The Artist / Billie Eilish

Chapter 14

"Tour starts tomorrow, bitch!"

I was woken up by Billie and Finneas dancing around the apartment, blasting her new album.

The album dropped last night, and after the release party and visiting the Billie Eilish Experience together downtown, we all crashed at the twins' place.

Billie's album was already climbing the charts, despite barely being out yet in all countries. My heart twinged with pride as I giggled and rubbed my eyes, trying to wake up more before I joined them outside.

Bad Guy was blaring through the large speakers as I heard Bil and Finneas shout along with the lyrics - Ethan peeking his head around the door to laugh with me.

"They're going crazy out there, bro," he laughed, wandering into the bedroom as I looked through his closet for a fresh shirt to wear. "Billie's boutta fall into the pool if she's not careful."

I chuckled at Ethan as he wandered out of the room, something in my chest fluttering when I heard the girl's voice singing along outside.

Pulling out a pair of black basketball shorts and a black T-shirt that was much too big for me, I slid them on and pondered over whether or not to wear more layers - the cloudy LA sky looking kind of cold today.

Suddenly, I heard the door slam open behind me, a familiar voice humming the tune of ilomilo.

"Hey mama," Billie beamed, jumping onto the bed just to sit cross-legged, smiling at me. I laughed at her childish behaviour, ruffling up her hair before falling down next to her, blowing my hair out of my face.

She leans back on her hands - her twinkly eyes watching me, a small smile still present on her lips.

"I'm so proud of you, Bil."

She raised an eyebrow slightly, her cheeks blushing a little, as she led down next to me and rested her head on her crossed arms. "Thank you," she smiled, sighing and watching me again. "That means a lot coming from you, you know."

The soft beat of the music outside was still pulsing through the house, and the happiness twirling in Billie's eyes was enough to fill me with butterflies.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah," she smirked, as Ethan suddenly burst into the room.

"Billie, Billie, Billie," he rushed, grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her around as she protested. "Can we tour with you? Me and Justin? I just looked at where you're going and I have to go to some of those places, dude."

Billie sighed slightly before smiling and nodding, watching as Ethan cheered and ran out of the room. She looked somewhat disappointed, as if Ethan had disrupted her plans by coming or something.

"Is that alright, Bil? If you want I can tell him not to, he just gets over exci-"

"Nah, Rose. It's all good," she smiled before looking down at my outfit. "Bro, you're totally gonna get cold out there. You need another hoodie?"

•

"DUDE, YOU ARE SO DEAD. WAIT UNTIL I FIND YOU, YOU'RE GONNA REGRET THAT," Macy called out into the dark room, nobody responding.

We were currently playing Laser Tag...

Billie's decision.

I guess it's her album release day, after all.

We were on two teams: Blue was Finneas, Ethan, Luke and I; Red was Billie, Claudia, Justin and Macy.

We were winning, obviously.

I could hear Macy and Finneas screaming, and constant noises of their targets going off. The twins were on the upper floor, I could hear their laughter, and Claudia and Luke were surrendering to one another on the other side of the room.

That just leaves-

"Well, well, well..."

I heard the oh-so familiar voice from behind me, right on cue.

Refusing to turn around in case she shot my target, I stayed put - sitting against a large, black object acting as my cover.

Not that it worked very well, I guess.

I heard Billie lowly chuckle as she got closer, crouching down in front of me until our eyes were level.

I gulped, covering my target with my hands as she smirked.

"You really think I'm gonna steak your points right now? No way," she muttered raspily, her eyes darting back and forth from my own to my lips, where they lingered for a while.

She bit her lip slightly and smiled again, leaning on her hands either side of my thighs as she brought her face close to mine.

I could feel her breath against my skin.

"I think..." she began, exhaling slowly and lightly tracing up my neck with her lips, pausing at my earlobe to nip it gently.
"... You should just forget about it."

My breath halted in my chest as she placed a barely-there kiss on my jaw, and I felt her smile against my skin.

"And let me..."

She brought her hands up off of the ground so one rested on my waist, and slowly carried on placing a row of feather-light kisses along my jaw. Once she reached the corner of my lips, she pressed a final kiss there as she whispered against my skin.

"... Steal all of your points, bitch."

Immediately after that, a piercing noise burst through my target vest, indicating that Billie was shooting me.

She was holding her blaster against my chest as I watched my points go down and hers go up, a mischievous smile on her face, until I snapped out of my shock-induced trance and shoved the girl away from me as she laughed manically.

She dived over the box we were hiding behind as I chased her through the whole, blacked out maze, eventually making our way back to the group in fits of laughter.

Damn, straight girls really are oblivious to how gay they're being, sometimes.