that’s all right.

july 4th, 1956

“honey, i promise you it’s all gonna be alright,” you comforted elvis as he stood in front of the bathroom mirror, staring blankly into it.

you walked behind elvis, wrapping your arms around him and laying your head on his back. elvis was silent, which was usual for him when he was overthinking.

“just go with your heart, baby. what you feel in your heart could never lead you wrong,” you whispered, pressing a soft kiss to his back.

your moment was interrupted when you looked over to see the colonel entering the room. you internally rolled your eyes, backing away from your boyfriend.

“you ready to go, my boy?” the colonel smiled and all you wanted to do was slap the grin right off of his face.

elvis turned to look at him while placing his palm on your lower back.

“yeah, let me get my tie on and i’ll be out there in a second,” elvis nodded to him.

“miss y/n, you’ll be riding with mrs. and mr. presley. correct?” the colonel asked like he didn’t already know the answer.

you nodded your head as you chewed on your bottom lip.

“well, um… i have you a great seat that’s away from the parents. wouldn’t want any fans spotting you with them and speculating, would we?” the colonel chuckled.

“we sure wouldn’t,” you spoke coldly, pressing your lips together.

you hadn’t liked the colonel since the moment that you met him. you always told mrs. presley that there was something off about him. but you tolerated him, only for elvis’s sake of course.

the first time you ever met the colonel, he made it very clear that he didn’t want you in the public eye at all. he didn’t even want you going in public with elvis. he wanted you to be a ghost, basically.

you had been with elvis since before his career took off. so when the first conversation arose about ‘being available’ between the colonel and elvis, elvis told him that he couldn’t pay him enough money to take you away from him. it was definitely out of question.

elvis had told you everything the colonel had suggested to him and you started disliking him even more after that.

you tried to understand that elvis only went along with the secretiveness of your relationship to keep the colonel happy because he was indeed, his boss. but sometimes you think there’s more reasoning than he’s letting onto.

“ya’ help me with my tie, baby?” you were pulled out of your thoughts as you heard elvis’s voice. also noticing the colonel had left the room.

you smiled softly and nodded, grabbing the red and white tie that was laid out on the bed. you raised onto to your tippy toes a bit, bringing the tie around elvis’s neck.

you could feel his eyes staring down on you. elvis knew that you didn’t like the secretiveness of the relationship. but he also knew you didn’t want it to be public just for the fame. you wanted everyone to know that you loved him and that he loved you, plain and simple.

“you know i love you?” elvis asked, seemingly out of nowhere. you switched your eyes up to his blue ones for a few seconds before focusing on the task at hand.

“i do,” you said quietly, you felt so small with him basically standing over you.

you finished with his tie and gave him a light pat on the chest. you watched as he grabbed his tux jacket and pulled it on. you could see how tense the show had him just by his posture.

elvis walked closer to you as he buttoned just one of the buttons on his jacket, before bringing his hands to cup your cheeks.

“i’m gonna go with my heart… just like you told me,” elvis told you softly.

you nodded your head as he leaned down to press a short kiss to your lips.

“i love you,” you whispered against his lips before the both of you pulled away.

“and i love you,” elvis said, taking your hand and exiting the room.

—

you rode with elvis’s family to the russwood park stadium where the show was going to take place. the car was full of tension and no one really said a word on the way there until vernon spoke up.

“i hope elvis don’t pull nothin’ that could get us in trouble,” you peered out of the window as the car pulled into the stadium. you had never seen so many people in your life.

“y/n, did he say anything to ya about what he was going to do? he won’t tell us anything… and i’m just so worried i can’t take it,” gladys spoke, looking over to you with sincere eyes.

“no ma’am, um… he just told me he was going to follow his heart… which i think is the best thing for him,” you said and gladys reached to squeeze your hand, nodding.

the car came to a halt as a man in uniform opened the back door signaling for you to get out. you stepped out, gladys stepping out shortly behind you.

a few men in uniform walked the group of you behind the stage, awaiting elvis who had apparently just arrived because the screams of fans became louder and louder.

“there are reserved seats for the family on the side,” a man spoke to elvis’s parents, pointing to a group of empty chairs.

gladys counted them, noticing there was not a chair for one of you. she began to open her mouth but looked over to see the colonel and elvis walking up.

you couldn’t even get a word out before the colonel had grabbed your arm and pulled you in front of the stage, walking in between the crowd and the men lining the stage that were wearing white.

“best seat in the house,” the colonel cockily smiled and pointed to the only empty chair in the first row. it was towards the end where a bunch of dancers that had previously been on the stage were sitting.

