readingunderstars

[readingunderstars]

Blue Dream - One

Dealer!Ellie Williams x OC, College/University AU

Sypnosis: 

Ria Ortiz is a sophomore at Valerie College, grappling with the difficulties of a long-distance relationship. In preparation for her friend's birthday party, Ria needs to get her hands on some pre-rolls. Her regular plug only sells edibles, but he refers her to another dealer on campus—Ellie Williams.

Warnings: 18+!! recreational drug use

Word Count: 2.5k

⊰✭⊱

Professor Vargas’s office was everything one might hope for in a study. A massive shelf consumed the far wall, full to the brim with science books. Before it, a colossal desk was home to the Chair of the Biology department at Valerie College. Photographs from decades of research adorned every corner. Professor Vargas was in all of them, holding sea urchins, embracing her teams, petting turtles.

Ria stared at them in awe as she waited for the professor to finish whatever she was writing in her computer. At once, the typing ceased, and Professor Vargas removed her glasses, setting them aside. “Thank you for your patience,” she said, and looked at Ria in the chair opposite her. “Miss Ortiz, I have news for you.”

Straightening her posture, Ria fidgeted with her ring. “Did you hear back from the Monterey program?”

Professor Vargas opened one of her drawers, and retrieved a blue envelope, sliding it across the dark wood of her desk. Ria took the envelope. It was from the Biology department. She looked up to Professor Vargas, who was watching expectantly. “Did I get in?”

“Open it,” Vargas said with a smile, and Ria’s fingers trembled as she ripped the side, pulling out a folded letter. 

This was it. The reason she had come to Valerie. Well, not the only reason, but it was the biggest one. Valerie College partnered with the Monterey Bay Aquarium to create a marine biology summer program for its students. It was everything Ria wanted, from field work all over the west coast to the chance of studying marine life. Especially green sea turtles. She had spent countless hours preparing for this—studying, building a relationship with the department, interviewing, writing essays. And now she held the decision in her hand, a year and a half of hard work condensed into a single moment. 

She opened it, and gasped as she read it, her eyes filling with tears. “Welcome to the team,” Professor Vargas said, standing to offer a congratulatory hug.

Ria jumped into her arms, closing her eyes, crying with happiness. “Thank you so much, Professor.”

“Please, we’ll be working together soon,” she replied. “Call me Melissa.”

Ria ran out of the science building complex and into the green center of campus. “AJ!” she screamed. Her brother looked up at the sound of his name, standing up from his spot under Old Tree, where she had seen him studying earlier. “I GOT IN!”

AJ laughed, grabbing his head with his hands. “For real?” 

“YES!” The wind ran through her curls as she charged at AJ. Ria threw her tote on the ground as he braced for impact. She ran straight into him, launching them both unto the grass.

Rolling off him, Ria sighed and stared up at the massive canopy of Old Tree. Little laughs escaped her, still in disbelief.

“Congrats, renacuaja,” AJ said. Tadpole.

Ria shoved him, but couldn’t manage to be mad. She’d gotten in.

“You gotta tell Julian.”

Sitting up, Ria’s smile dropped. “You couldn’t let me have a moment before thinking about that?”

AJ shrugged. “Sorry,” he said. “But you do have to.”

“Ya te oí,” Ria said, waving her hand. I heard you already.

Ria’s phone vibrated in her back pocket, and she jumped. Unlocking her screen, she opened Snapchat to a notification from the only person she ever texted on the app—her dealer.

Ryan Murphy had replied to her question about some pre-rolls for tomorrow’s party. 

murphyslaw: i only sell edibles

Ria groaned. He was the only dealer she’d bought from since her last one graduated, and Ria had promised to hook everybody up.

“What’s wrong?” AJ asked, going back to where his laptop sat.

“Murphy doesn’t sell bud,” she replied, twisting to look back at AJ.

He tsked. “I could’ve told you that.”

Giving him a look, Ria laid her head back down on the grass. Another notification popped up.

murphyslaw: my friend sells bud tho, she might have some. u want her info?

Fuck yeah, I do.

ria.ortiz: Yes pleaseee

murphyslaw: alr hold on

murphyslaw: @el_will

ria.ortiz: Thanks Murph, see you around

Typing in the username into the search bar, Ria laughed. El Will. The Will? She wondered if Murphy’s friend was Hispanic. It didn’t help that the account had no name, just an emoji of a fern. Ria added her.

Standing up, Ria swiped away any pieces of grass on her clothes and hair. Then she spotted her bag several feet away and picked it up, sitting against the trunk of Old Tree beside AJ. “What kind of gifts does Sasha like?” he asked.

Ria’s phone lit up again. “Um,” she said, seeing the dealer had added her back. That was quick.

el_will: you came from Ryan, right?

“Ria,” AJ called.

ria.ortiz: Yeah, he said you might have pre-rolls?

