the arms of an equally gorgeous woman before midnight. 

“Just wait out here for me, cutie, okay? I won’t be long, I promise,” she insisted, catching the look of uncertainty that crossed his features. She knew how desperately Duncan hated to go against her father’s orders, particularly given how many drivers she’d given the slip, sneaking out of some side exit while they were dutifully awaiting her return. Not tonight though – tonight she had plans. “Don’t look at me like that, Duncy! I mean it. Eli doesn’t even know I’m coming to steal him away, so we need to give him a few minutes to get ready, okay?” 

With those parting words, she slipped out of the limousine, onto the sidewalk and started heading towards the lobby of Eli’s building. 

As eager as she was to make the most of the night, she hated thinking of Elias all alone up there, ringing in the New Year on his own. For the second year running, she found that she hadn’t been privy to Jaxxy’s plans, and Matty had informed her – with a look of sadness so great she couldn’t help but wonder if he’d excel in the Gay Porn industry – that Eli hadn’t been up for talking much lately, so much so that he’d turned down his best friend’s invitation to come and party. But that simply wouldn’t do, and if she had to kick off her heels and throw herself down onto the sofa next to him for the night just to ensure he wasn’t alone, then so be it. He was hurting, that much was obvious, but there wasn’t a hope in hell she’d let him do it alone. Not anymore, not on her watch. 

Catching sight of herself in the mirror as the doors to the elevator opened, Annie smirked. God, she looked good. Scooching her way in, she gave her lipstick one last touch up, fixed her curls, and hopped off at the third floor. The walk to Eli’s apartment was as natural to her as wandering the walls of her parent’s own mansion. She’d always loved it at Eli’s. It was cosy, homely even, and this very building housed one of her favourite people in the entire world. She gave his front door a delicate rap of her knuckles and waited, patiently – or so she thought – for him to answer. 

Barely a minute had passed before Annie grew impatient and she gave the door another knock, this time a little harder. 

“Elias! It’s just me!” she called out, confident he’d recognise her voice without context. Annie wasn’t afraid of drawing attention to herself, but she knew Eli was a lot shyer than her. “If you don’t answer, I’ll knock the whole thing down myself! These heels are very sturdy, honey!” 

[anniebaxterthefuture]

Annie wasn’t stupid. She knew she was beautiful and desirable. She had insecurities just like every other girl in the world, maybe even to a degree that the people around her didn’t always recognise, but she could recognise that she was pretty, her full lips inviting, her curves sitting perfectly in all the right places. She was no stranger to lingering gazes and desperate, needy touches during seedy hookups and quickies in the back of limousines. Still, in all the time that Dante and Jax had been teasing her about Eli’s apparent crush on her, she couldn’t quite see it. Sure, maybe he was attracted to her in some small way – men were simple creatures, they saw a little cleavage and lost all their senses – but she highly doubted it amounted to much more than that. It was carnal, all physical with no real bearing on who she was as a person. Elias was her friend, but she was sure that he’d run a mile if he ever saw the inner workings of her mind for more than 30 seconds. 

Annie’s sense of self-worth was at rock bottom on a good day. Fake it til you make it. That’s what her mom always said, and her father never discouraged that sentiment. She supposed it probably worked. Most people perceived her as nothing more than a brain-dead bimbo whose opinion wasn’t worth a dime. Which is exactly why she felt her heart stutter in her chest when Eli slid his hand into hers, voice gentle as he insisted she was the only one who could’ve gotten him to leave his apartment. She couldn’t attest to how true that was, but it filled her with pride all the same. 

“I’m proud of you, you know that?” she told him, wide eyed and earnest as she met his gaze. 

He was on the verge of saying something more and she leaned in closer, chest pressed to his side as she gripped his hand tight against her thigh. Only, before he could say whatever it was that he needed to say, she was being pulled from him, ass sliding across the leather and towards the other door. She let out a particularly unladylike oof, followed by a stream of curse words and a disgruntled Really, Duncan? You want us to die before we see 2025? that was met with a sheepish look and a mumbled apology. She had no idea what had gotten into him, but Duncan seemed entirely off his game since they’d gone to collect Elias, and she didn’t like whatever attitude he’d picked up along the way. 

With a sigh, she smoothed her dress down against her thigh, shifting her hands and cupping her chest to make sur the girls were secure. She startled as both doors swung open on either side of her, brow arched as she cast them both a confused look. She had no idea what kind of weird ass pissing contest the two of them had gotten into, but she waved away Duncan’s offer of help with one quick motion and slid all the way across to the other side. Carefully, she extended an arm out to Eli, allowing him to take her hand as he helped her out of the car. 

"Thanks, handsome,” she whispered as she leaned up to peck his cheek. 

Flashes of light exploded around her as Annie turned on the spot, noting an array of photographers who had likely gotten wind of her intended location. No doubt they’d been tipped of about Matty’s earlier arrival and had put two and two together, but that was no matter to her. She looked hot, so what did she care? 

"Yeah, yeah. Get a load of this guy, right?” Annie rolled her eyes, gesturing towards Eli. He did look gorgeous and she was just pleased to see his curls out in full force for a change. As dedicated as he was to his role as a driver, she hated seeing them hidden away. Pressing her lips to the palm of her hand, she blew the paparazzi one last kiss before calling out, “Get a fucking real job.” 

