When China Breaks//Ed Sheeran #Wattys2016 #NewVoices

glass eyed dolls

*i know that Ed wrote songs with other people, but for the sake of this book, let's just pretend they're relevant with the time period and he wrote them alone*

My phone buzzing next to my head woke me up out of my sleep. I lifted my hair from my face and checked the time and caller ID. Three o'clock. Ed Sheeran.

I flipped the phone open and pressed it to my ear. "Sheeran," I mumbled.

"Can you come outside? No that's a stupid question." He sighed. He sounded almost anxious, which was new for him.

"Well, what's outside?" I asked him. "Is it worth getting up for?"

"It's only me." He chuckled. I sighed and rolled over onto me back. "I'm asking too much. It's okay."

"Hold on, I'm coming," I tell him. I hang up and slide out of my bed and into my wheelchair. I learned how to get on and off the bed so I wouldn't need help after Mary Ella went home for the night. I rolled myself to the bathroom and brushed my teeth and tried to make myself look as if I wasn't half dead. After about three minutes, I gave up and wheeled myself to the front door.

Ed was standing on my lawn, hands tucked into the front pocket of a red hoodie. "Are you okay?" I called on, carefully maneuvering my way down the ramp.

"I'm such an asshole, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have made you come all the way outside."

"No, it's fine," I promised him. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything is fine. I just wanted to talk to you." He told me.

"Phones, Ed." I laughed. "You could have just texted me."

"Come with me to my truck." He said. I followed him down the path and stopped my wheelchair right next to his sea green truck. He reached for my hands and I was a bit worried that I would be too heavy for him, but even if I was, he didn't mention it as he lifted me into his arms.

Ed carefully got me into the bed of his truck, which was lined neatly with several blankets so that it was comfortable. I managed to push myself back, almost completely up to the cab and sat upright. "What's this all about?" I laughed. Ed climbed in after me.

"My dad said not to invite a girl into the bed of your truck unless it's absolutely comfortable." He told me. I hit his arm and he laughed. "No really, though. I've been feeling really weird about what happened today."

"Oh, you mean at lunch? With Chelsea?" I asked him.

He nodded. I laid a down and looked up at the stars, which were shining in a way I never noticed before. "Yeah." He laid down next to me so that our heads were almost touching. "I just don't want you to feel cheap or something."

"Cheap?" I laughed. "I don't feel cheap. This may come as a surprise to you, but I'm not one of those jealous girls looking to make their ex-boyfriends life a living hell. We're still friends, and that means I'm not going to go behind your back and tell Chelsea anything."

Ed looked over at me. I could see everything in his eyes. He wore his emotions like the hoodie on his body. It was easy to see what he wanted even if he didn't say it. He didn't want Chelsea, he wanted me. I was too scared, though.

"We don't even have to talk about it anymore, Ed," I assured him. He nodded and looked at the stars as well.

"I thought you got your prosthesis today." He said.

I covered my fsce with my hands. "Oh god!" I cried. "It was fake. It was all clothes."

"Aw, really, Aaliyah?"