Disclaimer: I do not own any character of (The Last of Us) TLOU is owned by Naughty Dog and its creators.
A/N: Saludos, thanks again for the support on this story. Now let's go with the chapter.
Chapter 22: A Little Early For That
Ellie moves quickly over him and struggles with Joel to grab her phone back again. "Give me that… I don't want her…" Ellie does not finish that sentence as Joel put his hand on her chest to stop her, but Ellie continues to try to take her phone from his hand. After a few minutes, Ellie finally managed to take her phone from his hand. Soon she has it, Ellie moves quickly out of the couch covering her phone with her hand, and looks toward Joel. "Please don't do that again… okay… you don't know my mom," she said while moving away from Joel.
"So she was really you Mom?" he said while looking at her from the couch as he watched Ellie walk toward the small kitchen. "I don't know why you worry, she sounds nice… well at least at first," he said while looking at the kitchen. "Tell her that I said hi and that I am not a kidnapping or something… okay," he yelled as soon as she got out of his sigh. He knows that Ellie and her mom don't talk too much, but maybe it was time for Ellie to change that. She already lost her father, but she still has her mom around.
When Ellie was in the kitchen, she took a deep breath and moved the phone to her ear. "Hi… mom… sorry I didn't call you back those days, but…" she started, but stopped when her mom started to talk louder.
"Don't worry about that… Are you okay? Who was the person that answered the phone? And why don't you answer my texts or calls? Are you in some kind of trouble? Did that man kidnap you? I can call the police right now or the embassy… " Her mother started to ask a lot of questions quickly.
"Mom… Can you stop for a second? Is it not what you think?" Ellie waits for her mother to stop talking before talking again. "Thank you… look I'm sorry that I did not call you, but the signal is not good here… so sometimes I can't answer the phone or text you back. But don't worry I'm fine."
"I Know… I know… I get worried when you don't answer me." she said more calmly. "But why are you still on that island? I thought that your two weeks vacation was about to end and who was that man that answered the phone?" she asked her.
Ellie rolled her eyes. "Mom… I will stay here longer… because I extended my vacation for two more weeks… and about that-"
"Two more weeks? Ellie… you need to go back to school soon… so why extend your time there?"
"Mom… I still have a few things that I need to do and see here… that is why I want to stay a little more here. So don't worry about me, I will let you know when I get back to the USA… okay?" Ellie knows that her mother is trying to get close to her after her father dies but things are not going so well on that end. Ellie is trying hard to make things work because her dad told her to get closer to her mother again before he died. But things have been difficult between them because her mother always tries to control her life or tries to push her opinion on things on her and Ellie hates that. Lately, things were getting better, but her mother is pushing things too fast.
"I'm sorry Ellie… I know things have been difficult after… you know. I just want to be part of your life again… you are always going to be my daughter and I always will worry for you."
"I know… mom… but you need to stop pushing things and give me some time to get my head back on track… and stop doing things that I don't like… you need to change all that, okay?" Ellie said, calmly.
"I'm sorry Ellie but I was so worried when you didn't answer my calls and when I called your hotel they told me that you were no longer there… so I thought that something bad would happen to you."
"You call my hotel?"
"Yes… what do you want me to do when you do not answer me for days? Those places are dangerous, people go kidnaped all the time and… now that I finally reach you a man answers your phone…"
"Jesus… mom. I'm an adult… not a little girl."
"I know, baby, and I'm so sorry for being so worried… I just want you to be safe…"
"I know Mom… and I'm sorry to worry you… okay. But you need to trust me that I will be okay on my own. I know that you do not approve of the things I have been doing but I have my reason for all that…"
"I know baby… I'm sorry…. and I'm glad that you're okay… now are you going to tell me, who is the man that answered the phone? His voice sounds old… did he kidnap you… did he want money?"
Ellie rolled her eyes and stayed silent for a few moments. She covers the phone again with her hand and tries to think about what to say to her. She doesn't want to tell her that she has fallen for a man older than her… at least not yet. But she doesn't want her to think anything bad about him either.
