Chapter Text
Joel woke up hungover, head pounding at him
he didn't have work until a little later, which thank god he couldn't handle being around noise quite yet
He knew he wasn't where he was meant to be in his life
i mean hes 56 and still getting drunk on weeknights, alone in his house
but he didn't have anything else to do
It was bullshit, he probably did
but he didn't want to go searching for them
he didn't deserve happiness anyway
he sat up off the couch and walked to his coffee machine, only stumbling slightly
while his coffee was being made he let his mind drift
drift onto random things
Tommy's letter
ellie-NO
tess, fuck he missed tess
he and tess were datin'
kind of?
they were friend, good friends, she lost a son due to cancer
so they understood each other, they were terrible for each other
they thrived in each others bad habits
such as up to a couple months ago he would be waking up hungover with tess beside him
he couldn't blame her
she wanted to be better, better for the world there kids didn't get to see, better for society and joel, joel didn't..
it's not that he was a bad person.. actually it was
he wanted the world and everyone in it to burn
so whatever they were stopped
now he only got out of bed to go to work or drink
and of course his FUCKING COFFEE MACHINE BREAKS
cause why would he have a good thing in his day
Its still the holidays, he knows that because ellie told him
so going out means probably seeing a lot of happy, young, very much alive faces of kids
he would normally be very appossssed to going out
But man he need coffee
so he got dressed and dragged his ass out of his front door
He got into his car and began the search for a coffee place
he would normally know one but he's too hungover for that so google it is
but he's not very good at that so after 20 minutes of searching he finds one
He parks and walks into 'Latte lounge'
which was the stupidest name he had ever heard for a caf-actually for any business
he parks up on one of the seats drinking his black coffee feeling at peace with little to no sound around him until
ELLIE POV
ellie walked around for what felt like ages
her feet were burning but she still couldn't find anywhere to sit
because most places don't want some kid 'lottering'
which first of fuck anyone who says that, they think here sooo much cooler cause they use big ass word for no reason
and secondly forgive her for wanting to sit down, like what?
but finally she found a coffee shot called 'latte lounge'
she internally groaned at the name
it honestly wasn't bad but she could tell it would be some fancy as place that would kick her out as soon as they could, but you know its worth a try
she walked in and glanced around not quite sure what she was looking for
she was right it was kinda fancy but it wasn't that busy
out of the conner of her eye she spots a old man
he had her back to her, his hair was grey but not fully
she was about to walk around the shop to see this guys face when of course she was interrupted
"um miss are you going to buy something because if not then you can't sit down''
it was a employee, they were in there early 30s probably and looking down there nose at her
ughh she hates when people do that, but she really can't afford her like calling the cops
She does not want to go back to juvie, fuck no
rolling her eyes
" I was just looking ok"
"ok ok" she lowered her voice"be gone in 5 or i will call the cops k kid"
she glared at the ladybut nodded
the bitc-worker walked away
she really wished she had some money because god she was starving
she only just remembered that she had been up since 5
and hadn't eaten anything
she looked around one last time at the food in the cabinets, wishing she could eat one but no she cant
she turned to leave when she heard a voice
"kid"
Hold on she knew that voice she turned to look at the person who spoke and it was
''joel?''
"yea are you hungry cause i have some food so"
what THE FUCK was he offering her food?
well duh but why
she didn't know but she was so hungry she would pass out soon so she pushed her pride aside and
"yea i could eat"
she pulled a chair over and sat by joel who had a coffee(yuck)and a half eaten sandwich
maybe she should think it's gross sharing food with a stranger of sorts
but she didn't care anymore
she didn't make eye contact with him, she felt kinda like a parasite
like she was eating HIS food, but what other aptoin did she have
JOEL
he wasn't sure why he offered her food
maybe it was because he was full, he wasn't
maybe he just wanted company, a little more likely, but also creepy
but it was probably seeing how skinny she was
she was wearing two shirts right now, one long one short
and she looked just as skinny
it also maybe had something to do with the fact that she was a 14 year old girl walking around alone
he was a little concerned but no no he wasn't
but he should probably ask why, it was the right thing to do he guessed
"so why you walkin' 'round alone in the mornin'?''
"oh um you know fresh air?"
she pressed it like a question so she was probably lying
He raised an eyebrow
"really"
"uh yea totally"
her word were kind of muffled with the food in her mouth
"mouth closed when eaten'"
she rolled her eyes at him
"what'da do to your face"
she looked confused
"what, whats on my face?"
did she really not notice?
how
"its all red and kinde stracted"
"you reall'y not notice"
she looked around sheepishly
"um no i guess not"
"so what happened ellie"
"uhh i kinda got into this girl soo yea"
jesus
before he could say anything she continued
" she lives in my neighborhood, she's a real cunt, and she like gets off to punching people soo"
umm thats um
''and i guess i was in the wrong place wrong time, but like i won soo yea you should see her"
No no he shoulds thats, he doesn't know how to respond
this 5'3, skinny girl just told him that she got beat up and then beat up her bullie
"well that's karma "
he doesn't know what else to say to her