Disclaimer: I do not own any character of (The Last of Us) TLOU is owned by Naughty Dog and its creators.

A/N: Again Thank you for reading this story. Now let's go with the chapter.

Chapter 9: The Adventure Park Part-1

Ellie was excited to have another adventurous day with Joel. He knows a lot about the island and the places around it, the trip to the supposed pirate's hideout was cool and so was the diving. So she was hoping to go to another cool place. Soon Ellie gets out of bed, she walks toward the bedroom to make some use of it. After she finished, Ellie walked to the glass door of the balcony and opened it. The sun was starting to rise so it was a beautiful morning view. She needed some coffee so she was hoping to go to the lobby lunch part before Joel arrived to pick her up.

So after a few minutes, she got back in and looked for something to wear to get down to the lobby. Soon Ellie gets to the dresser, opens a drawer, and grabs a t-shirt that she buys when she arrives at a local store. It was red with a yellow circle with some palms on the front. She grabs some shorts too and walks toward the bed. After putting the clean clothes on top of the bed, she proceeded to take off the tank top that she was using to sleep and the sleeping long pants. Ellie was wearing only her panties under her sleeping clothes, so she was topless when her phone started ringing. Ellie quickly walked to the small night table where her phone was connected to the wall charging and picked it up.

She quickly covered her bare breast as soon as she saw Joel's name on the phone screen as if he could see her half-naked body. "Hello!" she answers nervously, thanking God that he can't see her half-naked body or her red face either.

"Hey… is me Joel… are you getting ready to go?" he said as soon as he heard Ellie on the other side of the phone.

Ellie rolled her eyes at the question. "Are you serious? Is not even 8:00 am and I was just putting some clothes on to go down to the lobby to get some coffee and something to eat," she explained.

"Oh… okay… that will give me a little time to get a few things ready, so I will pick you up at nine."

"That sounds good… Where are we going? I know that you mentioned something about an Adventure park… is that where we are going today?" she asked.

"Yes… we are going there today, so I recommend you bring another pair of shoes and extra clothes… you are going to need it." he answered.

"Why? Are we going to get dirty or something?" she asked with a sarcastic tone.

"Probably… I will pick you up at 9:00 am okay, so be ready," he said before hanging up.

Ellie was a little excited about that. Not knowing exactly what Joel has planned for today, makes the trip more exciting. Ellie trusts Joel to take her to another cool place, so she knows that she will have a great day. So soon she put the phone back on the table she proceeded to put her clothes on.

After she changes, Ellie gets out of her room and goes down to the lobby of the CASA DEL LAGO LODGING HOUSE and enters the room where the food service is. When she finished eating breakfast and her coffee, Ellie went back to her room to pick up her things since it was 9:00 am and went back down to wait for Joel.

Joel arrives 10 minutes later in his jeep and stops in front of the Lodging House. "Hey… are you ready to go?" asked Joel as soon as he saw Ellie sitting on a wooden bank in front of the place.

Ellie grabs her bag and stands up. "Ready as I can be… even if I don't know exactly what kind of place is where you're going to take me today," she said while walking toward the jeep.

"Don't need to worry… I will make sure that the man that needs a young woman to be sacrificed to the Gods of the island… pay me better than you," he said with a smile.

Ellie looks at his face, starting to love that smile of his. She smiled back at him while opening the passenger door and sat on the seat. "Well, I knew that at one point… you will do something like that," she said after closing the door and giggling. "But, I can tell you that your Gods are not going to like what I can do…"

"I bet… but I have to do all I can to keep this island safe… So let's take you to the sacrifice place… we don't have much time," said Joel while putting the jeep in gear and driving away.

"So… what can you tell me about this place? I was going to check it on Google, but I forgot," asked Ellie after 20 minutes on a dusty road.

"Don't worry… we're getting closer… so you will see for yourself soon enough," said Joel while looking at her.

Ellie moves one arm and pushes Joel's shoulder. "C'mon… at least tell me what this Adventure park means?." She teases him.

"Is a cool place… you will love it," Ellie moves close to him and starts pushing him to the side.

"C'mon… all this mystery is killing me… please!" she said while putting on poppy eyes.

