sunshine // joel miller

TWENTY

"I get it!" Fran finally gave up, making Joel lean forward a bit, but not all the way, "get off me, paffuto. I can't breathe!"

"What'd you call me?" Joel asked her, not understanding the word. At Fran's silence, he leaned all his weight back on her, almost making her fall back as he asked again, "what'd you say?"

"I called you beautiful!" Fran lied, trying to push him up.

"Beautiful is bellissima," Ellie said; making Fran send her a glare from where she was trying to lug all of Joel's weight.

"Oh? You're lyin' to me now?" He asked, head now basically between her collarbones as he tilted his head to look up at her, she was still struggling to hold his weight.

"Fine! I called you chubby, now shift," Fran mumbled, making Joel shake his head.

"It's muscle mass," he argued the insult.

"It's fucking heavy," She argued, "shift!"

Joel leaned back up then as Ellie smiled fondly at the two, never could she imagine Joel acting like that with anyone. It made her feel very happy.

"Well, how 'bout that?" Joel asked, looking at all the buildings that now surrounded them, "Made it in five days."

"Easy days." Ellie commented after calming down; "I don't know what Tommy was so afraid of."

"Don't curse us," Fran begged the girl, "smooth sailing."

"She's right;" Joel said to the two, "There's still time to find out."

"Still time to find out." Ellie copied his voice again, before creepily whispering, "The Contractorrrr."

"You are so funny, Ellie," Fran said to her sarcastically, "I hope no one ever dims your sparkle."

"Is it attack Ellie day?" She asked, hands going up in front of her in exasperation.

"It's Fran's being mean day," Joel responded, "she called me fat."

"I called you chubby," Fran argued, "and didn't you say it was muscle mass?"

"It is," Joel mumbled as they came across a stone plaque at the front.

"Home of the Big Horns," Ellie read off of the plaque; furrowing her brows, "What does that mean?"

"Team mascot. It's a kind of sheep," Joel said, answering and also referring to the drawing of a ram under it.

"It's a ram," Fran clarified, "Joel here is still learning basic animal terms. Ram's are male sheep."

"Oh, see? One step closer to your dream." Ellie said; smirking at the comment from Fran that only won the woman a small glare from Joel, "Don't see any Fireflies, though."

"They're probably in the middle. Safer." Joel said as Fran's arms went tighter around him, a small apology for the joke, and also from a little fear. She'd noticed the grip on his gun tighten when Ellie had mentioned the fireflies.

Truth is this place could be filled with raiders, or infected, anything.

"This way." Joel led them down, Ellie following behind as she looked at all the tall buildings. They were going past student accommodation at the time, Fran seeing fake plants in the windows that had somehow stayed completely in tact.