Don't let go: Joel Miller x OC

Pretty Red Lace

26th September 2024

It had been one whole year since he made the choice to leave Boston. Three hundred and sixty-five days since he first met Ellie- although it felt like he had known her for a lifetime with all they had been through. It had been just over six months since he started his new life in Jackson, six months since he first met Ava.

It had been a life changing year at that. He'd lost, he'd found, he'd saved, he'd loved, he'd feared and he'd changed. Never in a million years would he have thought this time one year ago that he'd have everything he has now; a safe home, a kid that he now saw as a daughter, a partner and a sense of peace.

Whilst this particular date had so many negative connotations for him, this year he didn't feel as bitter, hateful or numb as the previous twenty years had done. He still refused to celebrate his birthday, still mourned the loss of his daughter but at least now he had grown to accept that it was okay to seek happiness, to search for a future instead of dwelling completely on a past that could not be changed.

In true Jackson style, the community had chosen not to mourn but to instead celebrate. To celebrate another year of survival and to celebrate the lives of those who had fallen over the past two decades. Twenty one whole years since outbreak day.

The party was not held in the basement as it usually would have been but was instead held outside in the nature section, spreading onto the streets. Fairy lights were strung between buildings, stands were set up with food and drink, music echoed through the air and a bonfire blazed. The residents sung, danced, ate and drank the night away. Celebrating and commiserating all at once.

Tommy had even come across some boxes of fireworks on his last supply run which he brought back. The fireworks were set off at midnight as everyone huddled together to watch in awe of the pretty streaks of colour lighting up the dark sky over their little town, their small slice of heaven in a world obsoleted. 

Joel had one arm draped around Ava's middle, her leaning into him snugly as she hugged his waist and one hand palm on Ellie's shoulder as they contently watched the display that highlighted the atmosphere over them. Both his girls eyes lighting up in wonder with beaming smiles as the display of light took place overhead. From the outside it would have looked almost as if...as if they were a family. If only for a short while, he temporarily allowed himself to pretend and play into the idea that this was his family. His patchwork family.
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The couple had barely made it up the stairs before their affections had quickly turned to desire upon realising that they had the house to themselves. Their focus completely and solely on one another, lips connected, hands searching one another with an urgent eagerness as they stumbled to the bedroom.

Joel kicked the door open with his foot as he guided Ava back, not leaving her without his touch for even the briefest of seconds. As soon as the bedroom door closed, their movements became more passionate, more intense. The desire for one another growing by the moment. The blondes fingers haphazardly searched his flannel clad chest as she navigated to where the buttons of his shirt were, desperately and quickly undoing each one. He shrugged the shirt off, fisting it into a crumpled heap on the floor before yanking her tight fitting tee over her head.

An element of pleasant surprise flashing across his expression upon setting his eyes on what was underneath. He carefully ran the pad of his finger over the delicate red lace that cupped each of her full breasts, pretty floral patterns leaving very little to the imagination. A coy smirk quickly playing across his face as he ran the same finger over each curve and languidly down the soft muscle of her abs towards her navel. He pressed his lips back onto hers tenderly, allowing her to suck in his bottom lip as he unzipped her jeans and tugged them down to the floor, a desperation to explore what else she had been hiding beneath her casual attire.