Joel tried not to look at her even if he was tented. As Ellie continued moving close to him, her touch was starting to make him feel something inside. This girl was getting too close and he doesn't know about it now. He doesn't know what is all that, but he needs to stop it before things get too

close. But he moved those taught from his mind as soon as they arrived at the place. "We're here… so prepare yourself," he said as soon as he saw the sign of the place that said Rancho Loco.

Ellie looks at the sign. "Rancho Loco? Did you not just tell me that we're going to an Adventure park?" she asked while Joel drove his jeep under the sign and went on in the road. "That is its real name. As you can see it said Adventure Park under the name," said Joel making Ellie look back at the big sign.

"Oh… I see," she said while turning her head back to the front. That is interesting… So this is some kind of ranch?"

"Well, not exactly a Ranch, at least not the same as the one in the Us. The place has a lot of activities to do and you can interact with nature."

"Really? That sounds cool," she said while looking around the place. "What kind of activities can we do there?"

Joel follows the graving road until he sees a few buildings in the place and starts to slow down. "Well, they have horse riding, 4 track trips, camp area, picnic area, and a few other things," he said while driving into the parking lot that is beside a big wooden building. I think they add some go-karts too.

Ellie turned her head toward him with an excited expression. "Wow… that sounds cool… what of those we're going to do first?" said Ellie as soon as Joel found a spot and parked his jeep and turned off the engine. "Man I wish that we have time for some of them," said Ellie while getting out of the jeep.

"As you seem like an adventure woman… I have one in mind that you would like to do first."

"Really?… I hope that it will be better than riding a horse because I really like to do that," she said while grabbing her backpack and putting it on. "I like real adventures… I don't know… maybe I'm more like Indiana Jones," she said while grabbing her baseball hat and putting it on.

"Who?" said Joel while grabbing something from the back seat of his jeep and starting to walk toward the entrance of the building.

Ellie walks around his jeep and runs until she gets beside him. "Really Joel? You don't know who Indiana Jones is? OMG… he is the best action hero in the history of movies… My-" She stops before she mentions her dad. Anyway, I love those movies even if I didn't see any of them in the theater… well I think I saw the last one when I was a kid. So you seriously never saw any of those movies in the theater or on TV?"

"I didn't go to the theater too much when I was younger and I don't have any TV at home," he answered her.

"Man… what did you do when you were younger?" she asked with a disappointed tone. "I hope that you don't waste your time doing stupid things."

"I did a lot of stupid things… when I was younger," he said before they walked toward the entrance of the main building. Soon they go inside, and Joel sees a man talking with an old couple.

Ellie moves close to him as they wait their turn. "What kind of stupid things?" Ellie grabs one of his arms making Joel look at her. "Did you were some kind of a secret agent? Ohhh that will be so exciting and mysterious… that will be super cool."

"Can you stop that?" said Joel after Ellie started to pull his sleeve asking him for an answer. Lucky for Joel the two couples move along and the man pays his attention to them.

"Saludos… ¿cuál va hacer su aventura de hoy para los dos enamorados?" The man started in Spanish. He turned and pointed to the sign on his back. Tenemos caminatas en caballos, en 4 x 4, recogidos en grupos alrededor de la finca, áreas para comer o acampar -" the man stop when Joel interrupt him.

"Gracias, pero solo necesito hablar con Juan. ¿Me puedes decir donde puedo encontrarlo?" Said Joel in Spanish too.

"Oh… pensé que venían hacer alguna reservación… Él está en los establos en este momento… quieres que le deje saber que… cual es su nombre?"

"Joel… pero no se preocupe you mismo iré a buscarlo." answer Joel.

"Ok… si quieren hacer alguna otra reservación pueden regresar luego. Pero el estacionamiento es aparte a si que serían $10 dólares americanos."

Joel takes his wallet out and gives the $10 to the man. "Gracias," Joel starts to walk inside the farm with Ellie behind him.

"Hey… you didn't get any of the rides there?" asked Ellie as soon as she caught up with him. "So what are we going to do?"

"Don't worry… I have something better planned for you," he said while continuing to walk inside the place.

"Really? How special?" She starts teasing him like a little girl. "Because all of those rides look pretty cool to me."

