pairing: joel miller x ofc!genevieve
word count: 3156
content warning: 18+ blog; heavy angst, child loss, talk of death, talking about Sarah, heavy emotions, grief, fluff, vague talk about being with other people while married (but neither know the other was alive/nocheating), reader has a name but has zero descriptive features, reader is wearing some of Joel's clothes, no age given but is within a couple of years of Joel, if l've missed anything please let me know
notes: oh look what I managed to whip up! Joel was on the brain and I was thinking of these two so I just let things flow- needed a break from Dave I guess. Big thank you to @gnpwdrnwhiskey for her continued support and help as I worked through this— love you!! This writer supports Palestine and does not share or support the views of tlou creator.
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Contentment blooms somewhere deep within you. It fills in every fractured part of you that’s been lost and forgotten for so long. It brings a sense of peace, a feeling that you’ve searched for through bleak and uncertain times.
There’s a twinge of guilt that starts to prick at you, shame at how quickly familiarity has settled in. Less than 24 hours ago, your life had shattered on that hillside. Leaving you broken and left to figure out how to move forward with little hope of ever finding placidity of any sort. Only to seemingly be put back together after stepping foot into this new place, reacquainted with your old life. For it to be ripped apart again.
You decide to focus on the stillness that bleeds through the morning air. Focus on how sleep came with ease as you settled into bed, far easier than it should have— has been for years. Focus on the way the sunlight catches the tiny dust particles that have been floating in front of the bedroom window for the last hour, each one on its own lofty path. Focus on the warmth that radiates from Joel as he still sleeps soundly next to you. His body instinctively found yours in the night— after all this time, he still fit perfectly against you.
Joel. Your Joel. Alive and here with you.
Your mind tries to replay every detail that has led you to this conclusion, replaying that reunion over and over. A happenstance of pure luck that you’re here, laying in the arms of your husband.
A second chance? But why? Even as you will yourself to revel in the beauty of reconnecting with Joel, your heart still fights to grieve— Steve… Sarah.
“Whatcha dream about?” A question you haven’t heard in two decades, Joel’s voice low and laced with sleep as his lips brush over that little spot behind your ear.
It transports you back to a time where mornings together were sacred and unhurried. The sun barely pours through the opening in the curtains, still enough darkness to remain entangled and unbothered by the day's menacing agenda. Joel’s warm body spooning you from behind, his leg anchored between yours, a heavy arm securing you to him.
Whatcha dream about? Was his good morning-love you-how did you sleep? He’d listen intently as you spoke about the wild imagery that filled your mind through the night. Whether it was a silly little blip of a dream or some drawn out story that had you dissecting its meaning far longer than your mornings allowed, Joel was fully invested. Humming along as he absorbed the details, only interrupting in the form of feather light kisses he strategically placed on the little spot behind your ear, the crook of your neck and slope of your shoulder.
In turn, you always asked him the same. What dreams graced Joel Miller's brilliant mind? And he always responded the same, I don’t need to dream when I have you.
“About that one summer, I think Sarah was 8, maybe 9. We decided to have that barbecue, and invited all the neighbors over.” Joel’s nose gently slides over your ear, his forehead resting against the side of your head. “Sarah was in heaven with that slip n slide she begged us to get once the heat finally hit. We had to beg all the kids to take a break so we could fill them up with hotdogs and chips— then they were right back at it again. I remember a few of them cried when their parents told them it was time to leave, but Sarah being so sweet told them they could come back again the following weekend.”
Joel’s arm tightens around you as you talk, soaking in the memory he so vividly remembers. Sitting together on the blanket you had laid out on the lawn, tucked into his side as you both sipped on ice tea while you watched Sarah and the remaining few neighborhood kids, hyped up on soda and popsicles, splashing down the plastic water slide until the sun finally dipped below the back fencing.
“That was the same weekend Tommy thought he was invincible. Made it a whole two slides before he was hollerin’ like a baby and I was drivin’ his dumbass to the urgent care.” You can feel Joel grinning as he recalls his own recollection of that day, little puffs of air hitting your neck followed by a singular kiss— his lips hesitate briefly, lingering just enough to not make you uneasy, but enough to convey the love he still holds for you.
“Yeah— I can’t remember if it was the blonde or the redhead he was trying to impress that time. He got her number either way,” you add on. Joel’s light hearted laugh doesn’t go unnoticed, you smile at the sound as a single tear plunges into existence, rolling down your cheek and falling to the cotton pillowcase below.
Tommy.
“Tommy—“ You gasp, your stomach drops at the notion of Joel losing his brother. Turning in his arms so you're facing him, Joel’s eyes fluttering open at the sensation of you lightly brushing over his patches of grey whiskers . “Tommy. I— he’s…”
“He’s alive.” Joel’s expression is soft as he says it, his heavy lids lifting to take all of you in, grateful that this wasn’t some ruthless dream his mind was torturing him with.
“What— Tommy’s alive? Where is he?”
“Here. He’s kind of in charge— always wanted make a name for himself somehow. Him and Maria actually put this whole place together.” His heart nearly gives out seeing your face light up.