"Is everything okay?" said Joel while standing again at the entrance wall of the kitchen with his arm crossed in front of his chest.
Ellie quickly turns her head and looks at him. "Yes everything is okay… is just my mom, she is worried about me… and… and now she thinks that you are kidnapping me or something."
"Well, you can tell her that you're the one that kidnaped me… and forced me to have sex with you… maybe she will think that you're a badass,"
Ellie gave him a look. "Joel, that is not funny… She could hear you and think that all that is true… I do not want her to know what I've been doing here… you don't know my mother… I don't know how she is going to react if…" she said with a serious tone but stopped before finishing her sentence. Ellie needs to think first about how she is going to tell her mom about Joel.
Joel raises his hand in a surrender gesture. "Sorry… it was just a joke…" he said calmly. "Why don't you tell her that I'm just your tour guide on this Island and… of course that I do not kidnap you. If you don't want to tell her what we've been doing besides that," he said before walking back to the living room and sitting back on the couch.
Ellie rolled her eyes again and went back to the call. "Mom… can I call you back later? I need to resolve something here… and it is very important…"
"Are you sure that everything is okay there? You're starting to sound nervous… so if something is happening there just tell me."
"Nothing is going on here… and the man you hear early on the phone is not kidnapped… I will talk to you later and explain everything okay? I promise."
"Okay… Ellie… have a good night and be careful there."
"I will mom, good night." Ellie hangs off the call and takes a deep breath. She waits a few minutes before walking out of the kitchen and watching Joel on the couch with his eyes closed with his head lying back. Slowly Ellie walked toward him and put the phone on the small table before sitting beside him. "Sorry about all that… Are you mad with me?" she asks in a lower but soft voice.
"Why will I be mad at you?" he said without opening his eyes.
"For not telling my mom… who you are and for snapping at you…"
"You don't need to apologize for that… it's not my place to answer your phone and make your mom worry," he said in a cold voice. "Is not like where really something or-"
"Joel!" She quickly said to stop him. Ellie moved one hand to touch his face. "Can you open your eyes and look at me please!" she said softly.
Joel waits for a minute before opening his eyes and leaning his head forward to look at her. "Is okay Ellie, don't need to worry… all is okay," he said while sitting better on the couch. "You don't need to explain anything… you don't need to tell your mom… that you're having an adventure with an older man," he said before starting to move out of the couch but stop when Ellie grab his arm and kept him seated.
"You're not going anywhere until you listen to me… because I can see you don't understand anything," Ellie waited for Joel to pay his full attention to her before continuing. Ellie takes a deep breath before talking again. "The reason I don't tell my mom anything about you… is because I'm not ready to tell her… that I've fallen for you." she finally said it.
"You…What?" Joel said with a surprised expression.
Yes… I… I love you… Joel… and I was afraid to say that to my mom because I knew she would start to ask me many questions and I was not ready for that." Ellie looks at Joel's face and it was still in some kind of shock. "I know that you think that I'm too young for you and that this is some kind of adventure or a crush for me… but is not. I love you, Joel, I really do…" she continued when Joel didn't say anything. "I tried to ignore it at first, but things have changed and I can't deny it anymore. I was feeling this feeling inside after a few days since we met, and now they're stronger. I know that this is maybe hard for you to understand, but I never fall in love with someone or feel what I feel for you… not really. I know that you're hurt and that bad things happen to you, but it is the same with me, and when I will you, I feel a lot better and want to be with you all the time. I didn't want to tell my mom yet, because I wanted to talk to you first and tell you what I feel and I knew that if I told my mom about you and me she would try to change my mind and I didn't want that." Ellie's eyes start to water as she looks at Joel's still-shocked face. Ellie waits for a few moments before speaking again. "Joel… Are you not going to say something?"