"Very special… now stop acting like a little girl… I don't want people to get the wrong expression," he said as soon as he saw some people looking at them. The place wasn't full, but there were a lot of people there, locals and tourists.

Ellie watches the people around as they give them some strange looks. "Oh, I think I know what you mean… don't worry if someone asks, I can tell them that I'm your niece," she giggled.

Joel stops in front of a wooden rail and turns around to look at her. "Please don't… that will make things worse."

"Why? We're not doing anything-" she was interrupted by a man's voice coming closer to them.

"Hey… Joel." said a man on the other side of the wooden rail, walking toward them with a horse beside him. "Llegas tarde… te estaba esperando desde hace una hora."

Joel opens the gate and walks to the other side of the wooden rail with Ellie. "Lo siento… tuve algunas cosas que hacer a última hora."

"Oh… ya veo." he said looking toward Ellie. "Hey como estas jovencitas? ¿Hablas español?" the man asked her.

"No mucho…" She answered him in Spanish.

The man smile at her. "Ahhh… no te preocupes… Me imagino que Joel puede servir como intérprete para los dos… pues you no hablo mucho Ingles. My name is Juan Rodriguez… pero me puedes decir solo Juan," he turned his head to look at Joel with a smile. "¿Puedes aguantar esto un minuto..?" he said while passing the rain to Joel and looked back at Ellie. "Okay señorita como te llamas?" he asked.

"Me llama… Ellie," she said in Spanish.

The man smiles a little. "That is good, Ellie… do you want to touch him?"

"Really… I've never been so close to a horse before… he doesn't bite right?" she asked while looking at the horse.

The man looks at Joel waiting for him to tell him what she said. Soon Joel tells him he looks back at Ellie. "No… no muerde… el es un caballo… muy tranquilo."

Joel told her what he said and Ellie smiled. "Okay!" Ellie moves closer to the horse's head and slowly passes her hand on the horse's neck. "What is his name?" asked Ellie after petting him for a few minutes.

"Su nombre es Tornado…" the man answered her before he walked toward Joel, but still looking at her. Juan put his arm around Joel's shoulder and pulled him away from the girl. "Estoy realmente sorprendido man… no sabia que te gustaran tan jóvenes." he said in a mocking way.

Joel stops and pushes his arm away. "What! Ella no es lo que piensas…" say Joel quickly, but the man just continued.

"Ohhh… no lo dije en forma offensive amigo mío… Yo creo que es bueno verte salir con alguien y que salgas de ese agujero en que te metiste." he said with his hand in front of him. "Ella me cae bien… se parece algo a-." he stop when Joel give him a mad look.

"Será mejor que no menciones ese nombre delante de ella…"

"OK… hermano no es para tanto… solo está bromeando."

"Bueno… ya te lo advertí, además no es lo que crees… solo es una cliente… La estoy llevando de tour por la isla."

"Enserio… ¿Todavía estás con esa locura de dar tours?" The man turned his head and looked toward Ellie, who was still petting the horse.

"Si… y no creo que sea una locura… además eso te conviene, puedo traer clientes nuevos."

The man turn his attention back to Joel. "Si lo siento no lo quise decir de mala manera… me alegra que quieras hacer algo nuevo, se que me hablaste de eso antes de renunciar." He looks back at Ellie. De todas maneras es una lastima que ella solo sea una cliente… en realidad se ven bien juntos… Y pensé que ya habías conseguido a alguien, cuando me pediste que te dejara usar el tour de rio."

Joel rolled his eyes. "Podemos hablar de negocios y dejar tus fantasías románticas fuera de la conversación?" Said Joel trying to change the conversation.

The man looks at Ellie for a few more minutes, before turning his head toward Joel. "¿Estás seguro de que quieres llevarla… hay? Sabes que el jefe no quiere que usen esa parte del parque desde el accidente el año pasado. Todavía hay que reparar algunas cosas y él cree que todavía es peligroso."

"Lo que pasó fue por la tormenta… Además solo iremos hasta la cueva… no usaremos la otra parte del río… Tu sabes que ese sitio es bastante seguro."

The man looked at the girl again, the back at Joel. "Ok… pero no menciones nada a nadie adónde vamos… si alguien pregunta solo es un paseo privado en 4x4."