Joel takes advantage of the proximity, really taking in every detail of you in this morning light. He’s not surprised how even as the world shifted into darkness, you still managed to emerge into this season of life so gracefully. Noting how so much of you has changed, in gradual ways he wishes he could have witnessed first hand, but you’re still you— even more beautiful than he remembered.
“Maria— She’s Tommy’s wife?” You ask, softly laughing as your mind begins to connect the dots to when she had mentioned you would be staying in her brother in law's house and elated Tommy had found himself such a strong woman to settle down with.
“Yeah. Maria invited us over for dinner— whenever you feel up to it.
“Mmhmm. Yeah, I’d like that.”
You watch your fingers trace over Joel’s golden skin, still soft but slightly matured with age. Their curiosity produces tiny goosebumps as you reacquaint yourself with each tiny freckle and ridges of his chest.
Joel’s own fingers dance over the hem of the shirt you're wearing. There’s hesitation at first, bloodshed and sacrifice embedded into every creased line, every rigid callus he’s collected. The weight of them is too rough and repulsive to share with you. But you don’t notice the way they’re marked with flaws gained through surviving and enduring. His progress becomes less reluctant as he soothes over the sliver of exposed skin on your hip, resisting his own temptation actively burning through him.
“Did you and Tommy come here together?”
“We went to find you, but the hospital was empty by the time we got there— just assumed, you not bein’ there meant that you were…” Dead. “We left Texas, eventually made our way up north to the Boston QZ— taken in by Tess and her crew— had us smuggling. Tommy being Tommy, was fed up with it, you know how he gets. So he left, joined the Fireflies before finding Maria and settling here.”
It’s condensed. Leaving out how the obscure nature of this world had hardened him into a depleted shell of a man. He knows it will eat away at him, keeping it from you. Though for the time being, it’s a burden he’s willing to carry.
“We kept in touch for some years after through the radio but then he stopped contactin’ me. Tess n’ I decide to go find him— how we got the girl.”
“Ellie?” You pull your head back and settle onto your pillow, watching as Joel’s face morphs through a multitude of emotions as he speaks.
“Yeah, Ellie. After Tess— she was bit— I had to save who I could and keep movin’. We finally made it here, Ellie and I. She’s a spitfire that girl. I was such an asshole to her too, but she never gave up on me— think she saved me more than she realizes.”
“Ellie mentioned her yesterday, Tess. You two were— partners?”
“We— she and I were— we—“ Joel finds it hard at this moment to put an exact label on what they were, especially when explaining it to you, his wife.
It’s evident Joel harbors the same guilt as you. The two of you navigating a new life apart, your hearts seeking refuge in this destroyed world. You can see it, the shame slowly stitching its way into Joel’s features. How it pains him to verbalize it to you. To admit to something that in a different setting, your old life with him, would rip you apart.
“Joel, it’s fine— whatever you both meant to each other. We were apart, not knowing the other was alive. You don’t have to explain anything to me.” You pause briefly. You let your own words sink in. Steve still heavily in your peripheral thoughts.
This is your chance to start over, to be happy— do that for me?
Steve’s last moments with you, a premonition of sorts. This is your starting over. Here. Back together with Joel. A man you’ve held in your heart during the darkest of times for so long.
“There was— I wasn’t alone either.” Joel's quiet but lends you his full attention, giving you the impression you don’t need to explain or justify anything either. “He was bit right before we got here.”
“I’m sorry.”
There’s a lull in the conversation. The room is quiet as you both bask in each other’s touch. The inevitable of what’s been left unsaid hanging over you both like an ominous cloud of dread. Joel is already preparing himself for what you’re expecting to hear. Your heart prepares itself for the inevitable of what you want to know.
You swallow the lump that’s settled in your throat. “Was she here— did Sarah come here with you?” Your fingers stilling over a familiar scar on his shoulder that you’ve traced over a hundred times in the past.
“Eve— we don’t have to talk about this today.” Not really sure if it’s for your benefit or his— perhaps both.
“Joel— please.” Your voice cracks ever so slightly, lifting your gaze to his, tears already burning your lash line.
He falters. Considering the caliber at which you have lost already, his heart begins to construct walls. Solid and impervious to the reality that’s haunted him for so long. Locking it away as he always does, suppressing the pain over and over. But as you look at him with your eyes glossed over, ignoring the subject isn’t an option anymore. Not with you. Not with the woman who gave him his purpose, his life— his babygirl.
“No. She didn’t.” He releases a heavy sigh. “She— it was the first night of the outbreak—“ His voice trails off when he sees you’ve figured out the rest, nodding as your own tears silently overflow.
Joel’s breath hitches. Reliving the incident through your eyes has what is left of his heart shattering against his chest.
Fail her. Again and again.
You feel it in your bones. A hurt so deep it feels unbearable. Beyond any capacity you think you can handle. It splinters and forks out, penetrating every layer of your being.
Joel wraps his arm around you, seeking a closeness he’s longed for in your arms.
