no strings attached - j.b

sorry

"Oh, it's you" Joe rolled his eyes when he opened the door and saw Phoebe. He had wondered who had rung the bell, because he wasn't expecting anyone. "Hello to you too, Joe. How are you?" Phoebe was not distracted by Joe's annoyance.

"What do you want, Phoebe?" Joe crossed his arms in front of his chest and leaned against the doorframe. Phoebe sighed, "What do you think? I want to talk to you. It's not like you're answering my texts, so I had to come over"

"Says the woman who hasn't been heard from in two weeks, even though she knew what was going on" Joe raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Yeah, I guess I deserved that" Phoebe mumbled.

"And that's why you just show up at my door now? How did you even get my address?" Joe kept a stare on her as you could tell Phoebe was struggling more and more to play the confident woman.

"I think you can answer that question for yourself" Phoebe nervously kneaded her hands and lowered her eyes. Joe groaned in annoyance. "I guess privacy and data protection don't apply to a Brown, do they?"

"Yeah, okay, I get that. Youre pissed and mad and I can understand but can we please go in so I can explain it?" Phoebe looked at him with a sigh. Joe eyed her. "What is there to explain? I think it's all been said" he straightened up but Phoebe held onto his arm.

"Please, Joe. Just let me explain. After that I'll leave you alone, I promise" Phoebe almost pleaded. Joe sighed and turned back to her. "alright. Come on in" he grumbled and moved a little to the side so Phoebe could slip into his house.

"Nice place you got here" Phoebe laid her jacket over the back of the couch as she admired the view of the Ohio River. "Yeah, it's ok. But nothing like the panorama windows in your apartment. Let me guess, Mike is funding this" Joe sat down on the other side of the couch with as much distance from her as possible and crossed his arms in front of his chest again.

Sighing, Phoebe crossed her legs. "Look, I know what I did was really shitty and stupid and I'm really sorry. It wasn't planned that way"

"What wasn't planned? For us to see each other again? Because that was the deal. Why did you even make that deal if you knew that wasn't going to be the case?" Joe accused her.

"You're really upset that we met again, really? Funny enough, I only got your number because when I got home I found a note on the dresser. So who broke the deal here?" Phoebe looked at him skeptically.

"That has nothing to do with anything now. You knew who I was from the beginning, and yet you proposed this deal to me. You played me. You exposed me, Phoebe" deep furrows formed on Joe's forehead as he grew louder.

"yeah, I know. And like I said, I'm sorry. It wasn't planned that way" she repeated.

"What wasn't planned that way?" Joe growled.

"That I sleep with you" she clarified. "And how am I supposed to understand that now?" Joe rolled his eyes.

"Okay, let me talk" Phoebe took a deep breath. "Yes, I knew who you were. From the beginning, from the moment I saw you in the booth with Ja'Marr. And you looked so...cocky, bored. Like you thought you were better than everyone else."

"I didn't feel like being there, that's probably why I looked like that" Joe clarified.

"Makes sense. Anyway, I was thinking what an asshole you were for thinking you were better just because you played in the NFL when you didn't even play that many games"

"I was injured" Joe interrupted her indignantly. "Yeah, I know. But those were just my impressions when I saw you there. And that's when I thought, I'll show him. I'm going to bring him down from his high."

"By sleeping with me and then exposing me?" Joe asked, uncomprehending. "No, that wasn't my plan. Not exactly" Phoebe shook her head.

"I was trying to get your attention, and it worked. I was going to flirt with you, just pretend I was interested and pitch you the deal..."

"So far it sounds exactly like what happened" Joe interjected.

"Yeah, it all went exactly as planned, until the last part. My real goal was actually to dump you right before and just leave, then see your face when you recognized me in the Facility, but..."

"But what? That wasn't enough for you?" Joe growled.

"I couldn't go through with it because...as we sat there talking, I realized that my first impression of you was totally wrong. You weren't cocky and aloof. You were cool, humorous and I was really having fun and with all the alcohol I had that night, the only logical conclusion for me was to go through with it and sleep with you"

"How thoughtful of you" Joe interjected wryly.

"I know myself that it was a stupid decision. But what else was I supposed to do?" Phoebe asked, offended.

"How about letting me in on it and telling me who you were so I could have decided if that's what I wanted?" Joe shook his head.

"I hadn't thought about that" Phoebe admitted meekly.

"ok, honestly, I can even somewhat understand that you might not have thought about it under the influence, which doesn't mean I forgive you, but why the hell didn't you say anything when we talked the next morning?" Joe accused her.

"How would you have thought it was going to be? Hey, good morning, good sex yesterday, oh, by the way, you play for my grandpa's team, right, I'm a Brown?" Phoebe laughed out.

"Better than standing in front of me all of a sudden at the facility and pretending we didn't know each other. You had my fucking number. You could have just called me and explained"

"would you have been less pissed off?" Phoebe asked meekly. "No, absolutely not. What you did was just shitty and mean, Phoebe" Joe clarified.

"Yeah, I know. That's why I'm here, Joe. I'm really sorry. If I had the chance, I would change it, because I know how it looks" Phoebe apologized.

"I appreciate you coming by to talk about it, even though your explanation didn't make the whole situation any better, but I don't think I can forgive you"

Phoebe nodded. "Yeah, I understand that. I don't expect you to forgive me right away either. I just wanted to make it clear what I was really up to and that I'm sorry. But that means we're ok, you're just mad at me for a while?"

"Yeah, I think we've talked it out and we're ok, which doesn't mean we're friends or anything now" Joe agreed. "I do have one question though"

"okay, what?" Phoebe asked. "The way Sam and you greeted each other and stuff, did you sleep with him too?" Joe asked curiously.

Phoebe's eyes grew wide. "What, Sam and me? Oh god, no. What do you think of me? That I have a kink for guys playing for my grandpa? A Bengals fetish?"

Joe shrugged. "To be honest, I don't know what to think of you".

"Yeah, I guess that's fair" Phoebe mumbled before shaking her head again and looking at Joe. "Sam and I are just very good friends. I know him from my previous visits and...he's helped me through harder times. But we've never gotten THAT close" she clarified.

It's VICTORY MONDAY wuhuuuu. What a game, like damn, offense, nice drives, nice touchdowns, nice game. Defense, good job, still no TD in the second half. Finally a game where my heart didn't almost stopped beating!
Let's play like that against the Browns next week and finally get our first divisional win!!

Hope youre all having an amazing day and a amazing week ahead of you!!

WHO-DEY 🧡