She gave Duncan one last three fingered wave as he stepped in between her and the men with the cameras, ever dutiful before turning on her heels. Sliding her hand back into Eli’s, she pulled him towards the entrance to A Novel Idea. 

“C’mon, let’s go get drunk and find someone to make out with at midnight,” she teased. 

Hey, credit where credit was due: Duncan was navigating the car through the streets of New York like a professional. Despite it being his career, Eli didn’t actually like getting behind the wheel in the city. He did most of his driving on the track, preferring the loop of a racetrack or street circuit to the heart-stopping gridlock of Manhattan. On the few occasions where he had driven in the big apple, he’d spent the majority of his time having to stomp on his brakes, growing more and more impatient as he trailed through the streets at a snail’s pace, his car inching forward every so often and making him yearn for COTA a few states down.

Duncan, it seemed, had no such reservations.

He swung the car around sharp corners and weaved in and out of the rest of the New Year’s Eve traffic with such precision that Eli almost wanted to glance out the rear window to double check if someone was chasing them. Like they were in a Liam Neeson movie or something. Duncan drove like a man possessed. If it weren't for Annie tucked up beside him in the back seat next to him, he might have been inclined to think that Duncan was driving in such a way to make sure he got them killed.

“Yeah, you���re right, he seems totally fine,” Eli said faintly when Annie seemed to find no change in Duncan’s behaviour. 

He tried his best to relax in the backseat of the car, focusing, perhaps a little too much, on the warmth radiating from Annie right next to him. She was pressed against his side in a manner that suggested the car and its backseat weren’t quite big enough for the both of them. He glanced at the empty space next to Annie, which she could easily slide along to and relax quite comfortably if she wanted to. Instead, she stayed by Eli’s side. He found himself smiling at that.

The smile faltered only a little bit when Annie began playing with his curls, messy and never staying where he wanted them to. It hardly mattered when they were slick with the sweat that gathered in his helmet, but he’d hoped they’d stop being so unruly tonight. No such luck, although Annie didn’t seem to have any complaints.

As she began fiddling with the buttons of his shirt, Eli’s eyebrows slowly began to raise as he inhaled shakily. He was only vaguely aware of Duncan slamming his hand down on the horn, blasting a warning to whatever poor pedestrian had been caught in his path.

He felt Annie’s head drop against his shoulder and he obediently slid his hand into hers when he recognised the invitation of her upturned palm for what it was. He knew better than to think anything of it, knowing that’s just how Annie was. Still, if Duncan thought differently when he flashed another narrow-eyed glare at them in the rearview mirror, Eli wasn’t going to be the one to correct him.

“I’m happy to have come out. I needed to leave my flat. Thanks for dragging my sorry arse out of there,” he told Annie. Feeling an uncharacteristic surge of bravery, he smiled down at Annie. “I don’t think there’s anyone else that would have gotten me out of my funk.”

His teeth gnawed at his chapped bottom lip as he took a deep breath, bolstered by his sudden courage.

“Y’know, Annie…”

Whatever he’d been about to say next was cut off when Duncan slammed on the brakes, bringing the car to a screeching halt, more definitive than the rest of them on the trip over. Letting gravity pull him forward before it shoved him back against the seat, Eli quickly recovered and glanced out the window. He immediately recognised the exterior of A Novel Idea. Plenty of people were already filing through the door and suddenly Eli had eagerly pushed his nose up against the tinted glass, trying to see if he could catch a glimpse of Matty.

“We’re here,” Duncan supplied unnecessarily. He unclipped his seatbelt and climbed out, and Eli hurriedly did the same. While Duncan rounded the car to open the door closest to the side Annie was sitting in, Eli quickly scrambled out his side, but continued to hold the door open for her.

He caught Duncan’s eye over the top of the car, both of them staring at each other as they waited for Annie to pick a side.

[anniebaxterthefuture]

By the time Eli stepped back into his bedroom, fully dressed and looking effortlessly gorgeous, Annie had resigned herself to the reality that tonight was not going to be the night she finally managed to talk him into bed. Still, she figured she had technically stopped by in an attempt to lift his spirits, not ride his dick. Not that she thought the two were mutually exclusive. After enthusiastically informing him that he looked perfect, she’d tugged him alongside her, one arm looped against his, as they made their way towards the car waiting downstairs for them. 

She hadn’t really thought to mention that Duncan was waiting, it almost seemed like a given. It wasn’t like Daddy would ever let her out anywhere without some sort of security measure in place, or an escort in the form of Jax, Elias or Dante. Duncan fell under the former category, it just so happened that she was picking up her best boy too. Despite Eli’s protestations upstairs, she couldn’t help but notice a slight pep in his step as the two of them arrived in front of Duncan, the air tense as her driver stared daggers into the face of the lovely Elias Hewitt. She wondered what had happened there, if the two of them had ever had a falling out but decided not to press it. As mischievous and nosy as Annabelle Baxter could be, tonight was not the night to be pushing buttons. 

By the time she was tucked into the back of the car, snug as she made sure to sit right up against Elias despite all the space around them, she gave him another quick, once over as she deliberated over his question. 

“Hm? Yeah, baby. Why wouldn’t he be?” she asked dreamily, his question already a distant memory as she leaned forward into his space. 

