This is Not the Last of Us

Chapter 24

When Ellie's girlfriend had woken up to a series of loud knocks on her door, she knew her day was going to be a rough one.

"Joel!" She sighed when she saw him standing at her door, "I'm so sorry. I know I'm late, but please just give me a few more minutes."

Joel smiled at her sweetly and shook his head, "Take all the time you need, kiddo. We've got time."

She slowly closed the door and turned back to Ellie. Ellie was fast asleep, curled up on her side. Her arm was still outstretched, as if Ellie's girlfriend was still laying on Ellie's arm. She smiled softly and moved quickly to her dresser.

She pulled her clothes out and quickly moved into the bathroom to get dressed and brush her teeth. She hated leaving her house with dirty smelling teeth. Her father had instilled a great deal of hygienic practices. Brushing her teeth was among those practices.

When she had finally pulled herself together, she opened the door while sliding her coat on. Joel was still waiting there politely.

He turned to her and smiled, "You get enough sleep, kiddo? Sorry you have to get up this early for your first route."

"No, no! I'm excited," she said with a bright smile, "I slept enough to get by. How about you, Joel?"

"... I slept." He said with a sigh, "Let's just hope this is a quick route today."

"Hopefully we're able to find some good supplies, too." She chirped.

Her backpack was practically empty with nothing but what she found as the necessities: an emergency surgery kit, some bandages, a new weapon she'd been working on, some extra pre-loaded magazines for her gun, some emergency rations, and some water. She always carried the emergency surgery kit ever since Joel and her father's winter accident when she was a kid. If her father hadn't had one, the two men would have died. Now it had become a bad habit of hers. Maybe it was a good thing, even if she never used it, she would always have it.

She had left her bag fully empty beside those things in an attempt to leave room for seedlings and medical supplies. If she could find some plants, then she could start a garden of supplies for herself and her father.

She honestly doubted they would find anything during the winter, but she would still find herself trying. She understood why they wouldn't let her travel during the other seasons. She was a liability, in some sense. She understood that, and she couldn't blame them for it. It had been nearly five years since she had left Jackson, even if she trained with Ace very often to ensure she was still good at shooting and fighting.

The two walked side by side until Joel spoke, "So, uh, I saw Ellie in your bed. Did you girls... have fun?"

"Hm?" She blinked and looked over at Joel, she couldn't stop the shy smile that covered her face, "Yeah! We spent all night talking and Ellie played some songs on her guitar. She left it at my house a while ago, so it was a lot of fun."

"So you two... you just talked?"

"Of course! What else would we do?"

Joel took a moment to be grateful that she was naturally an innocent person.

"You don't think we had sex, do you, Joel?" She said suddenly.

Joel's face turned bright red and he coughed into his hand, "Well... girls your age...."

She smiled up at him gently, "That's not on my list of current interests. I enjoy Ellie's company more than anything else."

Somehow that brought Joel a great amount of comfort to hear. It wasn't his business either way, but he definitely preferred to think the girls were still kids.