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“So.”
Ellie looked up at Joel from her plate of eggs, trying to read his face from across their kitchen table. “Holy shit, are you dying?”
“What?” Joel’s face scrunched up. “No. Jesus.” He took a sip of his coffee before shaking his head.
“No, I was just gonna say that the fireflies are sending us another round of vaccines.” It had been a few months since they had left the hospital, sent away with all of the supplies they could need and about a dozen doses of the vaccine to be distributed around Jackson at the decision of the council. “They radioed about meeting at an outpost, two day walk from here. I was thinking we could make the trip together, camp. Plus, there’s a lake on the way, we could work on that swimming of yours. What d’ya say, kiddo?”
The knowledge of the lake told Ellie this was no spur of the moment decision. He’d planned this. Ellie grinned at him. “Hell yeah, man! Sounds sick. When we leaving?”
Joel shrugged, setting down his mug. She felt a sense of pride whenever he used it. She’d been the one to find it on their way back to Jackson after Salt Lake. It was in a convenience store they had searched for supplies and when she’d found the mug, hidden amongst other gifts of that nature, she let out a laugh so loud Joel jumped out of his skin. Inscribed around the side were the words World’s Best Grandma.
Joel used it religiously.
“As early as tomorrow. I talked to Tommy and I have no patrol for the rest of the week. It’s up to you, kiddo.”
They’d only been here a few months, so it wasn’t like she had any plans. She had made friends with Dina and her group, along with the girl Cat in her class that she definitely felt totally platonic about. But none of this meant she had any big plans. She’d just tag along when they’d hang out, and they certainly wouldn’t miss her for a few days.
“Hell yeah.”
Shockingly enough, even on the road, Ellie’s nightmares didn’t stop. Plus, it was significantly harder for her to hide them from Joel when he was sleeping no more than a few feet away at all times.
So, now they were stargazing at around three in the morning.
A fair amount of time was spent with Ellie sharing space facts, pointing out the constellations she recognized. This wasn’t a new conversation, but Joel didn’t seem to mind, asking her questions that she gladly answered. Eventually, they fell into a comfortable silence.
“So, you got any hot gossip?” Joel turned to face her, his jacket currently being used as her blanket. “Anything interesting you’ve heard on patrol? I only hear so much from Cat and Dina, and that’s mostly about people our age.” She could only hear variations of Jesse’s hand touched mine when we reached for the same book today and Daniel from the grade above us is totally crushing on Penny so many times.
Joel chuckled in response, looking back up at the stars. “Y’know, surprisingly enough, I usually try to focus on the actual patrolling, not drama.”
“Ugh, you suck.” Ellie playfully smacked his arm, shaking her head. “What use are you to me if you can’t entertain me?”
Joel shook his head in return and Ellie was ready for that to be the end of the conversation, looking back at the sky. Then she heard him sigh before speaking again.
“I mean…alright. You know that couple who lives around the corner? Lillian and Hugo, something like that?”
Ellie’s head snapped back to face him, grinning. “Yeah?”
Lillian and Hugo were about ten years older than her, been dating since before Ellie and Joel got there. It was always bizarre, hearing about people in their age range. Old enough to be born before the outbreak, young enough to have spent the majority of their life within it. She couldn’t even imagine being so young everything first went crazy. If it was insane now, it had to be worse back when they had less of a clue of what the fuck was going on.
“Well, there’s perhaps trouble in paradise.”
“Spill.” Ellie sat up, elbows resting on her knees, giving Joel her full attention. Joel muttered some variation of jesus, sitting up anyway. Ellie took that as an invitation and moved to position herself under his arm, to which he happily obliged, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.
“So,” He started, eyebrows knitting together as he entered story-telling mode, “On patrols, the two of them would either go on duos together or the larger groups, always in the same one. But now, the groups I’ve been in have had one or the other, not both. And apparently, Hugo’s doing duos with his friend Josh—”
“Jonah.”
“Yeah, him—and Lillian’s goin’ with Charlie.”
