accompanied | billie eilish

twenty-one

aria

i hear my phone buzz, and look down at the notification.

dua <3: heard about sam. i'm sorry :( here for u and the others. i'll kick his arse over this legal shit he's pulling

i giggle softly and i'm about to reply when tyler calls, "ri, come on, it's time to go on!"

i turn my phone over, sighing, and grab my blue acoustic guitar before walking out of the green room and into the wings where everyone else is waiting.

"scared?" shay asks softly, knocking his shoulder against mine as he takes in my facial expression.

i nod quietly, and he sighs.
"this is a new thing. we're all going through the same struggle together," he tells me.

"we're here for you, and you're here for us," ty adds, wrapping his arms around me in a bear hug. we sway together for a few moments.

"okay. three, two, one," chants ashley and then the six of us walk onstage together.

"good evening, saint paul city," i call to the audience of our minnesota show tonight. i look into the audience and the first thing i see is a ton of signs reading various things, enquiring about sam. still, nobody on the tour has addressed what happened with sam, and this is our first show without him.

i sigh, and sit down on my stool between billie and finneas. everyone else is sat with their microphones or instruments, watching me patiently and waiting for the intro to be over.

i look at everyone onstage. "do i have to address this?"
they all shrug, and i roll my eyes.
"well fuck you too then," i sigh, running a hand through my dark hair. "uh, judging from all of your signs, you've figured that sam is not on stage tonight, and you probably saw all the proclamations of love he's making about us online right now."

shay lets out an amused noise.

"uh, well, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that sam has left the vision," i say, and even though it was pretty obvious at this point, the confirmation sends murmuring ripples through the crowd. "uhm. it was kinda sudden and we're not gonna talk shit about him, because we still love him. but he's decided to move on from us, for reasons that we'll be respectful enough to not publicly enclose. i think that's all we have to say about the matter?"

i look at the others, who shrug.

finneas clears his throat.
"uh, the vision still have six members, though," he grins. "at least for now. i'll be officially playing with the vision for a while."

"oh, don't word it like that," i reprimand him playfully. "finn will be temporarily an official part of the band, so that this tour isn't cancelled and shit. and we're very grateful," i smile at him.

"alright, well. opening number?"