Disclaimer: I do not own any character of (The Last of Us) TLOU is owned by Naughty Dog and its creators.
A/N: Gratings... Again thank you for reading this story and for the comment on it. This chapter will be the beginning of Joel and Ellie's connection, well at least more open to each other, so I hope you will be good with it. Yeah is been too slow for them to get closer, but I want it to be that way because making them together since the beginning of a long story will be a little boring, so I thought that this way will be more interesting. Anyway one of the last comments someone told me that it was missing part of the story because of the Spanish part, so I'm very sorry for that. Yeah for the people that do not understand Spanish, they will be missing some parts of the story, especially the conversation between Joel and Rodrigo. So I hope that the people that are reading this find a way to get those parts translated. because as the story was almost halfway, I can add any translation on that. So I hope that the majority of the people are getting the main story. So now lest go with the chapter.
Chapter 13: Nursing Joel Back to Health
Joel was let out of the hospital a few hours later with the doctor's recommendation of staying in bed at least for a week. Soon after they get out of the hospital, Rodrigo takes Ellie and Joel back to his house. Joel continued protesting all the way there about no need to stay a whole week in bed and that he didn't need anyone to take care of him. Of Course, Rodrigo and Ellie continue to insist that he needs to do what the doctor said even if he doesn't want to. Soon Rodrigo parks his car in front of his house, he turns off the engine.
"Okay… home sweet home," said Rodrigo while turning his head to the back seat where Ellie was. "Can't you help him to get out?" he asked.
"Sure…" said Ellie before opening the back door of the car.
"I don't need help, how many times have I told you so?" said Joel while opening the door on his side.
"Porque eres tan terco? Those are doctor's orders… so stop being so you… and let us help you."
"No estoy invalido… por si no te diste cuenta… y desde cuando estas hablando tanto Inglés? Pensé que no te gustaba…"
"El que no me guste hablar mucho no quiere decir que no lo pueda… Besides Ellie is here and as she can't understand Spanish too much… Is it better if I speak English," he said while getting out of his car.
"Is okay Joel… just let me help you to walk into your house… you can lay on your bed and rest for the rest of the day," said Ellie while helping him to get out of the car.
"You don't have to do this, you know…" he said while putting his hand on the girl's shoulder. "You came here to enjoy a vacation, not to waste your time with an old man like me," he said while they started walking toward the house.
"Is okay Joel… you were such a good guide and a friend to me. Also, you show me a lot of good places here… so this is the last thing I can do for you." Rodrigo looks at them while they walk. He doesn't remember seeing Joel this close to someone in a long time.
They walk until they arrive on the porch and Joel stops. "Shit… I forget about something…" he turned his head and looked at Rodrigo. "I don't think it is a good idea for Ellie to get inside I-" he stops when Ellie shakes his body.
"I'm beside you… you know… so if it is something you need to tell me, just do it."
Rodrigo laughed at that. "Si te preocupa el chikero que tenías en casa… Yo llamé a Rosa para que limpiara un poco." He moved beside them and opened the lock of the door. "You can go inside now," he said while moving to the side.
Ellie helps Joel to walk inside with the old man behind them. Joel starts to look around and watches how clean the place was… well, as clean as it can get. "Nice house for only one person," she said with an honest tone.
"Yeah… you should have seen it before…" said Rodrigo from behind. Joel quickly turned his head and gave him a look. "What!... it is not my fault that you did not clean this place a lot."
Ellie laughs at the comment. "Is it okay Joel… you should see my room sometimes." Said Ellie while continuing walking until Rodrigo moves ahead and guides Ellie toward Joel's bedroom.
"Put him in bed, I will bring some water for the pills," said Rodrigo as soon as they arrived at the room.
"I can lay down in my bed on my own… thank you." he slowly separated from Ellie and walked toward his bed. He saw a few clothes on the floor and a lot of disorganized things in his drawer. Apparently, Rosa doesn't clean his room too much, but now it was too late to hide all that from Ellie now. "Sorry about the mess… I… I don't get too many visitors here."
