Two weeks Later...

xx-xx-xx

Lucy.

'I can't believe you're going back already!' Willow pouted before pulling me into a hug at the airport. 'This summer has gone too quick.'

'I know, but it's been great!' I smiled in response.

'Yeah, because you got yourself a boyfriend slash soulfinder slash superstar.'

'He's not my boyfriend!' I hissed, hoping no one was listening.

He wasn't my boyfriend. Ed was cute and funny and talented and we'd hung out as much as we could before he'd had to fly back to England. He was set to record his new single and then have some time out after a busy few months working. We'd had a lot of fun going to the cinema and grabbing burgers at my favourite local diner, but nothing had happened. We were just friends.

'Well hurry up and make him your boyfriend.' Willow sighed. 'You're not getting any younger, Luce.'

'Neither are you. Besides, you're older than me.'

'I'd better find myself a boyfriend that you don't hate then.' She winked, playfully. She was always winding me up about it, but at least I could let her know if the guy was going to be trouble.

'Well that can be your aim then for when I come over for Christmas?'

'Deal.'

She pulled me into another hug. 'I'm really going to miss you, Luce. I wish you'd just move over here.'

'One day, maybe.' I smiled. If my name was in flashing lights.

xx-xx-xx

Sky.

It was Freshman week on campus, except this time I was a Sophomore. I'd spent the week recovering from tour and the 'accident', where I had fallen down the stairs and cracked my head open. At least that's what we were telling everyone, including my parents and Jenni. I hated lying to them, but I didn't want them worrying when there was no need to.

'All ready to go?' Zed asked, throwing on his leather jacket. It was starting to feel like autumn outside in Vancouver, so I was now wearing jeans, a vest top and a hoodie in a hope of keeping warm.

'Hey Sky, nice summer?'

'Hey Sky, looking good.'

'Hey Sky, great tunes.'

'Hey Sky, party at mine later.'

'This is insane!' I said to Jenni as we walked through campus to have almost everyone greeting me or staring at me.

'I'm pretty sure you'll get an invite to every college party for the rest of our time here.' My friend replied, linking arms with me. 'One of the benefits of being a superstar.'

'If you could call it a benefit?'

'Sky, you're going to be the most popular girl on campus.'

'Yeah... still not sure if that's a good thing.'

It was weird being sat in a lecture hall and I found it hard to concentrate, being sat in a room and being talked at about the emotions created by music. I sat doodling on my notepad and Zed filled my head.

You know, some of this is quite interesting.

Sorry, I'd just rather be in the studio.

I thought you wanted to stay in college?

I do, but people keep acting different around me. It's creeping me out.

Zed reached over and squeezed my hand, tightly. It'll take time to get back to normality, but we'll get there.

xx-xx-xx

Lucy.

I turned the key in the door to my one-bedroom apartment in the middle of Brighton, after I had spent two days with my parents in their house just out of the city. After university, I'd moved straight into my own place, loving the freedom that came with it. I could go out whenever I wanted, decorate the apartment however I liked and I could have friends over without having to ask for permission. The apartment I lived in was in the city centre and I was renting it for a fair monthly price. The landlord was quite flexible and had allowed me to hang pictures on the wall in an attempt to make it more homely.

My apartment was a top floor flat in a terraced building two minutes walk from the sea. The original floorboards were showing in the bedroom and living room/diner, but they had been varnished before I moved in so they were in pretty good condition. The walls in each room were white, making the apartment light despite the not particularly large windows. In the living room/diner, there were white counters against one wall, with a built-in fridge, oven and freezer. My living room consisted of two pale grey two-seater sofas decorated with pale blue and pale pink cushions and a soft faux fur grey throw. I had a vintage trunk for a coffee table, which I had painted white and a small flatscreen television on a white shabby chic unit. My guitar stood on a stand in the corner of the room and black and white photographs I had taken of places I'd visited in New York lined the walls. One wall of my bedroom was covered with a white closet, decorated with two full-length mirrors. My bed was simple; a double with white bed posts and fake white roses had been wrapped around the posts. My bed was decorated with a blue floral duvet cover and lots of mis-matched cushions. At £450 a month, it was a bargain and I was happy living in my small, cosy apartment. I collapsed onto my bed with my laptop, desperate to message my friends and let them know I was home and ready for the next pub outing. Before I could login to Facebook and Skype, sleep got the better of me.

When I woke up, it was 10am the following day (Thursday). I groaned, my body feeling confused. Back in Michigan, it was only 5am and that thought was exhausting. I looked at my laptop beside me and realised the battery had did after my thirteen-hour sleep. I plugged it in and jumped in the shower. I was just drying myself off when the flat phone rang.

