beautiful mistake - joe burrow

34

"Hey, come in and sit down" Nick looked up from his desk as Elle opened the door to his office and gestured to the chair on the other side of the desk.

Elle set her backpack down on the floor and crossed her legs as Nick turned off his computer screen, leaned back, crossed his arms and eyed her.

"Did Joe leave?" he asked. Elle nodded. They had said their goodbyes outside her office and gone in different directions. "What did you really do with him?" Nick looked at her again with a raised eyebrow.

"Looking for his cell phone, like he said" Elle shrugged. "Elle, you know yourself that you're not good at lying, plus you still have a piece of artificial grass hanging in your hair" Nick grinned as Elle ran a quick hand through her hair.

"So?" he asked, looking at her promptly. "Nick, I don't think you want to know" Elle sighed in exasperation.

"Hey, kiddo, listen to me. I know I'm your supervisor in theory and we're actually still at work here, but we're having these conversations to make you feel better and not keep it all bottled up, so whatever you tell me here, I'm not going to use it against you, even though it might affect work, ok?" Elle nodded and kneaded her hands nervously, chewing thoughtfully on her bottom lip. Should she really tell Nick everything?

"You can bitch about Paul here, say how much work pisses you off or whatever, it won't jeopardize your work here at all. I'm just trying to help you, not hurt you, so stop trying to tell me that Joe was here tonight for his cell phone" Nick added.

Elle sighed. It would certainly do good to finally get it off her chest and Nick was one of her closest confidants at the moment. "Alright, Joe wasn't here for his cell phone, ...he was here for me..." she began.

The words just flowed out of her mouth. She told everything in the smallest detail and couldn't stop. The flirting in training. The trip to the stadium. The evening at the bar when they danced together and ended with a kiss outside Joe's room door. How she had avoided Joe for several days until he had confronted her and she had dumped him like that. The clarifying conversation, a day after her panic attack and Joe's promise to accept whatever she decides and finally the final hour. The kiss and the little argument they had.

Elle had to catch her breath when she was done. Without a dot or comma she had told everything that had been on her mind for the last few weeks. She had to admit that she felt a little more lighthearted to have finally said it out loud.

Nick eyed her silently while Elle calmed down and leaned back in the chair. When she had recovered her breath to some extent, he cleared his throat and leaned over the desk.

"I think you should take a chance, Elle. What Joe and you have sounds like a good thing. Joe's a decent guy who could really make you happy if you let him. And after everything that's happened, you deserve to be able to laugh lightheartedly again, Elle."

Elle sighed. "You're right,....it sure would make me feel good, but...I'm scared, Nick. The situation is too similar for me to just go for it. It wouldn't be fair to Joe for me to go into the relationship with such fears and doubts."

"You're right, that wouldn't be fair, which is why I would advise you to take it slow. Take all the time you need, but let Joe into your life. Don't label it as a relationship, but allow yourselves to get closer. Go on dates or whatever you do as young people today. Watch a movie, I have no idea, but try to get used to Joe slowly and in small steps and you will see that your fears and doubts are unfounded."

"But what if Joe doesn't go along with it? What if it's too slow for him and he replaces me?" Elle continued to express doubt. "Kiddo, did you actually listen to yourself when you were telling about what happened between you two last week? Joe is totally crazy about you and I'm sure he'll do that for you" Nick smirked.

"And if he does not, he wouldn't be worth all the trouble anyway. I don't think so though, I don't rate Joe as the kind of guy who will replace you with someone else right away. He's ambitious and when he wants something he fights until he gets it, you've seen him in training. He will do anything to make you feel good, Elle"

"Do you think he will understand even though he doesn't know why?" Elle mumbled thoughtfully. "You won't tell him?" Nick asked empathically. She shook her head. "I don't know if I can" "sooner or later he'll probably find out anyway, Elle" she nodded sighing. "I know, but until it's necessary, I don't want him to know".

Nick sighed thoughtfully. "I understand you. Joe will still understand you. After all, he said himself he'll accept anything no matter what you decide. So you don't have to worry so much about him" "easier said than done" Elle mumbled.

they were silent for a few moments, Elle chewing nervously on her lower lip. "Nick? am I going to lose my job if this gets out?" she asked the question that was currently on her mind.

Nick shrugged his shoulders. "Honestly, I don't know. It doesn't say anywhere that players can't have anything with athletic trainers, which may be because they never thought about it because all the atheltic trainers up until now have been male, very homophobic in retrospect, but well, so you're not breaking any rules."

"But? It sounds like there's a but coming" Elle looked at Nick with a mixture of fear and confidence. "I think if something would really develop between you and you would tell the club about it, there will be a meeting to discuss it then"

Elle looked at him, frozen. " There will be people gathered and there to talk about whether my maybe future relationship is against the rules?" she asked confused.

Nick nodded. "I think Paul and I will be there, Zac probably, President Mike Brown, and a few more people like that, but you don't have to be scared about it. Why wouldn't you guys be allowed if relationships between players and cheerleaders are allowed?" Nick tried to encourage her.

"Maybe because cheerleaders and players don't really work together, unlike Joe and me?" Elle stated with a sigh. "Come on, Elle. Even though you work with Joe, can you really favor him?"

Elle silently pondered. Nick was right, how could she prefer Joe? Just because she could be with him, she wouldn't get his injury treated any faster than anyone else's. In fact, if she sent him back to normal training sooner than others, she would be more likely to risk his health. So she had no chance to really favor him, especially since she was also subordinate to Paul and Nick.

"So you don't have to worry about the relationship with Joe somehow jeopardizing your job. You don't have to worry at all, okay? Just go with it and enjoy it, Elle. Joe and you really seem to be developing something special" Nick smiled at her.

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WHO-DEY 🧡