Joel turns a little to his side to be closer to her. He looked at her watery eyes to see if what she just said was real. But what he saw surprised him. Ellie was not lying, she really had feelings for him. He can say that he is starting to have feelings for her too, more than just like her. But what he was not expecting was that a 21-year-old girl will fall in love with a 40-year-old man like him. Joel didn't know what to say to her right now, so he just grabbed her face with his hands and leaned forward to kiss her. It was not just a soft kiss, he pushed his tongue past his lips into her mouth to deepen the kiss. Ellie welcomes him gladly and presses the kiss even more. After a few minutes, they break the kiss and look at each other's faces. "I don't know what to tell you, but I think that I love you too…"
"You think?" she asked while looking at his face.
"I don't know how this will end… and somehow it was a little unexpected… but I think I do, is all I can give you right now. I know that maybe is not what you-"
"I take it… for now." Ellie moves forward and kisses him again. "Don't worry I will make sure to make your mind understand what you're heart feels," she said with a smile.
"Okay… I will take all the help you can give me on that," Joel leaned forward again and caught her mouth with his. As they kiss, Ellie moves one hand on the back of his head and starts to play with his hair as they continue kissing. After a few minutes, Joel starts to lay her back on the couch and slowly moves on top of her. After they break the kissing to get some air Joel spoke again. "I think if we continue like this it will not take long… before you convince me…" said Joel before lowering his head and kissing her again.
Two hours later Joel and Ellie were on the bed wrapping themselves under the blanket. Joel was behind her wearing just his boxes and one hand around her waist. He was with his head behind her head on top of his pillow. Ellie was wearing one of his shirts with nothing under it while trying to get some sleep in front of him after having some sex practically all over the house.
"Joel?" she said his name softly.
"Hmmm!" he answered, still with his eyes closed behind her.
"Are you awake?" she asked.
"Nooooo!" he answers with a sleeping tone.
Ellie giggled at that. "I know this is not a good time… but can I ask something?"
"Can't wait… into tomorrow?" he said while snuggling more into her back.
"It can…but…" She moves her body a little into his, then moves one hand over the one it was wrapping on her and interlaces her fingers with his. "I will feel better if I know now…"
Joel moves his head to her shoulder and kisses her neck. He can hear her giggle again. "Okay… is not like I need a lot of sleep right now… so what do you want to know?" he asked softly.
"I don't know if this will bother you… but I wanted to know what happened between Tess and you. You never finish that part of the story."
Joel didn't say anything for a few minutes but stopped kissing her neck and moved his head a little back. "Do you really want to talk about that… now?"
"I know… I know, sorry… yeah this is stupid… forge that I asked," she said while tight her hand with his.
Joel just stays silent for a minute, before speaking again. "We broke up…" Joel said before moving his arm away from her and lying on his side of the bed.
Soon Ellie feels his body leave her, she turns around on the bed and looks at him. "I'm so sorry… Joel, I shouldn't ask that… I knew that you would feel bad about it."
Joel put one hand on his chest and the other behind his head. "Is okay… I don't feel too bad about it anymore… besides it was my fault anyway."
Ellie moved closer to him and put her hand on top of his. "You should stop blaming yourself for everything… Joel."
"No… this time it was really my fault…" he took a deep breath before continuing. "Things go bad after Tommy dies… I not only blame myself for his death, but his parents blame me too for that. They told me that if it wasn't for me their son would be alive… I don't blame them, Tommy was their only son."
"Joel… that is not fair. Of what you told me it was his decision and you try to stop him."
"Yeah, that may be so… but they have the right to think that… I don't blame them. Anyway, after the funeral, I came back here with Tess. She tried to comfort me, but I lost my way and got really depressed… I started to drink a lot and a little after that I lost my job. I thought the drinking will help me to forget, but it makes it worse especially with Tess. I started to yell at her a lot for stupid things and we fought all the time… I did not want to be with anybody at that time… so I was out a lot or just ignoring her."
Ellie moved into his chest and her head in front of his. "I'm so sorry… for making you remember all that… Joel," she said before kissing him.