'Hello?'

'Lucy, welcome back, it's John.' My boss from the record store greeted me.

'Oh, hello.'

'Listen, can you pop into work this afternoon? We've got a staff meeting and it's pretty urgent.'

'Okay, sure.'

That Thursday afternoon, I dressed in my black jeans and a retro Beatles t-shirt and I headed out to the shop in the Laines. The Laines was one of my favourite places in Brighton because of all the different kinds of people you saw there; old, young, indie, goth, lolita... Brighton was a diverse place to live and the music reflected that. It's one of the reasons I was drawn to living there. I reached our small record store and headed inside to be greeted by John and the other employees (Leanne, Adrianna and Jamie).

'So jealous of your tan.' Leanne whispered as John turned the sign around so that it said 'Closed'. I looked at her Ed Sheeran t-shirt and realised she'd be jealous of a lot more than my tan. We followed John out the back and sat ourselves on the sofas in the staff room/ stock room.

'You're probably wondering why I called you all in today.' John said, adjusting his position on one of the sofas. It was unusual to have more than two of us working at once, especially on a weekday. 'I'm afraid I have some bad news.' We shot glances at each other across the room and then he continued. 'As you know, business hasn't been great for a while. Very few people want vinyl these days as there aren't enough record players out there and now there's Ebay and HMV selling vinyl too. I'm afraid we're going to have to close. The rent is too high and to pay you all with our lack of income isn't ideal. We've got two weeks left on the lease and then that's it. Girls, as Jamie is my son we will be taking it from here. You'll get some redundancy pay but I'm sorry it won't be much. I'll write you all a good reference.'

I was still in shock when I walked out of the record store with Leanne and Adrianna, who looked just as miserable as I felt. I was going to have to move out of my flat.

'So where to now?' Adrianna sighed, adjusting her mahoghany ponytail.

'I'm going to head to the job centre.' Leanne sighed. 'Anyone coming with?'

'Shall we go out tonight?' I asked and they looked at me as if I was crazy.

'You just got fired and you want to go out?'

'Come on, girls, it'll be fun! Spend the afternoon filling in job applications, I know I will, but then come round mine and we'll get ready and have a girls night out.'

'It's mental, but I'm saying yes. Ad?'

'Fine.' Adrianna sighed, giving into the peer pressure. 'Just make sure we go somewhere good.'

I walked home a different way to usual and I paused when I spotted an unfamiliar bar. Peering through the window, I could tell it was still being fixed up but with its millions of book-filled bookshelves, worn velvet sofas, leather armchairs and stage with a microphone, I knew it was somewhere I'd be hanging out soon.

'Can I help you?'

I looked at the man with black, scruffy hair and steel-blue eyes standing next to me. 'Sorry, I was just being nosy.'

He smirked. 'Pretty sweet, huh?'

'Yeah, it really is.'

'Thanks. It's mine.' He held out his hand. 'Stefan.'

'Lucy.'

'Are you local?'

'Yeah, I live by the seafront.'

'Sweet. Well I guess I'll see you at opening night on Saturday.' He turned to go back inside but I stopped him.

'I don't suppose you have any jobs going?'

I felt a little brighter that evening, after having an awful start to the afternoon. Somehow I'd been made redundant and found a new job with the space of an hour. 'The Library' was expected to be busy at its opening at seven on Saturday, so Stefan had said I could have a trial and that he'd decide whether to offer me a position after that. It looked promising. After cooking some spaghetti bolognese for one, I changed into my outfit for the evening. I opted for my black high-waisted leather skirt and a red and white polka dot crop top. Every now and then, I liked to indulge in a little bit of Rockerbilly, especially as the fifties was a guilty pleasure of mine. I curled my hair and applied my usual winged eye-liner and red lipstick, smiling in the mirror when I was done. Not bad, it would do fine. I slipped on my black shoe boots just as the doorbell rang.

'You're early!'

'Am I?'

I looked at the person in the doorway feeling confused; Ed. 'Sorry, I thought you were someone else.'

'Erm, ouch?' He grinned, playfully. He looked me up and down, taking in my outfit. 'Are you going on a date?'

'No, of course not.' I laughed. 'I can't remember the last date I actually was asked on.' I realised we were still in the doorway, where my neighbours could earwig and I was sure they happily would. 'Come in.' I stepped to the side and he walked into my apartment.

'Nice place.' He commented with a smile, looking around.