Ellie’s jaw dropped. “Oh shit, that’s her ex, isn’t it?”
“Mhmm.” Joel looked too pleased with himself. Ellie held back an affectionate eyeroll.
“Damn, any idea why?”
“That’s all I got.” Joel shrugged. “That good enough for ya?”
Ellie laughed, tilting her head up to look at him. “I’ll admit, that was pretty good. Maybe you’re not so useless.” She looked up at Joel, who immediately ruffled her hair.
“Try to get some sleep, kiddo. We’ve got a full day ahead of us tomorrow.” When Ellie quickly tensed up at the thought of her usual dreams coming back, Joel turned her to face him and took her chin in his hand. “Hey. I’m right here. You’re safe.”
She believed him. She always did.
The ‘transaction’ of getting the latest batch had gone pretty smoothly. Joel only threatened one firefly, who had mentioned even more could possibly be done if Ellie came back for more testing. Lessen the minor side-effects, stuff like that. Joel got them out of there pretty quickly after that. They’d left with a couple-dozen more doses and some more supplies for the ride back. All of those now waited in the saddlebags of their horses, waiting near the lake as the two of them began the day’s swimming lesson.
“Maybe she cheated on him.” Ellie took a tentative step into the water, a shiver shooting through her body at the cold lake water hitting her legs. “If she’s patrolling with her ex, I mean.”
Joel shook his head, already half-submerged and not even showing the slightest trace of being cold, the old bastard. “Nah, doesn’t seem like the type. Plus, her breakup with Charlie was pretty bad ‘parently, don’t know if she’d actually go back to ‘im.”
Ellie couldn’t help but laugh. “You know the juicy details?” She asked, bracing herself to step further in.
Joel rolled his eyes. “Not much, but some, from the grapevine.” He shot her a look that made her nervous for two seconds before a large splash of water was shot at her, effectively drenching her clothes with ice-cold water.
“You motherfucker! That’s cold!” She gasped, wrapped her arms around her and shooting him a glare as he laughed. “What does that even mean, ‘the grapevine?’” Now effectively freezing, it was at least easier to trudge her way further in, sending a smaller splash his way.
“Older expression, don’t ask me what it means, ain’t got a clue. We gonna swim or what?”
“Not until you tell me about this ‘pretty bad’ breakup.”
“Tell you what.” Joel tilted his head toward the middle of the lake. “You start treading, I’ll tell you what I know.”
“You’re such a dick.” Nonetheless, she made her way farther out and soon she was no longer touching the ground. After a moment of floundering—where Joel very kindly kept his snickering to a minimum—she found her rhythm, legs kicking under her as she treaded water. She widened her eyes at Joel. “Now spill.”
Joel nodded, appreciatively, making his way over. “Not bad. Alright. From what I gather, they arrived in Jackson together from a nearby QZ that fell apart. They stayed together through the first month or so here, but when things got easy, Charlie got antsy and wanted to leave. Join the fireflies or some shit.”
That was the thing with people who’d spent their life in the apocalypse. Sometimes the life of running and fighting was all they knew, and it became hard to just enjoy the safety of places like Jackson.
“That’s so fucking stupid.”
“You’re telling me.” Joel shook his head, swimming further in. “He ended up trying to leave, made it few miles before he was found by a patrol, beaten half-to-death by some raiders.”
“Jeez.” Joel motioned her forward and Ellie took in a deep breath, swimming slowly further into the lake. Memories of raging rivers in the back of her mind made her hesitant. But she wasn’t drowning as she approached Joel, so she must have been doing something right. “They pretty much end it after that?”
Joel nodded. “Yep. He was brought back, she dumped him, started dating Hugo a few months later.” Don’t know the details, my ass. Joel would never admit it, he’d blended into the Jackson way of life pretty fast, and when people became less scared of him, they often liked him, relying on him for help that he accepted nine times out of ten. No wonder he’d hear all of this. Ellie was still working on that ‘blending’ thing.
