Billie's POV
No cameras.
No meetings.
No texts from Kelly or emails about "brand alignment."
Just me, Skylar, Mackenzie, and a picnic blanket under the sun.
We packed peanut butter sandwiches crusts cut off, obviously ,
string cheese, and two juice boxes each one for drinking, one for accidentally stepping on and making me scream.
Skylar brought her dinosaur. Mackenzie brought two Barbies, a rock she named "Sparkle," and a sock she said was her baby. I brought sunscreen and anxiety.
But for once... it actually faded.
We spread out the blanket in the middle of a quiet park no one really recognized me in or maybe they did and just didn't care.
I wore sunglasses and a big hoodie and kept my head down.
But the girls?
They ran wild.
Skylar rolled down a hill three times before deciding it was "too itchy," and Mackenzie spent twenty minutes throwing pieces of bread at a goose and calling it "Mr. Quackers," even after it chased her.
They laughed.
I laughed.
I can't remember the last time I did that without thinking about who was watching.
Eventually, they both collapsed onto the blanket, cheeks pink, hair sweaty, eyes glowing.
"I'm hot," Mackenzie groaned, flopping dramatically onto my legs.
"I'm sleepy," Skylar mumbled, sucking on her juice box like it was oxygen.
"You're both sticky," I said, running a hand through my hair. "And you smell like outside."
"You smell like love," Mackenzie mumbled, eyes half-closed.
My heart cracked right open.
They weren't trying to perform. They weren't worried about Instagram or press headlines or what came next.
They just loved me.
Messy. Flawed. Tired me.
And in that moment, I realized I didn't need approval from the world.
I already had it from the only two people who mattered.
We stayed there until the sun started to dip behind the trees.
Skylar curled into my side. Mackenzie rested her head on my stomach.
The birds got quieter, and the world slowed down.
This day this quiet, simple, beautiful mess it felt like forever.
Like home.
And I knew:
No matter what came next... I'd keep choosing this.
YOU ARE READING
Unexpected Family
AdventureBillie Eilish doesn't do kids. She doesn't like them, doesn't understand them, and definitely never wanted any of her own. But when her management team sets up a temporary foster care publicity stunt two toddlers, a camera crew, and a whole lot of c...