Lifting a hand, she combed her fingers through his hair, sifting through his fresh, natural curls as she ruffled them sweetly. A couple of rogue strands spilled out into his eyes and Annie laughed, quietly endeared by just how well he managed to toe the line between sweet and sexy, innocent and entirely fuckable. What she hadn’t noticed as she fussed over Elias, her free hand coming to rest against his chest, toying with the buttons of his shirt, was Duncan shooting frantic glances at the pair of them in the rearview mirror. 

As her dress pushed up around her thighs, she shuffled even closer to Eli, sure to make sure there was barely an inch between the two of them in the back of the car. The sights of the city whooshed past them as Duncan put his foot down, a touch quicker than she was used to – if Annie had been paying nearly enough attention, she might have noticed he was trying to prove a point of his own – and Annie let her head drop against Eli’s shoulder, snug and content as her hand fell against his thigh, rolling over, palm open and inviting. 

“Thanks for agreeing to come out tonight, cutie,” Annie muttered, her voice gentle, sincerity colouring her tone. She knew that on arrival he’d probably slip away and into the safety of Matty’s embrace, but it was nice to think even for a moment that he’d chosen to leave his apartment for her and only her. “I kind of don’t think I’d have wanted to do tonight without you next to me.” 

“C’mon, I have to get ready. I don’t want to make you later than I already have,” Eli pleaded, turning around to face Annie, only for her hand to come in direct contact with his bare chest.

His eyes widened at once, and he was instantly aware of the fact that she’d be able to tell just how fast his heart was beating against his ribcage, like the whole damn thing had just activated DRS on the last lap at Interlagos. He inhaled shakily, and slammed his lips together to muffle the mortifying noise he almost let out when Annie’s thumb brushed his nipple. 

Matty had always teased him for how sensitive that spot was and it appeared that the sensation hadn’t been dulled over time. 

“Annie, that’s… not helping matters,” he groaned, doing everything he could to not look at her. 

He could boil his reaction down to plain and simple human nature, even though Annie knew exactly what she was doing with all her teasing. But he was nothing more than a man and so could he really be helped for letting it affect him? Obviously, Annie knew he was attracted to her. That much was clear, and he’d long since stopped letting that little fact humiliate him, especially when he figured that it must be nice for her to get that sort of ego boost, even if it was just from someone like Eli. It would only be embarrassing if Annie thought he had any serious ideas of her being interested in him. He didn’t! God, no. For as kind as Annie was, he doubted her charity extended to pretending to be into Eli through anything more than a surface level attraction. That was something he’d made his peace with long ago, no matter what Matty said to try and encourage him to think otherwise.

Annie was a flirt by nature, evidenced by the cheeky comment she made as she left him to his own devices while she wandered back to the living room.

“Please don’t let your dad hear you say that,” Eli whined, making sure the door was closed before he finally dropped the towel on the floor and got dressed.

After tugging a brush through his hair and spraying himself with cologne, Eli checked his reflection in the mirror. He decided that he’d do, although he knew that Annie would have the final say in that and quickly pulled on his shoes before grabbing his wallet and heading out to the living room.

“What do you think?” he asked her, spreading his arms out to the side and letting himself be scrutinised. Then, he nodded towards the door and offered his arm for Annie to take. “You ready to hit the road?”

As they left his apartment and made their way down to the parking garage, Eli hadn’t realised that Duncan was there - although it seemed like something he should have accounted for. Annie wouldn’t have showed up without a ride, not just because she possessed a level of preparedness that Eli sorely lacked, but because there was no way Michael would have let her out the house on the busiest night of the year without a surefire way of getting home. Eli watched as Duncan straightened up as soon as he caught sight of her, no longer leaning against the shiny car.

The driver looked less than enthused to see Eli in tow and, forever a consummate people pleaser, apologies bubbled on his lips as he took the blame for Annie running behind schedule. He understood that Duncan probably had places of his own to be on New Year’s Eve and Eli’s tardiness was probably keeping him from them. Still, as he said sorry, Duncan maintained an air of stoic professionalism.

“It’s fine, Mr Hewitt. I’m looking after Annie for the night anyway,” he said. There was a pointed edge in his tone and realisation hit Eli at the exact same moment that Duncan’s keen gaze narrowed in on the way Annie’s arm was linked with his. There was a flash of something in Duncan’s eyes and Eli felt his stomach twist uncomfortably. Evidently, he wasn’t the only person vying for Annie’s attention tonight. Hell, he wasn’t the only driver and, shamefully, he already felt himself drawing up comparisons between the cars he drove against the one that Duncan would be sitting behind the wheel of tonight. It was a fine car, but not one that could navigate the Monaco hairpin in under a second. 

He forced himself to reign it in. This wasn’t a competition. It was hardly a surprise to realise that Duncan liked Annie. He’d be hard pressed to find anyone who could spend a prolonged amount of time with her without developing a crush, but the main shock was his own reaction. Eli had thought he was only competitive on the track, but right now he felt the desperate need to somehow one-up Duncan, who’d been otherwise innocent in this whole affair. And, further surprising himself, he felt smug. Annie was hanging onto his arm and not Duncan’s.

Duncan, having sensed the challenge, immediately opened the door for Annie.

“After you, Miss Baxter,” he said, making sure Annie got in the car before Eli. As if Eli would dare go ahead of her.

