chance

chapter 3

With blurry eyes, I reach across the bed. My finger tips connect with my phone, I open it, then open my messages. People I barely knew or hadn't spoken to in years had messaged me. Weird. I then open tiktok, my eyes widen, my heart drops. My entire for you page is me. I scramble around the pockets of my jeans to find the note from last night.
My antics must of woken Holly, "Oh my god Bella what time do you call this?"
"I'm freaking the fuck out," I throw her a panicked look, "go look at tiktok!"
"Bro..."
"I know, I need to text Billie! I mean can you even believe I just said that?!" I babble as I continue looking. Thankfully I find it in my hoodie pocket and quickly punch the number into iMessage.

-hey Billie, this is Bella from last night, can I talk to you later?

"Okay well I've sent her a message. I hope she gets back to me soon."
"Look, let's just go grab something to eat, my treat" she smiles.
We decide on McDonald's, simple, nasty food. We place our order at the drive through and sit silently with eachother. I can feel Holly's mind working, trying to talk about last night, but I'm just so drained. I feel like all my limbs weigh twice as much as usual and my head is pounding against my skull.
As we pull up to the collection window, I get a ping from my phone.

Billie-hi Bella, I'm glad u texted. I can pick you up at 4 if you'd like?

Bella- thank you, I'll see you then x

"She messaged me ba-"
The server juts in, "Hey aren't you the girl from that concert?"
"Umm yeah I suppose so"
"Bro you're like all over my damn tiktok, could I get a photo?"
"Umm I guess that would be okay" I lean towards her as she takes the selfie. Holly grins from earlier to ear at this interaction.
"Hey remember me when you're famous" she says as I park the car.
"Dude don't be crazy, I ain't ever forgetting you."
"What did she say then?"
"I'm going to see her at four to talk about what's going on. I don't know how, but my emails have blown up, same with my messages and socials about last night."
"Is it good stuff?" She raises a ginger eyebrow at me.
"Yeah, it's just a lot you know. I literally just went to a concert with a friend twelve hours ago, now I've got brands in my dms!"
"You fucking what?!"

I continue venting to Holly as I'm quite stressed. I mean Holly is my only real friend, I'm not huge on attention or people. I used to struggle a bit with mental health so never really got good at making friends. High school was pretty rough for me. Seeing my face and voice everywhere this morning was quite a lot for me, especially the comments. Most were really positive, but the ones that weren't, were so harsh.

Sat watching TV in Holly and I's apartment , I notice a black mercedes pull up. I furrow my brow not recognising the car. My phone begins to vibrate.
"Hey I'm outside" Billies voice chimes.
"Okay I'll be out in a sec"
I grab my bag and my phone, swiftly locking the door behind me, pulling the handle down twice to check it's locked. I quickly turn, meeting a rolled down window and her icy blue eyes.
"Quit staring and hurry up" she laughs.
In my embarrassed state, I basically fall into the car, catching myself not two inches away from Billie.
"Gosh I'm so so sorry" I stutter. I don't move for a second looking at her face. Suddenly the air feels thick, like just before a storm. I pull back adjusting myself in my seat.
"No worries"
I feel her eyes on me, but I can't quite reach them at the moment. A silence creeps into the already heavy air, maybe I've ruined it? But what is there to ruin? Maybe-
"Hey how you coping with the media storm?" I couldn't be more grateful that she broke my train of thought.
"I don't think my poor phone has ever seen do many notifications" I giggle. I turn my head to see her, one hand on the steering wheel, relaxed in her seat, she looks so ho-
"Well it seems like it's all gotten you a bit spacey" she giggles, looking me up and down.
God she must've realised me looking at her
"Sorry I've just never seen my face plastered on tiktok before"
"You just wait for the edits, man those guys are crazyyy. You know, I've found some nasty ass book written about me! I'm talking whole ass books!"
"Oh my god have you read any?"
"Just the one, I honestly don't think I could do it again either" she laughs, I join her. The pit in my stomach lightens.

After talking in the car for a while we pull up to a lovely, relatively modern looking house. It has lavender at the entrance, and wisteria climbing up the walls, instantly making you feel at home. Billie walks ahead of me pointing random parts of the garden out, clearly proud of the quiet space she's created.
"Okay I'm going to release shark now!", she suddenly yanks the front door open.
"Hello again" I squeal as a bounding blur of grey reaches my legs. I instantly sit down, giving him pets. As he starts licking my face, I hear Billie burst out laughing.

The afternoon was spent talking and joking about until Billie had to take a call.
"Umm hey, Finneas really wants me in the studio, I think he's got some new beat or sum shit. If you wanna you can join?" she looks up at me with what seems like apprehension. I smile and agree.
"Hey Bella!" Finneas hugs me, "and you I guess."
"Ha ha" Billie responds sarcastically, "anyways what have you got for me?"
"Well actually,I'm thinking you should both try this beat out, if that's okay with you" making eye contact with me.
I blink, taken aback. I thought he was just being courteous yesterday when he talked about using my voice. But, now, he's sat with what looks like a whole song ready to go on his computer. I stare at the blocks of colour on the screen, each a different beat or sample, taking a moment to imagine the time that's gone into this. Eventually, I look at them both and nod, "Let's do this."

We spend hours tweaking and adjusting the song, scribbling on bits of paper whenever lyrics came to us. It was pure creative flow. During a vocal sample I was recording, a deep low rumble emits from my stomach, causing the siblings to break out into a fit of giggles.
"Bro no wonder I'm hungry"
I show my phone to pair. Both their eyes widen in shock revealing it was close to 4am.
"Now we're talking about it, In fucking hungrrryyy dude!" Billie replies, opening the doordash app on her phone. We decide on this vegan takeout place which is still open (god bless LA) and we sit and joke while we wait.

I take a huge bite out of my bean burrito, it's amazing how much more satiating food is when you're hungry. But as I finish I feel the weight of my eyelids fight me, I eventually lose as the scene disappears into a restful sleep.