Curious // Billie Eilish

Chapter 16

Callie's POV

It Friday now, and somehow Billie managed to drag me out to a party that I really don't want to be at. All I wanted was a chill Friday in, wearing sweats and eating comfort food while watching a movie.

It's been a stressful week for me, after all. I assumed because it's the first week of the spring quarter we'd have it easy but no, all my professors decided to just dive right in. Hence why I'm craving a lazy food fest in my pjs.

Billie's had a hell of a week too with all of her tour prep and publicity opportunities. The girl's been working herself into the ground and it's clearly effecting her, but her management team won't ease up.

Because of both of us being so busy we haven't had any time to hang out since last Sunday, when we lounged around all day together while Billie pretending to be sick. I think Fin and Maggie figured out Billie was fine, but didn't say anything about it. They know she's being overworked and I don't think they like it either.

I was hoping Billie would be up to just cuddle with me all night to make up for our lack of time together this week, as well as a way to decompress after our busy days, but she has her heart set on going to some house party hosted by some influencer I don't know.

I really didn't want to, but she convinced me. It wasn't hard, she just gave me one of those looks and promised to sneak off for a make out session at some point.

"It's not too late to turn around and watch movies with Fin," I say and Billie gives me a look.

"Come on, Cal. You're gonna have fun, you always do."

Like fuck I do.

I hate these things. Sure, they used to be my shit, but I've mellowed out a lot since then. Now I just find them overwhelming and somehow lame at the same time. They're all the same; a shit ton of crossed idiots crammed into a hot, stuffy house acting obnoxiously drunk while music I tend not to like very much blares too loudly to have a proper conversation with anyone.

The worst part of these things is how Billie acts. She gets so paranoid about people suspecting something is up between us that she usually ends up ignoring me for the whole night, even though she's the one who begs me to come in the first place.

It's getting really exhausting being treated like a nobody by Billie, but I keep putting up with it because I still think it's worth it for the moments we share when no one else is watching.

Like last Friday, when we went out to the park near Billie's house when everyone was asleep and laid out a blanket, staring up at the sky and pretending we could see the stars through all the LA light pollution. Billie would point at random patches and make up some bullshit story about a made up constellation, making me laugh every time. It was on the chillier side so we cuddled close for warmth while sharing Billie's headphones to listen to songs that we picked for each other. It wouldn't be a proper hang out without food, which we brought plenty of, allowing us to stay out for hours, stealing kisses between conversations.

"We don't have to stay long though, right?" I ask with a sigh and she shrugs, looking out the window of our lyft.

"We'll see how we feel I guess."

I don't reply and she looks over at me with a frown. "Can you at least pretend to have fun tonight?"

"Sorry, I'm just really tired. I've had an overwhelming week," I mumble and lean my head back, shutting my eyes.

"Me too, that's why I need some fucking drinks," she says with a chuckle and I frown slightly.

I've been trying to take a break from drinking, worried about the possibility of slipping into old habits. Back in high school I fell into a dark place and used alcohol to self medicate, which almost lead to me leaving school and throwing away all my plans that I've been working on since I was a kid. Ever since then I usually try to be careful about not going too hard, not wanting to start to become reliant on getting drunk and letting loose to stay sane again.