You cling to him desperately. Trembling as your hearts fuse together, reinforcing a love that’s managed to withstand lost time. Picking up where you both left off— 21 years ago.
*
It’s some hours later. Tears dried and breathing settled. The heat radiating from the window warms the bedroom a few degrees above the morning chill.
Shuffling coming from downstairs wakes Joel. Pots and pans clanging about, alerts Joel that Ellie’s grudge against him was short lived, for now at least, especially since it seems as though hunger has struck. He knows he’ll have to face her sooner than later, snuff out any remaining teenage rage still actively smoldering.
A glimmer of light refracts off the window pane, collecting in the tiny diamond nestled in the center of the ring on your left hand that’s resting on his chest.
It draws him in. Like a moth to a lit flame, mesmerized by the sight, needing to consume its beauty wholly. His fingers fidget with the dainty gold band, again struck by how you still felt compelled to hold true to the vows you both shared, evident in the way you're still wearing it.
Joel’s contemplation of the ring pulls you from the edge of sleep. The stammering of his heart, wavering somewhere between a nervousness or exultant leveled rhythm, is the first sound you audibly recognize as your eyes take in the rest of the room.
“You’re still wearing it.” Joel's voice rumbles through his rib cage against the walls of his chest.
“Hmm?” Your sleep addled mind absorbing and deciphering to its best ability.
He lifts your hand, thumb running over your most treasured possession. Your fingers splay out above where you both still lay in Joel’s bed, cotton sheets kicked away, neither of you willing to let go of the other.
“Yeah— kept me going when I didn’t have any reason to.”
The watch still wrapped around his wrist doesn’t go unnoticed. Its face no longer resembles the pristine condition it once had. The arms frozen in place. A time forever displayed as such. The cause of its destruction is not of importance right now— another time.
“Wait— I have something.” It’s all you say before you extract yourself from Joel’s arms. “My bag.”
Joel sits up alongside you, pointing to the corner of the room. Your tattered leather bag slumped on the floor next to the wooden dresser.
Your tired legs carry you to your belongings on the other side of the room. The floorboards cool beneath your feet during the short distance it takes to grab the bag and haul it back to the bed where Joel rests propped against the headboard. The mattress dips as you climb back in, reclaiming the space next to him.
Joel watches as you sift through the opening, in search of something hidden within the bag’s contents, in a spot only known to you.
A small smile breaks across your face the second your fingers clasp around the small item.
“I made it back to the house after some time— had to see if I could find you. It was sitting in its usual spot in our bedroom. It’s been with me ever since.”
Your fingers slowly unfurl, revealing a simple gold band resting in your palm. “I believe this belongs to you.”
Everything stills as you watch Joel take in the sight of his wedding. Find it hard to discern what he’s feeling at this moment. His relaxed features now clouded by sadness and confusion, causing you to second guess your intentions for wanting him to have it back at this time.
“It’s okay if you don’t want it right now— or ever. I know this is all still a lot to take in for both of us. So I understand if you don’t. I just—“
“No— No, Eve. I do. I definitely do want it.”
It fits back where it was intended to be with ease. The metal intense the second it makes contact with your skin, Joel’s large hands cradling your face as he delivers a gentle kiss of gratitude to you.
“Thank you. For keeping it safe for me.” He says softly against your smile. “Forever mine.”
“Forever yours.”
*
Joel’s moving about, pulling clothes from over stuffed drawers, dressing himself for the day. You're occupied on the edge of the bed, unpacking the remaining items from your bag in preparation to find permanence in this space Joel calls home. He’d mentioned the idea of you living here with him, giving you the option of taking his room for yourself while he camped out in the living room, which you turned down immediately. You had just gotten him back, and you wanted it to stay that way. So you agreed to stay permanently in his room, under the condition that he would be in it too.
The bed shifts when Joel sits next to you, groaning as he leans down to pull on and lace up his scuffed work boots.
“What all you got in there?” Joel’s focus oscillates between you and his hands working at his worn laces, watching you empty 21 years worth of life that’s been crammed into the small space.
“Pad of paper, a few books, some maps, some first aid equipment, a change of clothes that desperately needs to be cleaned.” He listens to you intently, the bag deflating as you pull each item, inspecting it then strategically organizing them on the bed for the time being, glancing over when you hear Joel chuckling as you rattle off one thing after the next. “Some other random things I’ve collected over the years.”
Everything accounted for, you toss your bag to the side. It hits the floor with a muffled thud in front of Joel’s boots. You miss the small folded paper that slips onto the patterned rug that lays beneath the bed.
“This somethin’ of importance?” Joel asks, hold the paper between two fingers.
“Not sure. Might just be some trash.” Taking it from him, promptly unfolding it for further consideration.
It’s a letter. Not one of your own, although it’s directly addressed to you. Your eyes flit over every word. Then once more. And then again. Picking up on key words each read through.
Eve… Genevieve… Jackson… Radio… Joel… Bit… I’ll be waiting for your letter… I love you…
“What is it?” Joel’s hand settles on your thigh, your silence slowly becoming worrisome as you stare at the paper, its edges crinkled in your grip.