"Is it okay… I was going to tell you anyway… is just," he moved his arm on her back as she lay on his chest.
"It's hard… I know," she told him in a soft voice.
"Yeah… anyway I started to push her away… she tried very hard to help me, but in the end, she just gave up… and I don't blame her… she deserves someone better than me, so it was good for her to go."
"There is no one better than you… Joel. I can tell you that… you just have a hard time and I know that you don't mean to hurt her."
Joel smiled a little at that. "Thank you for saying that, but you… will change your mind after spending too much time with me… the only thing I do best is pushing people-" Joel was silenced by Ellie's finger on her mouth.
"You should think that…" she said while moving on top of him. "You only do those things because you were depressed, but that does not mean that you're a bad person. Besides, from what I see you're not like that anymore."
"I know, maybe you're right to one point, but pushing Tess away was for the best… she is better without me and she deserves to be happy."
"JOEL MILLER!... Can you stop all that?" she yells at him to make him stop before moving up and sitting on top of him. "I may have known you for a few weeks, but I can feel in my heart… that you're not a bad man. So stop blaming or feeling bad about yourself. You need to move on from all that and I can see how much you change in those few weeks… so please take some credit for the good thing you do… You're a better man now."
Joel looked at her with surprised eyes. "Are you always going to be like this?"
"If you mean supported or aggressive?"
"I guess both…"
"Yeah, I can be like that sometimes. Joel… I just told you that I love you… and even you don't say the same yet. I am not going to change my mind about us… no matter what you said."
"No, even when I act like an asshole?" Joel said playfully.
"No, no even then… So stop being one and kiss me."
"Yes… ma'am…" he moved his arm around her back and pulled her down to him. Joel grabs her lips with his and starts kissing her. Ellie of course welcomes him as they continue their makeup in the bed. They do that for a little while and luckily for Joel, they end up wrapping each other again and fall to sleep without any more sex… at least not for the rest of the night.
For the first time since Tommy died, Joel slept in peace and all that was possible thanks to the young woman he was holding right now in his arms. The next day, Joel wakes up early in the morning and gets off the bed without Ellie noticing him. Joel goes out of the house and goes to his little shak on the back. He waxed his board and prepared another one for Ellie's next surfing lesson. He was almost finished when he heard someone coming from the back of the house getting closer to the entrance of the shak, so he turned his head and waited for Ellie to show up there.
"Are we going to have another surfing lesson today?" Joel hears Ellie as soon as she shows up at the entrance. He opened his eyes wide as soon he saw what she was wearing. "What?" she said before putting her hands on her side.
"Are you kidding me? You should not be wearing that out here," he said while looking at her.
Ellie comes out of the house wearing just the shirt that she put on last night. But obviously, she did not put any pants under. After a minute, Ellie walked inside the shak. "Why not? It's not like someone is going to see me like this out here," she said with a smirk on her face.
Some flashbacks came into Joel's mind when she said that. Because sometimes Tess said and did the same when she lived there with him. "Someone could… you don't know when someone will show here and-"
"Joel… the only one that I see coming here was Rodrigo… and he is out of the island remember?" Ellie moves closer to him and grabs the lower part of the shirt and pulls it up a little to show him her panties. "Besides I'm not naked if that was what you're afraid of."
"Wearing only you… panties under the shirt… does not mean that you're… never mind… just lower the shirt and let go back inside… I'll finish here anyway," he said before more flashback images of Tess come to his mind.
Ellie quickly grabs his arm and starts walking beside him toward the house. "Ohh… Joel, you look so romantic and cute… when you worry about me being half-naked outside where someone can see me." She said before they get close to the back door.
"Are you kidding? What man would like someone watching his girlfriend half-naked."
"I think half the world's men do that… when they let their girlfriends go to the beach in those provocative bikinis so other men can see them."
Joel moves his hand on her back and pulls her closer. "That is a totally different thing. Those men only want to show off their girl."