He knew he’d find it hard to be proud of himself after what he did next, but as Annie slid into the backseat of the corner, Eli hovered a little as Duncan held the door open for him. Before climbing in himself, he rubbed his thumb against his cheek, drawing attention to where the lipstick mark in the shape of Annie’s lips still resided.

“Thanks, Duncan,” he said, amicably enough, before climbing in beside Annie and smirking a little to himself as the door immediately slammed shut behind him with a loud bang.

"Duncan doing alright?" he asked Annie innocently, fighting to hide his smile.

[anniebaxterthefuture]

Annie was so glad that nobody had joined her in her endeavour to coax Elias out of his apartment. Dante had offered to check in on him, just as Matty had shone his big, sad, puppydog eyes in Annie’s direction at the mere mention of his pseudo-boyfriend's name. An array of loved ones had all but begged Annie for the opportunity to come and cheer him up, but she’d wanted to go alone. Now, stood in his bedroom, faced with him in a towel, she was grateful to her past self for putting her foot down. For one, she wasn’t sure how Dante’s heart would cope if he knew that Annie was presently wondering just how far Eli’s blush reached, and whether his cock was as pretty and pink as his cheeks were right now. Secondly, she was pretty positive that if Matty had accompanied her, he’d have an answer to that very question on hand, neatly tucked away in his memory bank from all the years he’d known – and subsequently fucked – the gorgeous brit standing across from her. 

Whatever her imagination might be conjuring up was soon deemed pointless as she watched him turn on the spot, back to her as he worked to protect his modesty. Disappointment filled her chest as she let out a wistful groan, pouting petulantly at the back of his head. Still, the lean muscle that stretched along his back wasn’t such a terrible sight by comparison. His perky ass jutted out beneath his towel, no doubt just as peachy as she'd imagined across the years, his shoulder blades tensing as he seemed to grip onto the thin layer of fabric protecting him from – arguably – what could be the greatest night of his life if he just let it happen. 

“Blah, blah, blah. Proper name, place name, backstory stuff... Yada yada, wear whatever you want, pookie,” Annie found herself mumbling, a laugh spilling from her lips as she crossed the room, edging closer to him. 

She knew that Eli was much shyer with his affection in comparison to her, but there was something drawing her to that delicate little dip in the small of his back, to the lines of his shoulders. Before she knew it, her arm was outstretched, fingers itching to trace every edge of his skin. Until suddenly, Eli was turning back to face her, an outfit tucked beneath his vice-like grip as he stared back at her, a deer in headlights. Undeterred, Annie closed the gap anyway, her hand coming to rest against his bare chest instead. A smile stretched across her lips as she let her hand slide across his still-damp skin, the pad of her thumb brushing over his nipple as her fingers moved up to cup the back of his neck. 

“Alright, go make yourself look pretty, okay? Prettier,” she amended, biting her lip as she dragged her gaze slowly across his torso, no shame in her actions whatsoever. 

What was the point of being alone with someone as deeply beautiful as Elias Hewitt if she wasn’t going to at least shoot her shot and leave him lost for words. Kicking one foot back in a motion that would make Mia Thermopolis proud, Annie pushed her other foot up onto its tiptoes and smacked a kiss to Eli’s cheek, staining his skin with lipstick just the same as she’s always loved to do. 

“Go, shoo! Hurry up, get dressed, and let’s see if we can find a sexy corner of A Novel Idea to make out in, okay?” she teased, almost positive that Elias would disappear into Matty’s embrace the second they arrived. 

His eyes surveyed the various articles of clothing hanging from different clothes hangers, some hooked on his closet door while others lay draped across his bedsheets. Evidently, Annie had taken her task seriously, as Eli had rather suspected she would. He had no doubts that he’d leave her in an outfit she approved of, which was a mild comfort to him. Despite being on good terms with his stylist, he trusted Annie a lot more than a middle-aged woman who seemed to think that the Ferrari logo should be on everything that Eli wore. God forbid he attend a movie premiere without the prancing stallion emblazoned on his chest.

“What have you got for me?” he asked her, droplets of water still dripping from his curls onto the bare skin of his shoulders.

At the ensuing silence, he looked towards Annie, confused. Only to see her fixing him with a wide-eyed stare, her mouth having fallen open as she stared at his shirtless form.

Immediately, he grew red. Oh shit, had he made her uncomfortable? In his bid to get in the shower so he wouldn’t keep her waiting any longer than he had to, he didn’t even think about taking a change of clothes into the bathroom with him. There was no t-shirt to cover his chest or sweatpants to slide into, just the towel wrapped around his waist that he now began to worry wasn’t enough to put Annie’s mind at ease.

Then, she spoke, and Eli realised that her comfort simply wasn’t the problem at all.

“Annie!” he scolded her automatically, heat rushing to his cheeks. He tightened his grip on the knot he’d tied into the towel, just in case it thought about loosening any. He wanted to keep it there and preserve his modesty as much as possible.

Still flushing a bright red under the weight of Annie’s attention, he huffed out a small, embarrassed laugh. It wasn’t like he was unused to Annie paying him compliments. She often called him handsome or pretty, probably just because she knew it made him blush so. However, he had never once had the opportunity to hear the girl of his dreams call him “insanely fuckable”. What even was the protocol for something like that?

He wanted to reason that this was just another typical Annie Baxter kindness, a way to bolster his ego. But the longer he looked at her, he couldn’t spot the same fond smile she’d give him when she usually ruffled his curls or poked a finger into his dimples. She looked… shocked. Like, truly and genuinely shocked. It took a few seconds and Matty’s voice in his head for Eli to realise that Annie was being sincere and that did nothing to make his blush go away.

