no strings attached - j.b

ASAP

Call me
ASAP!!!

Sighing, Phoebe put her phone back in her jacket pocket after reading the messages from Simon, her family's representative, and looked at her study group, with whom she was now sitting in the cafeteria for lunch after her first two classes on Monday morning.

"Guys, I really need to talk to someone on the phone!" she sighed as she grabbed and shouldered her backpack before standing up and picking up her tray. "I'll see you in the next class, okay?"

Without waiting for the others to nod, she left the table, handed over her tray and ran out of the cafeteria. Luckily, the hallways weren't that busy, which is why she set her backpack down on the floor and picked up her cell phone again.

If Simon was texting her like this, it must be really overly urgent. He had been responsible for maintaining her family's reputation for as long as Phoebe could remember, which had certainly not been an easy job, especially during her parents' divorce.

During Phoebe's first wild college years, when no small number of unflattering pictures of her were posted on the net, Simon and her had almost formed a telephone friendship, as often as he had to bail her out of some headline. He had never resented her for it, something Phoebe appreciated about him.

"Phoebe, finally," he sounded annoyed as he took her call and sighed loudly. "Sorry. I'm on campus" Phoebe excused herself and leaned against the wall. "Yeah yeah, I almost figured that. Good thing you called me right away anyway" Simon muttered.

"What's going on? What happened?" Phoebe didn't want to waste time, she didn't have that much time. Her next class would start soon. "Your mother" Simon made annoyed noises.

"Oh no, what did she do now?" Phoebe groaned and ran her hand over her forehead. "Doing what she does best. Talking and trying to get attention that way. Listen to this headline. "They've been a couple for a few months," Her mother confirms relationship with quarterback Joe Burrow" Simon read aloud.

"fuck" Phoebe muttered. Even though she wanted to strangle her mother right now, that attention-hungry snake, she couldn't do her too much wrong either. After all, because of the wedding, her mother really believed that Joe and she were together.

"you can say that loud, Phoebe. With the Bengals' high defeat yesterday, almost everyone had kept quiet about you and Joe and I was pretty sure we skirted the issue, but now...now everyone's looking. Evil tongues are also already saying that's why the Bengals lost yesterday" Simon groaned.

"Oh great" Phoebe mumbled. The game yesterday had been really bad. Losing 41-16 at home to the Browns of all teams had been absolutely painful.

That people now wanted to put the blame on her as well.... She had seen for herself that it had been anything but Joe's game, and the thought had occurred to her, too, whether the whole thing had something to do with it, but she had very quickly pushed the thought away again.

"What do we do now, make a statement that we're not a couple?" Phoebe asked, sighing. On top of all the homework and studying that was coming up in the next few weeks, she didn't need all that banging around with the press, too.

"I wouldn't advise it. As long as we don't say anything about it, your mother's statement and the picture remain the only evidence they have. Give the press two days and a new TikTok of Jackson Mahomes and the matter is no longer interesting. Of course, only if your mother keeps silent" Simon explained.

"We'll see if that works" Phoebe scoffed. "Is our best chance right now, Phoebe. It's all I can do right now. Are you okay with that?" Simon asked. "yeah, don't worry about it Simon. I know you always do your best. Thanks" Phoebe replied.