beautiful mistake - joe burrow

30

The next morning, there was a knock at Elle's door shortly after seven. Two figures, completely dressed in protective clothing, whose genders Elle could only make out by their eyes, wished her a good morning.

The woman explained to her that they had come to perform a covid test on Elle so that after the result, if it was negative, of course, she could go to the dining room to have breakfast.

Elle just nodded wearily. She had been told last night that the two people were coming, but after staying longer with Zac yesterday to discuss with him how to make the match against Joe, she had totally forgotten to set an alarm clock, which was why she had just gotten fresh out of bed.

The man jammed the stick of the test into both of her nostrils before explaining that as long as she didn't hear otherwise, Elle would be allowed to leave the room in 15 minutes. However, if her test came back positive, she would get a call to clarify further action with her.

Elle nodded to show she understood everything before sneezing violently as the feeling of the stick still tickled her nose. The two employees said their goodbyes and headed for the next door.

Elle set a timer for 15 minutes and decided to fix herself until she was allowed to leave the room.

As usual, her outfit consisted of a black Bengals T-shirt over which she put a track jacket, also black with a Bengals logo. She also opted for a pair of light colored jeans for now, before she would slip into her track pants later for the game.

She was just finishing up in the bathroom when the timer went off. Out of safety, she waited another two minutes, but when no call came, she grabbed her room key and her employee ID, which she hung around her neck with a lanyard, and put on her mask before heading out of the room.

Once outside the dining hall, they checked her ID and explained where she could get her food and where she could sit.

Coaches and players were kept strictly separate from the other staff, reducing the risk of contagion, since unlike later on the field, masks would not be worn.

Elle sat down with Nick and Paul and wished them both a good morning before starting to eat. Shortly after, the other athletic trainers joined them, which meant they would not have any absences due to Covid.

Paul also told them that so far no one had been tested positive, but only staff members had been on yet and no players, who were being tested at the moment and would be coming into the dining hall soon.

He was right, little by little the players came down and sat down in the part of the dining room that was separated from the staff area with barrier tape.

With each face that Elle could put a name to, she was pleased to see that the player was negative. She spotted Sam, Mike, Logan, and finally Ja'Marr and Joe, who arrived shortly after each other just as Paul was bringing in the second round of coffee for all the athletic trainers.

Just a few minutes later, Zac also entered the dining room and after getting his food, he joined Joe at the table.

Elle watched the two of them intently. She could only see Zac from behind, but she knew what he would say to Joe, so she stared rather curiously at Joe, wanting to know how he would react to not being allowed to play.

He looked like he was taking it rather understandingly. Elle could see neither anger nor disappointment in his gaze. It didn't seem to spoil his mood, he even laughed as Zac kept talking, but of course Elle couldn't understand about what.

Suddenly Joe raised his head and returned Elle's gaze, who widened her eyes in surprise and quickly stared into the coffee cup in front of her.

She immediately felt the blush rise into her cheeks and warm her entire face.