Losing you ; Joel Miller

xxii. No pun intended

[2023]
EDEN

     " We have to do this every hour?" Ellie groaned when she walked out of the gas station. " Gas breaks down over time, this stuff's almost water" the autumn sun warmed their skin from the chilly wind. " Back in the day, we'd drive 10, 12 hours on one tank..." the car's surrounding them had been long abandoned by their owners, a harsh reminder of reality and society's past.

     " Nice! How does it work?" Ellie's curiosity seemed to vibrate out of her as she watched Joel blow through the tube, transfixed. " It's a siphon. It's when liquid... travels against gravity because pressure..." Eden snickered under her breath, biting her lip to stifle her laughs when Joel shot her a warning look, " I know it works. So, Mrs. Smarty pants, care to share your infinite knowledge with the group?"

     A smile grew on the blonde's chapped lips, enjoying the opportunity to nerd out. " Water molecules are actually bonded together through something called Hydrogen Bonding-" Eden paused, shaking her head, she was talking to a 14 year old. " Sorry, it uh- it works by using atmospheric pressure to create a vacuum that pulls liquid up and over the top of the tube and down into a lower container."

     " Wow... i didn't get any of that, but cool!" Ellie didn't even mention that it was the first time Eden had spoken in front of her, maybe she had forgotten, or perhaps she didn't want to make the older woman uncomfortable, either way, Eden was thankful. " You gotta teach me more smart stuff, oh! Look what I have... No Pun Intended, Volume Too by Will Livingston."

     " Volume Too. Look. You get it? Too? Like, T-o-o"

     Joel muttered a Jesus under his breath, shaking his head as the teen opened the first page and snickered to herself " it doesn't matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery."

     " What did the mermaid wear to her math class?" Ellie stared at Joel with expectation, he didn't respond " an algae bra" the younger girl fell into another fit of giggles, seeming to enjoy how Joel found her annoying.

" I stayed up all night..."

" No."

" Wondering where the sun went..."

" You just don't give up"

" And then it dawned on me"

JOEL

     " I got somethin'. Here, this make you all nostalgic?" Joel's gaze fell on the cassette tape in Ellie's hand, inspecting if for a second before feeding it to the cassette player. " This was actually before my time" Hank Williams was definitely before Joel's time, he died in the 50s.

     " Got somethin' else" Ellie chipped, the sound of pages being flipped caught Joel's attention. " It's, uh... light on the reading, but it has some interesting pictures" his eyes widened as he saw exactly what magazine Ellie was reading. " Oh. No, no, no. Put that back" he tried to keep his voice low, not wanting to disturb Eden and Ada, who were both sleeping in the passenger seat. " That's not for kids, Ellie" Joel scolded quietly, making a futile attempt at snatching away the porn magazine from the 14 year old.

     " How would he even walk around with that thing?" Ellie blurted out, nose wrinkling when her face turned into a grimace, though she found it disgusting, she prevailed and continued to look through the pages. " Hold your horses" the teen shifted her body so Joel couldn't snatch her newly found item away " I wanna see what all the fuss is about..."

     The older man sighed, eyes quickly darting towards Eden, she was out cold. " Why are all these pages stuck together?"

     Joel's face fell, awkwardness washing over him like a tidal wave, what was he even supposed to say? He didn't know the kid. Hell, he never even got to the point where he needed to have the talk with Sarah. " Uhh... the.."

     " I'm just fuckin' with ya" Ellie smacked him teasingly on the shoulder with the porn magazine, a cheeky grin growing on her face as she rolled down the car window " bye bye dude!"

     They continued listening to Hank Williams as they drove in silence, feeling himself grow tired, Joel muttered out " alright, that's enough for today" before taking a sharp turn into a field, driving towards the woods.

Honey is typing...
Short filler (ish) chapter to let you guys know I'm still alive lmfao
I've been on vacation for a week so I wasn't able to post anything, but I'm back! So buckle up for Kansas City