“Oh my god, Annie,” he laughed, dragging a hand down his face. “Stop. You’re being… too complimentary.” A pathetic thing to say, he quickly realised.

The towel hadn’t been particularly favoured by him before, but he was beginning to like it even less now that his mind was running rampant with the idea of Annie - Annabelle Baxter, the girl he’d been stupid for ever since he first met her - describing him as ‘fuckable’. His mind blanked before it quickly began conjuring up mental images of what that could mean and mortification settled in just as swiftly as blood rushed between his legs. Swivelling around quickly before his reaction could become apparent, he began tugging clothes off hangers, pretending to really give the outfits she’d picked out some deep consideration.

“This one looks good. Let’s go with this one,” he said, fingers grasping at a random shirt that he couldn’t even remember buying. “I think Matty actually got me this one. He’d be jealous right now, you know. He always wants to try and dress me. If he knew I was your personal Ken doll right now, he’d just die of envy.”

He was babbling like an idiot and he knew it, but as he gathered a bunch of clothes in his arms, he had to turn back to Annie with a sheepish look.

“I’m gonna… have to get changed now,” he said, trying to be as delicate as possible.

[anniebaxterthefuture]

Feeling successful after bombarding Eli in the comfort of his own home, Annie bounced on the spot, clapping her hands together in glee. She'd be lying if she said that particular move hadn't been calculated – she'd seen her own cleavage in this dress, she was well aware of the show the girls were putting on for him right now, loosey-goosey and free from the constraints of a bra as they were. Still, she genuinely was happy that he'd succumbed to her pestering and was agreeing to go out with her tonight. She hadn't even needed to play the Matty card too strongly! 

"Your loss, handsome," Annie winked, undeterred by him denying her entry into the shower with him. Honestly, it was just nice to see that rosy tint return to his cheeks, a little life behind those eyes again. If flirting and teasing would help draw Eli back out of his shell, then she'd never stop. 

Truth be told, she'd already been eyeing his bedroom door when he'd announced he was going for a shower. So, the invitation for her to raid his closet was certainly a welcome one, but not completely necessary. Rubbing her hands together in delight, she gave him a quick three-fingered wave before making her way into his bedroom. The promise that he'd 'meet her in a minute' in the comfort of his cozy little bedroom certainly wasn't lost on her, and she threw herself down onto Eli's crumpled duvet and allowed herself a couple of minutes to get lost in the imagery of such a thought. If Annie Baxter could have her wicked way, she'd be rolling around in these very sheets with him for the rest of the night. 

After a couple of minutes of laziness, and a few more minutes of cosiness – leading to the discovery of an entire photo album dedicated to his friendship with Matty, no less – she finally hopped back up onto her feet and started ransacking his closet. Eli was often self-deprecating when it came to, quite frankly, every facet of his personality, appearance, and also skills on the track. Aside from the fact that her father was nobody’s fool and knew exactly how to pick his drivers, not to mention the fact that he had an army of close friends to his name (life-long ones like Matty, even), it was utterly insane to Annie that he couldn’t see just how gorgeous he was. She somehow doubted he paid much mind to the salacious comments his fans – and, rather unfortunately, Bash Hughes on occasion – left on his instagram posts, but Annie would never fail to remind him just how perfectly lovely she found him. 

His wardrobe was a solid example of just how beautiful her friend was. He wasn’t quite as fashion forward as she or Matty, his usual casual attire a testament to that fact. He seemed to avoid dressing himself in anything too flashy or anything that might make him stand out, despite the obviously expensive threads his stylist had filled his hangers with. None of that really mattered to Annie, though. Elias was handsome just because. Even when he’d opened the door to her, run-down and lacking in colour, bags under his eyes and hair that looked like it hadn’t been combed in weeks; He was still handsome underneath it all. Elias was obviously handsome in all the right, conventional ways, but his beauty was more than just surface-level bullshit. Annie saw it in the way his cheeks dimpled every time he smiled at her, always reaching his eyes, bright and shining. She saw it in his words and his actions, the warmth that flooded from him whenever she pulled him in for a cuddle on a particularly cold day. 

Elias was beautiful in anything and everything he wore because he didn’t prescribe to all that superficial, shallow bullshit that so much of the world got wrapped up in. 

By the time he stepped back into the room, she’d been lost in thought. Finally glancing over her shoulder at the sound of his voice, all attempts at a retort were lost on her, her brain scrambling as every letter of the alphabet and every word she’d ever learned evaporated from her mind. 

Annie was staring. In fact, Annie was practically salivating, her mouth thick with moisture as her eyes bugged out, emerging from her skull in a cartoonish fashion as she stared across at Elias, fresh droplets of water glistening against his naked chest. Her eyes trailed down his body, catching sight of the towel slung low around his waist, giving her the perfect view of that perfect V. Almost unconsciously, without thought, she found herself licking her lips at the mere sight of him, any words spoken seeming to go straight over her head. 

“Sorry, what?” Annie startled, finally lifting her gaze away from the towel. Was it weird to be envious of a piece of fabric? Was it completely insane to hope that it wasn’t nearly securely wrapped as he thought it was? “You have got to be aware of how insanely fuckable you look right now, Elias.” 

