it feels like a memory you can’t shake, a blur of summer nights and fluorescent hallways. billie’s hair is dyed dark blue, messy strands falling in her eyes. headphones always tangled around her neck. she’s your best friend, your favorite person, your soft addiction. the girl who smokes behind the gym, who laughs too loud in the cafeteria, who sings songs that no one else can hear.

your little group owns the school courtyard, sneakers scraping against cracked pavement, stolen sips of cheap soda, someone always strumming a guitar. the world feels endless when you’re seventeen, but also so small, like every heartbreak matters more than life itself.

billie’s always been different with you. her hand brushing yours when no one’s looking, the way she keeps her gaze on you a little too long when the sun sets behind the bleachers. you know she’ll forget her homework, you know she’ll skip class just to drive nowhere in her beat-up car, windows down, music blasting. but you also know she’ll text you at 2 a.m. "open your window, babe"

you sit in the passenger seat, hoodie over your head, warm air sticking to your skin. the night is alive. your friends are in the back, laughing too loud, singing off-key to the music blasting from the speakers. the windows are down, and the palms of los angeles slide by like shadows against the orange glow of the streetlights.

you turn your face toward the window, hair blowing in the wind, laughing at something stupid your friend just said. and that’s when billie looks at you. she should be watching the road, but she can’t. not when you’re sitting there, lit up by neon signs and passing headlights, like you’re the only real thing in a city that never stops pretending.

her hand tightens on the wheel, but her eyes soften, tracing your smile. to her, you’re not just part of the noise, not just another night. you’re the entire reason she’s here, the reason she breathes. you’re the most beautiful thing in her world, and she would crash a thousand times if it meant keeping this. you, in her passenger seat, laughing, alive.