“Joel— what’s your job here?” Your voice cracks in the air.
“Patrol mainly. Took over the radio sometime ago. Help out here and there— wherever I can. Why?” His thumb strokes over your leg, a subtle mixture of coaxing and grounding, equally preparing himself for whatever it is that you’ve just happened upon.
Each droplet hits the paper with a sharp plunk.
Plunk. Plunk. Plunk.
The words blurring, squeezing your eyes shut tightly, releasing the tears all at once.
class of 07 - 1.06
Today, we bid farewell to the men who thrived in the gray area, who exploited the benefit of the doubt and depended on the silence of others. Today, we say to those men…
Okay so I rewatched the first episode and bc it's a reunion everyone has 'my name is __' stickers, the only people who aren't wearing them are Tegan and Megan, though I might just have missed them, Anyway, the canon names are
Zoe Miller
Saskia Van Der Beek
Ameila Collins (UPDATE: I previously had this as 'Chapman as that is what her husband was listed as on her phone, this could actually be her name now as she didnt tell anyone she got married to him before the reunion)
𝑫𝑬𝑺𝑷𝑰𝑻𝑬 𝑩𝑬𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑭𝑹𝑶𝑴 𝑫𝑰𝑭𝑭𝑬𝑹𝑬𝑵𝑻 𝑩𝑨𝑪𝑲𝑮𝑹𝑶𝑼𝑵𝑫𝑺 𝑨𝑵𝑫 𝑯𝑨𝑽𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑩𝑬𝑬𝑵 𝑹𝑨𝑰𝑺𝑬𝑫 𝑫𝑰𝑭𝑭𝑬𝑹𝑬𝑵𝑻, 𝑻𝑯𝑬𝑺𝑬 𝑾𝑶𝑴𝑬𝑵 𝑾𝑬𝑹𝑬 𝑨 𝑭𝑶𝑹𝑪𝑬 𝑻𝑶 𝑩𝑬 𝑹𝑬𝑪𝑲𝑶𝑵𝑬𝑫 𝑾𝑰𝑻𝑯. Indeed, Sara Rosier's dorm was interesting, for many of her friends were interesting on their own right. Minerva Kennedy was a daughter of a murdered politician; Lillian was from a wealthy family and an overbearing mother; Genevieve Davenport was a criminal and a kleptomaniac; Lydia Ellis was a fellow socialite and Persephone Gould had very interesting powers.
These women had a deep bond and were supporters of one another, and despite having some differences, they loved each other still and were Sara's rock and made her Hogwarts years more bearable.
Minerva belongs to @unfortunate-arrow / Lillian belongs to @camillejeaneshphm / Genevieve belongs to @gaygryffindorgal / Lydia belongs to @beloved-bucky / Persephone belongs to @cursebreakerfarrier
21 luglio … ricordiamo …
#semprevivineiricordi #nomidaricordare #personaggiimportanti #perfettamentechic
2022: Taurean Blacque, all’anagrafe Herbert Middleton Jr., attore statunitense. Iniziò la sua carriera nel 1976, interpretando piccoli ruoli in serie televisive. Dal 1981 al 1987 interpretò il detective Neal Washington nella serie televisiva Hill Street giorno e notte. Ha adottando dieci figli, oltre ai suoi due figli da un matrimonio, Shelby, che si è concluso con un divorzio nel 1966.…
A male in office was going to let a child rapist free but a woman defeated him in last Novembers election and is now keeping him locked up. This is why every vote counts means more than just the presidential election.
By Genevieve Gluck January 31, 2024
A serial child rapist who had previously secured a release from prison after identifying as transgender has finally been deemed a “sexually violent predator” under Iowa state law. A judge has determined that Joseph Matthew Smith, who now uses the name Josie Maria Dunham or Josie Smith, should be confined in a secure facility indefinitely, quashing a previous ruling that claimed Smith was no longer a sexual risk due to being on feminizing hormones.
Newly-elected Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird is behind the push to keep Smith in custody, having recently defeated the nation’s longest-tenured attorney general, Tom Miller, in a November election.
In 2020, Miller endorsed the move that saw Smith released from custody. Bird then condemned his judgement in the matter, running ads during her campaign slamming Miller as sympathetic to the sexual predator.
A petition filed in December in Buena Vista County District Court requested a civil trial in order to determine whether Smith should be re-classified as a sexually violent predator with a high chance of re-offending.
“[Smith]’s mental abnormality makes him more likely than not to engage in predatory acts constituting sexually violent offenses if not confined in a secure facility,” the petition reads. “[Smith] should be committed to the custody of the Department of Human Services to be held in a secure facility for control, care, and treatment until such time as his mental abnormality has so changed that he is safe to be at large in the community.”
In December 2015, Smith was convicted in Buena Vista County of lascivious acts with a child. At the time, Assistant Attorney General Andrew Schoonhoven determined that Smith suffers from “at least one mental abnormality, specifically the mental abnormality of pedophilic disorder,” which predisposes Smith to “commit sexually violent offenses to a degree constituting a menace to the health and safety of others.”