"Yeah… I think that part of that is true-wait did you call me your girlfriend?" Ellie asked as soon as they entered the house.
"Did I say that?"
"Yes… you did… so not pretend that you didn't." She moves her head forward and kisses him on the cheek while moving her arm around his neck.
"Okay… okay… whatever you said, now let's prepare something to eat and get ready to go." Joel waits for Ellie to let go of him before moving to the fridge to get the things he needs to make breakfast.
"Are we going to Cerro Dragon… again?" Ellie asked while opening one of the cabinets.
"No… I will take you to another beach… with bigger waves."
"Really? Do you think I'm ready for that?" she asked excitedly.
"For the kind of surf experience you have so far… yeah," said Joel while looking at her with a smile. "But I need to tell you that this time it will be other people there."
"Oh… so that means that we need to wait until we come back to the house to have sex," she said with a smile.
Joel just rolled his eyes in a muse. "That is the only thing you have in your mind?"
"And you don't?" she said, moving closer to him and hitting his side with her hip.
"Nope…" he said calmly.
"Lier!" She pushed him away from her. "I know you love having sex with me… and you're lucky that we need to go soon… if not where for that… we will be in bed right now having some."
"I never said that I didn't love it… I just said that I don't think about it all the time."
"Yeah right…" She punched his shoulder before running toward the bedroom.
Joel was going to go after her, but he knows how that will end and they really needed to be going soon and before the beach gets too crowded. "Okay… you will pay for that later."
"Do you… promise?" she said from inside the bedroom.
xXx
It takes almost two hours to eat and put what they need in the jeep to get ready to go. It takes another hour to get to the beach Joel was taking Ellie to her next surfing lesson. As Joel predicted there were people there, some lying on the sand and others surfing already. The beach was not one of the popular ones, but as they were in the middle of summer Joel knew that a lot of surfers liked to come here.
"Wow… there's a lot of cars here," said Ellie as soon as Joel entered the sandy parking lot.
"Yeah… it was better to come first thing in the morning… but someone stays in bed for too long and takes too much time to get ready," he said while turning the engine off and opening the door of the jeep.
"That was not my fault… we should get out early if you don't make me change two times," she said before opening hers.
"Are you kidding me? Come on, those bikinis of yours were not going to work out for surf… they probably fall off at the first fall you take into the water." Joel moves to the back of the jeep and starts to lose the board.
Ellie rolled her eyes but knew that he was probably right, and the last thing she wanted was to lose her bikini in front of a lot of people. It no was like they were surfing alone on a beach… She doesn't mind that then, now that they have some kind of relationship together. That is another thing they need to talk about what they're, now that she told him that she loves him. But that is something that can wait for another time.
Soon Joel finishes losing the board, he looks at Ellie. "Did you call your mom this morning?" he asks while putting the board down.
"Fuck!" Ellie said while lowering hers. "I forgot to call her… let me send her a text… and tell her that I will call her later… Tonight Ellie moves to the side of the jeep, opens the door, and starts looking for her bag. Soon she finds it, she takes her phone out, then turns it on, and starts to text her mom.
By the time she finished a few more cars had arrived with more people. "What do your mom tell you?" asked Joel while grabbing his board.
"She didn't answer my text yet… well it is a different time there, so… I will call her when we get back to the house," she said while turning her phone off and putting it back in her bag. Ellie looks around and watches the new people that arrive. It's getting very crowded here… are you sure that coming here was a good idea?"
"Well, better than the main surfing beach… that will be worse than this one." Joel grabs one of the bags and his board and starts to walk toward the beach. "C'mon before more people arrive." Ellie grabs her board and her bag and follows him.
Soon, they arrived at the beach and saw a lot of apples there. One part of the beach was for surfers and another was for the general public to swim. There were more than 50 people, most of them were families and only 8 or 10 were surfers on the other side. Joel and Ellie walk toward the surfer's part to find a good spot. Soon they found it, they lowered their bags and put the board on the sand. "Okay let's go easy… the waves here are not too high either so you will be good."
