Those three looked like normal survivors to Ellie the moment she laid her eyes on them. Two men, one woman, hungry and cold in the middle of winter, where the snow had covered from the peaks of the mountains to every nook and cranny of the settlement. Crunchy under her boots as she was called, alarmed and confused, only to see those three. They seeked a home, begged to prove they were good. Tommy and Maria, seeing as the people did not have many objections, took them in and investigated them for the first two days, confined in a specific building with supervision.
They asked them questions about their backgrounds, their family, their previous groups, had there been any. Then, the crucial inquiry of killing and contribution. Maria was always a rough woman with the newbies, cold and distant so there would not be any misunderstandings of her authority. In the end, they were invited to live there, to enter the small society they had built.
To say the truth, only one man appeared to have a strange aura around him, a predatory one. He had a broad chest and buff arms, obviously prepared for anything. He was handsome, a nice head of hair for his light colored eyes to stand out. Other women in the area murmured among themselves, somewhat smitten. The men approached him and picked up conversation. The other two were blending in impeccably. So, when Dina pulled Ellie by the arm, fresh out of a breakup with Jesse once again, she hesitated. Not only for that bad gut feeling she got, but she worried Dina would somehow get involved with him. She kept to herself, swallowed the frown that was about to implant on her lips for the sake of her crush on her best friend.
It was mid-day, the sky showed signs of a new layer of snow, so the people carried around woods for their furnaces and fireplaces as they went closer to the man. When close enough, he regarded them with a smile, inducing goosebumps on her arms and secretly blaming the temperature as she tugged the jacket over her hoodie close.
"Hey, we thought we'd come and introduce ourselves, since you're new to the place. I'm Dina." She said, eyes creasing as she grinned and making Ellies' stomach explode in butterflies. The man extended his arm for a hand shake, which she took.
"It's great to meet you, I'm Luke." He turned to Ellie, eyes piercing her own.
"Ellie." She muttered quickly and pretended to cover up her indifference by holding her hands over her mouth to blow on them for warmth.
"Pretty names you both have." He winked, Dina laughed and she stood awkwardly.
"So, uh, Tommy is trying to find us a home to stay at comfortably, I'm gonna check in with him. See you later?" He said as he started to back away, with an affirmative answer from Dina, he threw another look at Ellie and left them.
Dina sighed through her nose, a sign she was tired for the day and wishing for a relaxing passing of time. Therefore, she took her home, where Joel had just come back from a patrol to watch a movie together. Shoes and jackets disregarded, the girls cuddled on the couch and it wasn't until the third movie that Dina fell asleep on her shoulder, gusts of wind whistling in the dark outside.
"Kiddo..." Joel whispered, mindful of the slumbering. "Did somethin' happen? You're actin' weird."
"Nope, just a bit occupied with the new people." She would usually say when something was bothering her, but she kind of felt foolish when everybody else was so welcoming.
"Oh..." He paused, troubled, eyebrows furrowed. "Listen Ellie, I don't want to alarm you or anythin', but that big guy, Luke or whatever his name is... He doesn't quite fill my eye."
"What do you mean?"
"Just be a bit careful, okay?"
"Sure Joel." She nodded as she pulled her hair down, light headache from being tied the majority of the day and with a growling belly she woke Dina so they could eat for the night.
Over the course of two weeks Ellie noticed some things. One was that Luke worked hard and was a show off. Second one was that he didn't engage much with Dina, which was good. And the third one was that he was visibly into her, which was bad. He kept talking to her, looking at her from afar when he thought she did not know, volunteering to help when she was capable.
Ellie was given the chore of brushing the horses when he approached her, in the stables. He pet the snout of the mare, flashing her that charismatic grin he always did. She gave him a nod of acknowledgement.
"I heard you guys will hold a party this week." He said.
"Yeah, we do it every year." She drawled, but did not elaborate further.
"Well, are you going?" She dreaded this moment would come.
"Only because Dina is going to kill me if I don't."
"I see. I hope to find you, maybe we can dance."
Fuck, she thought.
"Sure." She wanted to smack herself in the face.
The day of the party, people were uppity in spirits, joyous. They drank and held each other, laughing, talking and communicating in general. And as Ellie entered, she hoped she could turn around and flee at the sight of an unwanted someone.
"Hey, Ellie." Luke greeted, closing their distance so she could hear him, he must have been there before her.
"Hey." She said back, eyes trying to find Dina and to avoid his own. She really wished he would forget the suggestion he had made at the stable.
"Want to dance?" At that moment a country song came on, the people cheered. He held out his hand for her to take and as much as she wanted to tell him to buzz off, she bet he would go around crying to people how she was mean or some shit.
