Chasing Air // Billie Eilish

Chapter 2

BILLIE'S P.O.V

"Dude, where the fuck is Claudia?" I asked as I looked around their house.

"She's with a friend of hers." Finneas gave a nonchalant shrug.

"Who?"

"I think she said their name is..." His eyebrows knitted together. "Why is she with her?"

"Who?" I pressed, growing frustrated with him for not just telling me.

"It's a long story. We ran into this person a few weeks ago who was high off their ass, walking around with a bottle of vodka. I don't know what Claudia's doing with them."

I shook my head. What the fuck?

The front door opened and Claudia walked in, setting her keys down.

"What were you doing with Elliot?" He raised his eyebrows. Hold on. Claudia went to hang out with some dude named Elliot that apparently liked to do drugs and drink a lot? I definitely missed something.

"Really not bad. You just have to catch them on a good day." Claudia shrugged.

"What? Like when they haven't been popping pills and downing bottles of vodka?"

"Hold on, Finneas." Claudia tilted her head, bracing her hands on the counter, clearly upset with his snarky comments. "You need to calm down with this hostility. They're a nice person. Just going through some shit."

"What? No, don't tell me." He covered his mouth surprisedly. "Her mom cut off her credit card."

Claudia rolled her eyes. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't talk that way, asshole. It's not like that."

Finneas sat down and sighed, running his fingers through his orange hair. "I'm sorry. It's just worrying. I didn't exactly get the best first impression."

"Uh, well... funny thing. I kind of invited Elliot over for dinner."

"What? A heads up would've been nice."

"Sorry." She put her hand on top of his, rubbing her thumb over the back of his hand. It made my heart sink. My past relationships hadn't been too great. I remember hopelessly thinking that I'd never be able to find somebody that was as perfect for me as Claudia was for Finneas. I was very happy for them, of course, but I was also jealous of the connection they had. I wanted that with somebody but it felt like it was never coming. "I didn't know I was doing it until I did it."

"I told Billie she could have dinner with us tonight."

"She still can. It'll be fine. Right? Are you okay with that, Billie?"

"Hm?" I looked up at them confusedly. I'd zoned out almost as soon as Claudia walked in.

"Elliot's coming over for dinner too. Is that okay?"

I scoffed but nodded. I had hoped the dude wasn't that bad and I definitely got a surprise that night.

-

Somebody knocked on the door and Claudia got up to answer it. I glanced up just in time to see a beautiful girl with dark, curly hair, shorter strands framing her face and pale skin standing in the doorway. She was tall. Taller than Claudia even. I was sure that Elliot was gonna be standing there. I didn't know who this was.