“thank you,” you rolled your eyes as you sat down, watching him scurry back over behind the stage.

you began to rub your hands up and down your thighs, becoming nervous from the large group of people around you. you hoped elvis would be on soon, so all of your attention could be on him.

“i wonder if he’s ever slept with a fan,” you heard a girl giggle behind you. you subconsciously listened in on their conversation, trying your best to hear over the crowd.

“i bet so! but i heard he’s got a girl…” you heard another voice come from behind you. you scratched your neck as you leaned back further to listen closely.

“i heard somewhere that it was an actress or something. they were seen downtown a couple of weeks ago but they’re trying to keep it secretive. that’s why he’s always said he’s single but i also heard he’s a cheat… so you might have a chance,” the girl continued.

your fingers started to play with the hem of your dress nervously.

you were indeed not an actress, just a regular girl.

how could he cheat on me?

he’s always with me, when could he have done this?

are they telling the truth?

questions started to fog your brain as tears whelmed up in your eyes. you couldn’t believe what you had just heard.

you quickly rubbed your eyes to rid them of tears that were about to escape as elvis walked onto the stage. the screams got louder as you tried to subside your thoughts.

elvis stood in front of the microphone, silent for a few seconds as fans calmed down.

“there’s been a lot of talk about the new elvis,” your boyfriend spoke into the microphone, signaling shouts of discouragement from fan's.

“and of course that other guy…” you watched as elvis rose his pinky finger and wiggled it, singing a short line from hound dog.

all negative thoughts put behind you, you smiled to yourself, he could never be serious for too long. and that’s one of the reasons you loved him.

everyone cheered for him as he looked through the crowd, his eyes landing on you.

“a lot of people say a lot of things,” elvis started, “of course, you’ve got to listen to the people that you love,” elvis spoke, looking over to the colonel and nodding.

you began to feel nervous for him, thinking the colonel had coursed him in the car on the way here.

“but in the end, you’ve got to listen to yourself,” elvis said, shooting you a quick look as you gave him a comforting smile.

“so i want you to know those new york people ain’t gon’ change me none,” elvis shouted, the crowd cheering and you began to clap.

you watched as he walked over and sat his guitar down on a piano and whispered a word to his bandmate.

“i’m gon’ show you what the real elvis is like tonight!” elvis yelled as he gripped his microphone.

you grinned as you stood up, clapping for him with everyone else.

“you lookin’ for trouble?” elvis began to sing as his band started playing. you smirked to yourself, knowing the colonel was probably shitting his pants right now.

you were almost knocked off of your feet as the fans began to push towards the stage, which caused your body to be nailed up against it.

you tried your best to breathe as you watched your boyfriend perform but the people pushing against you didn’t help.

your boyfriend's back was to you as he sang, “so don’t you mess around with me,” walking backward to your side of the stage and settling right in front of you.

“i never looked for trouble, but i never ran,” elvis sang, his leads spreading right in front of you.

you looked up at him and licked your lips as you took him all in. he was the most beautiful man you had ever seen.

and he was all mine… you thought possessively to yourself but the words from the girls that were behind you a few minutes ago popped back in your head.

you zoned out for about 30 seconds, staring at the floor of the stage as girls pushed and shoved around you.

your thoughts snapped as you saw your boyfriend's knees hit the stage in front of you. he made quick eye contact with you before singing.

“because i’m evil,” elvis thrusted his hips in front of you as you smirked up at him.

his face got closer to yours as you stared at him in awe. only ungodly thoughts crossed your mind.

his familiar fingers grabbed your face, his face stilling a few inches away while singing, “my middle name is misery.”

you could’ve fallen to the floor at that moment, watching as he pulled away from you and stood back up.

a few short seconds later, the crowd started going absolutely berserk. guards were attacking people as your rib cage was probably getting bruised, getting pushed against the stage.

you started to have a panic attack due to everything going on around you. you couldn’t even pay a speck of attention to your boyfriend. your mind was everywhere.

not even a minute later, elvis was being pulled off of the stage by a group of men. he frantically tried to get away from them all while trying to find your face in the crowd, which he did.

“get her out of there!” elvis frantically yelled to one of his band mates.

tears fled your eyes as you watched the men manhandle your boyfriend and also from the pain of people pushing against you.

you felt relief as one of elvis’s band mates pulled you out of the crowd and onto the stage. the both of you quickly jumped off before a guard could pull you off.

you ran over to the car you arrived in, seeing gladys yelling at someone and looking over to see it was elvis. he made eye contact with you, knowing you were safe.

