beautiful life • billie eilish

[19] backstage shenanigans

Ezra pov

We waited a little bit before going backstage, because I knew how Billie had to stay a few minutes by herself, so we took that as an opportunity to go to the toilets and to buy some snacks from a vending machine that was in the hallway leading to her green room.

I was eating some chips from the vending machine, waiting for the boys to get out of the toilet when Finneas called my name, "Hey, did you have fun?", he asked me, but I think that he could tell from the mess that was the low bun in my hair and from my still rosy cheeks that I did have fun.

"Who do you take me for?! Of course, I had fun. Best concert ever!", I told him giggling, still feeling the adrenaline from the show. The boys came out of the toilets and were going to buy something from the vending machines when Finneas told them not to and that they could have something from the snacks table in the green room. Well, I guess that was an option, but I was so hungry that I didn't mind the bag of chips I bought.

Finneas escorted us to the green room, that was filled with people, from crew members to Denzel's entourage. We sat down in the one couch that wasn't occupied, and I saw that Billie was sitting by the window, her legs crossed with some pieces of paper on top of them and in her hand a pen. Zoe was standing in the same position, facing Billie and the two of them were laughing while looking outside the window.

Soon Lucca and I were talking to both Finneas and Maggie, while Elijah and Yuna went to the snacks table and ended up getting into a conversation with Denzel and his group of friends.

Finneas was talking about how Claudia had told him, to tell me that we had to schedule a lunch together when Patrick, Finneas and Billie's dad came to our side of the room, sitting down next to Finneas.

"Oh, dad this is Ezra and Lucca. They're friends of Billie!", Finneas introduced us and after exchanging pleasantries, we started to talk about places they've been to this last few months and how they were so different from one another. 

I was still eating from my bag of chips when a toddler came into our view. She must have been around two or three years old, and she was the cutest baby I've seen recently. She was wearing something similar to what Billie was wearing, some black shorts and a black, oversized t-shirt, and on her small feet were a pair of black Nikes'. Her hair was in two ponytails and her small chubby hand was pointing at the bag of chips in my hand.

She started walking in my direction and once she stood in front of me, her head lifted up and her brown eyes stared at my face almost like she was studying me to see if she could trust me or not. Her baby hands grabbed my pants and she tried to push her little body into my lap. Such cuteness almost killed me!

Seeing her struggle, I grabbed her with both hands settling her in my lap, for the little girl happiness. Maggie told me that her name was Adelaide and that she's the daughter of one of Billie's managers, whose name I hadn't caught because the toddles was trying to grab my attention.

Adelaide was inspecting my face, when her hands went to grab both of my cheeks and bringing my head down and closer to hers, "Hi baby", I say giggling from the look of concentration on her small face. I guess she liked my giggling because she started laughing along with me, and me being the sucker for babies that I am, started making goofy faces at her, making her laugh harder. 

We were having fun when from across the room someone said, "Addie, come here baby!".

Who knew Billie Eilish could get jealous? If it wasn't jealousy it was something close to it by the look on her face. I looked away from her, looking at the beautiful toddler in my lap, to see her shaking her small head no, her blonde ponytails hitting my face, before she turned back to me and with her hands tried to pull my cheeks.

I was playing around with Adelaide, who was now on her feet, standing on my thighs when the devil herself came to sit next to me! Adelaide was playing with my hair that was now all over the place after she made me take it out of the low bun it was in, when Billie spoke to me for the first time since I entered the room!

"She rejected me for you!", from the corners of my eyes, seeing as I couldn't turn my head because Adelaide was playing with my hair, I could see that Billie had a pout on her face.

"I guess she likes me better!", I told her while making sure I was holding the body of the little girl so she wouldn't fall off.

"Addie, where's my hug?", Billie tried again. This time, Adelaide turned to face her, taking her hands out of the mess that I called hair, and sat down on my lap before going to hug Billie, who had this stupid smirk on her face.

I turned away from her trying to fix the mess I had on top of my head, while she was whispering in Addie's little ears, and looked to my right to see Maggie smiling at me.

"You're good with kids, Ezra!", I couldn't help but smile back at her after listening to what she was saying, "Do you have little sisters or brothers?", she asked me.

"No. I'm an only child! But I just love kids!", she nodded her head, looking from me to her daughter next to me, before continuing with her questions, "Billie told me you're a dance teacher back in LA. Do you also teach kids?".

Having a conversation with Maggie was something different. I felt like she was truly curious about my job and about me in general, which is hard to find when you meet someone new.

"Yes, I am! Uh, I actually have two different classes with kids, both of different age groups, and it's really inspiring and amazing to watch them try so hard to get a dance move right!", I was getting carried away talking about it, but I could see that Maggie was actually liking talking to me about something like that, "I remember when I put Billie and Finneas in dance classes, it was a way to make them busy and both of them loved dancing around the house so it wasn't hard to make them go!".

Hearing their names in our conversation, both Finneas and Billie turned to us, especially when I asked Maggie, "Who do you think was best?", and I guess Maggie noticed what I was doing because she went, "Honestly?", she even made a face like she was about to say something she wanted to say for years now. However, before she could Billie said something that could start world war III right there, "Me, obviously!".

Maggie and I couldn't help but laugh as the siblings started to discuss among them who was better. Adelaide, who was sitting in Billie's lap, made grabby hands at me and before Billie could understand what was happening, I took Addie from her hold. I win Eilish!

"See Adelaide, if I teach you how to dance you won't be like Billie or Finneas!", even though I was pretty sure the toddler couldn't fully understand what I was telling her, she laughed, making me and Maggie laugh even more and the siblings looked at me like I was the devil incarnated.

"Ezra, I'm sorry but I don't think our friendship will work...", Finneas said faking hurt and turning his head away from me. Not being able to hold his laughs, he broke down, laughing hard while holding his tummy, "I'm an amazing dancer"

Adelaide was having more fun with this situation than any of us. She started to play around with the necklace I was wearing on my neck, resting her small head on my chest, facing Billie. Seeing that she was probably tired, as she should be, time ran and the clock on the wall showed that it was a little after 12pm.

I started to rub my left hand up and down her back while also rubbing her ear like my mum used to do to me when I was young, with my right. Billie was holding one of the baby's hands, looking at her eyes closing, and her breathing getting calm and soft.

When I looked up from Addie's face, I saw that Billie was looking at me with this weird face. She had this look on her eyes that I've never seen before, her lips were pulled up in a small, content grin, her cheeks were flushed, but overall, she was almost glowing!