"It is okay… Joel, you don't need to worry about it," said Ellie while standing beside him to make sure that he lay down on the bed without any problem.
After a few minutes, Rodrigo entered the room with a glass of water in his hand. "Aquí tienes, el doctor dijo que tomes estas 2 veces al día por una semana." He said while putting the two pills in Joel's hand. Joel sat up on the bed and took the glass with water and swallowed the pills.
"You two are acting like I'm a sick baby. Jesus… I'm okay really," he said, putting the glass on the night table.
Rodrigo looked at him for a few minutes. "Just get some sleep… I have to go home. But I will go back tomorrow."
Joel turns his head and looks at him. "Me vas a dejar aquí solo con-" he stops when Ellie looks at him.
"Como tu dijiste antes, no necesitas a los dos aquí… así que Ellie will stay here to help you… te veo mañana," he said before walking out of the room.
Ellie looks at Joel as he grabs his pillow and covers his face with it. "Shit!... this is so embarrassing." Ellie smiles at that and after a few minutes, she walks out of the room and follows Rodrigo outside.
Soon Rodrigo gets to his car, he turns around to look at Ellie. "Are you sure about doing this? I can take you back to your hotel if you want… I know you want to help, but he is not your responsibility and you already did a lot for him."
"Is it okay… I don't really mind. I just don't want to leave him here alone."
"Yeah… just make sure he doesn't do anything stupid. Okay, girl, you have my number, so call me if you need me… I will come in the morning to see how he is doing."
"Don't worry… I will make sure he doesn't get out of bed and behave."
"Thank you Ellie… see you tomorrow." The old man got into his car and started the engine. "If he gives you too much trouble you have my permission to hit him… just not in the head okay," he said with a smile before driving away.
Ellie watches the man go away, then turns around and looks around the place. After a few minutes, she remembered that she didn't bring any clothes with her and she hadn't changed since yesterday. Rodrigo did go to the hotel on the first day and brought her some clothes to change into. But she has not taken a proper shower in two days. Ellie took out her phone and was going to call Rodrigo, but since he just went away, she decided not to bother him. The old man was tired too, so it was better to let him rest.
Ellie walks toward the house and goes inside. She walks toward Joel's room and notices that he falls asleep. She walked toward the bed and stood beside it. Ellie looked at him for a few minutes, before grabbing the blanket and covering him with it. Get some rest… Joel, I will be here when you wake up in the morning. After that, she walked out of the room and closed the door a little. She starts to look around the house and even though it looks clean, there are still a few things lying around the place. So she decided to entertain herself with that.
As Ellie started to move around in the living room, she started to pick up a few things she found on the floor or out of place. As she can see, Joel is living a simple life. He has no fancy things around, no painting on the walls or pictures of him or his family. Ellie was wondering what happened to him that made him live like this. All she can see so far are working tools, like fishing and other things. Rodrigo didn't tell her much about his past, but he did tell her that he didn't have any family left. At that moment she felt a little sad for him, living here alone with no one to share his life with, except for the old man that it looks like he is the only family he has. Rodrigo told her that if she wanted to know more about him she needed to ask him. She really wants to know more about Joel, especially now that she knows that he was a surfer. She wants to know why he lied to her and hid that. Rodrigo mentioned that he was good when he was young, but she didn't find anything about Joel when she looked on the internet.
After Ellie picks up a few clothes that were laying on the couch she saw a guitar hanging on the wall behind it. Ellie moves closer to see it and tries to imagine Joel playing that. The guitar looks old, so probably he doesn't use it anymore or it was probably just a gift. Anyway, she will ask him later. After moving away from that wall, Ellie walks toward his room to look for the hamper where he should put his dirty clothes. She looked at him on the bed where he seemed to be sleeping peacefully and that was a good sign. Ellie quietly walked to his closet and opened it. She wants to do things without getting too intruded on his personal things, she does not want to see his underwear or things like that. But soon she found his hamper; it was too late for that. There were a few of them on the top, so she picked them up and put them inside. She doesn't see any clothes washer when exploring the house, so she will probably need to wash his clothes by hand. Slowly she picks up the hamper and slowly walks out of the room.
