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. Also sorry for the spelling and grammar, English is not my native language and the correct program doesn't always do a good job of correcting things. Now let's go with the chapter.
Chapter 15: Starting to know each other
Soon Ellie goes down to the deck, she remembers that she doesn't need to get her backpack and change. She wasn't expecting to go under the water, but luckily she put her bikini under her clothes, so she only needs to get those off. She thought that they were going to finish on the boat, but since she wanted to go for a swim this was better. So slowly Ellie started to take off her t-shirt and shorts. And walk inside the cabin to put them on one of the chairs there. Ellie was lost in thoughts when she felt the boat slowing down until it stopped. So she got out of the cabin and got back to the deck where she saw Joel on the front part of the boat dropping the anchor into the water.
"Have we arrived?" she asked while looking at him from the side.
"Yes… this is a good spot for underwater fishing… I always find big fish in this area." he said, moving to the side of the boat and walking toward her. Soon Joel jumped into the deck, he noticed that Ellie was already in her bikini. His face starts to turn red even if he thinks that he is too old for that. "I didn't know that you brought your bikini on… I thought you would bring your diving suit," he said while trying not to look at her body too much.
Ellie looked at herself, wondering why he said that. What! Did he not like her bikini? "Why do you think that? I didn't know we were underwater fishing… but I was hoping to go for a swim. So, you do not like my bikini? Is there something wrong with it?" She looked at it again.
"No… is not that. It looks great on you. Is that we're… going to go deep and… and I don't know if the water is going to be too cold for…" he pointed at her. "For you wearing that."
Ellie put her hand on her waist. "Well, we're in the summertime so I think I will be okay."
Joel looked at her good form and how beautiful she is. But before his body started to get an unwanted reaction, he turned around and moved toward the oxygen tanks. "I hope that it will not be too cold down there," he said while kneeling in front of the tanks and started checking them.
Ellie looks at his back, feeling relieved that he does not hate her new bikini. "Sorry… I didn't know we were going deep fishing."
"Is okay… it was my fault… I want to surprise you and Rodrigo is supposed to be here with us too." After a few minutes, he stood up and turned around to face her. "I can go down alone if is too cold or do something else if you want."
"Is okay Joel… the water can't be that cold… and maybe we can stay close to the surface if it gets colder."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure… What I need to know is if you are sure that you can do this. I think you should be resting in your house and not doing this kind of thing."
Joel grabs the edge of his t-shirt and takes it off. "I'm okay… Ellie, I just spent three days in bed and I'm just sick of that."
"You're out for two days Joel… that wasn't nothing. Besides, the doctor said to stay away from the water for a while."
"That was on the surfer thing and also a suggestion…" he took his pants off and stayed only on his beach. Joel threw his clothes inside the cabin and grabbed one of the tanks. "So, do you want to do this or want to go back?" he asked again.
Ellie couldn't help herself looking at him and staring at his great body. He looks fine, and she wasn't thinking only about his condition, so keeping an eye on him is not going to be so difficult. "Okay… if you're sure that you're okay doing this… let's do this," she said after a few minutes of looking at his body. But remember if you start to feel bad just let me know and we get right up… okay?"
"Of course…" he moved closer to Ellie and told her to move around so he could help her to put the tank on her back. After he put the tank on her, he turned her around to secure the front part. Joel can't take his sight off her body even if he wants to. Ellie was a beautiful girl. He has to admit that, but he needed to keep those thoughts away from his mind. But touching her skin right now made things more difficult than he thought.
"Are you okay?" Ellie asked when she saw his hand trembling. They were so close that their bodies were almost touching. Ellie was starting to feel something inside as Joel continued working on the straps of the tank. His hands were barely touching her skin, but in some way, it felt strange. Of course not in a bad way, because right now her mind was fine to have him this close to her.
As Joel noticed that he was taking too long strapping the tank, he quickly finished and moved away from her. "Yeah… you can put the rest of the things while I get ready." He said with a nervous voice. Joel was going to put on his diving suit, but since they are not going too deep he can stay in his swim shorts. Soon he was ready, he grabbed the two harpoons that they will use. "I don't know if you're familiar with this," he said as he showed them to her.
