House on the Vistula (an Ed Sheeran story)

Chapter Ten

"I'm going to be meeting my friend Grace in a bit." I told Ed as we walked back into the hotel room at half past one.
"I thought you were coming to the gig?" He asked, puzzled. He still hadn't looked at me yet. "We're moving to the Hilton tonight."
"Of course I am. I'll meet you there if that's alright? Grace called me last night asking if I could meet her before the gig. And okay, my stuff is all packed. If you still want me to stay with you another night, that is."
"Right. Okay. When are you leaving?"
"Half two." I reply, matching his flat tone. "But I can make that sooner if you wish."
"Yeah. Whatever." He was looking at the wall next to me. His voice was sour.
I huffed and made my way over to the bathroom with my towel, lacy sleeveless top, fishnet tights, shorts as well as my Aussie Hair shampoo and conditioner. I stopped before I shut the door behind myself. "You know I didn't mean anything by what I said. You know that I wouldn't ever seriously imply you'd be as much of a dick as I was. And I know that it will take some time for you to completely understand and forgive me making you feel disposable. But don't mistake my regret and apologetic stance for an opportunity to be snappy with me. Be honest with me. Just tell me the goddamn truth about what a fucking cunt I was, because although I've heard over and over that it wasn't that bad from various people, I still beat myself up about it. I'd rather feel a bit hurt by you being straightforward, than have you carry this prickly feeling around and let it get between us no matter what we end up doing with each other."
I closed the bathroom door, not looking at him again. Had I overreacted again? I felt like I had. With a sigh, I stripped off and got in the bath tub to have a quick shower. It was rather frustrating having to hold the shower head over myself, but I managed. Once I got out, I dried off and let my hair dry naturally as I put my clothes on. Grace had messaged me, asking if we're still on for 3pm. I quickly replied asking if 3:30 would be okay instead.
"I overreacted." I stated the moment I left the bathroom.
"So did I." Ed replied, still sounding off.
I sighed, dropping my things in my backpack before walking over to where he was half-sitting half-lying on the bed, staring at his phone. Gently prying it from his hands and chucking it on the bed next to him, I threw a leg over him and sat on his torso. I grabbed his hands and kissed his knuckles.
"I'm sorry, Teddy." I mumbled. "I get why you're prickly about everything. It's understandable. All this seems so bizarre because of the short period of time we have known each other, but it's just the two of us here so I'll stop trying to justify feeling this way. We really connected, and I took that away. I made you feel disposable and unwanted. Neither of us sits well with feeling that way and we have our different defence mechanisms. And it will take a while to get past this, but I'm happy to work with you and see where this goes."
He looked up at me. Finally. I breathed a sigh of relief.  "I'm sorry, too. I know you meant nothing by it, and yeah you're right, I'm prickly. Trust me, it also feels odd considering everything, but as you said, we connected. And in all honesty, I shouldn't have stormed off like that. I barely gave you the chance to say much before leaving. It will take a bit of work, but I'm also willing to work on this. I'll be more open, and you do the same."
With a grin, I leaned down and kissed him. "I think I'm going to enjoy having you around for longer than a week Mr. Sheeran."
"Well, good, because I refuse to let you steal another nine months of my time with you, miss Michałek." He replied.
"That's so cringey." I shook my head, wrinkling my nose at him. I smiled anyway and kissed his forehead before getting up. "I really do hate to cut this short but I've already rescheduled my plans with Grace for half an hour later.
I walked over to the vanity and started doing my make up. It didn't take too long this time either, but definitely longer than I was planning. But to make up for time lost, my highlighter and dark red lipstick were on point. Kat Von D's Alchemist holographic palette, especially in the shade "amethyst" looked lush with my skin tone, and it could be used as both eyeshadow and highlighter.
"You're looking fabulous." Ed told me, walking over to me and placing a kiss on my now dry hair.
"Thanks angel. Could you take a picture of me please?" I asked, placing my beauty blender down and reaching down to pull my black ankle boots on.
"Of course." He said, grabbing my phone.
"Oh wait, actually-" I gasped, standing up and unzipping my shorts. "I want to wear a skirt instead. These shorts ride up and I can't be bothered with them."
I rummaged through my bag but eventually found what I was looking for. I breathed a sigh of relief that I hadn't taken it out of my bag when I got back home last night.
It was a short, shiny black skirt that fit snugly but not the way a bodycon skirt would. Once I changed into it and threw my shorts back in my bag, I fluffed my hair up.
"Okay, are you ready?" Ed asked.
