52

"Hey Joey" Joe's mom answered the call after the second ring. "Hey mom, how was your day?" he asked, leaning back on the couch. "Oh, you know how students can be. Cute, sweet but pretty exhausting in between. By the way, I was asked a lot about your victory yesterday" his mother laughed.

She was the principal of an elemantary school near his hometown Athens and her students were her pride and joy, even if they sometimes got on her nerves. She loved her job more than anything and was always happy to talk about it.

But today she was more interested in another topic than telling Joe about her students, because unlike usual, she kept the summary of her workday pretty short before listening to what Joe had to say about his day and getting right to the point without much fuss.

"Joe, you know why I wanted to talk to you on the phone, so start telling me about this girl. Who is she?" she asked, which made Joe laugh. His mother's curiosity was very amusing and he knew she had wanted a smart girlfriend for Joe for a long time.

"Her name is Elle. I met her through the club. She's an athletic trainer with us and took over my recovery training when Nick was ill" he explained, noticing how the smile immediately came to his face at the thought of Elle.

"An atheltic trainer then? Elle, nice name" Joe heard exactly that his mother was smiling. "Her full name is Eleanor Simmons, but everyone just calls her Elle or Simmons" he added. "Eleanor, Elle Simmons" his mother repeated his words. "Tell me more about her"

Without hesitation he told his mother everything he knew about Elle. Where she came from, what she had told him about her family and so on. The only thing he didn't mention to his mother was Elle's panic attacks. He just thought it was too personal, even if it was his mother.

When Elle showed up at his house at a little before 8:30, he hadn't been done talking on the phone for five minutes. Smiling, he opened the door for Elle and immediately pulled her in, closed the door and kissed her.

"Ok, hey" Elle greeted him laughing as he let her go from his stormy greeting. Her hair was still wet, probably having showered after the gym, and knotted into a bun. She wore a loose black Rick and Morty shirt and gray sweatpants.

Her backpack hung casually over one shoulder, but she set it down on the floor as she slipped out of her red and black plaid jacket and slung it over the back of the couch as she always did.

"where's the good vibes coming from?" she asked with a smile as she grinned at Joe and planted a quick kiss on his lips. "the good mood comes from you being here" Joe pulled her into his arms and turned his head as her bun almost hit his face.

Elle laughed. "I'm glad to hear that. Did the talk with your mom go well?" she asked as Joe took her hand and they ran into the kitchen together. "Are you kidding? Of course the conversation went well. We talked about you" Joe grinned at her.

"It went so well, in fact, that my mom is dying to meet you, even though I've pointed out several times that we're not really dating yet, so maybe it's a little too soon" Joe shrugged, which made Elle laugh.

"So you should hide from my mum after the next few games until she goes home again, otherwise she'll claw you and you won't be able to get rid of her anytime soon" Joe grinned as he opened the fridge.

"Speaking of my mom, she cooked yesterday, but well, I didn't eat with them, so we can just heat up the leftovers if that's okay with you" he looked at Elle.

"Food from your mom? Sounds like a dream" she grinned. "My mom is the best cook there is!" Joe explained as he pulled two boxes out of the fridge. " „Its my favorite, grilled chicken with sauteed peppers and onions, white rice and a little cayenne pepper sprinkled on top".

They warmed up the meal and got comfortable on the couch. Elle had to admit that the food tasted really good and she could understand why it was Joe's favorite.

"By the way, soon we won't have to cook anyway" Joe mentioned as he scraped the leftovers off his plate to enjoy every last bit of the meal. surprised, Elle looked at him. "why not?"

Joe sighed. "I did mention that Erin isn't too thrilled about me not following my diet quite yet, didn't I?" Elle nodded. "And that's why I'm getting a personal chef now" Joe shrugged his shoulder as if it was the most normal thing in the world, while Elle stared at him dumbfounded.

"you're getting a chef who cooks just for you?" "well, Jose has three restaurant here in Cincy and will cook for me on the side" Elle was still stunned. "So...what does that look like then? You go to the restaurant every day for dinner?" she asked confused.

"No, he cooks the food and then brings it here and puts it in the fridge. I then eat it here or take it to the facility or to you. Depending on where I stop to eat" Elle shook her head. "So you're going to live completely on his food? Breakfast, lunch and dinner?" Joe nodded.

"That's....fricking awesome" Elle was at a loss for words. Of course she knew that nutrition was important to an NFL player, but that it was so important that Joe was now even getting his personal chef was something she never expected.

"I've already asked Jose to make more for dinner all the time, since you may be eating along" Joe explained to her, which Elle still totally stunned only commented with a nod.

After eating, they cleaned up their dishes and sat down together on Joe's couch. Elle snuggled into Joe's arms while he pulled out his cell phone and texted his mom that the meal had been really good and that Elle had liked it quite a bit, too.

Afterwards, the two of them just lay around and talked while Joe ran his thumb over Elle's arm, examining the tattoo of the dagger wrapped in floral vines as he always did.

He had seen the tattoo so many times now, had stroked it countless times or just looked at it.

"What's the significance of it?" he asked the question that ran through his mind every time he saw it, and ran his hand over it again.

Elle sighed. "Quite a few. I liked it a lot because there are different ways to interpret this tattoo" "like what?" Joe asked with interest.

Elle sat up and cleared her throat. "First of all, a dagger can stand for betrayal and danger, everyone stabbing you in the back. The flowers represent beauty, love and joy. So you can interpret the tattoo as a warning. That betrayal or danger can be hidden behind the beauty, love and joy" Joe nodded in understanding.

"But then it can also be seen as one person's betrayal can be balanced by other people's love. But the dagger could also stand for something sacrificial. You have to overcome difficult, complicated situations, so sacrifice yourself to find the joy, which is represented here by the growing flowers. ultimately, the dagger can also be seen as a weapon, that is, as strength. In this case, my tattoo means that from strength comes beauty, joy and love" Elle shrugged her shoulders while Joe looked at her in surprise.

"And from which of these interpretations did you get the tattoo now?" he asked. Elle shrugged again. "About all of them" she answered. "Even because of the betrayal?" she nodded. "Did your ex betray you?"

Joe realized he'd hit a sore spot with Elle, because she lowered her eyes to playing with her ring on her finger before nodding and raising her head again. "Yeah, you could say that" she swallowed the lump in her throat and bit her tongue to keep her eyes from filling with tears.

Thanks for so many reads, likes and comments!!!!

Question: do you have or want a tattoo?

My answer: I have a really small one on my ankle but there are three more tattoos in planning rn.

Comment your answer and leave a like!

WHO-DEY🧡