A pre-sentence psychological report was prepared by the State’s expert, Dr. Jeffrey Davis, a psychologist from the University of California.
Davis recommended that Smith be confined at the Cherokee Civil Commitment Unit for Sex Offenders (CCUSO) for an indefinite period based on what he determined to be a high likelihood of sexual re-offending. The report noted that Smith had told a state forensic psychologist he had molested as many as 15 children under the age of 13, the youngest being a 1-year-old baby. He added that he believed Smith was more likely to commit a sexual assault than 92% of male sex offenders.
There has not been even one recorded case of a female patient having been committed to the CCUSO in the unit’s 25-year history, reports the Cherokee Chronicle Times. But there have been at least three trans-identified males in the civil commitment unit. One of those patients, a man named Christian Schiebel who uses the feminine name Tina Keller, told the Storm Lake Times-Pilot he was advised by his attorney that a transgender identity would increase his chances of release.
Smith made international headlines in 2020 after being released from prison just 4 years into an indefinite prison sentence. He had been convicted of sexually assaulting an 11-year-old resident at Midwest Christian Services (MCS), a treatment facility for juveniles following another conviction for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old when he was a teenager.
Despite his record of sexual offending, on January 9, 2020, the Iowa Attorney General’s office filed a motion to dismiss a petition requesting that the serial pedophile be considered a sexually violent predator. The Iowa Attorney General office’s defended the decision by citing Smith’s reduced testosterone levels as a result of hormone treatments. Attorney general spokesman Lynn Hicks stated that “an offender’s hormone levels are an important part of substantiating an offender’s likelihood of recidivism.”
Officials claimed Smith was at a lower risk of re-offending due to an altered testosterone level, and that he “no longer had the sex drive of a man.”
Smith had been receiving hormones related to his self-declared gender identity while being held at Newton Correctional Facility, where, in January 2016, he began serving an indefinite sentence after being convicted of molesting a child. In October 2017, he first expressed a desire to “get started on transgender classification” and started using female pronouns.
Hicks also claimed that an expert had determined that Smith was not at a risk of re-offending due to his gender identity. An Iowa district court judge therefore granted the motion to dismiss “in the interests of justice.”
In January of 2020, Smith was released on parole; but by October of 2021, he had already violated the terms of his strict conditions by using an unauthorized electronic device and seeking out sex. Despite the violation, Smith was not remanded to custody, and was instead allowed to continue to live in the small city of Sloan, Iowa.
In January 2022, Christine Louis, administrative law judge for Iowa Correctional Services, sentenced Smith to two more years in prison, as he had again violated the terms of his parole. During an inspection in January, Smith’s parole officer discovered child pornography on his phone which depicted boys and girls aged between five and eight years old. Smith requested leniency, but was ultimately denied.
fall apart, again : interlude - a letter to joel | joel miller
-> pairing: joel miller x ofc!genevieve
-> wc: 1001
-> content warning: 18+ blog; angst, alluding to loss, post outbreak, reader is Joel’s wife, reader has a name but has zero descriptive features,
-> a/n: I kind of abandoned this series and didn’t really have any plans to finish it. It felt good where they ended in chapter 3 so I was just going to call it good. But then I was reading through the chapters and kind of found some inspiration to write something for them again. Big thank you to @gnpwdrnwhiskey for always listening and encouraging and fixing my writing!!
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Joel,
Feels weird to be sitting here, on our bed, in our home. I guess I should mention we made it back to Austin— Steve and I.
I met Steve in the ER in Laredo on the evening of the outbreak— he lost his wife. We managed to make it out of there together and promised to keep each other safe. He heard there’s a QZ in Denver, so we’re making our way north.
I made him promise to stop in Austin. I just had to see for myself, see if there was a chance you and Sarah might still be here— alive.
Like I said, it feels weird to be here. Seeing our house in this state. Disheveled and abandoned, but still feeling very much like the place we thought we’d live forever. It’s like a personal landmark now, for what once was such a beautiful home filled with so many beautiful memories. Maybe it’s more of a mausoleum of sorts. Kind of morbid, but also very true. ‘Here lies the Millers, before the world went to shit.’
Except, I’m here and you’re not.
I think the worst part of all of this is not knowing if you’re okay. Steve says I have to accept that there’s a chance that you’re not, that any worst case scenario that I have lost sleep over, might be my reality. But I refuse to accept that. So, I silently pretend that you are okay. That you have managed to get Sarah and yourself, and hopefully Tommy, to safety. You’re somewhere out there protecting our baby girl and staying strong for her like you’ve always done.
I feel like I’m rambling. My thoughts are just all over the place being here and thinking of you. Or maybe I’m just dragging out my time here because the minute I leave, it will be like a final goodbye to this place— and I don’t think I’m ready for it just yet.