"I have never used them before, but as I said before I want to learn all I can."
"Okay, I will teach you how this works later. But for now, I don't want any accidents down there… so I will give you the net for the fish and I will do most of the fishing… okay?"
"Sure… that sounds fine with me," said Ellie while looking at the harpoon in his hand. Joel moves to the side of the boat and grabs the net stick and passes it to her.
"You will help me with this okay," he said as soon as she grabbed it. "I already have a bucket with ice inside the cabin so that way the fish will stay fresh."
"Okay…" she answered while moving toward the back of the boat with her diving things. Joel grabbed the rest of his gear and walked to the back of the boat where she was waiting for him and started to get down to the lower little platform.
Joel sat down there and looked at Ellie. "I will go to the water first… then you can follow me." he put the mask over his head and jumped into the water. Ellie got to the platform and sat too before she put her mask on her head and grabbed the net stick and jumped into the water. Joel swam closer to her to make sure she was okay. "Are you ready for this?"
"Yep," she answered him quickly.
"Okay… let go then." Joel lowered his mask and put the breathing device on his mouth and dived. Ellie does the same and follows him.
As Joel goes a little deeper into the water Ellie follows him close. Joel stays swimming not too deep from the surface so the sunlight keeps the water clear for them. As they continued swimming they could see the coral rocks on the bottom. As Ellie moves closer to Joel she starts to look at her surrender and enjoys the beauty of the ocean life around the coral. She watches the different colors of the coral formation and the small fishes swinging all around the place. While Ellie observes the coral life, Joel swims over the reef's rocky place and starts checking around for a big fish to catch. Ellie moves closer to the reef and delicately touches a few of the coral formations without breaking them. She observed closely the small fish moving around and even found a small starfish moving between the coral.
Ellie feels a little bad that she doesn't bring her professional water camera with her on this trip, so she could take some pictures of the place. Maybe she can ask Joel later where she can buy a small one and then come back to take some pictures. After a few minutes, Joel swung close to her and touched her arm to indicate to her to follow him. Ellie quickly moved around and gave him the thumbs-up sign, to let him know she understood. Ellie follows Joel as he moves away from the coral and goes a little deeper into the water. As they moved down the sunlight was less visible and the water started to turn darker. Not as much that they can't see around, but the water was less clear.
After another few minutes, Joel stops and turns his head to indicate to Ellie to move closer to him. As Ellie swims forward and stops beside Joel, he points forward so Ellie can see what he spots. As soon Ellie looked in the direction he was pointing, she saw three big fish swimming around closer to another coral formation a few feet ahead. They were swinging on top of it, probably eating some platinum. Joel put his hand On Ellie's shoulder to let her know to be ready. The fishes were a little far, but they look like two feet long, so that was a good fish to catch. Ellie watches Joel get his harpoon ready and start to swim a little closer to the fish.
Ellie observes how Joel moves closer without disturbing the fish and soon he was close enough Joel aimed the harpoon toward them and shot. Ellie watches how the harpoon goes through one of the fish making the others swim away quickly. Joel pulled the harpoon cable toward him with his price attached to it. After he gets it close to him, he turns his head and signs Ellie to come closer to him. Ellie swims toward him and moves the stick with the net toward him, so he can put the fish on it. Soon he removes the fish from the harpoon, and Joel signs Ellie to swim up to the surface. Soon both of them were on the surface, they removed the visor mask and removed the oxygen device from their mouth so they could speak.
"Wow… you got it on the first shot… I have never seen anyone fishing like this before, well not in person anyway," said Ellie excitedly.
"Yeah… using fishing rods is easy, but is more for people that want to relax… this way is more exciting and faster if you know where to find some good fish." Joel takes the net up from the water and looks at the fish. "This one here is a little small, but we can try to catch a bigger one this time."
"Can I try?" Ellie asked quickly.
"I don't know… it can be dangerous if you don't have any practice with this."
"I watch you… and it doesn't look too hard… beside you can teach me how." Ellie was looking at him with some puppy eyes. She always uses that look to convince him to do something, even if that does not always work. Joel looked at the boat that was now a little far from them for a moment, then back to her.