Ellie finds an outside sink at the back of the house, so she will use that to wash his clothes. She doesn't bring any of her, so she needs to clean her too. It takes some time for Ellie to wash Joel's clothes and after she finishes Ellie hangs them on a cable that was in the backyard. Ellie goes back inside to find something to wear so she can wash hers. She was surprised to be able to wash his clothes by hand. She never does that with hers. Of course, she doesn't touch his underwear, so Joel will have to do that. Ellie goes back to his room and picks up a long shirt and some shorts she found in his drawer. Then go to the bathroom and take a shower. Soon after she finishes, Ellie goes back outside and washes her clothes. Soon she finishes, Ellie looks at the small shack at the back of the house. Rodrigo mentions that Joel keeps some of his personal things there and even though she knows that this is something private, her curiosity gets the best of her.
Ellie goes back inside and looks for the keys. She found them in one of the drawers in the kitchen after looking for them for 20 minutes. Then she goes back out feeling a little bad for what she was going to do. Ellie walked to the shack and stood in front of it and thought about what to do. She did not want to snoop around on Joel's personal things without his permission, but she was curious to see what he had there. She looked around for Joel's surfboard, the one she saw him use a few days ago. But since she didn't see it around the house, it was probably that Rodrigo has put it inside the shack. After thinking for a few minutes, she decided to open the place, to see if the board was there. So Ellie grabbed the lock and put the key inside. Slowly she moves the chain off the hook and slowly opens one of the doors. The small shack was dark, but the light from outside and one small window on the back wall let her see a little inside. As Ellie looked around, she saw the few boxes and other things inside the shak. In the middle of the place, she can see a table with a surfboard on it. After a few minutes, Ellie opens the door wider, so the outside light goes in.
As the place gets more illuminated, she can see a few more boards inside. Some of them look damaged, but the one that was on the table looks fine. Ellie moves closer to that one and passes her hand on top of it. She feels the soft surfaces of the board as she continues passing her finger on it. Before she hires Joel to be her guide, she rents one on the beach where most of the surfer boys go. After watching them for two days, she wanted to try it, but things didn't go well. There was no one who wanted to teach her except for a few young men that asked her if she had sex with them, they taught her. Of course, Ellie didn't like that suggestion at all and kicked one of them in the balls and she didn't go back to that beach after that. The board on the table was beautiful and it looks like the one Joel was using the day he almost drowned. She really doesn't want to remember that day, and she was lucky that she came here in time to save him. She knew that Joel was drunk that day, so she wanted to know why he did something like that.
"You should not be here." Ellie jumps up at the sudden voice coming from the entrance of the place.
She quickly turned around and looked toward the entrance and saw Joel standing there. "Joel!... what are you doing here?" she said with a surprised expression.
"I'm the one that should have been asking that question," he said looking at her scared face. "No one is supposed to enter here… not even Rodrigo," he said while putting his hand in his pocket.
"I'm so sorry… I don't mean to search through your things," she said while moving away from the board. I… I just want to make sure that… your surfboard here… since I don't see it outside."
Joel looked at her worried eyes. Joel doesn't like people that try to sneak their noses into his personal life, but since Ellie just saved his life, maybe he can lay this down. After a few minutes of silence, he spoke again. "I don't like people entering here, but since you already did… there is nothing I can do about that." Joel said while looking at her.
"I'm sorry… I don't mean to get in here without your permission… I was just curious."
Joel looked at her with sad eyes."I'm sorry… that I lied to you about the surfer things… but that was a part of my life that I do not want to talk about." He moves closer to her and takes a deep breath before continuing. "We better…" Joel started but started to feel a little dizzy.
Ellie moves closer to him. "No… I'm the one that should be sorry… I know this is your personal life and I should not… I just… want to know you better." Ellie notices that he put his hand on the door to support himself. She moves closer and grabs him by the arm. "Joel you should not be out of bed… you are not completed well yet."