Ellie turns and looks at the one surfing already. "Are there any professionals here?"
"I don't think so… they go to a practice where the waves are bigger than this one." Joel grabs his board and starts walking toward the water. "C'mon… let's see how you do today."
"Joel… are you going in too? You know that's you not supposed to be in the water surfing," she said before grabbing her board and following him.
Joel stops and turns his head. "Is it okay… Ellie. These waves are not dangerous… now follow me and let's get started." he said resuming his walking toward the water. Ellie rolled her eyes but followed him into the water. Soon they moved away from the shore, they got closer to a few surfers that were waiting for a good wave there.
"Hey, Grandpa? You should not bring your granddaughter here… this sport is for men." said one of them.
Ellie sat on top of the board and got ready for a good wave to get started. "Oh… really? Then why are you here?" answered Ellie with a grin on her face.
"What did you say you-" the young man started, but stopped as soon he saw Joel.
Joel moves between them and glares at the young man. "Let's not say something that we will regret later… okay." Joel tries the soft move first, but he hates those kinds of kids that think that surfing is just for men.
Another two young men move closer to the first one. "I don't care what you think old man… she should not be here… if you want to teach her do it elsewhere… this beach is ours."
"Oh… really because I don't see your name on it. If I know right… This is a public beach and everyone can come here. Besides you do not even live here and this is not California," Joel turned his head back to ignore the three young men and look at the wave that was coming. "There is a good one… Ellie gets ready," he said looking now at Ellie.
Ellie moves into position and starts to paddle over the wave. Soon Ellie was on top of the wave, she got up on the board and rode the way. The three men looked at her with surprised eyes when she finished without falling out.
"Great Job Ellie… you do it great. Joel yells while seeing her paddle back after a few minutes.
"She was just lucky…" one of them said.
"She doesn't need luck… she is just good," answered Joel.
The three men start laughing. "Yeah… if you said so… Grandpa. She was lucky just lucky and that was an easy wave… either way you should get her out of here before your granddaughter gets hurt… This is not for women so it will be better if she leaves the surfing to the professionals."
Joel looks at the young man that just spoke because he doesn't even understand all the shit he just said. "Look asshole… first she is not my granddaughter… I'm 40, not 70 and if you can't see the difference go and visit an oculist… second she just started and I already think that she will be better than you three assholes in just a week." Joel said with a serious tone. "And third… if you see any professional surfer here… Let me know. Because all I see is a bunch of sexists that don't know anything."
"Whatever Grandpa…" The young man gave Joel the finger before moving to get the next wave. One of them focused on Joel's face before moving away too.
Joel just shakes his head and waits for Ellie to get close to him. He looked back to the boys as they surfed, wondering why one of them stayed looking at him. He was hoping that any of them would recognize him, that is the last thing he needs now. "Hey… Are you okay?" Smoked Ellie as soon as she got closer to him.
Joel turns his head and looks at her. "Yeah… let's continue… you did great by the way."
"Thanks… now let's do our thing before those assholes get back here." They got into position and waited for the next wave.
The young men move back to the water but stay away from them. "Hey… is that not the old man from the bar?" asked the one that looked at Joel directly before.
The other two looked in Joel and Ellie's direction. "Yeah… he looks like him…" they say before starting to talk between themselves.
"Did you say that your uncle goes back to the bar and talks with the manager to get him fired?" one of them said before they looked toward Joel again.
"He did… But I can see that wasn't enough to fuck the guy… he looks like nothing happen."
"Yeah… he looks happy…"
"Okay lest go closer and fuck this guy." said one of them before starting to peddle toward Joel and Ellie.
The three of them come closer to Joel as he was waiting for Ellie to come back. "Hey, old man… teaching a girl is your new job?" the leader of the group said.
Joel looks at them. "Are you three not having better things to do than bother other people here?"
"We're going… we don't want to be closer to losers… anyway," said the young man.