“Yeah, not sure she’d cheat with him then.” Ellie furrowed her brow, treading beside him. “Well now I’m gonna drive myself crazy theorizing why they broke it off.”
“Put some of that energy into your swimming then.” He took notice of the look on her face, and quickly added, “You’re doin’ fine, but you gotta bring more energy to it, more confidence. If you’re convinced you’re gonna drown, you will.”
Ellie rolled her eyes, kicking more ‘energetically’ anyway. “Yeah, yeah, whatever, old man. I think you—”
Her next jab was cut off by the sensation of something touching her foot. Memories of dreams of being pulled under by infected swam to the front of her mind and she let out a yell, immediately latching onto Joel. He cursed, almost being pulled under with her, but holding her close as he reoriented himself. He pulled her under an arm, swimming farther inland.
“Easy, easy. What happened?” He asked, holding her arms when they stood on the lake floor, and Ellie suddenly felt very aware of how slimy and muddy it was. Images of a hand shooting up from the muck and grabbing her by the ankle, pulling her under, sent a shiver through her spine.
“Something—something touched my foot.”
Joel smiled in a way that told her he would totally be making fun of her if she wasn’t so distressed. He looked over at the scene of the crime. “Oh, Ell, that was probably just a fish.”
Of course it would be. What a rational answer. She felt her cheeks get warm and she looked down. “Oh. Right.”
“Hey, it’s okay, it’s a weird feeling, especially if you ain’t used to it. Don’t beat yourself up about it.”
“It’s stupid.” She’d been through a years worth of trials in the wild, and she was shaken by a fish touching her leg?
Joel rubbed her shoulder, squeezing it gently as he used his other hand to lift her chin up. “Hey. One time, Sarah saw a dead bee in the water next to her at the pool, and she let out a scream so loud, you’d think she found a human there.”
Ellie laughed, voice quivering. Whether it was from embarrassment or the cold air washing over her wet, freezing body, she wasn’t sure.
“Hey, why don’t we take a break, warm up, then we can work on your backstroke.”
“Sounds great. It’s fuckin’ cold.” Joel wrapped his arm around her, leading her out of the water and towards the clearing of grass.
“That it is.”
“Joel, you’re scaring me.”
The grin on his face as he walked in the door turned into a scowl with no venom behind it as he threw his jacket at her. “‘Good to see you too, Joel. So glad you’re okay after your patrol.’ Didn’t I teach you any manners?”
“Maybe, doesn’t mean I listened.” She kept hold of his jacket, laying it over her legs like a blanket. Joel walked right past to the kitchen, giving her a shrug.
“Fine, guess you don’t want to hear about the latest development in the Hugo and Lillian saga.”
The pair had gotten back together six months ago, having only been apart for three. Ellie could have heard this from someone else. Jackson was a relatively small community, and word gets around. Cat even tried to mention something about them when she’d last hung out with her, but she didn’t let her, probably seeming crazy, but Cat didn’t seem to mind. This was Ellie and Joel’s thing, as stupid as it was. They already spent a good amount of time together, talked to each other plenty, but this just gave them another excuse. They’ve discussed other things in terms of town gossip, other people before, but Hugo and Lillian were the ones they always came back to.
“How could you even say that?” Ellie sat up, jacket still over her legs, leaning toward the direction of the kitchen.
“Dunno, maybe you wouldn’t care if it seems as though the two of them eloped.”
Ellie’s jaw dropped and she threw a pillow at him. “No way!”
Joel nodded as he deflected the pillow with his arm, it falling to the floor beside the table. The smirk-ish smile returned to his face. “It would seem so. Johnny—”
“—Oh my god, Jonah, Joel—”
“—Whatever his name was, he took over Hugo’s duo shift with me. Very chatty fella.”
“Oh, I’ll bet you loved that.”
“Hey, got me my info.” Joel shrugged as he pushed her legs off gently and stood up with another old-man sound. “Plus, he’s a halfway decent shot. Got a clicker while I was searching a room.”
“I can’t believe you spent four hours with him and you still don’t know his name.”