"I'm fine… is it the pills… they make me a little dizzy." Joel quickly said.
Ellie saw him and started to feel worried. "C'mon let's take you back to the house. I can prepare something for that."
"Okay…" said Joel without any protest. The sky was turning orange meaning that it was going to be dark soon.
So without any waste of time, Ellie put one arm around him and Joel put his around her shoulder then both of them start walking toward the back door of the house. Soon they go inside, and Ellie starts walking toward his room. "I will take you back to your bed… okay? You need the rest," said Ellie while helping him to walk.
"No… just take me to the couch… I'm tired of being in bed."
"Are you sure?" said Ellie while changing direction and walking toward the couch.
"Yeah… just help the seat." Soon Joel was sitting, he looked at her and noticed what she was wearing. "I can see that you took some of my clothes… what happens to yours?" he said with a smile.
Ellie looks at the clothes and remembers that she put on some of his clothes. "Ohhhh… yeah…" she looked at him with her red face. "Sorry about that, but since we came here from the hospital I didn't have anything to wear here. Since I have to take a shower… and clean my clothes… I have to borrow some of yours, so I hope that you don't mind." Ellie looked at his face and saw the confusion on it. Ellie moved to the chair that was in front of the couch and sat. She put her hand together while trying to find the words. "You must think that I'm crazy… right?"
Joel looked at her not knowing why she said that. "I don't know why you said that…" he said in a serious tone.
"Yeah… I can see that you don't." Ellie moved her hand nervously. "But I know that you do… anyone that sees me just now will think that I'm. You must think, what in hell is this woman doing? I mean we just met like a week ago and now here she is with a strange person's house helping him around… cleaning his clothes and his house as if we're-." she lowered her head and looked at the floor. She really doesn't know why she is doing all this, but she did know that this was something she needed to do. She was already starting to like him and after what happened she felt scared. Seeing Joel laying in the hospital reminds her of her father, even if with Joel the same feeling. "I… I just want to make sure that you're alright."
"As I said, I don't think you're… but I have to admit that this is not something that any girl will do," Joel leaned forward on the couch and put his hand together too. "But I am really intrigued to know why you're doing all this for me. As you said, we only met a week ago."
"I"m not sure what to tell you about that… I have a lot of sad memories in my mind when I came here, but since I met you and you showed me all the beautiful things around here, it makes me feel better." Ellie raises her head and looks at him. "I know that all that sounds stupid… and a girl like me wants to learn how to surf probably too… but I have my reason for that. But more important… is that you help me to forget about all the things that make me sad and help me to enjoy my vacation even more… Maybe I just feel like I need to repay somehow for that."
Joel looks at her with a surprised expression. "Look, I'm glad that I helped you to feel better… but all I did was do my job… and you already paid for that, so you don't need to do this to repay me… don't get me wrong… I am the one that should be thanking you for serving my life and for your stay in the hospital too. You really didn't have to do that."
"Sorry… maybe I used the wrong words… and maybe I am not sure why I am doing this. I just feel that is the right thing to do… and is not a problem at all. I know that you like your privacy and don't want me here, but I promise Rodrigo to keep an eye on you, so I will be your nurse for the next few days."
Joel leans back on the couch and looks at the ceiling. "You should not listen to that old man… He always exaggerates things. I don't really need a nurse and you don't need to do this because he told you to."
"Well, I'm just not doing this because of that… I really want to make sure that nothing happens to you. Besides, this will give us the chance to get to know each other better." she said with a smile.
Joel lowers his head and looks at her. "I don't think you really want to know me… you will get disappointed. I make a lot of bad decisions and… and… maybe it will be better for you don't know anything about me."
"Look, I am not interested in the things you did in your past… and you don't need to tell me if you do not want to either… I just want to know more about you… I don't know, like the thing you like, the job you do, your favorite food, or music…" Ellie looked over at Joel and saw the guitar on the wall. "For example… that guitar you have over there… Did you play?"
