preseason 2021:
Elle Simmons, fresh out of college, is the Cincinnati Bengals' new athletic trainer. Along with work, stress and the aftermath from her latest relationship, she's trying not to neglect her personal life too much.
Joe Burrow, the Ben...
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"Baby, you should stop reading that" Joe took the phone from her hand and put it on the coffee table.
By now he had figured out why Elle was so down. Ja'Marr had sent him a link to an article that wrote about the video and the internet reactions. He had asked about Elle, but Joe had only replied that he shouldn't worry.
"I just...I feel bad that Brittany and Jackson are being put down like this. Why is everyone taking my side when it's clear in the video how I'm acting towards Jackson?" Elle sighed and wrapped her arms around one of the couch cushions.
"Would you rather have everyone against you and get hate comments on Twitter?" Joe asked gently, stroking her arm.
"No" Elle grumbled into the pillow.
"so, you see. People just don't trust you to react like that towards someone else for no reason. They think you're a kind-hearted, nice person" Joe explained to her.
"Remember when you told me how surprised you were when Nick knew right away that I must have done something when we clashed at our first practice?" Elle nodded silently.
"He knew you wouldn't yell at me for no reason. He knew I must have done something to make you insult me"
"But Nick has known me, for years. Why are people so sure that I'm nice? That I don't just come across as sweet on camera or on the internet?" Elle asked, sighing.
"First of all, fans notice it quickly if someone is really like that or just faking the niceness to them. You read it yourself. You were so sweet to them that they just don't believe the story is true and secondly...." Joe sighed and nervously ran his hand over the back of his head.
"You've seen for yourself what kind of reputation Jackson and Brittany have around the league and with the fans. If someone has a negative reputation, it's more likely that the problem comes from them and not from their counterpart" he shrugged.
"So my friendly nature towards fans and the reputation of the two of them, leads to all of Twitter being on my side?" Elle quietly summarized.
"Yeah, baby. Your authentic nature and just your personality makes everyone doubt that you're really just mean" Joe stroked her cheek.
Elle sighed. "I still don't feel better" she muttered.
Suddenly the doorbell rang. "There's nothing wrong with that. That's why I arranged for a distraction" Joe stood up grinning.
Confused, Elle also got up and followed him to the door. She recognized the guests before she saw them. Well, she recognized Celine's joyful squeal as soon as Joe opened the door.
"Hey, you two" she gave Joe a quick hug before turning to Elle. "Hey, Elly baby" she wrapped her arms tightly around Elle and let out another squeal.
"we heard we're here for a little pep talk? Dress code was comfortable chill clothes" Celine set the wine bottle she had with her down on the dresser next to the door before turning in a circle to show Elle her outfit of sweatpants and hoodie.
Elle laughed before pulling Javier into a quick hug as well, but he seemed to still be struggling a bit with the excitement of standing in JOE BURROWS house.
Joe and Elle gave them both a house tour before everyone settled down on the big couch in the living room. Elle couldn't stop smiling.
An evening on the couch with her boyfriend, best friend and one of her closest friends, all in sweatpants, a bottle of wine and just casual conversation was just the distraction she needed.
Joe's muscular arms wrapped around her as she sipped her wine with relish gave her just enough strength to even talk openly about the whole thing.
"I was so perplexed when I saw your name on Twitter, but when I saw the video and read all the tweets, I realized I didn't have to worry about you, Elly. And then when I did a little research on the other two, I was about to tweet that they should leave you alone" Celine rolled her eyes and took a sip of her wine after Elle described the situation to her.
"what are you going to do about it now Elle?" Javier, who had his arm casually around Celine, looked questioningly at Elle.
"So far, nothing. I'm meeting with Leila tomorrow to see if we need to make a statement or not. If it's not necessary, I don't want to make the situation worse" Elle explained.
"Am I hearing this right, you don't want to do anything? You're going to let Brittany and Jackson get away with trying to put you down?" Celine looked at her indignantly.
Elle shrugged her shoulders. "Probably, yeah. In my opinion, they get enough hate from Twitter as it is, than for me to let more people and hate rush in their direction"
"And that's exactly why people on the internet are on your side, Elle. Jackson and Brittany are trying to bad mouth you even though you haven't done anything and you're not doing anything even though they've been pretty rude to you" Joe hugged her and gave her a kiss on the temple as she gave him a grateful smile.
"I'd rather we changed the subject though, ok? I have to talk to Leila enough about all this tomorrow" Elle cast a questioning look around the room, to which everyone nodded in agreement.
"Ok, Celine, what's new with you?" Elle hadn't even finished saying the question before Celine had sat up, beaming at her with shining eyes and folding her hands in her lap.
"Oh, big news! I got promoted!" she squealed.
"What, really?" Elle asked, surprised, but so happy for her best friend, who nodded proudly.
"Since the video about my vlog at the Halloween party, the video you became famous with, is still the most successful on our social media channels, the channel promoted me. I get to host a morning show starting next Monday! I'm in charge of health, lifestyle and fashion" Celine let out a gushing sigh.
"Celine, that...that's amazing, I'm so happy for you" Elle clapped her hands in delight.
"Good, because...my first idea was to..." she took a deep breath. "I want you to be my guest. What do you mean? I want to show people how you train and I want to give you a platform to promote the future is female on TV" Celine looked at her expectantly.
"Yeah...I mean, of course I'm in. Absolutely, but...you'll have to clear it with Leila" Elle pulled an apologetic face.
Celine grinned. "Sure. I forgot that my best friend is so busy now that you have to clear everything with her manager" she winked at her. "But no problem. I'll get back to her and set up the shooting dates with her"
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR 140k READS!!!!
I don't think I need to say a lot about the game on Sunday. The first half was so bad, the defense was ok, the offense sucked! Like what was the O-Line doing? It was so hurtful to watch. The second half was a tiny bit better, at least they scored a touchdown and the defense made a good job but still the O-Line...but it still sucked that they lost again because of a field goal 🙄 hopefully next game will be better and they finally get a win!