Joel pulled vegetables out of the refrigerator and inspected their shelves for seasonings. “As you are keen to reminding me, I’m old. ‘My brain’s not what it used to be.’”
“You’ve got that right.”
“Now quit your smart-ass-ery and put yourself to use. You’ve got potatoes to peel.”
This was perhaps not her finest moment.
Being almost seventeen, this wasn’t her first patrol rodeo. Her and Jesse combined were a pretty good team, even Joel had grown more okay with her going out as often as she did. Plus, it was spring, and the trail they were given today was pretty simple, just a three hour trip that didn’t usually get much traffic. Perhaps it was this letting down of her guard that got her into her predicament.
The outpost they needed to report to was an older two-story cabin, about four miles out from town. Jesse had been checking the main floor when the stalker had caught Ellie by surprise. Right as she’d been calling down to check on Jesse from the balcony, the stalker had pounced off the roof, sending the both of them into the railing. After a brief struggle, she was falling backwards through the air.
It wasn’t a graceful landing on the rough earth and roots below, her fumbling for her knife in midair not giving her a chance to direct her fall. A snap that was far too loud to be any good rang through the air after she hit what felt like a rock, and a bolt of searing pain shot through her leg. She also registered a dull throbbing in the back of her head.
As they landed, she managed to send her knife through its neck three times, effectively killing it. She pushed it off of her, gasping for air as she scrambled to sit up. A sharp pain seared through her left leg. She almost didn’t want to look, purely from how bad it hurt. After a moment of preparation, she finally looked down.
She then promptly turned over and lost her lunch when she saw the bone sticking right out.
Jesse was out in a matter of seconds, letting out a train of obscenities when he saw her condition. He began to step forward but Ellie raised her hand, fighting down more bile.
“Can’t ride like this,” She eventually managed, staring Jesse down as best as she could. Her vision was becoming misty from tears she barely registered. “Get Joel. Him and Tommy are out a few—few miles south, they’ll know what to do.” As much as she trusted Jesse, she didn’t know how well-equipped he was to handle a break like this or how well he’d be able to deal with getting both her and the horses back.
Jesse nodded and was off on his horse in a flash, and she was left alone with a dead stalker, immediately realizing how vulnerable she was. She should have made Jesse help her inside, she considered belatedly. A little safer than sitting in the middle of the open forest. She could potentially get a clicker from a distance, her gun in her good leg’s thigh holster. A runner, maybe. If another stalker came for her, however…she couldn’t move.
She sat in anxiety-ridden silence for an amount of time that quickly became hard to track. She was somewhat aware of the amount of blood she was losing, and her head was killing her. A concussion, maybe?
Fuck, her leg hurt. Maybe she should lie down. She could just relax for a bit, they’d be here soon. This was Joel she was talking about. His Ellie-sense had probably already gone off and he was coming to her rescue. Just lay down, rest your poor excuse of a leg, just stay awake.
She was unconscious by the time her head hit the grass.
“Holy shit.”
Ellie regained consciousness at the familiar southern twang. Her eyes shot open and she tried to sit up, met instead with shooting pain sent up her abdomen. “Fuck.” She finally met the eyes of the person in front of her and was relieved to see Tommy, grimacing down at her.
“Joel, she’s here!” As he spoke, Tommy knelt beside her, and it took her a moment to realize when he started speaking to her. “…I’m gonna help you up, alright?”
She was little help as Tommy wrapped his arm around her shoulders, giving her until the count of three before lifting her up. A yelp sound hit her eardrums that she dully registered had come from her. The moment she was up, a familiar form appeared in front of her.
“Joel,” she breathed, voice hoarse.
“Hey, baby.” It was probably better that her brain was so foggy, because if she could fully see the worry that was definitely on Joel’s face right now, she’d feel much worse. “I’m gonna pick you up, okay?”
Even if she wanted to protest, she was too out of it to respond. As he lifted her up, despite her best efforts, a scream tore through her throat at the initial movement of the leg. Joel immediately tensed up, working to adjust her as best he could without messing her leg up more, if that was even possible.