'So what brings you to my neck of the woods?' I asked, closing the door as Ed sat down on one of my sofas.

'I wanted to come and see you.' He smiled, shyly, and it made my heart flutter. 'I thought it would be a nice surprise.'

If I hadn't made plans with the girls... I cursed in my head. 'It is.'

'But you've already got plans.'

'You could come with us?' I offered. 'I'm sure my friends won't mind?'

The doorbell rang and I cursed, inwardly. Why were they always exactly on time? From what I'd read in magazines, girlfriends were supposed to be late but these two were always right on time.

'Are you getting that?' Ed laughed.

'Erm.. yes.' I stood up as the doorbell rang again and headed over to the door.

'Take your time!' Adrianna rolled her eyes. 'I thought you said to get here for predrinks at eight.'

'Uhm... I did.'

'Are we coming in?'

I bit my lip, trying to work out how to warn them. Was Leanne going to keep her cool? I wasn't sure. She had the posters, the Cds, the t-shirts. Oh, goodness.

'Oh my god!' Leanne gasped, eyeballing me suspiciously with her brown eyes. 'You have a guy in there!'

'Would you keep it down?!' I hissed.

'Oh my god, you do!' Adrianna grinned.

I knew Ed could probably hear our every word and it made me want to hit my head against the wall. How mortifying. 'Look, I meant him in America and we hung out a bit and you're going to be really surprised to please just keep your cool.'

'I thought we were having girls night?' Leanne raised an eyebrow.

'We are!' I replied, feeling more nervous by the second. 'But he turned up to surprise me.'

'Awh.' They chorused.

'So are we just standing on the doorstep all night or...'

'Screw this, I'm going in!' Leanne, my best friend of eight years, barged past me in typical Leanne style. 'Holy crap! Luce, why is Ed Sheeran in your living room? Am I hallucinating?'

'You're definitely not, babe.' Adrianna said beside her as I closed the door and looked up to the heavens, hoping this wasn't going to be the biggest disaster ever.

'Hey.' Ed smiled at them and then added for extra effect, 'I'm Ed!'

I walked past my friends and waited for a response but instead they just gawped at him.

'You're on my bedroom wall.' Leanne came out with, making me want the ground to swallow me whole.

'Er... sweet?' Ed replied, unsure of what else to say.

'So... who wants a cider?' I offered.

Adrianna stopped me in her tracks. 'Forget that, babe, I think you need to bring out the vodka.'

xx-xx-xx

Sky.

It was Thursday night and everyone was planning on hitting the campus party. I wasn't an exception to that, at least not according to Jenni. She had me dressed in my favourite photoshoot outfit of a crop top and floral skirt with my comfy Jimmy Choos and we were out the door before nine. The boys, Rob and Zed, had promised to meet us there and I was glad; Jenni and I had already been drinking.

'Freshmen look so young!' Jenni said, dramatically, as we walked into the campus bar.

'That was us last year.' I reminded her as I ignored the glances and smiles our way. It was going to take some getting used to.

'I know, but we must have looked young too.'

'I doubt we've changed that much in a year.'

'So, I heard Ed's found his soulfinder.' Jenni said, pulling me towards the bar.

'Yeah, she seems nice.'

'Have you met her?'

'Briefly... at the Detroit concert.' I replied, vaguely.

'Cool.' She smiled. 'It's about time he stopped following you around like a lost puppy, bless him.' I frowned at the comment but decided to ignore it.

The bartender came over to me. 'What can I get you?'

'Two beers please.' I replied with a smile.

'Do you have ID?'

'Yes, of course.' I handed it over and he looked at it carefully.

'So you're Sky Bright-Benedict. Sweet.' He smiled, grabbing a napkin. 'Can you sign this for me?'

'Erm... okay.' I quickly autographed the napkin and handed it back to him.

'Two beers on the house.' He winked, grabbing the beers and passing it over.

'Well that's going to always be weird but hey, we got free drinks.' Jenni said, chugging down her beer. 'I'm ready for shots! What about you?'

xx-xx-xx

Lucy.

'So how did you two meet?' Adrianna asked, drinking her vodka and coke. I shot Ed a warning glance and he smiled, at ease. Leanne had not said anything since her poster comment.

'We met after my show in Detroit. Lucy's cousin Willow interviewed me for her tabloid.' He replied with a friendly smile, taking a sip of his drink.

'Willow's connections, eh?' Adrianna winked at me. 'You weren't there when she hit her head on a door were you? Trust Luce to embarass herself.'