Dante had always lamented the way Annie’s lack of filter walked her directly into oncoming trouble more often than not, but this time she found herself not caring. In fact, the situation called for her utmost honesty. 

“I picked a couple of outfits, but right now I’m having an extremely hard time reconciling with the idea that you’re going to be putting more layers on rather than removing them?” 

Knowing that there was nothing he could do to change Annie’s mind when she had it set on something, Eli huffed out a small, grateful laugh. He’d now accepted that Annie wasn’t going to leave his side while they rang in the new year. However, the ball was in his court now when it came to deciding how they were going to spend it.

If he had to choose, deciding via a kneejerk reaction only, then he supposed he would claim that he only had the energy to sit on the couch and eat takeout. Perhaps he could convince Annie to watch the Cars movies with him. Wouldn’t that be a fun way to greet 2025? Him, Annie and his greatest racing hero, Lightning McQueen?

That was the safe and comfortable option and one that he knew Annie would agree to even if her outfit said she wanted something else completely. He allowed his eyes to trail over her dress, knowing she would have put a lot of effort into picking her outfit tonight. And her make-up and hairstyle. Eli very rarely knew when Annie had done something different with her make-up, usually blushing beet red in frustration when Dante beat him to complimenting her on a new eyeshadow she was wearing. He didn’t really know about any of that stuff and, as far as he was concerned, Annie was always the most beautiful girl in the room. A different brand of mascara wasn’t going to change his mind on that.

Still, he knew she’d put a lot of effort into her appearance tonight and he didn’t want it to go to waste. When she reassured him that they still had plenty of time for him to go and get ready, he was very close to sighing in defeat. 

As soon as she suggested that she get in the shower with him, he barked out a nervous laugh and threw his hands up. 

“Alright, alright,” he said, backing up towards his bathroom. “You win. I’m going to go shower.” He pointed a warning finger in her direction, a blush prominent on his cheeks. “Alone.”

He gestured around his apartment, suddenly feeling that it looked rather pathetic and not at all like the typical bachelor pad one might expect. His sim set-up was parked in one corner but other than that, there wasn’t much to suggest that a Formula 1 driver lived here. 

“Um… make yourself at home,” he told Annie. There wasn’t much for her to do bar scroll through his Netflix watchlist or grab one of the controllers for his PlayStation and he didn’t know if either of those things would appeal to Annie.

“Or you can…” He scratched the back of his head nervously. “Raid my closet? You’ll probably pick a better outfit for me than I will. Just not the Ferrari blazer, please.”

Usually reliant on a stylist or Matty to pick his clothes for him, Eli knew that he would be in safe hands with Annie. He didn’t want to embarrass her in a poorly put-together outfit, so he’d much rather she have a say in what he wore. He nodded in the direction of his bedroom, knowing there wasn’t too much in there to embarrass him - bar one framed photo of a very gap-toothed, very short Eli with Sebastian Vettel. It was sandwiched between more childhood photos of him with Brendon and Matty, but he doubted Annie would be cruel enough to poke fun.

“I’ll come meet you in a minute,” he said, making himself scarce and quickly heading to the bathroom, stripping himself down so he could step into the warm water coming from the shower. It felt good to massage the foamy shampoo into his hair after days of doing nothing to it. Honestly, he could have stayed under the steady spray of hot water or even longer, but he didn’t want to keep Annie waiting so he quickly got out, towel-dried his curls and grabbed another, bigger towel to tie around his waist.

He stepped back into his bedroom, the fact that he was shirtless and only in a towel not going amiss to him. But he doubted that was something Annie was going to focus on. She’d be too busy focusing on his outfit.

“Any luck?” he asked her, pushing damp curls out of his eyes. "Or is my wardrobe even more of a lost cause than I am?"

[anniebaxterthefuture]

There was something impossibly endearing about the way Eli seemed to light up underneath her touch, even if only a faint blush of his cheeks, a timid quirk of his lips as they lifted into an imitation of a smile. Dante and Jax had always told her just how fond of her Eli was, how smitten the beautiful boy stood in front of her seemed, but her own proclivity for self-deprecation steadily drove her far from the truth; her foot pressing down hard against the accelerator in some half-assed attempt to manage her expectations. 

She'd been let down far too many times by men far uglier and far less interesting than Elias Hewitt, so she'd never truly afforded herself the luxury of believing that he could ever like somebody like her. She knew she was high-maintenance and bratty. She was about as subtle as a knife to the chest and as brash and deafening as a screening of Challengers turned up to the last. Elias was none of those things, and yet that's what she adored the most about him. He felt like a soft place to land. 

"Yes, really. I'd worry about you even if you were a freakin’ server in an ice cream parlor, dummy,” she shook her head fondly, rolling her eyes to accent the playfulness of the gesture. She knew that Eli was suffering right now so, even in her teasing, she didn’t want him to think she was making light of his current situation. 

Eli had a tendency to get in his own head. She’d started to see it long ago, but had often been too afraid to put herself out there, show signs of softness and vulnerability around him. It often took Annie a long time to reckon with the idea that people actually liked her for her, and not for who her father was. So, she’d settled for teasing and flirting, coaxing smiles from him not with words of comfort, but through her own “provocative” nature, as Daddy so often put it. He’d steadily warned her away from Eli many times over the years, insisting that he was much too soft and sensitive for her, that a girl like her might ‘break’ him. Lately, she’d been wondering if she’d ever get the chance to find out. 