"Seguro… Juan, lo que digas… y gracias por hacer esto por mí."

"Solo no me metas en problemas… okay?" said the man while looking toward Ellie. "Dame una hora para tener todo listo… solo espero que tu amiguita sepa que todo esto costará algo extra."

Joel rolled his eyes again. "¿Puedes parar de decir eso? Ya empiezas a sonar como Rodrigo… ella es solo un cliente," he said, more annoying this time.

The man started laughing. "Lo que digas hermano… pero tal vez él ve algo que tu no…" he said while looking at Ellie and his horse. "Hazme un favor y lleva a Tornado de vuelta a su establo…es el número 6. Oh, si quieres puedes enseñarle a montar a tu-" he stop, when Joel give him a look. "A tu cliente… aunque creo que eso suena peor que novia." said the man before walk away.

"OK… gracias," Joel watches his friend walk away, then turns around to look at Ellie. He starts to think about Ellie and what his friends have been telling him about them. He doesn't know what they see in her which makes them think that they are something. Joel can see that Ellie is a great person for the time they have spent together so far. But she is just a college girl and him?… He is just a stupid man that is too old for her. So he doesn't know why they continue joking about them being together. After a few minutes of thinking, Joel starts walking toward Ellie. "You seem to handle that horse well for a person that has never ridden one before?" asked Joel as soon as he got close to her.

Ellie turns her head and looks at him. "Well, I said that never ride one, but my f-" she stopped before talking too much about her personal life. She doesn't like to talk about her father, because that brings up sad memories and she prefers to enjoy her vacation time. "My parent takes me to farm show and they have ponies… I ride one of them… I was little and the ponies were smaller too, so I don't if that counts." She put the horse again. But Tornado here looks like a good horse. It surprised me that he stayed so docile with me this far."

"They're been trained to be good with strangers, but I think that he really likes you." Joel moves to the other side of the horse and pets his head. "Do you want to get on him?" asked Joel with a smile on his face.

Ellie moves her head away from the horse and looks at him with a smile. "Are you serious? Are we going to take the horse ride?"

"No… maybe we can try that later, but Juan told me to take him to his stable, so maybe you can have a little ride there. We have some time to kill until things are ready for our trip… so Juan told me that I can teach you how to ride it… well, that is if you wanted."

"Oh really! Fuck Joel, that will be so cool… thank you." Ellie moves away from the horse and gets closer to Joel and gives him a hug. "You're the best… I swear to God…" she said while keeping her arm around him, that for some reason it felt good.

Joel was going to move his arms around her but decided not to. He doesn't know why, but he starts to feel weird. "Okay, okay… But don't thank me yet… we still have to pay for the trip and it is not going to be cheap, but the horse part is on the house," said Joel with some joy at the end part.

Ellie moves away from him and looks at the horse with a smile. "Ahhhh… I don't even care what it's going to cost… I'm so excited right now that I don't even care," Ellie has not been so excited to do something with someone besides her father before, but to be fair Joel is like an exception. Ellie moved closer to the horse again and started to pet him, trying to hide her red face. Being close to Joel is making her feel something inside. Ellie built a wall around her to not get too close to anyone, but Joel was breaking that wall with all the things he was doing for her. Yeah, she pays him to be her guide, but she notices that he always goes beyond his job.

"You may be sorry to say that when you see the bill… but let's get you on top of this horse before Juan comes back and changes his mind."

The horse already has his seat on him, so the only thing Joel needs to do is get Ellie on top of the horse without any complications. It looks easy in the movies, but in real life, it is not, especially if you don't know how to do it. As soon as Joel grabs the rain of the horse, he moves him away from the wooden fence and away from the people that were walking close to it. Soon he goes to the middle of the horse's recreated area he stops.

Ellie was on the other side of the horse when Joel stopped. "Are you sure this is okay? I don't want to cause any inconvenience."

"Juan said it was okay… and he is in charge of the horses. It will be only a little ride around the stables so it will be okay."

"I don't know how he even let you do that… I can see that he is one of your friends, but it looks like you work here or something," she said while moving toward the horse.

