In the Moment//Ed Sheeran

O.N.E

Ed

June, 2007

I watched as bits of the embers burning in the bonfire rose to the air and floated away. Luckily we were on the beach and not in the woods. Nothing to set on fire here but rocks, water, and people. All of which had happened before, shockingly.

I had been playing the guitar while the people gathered around the fire and sang, and I was pretty sure I fell out of tune a few times. My mind scattered often, but I was a boy. I thought about girls while I was suppose to be doing my homework, or what I was going to have for dinner while hanging out with a girl. I'd grown out of it for the most part, because the things I did now required me to have my full attention on the task at hand, but as a sixteen year old boy, my brain was like a shaken egg.

My fingers felt stiff, so when the song ended I set my guitar down to stretch and crack my joints. The wind blew, and I felt as if I should be getting home soon. All I had on was a hoodie and although it was summer, we were still in the Uk, and it rarely got above seventy degrees.

"Play another song?" Jessie Harlon, my best friend, asked. I wanted to, but I also wanted to start getting home before the weather took a turn for the worst.

"No," I shook my head. Mina, my on and off again girlfriend managed to squeeze her way between me and Jessie, and she rested her hand on my knee. We weren't together at the moment, but our falling back seemed eminent.

"Oh, are you leaving soon? I wanted to know if you could walk me home," she said. The look in her brown eyes told me that she wanted to talk to me about becoming a couple again. Sometimes I didn't want to because I hated the falling out, but I hated being alone even more.

"Yeah, sure, just tell me when you're ready."

"Mina, we came together. I could always drive you guys home." I turned my head over to my right and saw a girl with dark brown hair, dangling over her shoulders, parted down the middle. She held a false flower behind her ear, looking like she belonged anywhere but here, like in a teen vogue magazine.

"Oh! Ed, I almost forgot, this is my cousin, Bethany. She was born in America, but her parents moved down to Suffolk. I figured it wouldn't be too hard for her to make friends with us around." Mina pushed hands farther up my leg and I pushed her hand off and grabbed my guitar. Mina leaned in closer. "Beth likes Jessie."

I looked over at Bethany and found her neck and cheeks bright red, flaming like the bonfire before us. She stood up. "Thanks Mina," she grumbled before getting up. No one paid very much attention to her, at least not when she was paying attention to them. Everyone had pointed her out at least five times each, mainly because she was a new face. All of us had grown up together, and the addition of her at our gathering made things a bit weird.

Mina grabbed my hand and I told everyone goodbye. "I really wanted to talk alone, but I can't leave my kid cousin." She rolled eyes red. "I hate having to drag her around. She really shy and awkward, but I'm going to ask Jessie if he likes her. At least that way she can follow him around."

"Is that a good idea?" I asked, pulling my hand away. "She doesn't want you to tell him."

"Are you a mind reader? She hadn't even said two words to you." She said rudely. I shrugged, trying to tell myself that her bitterness wasn't my fault. She always got a little overly sensitive when someone disagreed with her. She reached for my hand again as we approached Bethany's car. She already had a drivers license, which was surprising because Mina made it seem as if Bethany was a few years younger than her.