30

The next morning, there was a knock at Elle's door shortly after seven. Two figures, completely dressed in protective clothing, whose genders Elle could only make out by their eyes, wished her a good morning.

The woman explained to her that they had come to perform a covid test on Elle so that after the result, if it was negative, of course, she could go to the dining room to have breakfast.

Elle just nodded wearily. She had been told last night that the two people were coming, but after staying longer with Zac yesterday to discuss with him how to make the match against Joe, she had totally forgotten to set an alarm clock, which was why she had just gotten fresh out of bed.

The man jammed the stick of the test into both of her nostrils before explaining that as long as she didn't hear otherwise, Elle would be allowed to leave the room in 15 minutes. However, if her test came back positive, she would get a call to clarify further action with her.

Elle nodded to show she understood everything before sneezing violently as the feeling of the stick still tickled her nose. The two employees said their goodbyes and headed for the next door.

Elle set a timer for 15 minutes and decided to fix herself until she was allowed to leave the room.

As usual, her outfit consisted of a black Bengals T-shirt over which she put a track jacket, also black with a Bengals logo. She also opted for a pair of light colored jeans for now, before she would slip into her track pants later for the game.

She was just finishing up in the bathroom when the timer went off. Out of safety, she waited another two minutes, but when no call came, she grabbed her room key and her employee ID, which she hung around her neck with a lanyard, and put on her mask before heading out of the room.

Once outside the dining hall, they checked her ID and explained where she could get her food and where she could sit.

Coaches and players were kept strictly separate from the other staff, reducing the risk of contagion, since unlike later on the field, masks would not be worn.

Elle sat down with Nick and Paul and wished them both a good morning before starting to eat. Shortly after, the other athletic trainers joined them, which meant they would not have any absences due to Covid.

Paul also told them that so far no one had been tested positive, but only staff members had been on yet and no players, who were being tested at the moment and would be coming into the dining hall soon.

He was right, little by little the players came down and sat down in the part of the dining room that was separated from the staff area with barrier tape.

With each face that Elle could put a name to, she was pleased to see that the player was negative. She spotted Sam, Mike, Logan, and finally Ja'Marr and Joe, who arrived shortly after each other just as Paul was bringing in the second round of coffee for all the athletic trainers.

Just a few minutes later, Zac also entered the dining room and after getting his food, he joined Joe at the table.

Elle watched the two of them intently. She could only see Zac from behind, but she knew what he would say to Joe, so she stared rather curiously at Joe, wanting to know how he would react to not being allowed to play.

He looked like he was taking it rather understandingly. Elle could see neither anger nor disappointment in his gaze. It didn't seem to spoil his mood, he even laughed as Zac kept talking, but of course Elle couldn't understand about what.

Suddenly Joe raised his head and returned Elle's gaze, who widened her eyes in surprise and quickly stared into the coffee cup in front of her.

She immediately felt the blush rise into her cheeks and warm her entire face.

When she cautiously lifted her gaze and looked back to the table from him, Joe just grinned at her in amusement and raised his hand.

She smiled back and returned his gesture before quickly turning to the others and pretending someone was talking to her.

When they arrived at the Buccaneers' stadium, Elle was getting more and more nervous. Sure, it was just a preseason game, but for her it was the first one she would see not from any seat in the stadium, but on the sidelines, as the athletic trainer of an NFL team that had a lot of potential, even if many doubted it.

It all happened very quickly and Elle didn't really know what was happening, which is why she was quite glad that Paul and Nick kept giving instructions, otherwise she would despair from being so overwhelmed.

In record time, they taped all the players, used up countless rolls of tape, and checked minor ailments, which they then taped in support for safety.

No sooner had they taped the last player than Nick pulled her along with the others into the meeting of all the medical staff and referees.

They were told how everything was going to work. Where the doctors and ambulances were for emergencies and how they would be reached.

How the ATC spotters, who would watch the game from above and report any possible injuries that needed to be looked at closer to the Head ATC, which was Paul in the Bengals case, so they could treat the player.

What hand signals they would have to use when communicating with the referees and on and on.

Elle wasn't sure she could remember it all and was glad she was only an assistant and thus had to respond to Paul and Nick's command and not her own decision, because that would definitely have been too much for today.

When the meeting was over, Paul and the Buccaneers' Head ATC were to stay to be wired so the ATC spotters could reach them, while Elle and the others were to go out onto the field where the players were warming up at the moment to further treat pre-game complaints if necessary.

"Simmons, would you please stay here?" Paul stopped Elle as she was about to leave the room. Confused, she nodded and went back to stand next to Paul.

"I've requested that you be wired as well. Just to listen in on what I'm being told during the game so you can get a feel for it. Have done that with every new ATC so far and the game today is perfect for that" he explained and Elle looked at him surprised. She didn't expect to hear the audio calls.

When everything was in place on her, she had some kind of headphones stuck in one ear from which a long cable went to the receiving device that was attached to the waistband of her pants, Paul dismissed her and sent her to join the others to the warm up while he had some organizational things to take care of.

Once outside, Elle had to process the impressions of standing on the field of an NFL stadium, because the feeling was quite overwhelming. From excitement and fascination goose bumps covered her whole body and stunned she turned once in a circle.

"Hey" she flinched in shock as Joe suddenly stood beside her, grinning at her in amusement. "God, you scared me" she said smiling and clutching her chest as her heart had stopped for a second.

"Sorry, just saw you and wanted to say hi since I don't have much to do. It's not like I'm playing" Joe shrugged.

"Yeah, I know" Elle replied, nervously playing with her braid. "Yeah, Zac said you were the one who recommended it to him".

"Well, yeah, but in consultation with Paul and Nick. I'm really sorry. Don't be mad. We just didn't want to take any chances" her voice quickened and quieted with panic.

"Woah, why would I be mad at you?" Joe laughed, which made Elle exhale in relief.

"I mean, you're not doing this to piss me off, are you? This is about my health. I understand that, and you guys are the experts. If you say it's still too risky, so be it" he explained and smiled at Elle.

"Good" was the only thing Elle could bring herself to say with relief.

"Wait, is that why you were staring so spellbound at Zac and I this morning, because you thought it would piss me off that I wasn't playing?" Joe asked, laughing.

Elle wanted to defend herself at first, claiming that she hadn't been staring after all, but what would be the point? He was right, after all.

"Maybe" she mumbled. Joe grinned. "Don't worry. I would have liked to play, but a break like this is okay, too. It's still preseason, after all. Besides, today I can just relax and listen to what Zac has to say" he tapped his ear and only now Elle noticed that he was wearing the same transceiver as she was.

Laughing, she pointed to hers. "I'm getting possible injuries called through" she explained. "Too bad they're not headsets, or we could have switched frequencies and gossiped with each other about the others" Joe grinned, which made Elle laugh.

THANKS for 19k reads!!!!

question: do you believe in love at first sight? (I'm really struggling to find questions haha)

My answer: yes and no, I don't believe in seeing someone and directly falling in love with him, to fall in love you need to know the person (my opinion) but I think that you can be interested in a person from the moment you see her because maybe her laugh or hr eyes or something else is just especially noticeable. I think every one of us had had a moment in life where they saw somebody and thought, yes, I could spend the rest of my life with you. I wouldn't say that's love at first sight but it is close.

Comment your answer and like the chapter!!

WHO-DEY 🧡