It’s like I can still smell the faint musk of your cologne in the air. Like you’ll walk through our bedroom door, pulling your keys and wallet from your jeans and tossing them on the dresser, all while telling me about some mishap on a job site that set you back a few days. I can just see that grumpy look you wear so well. Then, when you’ve let it all out, you instantly soften when you finally look at me sitting on our bed and then you’re apologizing for boring me with your work bullshit. I would listen to your work bullshit every single day if it meant we could be together again.
When I got here, it was like I was being pulled into Sarah’s room. I sat there for a while, remembering all the times we had laid there with her reading her bedtime stories until she would fall asleep. I miss our dance parties while we would wait for you to come home, her insisting I had zero rhythm anytime one of her little boy band hits came on and I attempted to keep up with her choreographed routine she had memorized. I’m taking a few things of hers, I hope that’s okay. I don’t think I can come back here and I want to have something of hers.
I found your ring on our dresser. Don’t worry I’m not mad you aren’t wearing it. Gosh, I can’t believe I would get so worked up over seeing it laying there instead of on your finger. I know how much it bothered you wearing it to work and worrying about losing it or getting it caught on something, and yet I would still get annoyed over it. But, maybe you weren’t meant to wear it so I could find it today, so I could have a piece of you with me always.
I guess I should wrap this up. I know how much you love when I can go on and on about anything.
I will write to you. Whenever I get the chance. To Sarah, too. I’ll keep writing to you both for as long as I can.
I love you Joel. I always have. And I always will. Wherever you are, I just hope you know that.
Forever and always,
Eve
*
“Hey, Genevieve— ya doin’ okay up there?” Steve calls up from downstairs.
“Yeah! Just give me a sec! I’ll be right down.” You try to hide your pain as you respond, wiping the few tears sprinkled across your cheeks.
You fold your letter to Joel, placing it securely in an envelope you had found next to the pile of printer paper you tucked away with the items of Sarah’s in your pack. You push yourself off the bed, walking around to the side where Joel slept since the day you moved in. You run your handover the indentation in his pillow, remembering how much you loved to wake up before him just so you could watch him sleep.
Lifting the corner of his pillow, you gently place the letter underneath it. The last place you talked to him, is the first place you’ll write to him. You imagine he’s laying there, sleeping peacefully when you kiss the top of his pillow.
Grabbing your pack off the bed, you take one last look at the space, your heart clenching at the finality of this visit. You force your legs to move towards the direction of the door, stopping briefly at the dresser to grab Joel’s ring, tucking it into one of your packs inner pockets safely.
Steve is sitting on the couch when you finally make it downstairs. His patience is something you’ve appreciated since the day you met. He knew how much stopping here meant to you, and he told you to take as much time as you needed.
“All good?” He asks once you’ve stepped off the last step.
“No, but it will be, I think.” You tell him as you make your way out the front door.
Aaron Bay-Schuck
Aaron Sorkin
Adam & Jackie Sandler
Adam Goodman
Adam Levine
Alan Grubman
Alex Aja
Alex Edelman
Alexandra Shiva
Ali Wentworth
Alison Statter
Allan Loeb
Alona Tal
Amy Chozick
Amy Pascal
Amy Schumer
Amy Sherman Palladino
Andrew Singer
Andy Cohen
Angela Robinson
Anthony Russo
Antonio Campos
Ari Dayan
Ari Greenburg
Arik Kneller
Aron Coleite
Ashley Levinson
Asif Satchu
Aubrey Plaza
Barbara Hershey
Barry Diller
Barry Levinson
Barry Rosenstein
Beau Flynn
Behati Prinsloo
Bella Thorne
Ben Stiller
Ben Turner
Ben Winston
Ben Younger
Billy Crystal
Blair Kohan
Bob Odenkirk
Bobbi Brown
Bobby Kotick
Brad Falchuk
Brad Slater
Bradley Cooper
Bradley Fischer
Brett Gelman
Brian Grazer
Bridget Everett
Brooke Shields
Bruna Papandrea
Cameron Curtis
Casey Neistat
Cazzie David
Charles Roven
Chelsea Handler
Chloe Fineman
Chris Fischer
