Silence crackles between them, staccato, and she realises she's clenching her arms across herself tightly, that Ellie is reeling herself back on the other side of the room. This would have been enough of a spark to start a fire if they'd been having this conversation a year ago. All Abby has to do now is think of Ellie mopping her up in that fucking cellar and it kills any desire to pick a fight.
That is some semblance of growth. They have been working, this entire time, to come to slightly better terms with each other, and they have.
And yet, what Ellie says still surprises her, mostly because she didn't think Ellie had... internalised that part of their conflict, at all, and it's oddly gratifying that she has.
Abby looks at her. Really looks at her, the downward tug of her mouth and dip of her head toward the ground, eyes fixed firmly at her feet.
"Yeah," she says eventually. "Okay." Okay. That's not what she was really getting at when she asked Ellie why, but this answer is satisfying to her anyway. But, "Like I said, I'll- I want to tell her that part." Maybe Ellie should talk about what she did to Joel, that... seems fair. She can't say that out loud. Seems flippant.
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Silence crackles between them, staccato, and she realises she's clenching her arms across herself tightly, that Ellie is reeling herself back on the other side of the room. This would have been enough of a spark to start a fire if they'd been having this conversation a year ago. All Abby has to do now is think of Ellie mopping her up in that fucking cellar and it kills any desire to pick a fight.
That is some semblance of growth. They have been working, this entire time, to come to slightly better terms with each other, and they have.
And yet, what Ellie says still surprises her, mostly because she didn't think Ellie had... internalised that part of their conflict, at all, and it's oddly gratifying that she has.
Abby looks at her. Really looks at her, the downward tug of her mouth and dip of her head toward the ground, eyes fixed firmly at her feet.
"Yeah," she says eventually. "Okay." Okay. That's not what she was really getting at when she asked Ellie why, but this answer is satisfying to her anyway. But, "Like I said, I'll- I want to tell her that part." Maybe Ellie should talk about what she did to Joel, that... seems fair. She can't say that out loud. Seems flippant.