“What?” she said, not really paying attention to him.

“I asked you a question,” AJ said.

el_will: i do. right now i’ve got a sativa-dominant hybrid. that good?

“Hm?” Ria looked at him. “Oh. She likes candles.”

ria.ortiz: Yep, I just need 10 for tomorrow

“What did you get her?”

“Just get her a candle, AJ,” Ria said, watching as the dealer typed. “Can’t go wrong with that.”

el_will: alr so it’s 10 half-gram pre-rolls, $7 a piece. can you meet at 6?

ria.ortiz: Sounds good and yes

el_will: come to the green house across the street from Cedar Hall.

⊰✭⊱

Ria spent the rest of her afternoon in her dorm, first calling her parents to tell them the news, then doing assignments until her brain practically rotted. Closing her eyes, she decided to leave the rest for the following day, before the party.

Checking the time, she saw there was enough to grab dinner before picking up everyone’s share of the money. She grabbed a sad plate of pasta and questionable chicken and climbed up the hill to Birchwood Hall. Halle and Katherine had left their dorm unlocked for Ria, and the money was on Halle’s desk.

Two floors above them, Jamie handed her the cash. “I’m making jello shots. What flavor do you want?”

Looking at the flavor boxes laid out on Jamie’s bed, Ria took the blue one. “Berry Blue.”

“The only option,” Hugo said, walking into his boyfriend’s dorm. He took out his wallet and counted enough for two joints. “Thanks, Ria.”

“Anytime,” she said, and headed out.

The last stop was Sasha’s suite on the first floor of Cedar Hall. It was the dorm building across from the dealer’s house, and where the party would be held the following night. Ria knocked as a courtesy but didn’t wait for an answer before turning the knob—none of them ever locked the front door during the day.

The suite living room connected the three dorms within, two doubles and a single. Party decorations had been dumped on the small table, waiting to be put up. A foldable chair sat to either side of a couch, upon which one of Sasha’s suite mates sat, knitting. Rosa’s hands worked to make something Ria couldn’t identify out of the sage green yarn on the ground.

“Oh hey,” Rosa said, and stopped knitting to point at a roll of cash on the coffee table. “It’s all there. Sasha’s in her room, in case you wanted to see her.”

“Thanks,” Ria said as she counted the bills, walking to the door directly past the couch. Her hand barely touched the handle before Sasha opened the door, smiling brighter than usual. 

“So?” she said, her brown eyes wide. “Did you talk to Vargas?”

That same happiness flooded Ria again, and she smiled just as brightly as Sasha. “I got in,” she said.

Sasha screamed jumping as she took Ria’s shoulders. “Oh my God!” Then she stopped, her jaw dropping. “Oh my God,” Sasha said. “Now you really have to tell Julian.”

Ria groaned, throwing herself on Sasha’s bed. “Why is that the first thing everyone says?”

“He’s your boyfriend, Ria. He needs to know at some point.” Sasha knelt beside the bed, and Ria turned her head to face her. “What’s scaring you?”

“I’m not scared… It’s just that we only see each other when I go home, and if I stay in California over the summer,” she covered her face with her hands, “I know he won’t like it.”

“Alright, so he doesn’t like it. What’s gonna happen?” Taking Ria’s hands away from her face, Sasha leaned her head on the mattress. “Would he end your two-year-long relationship over this?”

“No,” Ria said, staring at the ceiling. Sasha had placed glow-in-the-dark stars on it, the kind Ria had always wanted as a kid. “He wouldn’t. But the distance is already hard on him, and I feel bad.”

“Isn’t the distance hard on you too?”

Ria shrugged. “I don’t really think about it a lot.” Looking down at Sasha, a heavy weight fell on her stomach. “Is that bad?”

Sasha considered it, pressing her lips together. She softly stroked the hairs on Ria’s forearm. “I can’t answer that for you.”

Ria chewed her cheek. “I guess,” she said, getting up. “Oh, by the way, Murphy didn’t have pre-rolls so I’m getting them from his friend.”

“I could have told you he doesn’t sell pre-rolls.” Sasha said, and Ria glared in disbelief. How did everyone know that except for her?

“Whatever,” Ria said, laughing as she opened the door. “Find me if I get kidnapped.”

“Of course,” Sasha said as Ria stepped out.

“See you tomorrow, Rosita,” Ria said, and Rosa waved.

Ria crossed the street, crossing the boundary between the campus and the world outside. She walked down the hill to the only house that matched the description.

It was a small house with two floors, the green paint beginning to crack. Hand-painted pots held flowering plants on the porch, and a wooden bench leaned lazily beside the front door. 

A rather large, dark gray Toyota truck was parked outside, pristinely clean and sorely out of place. Ria admired it as she passed. She spotted a doorbell camera as she approached the door, and began to feel awfully self conscious. A chime rang as her finger pressed the button.

