Behind Closed Doors // Billie Eilish

Chapter 9

I laid my head in Starlit's lap, looking up at her as I continued to talk. "It was embarrassing as hell, but she didn't give a fuck so that's good, I guess."

"You guess?"

"Yeah. I can't figure out if it's like she doesn't mind that I'm gay or she doesn't know why I'm telling her because she couldn't care less."

"Well, from what I've heard about Billie, she doesn't sound like she just doesn't give a fuck about you," she said.

"I know. I just—" My phone started ringing. It was a FaceTime call from Billie.

I answered it. "Hey." She smiled.

"Hi."

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Nothing much. I'm hanging out with Starlit." I pointed the camera at towards her and she waved.

"You're rude." She hit my arm.

"Shut up." I turned my attention back to the phone. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing. I hope you don't have Halloween plans, because mine just got cancelled."

"What does that have to do with me?"

"You're coming to my house and we're gonna watch scary movies until you cry again."

I rolled my eyes. "I did not cry last time, Billie. You're being dramatic. There's no way in hell that I'm doing that."

"Whatever. You're a pussy." She laughed.

"No, I'm not," I defended.

"Then come."

I stared at the screen for a minute before sighing. "Fine, you stubborn hoe."

"Thank you." She grinned, looking to her left as somebody called her name. "Hey, I gotta go, but I'll call you later, baby. Bye."

"Bye." I clicked the red button.

"Baby?" Starlit repeated. "What's that about?"

"It's just—she calls everybody names like that."

Starlit raised her eyebrows. "Oh?"

"Mhm. Stay out of my business."

"Not a chance."

I shook my head. "Can we go to the skatepark?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Come on, Star." I nudged her.

"'Kay. Fine. Whatever. You're just gonna cry if I don't go anyways."

"You know me so well," I joked.

She laughed. "I hate you."

"Hate is a... hateful word, Starlit."

"Noo. Really? I thought I was being nice."

-

"Well, I don't know. People say that the frontside grind is harder but I kinda disagree." I shrugged.

"This is a cute little neighborhood," Starlit said as we walked home.

"Yeah. Billie lives over here."

"Really? She lives really close to you. That's cool."

I nodded, looking up at Billie's house as we walked by. The front door opened and Shark ran out. "No, Shark! Shit!"

He ran over to me, jumping up and biting my sweatpants. I crouched down and pet him. "Hey, baby," I cooed, picking him up. "Aw." I put him in the house and shut the door.

"Hey," Billie said, pulling her hood on. "Whatcha doing?"

"Walking home." I leaned a little closer and lowered my voice to a whisper that I knew Starlit could still hear, glancing over at her. "This weird kid keeps following me. I don't even know her."

"Shut the fuck up, Camilla," Starlit said as she walked over to us. "Oh my God. Do you guys even know what this is?" She crouched down and picked up a rock. I giggled to myself, knowing what her next move was gonna be. She swore up and down it was so funny, so I always had to play along. "These are rare nowadays. Here. Listen, Camilla."

I held it up to my ear. "Oh my God. It's a Hood Rock. You can't find these anywhere anymore." This was something she did to basically everybody.

"What?" Billie looked between us confusedly.

"Here. Listen." I handed her the rock and she held it up to her ear.

"Ba da da da da."

"Ahhh! My purse!"

"Pow pow! Bang bang bang!"

"Oh, no! Not the—"

She pulled the rock away from her ear, laughing. "What the hell is wrong with you guys?"

I took the rock and shrugged.

"So..." Starlit sighed. "You're Billie."

"Yep. She probably talks about how great I am all the time, huh?"

"Oh." She laughed. "Nope. Never. I've never heard any rants about you, I've never heard about how great you are, and I've definitely never seen any pictures of you. She literally never talks about you, so that explains why I already knew who you were, right?"

"What's wrong with you? Shut up, loud mouth!" I elbowed her.

Billie laughed, shaking her head.

"Yeah, well we have to go. See you later. Bye!" I grabbed Starlit's arm and dragged her away preparing my what-on-Earth-is-wrong-with-you speech.