Joel let go of the rain but kept petting the animal to keep him calm. "Is okay… I do not want to say something, but I know you will find out anyway. I worked here for a couple of years with Juan and a few other people. I quit last year, but lucky for me I still have a few friends here, that is why Juan is helping me with this." Joel turns his head and looks at Ellie. "Now, reading a horse is not as easy as in the movie, you really need to get control of the horse if you do not want to fall down. So I will teach you the basis for that… Are you ready?"

"To be honest… I'm a little nervous…" she said moving close to him.

"Don't be… the horse already likes you… so you don't need to be afraid of him." Joel closed his hands and put his finger together to help Ellie get up. "Here, let me help you to get up." he bent a little so Ellie could put her foot on his hands. "Now grab the seat with one hand and use your foot to pull yourself up."

Ellie did what Joel told her and slowly grabbed the seat and put her foot in Joel's hands. Soon she was ready, Joel gave her a push making her go up into the seat. "Is it okay… Tornado is only me… you friend Ellie," she quickly pets the horse's head to keep him calm.

Joel grabs the rain and passes it to Ellie, but stays grabbing the horse's mouth Hartnett to keep him steady. "That was good, keep yourself calm… horses can sense fear. Now let's give you the basics."

"Okay… I'm ready." Ellie takes a firm grab on the rain and her foot well put them on the seat holds. "So what do I know?"

"Okay, to make the horse move forward, you will use your foot to give a little signal to move by hitting softly. To stop him, you need to pull the rain back slowly. To move the horse to the side, use the rain and move it to the side you want the horse to turn."

"Okay, that is pretty easy…"

"Yeah, just remember all that when he starts to move. Now hit him with a little knock with your foot on the side to let him know to move." After that Joel let go of the horse as Ellie slowly started to move the horse forward. "Good… just move him around slowly," he said while keeping himself on the side of the horse for precaution.

"He is a nice horse…" she said, moving a little forward and petting his head. Isn't that right boy?"

As Ellie moves the horse a little faster around, Joel moves away from them but keeps an eye on her. The stables parts were surrendered by a wooden fence so the horses could go beyond there without opening a gate. On the other side, workers were gathering other horses to start the riding tour as a bunch of people was making turns to get on the horses.

Joel knew Juan from a few years back. Rodrigo introduces Juan to him when Joel was looking for a steady job. Joel worked there for a few years but after a storm the last year he quit. Joel has spent a little more than 10 years on this Island and he learns to know it well. Most of the tourists prefer to use the local hotel's tourist guide and other biggest businesses on the island for the tours. So Joel has little business and doesn't have too many clients. He got some help from the people he knew around, but not having an official paper for that is difficult. But that does not mean that he can't give the one he takes a good time to and he hopes that all will go better as soon he has the proper papers that he is working on getting.

Joel watched Ellie ride the horse around for 10 minutes until she came back close to him and stopped. "You were right… this is so cool… thank you… this brings back some good memories." she said while trying to hold some tiers from coming out.

Joel grabbed the horse Hartnett on the heart to keep him from moving. "Glad to hear that… I don't know if we can do a horse ride today, but if you want… we can book a horse ride later."

"That will be fantastic… Can you help me down?" she said, the whale letting go of the seat and standing her arm toward Joel.

"Sure… just give me a minute." Joel moves to the side of the horse while Ellie gets her foot out of the seat hook he moves his arm up to help Ellie. "Okay… You can jump down… now," said Joel while moving his arms toward Ellie's waist to catch her. But Ellie jumps down without Joel being ready yet, so as soon as Joel grabs her body, both of them start to fall down to the ground.

"Ohhh fuck!" Ellie yells as soon as she notices that both of them start to fall down to the ground. Joel landed hard on his back while Ellie ended up on top of him. The horse move away from them as soon it hear the hit sound on the ground and went to the other side. Ellie's body was on top of Joel's. After a minute there, Ellie raised her head and looked at him. Their faces were so close that they could kiss each other easily. Ellie's face turned so red at that thought, that she was lucky that Joel's eyes were closed, probably for the pain he must be feeling. "Are you okay?" asked Ellie quickly trying to clear her mind and move away from the actual position.

A minute later, Joel opened his eyes with a painful sigh. "Yeah… just… get the air blown out of me," he said with some difficulty. When Joel focused his eyes forward and saw Ellie on top of him his body start to get that strange feeling again. "Are… you okay?" he asked, trying to not pay attention to his heart which was beating really fast.

