accompanied | billie eilish

nineteen

billie

i find aria sat on a backstreet kerb, surrounded by the dusk and tossing stones across the road. she looks up as she hears me coming and wipes her eyes.

she nods at me as i sit down beside her. "hi bil."

"some show they put on back there, huh," i say dryly. "are you okay?"

"no," she replies bluntly, dragging a hand through her hair and groaning. "something like this has never happened. ever. not even when sam struggled with his addiction the first time. he never says things like that, he's the nicest person ever. i don't think i've ever argued with him and now he's gone forever." she sniffs and wipes more tears from her face. "and the worst part is, he's fucked us all over in leaving. he was an essential part of our band- everyone is- without him we can't do shit. this tour might be over. the vision might be over, bil," she says softly, and i understand now why she's so distraught.

"i don't know what to say," i reply quietly. "if it helps i never liked him from the beginning."

she lets out a frustrated noise and stands up.

"nothing's gonna help anymore. our future is fucked and one of our best friends is gone. look it wouldn't even matter if i-"

she dances out into the middle of the stone silent road and just lays down, staring up at the sky.

"what the fuck are you doing, dude?" i hiss, grabbing her hand and pulling her to her feet. a car rumbles by a few seconds later, the driver watching us in fascination. "come on. let's go back to the bus, regroup and you can discuss this with your bandmates instead of freaking your ass off in some fuckin back alley. do you have any idea how long it took me to find you?"

it takes her a moment to reply. "no. thanks, billie."

✦ ✦ ✦

aria

back on the bus, everyone is sat or stood around the kitchen area. they fall silent when me and billie enter; tyler, who's sat on one of the window seats, holds his arms out to me and i sink into his lap, letting him hold me. he's my best friend in the whole world and i know he'll look after me.

"billie, aria, we were just discussing what course of action to take now that now that you have a bandmate missing, at least temporarily," mike explains.

i shake my head. "this is permanent. sam's never pulled a stunt like this, you know that."

mike overlooks my statement. "one potential course of action is to bring in oscar," he says, looking at shay.

i wrinkle my nose uncomfortably. oscar is shay's brother; he's very musically talented, but he also isn't the brightest and can be difficult to be around all the time.

shay shakes his head. "not if he wants to make it out of this tour without someone killing him."

"well we need someone to fill in for sam." ash speaks dully. "his part is as important as any and we can't just rearrange around where he used to be."

"we need a new band member," tyler sighs.

"or to somehow convince sam to come back?" i say hopefully.

tyler shakes his head. "new member, ri."

we all exchange glances, utterly at a loss.

then finneas clears his throat, and stands up.
"i'll do it," he announces.

"come again?" frowns billie.

"i'll fill in for sam- for now, at least," he amends. "see how it goes. i can do everything sam can do. and it won't impact billie's performances, i can still play for them too. and we get along okay, right guys?" he looks over at me and tyler.

"you rule, finn," i tell him.

he grins. "right, see? so how about i become the fifth vision member for a while?"

mike looks shocked. "uhm. okay."

we just lost and gained a member in the course of a single day.