Chris Jericho
Chris Rock
Christian Carino
Cindi Berger
Claire Coffee
Colleen Camp
Constance Wu
Courteney Cox
Craig Silverstein
Dame Maureen Lipman
Dan Aloni
Dan Rosenweig
Dana Goldberg
Dana Klein
Daniel Palladino
Danielle Bernstein
Danny Cohen
Danny Strong
Daphne Kastner
David Alan Grier
David Baddiel
David Bernad
David Chang
David Ellison
David Geffen
David Gilmour &
David Goodman
David Joseph
David Kohan
David Lowery
David Oyelowo
David Schwimmer
Dawn Porter
Dean Cain
Deborah Lee Furness
Deborah Snyder
Debra Messing
Diane Von Furstenberg
Donny Deutsch
Doug Liman
Douglas Chabbott
Eddy Kitsis
Edgar Ramirez
Eli Roth
Elisabeth Shue
Elizabeth Himelstein
Embeth Davidtz
Emma Seligman
Emmanuelle Chriqui
Eric Andre
Erik Feig
Erin Foster
Eugene Levy
Evan Jonigkeit
Evan Winiker
Ewan McGregor
Francis Benhamou
Francis Lawrence
Fred Raskin
Gabe Turner
Gail Berman
Gal Gadot
Gary Barber
Gene Stupinski
Genevieve Angelson
Gideon Raff
Gina Gershon
Grant Singer
Greg Berlanti
Guy Nattiv
Guy Oseary
Gwyneth Paltrow
Hannah Fidell
Hannah Graf
Harlan Coben
Harold Brown
Harvey Keitel
Henrietta Conrad
Henry Winkler
Holland Taylor
Howard Gordon
Iain Morris
Imran Ahmed
Inbar Lavi
Isla Fisher
Jack Black
Jackie Sandler
Jake Graf
Jake Kasdan
James Brolin
James Corden
Jamie Ray Newman
Jaron Varsano
Jason Biggs & Jenny Mollen Biggs
Jason Blum
Jason Fuchs
Jason Reitman
Jason Segel
Jason Sudeikis
JD Lifshitz
Jeff Goldblum
Jeff Rake
Jen Joel
Jeremy Piven
Jerry Seinfeld
Jesse Itzler
Jesse Plemons
Jesse Sisgold
Jessica Biel
Jessica Elbaum
Jessica Seinfeld
Jill Littman
Jimmy Carr
Jody Gerson
Joe Hipps
Joe Quinn
Joe Russo
Joe Tippett
Joel Fields
Joey King
John Landgraf
John Slattery
Jon Bernthal
Jon Glickman
Jon Hamm
Jon Liebman
Jonathan Baruch
Jonathan Groff
Jonathan Marc Sherman
Jonathan Ross
Jonathan Steinberg
Jonathan Tisch
Jonathan Tropper
Jordan Peele
Josh Brolin
Josh Charles
Josh Goldstine
Josh Greenstein
Josh Grode
Judd Apatow
Judge Judy Sheindlin
Julia Garner
Julia Lester
Julianna Margulies
Julie Greenwald
Julie Rudd
Juliette Lewis
Justin Theroux
Justin Timberlake
Karen Pollock
Karlie Kloss
Katy Perry
Kelley Lynch
Kevin Kane
Kevin Zegers
Kirsten Dunst
Kitao Sakurai
KJ Steinberg
Kristen Schaal
Kristin Chenoweth
Lana Del Rey
Laura Dern
Laura Pradelska
Lauren Schuker Blum
Laurence Mark
Laurie David
Lea Michele
Lee Eisenberg
Leo Pearlman
Leslie Siebert
Liev Schreiber
Limor Gott
Lina Esco
Liz Garbus
Lizanne Rosenstein
Lizzie Tisch
Lorraine Schwartz
Lynn Harris
Lyor Cohen
Madonna
Mandana Dayani
Mara Buxbaum
Marc Webb
Marco Perego
Maria Dizzia
Mark Feuerstein
Mark Foster
Mark Scheinberg
Mark Shedletsky
Martin Short
Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Mathew Rosengart
Matt Lucas
Matt Miller
Matthew Bronfman
Matthew Hiltzik
Matthew Weiner
Matti Leshem
Max Mutchnik
Maya Lasry
Meaghan Oppenheimer
Melissa Zukerman
Michael Aloni
Michael Ellenberg
Michael Green
Michael Rapino
Michael Rappaport
Michael Weber
Michelle Williams
Mike Medavoy
Mila Kunis
Mimi Leder
Modi Wiczyk
Molly Shannon
Nancy Josephson
Natasha Leggero
Neil Blair
Neil Druckmann
Nicola Peltz
Nicole Avant
Nina Jacobson
Noa Kirel
Noa Tishby
Noah Oppenheim
Noah Schnapp
Noreena Hertz
Odeya Rush
Olivia Wilde
Oran Zegman
Orlando Bloom
Pasha Kovalev
Pattie LuPone
Paul & Julie Rudd
Paul Haas
Paul Pflug
Peter Traugott
Polly Sampson
Rachel Riley
Rafi Marmor
Ram Bergman
Raphael Margulies
Rebecca Angelo
Rebecca Mall
Regina Spektor
Reinaldo Marcus Green
Rich Statter
Richard Jenkins
Richard Kind
Rick Hoffman
Rick Rosen
Rita Ora
Rob Rinder
Robert Newman
Roger Birnbaum
Roger Green
Rosie O’Donnell
Ross Duffer
Ryan Feldman
Sacha Baron Cohen
Sam Levinson
Sam Trammell
Sara Foster
Sarah Baker
Sarah Bremner
Sarah Cooper
Sarah Paulson
Sarah Treem
Scott Braun
Scott Braun
Scott Neustadter
Scott Tenley
Sean Combs
Seth Meyers
Seth Oster
Shannon Watts
Shari Redstone
Sharon Jackson
Sharon Stone
Shauna Perlman
Shawn Levy
Sheila Nevins
Shira Haas
Simon Sebag Montefiore
Simon Tikhman
Skylar Astin
Stacey Snider
Stephen Fry
Steve Agee
Steve Rifkind
Sting & Trudie Styler
Susanna Felleman
Susie Arons
Taika Waititi
Thomas Kail
Tiffany Haddish
Todd Lieberman
Todd Moscowitz
Todd Waldman
Tom Freston
Tom Werner
Tomer Capone
Tracy Ann Oberman
Trudie Styler
Tyler James Williams
Tyler Perry
Vanessa Bayer
Veronica Grazer