"Okay… I will teach you how to do this, but first, let's put this one on ice." They swim back to the boat. They need to put the fish on ice, to keep the fish fresh before they have the time to eat them. Also, need to take the dead fish out of the water before the blood attracts any shark that can be close to them. After both of them swim back to the boat. Ellie stayed sitting on the ramp on the back of the boat while Joel moved onto the deck and put the fish inside the bucket with ice and walked back to the little platform and sat beside her. "Okay… I will give you a fast explanation of how this works before we go under again… okay?"
"Yes Sir…" she said with a smile on her face. Ellie was happy to see Joel like that after what happened to him before. She really enjoys spending time with him.
Joel gives her a little explanation on how to use the harpoon without hurting herself or him in the process. After 10 minutes, they put their gear back on and go back to the water. Soon they were under Joel trying to guide her around the coral formation again to see if they could find a bigger fish this time. Soon they feud, it takes a few tries before Ellie finally catches one. Joel was a little surprised that the one she caught was bigger than the one he caught before. They stay on the water for another hour and catch two more fish before they need to get out as the oxygen tanks were empty. So they go back to the boat and take off the divers' devices. Joel and Ellie stay in their swimming suits and grab two towels to start to dry themself out a little.
"Can we stay here a little longer so we can swim a little more? I mean for fun… not fishing."
Joel moves to the front of the boat and starts to bring in the anchor. "We can, but I prefer to take you to a better place for that… if that is okay with you."
"Better than this place? Is that even possible?" said Ellie while putting her towel around her neck.
"Yep… you will see." Soon the anchor was up, Joel went up to the driver part and started the engine, and moved the boat away from the place.
"How long is it going to take to get there?"
"Like 30 to 40 minutes I guess. Is not too far from here," he answered her.
"Okay…" Ellie stands up from the bank and gets inside the cabin, a few minutes later she comes out with the lotion tube in her hand and her sunglasses. Ellie moves to the front part of the beat and lays the towel there and sits on top of it. Slowly Ellie starts to put some sunblock on her body as the bruise from the ocean hits her body.
As Joel continues his driving, he looks down a few times even if he tries not to. He thought that it was a little impolite to check Ellie out like that, but sometimes he can't help himself. The girl not only was smart, and funny, but she was also beautiful. The problem with Joel getting closer to her was that she is too young for him. Even if Rodrygo and the others try to convince him that all that does not matter, for him it is those.
Not that he really wants to do that either. After Tess, he goes out with a few women and not in a romantic way. It was only for sex on both parts and he always try to keep it that way. Tess leaving was his fault he knew that, and he doesn't want to hurt anyone else. So he prefers not to get into any romantic relationships. So that way he does not bother another woman with his problems and sadness. Even so, Rodrigo tries a few times to help him out with some of the locals but that never works out well. He also told him to try to talk to Tess, but he never tries to do that either. But a few years later, he learns from an old friend that she found a good guy and she is married now. He feels happy for her, she deserves someone better than him.
Ellie looks up a few times and catches Joel looking at her, but makes it look like she didn't notice. It was funny the way he looked at her and tried to hide it, she wasn't lying there to make him look at her. Ellie checked Joel out too, so maybe it was fair. Ellie found Joel attractive even if he was older than her. It was something about him that she found very intriguing and made him an interesting man to know. The hard part now is making him open up to her, so they can know each other better. Rodrigo told her a few things about him, but not enough. She wanted to know what happened to him that made him hide from the world. Ellie doesn't know what Joel thinks about her exactly, but at least he was looking at her in a different way now. After she put on the sunblock, Ellie lay on the towel and closed her eyes. The sun was good and the wings felt nice on her. She doesn't know how much time passes but a little while later, she hears Joel yelling.
"We're getting close," Joel yells from about.
Ellie took off her sunglasses and sat up. She looks at the cost of an island as they move closer. She quickly got up to see better the little cove that was at the head of them. "OMG… Joel, this looks so beautiful," she said as she watched the coast rock cover the side of the small circular beach.