Joel races his head and looks at the wall behind him, then looks back at the young woman in front of him. He has to admit that the girl is persistent and not thinking about her beauty and bravery. She risks her life on that beach to help a person that she just met a week ago. Looking at her makes him think about Tess for some reason. Maybe the old man was right and this girl is much alike to her. But maybe it will be better for both of them if he just keeps his distance from her. The last thing he wants is to complicate her life with his misery. "No… I haven't played that in a long time… it was just a gift from…" he stopped right there. "Look, I can see that you're curious about me, but maybe it will be better for you if you stop trying to get to know me," he said with a tired voice.
Ellie looked at him and wanted to say something, about it was better not. She needed to keep Joel on his good side if she wanted to get things out of him. "Okay, I am not going to press you, but don't think that I will give up so easily…" she said while standing up from the chair. "Now, I know you don't feel well and I promise to make something to help you with your dizziness. So how about some dinner too?" She said while walking toward the kitchen. "I can make some soup… that is always good and I'm starving." She has just been there for a few hours, but she will need Joel to tell her where the thing she needs is.
"You don't have to do that Ellie… besides I don't think there is much food there to cook…" Joel gets up from the couch and slowly starts walking toward the kitchen.
"Joel, what the hell do I just tell you? Go back to the couch before you fall to the floor… and I meant."
"Jesus girl… you're getting worse than Rodrigo… but since I don't have the will to fight back…" he said before turning around and walking back to the couch. "I think that I have some canned soup in one of the cabinets, so you can warm that," said Joel while sitting back on the couch.
Ellie opened one of the cabinets and saw a few canned soups and some other canned things in there. "Oh wow… you have a lot of canned food here… Is this all you eat?" she asked with a surprised tone.
Joel looks toward the small kitchen, but the walls that divide it from the living room block part of Ellie's body. "Of course not… I just keep a lot of them just in case the world succumbs to a zombie apocalypse or virus pandemic." Joel lay back on the couch again and looked at the ceiling.
"Did you really say that?"
"What?... it could happen… what you do if the world gets infected by a lethal virus and will be the last of us?"
Ellie moves a little and looks toward the living room. "You kidding right? Did you really think that it can be a pandemic infection that will destroy the world and only leave a few of us alive?" asked Ellie.
"You never know…" answered Joel.
Ellie rolled her eyes and went back to the task at hand. "I think that you like all those kinds of movies too much… even if I don't see any TV here."
"Well, I was not talking about any movie, but just for you know I do not always leave here, remember? Anyway, to answer your first question… No, that is not all I eat. I work in the bar, remember? I eat there most of the time and other times, I eat what I fish."
"Well, I hope so… because living on just canned food is not healthy for you…" Ellie opens the cans and put them in the pot… then starts looking for the other ingredients she needs for the tea. "I saw that the only things in your fridge are beer and a few spoiled foods. I have to throw all that out when you're sleeping."
"You didn't throw the beers… right?"
As Ellie continues working in the kitchen, she waits a minute to answer him. "Of course not…" she makes a long pause before continuing. "I'm drinking all… not that you have much of them though."
"You drink all my beers?" he yells from the living room.
"Yeah… it's not like you will be drinking any time soon… you are going to be in the med for a few days… so it was better to get rid of the temptation."
"Damn girl… you don't need to do that…" Said Joel while throwing his body back on the couch. He really died for a beer right now, but after Ellie drinks it all, that chance is gone.t. Joel was really intrigued about why Ellie is doing this. Yeah, she try to say that it was only to thank him, but he can tell that is more behind it. Now he knows that Ellie has moved around the house and probably saw the conduction he lived in, even if Rosa has cleaned the house he can see all the things he has everywhere. Joel feels strange about how fast Ellie got used to all this, she even washed his dirty clothes and was wearing some of his. "Hey… how long will you plan to stay here?"
Ellie continues preparing the tea. "I am not sure yet… I still have three more weeks of vacation time that I can use. So I can extend my stay here if I want to," she answered from the kitchen.
"No, I mean in my house?" asked Joel more clearly this time.