“I know, I’m sorry, babygirl. I’m so sorry. It’ll be okay. Tommy needs to splint your leg and then we need to get you back. You’ll be okay.”
The stream of reassurances continued as Tommy worked on splinting and as they made their way to the horses, Jesse standing beside them in a state of anxiety. Another scream tore its way out as they got her up on the horse, Joel still cradling her close, being as gentle with her leg as one can be while driving a horse. The jostling of the horse on uneven ground did not help her case as they got going, but she managed to get the pain concealed in silence or whimpers.
At some point, she must have begun to drift, because Joel was suddenly talking a lot louder to her. “I need you to stay awake for me, ‘kay baby?”
“Tryin.”
“I…I have more gossip.”
Ellie smiled softly, brought closer to consciousness. “Oh?”
“Oh yeah. It’s about our favorite couple, and it’s a bit of a doozy.”
“What’d Hugo do?”
Joel let out a low chuckle. “Just a few days ago, he—”
He was cut off by a particularly rough patch in the trail that sent Ellie convulsing in pain, clutching onto his flannel. His stream of “easy, it’s okay,” came back and it became harder and harder to stay awake until she finally just couldn’t hold on anymore.
She woke up in her bed with a gnarly headache and Joel half-asleep in a chair next to her. A smile crept onto her face at the sight, one of his hands still loosely holding a book. It didn’t take long for the laugh that escaped from her to wake him, a look of relief quickly taking over his features. He set the book down on her bedside table, leaning towards her.
“Mornin’, kiddo.”
“Hi.” She winced at the pain that came from talking, hand going to her forehead. Joel took notice and grabbed a bottle of pills from beside the book.
“Here, this should help the pain.” She grabbed the pills from him and, ever prepared, Joel passed her a glass of water. “How you feelin?”
“Confused,” Ellie replied when the pills were down, passing the water back over to Joel. She sat up taller, her attention drifting to her leg as it was heavier to drag up with her. “Oh, right.”
“You’ve been out quite a while. It wasn’t pretty, but they got it back in place while you were out of it. They eventually deemed you safe to go home and gave us some crutches. They’re a bit big, but we’ll figure it out.” Joel hesitated before continuing, “With that and the mild concussion, you’re gonna be outta commission for a few months, though.”
Ellie let out a groan. She hated being sick for even a few days, hated the feeling of uselessness. She was going to die of boredom stuck like this for a few months. She’d been practically bouncing off of the walls of Jackson by the time Joel relented and let her join patrol. Her birthday was coming up, too. Dina had mentioned the group taking her to the closest river to swim and celebrate. Now, that was looking like a pipe dream.
“Scootch.” Ellie obliged and moved over as best she could and Joel sat himself beside her, wrapping an arm around her. She leaned into his touch, the familiar smell of his flannel. Joel’s fingers began combing through her hair absentmindedly.
“Sorry for making you worry.” She bit at the inside of her lip, looking down at her lap.
“Don’t be. That’s my job.” Joel leaned over, kissing the crown of her head. “I mean, don’t break yourself too much, I already have enough grey hairs from you as it is.”
“We’ll see if Jesse ever patrols with me again. I probably scared him to death, too.”
“The boy certainly cares about you,” Joel admitted. “When he found us, we could barely decipher what he said at first. Of course, it became obvious pretty quickly when I realized who his partner had been.” He nudged her shoulder gently. Ellie could already see him realizing what Jesse meant and immediately dropping whatever he was doing. Part of her felt bad, taking him away from his patrol and worrying him like that, but it also was nice in an undeniable way that there was someone who cared about her enough to do that.
As she began looking back on what she remembered of the ordeal, she laughed, wincing a bit at the pain in her forehead, before asking, “Am I misremembering things, or did you have gossip for me?”
Joel laughed, shaking his head. “That’s what you remember? Yeah, I did. It’s a doozy.”