"Of course." I nodded, backing away from him to stand against the balcony door. "Wait, the lighting is really poor. Can we go out on the balcony?"
"For goodness sake." Ed laughed, but followed me outside anyway. After a few pictures, I was finally satisfied and posted it on Snapchat and Instagram.
"Thanks, love," I said with a smile. He gave me a quick hug once I packed my make up and put it in my handbag. "Do you mind taking my backpack with you? You'll be taking the car to the venue so should be easier that way."
"Of course. Meet me at the Hilton at six. Starting a bit later tonight, so you'll have a bit more time with your friend." He told me. "I'll be leaving in an hour or so too. Have fun."
"You too." I smiled, placing my backpack on the bed and pulling the handbag over my shoulder. "I'll see you in a bit. Stay safe."
"You look after yourself too."
I nodded, pecked his cheek and left the room. It was quarter to 3 by the time I made it to the tube station. The journey to Wembley was quick and uneventful. I listened to Ed's album so that I knew the lyrics better and rolled myself and Grace a cigarette on the tube. She had messaged me asking for one, as she had run out of baccy. The song Dive made me wonder, but I decided it was awfully conceited of me to think that it could be about me. Grace, of course, thought differently, saying it couldn't be a coincidence.
She and I went to the Costa in the Wembley designer outlet, her ordering a caramel macchiato and me ordering a roasted almond cappuccino with soya milk. Today was the worst day to drink a cup of lactose- I definitely didn't want to be a queasy mess during the gig.
"So, how did your first exam go?" I asked once we got the Dive dispute out of the way. Her first A2 Chemistry exam had been that day, and she was celebrating by attending Ed's concert.
"It was fine, I think. Had to leave a couple questions but it was actually pretty simple. You ready for the biology exam?" She asked, lighting up her cig as we sat down outside Costa with our coffees.
"Oh god, I don't know. I've been revising since Christmas so I suppose I'm okay, but I always fuck my exams up. I'm totally unprepared for my History exam though. It's my favourite subject yet I've only revised half the unit. Don't even ask about Sociology. How about you? You prepared for Biology and your other exams?"
"Fucking clueless about biology." She let out a humourless laugh as she took another drag of her cigarette. I lit mine up. "I'm confident about the next Chem exam, and about both Math exams though."
"That's fab. Have you received an offer from Manchester yet?"
"Yeah, at long last. They want 3 As."
"That's definitely achievable, especially considering you got all As at AS! Congratulations!"
"Thanks lovely. How about you? Anything from Aberdeen?"
"Rejected. Having good predicted grades this year wasn't enough for law school, they went off my GCSEs and AS grades, which weren't very good.  Brighton and Leicester offered me a place though. Brighton wants BBC, whilst Leicester want AAB, and that can include my Polish A-level as I've already got an A. Got offers from others but I'm leaning towards those two. Leicester as my firm choice because they do a year abroad to Australia, and Brighton as my insurance."
"That's pretty cool, and I'm sure you can do it. You've already got one A, now you've got an A coming in history considering your coursework was of A* standard according to your teacher. And then you've been revising like mad for Bio and Sociology. You'll be fine."
I smiled at her. "Thanks, b. Love you lots."
She patted my hand and took a sip of her coffee. "Love you too."
I leaned back in my chair and took a drag of my cig and a sip of my coffee. We sat for a little in silence, me texting Ed to let him know that all is good and we're just at Costa in the designer outlet, and I'd be there for 6.
"We need a selfie." Grace told me. "Our make up us too good to not take one today."
"True that." I laughed and opened Snapchat. How I took selfies without their filters before, I have no idea.
We took a selfie with the new flower crown that made my eyes look amazing on my phone, and one with the cat ears and nose that made cheekbones look great on Grace's phone.
I posted it on Insta with a caption of "@teddysphotos with @_hellsgrace tonight! 💕". Soon enough, Grace tagged me in her picture, but I quickly told her to change the caption. She had written "coffee date with @_natcatx before we go to watch her boyfriend @teddysphotos live! 💖". She removed the 'her boyfriend' part to avoid any hassle and false rumours.
After that, we finished our cigarettes and started walking around the outlet. H&M had a sale on so we went in there to look at summer dresses. Grace got herself a cute pastel pink sundress with a sweetheart neckline and thin straps. I got myself a matching one in white. I was a bit taller than Grace, so it reached mid-thigh for me and a couple inches above the knee for her. They were only £5 each so we took a look at some tops too. I nabbed myself a red bralette that would go perfectly with the black leather jacket and high-waisted skirt I was wearing. Grace had larger breasts so she wasn't very keen on bralets and decided we'd come back another time when they had a new range of tops.