“mama, get in the car!” elvis screamed as he got shoved into the back of his car.

you grabbed gladys’s arm, pulling her into the car and away from the commotion. elvis watched out of his window to make sure you and his family were in the car and safe.

—

you arrived back at graceland, noticing the car that elvis was in was already parked at the front.

the whole ride home you had been thinking about what those girls who were sitting behind you had said. the words burned into your mind, every word playing on repeat in your head.

you should be thinking about the absolute catastrophe that had just happened at the show but your mind didn’t allow you to.

you walked into the house, elvis’s family still loading out of the car behind you. the first thing you saw was elvis pacing around the living room, cursing to himself.

“oh my god… y/n, honey… are you okay? elvis asked as he walked up to you. you nodded softly as hugged you, placing a kiss on your forehead.

“elvis!” vernon screamed as he walked in, “i’m glad to see you’re okay but what in the hell was that?”

elvis just stood there and shook his head.

“deddy, i ain’t mean for things to get that out of hand,” elvis spoke, staring down at the floor.

“i’m just glad you’re okay, baby,” gladys whispered as she gave elvis a loving hug.

the tension in the room started to come down until vernon began to yell again about how elvis should’ve known better and how the colonel was going to let him go.

“i don’t give a damn, deddy!” elvis spewed. you had never seen him so mad before, he had gone off on almost everyone in the room except you and his mama at this point. elvis stopped yelling as the front door opened and the colonel walked in.

the colonel had a disappointed look on his face which made you want to snicker but you didn’t.

you watched as elvis walked closer to him, his face red from yelling.

elvis started by pointing a finger in his face, “first of all, i want to know why the hell you put my girl in that damn crowd? she was getting crushed out there! i’m not putting up with your-“

“elvis, it’s fine,” you placed your hand on his shoulder trying to drag him away from the colonel but he wouldn’t budge.

“it’s not fucking fine, y/n!” elvis yelled, getting very close to your face. you backed away, tears immediately forming in your eyes. the two of you had had fights but he had never screamed in your face.

the colonel shook his head and spoke up which made elvis’s attention snap to him, “i’ll just leave. it’s not a good time. we can talk about all of this tomorrow.” he turned towards the door as the room was engulfed in silence.

“no, i’ll leave,” you spurted out, wiping the tears from under your eyes.

elvis looked over to you, now noticing how upset you were. you watched his heart break into a million pieces at the sight of you.

“honey, no… i didn’t mean-“ elvis started as his hands tried to reach out and pull you into him but you strayed away from him.

“i’m fine, i’ll see you tomorrow,” you said lowly, not making eye contact with anyone as you grabbed your keys that sat on the table by the entrance.

you opened the door, slamming it a little too hard as you shut it. you ran down the steps, hearing the door open and close behind you.

“y/n, i didn’t mean to yell. just come back in and i’ll get the colonel to leave. we can just go onto bed, please just come back in,” elvis said as he walked quickly behind you.

the thoughts of him cheating on you ran through your head once again, you couldn’t take anymore.

you turned around to face him as you made it to the side of your car.

“i need space, elvis,” you said, staring into his glossy blue eyes.

“are you mad at me because i yelled? i promise you, i ain’t mean to get that loud. you know i wouldn’t do nothin’ to ever intentionally upset you, darlin’,” elvis said with tears in his eyes, walking closer but you backed away.

you ignored his question, “elvis, just let me go. i’ll be fine in the morning and we can put this behind us. you’ve just gotta give me some space, okay?”

“okay…” elvis whispered as you opened the car door on your purple cadillac that elvis had bought you a while ago after you told him you didn’t need it, but he insisted.

you sank in the seat, reaching to close the door but elvis’s hand stopped it.

“i love you, y/n,” he peered down at you as he held the door open.

“i love you, elvis,” you said bluntly, simply not in the mood. tears leave his eyes, that’s the first time you had said i love you to him that sounded like you didn’t mean it. elvis let go of the door so you shut it and started your car.

elvis watched as you drove out of the gates, not knowing you had started to cry again shortly after pulling away.

—

it had been 3 days since the last time you saw elvis. he had called you the morning after the incident but you told him that you didn’t feel well and just wanted to rest at home, which wasn’t a lie but it wasn’t the whole story.

he had called a few more times that day and your mama had answered. you told her to tell him that you didn’t feel like coming to the phone so she did. but he didn’t let her off after that, asking questions like

“you sure she doesn’t need to go to the hospital?”

“will you let me know if i can bring her anything?”

“mrs. y/l/n, will you tell her to call me when she’s feeling better?”