As soon as Ellie notices Joel staring, she quickly starts to move her body away from his chest. "Yeah… Yeah, I'm fine." she moved to the side and off of him. "I think you get the worst part of the fall… sorry," she said while sitting beside him.

After a minute, Joel sat up and looked at her. "Is okay… it wasn't so hard… lucky for me there wasn't any rock around here, that will be really painful." Joel looks around while he starts to stand up. He looked for the horse and saw a few people on the other side looking at them. Some of them were smiling or laughing, while others looked at them with worried eyes.

"Are you two okay?" one of the staff came to them with worried eyes.

"Yeah… don't worry… we're okay… thank you," he said while shaking off some of the dirt on his pants. Then he turns quickly to Ellie and extends his arm toward her to help her up.

Ellie took his hand and quickly Joel pulled her up. "Thanks," she said while shaking some dirt too.

"What are you two doing here? I don't remember seeing you two in the line."

"I'm a friend of Juan, he told me to take Tornado back to his den."

"Okay… if Juan said so… but the girl needs to get out, not visiting here unless they have a ride ticket."

"Okay thanks," Joel said before looking around for the horse. Soon he saw him close to the wooden fence, and he got toward him. "I need to get Tornado back to his den…" he said before turning his head back to Ellie. "Are you sure that you're alright?" he asked again.

Ellie looks at him with curious eyes. "Yeah… yeah, you go ahead and take care of the horse… I will go to the restroom," she said while trying to calm the fast beating of her heart.

"Okay… I will wait for you in front of the lounge," he said while walking toward the horse, then stopped to look at her again. "Do you know where the restroom is?"

Ellie walked toward the wooden gate. "No, but don't worry… I will ask around where it is," she said, trying to hide the redness on her face. Ellie watches Joel grab the rain of the horse that was now close to the fence where a couple was standing and try to pet the horse. They started to ask him questions about the place like if he work there. So Ellie just turned around and went out of the place. Ellie walked between the people that were gathering in the middle space of the ranch where the different buildings connect. Ellie watches the one where you can buy the different rides or activities and it has a long line.

Ellie was wondering what Joel had in mind for her today since he didn't buy any of the rides they have. She will like to try the horse ride, but also some of the others, like the go-kart to Being on a ranch has brought some good memory from her father. After a few minutes, she found one of the workers at the ranch and asked him where the restroom was. He knew a little English so he explain to her where the restroom are. After going to the restroom, she walked toward the lounge where Joel said to wait for him. Soon she arrives there, Ellie takes her phone out and starts to check her messages. As always, she has a few from her mother asking how she was and if everything was right and telling her to call her as soon as she can. She saw one from Riley saying hi and if she have some sex yet. Ellie laughs at that one and will make sure to call her later when she gets back to her room.

"Hey, did you want to eat something before we start?" asked Joel from behind her.

Ellie jumps up at the sudden voice and turns around. "Damn Joel… you scare the shit out of me."

"Sorry… I don't mean to scare you."

Ellie pockets her phone and looks at him. "Is it okay…" she looked at her watch and it only passes half an hour. "Doesn't your friend tell you that he will get things ready in one hour? No, that you tell me where we are going anyway," she said to him.

"I think we have time for something light… so you want to eat… Mmmm… some pizza?"

"That sounds good… let's go… it will be my treat."

"That sounds even better…" said Joel with a smile. Both of them enter the cafeteria and go in line to order.

"So… are you going to tell me where we are going?" she asked. She was still curious about where Joel will take her since he doesn't pick any of the rides they have there.

"It is a surprise… but don't worry, I know you will love it since you like adventures," he said as they moved in line. "So… what are you studying in Arizona?"

Ellie looks at him, trying to answer him without telling him too much about her… but as she taught before, maybe it will be good to talk a little about her, so that way she can make him talk more about himself. "Well… my mom wants me to be a doctor and in some way, I want that too. But what I really wanted was to explore the world… I mean to travel a lot and discover new things.

"Don't tell me… You, Mom, were a doctor?"

