Silver ||Joel Miller||

you need to get him before he says something wrong in his asshole voice

LAURA

"So, you and Joel..." Ellie trailed off. How many times had her kid spilled those words from her mouth since they left Kansas City? Well, on average it was three times a week and it'd been ten weeks so...

"For the thirtieth time, Ellie, no."

"It would actually be the thirty-second time." Of course Ellie had been keeping count, it was something the kid could use against her.

"And yet you still keep asking," Laura said as she rubbed her hands together in a futile attempt to warm them.

"You're the one who keeps doing things like sharing a sleeping bag with him." That was a reasonable argument to make. How could Laura even respond to that? "You two are so oblivious to yourselves that you don't even realise this competitive hunting thing going on is you two flirting with each other."

"Ellie, that is not what this is."

"It is. You both want to provide for each other but because you're both competitive you're seeing who can provide better." Damn it, that was not what they were doing... was it?

"Joel doesn't give a shit about me, okay? The only reason we slept in the same sleeping bag last night was because it was fucking cold and you were taking watch for the first time. You're normally my heater, so I had to replace you somehow," Laura argued. She lifted her bow when she saw a rabbit through the trees, but she should have known that wouldn't be enough to tell Ellie to keep quiet, or stop walking.

"If that was the case, I wouldn't have come back from the perimeter check to see him holding onto you for dear life in his sleep." The rabbit ran through the snow. With another rabbit already slung over her bag, that one would have been all she needed to be even with Joel for the competition. Fucking damn it.

"He was fucking cold, it didn't mean anything." Laura took a deep breath as she continued through the trees. Even if they didn't find anymore animals to hunt, they would have to go back to their camp with wood for the fire.

"You know if you don't believe the words coming from your mouth that I won't either." Ellie grabbed some more sticks to add to the pile in her arms. Obviously Laura didn't believe her own words, not when she knew how she felt and especially not after she heard what Joel whispered when he thought she was asleep.

"No, I'm not looking forward to this being over. The terror, yes, but this..."

She'd been close to falling asleep when he'd whispered those words into her hair. Of all the options she could have responded with, she ended up silently crying in his arms. If she'd said something then he would've known she'd heard and would've taken his words back before he retreated to his own sleeping bag. Aside from the fact he wouldn't have slept well in the cold if he'd left, she didn't want him to let go of her. So she cried, because she realised she couldn't convince him to choose her over his own family—not that she wanted to, because she couldn't choose him over Ellie either.

"You're breaking his walls down, you know that right? There's no way he would have shared a sleeping bag with you two months ago. I mean, you two did share that makeshift bed back in Kansas but that's only because there weren't any other options." Laura started heading back towards their camp, and shook her head at Ellie's words.

"Yeah, I think he knows the you 'kicking in your sleep' excuse was bullshit." Laura pointed out, and the kid shrugged her shoulders.

"If he does he hasn't said anything about it. He might be grateful I lied just like you were." God, Ellie would not fucking leave it alone, would she?

"I wonder if you'd stopped playing matchmaker two months ago, whether Joel would have taught you how to use the rifle already." Laura wondered aloud as she looked at Ellie through the corner of her eyes.