Even now, she could see the way he was avoiding eye contact, ducking his head as he tried to deflect. Ever the martyr, was her Elias. She knew he meant well, that he wanted to take the weight of the world on his shoulders and spare anybody else the pressure, but she wouldn’t let it slide. Not now, not ever. 

“I would hang out with your sorry arse any day of the week, if you let me,” she insisted, the words sounding mangled in her horrendous attempt at an English accent. 

She meant it, though. She’d sit with Elias and do absolutely nothing, her gorgeous, thighs on display for him as she sprawled across his sofa eating junk food and watching boring Drive To Survive reruns. If that was what it took to make him feel better, she was game. But, as it so happened, she thought that getting out might do him the world of good. 

“Baby, I would stand here for the next three hours and wait for you to shower, dry off, raid your closet and find the perfect outfit, and we’d still have time to go out and have a blast,” she told him, not backing down. 

With her hand still pressed against his chest, she bent her fingers, playfully tapping at his skin through the fabric of his sweatshirt. With her hand crawling higher, she tickled the collar of his shirt, fingers brushing bare skin as she carefully cupped the nape of his neck, a mischievous smile on her face. 

“Or, if you’re really that unsure... I could even help you shower. Y’know, to speed up the process,” she told him, batting her eyelashes, feigning innocence. 

As was his nature, Eli blushed a bright red as soon as he felt Annie reach up to ruffle his curls. He doubted she’d be able to make them any messier than they already were, but it did remind him that he was due for a shower and a good tug of a hairbrush. He only hoped she wouldn’t feel grossed out by the amount of knots residing there, especially when, in comparison, she looked - well, like that.

He stood there gormlessly while Annie twirled on the spot in front of him, dolled up to the nines and looking completely out of place in the rundown mess of his apartment. Normally, he was pretty tidy - for a guy, his mum had commended him - but recently he hadn’t been able to find it in himself to gather up the energy to clean or sort out his bookshelves or do anything that wasn't just mope. It was pathetic, really. He hadn’t even had the time to properly talk to Dante about his break-up with Henry Bly, bar sending him a text reading ‘sorry to hear that, mate, hope you’re doing alright’. Dante’s reply had been far chipper than Eli had expected it to be, so if his friend could handle a break-up better than Eli was handling a shitty season, what did that mean for him? Nothing good, he assumed.

Tense in the doorway as Annie slipped by him, Eli braced himself for whatever she had to say, only to soften an infinite amount when she confessed that she was here to check on him.

“Wait, really?” he asked, not at all surprised by Annie’s compassion, but more shocked that he’d had the apparent audacity to underestimate his importance in her life. He’d thought before that perhaps he only really existed in Annie’s periphery during the season. And during the off-season, perhaps that’s where her object permanence made him vanish from her thoughts. 

He didn’t mean to insult Annie and her generosity with that assessment. It was more about the way he thought of himself, really.

When she stepped forward, he fought the urge to hold his breath, the floral scent of her perfume flooding all of his senses as she pressed a hand against his heart. He knew she’d be able to feel it thudding through the material of Brendan’s sweatshirt. He only hoped she wouldn’t pick up on the stuttered rhythm it had adopted the closer she got to him.

His eyes flicked up to her when she began talking and he wrinkled his nose guiltily.

“Annie, I’m hardly good company right now,” he told her. “There’s no way I can let you hang out with my sorry arse tonight in this apartment. Look at you. You’re dressed up, ready to go. You should go catch up with Matty and Chess.”

He’d already braced himself for the disappointment in her eyes and quickly looked away, not sure his resolve would be able to hold if he did see it. “Besides, if we did go out, I’d have to shower and… and I don’t think I have anything to wear,” he argued weakly.

[anniebaxterthefuture]

The sight of Eli as the door swung open was simultaneously a relief and an earth shattering visual. It was nothing short of a miracle to finally see that sweet, handsome face staring back at her after so many weeks of Eli hiding himself away from the rest of the world, buried under the weight of his own aggrandising guilt. And yet, she couldn’t avoid the bags under his eyes, his pallid complexion – though Eli had always been pale by comparison, he looked damn near anaemic now. He was out of breath too, which struck her as odd. 

“I came to see you, cutie,” Annie announced, accenting her words with an eyeroll that she hoped conveyed a perfect, unspoken duh. 

It had become obvious over the passing weeks, both from his silence at her endless tirade of texts and his indifference when being faced with Matty’s boyish charm and endless optimism, that Elias had no interest in seeing or hearing from anybody. The furthest thing from rude, she knew that the only reason he’d be hiding himself away and avoiding his friends was because he was too wrapped up in his own shame and self-deprecation to realise just how important he was to the rest of them.  

Annie, on the other hand, was the picture of rude and intrusive and proved as such as she reached a hand out to ruffle his messy hair before cheekily slipping past his wiry frame and through the doorway to his apartment. As soon as her heels landed on the floorboard beneath her, she twisted her body into a playful twirl, hoping to draw his attention in her direction as her dress wafted up around her thighs, fanning the skin as she went. 

“It’s because I look this good that I’m here, pumpkin,” she explained, coming to a halt just a few inches away from him. 

