(Starting off connected to the last chapter)

"Hey Elle." I called out to Ellie when we reached Jackson. "Yeah?" She asked as we walked back to Joel's house. I grabbed her hand and intertwined our fingers. "I actually have something for you but I left it at my place." I looked down at her as we continued to walk. "What is it?"

I shook my head with a smile on my face. "That my fellow human is... a... secret." Ellie shook her head at me this time. "You're such a loser." I laughed as we reached my house and walked up my room. "Okay, sit." I demanded while motioning to my bed and letting go of her hand. "And close your eyes." Ellie's giggle filled the room as I moved to my closet and grabbed her gift.

It was a new journal. Her other one was close to being filled and I thought it would be nice for her to continue writing and drawing the things she comes across.

I walked back over to Ellie and told her to hold out her hands. She did and I placed the book in her hands. Once it came into contact with her hands she opened her eyes. It was silent for a bit making me nervous. "Is it... Is it okay?" I sat down next to her. "I mean, yeah, it's another journal." This made me more nervous that I got her the wrong thing but after she looked at me she started laughing. "I'm fucking with you."

My eyes widened and my mouth hung open a bit. "I love it, thank you." She kissed my cheek and looked at the journal again. "You're an asshole." I sighed making her chuckle. Ellie continued to look at her gift and she finally opened it to see the little thing I wrote for her. "I-" I didn't give her a chance to day anything else as I got up, scared she wasn't going to say what I want her to, and I started walking out of the room.

"We better get going, don't want to keep Joel waiting." I said and made my way downstairs as Ellie followed. "Hey." She stepped in front of me before I could reach the front door. "I love you too." I smiled and pulled her into a kiss. Our first kiss.

"Hey, you two having fun?" We jumped apart when hearing dad from the kitchen entrance. "Jesus."

"Hey, dad." I said awkwardly. "We were just-" "Just being teenagers. I get it." He said with a chuckle. "Happy birthday Ellie."

"Thanks." It was silent for a bit more. "You know what? We actually have a movie night tonight, would you like to join us, Mr. (Y/l/n)?" Dad thought about it for a bit before nodding. "Sure, I'll join later, got some things to take care of first." We nodded. "Great! See you later." Ellie motioned for us to go and we left the house.

"God, first kiss and my dad saw." I voiced my thoughts as we walked down the street. Ellie's laugh rang through the air again. "Better him than Joel." I chuckled. "Joel would probably beat my ass."

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My eyes slowly opened to Ellie no longer being next to me. I stood up from my seat feeling my bones ache. I grabbed my stuff and walked out of the room. Hearing voices upstairs I made my way towards them. I slowly made my way up being as quiet as I could, not wanting to disturb anything.

"That helps." Dina said. "Look..." Ellie started talking. "last night was... stupid." It was quiet for a bit as I stood outside the room. A ladies voice from the radio interrupted that though.

"Casualties reported in Fourteen. All available units report. Over." Just as Dina turned up the volume I walked into the room and leaned against the door. "This is site Thirteen. Unit Lima nearby. How many Scars you got? Over."

"Negative on Scars. Lone male trespasser. Armed. Over." Dina looked at Ellie but glanced at me noticing I was there. "Lone male trespasser?" She questioned. "Tommy." Ellie made her way closer to the map. "Where's Fourteen?" I stood from leaning on the door frame and joined the two girls to look at the map. "I'm not 100% sure..."

"Okay, then guess." I said as I squatted down. "Well... If this is Seven..." She pointed at the map. "Twelve's all the way over here." She pointed at another location. "I guess it's somewhere in this neighborhood?" She circled around Hillcrest. "Okay." We all shared a look and started getting ready, except Dina. For obvious reasons.

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Dina took the chair off of the door and Ellie opened it only to look back at Dina as she was slightly hunched over. "I'll wait outside." I said as I pat Ellie on the shoulder and made my way outside. As much as I want to get back together with Ellie I can't help but think that maybe she'd be happier with Dina. At least Dina didn't take away the one thing that meant the most to Ellie. I'll live with that guilt for the rest of my life.

I let out a sigh as Ellie walked out the theatre to join me. "Let's go." She said and we were off to Hillcrest. "Dina doing okay?" I asked slightly worried. "Yeah, she's fine. When did you start caring?" She smirked at me. I shrugged. "She means something to you and I care about you. So, I guess, in a way I should care about her too. Plus, she's carrying a child."

"What does you caring about me have to do with caring about her?"

"Ellie, we already lost Joel. If you lost Dina, it would just make things worse."

I looked at Ellie to find that she had stopped walking. "You're right about that but you must know that I only see her as a friend." I turned to her with a confused look on my face. "Even if Dina and I did do some things... I just don't feel that way." I nodded now understanding.

We stood there, not saying anything. First of all, what the heck am I supposed to do with that information?! I'm an awkward piece of shit!

"That would have been a good moment for you to kiss me or something but now it's just to weird." Ellie said as she started walking again. "Wha-" I messed up again. "I can still do that though!" I slightly shouted at her as I followed only to get a soft giggle. That means no...

A/N: This has been sitting in my drafts for weeks... but I forgot about it... sorry... again. Hope y' all are still enjoying it though. :)))))