Insomnia // Billie Eilish

Chapter 57

I unlock the front door and rush in. "Billie, Billie, Billie," I yell in a weird voice, only to find that she isn't in the living room. I walk into the kitchen and there's a small note scribbled our on a napkin, basically explaining that she had a last-minute interview and should be back in an hour.

I watch The Office until she gets home. As soon as she walks in the door, she speaks with one of the characters in the show as they talk. "Hell yeah! I love this episode!" She sits on the couch next to me and peppers my face with kisses, causing my face to heat up. "Hey, baby. How did everything go at the attorney's office?"

"Oh! Yeah!" I jump up and turn to her. "He's in foster care right now. They finally looked into his living conditions and the house is ridiculous. There's apparently shit everywhere and she failed the drug test. She's also been drinking again. Somebody has to come by soon and make sure that our house will be a fit home."

"That's great! When is all this happening?"

"I don't know," I say. "They also have to make sure that we're mentally stable."

She frowns and puts a hand on my arm. "Oh, no. You're gonna fail."

I smack her arm. "Shut the fuck up."

She laughs. "Anything else?"

"One last thing. We're gonna have to take surprise drug tests. They're not going to tell us when, you know so that we can't just hold off until after the drug test or some shit." She nods and I continue. "So, there's nothing you need to warn me about, right?" I wiggle my eyebrows at her.

She giggles. "No, I'm not on any drugs."

"Oh, right," I say. "You don't need a Xanny to feel better."

She rolls her eyes as I laugh at my own joke. "Hahaha. Wow, you're so funny," she says sarcastically, but still laughs.

"I could be a comedian."

"I sure hope you like tomatoes," she jokes. I punch her arm and she groans. "You punch hard. Geez."

"Oopsies." I shrug.

-

"God, Cammie. I didn't think it'd be so soon."

"Well, I didn't either," I whisper, squeezing Billie's hand as some lady from child services walks around our house, making sure there's nothing wrong with it. "You better not have failed the damn drug test," I joke.

"Oh, shut up." She elbows me and I laugh.

A few minutes later, the lady comes back. "Everything looks good here. You should probably get some plug protectors for the outlets and something to make it where he can't open cabinets with cleaning supplies in it. You know, just stuff like that. He's three so he's going to get into everything and want to know what everything is. Okay?"

"Yeah."

She looks around one last time. "Okay. Somebody will contact you soon to let you know. Good luck."

"Thank you." I open the door for her and she leaves. I shut the door and turn to Billie.

"I feel like that went well."

"I think so, but let's not get our hopes up," I say.

She wraps her arms around me and kisses my head. "Don't worry so much, mama. It's gonna be fine."

I sigh against her chest, playing with the hem of her shirt. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I just don't like seeing you so stressed out, baby. Is it okay if I invite Claudia and Finneas over?"

"Yeah."

After another episode of The Office, Claudia and Finneas show up. I open the door to let them in. "What happened to your head, Mackenzie," Finneas asks immediately.

"I fell."

Claudia pulls me into a hug, whispering in my ear. "Are you okay?"

I hope she's talking about because of my concussion and the scrape on my forehead. I hope Billie didn't tell her where she found me or what I was doing.

"Mackenzie?" She pulls away from me, waiting for a response.

"Uh—sorry. Yeah. I'm fine."

She smiles. "Okay."

We all go into the backyard and break off into our own conversations. It sounds like Billie and Finneas are arguing about what the best kind of toast is.

"You guys really need to decorate out here," Claudia says glancing around our backyard. "Y'all could have like the cutest backyard if you put some ferry lights and a hammock back here or something.

"I don't even know where you find that stuff." I shrug, untying my shoe and then tying it again.

"Amazon. D-duh." She pulls out her phone. Oh, Lord. Online shopping with Claudia could drag on all night.

-

I glance around. We're all sitting around, making fun of Claudia as she occasionally shows us cool stuff she finds on Amazon. Billie fake yawns. "As fun as this has been, I'm very tired and I need to go to sleep, so you guys have fun with this. I'm sure you could manage without me." Billie snickers and then walks inside, winking at me through the window.

I look down at my lap, butterflies erupting in my stomach. She's still standing there. "Pussy," I mouth. She just sticks her tongue out at me and then walks away.

About ten minutes later, I finally stand up and stretch. "Sorry, but I'm just over this shit." I laugh. "I think we've gotten enough for tonight, Claud." Or ever.

"Okay. Well, I guess we're gonna go. Billie's tired and Finneas is obviously bored."

"Okay. Bye, Claudia." I hug her.

"Bye."

"And bye, Finneas." I throw my arm around his neck and ruffle his hair to annoy him.

"Mackenzie." I remove my arm and he fixes his hair before hugging me. "Bye."

I wait for them to leave and then go into the kitchen to do the dishes. "Baby," Billie yells.

"What," I yell back, laughing.

"Come lay with me."

"I'm busy."

She comes up behind me and wraps her arms around my waist, kissing my neck. "Stop being busy then."

"I'm trying to do the dishes," I reply.

She groans and steps forward, her front pressing up against my back. She quickly finishes the dishes. That's the first time I've ever seen her do dishes. "There. You're done."

"Wow. You did the dishes. There's something new."

"Shutup."

"Now what did you need?"

"You." Her lips crash into mine and soon enough, she's pushing me into the wall.

I shake my head, spinning us around. "Not today, Eilish."

She throws her head back, laughing. "I love you."