Insomnia // Billie Eilish

Chapter 58

"Mackenzie, you'll do it, won't you," Finneas asks from the kitchen.

"Do what?"

"Eat this for five dollars." He nods towards the bowl in his hands as he mixes it with a spoon.

"That's disgusting, Finneas," Maggie says.

"Wait a second." I walk into the kitchen. "There's five dollars on the line here. What's in it?"

Finneas shrugs. "I don't know. It's a bunch of stuff."

"How much of it do I have to eat?"

"A bite."

"Please tell me you're not actually considering this," Claudia says.

I take the bowl from Finneas and take a bite, grimacing in disgust. "You have to swallow it."

I force myself to swallow it and hold out my hand. "Gimme my money, bitch. I can buy a whole bag of Taki's."

"You're disgusting, baby. You could already buy a bag of Taki's." Billie chimes in.

I shush her as I sit down on the couch. My phone starts ringing, so I pick it up to look at the caller ID. It's my grandma. That's weird. I answer it and hold the phone up to my ear. "Hello?"

"Hello, Mackenzie. I'm hosting our usual large family dinner. I need to know if you'll be able to make it this year."

"Already?"

"It's the same time as every year," she says. "July 30."

I think for a minute. I tap the mute button over and over. "I'm sorry. Cshhh. What'd—cshhh—you say? Cshhh. I'm gonna have to—cshh—call you ba—cshhh. You're breaking up. Cshh." I hang up and sigh.

"Who was that," Billie asks, an amused look on her face.

I roll my eyes. "It was my grandma."

"Really? What'd she want?"

"Inviting me to a family dinner." I shake my head.

"You didn't want to go?"

"My grandma lives in like her own world. She's very anachronistic."

She tilts her head. "What does that mean?"

"She lives in this huge Victorian mansion and she dresses like... I don't even know, but last time I went to one of her family dinners, she made us all wear dresses like hers. And the men were all in suits. Like—I don't even know. It's weird. She's crazy. I love her, but she's crazy."

"But do you not miss your family?"

"Well, yeah but..."

"It's just a little bit of dressing up." She shrugs, taking a drink of her water. "You should go. Where does she live?"

"Tennessee."

"Really? A lot of your family lives in the South. They must all be on that yeehaw bullshit, hm?"

"Billie," Maggie reproaches. "That's rude."

I laugh. "I don't know. I'll think about it."

-

My finger hovers over the call button under my grandma's contact. I finally click it and she picks up after the second ring. "Okay, so when are you having this dinner thing again?"

"Next Sunday."

"God bless." I lay my head in Billie's lap. "Okay. I'll have to see if—"

"Why don't you come out on Monday and you can just stay for a little while?"

"Um." I glance up at Billie as she runs her fingers through my hair. "Well, I didn't really wanna be gone that long..."

"Don't you have a boyfriend or something. What was their name, um..."

"Bi—"

"I'll think of it. Just give me one second. It was... Was it Bengie? Or no—Willie."

"It was Billie and she is my girlfriend."

"Right, right. You can bring him along. Just text me when you figure it out. I don't have good connection." And with that, she hangs up.

I look up at Billie and shrug. "She'll figure it out, but maybe we shouldn't go. I don't want to make you sit through that."

"Oh my God. It'll be fine. Text your grandma."

"Just remember that you brought this upon yourself. My family is mean."

"Blah. Blah. Blah." She closes her eyes. "Text her."