"Yeah… how do you know that?" She looks at Joel's face as he expresses his answer. "Anyway, things changed and I wanted to see more of the world so I decided to become a Marine biology…."

"Oh… wow, that explains why you like the ocean so much,'' Joel said while moving forward on the line. I think you have to study a lot for that… and it will restrain you to only exploring the ocean… so I don't think you will travel around the world too much."

"Yeah maybe not so much, but you can be surprised what you can find on the ocean… and Yeah I have to study a lot, but I just finished my four years, so I only need to pass two more to be assigned outside the school." She starts to think about all the things she can discover under the water. "You can't imagine all the things you see on the ocean… they discover all kinds of new fish deep down and I want to be wanted by them."

"Well, I can see how excited you're about all that… so I think that all that can be good for you… they gain good money too." They move a little in the line. "What about you Dad? He was a doctor too?"

Ellie stayed quiet for a minute. This was the part she did not want to touch, but now it was too late."No, he wasn't … I mean no in the medical degree… he was a professor." Ellie said that in a lower tone and hoped that Joel would not ask more questions about him. "Anyway… I think it is a cool career… but my mom thinks that I'm too young for that… or that it is too dangerous for a woman… I really hate that. Do you think that I am too young for that?" said Ellie trying to change the direction of the conversation.

Joel thinks for a minute before answering. "I think that is your choice… and if you like the ocean it is not a better job than that," he said with a sincere tone.

"What about you? What did you study… back in the day?"

"Hum, that is an interesting question…?" he said while turning his head to the front.

"And? Don't tell me you didn't study anything, because I not will believe you.'' She starts to pull Joel's shirt so he looks at her. "C'mon… Joel. I told you a little about me, you have to do the same." At that moment the person that was in front of them moved to the side and they turned to order.

"Hola… que le puedo servir?" Asked the young woman that was taking the orders.

"Save by the bell hmm?... This is not over Joel… you own me…"

Joel moves forward and looks at the menu behind the woman. "Cuatro pedazos de pizza… and," he turned his head to look at Ellie. "What kind of topping do you want on your pizza?"

"Pepperoni will be fine," she answered.

"Okay…" he turned again and looked at the young woman. "Cuatro pedazos de pepperoni y dos jugos de fruta…"

"Seguro… señor, su orden saldrá en unos minutos." said the woman after enter the order. "Su orden tiene un total de 10 dólares americanos." Ellie takes the money out of her small wallet and try to pass it to Joel, but he already pay for the food. After a minute the woman gave him the change and the receipt. "Su orden estará lista en 5 minutos. Si quieren pueden buscar una mesa y uno de nuestros meseros se lo llevará aya."

"Ok… gracias," said Joel while moving away from the line. "Let's find a table… the food will be ready in 5 minutes."

"Hey… I was going to pay for that…" said Ellie while following him. They found an empty table for two close to the entrance and sat down. "Now… tell me about you and don't try to avoid my question again, you own me."

Joel put his elbows on top of the table and put his hand together. "I don't don't really like to talk about me, but if you wanted to know I never go to college."

Ellie looks at him with surprised eyes. "Shit!... you never study anything?"

Joel moved back on the chair and looked at her. "You make it sound like it's a big deal? Not all people go to college, and they have a wonderful life."

"Yeah, I guess… I was not judging you… I was just a little surprised that is all." she with an apologetic look. "Any way I can see that you're capable of doing a lot of things… so how did you learn to do all that?" Ellie moved forward and put her hand on the table. "So tell me Joel Miller, how do you learn to do all the things you did until now without going to college?"

Joel looked at her face for a moment. "You really want to know how?"

"Yep… I really wanted to-" She was interrupted by a young man with two plates and two drinks on a tray.

"Aquí está su orden señor…" he said while putting the plates on top of the table.

"Gracia…" Joel said to the man before he turned around and walked away.

"Save by the bell again… hmm!" said Ellie with a smirk.

Joel smiles at her and grabs the drink. "Yeah… I'm always lucky," he said while drinking his fruit punch.

"Well, your luck will end soon and you're really lucky that I'm so hungry and I don't talk much when I eat." Ellie grabs one of the slices of pizza and takes a big bite.

"Yeah… like I said… lucky," he said before grabbing one of his slides and doing the same.

To be Continued…