"Yeah… good luck with your new job old man… we hear that your last one did not go well." said another of them, before starting to laugh and move away to get the next wave.
"What did you say?" he asked but the kids were far away to hear him. "Assholes!"
Ellie arrives at his side and watches the young men riding the next wave get away from them. "Hey… where my admirers are going?" she asks him while watching them finish the ride and go out of the water.
"I guess they can't stand that you're better than them," said Joel with a smile.
Ellie laughs at that. "Yeah… that may be true but I saw them and they are good. But anyway I'm glad that they are gone. I don't get why in this century there are still some people who don't like women to do some sports… jeez we're in the 21st century."
"Don't give them too much attention… they are just punks that think they're better than anyone."
"Yeah…" Ellie looked in the men's direction and saw them on the beach talking to each other. She doesn't know why, but some of them look familiar. But she prefers to go back to the surfer lesson. "So how did I do?" she finally asked.
"I think you did better… this time."
Ellie moved closer to him and hit him in the arm. "Just better!... I didn't even fall on my first try."
"Well… since you're forcing my opinion… I think you did great…" he said with a smile. "But I only said that, so you don't hit me again."
"What!" She moves closer to him to hit him again, but Joel lowers himself on the board and starts to paddle away. "Hey! Where are you going…" she yells before doing the same and going after him. Joel goes into a wave and gets up to ride it. Ellie does the same and goes close to him. "I will show you how good I'm…" she yelled at him, but was happy to see Joel enjoy surfing again with her. She never knew that she would find a man that would make her so happy and she loved it.
Joel and Ellie continue surfing for a few hours. Joel teaches her a few tricks and helps her to improve her surfing. It has only been a day since she started in the water and she was starting to get good at it. By the time they get tired, most of the people there are gone. Some of the surfers continued for a little longer, but Ellie was glad that those ones didn't care if she was a woman. After they get out of the water they lay their board on the side of their beach towel and sit on them. They start talking about a few things and how she can improve her surfing.
"So what are we going to do tomorrow? Are we going to come here again?" she said after ending a long conversation. She grabbed her sunblock and started to put more on her skin.
"No… I have other plans for tomorrow…" he replied.
"Really? Where are we going?" said Ellie, moving close to him.
"Is a surprise… but it will involve Rodrigo's boat."
Ellie gets even closer and wraps her arm with his. "Ahhh… are we going diving again? That sounds great."
Joel starts to look around and watches a few people looking at them. He normally doesn't care what people think about him, but he doesn't like the looks of the woman he gave them. He hears a few of them murmuring with a disgusted look, so they are probably talking about how a man his age is doing with a young girl like Ellie. As Ellie won't act like she was his daughter, Joel can imagine what they're thinking about.
After a few minutes, Ellie noticed that Joel wasn't paying attention to her. "Joel! Are you still here?" Ellie asked as he did not answer her and she caught him looking at some people close to them. She can see how they look at them with disgusting eyes and now she can see that Joel must feel uncomfortable for it. So Ellie moves one hand and put it on his face and pulls it toward her. "Don't mind them… okay. Is it, not their business anyway," she said softly.
Joel looked at her eyes and smiled. "I don't…" he lied of course, because it bothered him a lot. Not because of him exactly, but about what they will think about Ellie. "Do you want to go? I can take you to a nice place to eat if you like," he said after a few minutes of silence.
"I will love that…" She was going to kiss him, but Joel turned his head, so she could not do it in front of those people. So slowly they move away from each other and start to pack their things to get out of there. Soon they put all their things in the bags, Joel and Ellie grab their boards and start to walk back away from the beach and back to the jeep.
"So you're going to take me to eat some local food?" she said, trying to not talk about what just happened there.
"No today… but I know a good place that serves great handmade burgers and fries. We can go there if you like," he said While starting to put the boards on top of the jeep.
"Hmm, so we're going to eat some American classic food… I like the sound of that," she said with a smile.
