beautiful mistake - joe burrow

108

It was just frustrating to clean up the sidelines with the blue and yellow confetti flying everywhere. Annoyed, Elle pulled a few more snippets out of her hair as she ran into the stadium catacombs for the last time. Finally, they didn't have to go out and they had all their stuff cleaned up.

The Rams players were still on the field, as far as Elle had seen, there had even been a marriage proposal, while the other players were also happily celebrating with their partners and children on the turf.

They deserved it. Elle only wished that it had been her team. That she was the one overjoyed cuddling players because they would have won the Super Bowl. That the confetti would have been orange and black.

She hadn't seen Joe again. After the frustrating ending, most of the Bengals players had just congratulated the winners and then disappeared into the locker room pretty quickly. The vibe was somber. No one was really in the mood to talk, because the loss just hurt.

Elle and the ATs cleared out their rooms in silence, taking everything to the truck, which they would later load with the rest of their stuff at the hotel before it would already be heading back to Cincinnati tonight.

The players and the whole staff would still spend the night and the day here in LA, an after show party to celebrate the season was planned in one of the big hotel halls, even if most of them might not be in a celebratory mood. Tomorrow night they too would head back to Cincinnati.

"Okay, that's it. I'm going to take the box to the truck" Nick locked the box that was the last thing left in the room. "will you take our bags and drive them to the buses in the golf cart?" he tossed Elle the keys.

On the way to the golf cart, Elle ran into Tee, who was coming from the direction of the locker rooms with his head down. "Hey, keep your head up. You guys played good" Elle patted him on the shoulders encouragingly, but she knew herself that there were no right words to comfort the players.

Tee scoffed. "Tell that to your boyfriend. Joe's the last one in the locker room and the way he's sitting there, it's going to take him a little while to get out." he sighed. "He's still inside?" Elle asked, a little concerned. Tee nodded.

"Hasn't said a word to anyone, went straight to the shower, got dressed and has been sitting motionless in his spot ever since" he reported. "Do you....think I should go check on him?" Elle asked uncertainly.

Tee shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe. If anyone could build him up, it would certainly be you" he considered before pointing to Elle's golf cart. "Are you going straight to the buses?" he asked. Elle nodded. "Will you give me a ride?"

"Sure. I'll go check on Joe for a minute, then we'll go, okay? Go ahead and take a seat" she patted his shoulder again encouragingly before heading toward the locker room.

Outside the door she briefly considered knocking, but she didn't even know if Joe would answer her, so she just stepped inside.

She spotted Joe immediately and the sight made her heart ache. He was wearing his suit again the hat and sunglasses were on his bag in front of him. He had his elbows propped up on his thighs, his hands clasped together and his gaze fixed on some point on the ground.

His gaze reflected despair, frustration, pain and anger, at the same time you could see that he was trying not to let any emotion show.

The scene reminded Elle a bit of the preseason game against the Dolphins, when she had to build Joe up in the locker room about trusting his knee.

He apparently hadn't noticed her yet or didn't show any reaction to her presence. Slowly, Elle walked up and sat next to him. Still no reaction.

"It sucks, doesn't it?" she nudged him lightly and pulled a face. Joe only made scoffing noises.

"How are you?" she asked softly. Joe took a deep breath. "How do you think?" He said in frustration.

"You know it's not your fault though, right? You guys are a team. You win as a team, you lose as a team. We lose as a team" Elle looked at him.

Sighing, Joe ran his hand over his face. "If only I had that last pass...." "hey, stop. We're not going to start with "what if...?" here, understand? Sure, some situations could have gone differently, but you guys gave it your all. You fought and that's what counts" Elle interrupted him.

"Still, it wasn't enough. We gave it our all and still lost. It wasn't good enough" Joe still wasn't looking at her.

"Not good enough? Joe, nobody expected you guys to get to the Super Bowl. Nobody expected you guys to even make the play offs. You guys have exceeded all expectations. You've silenced all the critics. You are more than good enough."

"What's the point if we lost the Super Bowl by such a narrow margin?" Joe sighed again and bowed his head again. "Joe, please look at me" Elle asked him.

Hesitantly, Joe lifted his head. The pain in his eyes made Elle's body tighten. "I know it's frustrating. I know this defeat hurts..." "it hurts like shit" Joe agreed with her.

"..But look what you guys have accomplished. you're AFC North champions, you're AFC champions. You've been to the Super Bowl. You're Comeback Player of the year. Ja'Marr is Offensive Rookie of the Year. You guys have accomplished more this season than some teams have in the last five years combined. You guys narrowly lost the Super Bowl to the Rams. You guys weren't without a chance" Elle enumerated.

"Sure, winning would have been the best reward for a sensational season, but the world isn't going to end because of the loss. Now you still have a goal that you can achieve next year, Joe. Next season is another chance and you just have to pick up where you left off this season, then next time it will be enough" Elle stroked his cheek lovingly.

"You guys showed that you're good. That you can play. That you can't be underestimated. Show next season that it wasn't just an exception. Use the frustration to get even better next season. Show the NFL that the Bengals are a team that deserves to be in the Super Bowl every year." she looked him straight in the eye.

Only now did Joe notice that Elle's hand was shaking badly against his cheek. Concerned, he took her hand in his. "Are you okay?" he asked. Elle nodded. "Takes a little getting over, being here alone with you. But I promised you I would. I promised you that I would build you up."

"Elle, I didn't mean you'd have to fight your panic" Joe clarified, startled, but Elle waved it off. "It's all good. It's not that hard. My head is starting to realize there's no danger here. The shaking is more just an automatic reaction" she explained.

Joe sighed before putting his arm around her and pulling her close. "Thank you" he pressed a kiss to her hair "I know you're frustrated too. Thanks for trying to build me up anyway."

Elle smiled. "I promised you I would. I hope it helped at least a little" Joe nodded. "More than you think" he pressed another kiss to her hair.

"Good, are you coming then? Tee is waiting for me outside in the golf cart so I can take him to the bus. I can give you a ride too" she suggested. Joe nodded. "Yeah, I'd love to. You go ahead. I'll be right behind you."

Elle nodded before giving him a kiss on the lips. "I'm incredibly proud of you, by the way. You were outstanding out there" she smiled at him before running out of the locker room.

ITS GAME DEEEEY, well officially it's not game day here cause it will already be Monday 2:20am when the bengals play but it's Sunday so it's game day😂🤷🏼‍♀️

I will watch the game tonight, hopefully they will win! Who's watching it too?

WHO-DEY🧡