Joel stops the motor and drives the boat a little closer to the entrance of the cove. "I have to leave the boat at the entrance of the cove as the water is not too deep here…"
Ellie moves closer to the border of the front of the boat and looks at the water. It was all clear and clean. She can see some coral rift and the sand at the bottom and even some little fish swimming around. After a few minutes, Ellie looks at the beach sand and beyond that. She can see the big palm and vegetation that cover the background. The place was so beautiful, even more than the other place Joel has taken her.
"Do you like it?" said Joel while moving to the front to drop the anchor.
Ellie turns around and looks at him. "Are you kidding? This place is like a dream… I never saw anything like it… well, not in person." She moves toward him and hugs him. "Thank you… thank you so much for doing all this for me," she said while hugging him tight.
Joel tries to hold himself as he feels her body press on him. But after a minute, he hugged her back. "Glad that you like it… I thought this would be a better place to swing."
Ellie breaks the hug but stays close to him and holds his arms. "Joel, this place is incredible… I don't even know why there is no one here who enjoys it."
"Well, lucky for this place, not too many tourists know about this place… so that is why it stays clean. Also, you have to get here by boat since there is no road on the other side of those palms. As this is one of the small islands that are around they're not too many people living here, so there is more vegetation and rocks."
"That is better for us, so we can have all this place for just the two of us." She moves closer to him and kisses him on the cheek. She giggles at the surprised face Joel just put on. But hers was starting to turn red, so she quickly moved around him and walked to the back part of the boat. She took her baseball cap off and put them on the bank. "Are you coming?" she asked as soon as she went into the back part of the deck.
"I… I'm going to lower the anchor… so you go ahead. We don't have too much sunlight left, but it will be enough for a few hours." Joel yells from the front part.
"Okay… I see you in the water." Ellie gets on the back of the boat and quickly jumps into the clear water. She surfaced a minute later and looked at Joel, who was still at the front of the boat. "Hey, don't take so long, I don't want to swim alone." she saw Joel smile at her and that sent some feeling right to her stomach. She feels the redness on her cheeks so she just goes under the water to hide it. Soon she was down. Ellie starts to look at the coral on the deep and the golding sand at the button. This place was fantastic. The water was so clear and practically no waves, just some current that came into the cove from the open ocean.
Ellie swam for a few minutes away from the boat and tried to play a little with the few colored fishes that she saw down there. After a few more minutes, she swam back close to the boat to wait for Joel to get into the water with her.
Joel grabs 2 snooker set from his bag and walks to the side of the boat where Ellie was on the water. "Here!... you can see better down there with this." he throws it toward her and Ellie catches it.
"Thanks," she said while putting it on her head. "Are you coming?"
"Right behind you…" Joel took off his t-shirt and put his snooker on his head. He waits for Ellie to swim a little away before he gets over the side and jumps into the water. Inside the cove, the water wasn't too deep, but where he anchored the boat was. "Okay… let go." he put his mask on and the breathing thing on his mouth. Ellie does the same and both of them go under.
The water was so clear that they could see all the colored coral on the button and the different species of fish. Of course, those were not for fishing, this was more for an enjoyable swim. After a few minutes, they saw two turtles swimming close to the coral. They were big ones, so maybe they were looking for a place to put eggs. The Caribbean and most of the south island beaches were good for that. Ellie wants to get closer to one of them, so Joel helps her. They were peaceful creatures so it was easy to swim around them. After a few tries, Ellie managed to touch one of them before they swam away.
Joel and Ellie continue to swing around the coral and button of the sea. They saw a few starfish and even some lobsters there. After one hour. A few small sharks start to show up close to them, so Joel decides to take Ellie to rest on the beach.
"Oh man that was fantastic…" said Ellie as soon they got close to the shore and took off the snooker and mask.
"Glad you like it," he said after doing the same.
"Did you think that those sharks would attack us?" said Ellie while walking out of the water.
"Probably not… they're small and they don't attack if you don't provoke them… well normally."
