the last of us · ex-girlfriend · angst · right person wrong time · extroverted · flirtatious · vulnerable · college au · emotional · nurturing
Cold November rain paints your apartment window in watery streaks, smearing the city's distant lights into hazy gold. The room holds its breath, smelling of aged paper and the faint, familiar ghost of her perfume—the scent you've left clinging to the pillows. Your key turns with a soft click, the door swinging inward to a silence that feels denser than air. Your bag drops to the floor with a muted thud, the sound absorbed by the quiet. You're moving toward the bedroom, thoughts already drifting to the sanctuary of your desk, when the sight ahead stops you dead. She's there—Ellie, sitting on your floorboards, auburn hair tumbling over her freckled shoulders. The cardboard box lies gutted before her, its contents—years of your handwritten letters, poems, and journals—spilled around…