red hair and a blue hoodie // ed sheeran

Chapter 26 - Burnt Food and New Clothes

ED'S POV:

I let the chicken simmer in the pan, taking in the rich aromas that radiated around the kitchen. I had left Zo on the couch. Every now and then I would check on her. She didn’t move. She stayed situated on the couch. The same couch that I had plopped her on when she passed out in the lobby. Did she remember it? I looked back over my shoulder for the umpteenth time tonight. The only thing I could see of her was her brown hair as it fanned around her. Under the headlight above her, it looked like polished chestnut. Looking at her hair under the said light, it showed off auburn coloured highlights. They didn’t look like artificial dyes - definitely natural colouring.

She kept her eyes glued to the other side of the room, not bothering to turn around and look at me. Could she feel my eyes on her? I have felt her eyes on me several times over these past few days. It burns when she looks at me. Her eyes are like hot embers. Hot embers that have since been extinguished. Wait. What was that burning smell? I sniffed the air, following the smell to the pan that I had completely forgotten about. I swore under my breath and removed the pan from the heat.

Talk of hot embers Sheeran. You nearly turned your food into ashes.

I mentally smacked my conscious over the head with a newspaper as I dished up the food onto two spotless white bowls.

“What is that burning smell?”

I laughed as I tried to figure out an answer.

“I…uh…”

“Did you burn the food?” She questioned tiredly. She was on the verge of falling asleep but I needed to get some food into her.

“Hey! I’m not that bad a cook. But... yeah - nearly. It still looks pretty good.” I placed the plate on the coffee table in front of her. “Are you okay with feeding yourself or do you want some help?” I asked genuinely. I wasn’t in anyway questioning her reliability. I was just uncertain. 

“Um… Could you place the bowl in my lap? I should be alright then.” She removed her hands that were originally in her lap onto the couch and waited for the bowl to sit upon her legs. I grabbed the bowl from the table and placed it in her lap. “Don’t I get cutlery?” She asked with a small laugh.

“Oh my gosh! I completely forgot!” I stood up in a rush, feeling a little lightheaded as I headed back into the kitchen to retrieve a fork. As I walked back into the room, I placed the fork in the bowl and she dived straight into her meal. 

“This… this is really good.” She commented between scoopfuls of chicken.

I stabbed a piece of chicken with my fork with a smile on my face. “If there is one meal I can do, it is fajitas.”

“You got that right!” She replied, shovelling another forkful into her mouth. I had to laugh. This was so simple. Eating dinner, talking about something so simple, laughing along to jokes and just relaxing. It was so serene. Then the doctor’s eerie words ran through my head, stomping on all of my happy flowers on the way like an elephant would stomp a watermelon.

“For her wellbeing, she will need a full time guide to assist her with her everyday life.”

“The question I am asking you is will you be willing to become Zo’s guide?”

“I will give you a day to come up with an answer.”

I had a day to decide whether I wanted to give up my life as a singer, my lifestyle of travelling around the world to perform at arena after arena and my childhood dream to start caring for a blind person.

She’s not just any blind person, Sheeran. You know what she means to you. Don’t lie to yourself

Ignoring my conscious, I focused on the problem at hand. Do I stay or do I go? My eyes lingered on her. She was slurping her food down like a vacuum cleaner. She was really enjoying the food. But thinking about it, any food would taste amazing after eating hospital food for that amount of time. But then she stopped. She placed her fork down on her bowl. I looked down. She wasn’t finished yet.