𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐀𝐋𝐑𝐘 𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐎𝐔𝐑

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘 𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍

She can't help the stupid smile plastered on her face, which causes the rest of the girls to snicker. "What?" Billie questions with reddening cheeks.

"You're totally whipped," Sloane points out, "I can't believe he's got you acting like you're fourteen." She moves to mimic Billie's suggestion for him to join, which causes the singer to physically cringe.

"Well, I think it's cute," Callie gushes, "I wish a guy paid attention to me like that."

Daria's mouth drops before furrowing her brows. She begins to offer a correction before Billie shoots her a look and interjects, "I think you'd be surprised how many guys are interested in you. You are the one with the most fan accounts, after all."

Of course, that causes everyone to chuckle. As the girls continue joking about the thirst trap edits of themselves they've seen around, Billie barely remembers that she's yet to hear or see from Ezra.

✧*:·ﾟ✧*:·ﾟ✧*:·ﾟ

Their set went well, per usual. While Billie typically stays back to chat with the guys and catch a glimpse of the lead singer, she feels no need to do so tonight. If he wanted to play cat and mouse, then he could come seek her out for the game. Truthfully, Billie isn't sure she has much fight left in her with Monte making things so seamless.

Why bother putting in the effort for some meaningless sex when she had something blossoming with someone else?

Grand Motel's performance goes well from what she hears, which immediately crosses off another excuse for him ignoring her. If he was sober enough to perform, then he certainly could have replied to her text.

The girls were ready to attend the party well before the concert was over, which gave them the perfect excuse to head over early and start mingling. When they arrived, there was no denying that the penthouse was rather huge and extravagant. Moreover, the decor was a mix of modern and eccentric that spoke to the owner's taste.

Billie spent a majority of the first hour chatting up a few artists and producers before deciding to devote most of her attention to Monte, who had been observing the art plastered on every inch of the walls.

"This one is cool," Billie muses, eyes fixated on a photograph of a young woman adorned in nothing but tulle.

"The pictures he has in here are insane," Monte agrees, still in awe of the collection.

"You know, you could do something like this if you wanted," she nudges him gently with a smile.

Monte breaks his attention away from the art to offer her a teasing grin. "What? Be rich and cool in a big penthouse like this."

"No, I mean doing this type of photography," she clarifies, "You know, instead of taking concert pictures."

"Trying to get rid of me so soon?" He teases once more.

"Not at all," she assures with a chuckle, "But it seems like work for you rather than a passion." 

"Don't get me wrong," Monte assures, "I like my job, and I like the kind of lifestyle it brings. I want to be on the road and really living. But I always thought I'd do photojournalism. Guess this is kind of like that."

"I think you should go for it," Billie encourages, "I mean, the girls and I have been thinking about doing our own thing in the music industry, and none of us will know unless we try."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," he admits after some thought, "I'm not exactly in a rush to start working towards it. But I guess I maybe gave up on the idea along the way. I like the art scene, though. I think there's a lot of power in what people like girlcrush are doing."