Chasing Air // Billie Eilish

Chapter 17

ELLIOT'S P.O.V

The flight was eleven hours. An hour in, Billie fell asleep, her head rested on my shoulder. We'd been on the plane for three hours. She would've probably been disgusted if she woke up like this but I didn't necessarily want to move her because I was not disgusted by her.

She couldn't get mad at me, right? It was her fault. She was the one who did it. Maybe I should've moved her. But what if she wasn't mad about it and then she thought that I didn't like her because I pushed her off of me? That was a problematic situation. Maybe I could've just acted like I was asleep if she woke up so that she thought that I was oblivious.

Maybe I should've just actually gone to sleep.

But I didn't know what the fuck I did or looked like in my sleep. I already looked terrible when I was awake. Words probably couldn't describe how atrocious I must've looked while I was asleep when I wasn't controlling my face consciously.

I froze as Billie sighed, turning her head a little and glancing up at me. I held my breath, not knowing what to do. She let out a small laugh and then closed her eyes again, my stomach erupting in butterflies. She didn't seem disgusted. I slouched down a little in my seat, feeling a little better about my current situation.

-

"Lucky us," I said excitedly. "Cold and rainy."

"Cold, for sure." Billie laughed, her breath coming out in a small cloud. "Whoa. Look how big that puddle is."

"That's literally a fucking pond," I joked, looking at the large puddle in the grass.

"I'll give you twenty dollars if you go jump in it," Billie said after a minute.

"For real?"

"Yeah, but you have to like... throw yourself down, you know. It has to be worth twenty dollars."

"Bet. Take this." I took my watch off, sliding it into her hoodie pocket.

"You're actually gonna do it?"

"Hell yeah." I ran and dived into the puddle, getting completely soaked as the water splashed everywhere.

"Bloody hell!" a woman yelled from beside me. I stood back up to see that the muddy puddle splashed all over the side of her car. "Have you lost your mind?"

"Umm. Apologies. At least it's raining." I quickly ran back over to Billie and grabbed her arm before the lady could say anything else, pulling her towards the hotel, both of us laughing.

"Geez."

"She didn't seem too happy," I said confusedly.

"I wonder why." Billie shrugged, clicking the button with an arrow pointing up beside the elevator. After a few seconds, the doors slid open and we both stepped in.

"I couldn't imagine," I replied sarcastically.

She clicked one of the buttons and the elevator started moving up.

"I'm surprised you can even reach the buttons."

"What exactly are you implying, Elliot?"