Soon Ellie was on the wet sand, she turned around. "Well, thanks for taking me away from them. I don't like to find out if they do." Ellie looks at him as Joel gets out of the water and walks toward her. "So now what? We didn't bring anything from the boat. I mean not water, towels, food…"
"Yeah… I know." He turned his head and looked at the boat. "It is going to be a little difficult to bring something from the boat now." he turned his head and looked at her again. But if you are hungry or testy I can at least bring some water and snacks."
"No… is okay. I'm so excited that I'm not really hungry right now." She turns her head and looks at the palms. "Maybe we can sit under the palm and rest for a little while."
Joel looked at the palm and checked if it was safe to seat under. The last thing they need is to get hit by a coconut. "That sounds good, but let's find one that will be safe to sit under."
"Safe?" Ellie looked up at the palms and got what Joel was talking about. "Oh… yeah. Let's find one that doesn't have any coconut on it." After they found one, both of them sat under so their bodies were covered from the sun. Ellie looks toward the water admiring the view for a few minutes before she speaks again. "Thanks for bringing me here… is a shame that I didn't bring the underwater camera that I use at school… it will be super cool to have some pictures from under the water."
Joel turns his head and looks at her. "I think you can buy one on the port market. Not a professional one, but they work well. I can bring you back here again if you want… so you can take some pictures."
Ellie turns her head and looks at him. "Thank you… I will buy one, so I can take some pictures on our next trip. And if you can bring me back here that will be great… this place is incredible and we can come more prepared to stay longer."
"It's a deal then." Said Joel extending his arm toward her.
Ellie leans to the side and shakes his hand. "Deal," She kept the graph in his hand for as long as she could. She loved the feeling his touch produced at her. After she let go of his hand, she looked forward again. She wants to ask him a few questions, but she is trying to wait for the right moment to do it. So she looked back at the ocean.
"Your swimming is great… Who teach you?" Joel asked after a few minutes.
Ellie turns her head and looks at him again. Maybe she can talk about her first and then ask things about him. Yeah, that can work for sure… she hopes. "My father taught me when I was a little…of course, I got more practice when I started in the university." Ellie turned her head again. My father taught me a lot of things too… I think he wants me to be ready to face this world." she said a little sadly.
"Then he did a great job… you already used some of that to save my life a few days ago." Joel turns his head and looks at her. "You told me a few things about your mother, but practically nothing about your dad… are you two still close?" Ellie turns her head and looks at him for a minute. Joel quickly noticed her sad face. "Sorry… I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable"
"Is it okay… maybe it is time for me to talk a little about him," she said while looking back to the ocean. "We're very close… especially after my mom asked for the divorce." She doesn't like to talk much about her dad, because it makes her feel sad. But if she wants Joel to talk about his past, this is the best thing she can do to accomplish that.
"Sorry… to hear that, but you're talking about him in the past term… Did something happen?" asked Joel as soon as he noticed Ellie's sad face.
Ellie lowered her head and looked at the sand for a few minutes. "He… died a few years ago." she finally said. She already talks with Rodrigo a little bit about it but tells Joel it feels different.
"I'm so sorry… I can see now why you don't want to talk about him." Joel moves one hand and grabs one of hers. "I know how hard that can be… I lost my parents in an accident when I was younger too."
"Sorry to hear that… it's hard to lose someone you love so much…" Joel grabbing her hand makes her feel a little better and his confession about his parents makes her feel like she is not alone.
"Yeah… they were great parents… even if I was a little rebellious and gave them a little hard time. But you are not alone, you still have your mother, even if you said that she makes you crazy sometimes."
"Yeah… that is a good way to put it, but I hated her after my father died." Ellie looks at the ocean, trying to not look at Joel's face. My father and I get very close when he stops traveling around the world… I think he knew he was sick and wanted to spend more time with me… he never told me that, but I knew that something was wrong. But I like spending more time with him and we had a great time before I found out he was sick. I guess cancer gives him a little more time to be with his daughter after the divorce."
"I see… I know that it must be difficult for you and your mom at that time. But things always go better and you turn out fine." said Joel trying to give her some sport and make her feel better.
Ellie stayed silent for a few minutes. Talking about how it always was difficult to talk with someone about all this. Even after all the therapy sessions she got after her father died. "My mom and my dad were divorced a few years before he got sick. She said that she can't stand my father traveling a lot and barely being at home. Also, he was like 12 years older than her, so their marriage did not go well I guess. My father was a professor and an archaeologist and he always traveled a lot around the world. He met my mom on one of those trips, but I guess she grew tired of that."