After a few minutes. Ellie walks out of the kitchen with a cup in her hand and walks into the living room. "Oh… that… Well, Rodrigo told me to keep an eye on you for a few days… so I guess that I will stay here for that time at least." she said while moving closer and offering him the cup that she has in her hand. "Here, drinking this t will help you to feel better."
Joel moves forward and grabs it. "You don't have to do that… I feel fine," he said while looking at the liquid in the cup. "What is this?"
"Is a special tea that my mum gives to me when I get sick… it will help you." Ellie looks at Joel's expression. "Is it okay it tasted good… is that what you worry about?"
Joel looks at it before giving it a sip. "Mmmmm… not bad,"
"Yeah… right?" she said with a smile. "So, are you kicking me out already?"
Joel looks at her face trying to know the real reason why she is doing all this for a man she barely knows. "I don't mean like that… I really appreciate all that you are doing, but you don't have to do all this by obligation or whatever you think you owe me."
Ellie glared at him while putting her hand on her waist. "You really like to push people away from you, do you? I already told you that I don't quit that easily, so you will have to stick with me for a few days."
"I'm sorry… I don't mean to sound ungrateful… I really appreciate all you have done and for saving my life and staying in the hospital by my side…" Joel sat astray on the couch and looked at the floor. "I… I just try to understand…"
Ellie moved closer and sat in the chair in front of him. "I… I know you don't… but I just try to help you… so why can't you just accept that?"
"Sorry, I don't mean to offend you… is that… you're just a girl and I'm just an old man, " he stops when Ellie holds up one hand to stop him.
"First… I'm not a girl… well, what I mean is that I'm 21 Joel, not a little girl… and second, being 40 doesn't make you an old man. I know you have some personal things that you do not want to tell me and I respect that. I have some too, that I do not want to share yet so that is fair… But I'm doing this because I want to help… is not for obligation or pity if that is what you're thinking." Ellie stands up but keeps her sigh on him. "Now stop being a stubborn man and move your ass to the kitchen table if you don't want me to help you walk… I think the soup is already."
Joel looked at her back as she turned around and started walking toward the kitchen. I don't know why, but she remained about Tess a lot. He said to himself before answering her. "Yes ma'am…" and slowly stand up and walk toward the table.
After a few minutes of Joel sitting at the table, Ellie arrives with two bows with soup. She put one in front of him and the other one in front of the chair she will sit on. "I think you need to buy more food, your fridge and kitchen are almost empty… except for the canned food of course," she said before sitting on the chair in front of him. "But you need that for the apocalypse…" she said with a grim.
Joel grabs the spun and starts to eat some of the soup, before speaking. "Ha, that is funny, but it will not when it happens. Anyway I already told you that I eat most of the time outside… so I don't need a lot of food here…"
"Well, you're not going to be out much on the following days, so I will call Rodrigo in the morning and ask him if he can bring a few things before he gets here."
Joel just rolled his eyes. "Jesus… you're taking this nursing thing too seriously do you?"
"Yep… and you better suck it mister… because you're not going to get rid of me so easily," she said with a grin on her face. Joel just rolled his eyes again and continued eating. After a few minutes of silence, Ellie spoke again. "Oh… your boss from the bar went to see you in the hospital yesterday. He told us that he will call us when we get out. Oh, and some of your coworkers go to the hospital to see you too. They were a little worried about you… well, we all were."
"Really… that is kind of strange… since he is always yelling at me for everything. But it is good to know that some of the guys were there."
"I think they like you a lot… They were really worried about you. Maybe you should call your boss and tell him that you need a few days off."
"I don't think he will want me there after this… but I will call him later. His new partner will probably fire me… he doesn't like me."
"He can't fire you… you have an accident… you get some time free for that."
"Things are not the same here as in the States. And I can't call an accident almost drowning by surfing drunk on the beach. Beside… You need to go to work every day if you want to keep… you don't get time free just because you get sick or have problems."
"That is unfair… and you were not drunk… it was just-" Ellie answered quickly.
"I was… but don't worry if that happens, I was going to quit that job anyway… be a bouncer here, get someone in trouble sometimes… I liked it better when they put me to cook."