Seconds passed as she fiddled with her promise ring. A dog barked in the distance. She was about to ring the doorbell again when the door opened and a tall, bronzed girl with cropped hair appeared behind it. Her dark eyes squinted in the sunlight, perfectly smudged with black eyeliner. She smiled softly at Ria as she walked past, crossing the same street she just had.

Ria couldn’t help but watch her.

“You Ryan’s girl?” A voice said behind Ria, and she nearly jumped out of her skin. Turning to face the source, Ria eyed the girl at the threshold. She was just taller than Ria, her dark auburn hair pulled back into a bun. Her eyes were the same soft green as the painted panels of her house, set among freckled cheeks. The sleeves of her flannel were rolled up to expose a tattoo which covered the whole of her right forearm. She didn’t seem to notice Ria’s startle.

“Ellie,” the girl said, holding her hand out for Ria to shake. 

Ellie. El Will. El is short for Ellie. What’s Will short for? Williams? Ellie Williams? Definitely not Hispanic.

She took it. “Ria.”

Ellie nodded. “Come in.”

She led Ria through the house. The living room was dimly lit, with a worn-out couch and more plants in painted pots. A set of stairs led to the upper floor, but they walked right past it, and past the old kitchen as well, through a narrow hall that led to a room in the back of the house.

The smell hit her before Ria could see it—a scent that was simultaneously delicious and repugnant. She looked around, to the shelves that held jars upon jars of weed and all sorts of equipment. A desk sat against the far wall; a scale and a tray with dozens of joints atop it. Ellie took a bin labeled “tubes” and set it on the desk. “So,” she said. “What party is this?”

Ria laughed. She’d never said it was for a party, but she guessed there weren’t many things to do for someone to buy that many joints at once. “My friend Sasha is turning 21 tomorrow,” Ria said. “She’s throwing this big party at Cedar.”

Placing a pre-roll in each of ten tubes, Ellie spoke. “Sasha Mehra?”

Ria furrowed her brows. “You know her?”

“We had our first year art seminar together.” Ellie placed the tubes in a paper bag, folding the end. “She’s very talented.” Opening one of the drawers of the desk, she retrieved a silver lighter. Ellie took one of the joints from the tray and held it with her lips.

She handed the bag to Ria, lighting the joint as Ria dug in her pocket for the roll of cash. “Yes, she is,” she said as she handed the cash to the dealer.

Taking a hit before counting, Ellie seemed satisfied and set it aside. “Here,” she said, holding the joint up to Ria’s mouth. It was the first time Ellie really looked at her, and Ria could see the thin scar cutting across her brow.

“Alright.” Ria took a hit, hearing the soft crackle of the weed burning in the silence of the house. Ellie leaned against the desk, her eyes watching Ria carefully. The smoke rushed in, but it didn’t burn Ria’s throat as much as other strains she’d had. It tasted almost sweet. Holding the smoke in for a couple of seconds before exhaling, Ria handed the joint back to Ellie, watching a thick cloud of smoke leave her lungs.

Ellie took another hit from the joint, her eyes scanning Ria’s body as she did. The attention made Ria nervous, and she nearly laughed, but held it in. As Ellie breathed out, a grin pulled at her mouth. “I might pass by tomorrow,” she gave Ria the joint, “wish Sasha a happy birthday.”

The next hit was smoother than the last. “I think she’d appreciate that.” Although, Ria didn’t know whether Sasha would remember Ellie.

She nodded slowly, her eyes still lingering on Ria. Taking one last hit, Ria returned the joint and took a few steps back. “I’ll see myself out,” she said, pointing to the front of the house. “Thanks for the J.”

Ellie’s chuckle followed Ria out of the house and all the way back to her dorm. She told herself it was just the weed taking effect, that she’d imagined Ellie’s eyes straying and the way it made her heart speed up.

Whether it was the weed’s fault or not, one thing was above reproach—Ellie’s weed was damn good.

⊰✭⊱

Notes: hiii this is the first fic i’ve ever actually posted, you can also find it on ao3 under the same name and username. just as an FYI, i am also an artist, so i’ll be posting some art along with the chapters. it’ll be linked at the end of every chapter :)

art for this chapter is actually a preview for the next one. it is Sasha and the Suite Mates. you’ve already met Sasha and Rosa, more on the others next chapter

#ellie williams #ellie williams x oc #ellie williams x original character #ellie williams smut #ellie williams tlou #ellie williams tlou2 #ellie williams x reader #ellie williams the last of us #ellie williams fanfic #ellie williams fanfiction #dealer!ellie #dealer!ellie williams #college!ellie williams #modern!ellie williams #the last of us #the last of us video game #the last of us part 2 #tlou #tlou2 #ellie williams x ria ortiz #tlou ellie #tlou ellie williams #blue dream