late

one

gray was the only person in the store as she sat at the counter reading a magazine.

it was early morning, sometime around three am, though she doesn't know for sure seeing the clock hanging up was broken.

gray didn't mind this job at all. she worked at a small family owned store in her neighborhood. there weren't many interactions due to the time her shift was, but really, that just made everything so much better.

it was around three-thirty when the bell above the door rang. a short girl with black hair walked in, her eyes looked heavy as if she hadn't slept in days.

gray put on a obvious fake smile, trying to be polite as she spoke up.

"hey, is there anything i can help you find?"

the customer looked over to where gray was sitting at by the counter, and slowly started walking to her.

the girl looked up at gray, and started to speak, "gray. i can see why your parents named you that."

gray just looked at the black haired girl, wondering why she looked so familiar.

"if you're done making weird comments about me, is there anything i can help you with?" gray questioned again.

"i'm good." the girl turned around, going down an aisle, out of gray's view.

gray just hummed, looking back down at her magazine she was flipping through.

she tapped her foot on the ground, quietly humming to the song that was playing over the speaker.

flipping the page again, gray was starting to find herself bored.

gray looked up and around the store, seeing some misplaced things she could pick up.

she closed the magazine, and to her surprise on the cover was the girl, the same girl that was in the store.

"huh." gray quietly whispered to herself.

she wasn't on social media much, and didn't keep up with the new and upcoming artists, so clearly she had know idea that was billie eilish.

she sat back down in her chair, skimming over the article written about the customer, suddenly regaining interest.

gray didn't notice billie as she now stood at the counter, too busy with reading.

"hello? isn't you're job to like check me out or something?" billie asked teasingly.

there was a smile on her face as she saw gray was reading her section on the magazine, she was proud of herself.

"oh shit, i'm sorry." gray replied while throwing the paper down.

billie just giggled a bit, slightly amused.

billie placed the items she had picked up onto the counter, then grabbing some money from her pocket.

before gray could even say the total billie placed the more than enough money.

"you can keep the change."

with that billie left the store, driving off to her house.

it was probably dangerous for her to be driving while this tired but she couldn't just sit at home and do nothing.

she officially moved out of her parents house a few months ago, and most days she found herself lonely in the house by herself.

late at night was the only time she could go out with lower chances of getting recognized, so she used that to her advantage.

she always had her friends to talk to, but as they started to grow into busy adults they grew to be more busy, not having the time to randomly come to her house in the middle of the night just to have company.

flicking on all of the lights, billie made her way to her bathroom, getting the bathtub ready to take a bath.

she lit a few candles before stripping her clothes off and getting in the warm water.

her mind wandered back the the girl at the store, gray.

thinking back to what she first said, she cringed.

billie had mentioned before in interviews that she kinda fell in love with people at her concerts, and that applied to some strangers she would come across in public as well.

of course it wasn't the same type of love you would share with your soulmate, but billie didn't really know how to put what she felt.

gray's eyes were one of the first thing billie noticed, the were a really dark brown, almost appearing black in the dim lighting.

billie could tell the worker didn't recognize her at first, which she liked.

there were times were billie just wanted to be viewed as an average person, someone you wouldn't think twice of as she passed you.

and she felt like gray felt that way.

gray didn't question her to why she was on the cover of a well known magazine, and the look in her eyes wasn't any different than before.

and that's what drew her in.

gray threw a wave to her employee was she walked out of the small store.

it was finally the end of her shift, and she was as tired as ever.

she slowly made her way back to the small house she lived in, too tired to even set an alarm so she could wake up at a decent time.

laying in her bed gray went over her day, or night, i guess you would say.

she tried to remember the name of the girl on the magazine, but she couldn't.

billie?

billie something?

the girl herself was very pretty, but her eyes, they were just something else.

those eyes were in gray's head as she fell asleep, trying to figure out why she was so hooked on that girl.