Ebony & Ivory [H.S]

Two

"Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see"

Ebony Saville. Not in any way related to the rather confronting, bordering on aggressive, artist, Jenny Saville. Known to friends as Essie, and the story behind that isn't at all interesting, or climatic at best, but it's just the way things are. The only person who really gets away with calling me by my actual given name is my boyfriend, and I know he does it only because it drives me up the wall.

Twenty-two years old, though if I'm being technical, I guess you could say that I'm five – the many perks of being born on a leap year.

Not.

Though it does come in handy when I don't want to be reminded of my age. Especially when there isn't a little slot for your birthday in people's diaries, and I normally can fly under people's radar without being noticed. One person who won't ever let me forget however, is my stepdad Phil. My only living relative, and he never fails to make a big deal out of the day. I pretend I don't like all of the fuss, but I think he knows that I secretly do. He's probably the greatest person I have ever met. He married my mother when I was two, so he's always been there for me ever since I can remember. My biological dad was never in the picture, though I know that he could never measure up to Phil. To take on someone's child is a huge feat in it's own right, but I have so much more respect for him for continuing to do so after my mother's passing. It was all quite quick in the grand scheme of things, and I sometimes feel sad over it – especially on those days that people with mother's take for granted. I was four when it happened, and too young to truly remember her, but I do remember her plaiting my hair and always wearing yellow. My mind often drifts to her in the steady lull of days, and I sometimes wonder how things could have turned out differently had she still been alive.

My life isn't all bad though. I live in a nice little flat, snug in the streets of Chelsea, London. About a two-minute walk from the River Thames, though I never really go there as much as I thought I would when I had first moved in. One could also say that my boyfriend lives with me too. He has his own house just a few miles away, though whenever he isn't on tour, he tends to stay with me – unofficially that is.