After a while of silence, Joel was on the edge of falling asleep. Ellie was clearly awake, as she was turning her head once in a while. Joel had noticed that, but he was way too tired to give it any attention. As they had gotten closer, he wanted to believe that she would open up whenever she was ready for it. He was kinda hoping it wouldn't be that night, since he hadn't had a good night sleep in days. Thinking back to the night they had spent in the village before getting caught, Joel really hoped he could sleep that well again.
As Joel's thoughts started wandering again, he realized that the girl was on the move. He didn't have the energy to open his eyes, but he soon felt her warmth coming from his right side. A small hand pushed under his other arm, stopping after it reached his chest. She rested her arm on top of him and put her head against his shoulder. He was awake, but he was quite sure that Ellie thought he was asleep. Why else would she have waited for so long before crawling to him? That must have been the reason for her being so restless.
As Ellie stopped to that place, Joel was wondering what it was all about. She slept close to him that night in the village, but the things that had happened afterwards must have somehow crooked her mind. The fact that she thought he would reject her will for closeness confused him. He would have understood if she wanted to keep a certain distance to him, but this seemed odd. Why would he avoid her touch?
Joel doubted, but after so many thoughts he opened his mouth.
"Ellie?" he whispered with his low voice.
She flinched, pulling her arm away and detaching her head from his shoulder.
"Oh, fuck, Joel!" she whispered loudly, trying to catch her breath. She opened her eyes and moved a bit further away from him. Joel lifted his head for a bit to see her, but dropped it back on the pillow as she was looking away.
"Sorry" he whispered, putting his palms on top of his stomach while gazing at the ceiling.
"You have something to say? Or why'd you wake me up?" Ellie asked a bit frustrated, and tried to get a better position after the quick movement. She stared at the ceiling, even though she noticed that Joel glanced at her once a while. She was even more embarrassed than she was mad, but she hid it well.
Joel lifted his eyebrows a bit, laughing once.
"Me? I woke you up? I'm sorry, miss but I think you woke me up" he answered without the slightest bit of shame in his voice. Although he noticed that Ellie was ashamed of her own actions.
"Hmph. Sorry for accidentally touching you in my sleep" she burst out impolitely, turning onto her right side to face the other direction. Joel noticed this, and turned his head to see her back. What was she so afraid of? Why didn't she want him to know she wanted to sleep near him?
"Ellie" Joel started again with his low voice.
"What's the matter?" he asked rather seriously, as his words wouldn't have any power without the tone. She didn't turn, but she felt like she should answer. Otherwise it would be far too suspicious.
"I roll in my sleep, okay?"
"You were not asleep" Joel laughed once, as it was hard for him to keep the serious act. He was frankly curious about her reasons, and wanted her to be honest with him. She turned around as his words and laughing made her mad, and sit up.
"So?" she asked all frustrated, and realized that she wasn't whispering no more. Joel turned his eyes to see her face, and lifted his eyebrows.
"Then why did you freak out when I called your name?" he asked calmly, as if it would help her. Despite his calm mind at that point, Ellie was still rather tense.
"I didn't freak out! You scared me!" she claimed while lying back to the mattress. She wasn't as close as she was before, and seemed to crawl even further while talking. Joel noticed that once again, and realized that she wasn't going to tell him the truth. He lied silent for a while, before letting it go.
"Fine" Joel sighed, shrugging once before closing his eyes again. Ellie couldn't help but to sneak a peek of him as he was no longer looking at her, and felt odd. Why didn't she tell him? It seemed that he actually knew she wasn't asleep. He probably had an idea what she had been doing, but it was a story for another day.
As morning lightened up the room, neither of them had gotten up. Joel was the first to open his eyes, and he sighed deeply before having a good look at the new day. He yawned and turned his head to see Ellie, who had again crawled near him - maybe this time she had actually been asleep while doing so.
Her other arm was on his abdomen, and her head was right next to his right arm. Thankfully he hadn't moved after waking up, since that would probably have caused her to freak out again.
While thinking of what he would do, he didn't have any choice but to wake her up by moving his hands. He didn't want to do so, but it was the only way to get up, which he had to do. Of course it would once again cause a tense conversation between them, but he could probably handle it.
"Wakey wakey!" he heard a loud shout from downstairs, and was quite thankful for it. It instantly woke up Ellie who opened her eyes slowly while rising up her head. The first thing she saw was Joel's face right in front of her, and she felt the badly sewed stitches through his shirt while still holding her hand on top of his stomach.
"Sorry" she said while pulling her arm away, and sit up. She turned her back to him as he got up too, and kept her gaze in her hands while yawning.
"Hey, at least it doesn't hurt that bad no more" Joel came out with the bright side, but it didn't make Ellie turn. She started reliving their last conversation before falling asleep, and she was still ashamed of herself.
Andy was already doing something downstairs, and Joel wanted to join him. As he didn't get any answer from the girl, he grabbed his pistol from the nightstand and glanced at Ellie for a short while.
"Did you sleep okay?" he asked while correcting his belt. The silence was too long for her to come up with a reply, so he decided to offer an actual question.
Ellie didn't turn her head as she shrugged. After a short while, Joel took it as a yes, as he had had enough of the empty answers. He took a last look at her back before walking out of the room. Ellie was left with her own thoughts, thinking about whether she was doing the dumbest thing with the lies. Joel felt weird, for even they had been fighting and having a ton of obstacles, they had faced them together. He had to admit that he wouldn't be there if it wasn't for her. He thought he had earned her trust, but her actions seemed to prove otherwise.
"It seems you slept well. Or at least long as hell" Andy welcomed Joel as he got downstairs. He had been stretching the whole way down, and was now almost completely awake.
Andy was cooking the deer again, and it seemed to be almost done. Joel walked to the couch and sat down behind him, as he was sitting in front of the fire.
"There were some good embers under the ashes, so I put the fire going as soon as I woke up" the boy said while facing the other way. Joel stared into the flames, sighing out deeply as he sunk into the couch. Andy hadn't had a good look at him as he got down, and he had to turn to see him. He saw a well rested man, yet he was still huffing and otherwise quiet.
"Are you alright?" Andy dared to ask, as he didn't seem to be mad at him. Joel nodded slowly a few times, and his head seemed to be caught in an endless loop.
"Yeah" he answered, and moved his eyes out of the flames.
"Do you think God created the mind of a teenager?" he asked before Andy had the time to turn his head. Joel moved his gaze to the boy, and they looked at each other for a while.
"Well, uh..." Andy mumbled, frowning his face.
"Cause it sure seems like a work of the Devil" Joel finished and shook his head. He hadn't heard any movement from upstairs as they talked, but he didn't think that Ellie had went back to sleep. Maybe she was making some new plans to mix up their heads.
As Joel finished his sentence, Andy's confused face turned into a smile. He laughed while turning his head back at the flames.
"Got that right"
Joel smiled a bit as he thought of it, and noticed that he had left his bag upstairs. He longed for his arrow to go out for a while. Fresh air would do good for him.
"But she seems like a smart girl. The age does some weird things to one's mind" Andy answered, probably from his own experience. Joel's teenager day were far behind, but Andy was still young enough to remember his own years of terror.
"I know. She's smart alright, and what a fighter" he laughed as he thought back once again. It seemed that his mind was going to the past more often when they were safe. As they had to act with their instincts while in danger, there wasn't too much space or time for thinking. While thinking of her as she wasn't there, he could only think of the good ones. She had saved his life more than once, and just her presence made him want to live another day.