accompanied | billie eilish

forty-two

aria

"i'm walkin on sunshine, woah oh," i find myself singing as i get dressed this morning. "i'm walking on sunshine-"

"hey hey hey! you're cheerful this morning," tyler greets me as he joins me in one of the upstairs compartments on the tour bus.

i think for a moment. "yeah, i guess i am."

his gaze softens. "it makes me glad to see you like this again, you know. back to your normal self."

"i am back to my normal self," i wink. "and you know what that means."

he pauses, and i can almost see the cogs in his brain whirring. "n- what?"

"this." i lean up, yank the beanie from his head with all my might, and dash away before he knows what's hit him.

"w- huh- aria taylor," he thunders playfully, and i hear him stumbling to catch up to me.

"for someone who performs three times a week you're really out of shape," i call over my shoulder, and he makes an incomprehensible noise of pure outrage. "hey ash, move out the w-"

"shhh," ash hisses, catching me in her arms and yanking me out of the way right before i race down the stairs to the bottom half of the bus.

"wh- uff." i'm interrupted by tyler slamming unceremoniously into my back, and ashley shoots him an infuriated look.

"i'm trying to listen," she mutters, gesturing down the stairs. me and tyler both lean forward to hear what she's hearing.

"...and she said yes..." i hear billie's lowered voice and my heart involuntarily flutters, and then i screw my eyes shut in disgust with myself and bury my face into ashley's shoulder. "so i guess i was just wondering if it's too late to take you up on that offer of advice about... stuff."

"you're always welcome to ask me for advice," i hear shay reply, and tyler gasps sharply.

"oh, that snake," he says in an exaggeratedly insulted voice. "i offered her advice-"

"shut up," ashley warns him and i hear him stifle a giggle.

"what kind of advice was it you were looking for?" shay continues, oblivious to our scuffle upstairs.

"weeeell... i'm not sure where to take her for our first date," replies billie. "i promised i would organise it-"

and that's all i hear before tyler firmly clamps his hands over my ears.

"not for you," he tells me. "that's classified information, you can't-"

"get off-" i'm fighting back laughs as i struggle under his hold.

"shut the fuck up," i hear ashley scold us but it's too late; billie pokes her head around the corner, and she sees us. her expression visibly changes as she sees tyler holding me in a headlock.

"uh- hey," i say casually. "what's up?"

billie

i let out a slightly alarmed laugh at aria's nonchalant attitude despite tyler's chokehold on her. "what's going on?"

"uh, i have no idea what you're talking about," tyler adds.

i look to shay, who's none the wiser, before looking back at them again. ashley rolls her eyes.

"they were trying to listen in on where you're taking aria for your first date," she tells me. "i had nothing to do with this."

"hey, you liar," aria calls as she walks off, and ashley turns around to briefly give her a playful middle finger.

i freeze. "uhm."

luckily for me, shay takes over. "why don't we go discuss this somewhere else, bil?" he says pointedly, shooting a mock angry look at aria and tyler who feign innocence.

"good idea," i reply, and the two of us leave.

despite all of the playfulness and teasing i am genuinely excited for my first date with aria. i've been thinking it through for days now and i want nothing more to impress her. as me and shay walk away i cast a glance back at the girl who i am hopelessly in love with and my smile only widens as our eyes meet.

i couldn't be happier.

~~~

hey besties can i jsut remind u all that i use they/them pronouns 😁👍 i appreciate all of the compliments so much but if you could keep them gender neutral that would be wonderful have a good day

anyway how much longer do you guys think this story has to go i'm curious