Capturing You

Chapter 32: Opener and Closer

A/N: Holy smokes, y'all, I didn't think so much time had passed! I hope everyone has had a great spring. So much has been going on in life, with a lot of stress from work and real life in general, with less than two months to go before I get married and I feel like I have hardly anything planned. *sweats* lol. But, it's been grounding to come back and write Joe and Avery, and a total stress reliever to get lost in their world again. It's just all about channeling the energy and care I want to put in the story. I want to thank everybody for their support and patience and overall love for this story. I'm so humbled and thankful to see that, even though I wasn't updating, people were still reading and showing it love. I hope you enjoy as the updates start coming back again! Slowly, but surely...

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Chapter 32: Opener and Closer

Before I could fly off to Paris, I had to work one last big event for the Bengals, and it seemed fitting that it was the opening game of the season. We were hosting the Pittsburgh Steelers at home and Paul Brown Stadium was vibrating to the brim with fans eager to welcome their team back to the turf. As I had done with the last game of last season, I was waiting at the end of the tunnel for the boys in black and orange to pull on their helmets and greet the jungle. I stood, tapping my foot on the grass, hands at the ready on my camera for the pivotal moment the team came out of the darkness.

It was taking longer than usual, and I didn't have Trish to be my mental stress ball. Usually, I wouldn't even be cognizant of these things, but after last time – when Joe made me that promise in the tunnel – I couldn't help but wonder if the boy was up to something again.

I wished I knew what he was thinking. Joe Burrow was remarkably difficult to read, and though we'd spent the summer growing closer, there were times I still felt like he had a screen to him that I had to carefully peel away. Most of the time he was warm and affectionate and goofy and caring, a side that I knew I was privileged to see and therefore cherished. It was a given that there would be times where he wasn't that way, which I understood; but that didn't mean I was so desperate to see what was on the other side of the front he put up. And ever since I took the internship, those times had become more frequent.

They were never malevolent, but distant, and that indifference hurt more than it would if he would have just told me off. It was horrible of me to wish we'd just lash at each other, let it all out for the sake of moving on. It was what my parents did, and they never stopped loving each other. Couldn't Joe and I do the same thing? I wanted him to tell me how selfish I was being, how I should just stay in Cincinnati, how I was making a stupid and reckless decision leaving behind a perfectly stable job. But he would never do that.

Instead, he would do things like this – stall a little bit before coming to see me, or responding to my texts. Sometimes his gaze would float away when we were sitting across the table from each other at meals. I never called him out for it. Maybe he was mourning.

Lost in my thoughts, I was suddenly yanked away by a burst of fanfare. I jumped, immediately pulling my camera up and pointing it at the tunnel. A few seconds later, the Bengals emerged, led by the one and only Joe Burrow. We exchanged the faintest of smiles as he passed by me and looked at my lens, and I had no choice but to push the shutter, capturing that moment forever. It was a smile I never wanted to see again; I hurt him. Not even a second later, he was already jogging away, suspending between my fingers like smoke. I had been close enough to him to smell his scent; Palo Santo. And yet I had never felt farther away.

The Bengals beat the Steelers in a game-winning touchdown, as close of a match-up as anyone would have predicted at this point, but with much more confidence in Burrow and the offensive line. For those few hours I forced myself to focus on my job, pointing and shooting my camera all the while paying as much attention as I could to the game. Possibly the last game I'd ever photograph. My heart beat faster as the game went on, wanting more and more for the Bengals to win. Since it wasn't the Super Bowl, I thought I'd be less nervous, but I supposed I had more stakes in it now that Joe and I were dating. I would always want the best for him, and that meant all the wins he could possibly have. I was allowing myself to be that selfish for him.