She took it wordlessly and the tag on her shoulder as he pulled her abruptly to find a good position made her regret this. At least she could keep him occupied for a minute before she went to the bar, at the other end of the dance floor.
His arm went to wrap around her waist, her hand in his own. The stance would not be weird, but she turned stiff at the contact. He twirled her and drove her through the choreography and she'd be lying if she said he was not good, but this was not for her.
As she refused to look at his face, the ceiling seemed more appropriate and she, for the first time, noticed the lights hanging above their heads, an orange hue to them.
"Ellie." He said, slightly out of breath. Sweat glistening on his chiseled face, his pupils slightly blown. The arm around her waist tightened. She felt her heart beat increase to the point where it muted the music, stomach twisting in wrong.
She should have told him she was into girls the first days and be over with it, but her dumbass left it unattended.
"I know it's only been like two weeks, but..."
"I think you've misunderstood." She said in a beat. His face scrunched up, as if he did not get it.
"What?" He pulled her closer, bodies almost flush against each other. She pushed on his chest, irritation beginning to be evident in her gaze.
"You got the wrong message, let me go."
"What do you-"
"Cut it out dude!" She shoved him off, not even bothering to say anything else before stomping to the bar for a glass of whisky. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him talk with a couple of other standbys.
She cooled off, paying attention to the wood under her fingers, the heat that radiated from the people and the alcohol going down her throat. Her mind drifted off as she turned to face the flock, searching for Dina and eventually finding her dancing with a dark skinned man. She smiled and looked down, the urge to quit her dawdling with her emotions and speak flaring.
Jesse came to sit next to her, to complain about Joel in his own way.
"She's putting on quite the show." He told her, gesturing to her being deeply dipped, catching the attention of everyone and their clapping.
"I give you guys two weeks until you're back together." Though it somewhat pained her to say, she thought it could be true.
"Not gonna happen." He replies. Then, with mild interest, asks.
"She say something to you?"
Desperate, she huffed.
"Make it one week."
"Ellie. Hey!" Dina pranced to them, grabbing Ellies' drink and downing it in one go. A soft guitar began to play in the background to signify the beginning of another song. "What took you so long?"
"Well, I'm here, aren't I?" It was best that she did not tell her the real reason.
"Dina." Jesse said
"Jesse." She was sassy tonight. Ellie couldn't stop staring at her and wonder how she could be so pretty.
"Come on." Their hands fit in one another so sweetly, smug like a puzzle.
"Don't forget, we leave at first light, so get some rest!" He shouted out to them.
"Yes sir!" She saluted sarcastically, rolling her eyes in exasperation.
"You're such a dick." Ellie grinned at the childish act.
"Come on. Don't you start with me." She put her arms around her, laying her on around her neck and swaying lightly to the melody.
"Okay, I have a very serious question for you." Dina said and Ellie found herself getting anxious for just a second, Luke popping back in her mind.
"How bad do I smell?"
"Like a hot pile of garbage." She said as a matter of fact, stress dissolving.
"Oh, okay." Then she rubbed their cheeks together, red from before.
"Gross."
"You love it." She truly did.
And as they stood, with her resting on Ellie, who observed her surroundings and noticed a specific audience on her. She passed over Luke's passive staring too, and felt herself shrink a little at the attention, being the subject of a show was not her forte. When she voiced it, Dina attempted to soften the mood by joking around, the thought that maybe they feel dominated.
"I'm just a girl, not a threat."
She looked her in the eyes, dark and haunting. Her beauty radiated around them and closed off everything else.
"Oh Ellie, I think they should be terrified of you."
A glance at her lips. A tilt of her head and she was kissing her.
The rest of the night went off with a sense of fulfillment. When it was time to go Dina told her goodnight, because she expressed the want to stay a bit longer, so she went home by herself. Pitch black, after midnight, the street lights guided her back.
"Ellie."
"Stubborn son of a bitch." She whispered to herself. Luke looked behind him, as if searching for something.
"Do you need something? I'm tired." She told him. He scoffed, arms crossed over his chest and a look of disgust on his face.
"Mind telling me what that shit you pulled tonight was?"
"Excuse me?" She turned to fully face him.
"You kissed her." He snapped.
"So what. The fuck's your problem?" Even after all those years, keeping her anger in check never really improved.
"Well, could've told me you were a fag instead of leading me on."
"Repeat that motherfucker and I'll break your teeth." Ellie fumed, going up against him in a glaring contest.
"I'd like to see you try, you little whore." The adrenaline burst in her veins. She did not even feel her own fist raise to sink in his face. His head tossed back, not expecting the punch. Her knuckles collided with his nose, a crunch she felt on her skin, cold and sensitive.
He did not talk or engage with her again. He glared from afar with a crooked nose marring his mug. Dina had laughed the next day when she narrated the incident and was not able to look at him with a straight face again.