The Artist / Billie Eilish

Chapter 41

Bzz.

Bzz.

Bzz.

A light growl escaped my throat as I heard Rose giggle under her breath behind me, sleepily nestling her face against the back of my neck.

Bzz.

Bzz.

B-

Slamming my hand down onto my phone, I hurled it across the room, a small, satisfied smile tugging at my lips when I heard it smack against the opposite wall.

It hadn't stopped buzzing all morning.

That wasn't a surprise, but it also wasn't my focus today. I'm leaving all of that behind. Just for one day.

Rose's fingertips lightly scratched my torso as she sighed, half sitting up to glance across the room with sleepy eyes, her bedhead sticking up all over the place.

My heart skipped.

"Did you just..." She grumbled, looking back at me with a confused expression. "Throw your phone?"

I laughed at her quietly as she sighed and whined my name, shoving me lightly before lying back down and resting her head against my chest.

It was comfortably quiet for a couple of minutes after that, and I switched the TV on; the soft noise of a random show acting as whispers throughout the silent room. I watched the light of the screen reflect against the dull early morning light glowing through the room, until Rose's soft voice broke the silence.

"You know you can't ignore it forever, right, Bil?"

I pursed my lips as I watched her sit up slightly, resting on her elbows to watch me. Our eyes caught each other for a few seconds before a little smile tugged at her lips, growing as she quickly leant forward to kiss me softly.

I sighed against her lips as she pulled away, keeping her nose lightly against mine.

"I know I can't, and I'm not planning on it," I whispered, pulling her into me. "But I can ignore it for a week or two, right?"

Rose rolled her eyes at me as I pressed little kisses down her neck, listening to her complain about my management or some shit.

I couldn't face the music yet. I don't even care about whatever Mike or Steve or whoever the fuck thinks they can control my life said, I don't care about what my parents said, I don't care about what anyone said.

There's just one reply I'm dreading.

•

Rose's POV

"Baby, you wanna go out later? I found a really nice..."

Billie's voice called out to me from the shower, and I zoned her out halfway through her sentence as I absentmindedly picked up her phone from the floor. Plugging it in to charge on her bedside table, I sighed when I saw an insane amount of notifications light up her screen.

Her instagram notifications were off, and I'm sure that was going crazy, but she has endless texts from Steve, Mike, all of her friends, her parents...

And an unknown number.

Furrowing my eyebrows, I swiped down to her full notification centre to see that she had 34 messages from this number as well as 2 missed calls. I'm not the kinda girlfriend to start reading her messages, but I got a little worried.

Was it Q? Something about the pictures?

Well, I guess the pictures weren't a problem anymore...

But it still gave me a bad feeling in my gut. Something was up.

I scrambled to put the phone on the nightstand when I heard Billie turn off the shower; the door swinging open a few seconds later to the green-haired girl in a huge shirt. She smiled widely at me, jumping on the bed and wrapping her arms around my neck, kissing my cheek over and over.

She rested her chin on my shoulder and sighed, falling into comfortable silence as I debated whether or not to bring up the unknown number.

"So..." I started, looking down to play with my fingers as Billie's hands joined mine. "Have you checked your phone at all? Any good reactions?"

She sighed, sitting back and reaching over the bed to grab her phone, scanning through some of the notifications as she replied. "Nah, and to be honest I don't-"

Her breath hitched in her throat and I saw her eyes widen slightly, as they scanned the screen intensely, her thumb constantly swiping.

She carried on staring for about 45 seconds before she caught herself, glancing up at me quickly and clearing her throat, scooching to the edge of the bed before hopping down, wandering towards the door.

"I've just gotta make a phone call," she muttered, and the next thing I knew I heard the apartment door close.

See, I didn't want to overthink.

I always do this. I make a big deal out of nothing and it all blows out of proportion and then it ends. That always happens.

I wasn't going to do that this time. This time was too important.

I shook my head, taking a deep breath before wandering towards the shower, putting on some music and trying to forget all of the irrational thoughts flowing through my brain.

But... I probably shouldn't have.

•

Billie's POV

"Aiden, please just listen to me."

Pacing through the empty hallway, I watched the generic carpet as I passed door after door after door, my phone pressed up against my ear.

"No, it's PR. You know it's PR."

I closed my eyes and rubbed my temple as I leaned against the wall, listening to his voice yell through the speaker. I waited a few seconds until he was nearly done, and tried to channel the calmest voice I could.

"Yes. PR. More publicity, that's all. I know. I know. I'm sorry."

I watched my shoes as I absentmindedly kicked the air, glancing back down the hallway towards the apartment, deciding it was time to finish the phone call before Rose got suspicious.

"Yeah, yeah. I know. I will. This week, I promise. I love you too, baby. Okay. Talk later."

I sighed shakily, sliding my phone into my pocket as I lightly jogged down the hallway towards our room, shaking my head in conflict along the way.