It's Never Just Goodbye // Ed Sheeran

Clichéd Love

Ed

“Favorite singer as of right now?” she asked me. Skimming through my CD collection. Acting surprised at cool finds no matter if she knew the collection I had better than I did. She had sat on the floor, in front of the speakers, every night she had been here. Since the beginning. Flipping through the stacks.

I shrugged. She scrunched her nose up and waited until I joked, “You.”

“For real?”

“No.”

Nina faked a gasp and threw her shoe at me. Turning back around and fumbling with a case. Plopping a CD into the player. Stevie playing throughout the flat out of spite.

She hopped over the couch and fell into my arms. “My Cherie Amour!” she sung to me, loudly.

Nina and I danced around the living room. Sparks flying between us every time our fingertips touched one another.

“Why is this the only person you play when we’re together?” I asked.

We kissed to Stevie Wonder playing behind us. The night sky shown through the open window as Nina’s hand fluttered over my chest. The lamp in the corner the only thing keeping the room lit. The wind pushing through the blinds and cascading over our exposed skin. The goose bumps rising.

She’s beautiful, I kept thinking. She is gorgeous. Model material. Ha, no wonder she was a model before. With her porcelain skin, pale as snow. Her features so delicately placed in the most seamless of spots. Her smile something out of a magazine. Blowing my mind as my lips fell to hers.

She is beautiful.
“You taste like beer.” She says, laughing her usual laugh as the kiss broke between us. Throwing her head back, her hand on the back of my hot neck still.

I smiled, “Well, you taste like cough drops.”

“Touché.”

“I can’t have it any other way. I can’t cough uncontrollably in front of my boyfriend. Can I?” Nina says, her voice light and feathery. She moved her hips like Shakira. Her belly showing as she lifted her arms into the air. Her moves were gracefully joke-filled. She giggled as she yelled, “Dance off. First one to stop dancing loses and has to do the laundry!”

I couldn’t dance, but I was trying. “Why does everything have to be a competition with you?” I asked.

She was still moving. Mouth open wide, “Not everything is a competition with me!”

I stopped, “You made us go outside last night, in the rain, and race to the end of the street. Just to see who would have to do the dishes!”

“You’re just mad because I rightfully one!”

“Nina, three days ago you filled the bathtub with water and made me dunk my head to see who could hold their breath the longest.”

She finally stopped dancing and cocked her head at me. Nina poked her finger in my chest. “You said you could hold it longer! I had to see who was right!”

“But it wasn’t just to see that!” I laughed. “Loser had to clean the flat!”

“Ed, it’s just for fun!” She yelled, pushing me back.

I didn’t know if it was the night time, but I wasn’t thinking. The light beer I had, mixed with cheap wine Nina brought, made my head fly away. I was on cloud nine. The CD starting from the beginning again. I laughed, threw my head back, and said. “I love you.”

Nina blinked. I guess I had finally stolen the words from her mouth. She had no response. No comeback. She stared at me for the longest time. Her brown eyes melting like chocolate, lips slightly parted.