We talked about what we usually talked about- uni, boys, gossip, and our backpacking trip this summer. It was half past five so we decided to grab a quick bite to eat from Subway before heading to the arena. After texting Ed that I was in front of the Hilton barriers and whether it was okay that Grace was with me for a smoke, I rolled Grace and I another cig each, as well as one for him.
Soon enough he was outside and asked the doorman to let us into the area inside the barriers.
"Ed, Grace. Grace, Ed." I introduced them with a smile after handing them both their cigarettes. Grace was strangely calm and said hi. They made small talk and then Grace politely asked for a selfie and a hug. Ed complied, bending at his knees to get into the selfie as Grace wasn't wearing heels and so was 5"2, and then enveloping her in one of his bear hugs.
"Right, I should head to line up, Ahmed just arrived and is waiting for me. I'll see you later, Nat. It was great meeting you Ed- you look after her, okay? She's much softer than she lets on." Grace winked once she finished her cig and gave me a big hug. She hugged Ed again to say goodbye.
"Oh trust me, I know. And don't worry, I will. Have a good night!" Ed replied.
"Text me when you get home, okay?" I called after her.
"Of course!" Grace replied, waving a hand over her head.
"She smokes really fast." Ed noted, glancing down at our half-smoked cigarettes.
"She really does. Probably why she ends up smoking 20 a day. She's trying to cut down so she hasn't bought a pack since she ran out yesterday." I shook my head with an amused grin.
With a sigh, I stepped closer to him and rested my head on his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around me and nuzzled his nose in my hair before taking another drag of his cigarette. There were fans across the road, but there were barriers keeping us in, and barriers keeping them in their queues. The road was pretty wide anyway. We weren't too bothered, as Ed had been the one to expose me on social media before, and it wasn't like we were a couple.
Once we finished smoking, we headed into the hotel for a bit. Ed was performing at 8:30, so we had a good hour and a half before we had to head over to the arena. We spent the time sipping on a couple of beers, cuddling and rolling around on the massive king-sized bed making out. We didn't talk much at all, except for making plans to go out drinking that night and to ask if the other wanted a cigarette. Ten minutes before we were meant to leave, I popped into the bathroom with the reasoning of fixing my make up. Once I did retouch my lipstick, the foundation on my chin and added a little highlighter to make it that much prettier, I took my top and bra off. Feeling rather daring, I ripped the tags off my new bralet and put it on. Going without a bra had always been something I was rather insecure about, but I decided why the hell not- it looked lovely on me and I felt much more comfortable in it knowing that I had lost some weight.
I switched the bathroom light off and walked out into the room to put my shoes on.
"Jesus Christ." Ed said, making me look up at him, standing next to the balcony door.
"Hmm?" I mumbled, zipping my boots up.
"You look stunning." He told me, walking over and grabbing my hands to pull me up, not once taking his eyes off me. I blushed, suddenly feeling rather small and put on the spot under his firm gaze.
"Why thank y-" Ed kissed me before I could finish, one arm hooked around my waist and the other still lifted as his hand was still holding mine.
I was rather breathless when we pulled away and thanked the heavens that I had make up on, as I was sure I was as red as a tomato right then.
"I think I'd rather stay in this room with you." He told me, pulling me even closer to him as his bedroom eyes remained on mine. It made my knees buckle- I had to force myself to pull away because I knew that if we stayed like that for much longer, we really would stay right there.
Taking a deep breath, I shot him a sly smirk whilst pulling my leather jacket on. I grabbed my handbag before grabbing him by the collar and kissing him firmly just as his phone went odd. He swore under his breath before answering.
"Hello?... yeah, we're on our way down now. Just leaving the room now... mhm. Yeah. See you in a minute." He hung up. "Right, a couple of members of staff are downstairs waiting for us. Shall we?"
He offered me his arm and I gracefully hooped mine through his once we left his room. We made our way downstairs and greeted a couple of assistants of some sort. I was handed a lanyard with an unlimited VIP backstage pass.
"You'll still be ID'd for drinks and such backstage if you choose to drink, but you're welcome to everything- snacks, drinks, coming in and out for a smoke, and so forth." One of the assistants, Shantice, told me with a smile as her and the other assistant, Tom, ushered us to the backstage entrance. She continued when I smiled and thanked her. "Ed, we don't have much time but we can still check everything is fine with your guitar and such, and then you'll be on. The support act is finishing in forty five minutes, so you have an hour."
Ed nodded and thanked her.
