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The game day was exhausting. It was the first time Elle felt the cameras watching her too and not just the players around her, which made her pretty nervous.

Even as she entered the stadium before the game, she could hear the cameras clicking from everywhere, and she pulled the Bengals cap, over which she had pulled the hood of her hoodie, even deeper into her face, while also blocking the view of her face with her arm.

But even during warm-ups and the game itself, she noticed that the cameras were on her. It made her nervous, because on the field she couldn't hide her face and was helpless against the cameras.

She was tense, Joe had noticed that all morning, the fact that today after the game she would also finally meet his parents, unfortunately, did not make things any easier for her. He had explained the situation to his parents specifically for that reason and told them that they might have to cancel it on short notice, which they both totally understood. Elle shouldn't feel forced, but should feel comfortable and ready for it.

Joe knew how overwhelming the attention of the cameras could be. He had witnessed it himself when he had made more and more a name for himself in college. By the time he had won the Heismann Trophy and the national championships, at the latest, the cameras were constantly on him.

For Elle, who didn't want this from the beginning and was almost thrown in at the deep end, it all had to be even more difficult and Joe was just worried that it would become too much for her and in the end her mental and physical health would suffer. He definitely wanted to prevent her from having a panic attack over the attention.

But he couldn't help her on the field, that would rather cause the opposite. If the press had even the slightest suspicion that something might be going on between the two of them, they would certainly not leave Elle alone.

That's why he had taken Nick and Michael to his side before the game and asked them to try to calm Elle's panic. They should just show her that they were there, protect her if she needed it and she wasn't out there alone. Nick and Michael had immediately agreed and had promised Joe to keep an eye on Elle.

Somehow the game against the Browns today also fit the whole situation. After the first quarter, the score was still 7-7, but the Browns' touchdown was due to an interception, which annoyed Joe quite a bit.

But it went further downhill. At halftime it was already 24-10 and more than one touchdown, where they screwed up the two-point conversion, they did not succeed, while the Browns scored in every drive. In the end, the score was 41-16, bitter and quite annoying for Joe.

Elle was glad that Nick and Paul allowed her at every opportunity to disappear either inside or at least into the blue tent, so she could take a breath for a while before having to face the cameras again.

After the game, she disappeared inside as quickly as possible and retreated to her office. She just needed some rest and already felt the paranoia developing in her that there was a camera lurking around every corner.

No wonder she flinched in fright when there was a sudden knock on her door and for a moment she considered just being quiet and hoping the person would leave.

"Elle? Are you in there?" she recognized Joe's voice and exhaled in relief. "Yeah, come on in" she replied, feeling her whole body relax. She really needed to work on not being so tense every time a game was played.

"Hey, just checking in to see how you're doing" Joe smiled fondly at her as he entered the room. He was already changed, his damp hair hanging tousled in his face. As if he noticed Elle watching his hair, he ran his hand through it.

"Good so far. I'm just calming down" Elle smiled slightly. "Good, that's good. Shitty game today, huh?" Elle nodded. "Wasn't exactly your best performance" Joe agreed with a sigh. "I was kind of out of my element today" he admitted to himself.

"But...not because of the whole thing with me....or?" Elle asked hesitantly. Joe looked at her in shock. "What, oh no, no way. You know I'm very good at blocking that kind of thing out in the game. So it's not that I don't care then, but...." he stammered. "I know what you mean, Joe" Elle grinned.

"I...I was actually going to come over too, to ask if you'd like to meet my parents tonight anyway" Joe ran his hand over the back of his head and looked nervously at Elle. "Of course, why wouldn't I want to?" Elle asked, confused.

"Well, I...didn't know if it would be too much for you and...well, if you could be with me because....because we lost and...you know, you're always so insecure and tense there" Joe stammered even more nervously.

Elle smiled. "Sweet that you're so worried about it. But I'm really looking forward to meeting your parents and...if we're not alone, then....that's okay" she assured him. "Ok, I'll let my parents know then. I'll see you at my place later?" Elle nodded and raised her hand briefly as Joe left the room.

When he was gone, she sank into her chair with a sigh. With all the press and hiding, she hadn't given any thought to the fact that she would be alone with Joe tonight. Immediately, a thousand bad thoughts flew through her head, but she quickly pushed them away and grabbed her things.

With her nice disguise of cap and hoodie, she slipped past the press as inconspicuously as possible to her car and drove off the lot. She would go to her apartment first, maybe take a quick shower and change before going to Joe. She wanted to make as good an impression as possible on his parents.

With freshly washed hair that she had dried with the blow dryer, a simple outfit of dark jeans and a beige knit sweater with her white Nikes and her backpack with her work things for tomorrow inside, she parked in front of Joe's house.

By now it was getting to the point where Elle had enough clothes, her own toothbrush, and other stuff at Joe's that she didn't need to bring anything if she was staying overnight with him. Joe also had enough things in her apartment.

She noticed her nervousness rising as she walked to Joe's front door and pressed the doorbell. Joe opened the door for her with a smile and immediately Elle felt calmer. "Hey, baby. Glad you're here" he gave her a kiss before taking her hand and looking at her with a smile. "Ready?" she nodded and took a deep breath before following Joe into the house.

Joe's parents, who was sitting on the couch, immediately got up when Joe and Elle joined them and Joe beamed as he finally got to introduce his girlfriend to his parents. "Mom, dad, this is Elle."

His mom immediately started beaming when she caught sight of Elle, who smiled a little nervously. "Hi Elle, it's so nice to finally meet you" she immediately pulled Elle into a warm hug. "I..I'm so happy to finally meet you too Mrs Burrow".

"For God's sake, call me Robin. Joe has told me so much about you" Robin sighed as Joe's dad held out his hand to Elle. "Jimmy, Joe's dad, nice to meet you Elle" smiling Elle shook his hand.

"Wow, strong handshake. But my wife has already mentioned that you're pretty extraordinary. Is it true you won against my son?" Elle nodded with a grin.

"In his defense, I was raised with two older brothers and a coach for a father" Elle added. "Sounds like your story son" laughing Jimmy patted Joe on the shoulder who just nodded with a grin.

Thanks for 67k reads and almost 2k likes!! So unbelievable!

Question for today: Do you have a life motto?

My answer: mine used to be „don't expect much, this way you will not be disappointed" but that was really negative and yeah, made it everything sad. So i changed it to „even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise again", that's from Les Mis and it reminds me that no matter how bad it is rn, there will come good times again.

Comment your answer and leave a like!

WHO-DEY🧡