no strings attached - j.b

good morning

Phoebe's alarm clock jolted them both out of sleep far too quickly a few hours later. While Phoebe groaned as she turned off the ringtone and pushed herself out of bed, Joe rolled over with a sigh and went back to sleep.

He heard Phoebe scurrying around the room as he waited with his eyes closed to get back into the land of dreams. Just as he was about to drift back into deep sleep, Phoebe lightly shook his shoulder.

Sighing, he opened his eyes and yawned first before looking at Phoebe, who by now was standing in front of the bed fully straightened, hair done and makeup on. "I..just wanted to let you know that I'm out of here now. Put your clothes over the chair for you" she gestured behind her.

"You can stay as long as you want. If you're hungry, grab something from the fridge, you know your way around and yeah...you don't have any plans today, do you? So go ahead and sleep some more" she smiled almost uncertainly as she walked to the door and grabbed her backpack.

"Phoebe" she was almost out the door when Joe said her name. Questioning, she turned back to him. "When will you have time again?" he asked, running a hand through his tousled hair.

"I'll...I'll be in touch, okay? The next few days are...scheduled" Phoebe stammered. "Study group?" Joe asked, sighing. "Not only. Meeting Kim tonight, tomorrow night I have plans with Sam and Friday with my family" she explained.

"Ok, then I guess there's really no choice but for you to get back to me" Joe mumbled. "You can call me again if you want to run from Luca" he rolled his eyes.

"Joe..." Phoebe sighed "I'm really sorry. I'll...I'll try to find time, ok?" she chewed nervously on her lower lip. "Whatever" Joe muttered. "I...should really go now" Phoebe gave him an apologetic look and pulled the door shut behind her.

When Joe finally got up from Phoebe's bed, it was after twelve. Phoebe had been gone for quite a while, but he'd had another nap before just chilling on his phone for a bit.

Phoebe had been right, he didn't have anything else to do today, so why stress himself out? He got up, grabbed his clothes that Phoebe had carefully folded on the chair, and got dressed before gathering everything that was his and making the bed before walking out of the room.

"I guess I didn't imagine all those noises tonight then. Should have guessed you'd be here" Tris stood at the kitchen island as Joe came down the stairs, grinning at him in amusement.

"Coffee?" he asked as Joe approached him. "I'd love some. Do you guys have any fruit here? Haven't eaten anything yet" Joe looked around as Tris pushed the fruit bowl towards him before pouring him coffee. Joe nodded his thanks and bit into the apple he had taken.

"My cousin still upstairs too? Is she already skipping her third day?" Tris took a sip of his coffee, grinning. Joe shook his head. "She left sometime this morning, but she said I could still stay here" he explained with a shrug.

"And she said you had to get up early today too. What are you doing here?" Joe added questioningly, taking a sip of the coffee. Tris laughed out loud. "Funny that I live here and you ask me that, but well, I'm already done again and have a few hours break until I have to go to the facility, so I came here, to my apartment" he winked at Joe.

"Makes sense" Joe mumbled. "Say, I thought Phoebe was out with her new college friends yesterday, on campus and all, how come you were there?" Tris asked.

"I wasn't. Phoebe called me at night and asked me to pick her up. Then we came here..." Joe began. "And fucked" Tris finished Joe's sentence.

"We showered first" Joe shrugged. "At night?" Tris looked at him confused. "Yeah, Phoebe wanted to shower before she went to her classes today and well, I was there so I went along" Joe explained.

Tris shook his head in confusion. "I...just don't ask any more" he mumbled. "maybe better that way" Joe mumbled and finished his coffee.

The two guys talked a bit more about the soon to start season before Joe said a brief goodbye, took the elevator downstairs and got into his car. He had just driven off when his phone rang.

With one hand on the steering wheel, he answered the call. "Sam, what's up?" he asked as he continued to focus on the road. "Hey, I'm at your door. Thought you were home, but apparently not. Will you be home soon? Then I'll wait" Sam's voice sounded from the speakers.

"Yeah, give me five minutes. Just on my way back" Joe stated. "Ok, I'll see you in a bit then. Bye" Sam had already hung up again.

Less than five minutes later, Joe parked in front of the garage of his house and already saw Sam leaning against the railing at the top of the stairs. "Finally" he mumbled as Joe sprinted up the stairs and greeted him with their handshake before Joe unlocked the house and they both entered.

"Where have you been?" Sam asked as he plopped down on the couch and Joe got them both water from the fridge. "I...was having lunch" Joe lied. "Lunch? Since when do you go out to eat? You got your own cook, man" Sam laughed.

Joe shrugged his shoulders. "Fancied another proper meal before the season starts" he explained before clearing his throat. "But what are you doing here?" he quickly changed the subject.

"Oh, right. Well, first of all, I was bored and wanted to see if you and I could do something. Also, Trey and I have another little golf tournament planned for Saturday with a few people and I was wondering if you were free" Sam grinned.

"Saturday I don't have anything planned. So plan on me coming. Who else will be there?" Joe asked with interest. Actually, he just wanted to know if someone in specific was coming, because then surely they could spend some time together afterwards.

"The usual" Sam shrugged. "Evan and Mike have already said yes. Trey asked a few others and I was going to ask Phoebe if she was up for it again too"

So the plan was for her to come along if she had time and didn't have another date with Luca and the study group, which could be quite likely for a Saturday. But for Sam, she would certainly take the afternoon off.

"Sounds good to me" Joe grinned. "And I don't have any plans today either. So feel free to chill at my place. Any suggestions on what we can do?" He looked at his friend.

"well, Ja'Marr and the others are probably gaming, what do you say we join them and shoot the shit for a bit?" Sam looked at him with a grin.

Laughing, Joe got up from the couch and turned on his console before handing Sam a controller and dropping back onto the couch, the second controller in his hand.

"I'm pretty sure Ja'Marr is online" Joe smirked as he started the game.

More than 24h until the game against KC and I'm already so hyped!! Can't wait after all the shit talking this week!!
Fingers crossed that Ja'Marr will play, looks good tho, not as good for Joe Mixon...

WHO-DEY 🧡