“can i come to see her? i don’t wanna bother her but i won’t stay long.”

and the list goes on… he was worried sick about you.

you being okay was the only thing he could think about, but the only thing you could think about is his lips on another woman’s… his hands wondering someone else’s body…

you had driven yourself crazy over the words that had come out of that girl's mouth a few nights ago. your mama even started to worry about you because you barely ever stayed at your own house. you had even started to call graceland your home because you were there 90% of the time. but you had been locked up in your bedroom for three days now.

you overheard your mom on the phone as you poured yourself some cereal in the kitchen.

“so he rose his voice at her? you think this is the whole reason she’s been acting like this? there’s got to be something else we don’t know about… you know they’ve had their fights but they’re usually over it by the next day. i just can’t put a hammer to the nail, gladys,” you heard your mother say, instantly listening closer when you heard she was talking about you.

a few seconds of silence went by before she continued, “if i figure it out i’ll let you know, and don’t worry bout her. y/n is a tough girl, she’ll get through whatever it is.”

more silence.

“yes, i’ll let her know. mhm, okay… bye,” you heard the phone being placed back on the hook as you quickly went back to making your cereal.

you then heard her footsteps walking towards the kitchen, wishing you had time to escape the conversation but you did not.

“gladys just called,” your mother said, entering the kitchen and sitting on a stool at the bar.

“and said?” you asked, scooping a spoon full of cereal into your mouth and then looking over to her.

“well, you won’t tell me what happened between you and elvis… so i asked about it. she said something about elvis yelling at you while he was trying to defend you to the colonel. is that true?”

you scoffed at the fact they were conspiring on your relationship, “y’all do know we’re not 17 anymore, right? y’all don’t have to discuss us or guide us through this. we’re not kids anymore.”

“listen, gladys is worried sick about you and so is elvis. whatever happened between the two of you can be worked out, i’m sure of that. you love that boy and he loves you, i know it and so does everyone else. you can’t throw five good years together down the drain, y/n.”

you shook your head as anger began to flow through your veins. you didn’t do this, elvis did. elvis caused all of this. you finally lost it.

“mama, i didn’t throw five years down the damn drain! elvis did with some other woman! but keep thinking you know it fucking all!” you yelled before you stormed out of the kitchen.

you had never talked to your mother that way but she had to be crazy to think you’d stopped talking to the man over him raising his voice at you. it was pathetic to think.

you slammed your door as you walked into your bedroom. you crawled into your bed and bawled your eyes out for what felt like hours before you fell asleep.

you were woken up at the sound of someone knocking at your front door. you looked over to the clock on your bedside table which read 11:34 PM.

you got out of your bed and wandered down the hall, seeing your mom had already answered the door and she was talking to someone who stood behind the door frame.

“mama, who is that? it’s almost midnight,” you groggily complained as you got closer to the door.

your mother stepped out of the way, revealing elvis. you squinted to make sure it was really him and pinched yourself to make sure you weren’t dreaming.

but it was real, and it was him standing on your front porch with the most sorrowed look on his face, holding a bouquet of flowers.

“absolutely not,” you started, turning around to head back to your room, “go home elvis!” you yelled, hearing his footsteps coming behind you in the hallway as you sped up.

“y/n! just talk to me, baby,” elvis chased behind you. you made it to your bedroom door, trying to shut it but elvis slipped in the door before you could.

he stood in front of you and you thought to yourself, i’ve never seen him look this rough before. he looked like he had been crying but he had no damn right to be crying after what he did to you.

you imagined you looked like pure death, standing there wearing a large t-shirt and some of his boxers he had left at your house years ago. you had red speckles all over your face from bawling so hard. you hadn’t brushed your hair in days.

“elvis, get out…” you muttered, not having the strength to look him in the eyes any longer so your sight rested on the floor.

“just explain to me, y/n… what did i do? was it the yelling? i-“ elvis started as you looked up at him with a shocked face.

“you think this is about the stupid 5 seconds that you yelled at me? don’t act fucking stupid elvis!” you laughed in disbelief while simultaneously feeling tears brim your eyes.

“you think that i’ve been ignoring you all because you yelled at me?” you repeated yourself as you began to cry thinking about the real reason.

you pointed your finger roughly to his chest, “don’t act fucking ignorant. you know what the hell you di-,” you cried so hard you couldn’t even get your words out.

elvis’s heart broke into small pieces inside of him, watching the woman he loves fall apart in front of him. tears threatened to fall from his eyes as his hands started to shake.

elvis tried to wrap his arms around you but you tried your hardest to push him away.

