accompanied | billie eilish

twenty-four

aria

i wake up with a pounding headache and wince, burying my face in my pillow.

"good morning sunshine," i hear tyler coo sarcastically in my ear. i groan and turn to face him.

"who the fuck let me drink last night?" i ask, rubbing my eyes as i try to remember what happened. "what even happened last night?"

i'm worried. i don't usually drink at all, and i must've drank a lot last night to be feeling like this.

he shrugs. "you and ash went off somewhere and came back wasted. then we came back to the bus. that's literally it."

"okay," i sigh. "i feel like shit."

"there's a show tonight, so come on. water."

he takes my hand and leads me down the aisle of the bus to the kitchen area. as he pours me a glass of water i notice finneas and billie sat at the small dining area together, leaned into one another and murmuring secretively.

"good morning," i yawn in their general direction. billie yawns and looks up at me surprisingly nervously. "everything okay? if i did anything to upset you at all last night i'm sorry. i promise i don't usually get drunk."

"how much do you remember of last night?" billie asks carefully.

i scrunch up my face for a moment in thought. "uh. going to the club. drinking. sitting on a roof. and throwing up in a bush," i offer vaguely.

she just nods, and ups and leaves with no further comment. i watch her for a moment in mild confusion before shrugging, and ruffling tyler's dark hair in thanks as he passes me a glass of water.

as i chug it down, mike the manager comes walking into the bus.
"ari- shay- tyler- ashley- come here," he calls, his forehead even more crinkled than usual. me and ty move towards him, and shay and ash walk in from the canopy area outside the bus.

"i've just. uhm. been given a letter," he begins, rubbing sweat from his forehead, "addressed to you as a band, collectively, as well as me. your manager. uhm"

"hey mikey, you good?" asks shay, guiding mike into taking a seat. i can see that billie has returned to finneas's side and the two are watching cautiously, but my biggest concern is what's bothering mike right now.

"well, it's a letter from sam," says mike, passing it to shay. i watch how quickly shay's face pales and my stomach plummets. "you see- ah- it seems suing wasn't anything near an empty threat. the court date's gone through and we're legally inclined to attend."