18

That evening, she stood nervously outside her apartment building, wondering if it was really a good idea to come along. As athletic trainer, wouldn't she be imposing on all the players?

Sighing, she tugged at the off-the-shoulder, long-sleeved black top. It was tucked into her light skinny high waist jeans and she had to be careful that her cleavage didn't slide down too far if she leaned forward too much.

Besides, she didn't quite know how well the strapless bra Celine had forced on her when Elle had bought this top would hold up. It fit tightly, very tightly, around her chest, but would it stay there all the time?

At least she wouldn't have to worry about her feet hurting after some time in any high heels, as she had opted for her black Vans Old Skools for comfort.

Her hair she wore loose over her shoulder, over which hung her small black shoulder bag, which perfectly matched her necklace with its silver chain. A two-piece made of a smaller pearl necklace and a long silver chain with a circle pendant with a sun stamped on it.

Just as she was considering going back to her apartment, if she wasn't going to stand on the sidewalk, surely Ja'Marr wouldn't make her come along, Joe's black Porsche pulled up in front of her.

Confused, she watched as the window rolled down and Joe grinned at her. "Uber for Simmons?" she laughed, opening the door. "Hey, I thought Ja'Marr was picking me up" she greeted him as she got in and closed the door.

"I didn't say I was driving" startled Elle turned around and spotted Ja'Marr sitting in the back seat grinning at her. "And I didn't think you weren't lying when you said Elle was coming along" Joe replied grinning and threading his way back into traffic.

"I just have great persuasion skills" "and you practically gave me no choice. I couldn't turn you down without having your number." Elle mentioned with a laugh. Ja'Marr shrugged. "It's also a form of persuasion."

"so you're only going because you couldn't cancel on him?" Joe asked, and Elle thought she heard a bit of disappointment in his voice. "I wouldn't put it that way. I was going to think about it, but I don't know, so I didn't really have a reason or a way not to go" Elle shrugged.

"Besides, I was pretty much convinced I was going anyway, when Ja'Marr specifically mentioned that you were going too" she added with a grin, and had to laugh when Joe immediately gave Ja'Marr a nasty look through the rearview mirror, who just raised his hands innocently. "I tried everything" he defended himself.

The bar Joe parked in front of was familiar to Elle. She had been here once or twice before with Celine. It was popular among students because it had a club area in the basement area starting at 10 p.m. that had a reputation for selling alcohol to people under 21.

"There are so many of us that we take up almost the entire back area. So we have a whole room to ourselves" Ja'Marr explained as they crossed the street and walked into the bar.

They walked through the front area of the bar until they came to the door that had a sign stuck on it that read "today: closed party". Grinning, Ja'Marr opened the door and let Elle go first.

There were already a few players there, Elle spotted Sam and Drew and a few faces she already knew but couldn't put a name to. As Joe and Ja'Marr stood to her side and everyone suddenly grinned delightedly and greeted the two, Elle suddenly felt quite out of place.

She would have liked to turn around and go back home, blaming herself for being so easily persuaded, but before she should do anything, a hand settled on her shoulder. "Just stay with me, okay? I'll introduce you to people" Joe, who had noticed Elle's nervousness, murmured in her ear.

Elle nodded and smiled gratefully at him, while Joe grinned encouragingly at her and indicated with his head that they should start making the rounds. Joe introduced her to a few players and the girlfriends, fiancés or wives. Smiling, Elle raised her hand, shook a few hands and hugged a few people, while kindly mentioning her name each time.

When they finished their rounds and Joe led her to one of the tables, she dropped into the chair, exhausted. "I'll never remember everyone's name" she sighed, but had to laugh. Joe grinned at her. "You'll learn in time"

Ja'Marr joined them, bringing a few more players with him. "Simmons, I have to complain already. I don't think it's okay that you introduce yourself as Elle Simmons everywhere, Eleanor to me even, and everyone except Joe still has to call you by your last name" he gave Elle an offended look.

"Ja'Marr, I don't make anyone call me by my last name, it's just that no one but Joe has asked me what I want to be called and since everyone at work calls me Simmons and not Elle, I thought I would offer that to you as well. In itself, I don't care what you call me. Call me whatever you want" Elle shrugged.

"can I call you mine?" Ja'Marr grinned at her. Elle had to laugh. "Smooth, but hard pass. I don't go for younger, sorry. Are you even legally allowed to drink alcohol here tonight?" Elle nodded at the glass of some sort of drink that was in front of Ja'Marr.

"Ouch, that rejection hurt and yes, I'm old enough" Ja'Marr replied a bit miffed but laughing. "But only for a few months" Joe interjected before turning to Elle. "Speaking of alcohol, the waiter is here right now, do you want to order some?" Elle nodded as Joe waved the waiter to the table and everyone placed their order.

"Speaking of your nicknames, Elle, we can call you Elle now, can't we?" Sam looked at her questioningly. Elle just nodded, "you mentioned this afternoon that your nickname at your internship was hell, why?" "oh yeah, good question Sam. I wanted to know more about that too" Ja'Marr nodded appreciatively to his teammate.

"Guys, that was just a joke to keep you from going on about how I treat Mike today in the afternoon" Elle sighed "Really? So they didn't really call you hell?" Joe asked with interest. Elle sighed again. "Yes, they did"

"I don't think that was just because it almost rhymes with your nickname, right?" Ja'Marr, Joe, as well as all the other players sitting at the table with her looked at her expectantly. "No, it wasn't" Elle admitted.

"I had a reputation for being the strictest. If you were scheduled with me, it was clear that you weren't going to sit around lazily and do some light exercise, but that I was going to try to get the best out of, well, the injury. Also, I had to be strict because college guys don't always have the respect for an athletic trainer who wasn't even necessarily older than they are" the players around her nodded understandably.

"Well, at one point one of the players mentioned that he wasn't afraid to go to hell anymore after he had to do all the rehabilitation with me and from then on I had the nickname hell" Elle finished her story.

"are you still afraid of hell Joe? You've had Elle in rehab for the last few weeks haven't you?" Sam asked grinning. Joe shrugged his shoulders. "Except for the first day, it was actually very pleasant. I imagine hell is worse"

Elle laughed. "You're only saying that because you only had me for two weeks and I was nice to you.If you hadn't been my first case to handle on my own, I would have been tougher" she claimed with a grin.

"So you're advising us not to get hurt and if we do, to hope you don't take over our recovery training?" Ja'Marr asked. "Ja'Marr has anyone ever advised you to hurt yourself?" Joe asked, confused.

"don't make fun of him, Joe. He's right, as an athletic trainer I strictly advise you not to hurt yourself! But maybe that's just because athletic injuries are part of my job" Elle grinned at Ja'Marr's scowl.

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My answer: I'm watching how i met your father right now. It's ok but not as good as himym. Before that I watched New Girl and the second season of Outerbanks.

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