THE 90 PERCENT | joe burrow

oh christmas tree

A lot had happened since being in San Francisco. The Bengals continued to win and extend their streak and all of a sudden, it was Christmas time in Cincinnati.

I went through a brief stint of dating this guy I met at a Mexican restaurant one night. He was a bartender and a little passive aggressive. The minute Ja'Marr met him, he told me to break up with him, and if it was THAT bad, I figure I should probably listen to him.

Leo went to a school dance, not with Ava. Apparently someone asked her to go, so he had to find his own date.

Aria continued to send me Joe Burrow thirst traps daily and pester me with when we'd see the team again.

We continued to do friday night dinners, but Joe stopped coming after San Fran. Aria was massively disappointed even though she knew her heart couldn't handle seeing him every week.

I frequently reminded her that he was 25 and she was 13. She then reminded me that I was 23 and gave me a wink.

I got invited by multiple players to join them in Pittsburgh for their near-Christmas game against the Steelers, and this time, I said I'd bring Leo and Aria with me. It would be Christmas break anyway.

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Ja'Marr

Ivy and I were hanging out watching the first episode of The Summer I Turned Pretty on my couch. I don't think Amelia knew we were hanging out, which was a bit weird.

The two communicated like they had to know every detail of what the other one was doing.

Ivy mentioned something about Lia's birthday being on the 24th of December and I suggested a surprise party. She immediately shut that down.

"Mil hates birthdays. Like despises them. I think it's going be even harder this year without her parents."

"Can we at least all have dinner together? We always celebrate Joe's birthday around Christmas time anyway because he's so focused during December game season." She said that was a great idea and I started a group chat up between everyone.

We ended up landing on the idea of doing a group bonding road trip back to Cincinnati after birthday lunch/dinner on the 24th for Amelia and Joe.

Evan rented a 12 person van and then I texted the team the details.

Ivy and I went back to watching The Summer I Turned Pretty and after a long day, we were finished with the first season.

We both agreed by 10pm that it was too late for her to drive home, so she'd stay over for the night.

"Belly's toying with too many hearts Ivy, she gotta commit to Conrad, he's the only right choice." I said to her. She looked at me with those usual soft eyes I had grown to love about her.

"Yeah?" She asked, staring at my face.

"Don't tell me you like Jeremiah, he's a total ass."

"I'm team Conrad." She said leaning against my shoulder.

"Right choice." I told her looking down towards her scrunched nose.

She was tired. I showed her the guest room, but she was so exhausted that she didn't even get under the sheets.

I chuckled to myself. Joe came in my room to tell me I was "whipped" and supposedly a "simp". I retorted that he was the same way, but he wasn't too interested in my jokes.

He just headed back to his room with a scowl on his face.

He had been that way since we beat the 49ers. We had barely won every game since.