beautiful mistake - joe burrow

75

At dinner, Joe and Harry happily talked about football, while Elle and Lauren exchanged news and also very briefly touched on the fact that Elle was making quite a few headlines at the moment.

After dinner, they went on the house tour as promised. Elle showed him the living room, the patio with garden where she had played football with her brothers countless times. The office of her dads, where lots of trophies, jerseys and pictures of teams hung.

Then they went up to the second floor. She showed Joe her brothers' old rooms which were now the office of her mom and a hobby room for her father before there was finally only one room left.

"Welcome to my kid...well teenager room" grinning Elle opened the last door and let Joe into the small room she had lived in until she moved to Cincinnati and still slept in when back in Mansfield. Nothing had changed since she had moved out.

Joe eyed the room with a grin. The first thing that caught his eye rather quickly was a huge poster of One Direction hanging above the small desk that sat in the corner of the room. "Never would have guessed you were a One Direction fan" Joe grinned.

"What can I say? I love the band and that poster will stay up until even the last hope of a reunion fades away" Elle shrugged. Joe laughed before surveying the rest of the room.

There were also countless pictures of stars on the wall above the queen size bed. Joe recognized Johnny Depp, Eminem, Selena Gomez, Taylor Swift and many more. Beside the nightstand, which was next to the bed, countless books, movies and CDs were stacked on a shelf. In front of the window was a large red beanbag and next to the closet was a large dressing table, covered with jewelry and makeup stains.

"I like your room" Joe replied with a grin as he went through the CDs on Elle's shelf. "Arctic Monkeys? You really have exceptional taste in music" he grinned as he spotted the album. "What can you say. I like good music" Elle laughed.

They spent the evening with Elle's parents on the couch. The TV was on softly in the background while Lauren and Harry listened with interest as Joe told about his childhood.

"Oh, Elle, honey, look" Lauren suddenly pointed in surprise at the TV, which was currently showing a picture of Elle in her Halloween costume. "please don't" Elle mumbled annoyed while her dad immediately turned the TV volume up.

"...She's the talk of the week, Dave. Everyone's talking about her, so we have to" Bobby Mann, a fairly well-known man, already in his mid-50s, who together with his colleague Dave Howard had been hosting a fairly successful sports show for years, where they chatted about the latest NFL information and games, laughed.

"I know, Bobby. I know. It's exciting what's coming out about Elle Simmons right now. Did you catch how she got the Bengals job?" Dave asked. "yes, I did. But could you maybe tell our viewers?" Bobby asked, pointing at the camera.

"Well, Harry Simmons, Elle's father, here we see a picture of him..." "could have used a nicer one though" Harry grumbled as a less than flattering, rather old picture of him popped up on the screen.

"...Was a pretty promising football player in college until he got hurt and had to stop playing. But that's not the point. In fact, as it turned out, Harry's college roommate was none other than the Head of Rehabilitation and thus Elle's supervisor, Nick Cosgray" Dave and Bobby laughed.

"But there's more to it than that, isn't there, Dave?" Bobby asked. "Of course, Bobby. Elle, of course, wanted to make sure she really got that job, and luckily her dad has more contacts with the Bengals. Unable to play himself due to injury, Harry Simmons tried coaching a college team for the Nebraska Cornhuskers and lo and behold, who was one of his players? That's right, Zac Taylor, head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals" Dave laughed.

"And who knows, maybe there are other contacts that haven't even come out in the open yet, or shouldn't come out at all. Some slumber party with important people, maybe. Surely Elle must have done something herself to get this job, right?" Bobby laughed.

Elle stared indignantly at the screen. "Did they just claim I slept my way up?" "Harry, turn off the TV. Our daughter doesn't have to listen to that kind of stuff" Lauren behalf her husband. "No, dad. Leave it on. I want to know what else they have to say about me" Elle stopped him.

Joe gave her a checking look before placing a hand on her thigh. "You sure?" he asked cautiously. Elle nodded. "I'm sure."

Meanwhile, Bobby and Dave continued to talk. "Well, I wouldn't have said no if she tried either. I mean, you saw the pictures from the Halloween party too, didn't you?" Dave laughed. "Of course, don't tell my wife, but I totally agree with you" the two laughed as Elle cringed. Hearing men talk about her like that was just disgusting.

"Do you think she walks around in an outfit like that when she's working too?" Dave asked. Bobby shrugged his shoulders. "Who knows, I'd hurt myself on purpose then get treated by her though" "or at least fake a strain then get a massage" Dave added.

Elle felt sick, but it got even nastier. "You think she gives massages with happy endings?" Bobby asked, winking at the camera. "I'm sure the players would love that. Maybe that explains why the Bengals are better this season than they were before. The players might be rewarded for a good game with a massage with a happy ending and the one who did the best would get a special from Elle"

"in costume" Bobby added with a laugh. "Hopefully in costume. In sexy nurse costume maybe" Dave replied.

"I need air" Elle jumped up frantically. She felt sick as hell. Her whole stomach turned and she felt like she was stuck in a never ending nightmare. She almost sprinted out of the house and settled down on the porch steps, sighing.

It was dark outside by now and the cold air chilled Elle's face, which was burning with anger. She wanted to scream. Break something. Cry until there were no more tears. She just wanted to get rid of this sickening feeling that was over her.

"Hey" she flinched as Joe suddenly sat down next to her. "Hey" she mumbled and rested her head on his shoulder with a sigh. Immediately Joe wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer.

"Don't listen to what those two assholes said. They just don't want to understand how great you really are" Joe pressed a kiss to her hair as she sighed and pressed herself against him.

"It's so unfair, you know? Just because I'm a woman, it's okay to talk about me like that on public television?" "it's not okay at all to talk about anyone like that. No matter what gender, background or religion you are" Joe stroked her back.

"Unfortunately the NFL is still an area where most men feel attacked when a woman is suddenly there and unfortunately times, you are just so well known that they chose you as a victim" he added.

"just because they feel intimidated in their masculinity is still no excuse to sexualize me like that and make comments like that about me" Elle sighed.

"There's no excuse or good reason at all to talk about you like that, Elle. No matter what you did or didn't do. That's just not proper" Joe acknowledged.

"Someone should show them that" Elle pondered aloud. "Maybe that someone should be you Elle" Joe suggested. "Me? No, I don't want to comment on this whole thing" she shook her head.

"Maybe you should, Elle. Show those sexist men of the world that that's no way to talk about a woman and show the women of the world that you can be known as a woman in the NFL" Joe looked at her encouragingly. Elle sighed, "Maybe you're right."