no strings attached - j.b

bad day

Although Sam's presence had made Phoebe's whole mood a little better last night and he had made her laugh again and again with his nature and a few little jokes, Phoebe felt just as exhausted as the day before when the alarm clock pulled her out of sleep the next morning.

She had really felt good yesterday when she had gone to bed. All the work Paige had given her was done, she had uploaded a video to the Bengals' TikTok account, and had even managed to clean up her room before taking some real time to take care of her skin, which looked terrible due to the stress.

But there was no sign of the good feeling as she struggled out of bed and went through her normal morning routine. Getting dressed, putting on makeup, fixing her hair, eating breakfast. She had to admit that everything went better than yesterday.

Her eyeliner was sitting perfectly the first time. Her hair already looked good after just combing it, and there was even food in the house so she could make herself a nice cereal with fruit before getting ready for the stressful day ahead.

For good measure, she packed up the cans of Monster engery and the Oreos Sam had brought her yesterday, grabbed her car keys from the dresser and left the apartment. While she stood in the elevator and rode into the underground parking garage, she answered a few messages and emails.

But as soon as she was out of the exit of the underground garage, the chaos started. Actually, she should have known that everything had gone way too well so far. Of course, the universe had to throw a wrench in the works, she thought to herself as she sighed and got in line behind the cars already piled up on the street.

It felt like she wasn't getting an inch forward while being harassed on all sides by red brake lights, loud honking and traffic lights. If it continued like this, she definitely wouldn't make it to the first class on time.

After twenty minutes, she was finally able to take a turn, had used up way too much time for a route that normally took her five minutes, and had just nine minutes before she was supposed to be sitting in the lecture hall.

She hit the gas, ignoring every speed limit as she chased through the streets of Cincinnati. When she finally arrived at the university parking lot, she was already three minutes late.

Sighing, she was about to put on her blinker to squeeze into one of the still-empty parking spaces when a car immediately in front of her rear-ended. Startled, Phoebe immediately slammed on the brakes, the seat belt tightening into her body that slammed back and forth from the sudden stop.

"Can't you pay attention, you jerk?" she yelled at the driver, who just looked at her in surprise while she waved her hand in the air pissed off. He raised his hand apologetically, pulled out and drove away.

Phoebe took a deep breath. This shock was definitely not something she could use this morning but she couldn't let it hold her up too long, after all, she was already five minutes late now.

Quickly she parked her car, grabbed her bag and made a sprint to her lecture hall. As inconspicuously and quietly as possible, she slipped in, trying to suppress her gasping breath as she did so, before dropping down next to Phil, sighing softly.

She grabbed her laptop, opened her notes, and pulled her first Monster Energy out of her bag. She would definitely need some caffeine to somehow get motivated while the professor up front was already throwing around countless technical words again.

She drained half the can, set it on the table in front of her, and cracked her fingers before she started typing along. Next to her, Phil and Jasmine were changing seats. "Well, a better day today?" grinning, Jasmine leaned back and watched Phoebe tap away on her keyboard.

"Don't ask. If it keeps going like this, I'll kill someone today" Phoebe pressed out between clenched teeth. "That bad?" Jasmine asked. "Exhausting" Phoebe sighed. "I can think of someone who could make your day better" grinning Jasmine nudged her while Phoebe just rolled her eyes.

As they all sat together at lunch, Luca joined them. Since he was busy with football and the season again, he was rarely if ever seen in the classes, after all, for him, like all the athletes here, sports came first. Still, he usually joined the group during lunch breaks.

"Hey guys, how are you?" he asked with a grin, dropping down next to Phoebe, whom he very briefly pulled into a side hug before turning his attention to his food. Phoebe gave him a quick smile before taking a sip of her now second Monster Energy.

"We're all good except Phoebe, she's in a weird mood again. Can you cheer her up?" Jasmine smiled at him, while Phoebe just rolled her eyes. Luca looked at her worriedly from the side. "Are you okay?"

Phoebe nodded. "Don't worry about it. Just tired and overworked" she mumbled. "That's what you get for taking notes and overworking everything like a little nerd. Oh yeah, while we're at it, you'll send me your write-ups, right? I didn't write anything down today" Jasmine laughed.

"You probably should have" Phoebe mumbled and closed her laptop. "Oh come on, now don't be like that and give me your notes" Jasmine grabbed Phoebe's laptop and tried to pull it out of her hand.

"Jasmine, stop" Luca's voice rang out loudly across the table. "Phoebe puts so much effort into her write-ups, I wouldn't give them to you either. Maybe you should invest more time yourself instead of constantly chatting and hanging out on Instagram"

Jasmine rolled her eyes. "Don't interfere and just say straight up that you're still hoping to fuck her, Luca" without warning she let go of the laptop and Phoebe flew back from the sudden lack of resistance.

Her laptoop landed on the table with a loud thud as she knocked over her can with her elbow and all the contents spilled on her shirt and jeans. Startled, everyone at the table held their breath as Phoebe stared open-mouthed at her white, now yellow-stained shirt.

"oh my god, I didn't mean to do that. I'm sorry Phoebe. Luca, give her your...hoodie right now. Something! You're an athlete, give her something to change into. Help her" Jasmine waved her hands around helplessly while Phoebe stood up and slammed her hands on the table.

"That's enough, Jasmine" she growled, glaring at her. "Just fucking stop bugging Luca and me all the time. We both decided that we're going to stay friends, so accept it, ok? I can't help it that I get attention unlike you".

Outraged, Jasmine's jaw dropped open. "Don't you dare bitch at me like that" she hissed back. "Whoa, girls, take it easy" Phil tried to calm them both down while Luca put his hand on Phoebe's shoulder and tried to push her back to her chair.

Phoebe took his hand off her shoulders, grabbed her things annoyed and turned around while stuffing everything into her bag.

"What are you up to?" Luca asked quietly. "I'm going to my locker, I've got some spare clothes there and I'm going to put on some clean clothes. After that I'm going to do a few rounds and try to calm down before I really commit a murder today" she gave Jasmine a nasty look before stomping off.

Arriving at her locker, she pulled out the fresh jeans and a clean shirt, just for such emergencies she had those in there, and went to the nearest bathroom to change. When she came out of the toilet stall, she looked at herself in the mirror, sighing.

She brushed her hair, wiped away a few smudges of makeup, and pulled her phone out of her pocket. The day was ruined and there was only one thing that could make it better.

She opened her chat with Joe, her last message to him had been a few days ago, and let her fingers glide over the screen.

My last class ends at four. The day already sucks. Do you have time?

Sighing, she put her cell phone back in her pocket. She knew he had practice today, but would have to be done by four at the latest. Hopefully he was free, she prayed as she grabbed her wet clothes and left the bathroom. Only two more classes until she was done today.

ITS JOES BIRTHDAY, so HAPPY SHIESTY DAY!!!!! lol

Hope youre having an amazing weekend, cant wait for tomorrow!!

WHO-DEY 🧡