"Sorry to hear that… it is never easy for a kid to live like that… But I bet that your dad loves you a lot even if he was not there all the time."
"Yeah, he did… He always sends gifts from the places he visited and came home as much as he can. My mom was young I guess and being alone in the house made her want a divorce … She took good care of me, but she loved to party and be with friends after they separated… and sometimes I like to be more with my dad. It was great when he stopped traveling and spent more time with me… he taught me a lot of things and I am happy about that."
Joel looked at her. "Look, you don't need to talk about this if it makes you feel sad… I know how people can get about things like this. The loss of my parents affected me too, even if I was older than you when that happened, but I know how hard it could be."
Ellie waits for a few minutes, before looking at him again. "Can I ask you something?"
Joel looked at her and wondered what she was going to ask him. But somehow he saw this question coming, so he asked it first. "You want to know why I quit surfing… right?"
Ellie looked at his face, waiting for another of his excuses to not talk about it. "That was not exactly what I was going to ask, but since we're on the subject. I saw a few pictures of you on the internet and you won several trophies and competitions… You're very popular for a few years, but then… nothing. It looks like you just disappeared from the media." Ellie looks down to the sand. "I know that I can look for more information, but I really want to get it from you. I feel bad for digging into your past without talking to you about it first."
Joel stayed silent for a moment. "I really appreciated that… I don't know what to tell you… But yeah, those years were the best of my life… I wasn't the best out there, but I love it and win so many competitions and get famous, probably change me. With time surfing was all I thought about, it became my passion even when my parents did not agree with all that, but it was something that I was good at."
Ellie looked at him again. "So what happens? I can see that you don't quit when your parents die right? You mention that they died when you were younger… They die before you become a professional surfer… right?"
"Yeah… they died when I was 17. I was surfing a lot by then, but not as a professional. I surfed for 6 years before I became a professional, and I was good at it… After I became a professional, I won a few competitions and it was great. I became famous in no time and people love to go to the beach to see me. I got the name of Mavericks and won a few of the best world competitions… but all that ended when I had an accident and that was the end of it."
"Oh… sorry to hear that. Yeah, I hear the doctor talk about a previous accident before he makes us leave the room." Ellie turns her body to the side to stay focused on him. "So that ends your professional surfing… The accident was so bad?"
"Not that bad to kill me, but I got a spine injury… so I can't surf anymore… well at least not in a professional way. I get a lot of therapists, but that doesn't help much."
Ellie was with her mouth open as she looked at him. "Wow… so you're lucky to be alive or not end up paralyzed… I hear that any spine injury is dangerous."
"Yeah… you can say that."
"Okay… so that is why you didn't surf anymore… So if it is too dangerous for you, why do you do it? I mean why do you go to the beach and surf that day?" she said with a worried tone.
Joel looks down a little shame at what happened. "I don't know… stupid I guess… I don't want to admit it, but I drink a little and I don't know… it was like the waves were calling me. I know it is stupid… But it has been a long time since I did that… and…" Joel stops as he doesn't find a good explanation for why he does it.
"I'm sorry I brought that up… Joel, but you could end badly, or worse you could die," Ellie said while looking at him. If you can't surf, you should stay away from that… I don't want to see you get hurt."
Joel raises his head and looks at her. "Yeah, I know. But it is not like I can't do it anymore… is just not in a professional way. But you're right, I should not do that, especially if I was not ready for it."
"That sounds good… So getting back to the story, what do you do after you're out of surfing? Did you do something else? I mean, did you find a job that doesn't hurt you much?"
"Well, surfing was my passion, so I couldn't do it any more professionally… because it was always a risk to get hurt again, so the doctors recommended that I not do it at all. So I have to move on and get away from all that. So I start looking for other things to do."
"So did you work in the US or come here after that?"
