ARTIFICIAL // B.E

22

aspen

"hey, baby," billie greeted as she stepped out of the bathroom, after her shower. she was using a towel to dry her hair at least a little bit.

"hi, bil."

"whatcha watching?" she tilted her head. she placed the towel down as she made her way over to me.

"nothin'," i clicked pause on the youtube video.

her brows furrowed. "you were watching something. i heard it!"

"it was nothing!" i laughed as she got on the bed and tried to peer at my phone.

"lemme see!" she giggled as i held my phone away from her. she must've caught a glimpse of it, because she then let out an "ewww," through a laugh.

"ewww?" i repeated. "why are you saying ewww?!"

"you're watching my old interviews! i was so young and stupid! why are you watching them?" she jutted her lip out as she tried to click off the video.

"you were so cute," i pushed her back. "i'd argue that you are still stupid though," i teased.

"am not," she grumbled. "i was not cute though! i was stupid and young!"

"look at you! you were adorable!" i pointed at the phone. i had been watching an interview that she had only recently turned sixteen in.

"i didn't even know what i was talking about; i was just saying shit to say it, or to make myself look like i knew what i was talking about," she shook her head. "turn it off."

"no! i wanna watch it," i let out a small huff.

billie eventually gave up on trying to get me to stop watching it. she laid on top of me, and she even watched the rest of the video with me.

"i wish i could give her a hug," she sighed after a moment, referring to her younger-self in third person. "she needed one; she was so miserable."

i pulled bil further into my embrace. i pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "i'm so proud of how far you've come," i murmured.

she smiled as she basked in my attention. "me too. i was so sad back then. now look at me!" she cheesed. "i'm happy, i've got a girlfriend, i actually love my job... life is good!"

i pressed another kiss to her head, then her temple. "i'm so, so, so proud of you!" i told her again.

i continued to press soft, slow kisses across her face. she beamed as i did, and she practically melted in my embrace. "life is good," she repeated with a content sigh.

§§§

"aspen, you're on in five!"

"come on, love," billie grabbed my hand to pull me off of the couch that was in the green room.

i followed her to behind the stage. i peeked out at the crowd. i've been doing shows with billie for, like, three months now, and i'm still not over just how many people come to her shows. it's seriously an insane amount of people at every show.