As often as Annie was perceived as the prettiest princess stereotype – a role she was more than willing to play – she knew that Eli, more than most, saw beneath the intricacies of her makeup and the lavish dresses. She liked to believe that he saw beneath the surface with her, recognising that she was smarter and funnier than so many others actually gave her credit for. He was always lifting her up and reassuring her the minute he noticed a pout on her lips, the furrow of her brow dissipating the minute she heard the telltale signs of a bashful Elias Hewitt about to deliver a compliment. It was exactly because of this that she’d found herself pounding on his doorway so late into the evening, the most important pitstop she could possibly make of the night. She loved getting to lather herself in expensive perfume for a night out on the town, waving off hordes of handsome faces as they all tripped over themselves in an attempt to buy her a drink, but more than that she loved knowing that her friends were safe and happy. Loneliness could eat you from the inside out and Annie knew far too well just how simple it could be to slip away into the depths of your own despair. If she had to sit here all night, dolled up with no place to go, just to ensure that Elias wasn’t all alone, she’d do it. 

“I didn’t want you to be alone tonight,” she admitted, playful smiles and sparkling eyes making way for something gentler, something more earnest. 

With one timid step forward, she reached a hand out to smooth down the front of Eli’s shirt. It was wrinkled, adorned with a couple of crumbs and soda stains, but she didn’t mind. Everybody had off days. Her palm pressed delicately over his heart, she paused momentarily to take in the steady beat of it under her fingertips, the welcome reminder that he was physically health, safe beneath her touch. 

“You can go and change right now and join me, Matty and Chess for the night if you want,” she offered, tipping her head to the side as she met his gaze with a sweet smile. “Or, we could stay in, eat shitty take-out, and you can let me cheer up my favourite person in the world.”

Matty had told him no less than five times that he should get off Twitter. It would do nothing to help his current mindset, and even though Eli knew that his best friend was right, it hadn’t stopped him from doom-scrolling from morning till night, absorbing each and every tweet from Ferrari fans and haters alike. There were very few things that those opposing groups of people could agree on, but right now it seemed that there was one consensus uniting them all: Eli had absolutely fucked it for Ferrari this year.

They’d been so close. They’d almost snatched victory away from McLaren and then Eli had gone and crashed out and any hope in hell of Ferrari leaving a mark on the 2024 season had vanished instantly. And there was nobody to blame but himself.

Michael had told him it wasn’t his fault, that it was a racing incident. These things just happen, he’d said, but with a tightness to his smile that Eli noticed with a sinking heart. Since the end of the season, he’d dutifully attended the awards gala, dressed like a schoolboy in his Ferrari blazer, and then he’d slipped into obscurity, his days only punctuated by the occasional gym session and Facetime call with a worried looking Matty.

“Have fun with Chess tonight,” he’d told his friend earlier, forcing a smile for the pixelated version of Matty on his phone screen. 

He’d meant what he’d said as well. He wanted Matty to have fun with his girlfriend, but there was a selfish part of Eli that, forlorn as he was, also wanted nothing more than to spend the night with his face pressed into his best friend’s cherubic curls. He couldn’t begrudge Chess time with her partner, but Eli hadn’t had to share Matty in a while, and definitely not when he was sitting at this level of rockbottom. But he also knew Matty would drop his plans in an instant if he knew Eli was feeling like this, like he’d been cut open and bled out Ferrari-red until he was bone dry with nothing left to give. Knowing that Eli was a consummate people pleaser to the very end, Matty Parker could never know the true extent of his best friend’s self-beration, because then he’d be stuck moping on the sofa as well instead of ringing in 2025 with a stunningly pretty girl hanging off his arm.

Forcing himself to be content with his own self-imposed solitude, Eli remained slumped on his sofa, mindlessly scrolling through Netflix and watching trailer after trailer without committing to anything in particular. When he heard a knock on his door, he assumed it would be his Doordash delivery, but couldn’t find it in himself to move. Surely they’d just leave it out in the hall, right?

With the hood of one of Brendan’s old sweatshirts tugged up over his head, he remained where he was, thumb pressing repetitively on the remote control until he heard a familiar voice filter in through the closed door.

There was only one person who could prompt Eli to sit bolt upright when he was as fogged down with negativity as he was. He stared at his door in a mix of surprise and horror as soon as he recognised Annie’s sing-song voice.

“Uh… one second!” he called, voice cracking at the end as he launched himself off the sofa and immediately began grabbing whatever he could from the mess on his coffee table. Takeout menus, data analysis sheets he’d been pouring over to try and figure out what had gone wrong during the last race. Oh fuck - his bloody Powerline plushie that Matty had rescued from the confines of the duvet in his bedroom and brought him into the living room, insisting that Eli snuggle with him to make himself feel better.

With an apologetic forehead kiss to the animated pop sensation himself, Eli quickly shoved him in his linen closet alongside the rest of the mess before he ran towards the door and opened it.

“Hi,” he greeted Annie breathlessly. “What… what are you doing here?”

He figured his question would come off more curious than rude, because as far as he knew, he and Annie had no plans for the night. And it was clear that her final destination was somewhere far more glamorous than Eli’s apartment if her current attire was anything to go by. Allowing himself a moment to let his gaze trail over the way the dress she wore hugged the curve of her hips, the heat rushing to his cheeks helped remind him of himself and he straightened up.

“You look too nice to be busting my door down,” he told her with a sheepish smile.