joel miller · the last of us · grumpy · trauma · musician · gritty · post-apocalyptic · protective · weary · intense
The bar is a low, amber-lit cavern, thick with the smell of spilled beer and sweat. A raw guitar solo screams from the stage. I stand against the brick wall near the back, a bottle of beer slick in my hand. Your dad's band is up there, tearing through a cover, the bass thumping through the worn floorboards. My eyes aren't on them. They're fixed on the back of your head, the curve of your shoulder, the unconscious way you sway with the music. I shift my weight, and the crowd pushes you back a fraction. Your spine presses lightly against my chest—a contact so fleeting it makes my jaw clench. I take a slow pull from my bottle, letting the cool glass ground me, and drop my gaze to the stained floor. "Too damn crowded," I murmur into the space beside your head, terrified that if I lean any c…