It's Never Just Goodbye // Ed Sheeran

Dedicating This To You

Ed

"Let's get to business." Ellie mumbles, a pen between her teeth. I had to get this album done. And since I had promised her I'd let her feature on one of my songs, we had to start working on it. "I'm thinking we should do a duet."

"Why is that?" I ask devilishly. My hand grazes up her leg and lands on her upper thigh. Usually she was the frisky one, but I needed something to take my mind off things.

She smiles and shoves my hand away. "We're a couple, aren't we? It'll be romantic." The way she said that was off-putting. The click of her tongue made it seem like she forced the words out of her mouth rather than actually meaning them.

I didn't know we were a couple. This entire time, I thought it was just fun. We were fooling around together because we had no one else.

I feel like she can sense my confusion because she clarifies, "I know we didn't officially state we were a couple, but it'll be cool if we were."

"I thought we were just..." I gesture between us, eyes wide. Did I want to hop back into another relationship? "You and me, we were just messing around."

"We are." Her hand reaches over to mine and her fingertips tip toe over my knuckles. I pull away without her really noticing. "Wouldn't it be cool if we were more? We're basically doing everything a couple does anyway."

"Okay."

She laughs. It isn't that cute. "So, is that a yes? You want to be more than friends?" She's so straightforward. Nina was the same, but when she spoke her mind, it was cute. I nod, forcing a smile.

This is good for me. It has to be, am I right? If I jump right in, I could get over my past. I can throw myself into work and a relationship, and that will keep my mind off things.

"Sure." I say, leaning forward and pecking my lips against hers.

She claps her hands together and grins. Ellie had won. "Wonderful! Like I was saying earlier, we should do a duet."

"Okay..." I grab my pen from the table and plan to take notes. Keeping track of everything we say as it goes. At the top of the paper I scribble: Duet.

I had always wanted to do a song with Nina and put it on my album. While we sung Hold You live together, we had never recorded it. Her voice and mine go so well together.

"You know how I recorded Sing with Pharrell?" I ask her and she nods. "I was thinking we could do something like that. Something fun and popish."

"Nothing romantic, I take it?" She utters. I didn't want to have to say yes, but I did. I said yes, nothing romantic. She rolls her eyes playfully. "I just want to do something you want to do. As long as I can put it on my album, too, it'll be okay."

"What? This isn't for your album."

"Oh, I know. But since I'm not featuring and it's an equal partnership on the song, I was thinking we can put it on mine, too."

"Ellie, it'll still say you're featured on the track."

"Um, why would it? It'll be a duet."

I groaned, rubbing my fingers against my temple. "If you want to do a duet specifically for your album, we will. Let's just focus on mine because I want to get this finished."

"All right, crabby pants. Let's do this."

Two hours. Two fucking hours and we don't have anything written. When I collaborate with people, usually in the first twenty minutes we have ideas swirling around the room. Nothing. Ellie has come up with nothing, and she shoots down all my ideas.