The next hour flew by- Ed was rushing all over the place so I decided to have a glass of a lovely white wine and another cigarette whilst watching the last 10 minutes of Anne-Marie's support act, and the other support act, Ryan McMullan's full set.
I stayed and chatted with Ryan and Anne-Marie as they prepared to head back to their hotel rooms as Ed prepared to go on stage. They were coming out with us tonight. Soon enough, it was 8:30 and Ed was going on so I turned my attention back to him.
"Good luck, lovely. Can't wait to see you up there for real." I told him, placing a kiss on his forehead and then his lips. "You'll smash it."
"He'll be smashing something for sure tonight," Ryan, the support act, tittered, causing Ed and I to laugh. I stuck my tongue out at him and Ed playfully gave him the finger before heading out on stage.
I grabbed another glass of wine, waved Ryan and Anne-Marie goodbye and walked to the side of the stage where the security guards and photographers were. I had been a fan of Ed's music for a good six years so seeing him live for the first time turned me into a little fan girl all over again. As soon as he had engaged with the audience and started playing the first song, 'Castle on the Hill', I chugged the rest of my glass of wine and sung my heart out. Luckily, Castle on the Hill was one of the songs that was constantly on the radio these past few months, so I knew of word for word. He then played 'Shape of You', 'New Man', 'Drunk', 'Eraser', 'Runaway', 'Don't', 'Sofa', 'Little Bird', 'Photograph', 'You Need Me, I Don't Need You', 'Nancy Mulligan' and 'Galway Girl' before he came off stage. There were the usual chants of "encore" and "one more song", to which Ed obviously complied. He waited two or three minutes before he went back on, catching his breath and chugging a small bottle of water. I didn't care that he was sweating like a pig; I ran over to him, throwing my arms around his neck and squeezed him.
"I'm going to be an absolute fan girl right now so I apologise, but oh my GOD, that was my first time seeing you live and you were amazing! I'm so proud of how far you've come!" I gushed quickly then let go when Shantice let us know it was 30 seconds until Ed went back on for the last song.
Ed bit his lip as he grinned at me and gave me a quick hug. "That's so sweet of you, thank you Nat."
He seemed a bit troubled by something but I couldn't ask what was wrong as he was already jogging onto stage after placing a firm kiss on my head. I walked back to where I was standing during the set and grinned up at the stage.
"London, how do you feel about another song?!" He called into the microphone, and in return received a loud roar from the crowd, including myself. "I can't hear you!"
We all screamed and cheered louder, and I couldn't help wishing I could stay here forever, listening to Ed singing and being cheered on by thousands and thousands of people.
"Right, I want to hear each and every one of you to sing your lungs out, the plan is to lose our voices by the end of tonight!"
I was surprised at the song he started playing. I didn't recognise it until he started singing because of how new I was to most of his new album. It was beautiful, and I don't think I was the only one who noticed him glance over at me because suddenly, a few heads turned to face me, and I felt a flash go off in my face. But I ignored it and decided to enjoy the music. He played Dive and I was red throughout the entire thing.
Once the song was over, Ed continued fiddling with his guitar before he cleared his throat and spoke again.
"So, I wasn't planning on playing this song at first, it only came to mind last night to be honest. And I'm still not certain I should as I haven't played nor sung this in quite a while so please bear with me if I mess this up!" He laughed, and once again was met by cheers. He tapped his guitar three times and then the melody and words started.
"She's like cold coffee in the morning..."
My jaw dropped. My favourite song. He knew it was my favourite song. I felt myself go beetroot red and hot all over again, I couldn't believe he had remembered that and was playing it on stage.
By the time I recovered from my surprise, he was on the second verse.
"I'll wake with coffee in the morning
But she prefers two lumps of sugar and tea..."
A wide grin spread across his face and he looked over at me, again. I felt giddy and overly excited and fourteen again. His smile was contagious and I couldn't help my own cheesy grin as I sang and swayed along. Once he finished and thanked the crowd profusely, he took a picture of the crowd and said goodnight.
I rushed backstage as he walked off, but then suddenly stopped next to the sofa, suddenly feeling rather bashful. I waited for him there and played with my hands, feeling my blush return.
"Hey, you." Ed said happily, walking over to me. I looked up with a shy grin.
"Heya."
"How was that?"
"You were great! Was surprised when you performed Cold Coffee considering you haven't played it in so long, but goddamn it, it was fucking beautiful live! It's my favourite song of yours."
"Why do you think I played it, hey?" He asked rhetorically and pulled me against him. He was even more sweaty, but if I didn't care before, I barely noticed this time.
