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Elle was totally looking forward to the double date with Celine, Javier and Joe and couldn't wait to go home after work. She would skip the gym today so she could fix herself up to be ready on time.

Joe would pick her up at ten to eight and they would drive into town together to the Secret Saloon where they would meet up with the other two.

Celine had been totally thrilled yesterday when Elle told her about the plan and then mentioned that it had been Joe's idea. She was looking forward to finally meeting Joe and promised Elle that she would prepare Javier so he wouldn't completely freak out when they met tonight.

After she showered, she picked out something to wear. She wanted to dress up a bit, after all, not only would her best friend be meeting Joe, it was also the first date with her boyfriend that wouldn't be at either of their homes.

Boyfriend, Joe was her boyfriend. It still sounded kind of surreal and unfamiliar to her, yet she had to smile every time she thought about it. She was happy, overjoyed taken, and she would have to get used to that.

Finally, she decided on a black, long-sleeved shirt whose collar went to the middle of her neck and a tight, black leather skirt that reached to the middle of her thighs.

She blow-dried her hair, twisted slight waves into her dry hair with the curling iron, put on her makeup and jewelry, and packed her small bag. Then she packed her backpack with the things she needed to work tomorrow and put it by the door.

When Joe texted her that he was waiting outside the house, she grabbed her keys, locked the door and rode the elevator down.

"Wow...you...you look stunning" Joe stared at her open mouthed as she sat down next to him in the car and pulled the door shut. "Mouth closed, you're about to drool" she grinned at him, gave him a kiss and buckled her seat belt.

They parked a few minutes from the Secret Saloon and decided to walk the rest. Once again, Elle sent a silent shove prayer to the heavens, thanking them that she very rarely wore heels and the path was much more comfortable to walk in her white sneakers.

On the way, Joe took her hand, which she only commented on with a smile in his direction as they strolled through the streets of Cincinnati.

Joe bristled when Elle suddenly turned down a rather dark side alley. "What...what are you doing in this creepy alley? Kill me?" he asked uncertainly, but tried to cover it with a laugh. "Are you scared?" Elle asked laughing.

"I want to go there" Elle pointed upwards and only now Joe spotted a run down neon sign with two guns and a cowboy hat, but just like most of the letters on the sign were no longer glowing. "Secret Saloon" Joe read aloud before looking critically at Elle.

"How did you guys find this shithole?" he asked. Elle laughed. "See that door with the mailboxes back there?" she pointed to the end of the alley where there was a front door, but it looked like it was going to fly off the hinges at any moment.

Joe just nodded. "That's where friends from college lived. That's how we discovered the bar at some point and kind of fell in love with it" Elle shrugged before pulling Joe along with her. "Come on, I'm sure you'll love it. Appearances are pretty deceiving" she proclaimed.

Joe had to agree with Elle. The outside appearance of the bar was really deceiving. It turned out that the Secret Saloon was, as the name suggested, a rustic, Wild West style bar, but totally modern, comfortable and homey looking.

The yellowish, dimmed low-hanging lamps bathed the long wooden bar, lots of bar tables with bar stools in a dim light and reflected in the large wooden showcases, which contained countless bottles of various types of alcohol.

But Joe couldn't really look around, because someone was already shouting Elle's name loudly through the bar. He spotted Celine immediately, knew her from pictures of Elle. Like a crazy person, she waved at the two of them and only stopped when Elle, a little embarrassed by her best friend's appearance, briefly raised her hand.

"Great first impression" Elle mumbled as she walked over to the table. "She seems to be in a good mood" Joe murmured to her with a grin, placing his hand on her back as he followed.

"Hey, Elly" Celine immediately pulled her best friend into a tight hug and squealed in delight before turning to Joe, beaming.

"Joe, hey, I'm Celine, Elly's best friend. Nice to finally meet you" before Joe could say anything back, Celine pulled him into a hug.

"And I've been given behavioral instructions" Javier quipped as Elle hugged him in greeting. Laughing, she shrugged. "We should have guessed she'd freak out like that" she murmured to him before turning back to Joe.

"Joe, this is Javier. Javier, this is Joe" she introduced the two boys to each other. "Javier, nice to meet you" Joe held out his hand. A bit overwhelmed, Javier shook Joe's hand as he stared at him as if Joe were an alien. "Joe, wow...I mean, hey, nice to meet you too. I...I'm a big fan" Javier stammered. "Got that already" Joe replied grinning.

They all sat back down and ordered their first round of drinks, no alcohol for Joe of course, when Celine started her cross-examination already. For ten minutes, questions about Joe's entire life shot out of her like the bullet from a machine gun.

Elle wanted to intervene after the fifth question, but Joe put his hand on her thigh and indicated with his gaze that it was okay. She had a lot of respect for him, because he answered every question with a lot of patience, never once coming across as annoyed.

Fortunately, Celine finally gave up at some point and seemed quite satisfied with Joe's answers and behavior.

Joe, who apparently still hadn't talked enough, turned to Javier. "So, what do you do for a living?" Elle drew in her breath. In a moment, Javier would surely begin his two-hour introductory talk about the world of credit and finance.

"I...I'm a financial advisor" Javier, apparently still overwhelmed after all this time that THE Joe Burrow was talking to him, stuttered nervously "Oh, cool. I also have a bachelor's degree in consumer and family finance" Joe grinned at Javier.

"You do?" Celine, Elle and Javier asked simultaneously, surprised. Joe shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, why? Am I not allowed to have a degree as an NFL player?" he asked with a grin. "Yes...but, I mean, I knew you got your master's in liberal arts, but you never told me about your bachelor's" Elle was really surprised.

Grinning, Joe shrugged again. "Was just afraid that you would then push your finazen on me" Celine and Javier laughed while Elle gave Joe a smirking look. "Don't worry, financially I'm very well advised otherwise" she nodded towards Javier.

"Javier, why don't you tell Joe about that investment thing you tried to explain to me last time" Elle gave Javier help to finally start a conversation with Joe. He didn't need to be told twice and immediately started to text Joe with a lot of technical terms with bright eyes and wild hand gestures.

To their complete surprise, Joe nodded in agreement and replied in words about as incomprehensible as Javier's.

"We would have kept them busy for a while" Celine murmured to Elle with a grin, toasting Elle's glass and taking a big gulp of her cocktail. "I think he's great, by the way" still holding her glass she gestured towards Joe. Elle grinned. Yes, Joe was really on his best behavior today.

I finally finished the sex scene that will take place in the next chapter🤫 it is always the hardest part to find good words for the pussy that doesn't sound to cringe so i hated the first outcome of the chapter and completely changed it again. But now it's down and you will get it tomorrow!!

Question for today: do you like these kind of rustic old bars like the one in this chapter or do you like like a modern/ fancy version of a bar like the pic here more? For everyone not old enough to legally be in a bar just answer theoretically lol

My answer: i totally love old rustic bars (probably the reason I choose to create the Secret Saloon in the story 😂) because it's already looking so cozy and homey and i don't know just a fun place to spend a night with some friends. The fancy/ modern one is a bit too fancy for my taste. And probably expensive....

Comment your answer and leave a like!!!

WHO-DEY🧡