“Tell me.”
”Alright.” He cleared his throat, making a show about entering his story-telling mode. “Hugo’s got a friend.”
”Johnny-Jonah-Joseph?”
Joel nudged her slightly with a laugh. “Ha ha. No, another friend. This friend he’s apparently known a long time, and he found out he was out near Omaha. So, including resting and hunting, about a month round trip. He wanted to go help him, bring him back to Jackson.”
“Why does this ring a bell? Travelling across the country to save someone?”
“Are you gonna keep quippin, or can I keep going?”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, go ahead.”
“Well, anyway, Lillian didn’t want him to go—”
“Obviously.” She was always nervous whenever anyone she cared about left on patrol, no matter how capable they were, she couldn’t imagine that for a month, traveling so far.
”—Obviously. And they apparently got into a spat by the stables when Tommy was workin. He said they seemed to agree to stay and work out some other plan.”
“But?”
“But,” Joel continued, “the next day, a horse was missin’ and so was Hugo.”
“Damn.” As much as Ellie wanted to judge his decision, she knew that if Joel went missing, nothing would stop her from looking, not even this broken foot. Of course, he should have said something to Lillian, but it was too late for that.
“There’s more. Two days after he left, Lillian found out that she’s expectin’.”
“Oh, god.” It was going to be at least a month’s journey, and that was if he even made it back. “That is a doozy.”
Hugo certainly wasn’t the first to make a decision like this in Jackson. About a year ago, a girl no more than three years older than Ellie left to look for her girlfriend in Oregon. She still hadn’t come back, and something told Ellie she never would.
“He’s capable. I’ve got faith.” Ellie told herself nonetheless, moving closer into Joel’s warmth. “I hope he makes it.”
“Me too, kiddo.”
Having a broken leg was annoying for a variety of reasons, but the one that made the top of her list at the moment was the fact that she couldn’t go with Joel for the next round of vaccine pick-up. She knew it made sense. It wasn’t safe for her, and she’d just become an obstacle for Joel, what with her crutches and boot, but she hated the idea of him taking the week-long trip without her. He had made mention of sending someone else, but he was the only one in Jackson who had experience with this, so he was kind of stuck.
He wouldn’t be alone. Tommy had been happy to come along with his brother, but it wasn’t the same. If she was there, she knew he was okay. Now, she’s stuck with her stupid leg, praying to a god that she doesn’t believe in that Joel would come back safely.
It also meant that she was going to have to be watched over by Maria. She loved Maria, and she loved Max, Maria and Tommy’s toddler, but it felt much more embarrassing to be babysat and have her meals made by Maria than it would to make Joel do all of that.
Plus, though her nightmares had dwindled over the few years, they didn’t completely go away. And with Joel gone, it was prime real estate for them.
When it came to the actual time for him to leave, she didn’t let him go for a good few minutes, and he really didn’t seem to mind, cradling her head against his chest.
“Don’t do anything stupid,” she muttered into his shirt.
“Same goes for you, kiddo.” He kissed her forehead before finally pulling away and looking her in the eyes. “I’ll be back before you know it.”
And then she was gone, and Ellie felt more alone than she had in a long time.
Of course, the one time she doesn’t go is the time interesting shit happens.
On the sixth day of Joel’s absence, she’s at lunch with Dina and the others when they hear the call of “Millers incoming!”
Ellie doesn’t even grab her things before she’s running the three blocks to the gate entrance. Well, ‘running’ might have been too generous of a term. Her leg was still very much broken, so it was more of launching herself into steps with her crutches. It was a miracle she didn’t concuss herself again.
She reached the gate just in time to watch it open. She grinned breathlessly as Tommy’s horse became visible around the logs. Her smile faltered only slightly when she saw the bloodied man sitting behind him on his horse. Stepping closer, she saw blood-specked blond hair and realized that it was none other than the man, the myth, the topic of many conversations of gossip—Hugo. As Joel came in close behind, she saw someone sitting behind him as well, who she could only assume to be the friend he went looking for.