"I can't believe you remembered." I murmured, squeezing him tightly to not let him see my wobbly lip. I was a massive crybaby and cried at everything. I cried at the Good Dinosaur for the love of God, so it wasn't very surprising that I was tearing up right there over Ed singing my favourite song for me. Obviously it wasn't "my song" in the sense that he wrote it for me, as that had been a long, long time ago, but he played it for me. I wanted to kiss him right then, but I didn't want him to see me blubbering like a baby. I took a few deep breaths and my shoulders shuddered as they do when you cry, and then I pulled away, sneakily wiping my eyes and thanking whatever power there is to there for waterproof mascara and foundation. If Ed had noticed me crying, he hadn't said anything to preserve my dignity.
"That was brilliant, Ed. Really. Thank you."
He didn't say anything, but grinned from ear to ear and kissed me quickly. "No, thank you. Right, I need to sort some stuff out but I won't be any longer than five minutes. So you can wait here or go back to the Hilton?"
"I'll wait here and roll us both a fag." I told him and plopped down on the sofa.
He nodded at me and went off to Shantice and Tom. I checked my phone and quickly replied to Grace's iMessage gushing over the concert and the side note "p.s: the last 2 songs were totally for you xo".
I saved a few shots I had gotten of the crowd and Ed from my Snapchat and uploaded them onto my Instagram account. Once I put my phone away, I pulled my baccy out of my handbag and rolled us both a fag. My hands were still a bit shaky so the rolls came out a bit shit, but they were smokable. Soon enough, we went outside and had our cigarettes before heading into the hotel to get ready for our night out. I didn't have to do much, just take my rights off, retouch my lipstick and highlighter as I was sure I had smudged that with my tears. Ed took a shower and changed into a fresh pair of blue jeans, a casual, short-sleeved button-up shirt and a pair of black trainers. We decided to leave our jackets. By the time we were ready, it was 11pm and the car was waiting for us and the others. Shantice and Tom were coming with us too, which was somewhat comforting as I wouldn't be the only non-celebrity in the group. We went to a club not too far from the Wembley arena, but in a far nicer area. Wembley was a shithole to be completely honest. I liked the designer outlet, the stadium and the Hilton, but apart from that it wasn't a pleasant area. We got into the club right away and I made a beeline for the bar with a cry of "let's get waveeeyyy!"
I could just about make out the others laughing over the loud music as they followed me. I must have spent a good £15 on alcohol by 2am, which was a relatively decent amount for London, but still far more than I would spent up north, where I could get the same amount of alcohol for half the price. By that time I was absolutely smashed and dancing nonstop, which I think exhausted Ed a little. Despite the boys being killjoys, Anne-Marie made up for it. She danced and drank with me, happily going to the bathroom with me and making people take pictures of us. We all took pictures together, and despite how gone I was, I loved them all. I didn't look gross in any of them, but perhaps that was the alcohol telling me I looked fit as fuck.
We left the club at 4am, and Ed had spent a further £20 on top of the previous £20 by buying rounds, which of course made me feel really bad because although I had paid for our breakfasts, it was nothing compared to the amount he had spent. I drunkenly slipped a tenner into his pocket. I still had a good £20 left to myself, not including my trip money. Luckily there wasn't much paparazzi, except maybe one or two people thinking they'd get a story of some sort. It was rather funny, considering we were all a state; stumbling, sweating, alcohol covering my bare legs, Anne-Marie clinging onto me trying to stay put in her stilettos, Ryan staring at his phone and stumbling next to Ed. The Sun and the Daily Mail would have some fun shaming Anne-Marie and I the next morning for our choice of clothing and the state we were in. I couldn't be happier though. The drive back to the hotel went by really quickly and we all grabbed some cheesy chips before arriving there. We took the lift up to our floor and collapsed on the bed the moment we removed our shoes.
"Fucking hell..." I moaned when I realised I needed a wee for the 20th time that night. Forcing myself to get up, I looked over at Ed, who looked half dead but still kept his eyes on me. Whatever he had planned for tonight didn't seem to be on the timetable anymore, as he was almost comatose. Once I had a wee and washed my hands, I grabbed a big bottle of water from the mini fridge and pulled some painkillers out of his suitcase. I pulled my skirt off and climbed into bed. Ed almost fell on his way to the bathroom. He washed his hands, pulled his jeans and shirt off then crawled into bed next to me. He kissed me and we stayed like that for a little, but soon enough we both fell asleep cuddled up against each other. The room was spinning and I was in such a pleasant, sleepy drunken state that I fell asleep grinning to myself.