𝑑𝑜𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑒 I billie eilish

-6-

BILLIE
-

The room went completely silent.

What I was not expecting, was for Layton to start yelling at Emi.

"How could you not have seen this coming?" He shouted. Woah, what? " Maybe if you hadn't been spending so much time with this little slut over here," He spat, wildly gesturing at me, "I wouldn't have done this."

Now I felt bad. Maybe I had been taking her away from Layton, I just wanted to be a friend to her. I knew what she was going through, well, to a certain extent anyways, what with being with Brandon and everything. Speaking of him, he was currently in the kitchen, hitting up some girls probably. I had learnt to just go with it, it never turned into anything serious in the end, and as much as it bothered me, confronting him about it only ever made things ten times worse for me.

"Layton, I don't even know why I'm still with you anymore. I've let things like this go time and time again, but I really just don't know if I can this time."

Emi seemed like she wanted to scream at him, but she was just too exhausted. Her voice kept cracking, making my heart ache for her more every time.

"Woah, woah, I didn't know you guys were a thing, if I had I would never have-" spoke up the girl who Layton had been kissing not five minutes ago. At least she seemed respectful, and genuinely sorry about getting in the way.

She was cut off by Layton screaming once again. This man needs to learn how to lower his voice.

"Then why are you?! Emi, we're not a thing anymore. I'm done."

And with that, he grabbed the hand of the girl he brought with him, and exited the room, her mouthing sorry over her shoulder.

I averted my gaze to Emi, to see her pinching the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger. I gave her a minute, not wanting to be the one to speak first.

"I have to go after him," she sighed eventually.

I couldn't help myself. "Don't," I said simply.

"What," she breathed out, looking me in the eye.

"Don't go after him. He just cheated on you, and you want to go and apologize to him like it was your fault?"

She stayed silent for a minute. "Don't act like you wouldn't do the same if it was Brandon," she snapped.

I was stunned into silence. I'm not going to lie, she had a point. A good one at that. I didn't know what to say, and neither did she it seemed.

"I'm sorry, that was-"

"No, you're right," I said. "I shouldn't be telling you to do something I wouldn't do-"

"I'm not going to."

I nodded, and she smiled.

"I'm gonna get drunk though."

That was not what I was expecting, but okay.

-

The kitchen was extremely overcrowded, people were taking up every inch of space.

I hate alcohol. I hate the way it changes people completely, to the point where they don't even know what they're doing or saying anymore. Same with drugs. I recalled Emi saying something similar, but she doesn't avoid substances completely like I try to do. 

In fact, now she was on her 6th shot.

I stood faithfully by her side, not wanting to take my eyes off her for one second.

I wondered where Brandon was. He hadn't seen me all evening, I literally just came here with him to get things ready, then a couple of people started arriving and it all sort of got a little too much for me so I went off on my own. I'd thought he was in the kitchen, but now I wasn't sure where he could be. 

As Emi tried to down her seventh shot, I gently stopped her.

"Come on, let's go find somewhere quieter," I whispered in her ear. Honestly, the amount of drunk males trying to invade our personal space was concerning. 

"Ooooh, quieter?" she smirked. Well, at least that's what I think she was trying to do. 

"You know what I mean," I rolled my eyes, before leading a very drunk Emi away.

-

"Your eyes are so- so pretty," she slurred, trying to poke me in the eye.

"Yeah?" I spoke quietly, trying to lead her hand away from where it could cause any harm to my eyeball. We were sitting in a little secluded area underneath one of the staircases, facing each other.  We were hidden away from everyone. We could hear muffled music and a lot of screaming and laughing. The occasional moan too.

"Y-yeah," she spoke, now looking quite serious. "I need to tell you a secret, but you can't- can't tell anyone."

"Okay," I spoke, a little confused.

She leaned in extremely close, to the point where I could smell the alcohol on her breath and the subtle, sweet perfume she wears all the time.

She brushed my hair softly out of my face so she could easily access my ear, and it sent shivers up my spine, a trail of heat left on my skin from the feel of her fingers brushing across it. 

"I think I have a crush on Billie," she whispered, giggling slightly, and leaning back so she could see my face. "Don't tell her though," she warned.

I was stunned for a minute, but quickly regained my thoughts. She was drunk, she couldn't possibly mean what she was saying. A flash of sadness washed over me at this thought, but I couldn't pinpoint why. 

"Emi, love," I spoke softly. "I am Billie."

"Oh."

Her beautiful facial features contorted into one of confusion, then she perked up a little.

"Can I kiss you then?" 

What. 

Her face was so close to mine. I wanted to lean in and kiss her right then, but there's so much stopping me. She's drunk, for a start, and we both have boyfriends. Well, technically she broke up with hers about an hour ago, but I was still with mine.

The urge was overwhelming though. Just a few more centimeters... her lips looked so soft. I didn't know I was leaning until...

"Fire!" screamed a boy, running down the stairs.