This is Not the Last of Us

Chapter 19

Ellie had met Cat before she got her tattoo, but it had really kickstarted their relationship. Cat was a sweet and fun girl who held Ellie and her friends in the highest regard.

"This tattoo is gonna take a while, Ellie. Are you sure you want to get one so big?"

"Yeah, I want to cover up the acid burn, so it needs to be pretty big."

"How'd you even get the burn anyway?" Cat asked with a tiny smile.

Ellie stared down at the mark on her forearm, trying to decide how to answer that question. It was the best way she could think of to get rid of the constant reminder of Riley.

"I, uh, I did it to myself. It was a bit of an accident." She lied.

"Oh my gosh, it must have hurt like hell." Cat gasped and brought a hand to her mouth.

Ellie stared at the featherlight markings for the tattoo. It was the beginning of a new leaf for Ellie; the start of a better life.

"It didn't feel good," Ellie confirmed, "Luckily, I'm friends with the town doctor. He helped me clean up the wound and made sure it healed nicely."

"Oh, yeah, Mr. Lancaster-Ramirez is super nice. I do my check up every year, and he remembers everything about me. Like, in a nice way– not a weird one."

Cat continued to use her tattoo machine to etch it into Ellie's skin. Ellie had wondered where she found one, but it turned out she had it commissioned from one of the town's inventors. The only issue had been finding ink, but old pens were easy enough to find and even easier to empty.

The tattoo was mostly done; this would probably be the last session for it. Ellie had to admit that she would miss this a bit. She had come to appreciate Cat's company and the jokes they shared were kind of nice. It was like sitting in front of a window with a warm cup of tea when she was with Cat.

She liked that feeling.

The session dragged on for about two hours, but when Cat was done, they both couldn't help but admire her work. It was a gorgeous tattoo. A Savage Starlight reference alongside some ferns. Ellie quite liked it.

Cat and Ellie shared a look, and Cat took the first leap. Quite literally pouncing onto Ellie with a hot and heavy kiss.

For a second, Ellie enjoyed it, but the very next second she was pushing Cat away. Ellie was infected, what if her spit caused Cat to get infected and she destroyed Jackson? Ellie couldn't live with the thought.

Cat stared at Ellie with a confused look, "I'm sorry, did I misunderstand?"

"No!" Ellie immediately protested, "It's just... I've never kissed someone before."

It was an easy enough lie to pull off, anyone would believe it. Cat's face relaxed and she smiled in relief.

"Oh, thank god. I thought I ruined everything."

"No, you didn't." Ellie assured her with a smile. "I'm, uh, going to go home, though. Not because of you, I'm just kind of tired."

"Oh, okay! I'll see you tomorrow, Ellie!"

Ellie had finally gotten her own home, away from Joel. She loved Joel, adored him, even. It was just kind of nice to have a safe space that only screamed Ellie. It held posters of all different varieties. Tons of pictures of the new friends she made in Jackson, along with some of her, Joel, Seth, Ace and her best friend. Ellie had more pictures of her and her best friend than anyone else. She had taken tons of practice pictures with her to get used to using the camera, and Ellie loved every single one of them. Her smile came so easy to her face, and Ellie loved that about her.