"It's still unfair…" said Ellie while continuing to eat. "So you don't always wear a browser there?" asked Ellie, expecting Joel to talk about himself a little more.
"Nope… Sometimes I cook there. But that is not the only job I have had since I came here. I have done a lot of different things in the last 10 years. But I can tell you that it was the longest. I started as a cook and bartender when I started there. But as the place starts to get bigger and have more customers, my boss needs me to do other things."
"So… if they fire you, what are you going to do for a living?" asked Ellie with a little worried tone.
"Don't worry about it…I can always find another job… and in the meantime, I can still work on my tour job project… I know there is a lot of competition out there, but I will manage… as you can see, I don't need much to get by."
Ellie was going to ask him about getting a job teaching people how to surf, but she knew it was too soon for that. He just almost died because of that, and even though it could be nice if he teaches her how to surf, she needs to wait for the right time. "Well, you can finish my tour after you get better… I can pay you more for an extra week."
Joel stops eating and looks at her. "You don't need to do that, you're already doing too much for me. In any case, I'm the one that owns you, because I never finish your tour."
"Yeah, I know… but we can extend our arrangement, so that way I don't need to look for someone else. There are still a lot of things that I want to do and you're good at that."
Joel looked at her face again, before continuing to eat his soup. "I don't know why you still want me to be your guide… any other person will want to get away from me already, but l think about it…" he took the spoon into his mouth and sipped the soup.
Ellie gets a few sips of her soup before talking again. "What did you do when you lived in the States?"
Joel continues eating. "Are you going to interrogate me now?"
"Well, I guess this can be a good start. We can have a good conversation since you will be here for a few days."
He stops eating and looks at her. Shit… this will be a long week. "Well, I did a few different jobs after I left school…" he said in a lower voice.
"Did you go to the university?"
"Just for three years… I have to take care of the house when…" he stopped there as the conversation was leading to some events he doesn't want to touch right now. "I'm sorry Ellie, but I really feel tired, and it is getting late. Maybe it will be good if I go to bed early if you don't mind," he put the spoon inside the empty bow.
"Oh… of course not. You better get some rest. Don't worry about the dishes, I will take care of them… Do you need any help?"
"No, I'm good." Joel stood up and looked at her. "If you're going to stay here for the night, you will have to use the couch. Sorry for that, but I only have one bed here."
"The couch will be fine… I only need a blanket and a pillow for the night," she answers him
"I have some in the closet in front of the bathroom… I will take a shower and go to bed if you help yourself… if you need something let me know." Joel turns around and starts walking away. "Thanks for the help and for cleaning my clothes and all the rest."
Ellie stood up while watching him go. "Sorry that I have to use some of yours… don't worry I will wash them too. As soon I get mine back," Joel raised his arm giving her an approved sign, before going out of view. Ellie grabs the two empty bows and walks to the sink. While she does that, Ellie hears Joel enter the bathroom and close the door. Then she remembered that they left the door of the small shat on the back open. So after finished in the kitchen, she walked toward the back door and went out.
Soon Ellie was in front of the shak and looking inside the curiosity of knowing more about Joel's surfing time started to get into her head again. But this time she will wait for Joel to share that with her. So after a few minutes, she closed the door and put the lock and chain on it. Soon after that, Ellie walked toward the sand dune that was behind Joel's house. She goes to the top and looks at the ocean. It was dark now but maybe tomorrow she can enjoy the sunset. But right now she just watched the moonlight in the water and the waves hitting the shore. After a few minutes, Ellie starts to think about her dad and how things would be for her if he was still alive.
I miss you… Dad and you don't know how much. Ellie whispers while looking at the dark ocean in front of her. I know you want me to be happy. To live my life the way I wanted and not let people tell me how to live it… but I don't know how to do that. Some tears start to fall from her eyes before she looks up to the night sky. Ellie looked at it and was surprised at how many stars she can see in the sky. She focuses her eyes on a brilliant start that looks like it was on her. I know you're up there and finally at peace. I hope someday we see each other again… I love you, Dad.