no strings attached - j.b

halloween

The party was already in full swing when the two girls entered Sam's house. Phoebe had about an hour before her study group, and thus Luca, would show up, which meant she would have to find Joe now, talk it out with him, and gently break it to him that Luca would be coming before it was too late.

No sooner had they entered the large living room than Phoebe let her eyes glide over the crowd of people occupying the large room, dancing and talking, trying to find Joe.

It wasn't hard. Honestly, it was easy to find most of the players who were there, as they towered over most of the other guests with their height. "Found him" Phoebe informed Kim before eyeing Joe.

He, along with Sam and Ja'Marr, were standing on the side and seemed to be talking. All three were wearing the same costume, a fighter pilot jumpsuit that reminded Phoebe a lot of Top Gun, but Joe looked a lot better in it than Tom Cruise.

She pushed aside the thoughts that formed in her head at the sight of Joe in the costume. She should clear it with him first before thinking of anything else and turned back to Kim.

"I should go to him" she clarified. Kim nodded in agreement. "You want me to go with you?" she asked, but Phoebe shook her head. "I can handle this on my own. But don't worry, I won't leave you by yourself" Phoebe grinned and held out her hand to her best friend. "Come on."

They fought their way through a few people before standing behind a group of players talking in a circle. Grinning, Phoebe tapped Tee, who was standing right in front of her. "Hey, Phoebe," Tee immediately grinned at her before pulling her into a quick hug. "Everything good?" he asked.

Phoebe nodded before pulling Kim in front of her. "Tee, this is my best friend Kim. Kim, this is Tee, wide receiver" she introduced the two. "I need to go check something out with some people for a minute. Kim doesn't know many people here, could you maybe keep her company for a bit?" she asked Tee with a grin.

"Sure, no problem" Tee nodded and smiled at Kim while Phoebe winked at her and whispered a "see you later". "So you're Phoebe's best friend, tell me..." Phoebe heard Tee speak as she walked away from the two and towards Joe.

It was still a few feet before Phoebe would reach the three men when Joe and her eyes met. She smiled at him while he didn't make a face, leaned over to Sam, said something to him and pushed himself off the wall.

Phoebe had just reached them when Joe pushed past her with a muttered "Hello" and disappeared into the crowd. Sighing, she looked after him. Great, mission failed.

"What was that about?" Sam asked, confused, before pulling Phoebe into a brief hug. "I don't know. He's mad at me and apparently doesn't want to talk to me" she replied sighing as she pulled Ja'Marr into a short hug as well.

"Looking good" Ja'Marr smiled at her while Phoebe stood next to the men and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Thanks. You too" she mumbled back before sighing again.

"What did you do to piss Joe off?" Sam asked anxiously, watching Joe, who by now was standing on the other side of the room talking to Joe Mixon. "Where do I start..." Phoebe mumbled.

"Oh, Pheebs. He'll come around and talk to you. I'm sure he can't resist you in that outfit anyway" Sam tried to cheer her up and put an arm around her shoulders.

"Not if he runs away from me all night. And especially not if Luca comes later" Phoebe leaned her head against Sam's torso. "Luca is part of the problem?" Sam asked. "Luca is the problem" Phoebe clarified.

"And you invited him anyway?" Sam asked, confused. "Well, I didn't know he was going to be such a problem then. Otherwise, of course, I wouldn't have done it" Phoebe sighed "You'll fix it, Phoebe. You want to work it out, that's the first step" Sam smiled bravely at her.