“calm down, darlin’,” elvis stayed calm as you tried to shove him away. you tried your best to get away from him for over a minute but you broke down. all the energy left your body.

“no, no, no!” you whaled as you finally gave up struggling to push his stronger arms away.

your body fell limp into his arms as you began to sink to the ground, elvis holding you the whole way down, dropping the bouquet of flowers on the floor.

elvis’s back slid down the door, bringing you with him.

you let out whimpers as you gently landed on the floor, elvis wrapped his arms even tighter around you as you cried into his chest.

you cried and cried and cried, elvis ran his large hand up and down your back because he knew that was one of the only ways to calm you down.

“you’re okay,” elvis cooed, your crying starting to subside after a few minutes of elvis comforting you.

“when you’re ready, i’m gon’ need you to sit up and look at me. i’m gon’ need you to tell me what i’ve done to make you so upset. i’m not gon’ raise my voice, in fact, i won’t say a word until you want me to. okay, doll?” elvis whispered, hearing your soft sobs eventually go away.

you let a few minutes of silence go by because your head was pounding from crying so hard. you could feel the snot and tears spread all over your face, you almost felt ashamed to pull your head away from his chest, but you had to.

you slowly disconnected your head away from him, elvis looking down to see the mess on your face. you didn’t make eye contact with him as he took the sleeve of his sweater and wiped your face off.

elvis didn’t give a damn about the mess on his sleeve at this point, the only thing he cared about was you and what he had supposedly done to you to make you hurt so much.

you readjusted yourself, sitting in front of him with your legs crossed. your feet brushed his shoes because you were sitting so close to him.

you finally got the confidence to look away from the flowers that laid on the floor and up at him, he was already staring at you waiting for you to explain.

“whenever you’re ready, baby,” elvis whispered, placing a hand on your knee.

you squeezed your eyes shut, thinking about what you were about to say. you had to try your hardest not to start crying again as you said to him, “at the show the other night…” you dragged on, scared to say the next sentences, “these girls that were sitting behind me were talking about you and um… some girl that you were supposedly seeing.”

you paused as elvis gave you a blank expression but you went on, “they said you were seeing a girl. i didn’t mean to eavesdrop but i did. said that it was maybe an actress that you had been spotted with downtown.”

you looked down to your lap because you couldn’t take his blank stare anymore. “i just got to thinking and you’ve always agreed with colonel about keeping our relationship private. i thought maybe you kept us private so you could see other women. that had me all in my head as well. so all i’ve been thinking about is you with another woman. you kissing her, touching her, fucking her…” you stopped at that because tears began to drop from your eyes into your lap.

“darlin’… i- are ya fuckin’ stupid?” elvis chuckled as your head snapped up into his direction.

a look of relief was on his face while your jaw was on the ground, shocked at his response.

“elvis… i- excuse me?” you said, defensively. you were about to snap on him. what the hell is funny about this conversation?

elvis continued to laugh as you slapped his arm as hard as you could which made him stop laughing.

“y/n y/m/n y/l/n, i love you to death but you sure ain’t the brightest bulb in the box,” elvis shook his head as he smiled.

you were speechless and confused.

“baby, they were talkin’ bout you,” elvis said as your jaw dropped even farther open.

“are you being serious right now? because… i- how do you know that?” you asked as a permanent smile stayed on elvis’s lips.

“honey, i ain’t been downtown with a woman besides you or my mama. never in my life, have i even thought about being with another woman while i’ve been with you. y/n, you’re all i see.”

you felt so stupid, you really did. you spent the rest of the conversation on the floor wanting to punch yourself for thinking elvis would do that to you.

although elvis thought it was funny, he also reassured you that you never had to worry about that, never.

after a few minutes of him talking you down, he finally stood up and reached his hand towards you to pull you up.

“i’m so sorry, elvis,” you apologized for the tenth time.

elvis shook his head, he had already told you to stop saying sorry.

you looked down, seeing the bouquet of flowers that still lied on the floor.

“the flowers are lovely… thank you,” you giggled as you leaned down to pick them up.

elvis came closer to you, the only thing between you being the flowers you held in your hands. elvis leaned down and placed a kiss on your lips which you smiled into.

elvis pulled away, noticing the flowers were what was keeping him from not pressing up to your body fully, “fuck the flowers,” elvis chuckled as he took them from your hands and threw them back onto the floor.

his lips returned to yours as you tried your best not to laugh but you couldn’t hold it in. elvis started to chuckle again, resting his forehead on yours.

“i am so in love with you, elvis presley,” you smiled, bringing your hands up to cup his cheeks.