'No he wasn't.' I replied, hoping he would go along with the story. No one knew what really happened except for Sky, her husband, his brothers, Ed and Willow. We were keeping it a secret and my friends didn't know about the whole savant thing anyway. I took a big sip of my vodka and lemonade and looked over at Leanne, who was still watching Ed intently.

'I did visit her in hospital though.' He said with a smile. 'That's how we got talking properly.'

'So.. uhm, what's actually going to happen this evening?' Adrianna asked Leanne, trying to break her focus.

'I don't know.' She shrugged. 'We were having a girls night.'

'You're still having a girls night.' Ed smiled at me after he finished his drink.

'But you've come all this way...' Leanne said, looking disappointed.

'I'm staying in Brighton until Monday.' He replied, telling me more than anyone else. 'I'm staying with a friend. Are you free tomorrow, Lucy?'

'Yes she is.' Leanne and Adrianna responded on my behalf. I frowned at the two of them.

'I am, yes.' I replied, ignoring the idiotic grins on my friend's faces. They were so embarassing.

'I'll come and pick you up at three?' Ed said, hopefully, as he stood up.

'Okay.' I returned the smile on his face and he grinned showing his teeth.

'Have a good night, ladies.' He gave me a quick hug before turning to my friends. 'Nice meeting you.'

'And you.' My friends chorused like school girls.

I showed Ed to the door and turned around to my friends after he had gone and I had closed it behind him. 'Could you be any more embarassing?!'

'And when were you going to tell us that Ed Sheeran was your boyfriend?!' Leanne said in disbelief, shaking her head.

'He's not my boyfriend. You're as bad as Willow.'

'Oh really? So why is he taking you on a date tomorrow?'

It wasn't a date, was it?

xx-xx-xx

Sky.

A new song filmed the room and Jenni squealed with delight when it did so. I, however, wanted to hide in the corner. It had been three days since the release of my new single, my first solo single, 'One last time' and they were already playing a remix in the campus. Jenni sang along and started spinning me around, but I just felt weird. Did artists always feel this way when they were somewhere and their song came on? I wasn't sure but it had me wondering.

'Hey beautiful.' Zed greeted me with a beer-tasting kiss on the lips and he wrapped his arms around me. 'I know the artist of this song, it's my claim to fame.' He shot me a wink. 'Dance with me?' To my own song? It felt weird, but Zed answered for me, moving his body closer to mine and moving us back and forth in time to the beat.

I looked around at the sweaty bodies moving around to my song, some singing along and others jumping up and down, shaking their hair about. Jenni and Rob were beside me, dancing and making-out to my music.

It was an odd feeling indeed.

xx-xx-xx

Lucy.

By ten, we were out of the door and I was starting to wish we had stuck to cider instead of vodka. The girls had finally stopped going on about Ed and I and I knew that they would spend as long as possible at the apartment with me when we woke up the next day. I was beyond caring. I could feel the alcohol pumping through my veins, giving me some courage. We reached Las Iguanas first, my favourite place for cocktails. It was a chain-restaurant/bar, sure, but the drinks were good and they were 2 for the price of 1.

'Ite girls?' The bartender said, giving Leanne a flirty wink. With her waist-length straight hair and skin-tight clothing, she always got the attention. That and she was also a 'famous' DJ in Brighton, so most people knew her or of her. 'What am I getting you?'

'The normal.' Leanne replied, fluttering her eyelashes. 'You know us well enough Eric.'

'I'll bring it over and put it on the tab.' He grinned, enjoying the attention she was giving him.

Adrianna rolled her eyes and pushed me towards our usual table. 'Lea, one of these days your flirting will get in trouble.'

'It makes our nights out a lot cheaper, especially as we're now redundant.' I laughed.

'It doesn't matter for you, you've got a superstar boyfriend.' Leanne tutted, shaking her head. 'You could have cocktails at the Ritz.'

'Do they even do cocktails there?' I questionned, uncertain.

'Who knows?' Adrianna shrugged. 'Does he have any nice friends you can set me up with?'

'What about me?' Leanne pouted.

'You get enough male attention, you don't need encouraging anymore.'

After our second pre-drinks of the evening, we headed to Lola Lo's for their student night. We were no longer students, but it was Fresher's Week so we were able to blend in with the crowds. Leanne left with a couple of numbers, but it had been a successful girl's night out. Feeling drunk and dizzy, we caught a cab back to my apartment and the three of us collapsed in my double bed.

'It's been a very odd day.' I commented when we were all settled down in our pyjamas.

Leanne sighed from beside me. 'You can say that again.'