Metathesiophobia || Billie Eilish

Chapter 13

The way too peppy voice of the air hostess woke me out of my nap. I felt a warm body in my arms and suddenly realized I was sleeping on Billie. She was watching her all time favorite show The Office. Her chest rumbled when she softly laughed at a joke Micheal Scott made, her one hand holding up the phone and her other arm holding my shoulders. I laid there against her, enjoying the warmth that her body had to offer, not ready to sit up and break this comfortable feeling.

When the seatbelt sign flashed above us, I figured it was time to sit up. Billie pulled out her earphones while simultaneously taking her arms off my shoulders. "You were starting to lean on me so I just let you sleep on me," she says with a smile and I yawned while rubbing my eyes.

"Wait- so you didn't get to sleep," I replied guiltily as I clicked on my seatbelt.

"Not really, but I didn't want to move and maybe wake you," she said, looking down at her rings.

"Well thank you for being my pillow for 10 hours," I replied gratefully.

"No problem mamas. It's not like I didn't enjoy it," she said with a shrug and a small smile. I only nodded, my cheeks growing warmer at the compliment.

"I've always loved Paris. The architecture, the language, the books and most of all, the people. Every time I came to visit, everyone was so polite and formal. Some people might think they're uptight, but I always begged to differ," I comment as we grabbed our bags from the carousel.

"That's a different way to think about the French. I only noted that they screamed their lungs out at my shows and that they sand my lyrics with a cute accent," Billie says adorably and I just laugh at her observations. Me and Billie talked about random topics as the rest of the family walked in front of us, Billie's bodyguards holding up the rear. The screaming of the paparazzi coming from outside the glass airport sliding doors not far ahead of us suddenly caught my attention and I freezed. Billie caught on and stopped walking to stand next to me, the bodyguards coming closer to block the view of the cameras.

"Hey, it's okay. Just put your hood up and take my sunglasses, no one will notice you. I'll be distracting the paps enough, Derick can lead you to climb into the other side of the car," Billie says calmly, her face holding a gentle expression. I think her plan through and then slowly nod. "Good," she says as she fished out a pair of chunky sunglasses from her pocket before handing them to me. I slide them on and pull up the hood of my black hoodie, shoving my hands into the pockets.

The closer we got to the doors, the more Billie seemed to slip on that expressionless attitude most celebrities possessed in the magazines when they were spotted by the paparazzi. She was right though, all their attention was on her, like moths drawn to a flame. Her name was called too many times to count and questions were shouted her way. Microphones were shoved in her face while a team of bodyguards and airport security tried to fend their way through the thick crowd of french paparazzi. Now I understand why celebrities always seemed so irritated or annoyed in the photos or videos, they were basically being harassed. I sure as hell wouldn't have liked it if the same thing happened to me.

Derick quickly opened the door of the car once we reached it and I practically dived in. The door quickly shut once all my limbs were safely inside and the next thing I know, I was scanning the crowd through the dark tinted windows in search for that familiar head of neon hair. My heartbeat only quickened the more I watched people climbing into the car that weren't Billie. I frantically checked the time on my watch, making calculations in head about how long she hasn't been in my view. My upper stomach started to ache while my breathing quickened and I knew that if I didn't calm down, an anxiety attack was going to hit me like a bus.

My breath hitched when the handle of the door clicked open again and I adjusted my hood to hide my face away from any stray cameras. As soon as the door shut and I noticed it was Billie, I enveloped her in a tight hug. She was definitely suprised because she didn't reciprocate the hug at first, but a few seconds later I felt her arms go around my body. And I didn't know I was trembling until she mentioned it.

"You're shaking," she said softly enough so that nobody in the car could hear our conversation before she pulled away to take my hands in hers and look in my eyes. "Did something happen?" she asks with concern, her grip on my hands tightening and her eyes darkening.

"N-no, I was just a bit overwhelmed...I guess," I replied, also trying to formulate a reason for my most recent actions. But I could tell from just her eyes she wasn't buying it. If I were to give her the truth, I couldn't have explained why I nearly had a anxiety attack from not knowing if she was okay.

"We'll talk about it at the hotel," she says as the car started gaining momentum and when she saw I wasn't going to elaborate on my explanation. I went to scoot away to give her some space, but she pulled me closer instead and I rested my head on her shoulder when I realized she wasn't going to let me go.

From my place on her shoulder, I watched as the city of Paris unfolded in front of my eyes. We drove past the Arc de Triomphe and in the far distance I could make out the Eiffel Tower with my tired eyes. Billie was also yawning every now and then and when she was just on the brink of sleep, I squeezed her waist with one of my arms in an effort to keep her awake and not risk messing up her sleep schedule even more.

"How far are we Mommy?" she asks her mother tiredly and couldn't help but smile at the cute term.

"Only a few minutes left Bil," her mother responds back and Billie groans.

"Damn, I was just getting comfortable," she drowsily says in my ear before I just giggled at her mispronouncing or repeating some of the words.

"You gotta stay awake for just a few more hours," I say encouragingly before she rests her head on mine and hums in response.

-
Am I the only one trying not to step on the beat of the song playing in say, a grocery store?
Also...some girl in my class explained why she was clearly a bruh girl. I accidentally voiced what I was thinking and said she's a wanna be and her expression was so priceless.
Stay safe (and healthy)
-D