Veronica Smiley
Whitney Wolfe Herd
Will Ferrell
Will Graham
Yamanieka Saunders
Yariv Milchan
Ynon Kreiz
Zack Snyder
Zoe Saldana
Zoey Deutch
Zosia Mamet
ok so my goal this year was to read 100 books and then i went ahead and read 109. and if i read the locked tomb series three times through that's no one's business but mine <3
italics are queer, bold are amazing, bold italics are queer and amazing
jan:
middlesex - jeffrey eugenides
the mountains sing - nguyên phan qué mai
the vegetarian - han kang
the galaxy and the ground within - becky chambers
to be taught, if fortunate - becky chambers
when we were orphans - kazuo ishiguro
americanah - chimamanda ngozi adichie
h of h playbook - anne carson
klara and the sun - kazuo ishiguro
the space between worlds - micaiah johnson
feb:
normal people - sally rooney
circe - madeline miller
blood of elves - andrzej sapkowski
gideon the ninth - tamsyn muir
time of contempt - andrzej sapkowski
baptism of fire - andrzej sapkowski
march:
the tower of the swallow - andrzej sapkowski
lady of the lake - andrzej sapkowski
harrow the ninth - tamsyn muir
the last wish - andrzej sapkowski
we should all be feminists - chimamanda ngozi adichie
a memory called empire - arkady martine
burnt sugar - avni doshi
a psalm for the wild built - becky chambers
april:
the alchemist - paul coelho
sword of destiny - andrzej sapkowski
oranges are not the only fruit - jeanette winterson
the colour purple - alice walker
the midnight library - matt haig
where the crawdads sing - delia owens
10 minutes 38 seconds in this strange world - elif shafak
the discomfort of evening - marieke lucas rijneveld
crying in h mart - michelle zauner
my year of rest and relaxation - ottessa moshfegh
the shadow king - maaza mengiste
the virgin suicides - jeffrey eugenides
sapiens - yuval noah harari
the manningtree witches - a. k. blakemore
may:
parable of the sower - octavia butler
hot milk - deborah levy
an unkindness of ghosts - rivers solomon
the water dancer - ta-nehisi coates
pure colour - sheila heti
this is how you lose the time war - amal el-mohtar & max gladstone
five little indians - michelle good
june:
indian horse - richard wagamese
ducks, newburyport - lucy ellmann
the vanishing half - brit bennett
medicine walk - richard wagamese
crier's war - nina varela
a quality of light - richard wagamese
after the quake - haruki murakami
death in her hands - ottessa moshfegh
the school for good mothers - jessamine chan
bluets - maggie nelson
of women and salt - gabriela garcia
lapvona - ottessa moshfegh
mcglue - ottessa moshfegh
songbirds - christy lefteri
july:
to paradise - hanya yanagihara
sankofa - chibundu onuzo
the argonauts - maggie nelson
jane: a murder - maggie nelson
eileen - ottessa moshfegh
iron widow - xiran jay zhao
homesick for another world - ottessa moshfegh
a desolation called peace - arkady martine
the art of cruelty: a reckoning - maggie nelson
the witch's heart - genevieve gornichec
dune - frank herbert
aug:
never let me go - kazuo ishiguro
the island of missing trees - elif shafak
the marriage plot - jeffrey eugenides
almond - won-pyung sohn
all over creation - ruth ozeki
the water cure - sophie mackintosh
drive your plow over the bones of the dead - olga tokarczuk
sep:
the remains of the day - kazuo ishiguro
the blind assassin - margaret atwood
go set a watchman - harper lee
a pale view of hills - kazuo ishiguro
seven fallen feathers - tanya talaga
an artist of the floating world - kazuo ishiguro
the atlas six - olivie blake
the inconvenient indian - thomas king
a tale for the time being - ruth ozeki
ru - kim thuy
split tooth - tanya tagaq
wintering - katherine may
nomad century - gaia vince
dune messiah - frank herbert
the unbearable lightness of being - milan kundera
oct:
nona the ninth - tamsyn muir
indians on vacation - thomas king
severance - ling ma
nocturnes - kazuo ishiguro
nona the ninth - tamsyn muir
a prayer for the crown-shy - becky chambers
nov:
gideon the ninth - tamsyn muir
harrow the ninth - tamsyn muir
nona the ninth - tamsyn muir
embers - richard wagamese
dec:
starlight - richard wagamese
the buried giant - kazuo ishiguro
autobiography of red - anne carson
notes on grief - chimamanda ngozi adichie
cloud cuckoo land - anthony doerr
on fire: the burning case for a green new deal - naomi klein