Joel. His eyes immediately danced around the crowd and found her. His face broke into a smile as they made eye contact. That was invitation enough for her. As the wall guards grabbed Hugo and his friend from the horses, Ellie dropped her crutches and quickly hobbled her way over. By the time she got halfway there, Joel had already hopped off of his horse, handing the reins over to another stablehand. He met her the rest of the way and Ellie almost teared up at the familiarity and warmth that enveloped her.
“Jesus, kid. You’re gonna break your leg all over again, running ‘round like that,” he said into her hair.
“I missed you,” was her only reply.
“I missed you too, baby.”
Over his shoulder, Ellie could see the familiar vibrant purple of Lillian’s dyed hair moving up through the crowd. “You found him?” Ellie asked, pulling away to look at him. He smiled, turning them to face the reunion. Lillian’s arms were thrown around Hugo’s neck, Hugo’s arms immediately wrapping around her waist and pulling her close, as if he wasn’t nursing injuries.
“Oh yeah. They were two days out. He ended up finding his friend, Henry, and they got most of the way back before they came across some infected. Luckily, they’d received the vaccine,” Joel said, swiping at Ellie’s nose. Ellie brightened up at the notion. “But they still got hit pretty badly. They’ll be okay, though.”
“Of course, this all happens the one time I’m not there.”
“Maybe next time, kiddo.” Joel squeezed her shoulder before standing back up. “Now, I’m tired. Tommy can handle the rest, you ready to head home?”
“Hell yeah.” Ellie froze, remembering suddenly in that moment that she had totally dropped her crutches before her final stretch of running. She turned and saw them a good twenty feet away. “Fuck.”
Joel followed her gaze and unhelpfully laughed as he saw them. She started hobbling over before Joel stuck his arm out in front of her. “I got you, kiddo.” In a moment, she was up in his arms. As they reached the crutches, he knelt down, tossing them onto Ellie’s lap. “Hold these, won’t you?”
The past few nights had been particularly rough, so she was embarrassed to realize being in Joel’s arms, even with crutches being thrown at her, that she felt a little tired, finally safe in his arms.
“Well, if Lillian doesn’t kill Hugo after what he did, this story could have a happy ending after all.” As much as they liked to gossip and poke fun, she really was happy for them. They were a nice couple, always pleasant to Ellie when she’d see them in the dining hall. Joel had even helped fix their roof before (which had been a day rife with gossip intel—is it gossip if they tell you specifically?).
”It would seem so.”
They began to chat as they made their way back, Joel explaining his adventures, recounting what Hugo had told about his, and Ellie talking about her fun adventures of sitting on the couch and Max dragging her crutches around the house when Maria brought him over.
When they arrived back home and Dina was on their porch, Ellie’s cheeks immediately turned pink. Here she was, being carried like a goddamn baby in front of Dina. She was seventeen, for heavens sake. Quickly, and rather stupidly, she turned herself out of Joel’s arms. Joel quickly adapted, if not a little confused, but helped her stand and not fall on her head.
“Hey,” Dina said with a gentle smile. “You just, ah, forgot these in the dining hall.” Dina deposited Ellie’s backpack and water bottle on the porch table. It was a miracle that Ellie didn’t turn even deeper pink.
“Oh shit, thanks.” She set herself up on her crutches, making her way up the porch steps quicker than she probably should be.
“No problem. Glad everything turned out okay.” Dina waved at Joel, who said a quiet hello as he followed Ellie up the steps, grabbing her things for her. “See you around.”
As Dina ran down the street, Ellie watched her go. She was brought out of her gaze by a soft chuckle from Joel beside her. She immediately looked up at him, frowning. “Shut up.”
“I’m terribly sorry, I have no idea what you’re referrin’ to,” He said, playing dumb. The old bastard.
Ellie whacked his leg with her crutch before turning and walking inside, reveling in the ow that followed.
”Go shower, you smell like shit. And make it quick, we’re watching Jurassic Park.”
“Yes ma’am.”