accompanied | billie eilish

twenty-three

"it's a shame we couldn't make it to the ceremony tonight," shay sighs as the door closes behind him and two others. "i'd have liked to see who wins this year in person."

"there's more important things than trophies," aria reminds him gently, setting her bag of groceries down on the table. "we can watch the whole thing on tv if we really want to, but i don't see the point. we don't stand a chance of winning anything."

tyler, stood behind her, nods in silent agreement.

sam walks in through to the kitchen from the living room.
"oh hey, you're back," he says in relief. "it felt too quiet without anyone else here. i wish ash could come home."

"we can go visit her in a couple hours, if you want," shay offers.

sam scoffs. "what? so you can see me cry again? no thanks."

"the doctor said she's doing far better than she was just a couple days ago," aria says, sitting down at a stool on the kitchen island as she takes off her leather jacket. "there's a big chance she'll be okay."

"jesus christ man, she slips up on her meds one time and this happens?" tyler groans, rubbing his face with his hand as he slides into the seat next to aria.

"those little pills are literally life or death," says aria, a little absently. "isn't that so strange?"

no one speaks for a moment.

"should we watch a movie?" shay suggests tiredly.

"how about dirty rotten scoundrels?" puts in sam.

"that's ashley's favourite movie," frowns aria.

"yeah. i'll go set it up."
sam leaves the room hurriedly.

aria sighs and pulls out her phone in hopes that it will distract her. it only takes a few moments for her stomach to plummet at the contents of the infinite notifications on her lockscreen.

"oh, shit," she hisses, scrolling down.

tyler looks up in alarm, while shay springs forward towards her, ashley in the forefront of both their minds.

"what is it?" asks shay.

aria just hands him her phone and allows him to see for himself.

"oh, it's not ash," he says in relief, although his eyebrows furrow again as he takes in everything else. "it's- oh. justin bieber dm'ed you??"

aria rolls her eyes. "is that seriously all you- why do you think he's dm'ing me, shay?"

"ohhh," shay nods in understanding. "we won the grammy. wait-"
he turns around and looks at her in shock. "a grammy? dude. we have 100k on instagram, tops. we don't deserve a grammy."

"well we've fucking won one," aria sighs. "come at the worst fucking time, huh?"

"the public are gonna want something from us now," tyler says slowly. "and ash is in hospital."

"we're not even at the awards show tonight," says aria miserably. "not there to win our own grammy. people are gonna hate us, you know."

"hey look- no- it's not our fault," shay protests. "it's not anyone's fault. we're all gonna get through this together. no matter what. together forever, right?"

"together," aria and tyler murmur in unison.