"I worked there for a few months, but since I was thinking of coming here… I came here to get away from all that." Joel tells her that part of the story but does not want to talk about Tess, at least not right now. So he continued with the less sad part of the story. "This was a good place to start over. (or that was what I thought at first.) I have already come here a few times and I know Rodrigo from those trips… so I decided to stay here, get a new home and a job."
Ellie stayed silent for a few minutes trying to digest all that. She suspected that it was more on that story that he did not want to tell her, but at least this was a start. This was a good way to get to know each other and she really likes that. Even if they start with the sad part of their story. "I don't know if I should be asking this right now… but you have a girlfriend at that time, right? I think you mention that you have an old girlfriend called Tess right?" Joel looked at her for a moment without saying anything. "I'm sorry… I don't mean to make you feel uncomfortable. Is it okay if you don't want to talk about her, I'm just curious about all that."
"Is okay…" Joel said while looking at the ocean. "Yes Tess was my girlfriend at that time, but things got complicated and didn't work out in the end." he just told her that so Ellie stopped asking questions about Tess. "I don't really like to talk about that."
"Sorry… I just hope that what happened between you two doesn't spoil you to find someone else… I mean… someone as handsome as you and with that body…" Ellie stops as soon as her face starts to turn red. "Sorry I don't mean it like that… but I can bet that a lot of women will be jumpy at you for your looks or… shit… I feel so embarrassed right now," she said while turning her red face away from Joel's view.
Joel laughed a little at Ellie's mumbles. "I thought you were studying marine biology, not men's pathology," Joel smiles as he watches Ellie cover her face. "Is okay… don't worry about it… and to answer you… question… no, I don't have anyone else after Tess…" Joel looked at the ocean and saw the sun starting to come down. "We should go… I don't want Rodrigo-"
"Be worried about us?" Ellie finishes his sentence.
"Well, more about his boat, but yeah us too… Besides, we need to get those fish we caught back." Joel stood up and offered her his hand. "Are you ready to swim back?"
Ellie takes his hand and lets him help her up. "Do you want to do a race back to the boat?" Ellie asked while standing in front of Joel.
Joel tries not to look directed at her body, but it was almost impossible to do that, especially in that bikini. "Are you sure you want to do that? I told you that you're good at swimming, but don't let that get into your head."
"Ohhh! Is that a challenge?" said Ellie while putting her hand on her good-form waist. "Because I'm ready to bet."
"Really!"
"Yeah…" Ellie moves one hand to her shin and starts to think. "Okay let's see… if you win I will cook and clean for you for a week."
"Ha, are you going to stay longer? Because you said that you only have two weeks left and I do not want to ruin your vacation by working in my house."
"Who said that you're going to win? Besides, I can extend my vacation if I want." She put her hand again on her waist but moved closer to Joel. "So what do you say? You want to bet or not?"
"You're playing a dangerous game girl… So what do I have to do if I lose? Not That I will of course, but humor me," Joel asked.
"Ha… you will be surprised… Okay, if I win you teach me how to surf… at least the basics… I'm not asking for you to go back to the water or anything… just teach me how to do it right." she said making sure to not be so pushy or make Joel feel bad about it. "So what do you say? Do we have a deal or not?" this was the chance she was waiting for. She knows now how this is for Joel and of course, she is not going to let Joel go back to the water, she only wants him to explain and teach her how to surf.
Joel thinks for a minute. He knew that Ellie will try to trick him somehow on the surfing thing, now that she knew he was a surfer. But there is no way that she can win this, so cooking and cleaning for a week sounds good for him, especially after losing his job.
"I know that you think that I ask for too much, so I will add something extra for you… I will pay you double, for the tours you give me including the two days you owe me… if you win." Ellie moved closer so her face was looking at him directly.
Joel stayed quiet for a minute, before answering her. "Okay… you're on. I just hope that you have enough money for that and know how to cook."
"Ahhhh… Don't worry… I'm not the one that is going to lose." Ellie pushed Joel and made him fall to the sand before she turned around and ran toward the water. "See you on the boat…" she yelled while getting into the water.
Joel starts to stand up and run after her. "Hey!... that's cheating," he yelled back at her.
"I never said I will play nice…" she said with a giggle before jumping forward and starting swimming toward the boat.