The sun shining through a pair of purple curtains wakes me. The bed I'm in is empty, and so it the majority of the room. It had decorations, sure, but none like the rest of his house.
Music is playing from somewhere in the house so I get up to investigate.
It takes me a minute to find it, but the kitchen is the source, along with the smell of bacon and toast.
"Good morning," Joe gives me a small smile.
"Morning," I smile back, and remember that I'm literally standing here, in his house, in his clothes, while he's cooking breakfast. If I was an outsider looking in, I'd say we hooked up.
But we didn't. I think.
My attentions goes from my outfit to Joes. He has on sweatpants and a compression shirt, which shows off his muscular top half, with wet hair.
"When did you wake up?" I asked him.
"Five," he says it like it's nothing, "we have workouts at 6 until 8:30 every morning. Then we'll go actually have practice at 11 for a few hours, and usually after that I like to lift more."
"You're insane," I say, but on the inside I say, "You're so hot."
"I've worked hard my whole life, now isn't the time to stop," he nods, feeling proud of himself.
"You should write a motivational book," I say, sitting down on a stool, and he chuckles, "I'm serious. It would be good business."
"I think I'll pass," he plates some bacon and a couple pieces of toast with butter. He sits it in front of me and I give him a warm smile, "Thank you."
"You're welcome," he dusts off his hands and pulls out a premade meal from the fridge.
"Something I didn't expect," I swallow the bit of food in my mouth, "you being a good cook. Maybe if football and motivational speaking doesn't work, you could go to culinary school."
"You are so dead set on me not playing football," he sticks the mean in the microwave and starts it.
"It's a dangerous profession. What if you get brain damage? Then your cooking and your inspirational side go bye bye."
He shakes his head, "That isn't going to happen."
"Sometimes your O-line doesn't protect you," I shrug, and look away, waiting for the rant that was about to ensue.
"Hey," he points at me, "don't hate on my O-line. I've already got the media doing it, no need for you to as well."
"Sorry," I nod, "sometimes I talk without thinking about what I'm saying."
"You do, do that" he chuckles, "but it's what makes you Camden."
"Aw thanks," I give him a cheeky smile.
After we're done eating, I gather my clothes and he walks me to the door.
"Thanks for coming, I know you didn't really want to, but I'm a persuasive guy," he puts a hand on his chest.
"I did want to," I nod, and start opening the door. On the other side, two vans with their doors open are sitting in the street, a woman sits on the edge of one and a man on the other.
"Shit," I slam the door and look out the window.
"What?" Joe comes to my side and looks out it with me, hovering extremely close if you ask me.
"Reporters," I groan, "they're gonna start up those rumors again."
"So?" He says, and my heart skips a beat, "They already know your here. Your car isn't very discrete."
Of course I had to take out my custom black Porsche with purple detailing. It was one of a kind, and the most notable of all my cars.
"You're right," I sigh, and step in front of the door.
"I'll walk you out to your car," he nods.
I shake my head because I know he doesn't like the press. He hates attention, "No, I wouldn't make you do that."
"You're not making me do anything," he says before opening the door. The two reporters motion to their camera men and they run up to us.
"Camden, did you spend the night here?"
"Are you in a relationship?"
"Tell the people something!"
"Camden, why are you in Cincinnati?"
Joe puts a light hand on my back and walks me to my car. He opens the door and lets me get in, and leans down to whisper, "Text me."
"Okay," I nod and smile, he shuts the door and quickly jogs back up into his home.
The two reporters knock on my window and I shake my head, motioning with my hand for them to back up or I'll hit them.
✧
To no surprise, pictures, videos, and articles about me leaving Joe's house this morning in his oversized sweatsuit were trending less than an hour after I got home.
His strange behavior wasn't going unnoticed by just me, later that day, Ella called and Tyler gushed about how good Joe did at practice. First, she scolded me for not telling her about spending the night with him, but after that, her and Ty were giggling and screaming like little girls.
"Cam, he's so happy, like you don't understand," Tyler continues, "I don't think he messed up once today."
"So," I shrug , "he might have just been having a good day."
"Whatever," he shakes his head, "I don't know what you did to that man, but keep doing it."
"I didn't do anything to him," I cover my face with my hands, "I literally just fell asleep on his couch."
"And woke up in his clothes?" Ella gives me a look through the phone.
"I was in jeans, he gave me sweats and a hoodie to sleep in. It's not that big of a deal," I sigh and they look at each other.
"It is when there's so much tension between you two," Ella says, and they both nod.
I shake my head, "There isn't. We're friends. Els, I told you that I can have guy friends, didn't I?"
"I've seen you with guy friends," she crosses her arms, "Joe is not a guy friend."
"1- he is. 2- he's way too serious for me to have a relationship with. All he does all day is football. He thinks football, he practices football, he watches football. He doesn't have time for me," I throw my hand up in the air for them to see the frustration. They were getting my hopes up way too high.
"Ty plays football. Cam, we're getting married. We're having a baby. We have a home," Ella emphasizes, "there is no reason you and Joe wouldn't work out."
"Ella, you know I'm not going to throw myself out there," I sigh in defeat, hoping that through the screen she'll understand that I'm afraid of my own feelings.
"I know," she looks at me with reassuring eyes, "that's why Ty is going to hype you up to him. He'll be our spy."
"I will?" Ty looks at her skeptically.
"Yes," she nods, "problem solved. Then, once you're sure that he cares about you, drop the bomb."
"This plan feels like I'm back in high school," I rub my eyes.
"Well," Ella bites her lip, "you both are very emotionally scarred, so a little nudge will be good."
"Both?" I peak out from under my hands and give them a look.
"Liz," Tyler warns her.
"I meant just you," Ella puts her hands up like she's guilty. I decide to ignore the comment and move on.
"Did you get that ultrasound today?"
She nods excitedly, "I did! Let me get the pictures!"
She walks away and I give Ty a death stare, "Do not make it obvious. I would murder you. Like actually choke you."
"I'm not gonna walk up to him and be like 'So, Joe, what do you think about Camden? Do you think she's pretty? Funny? A pain in the ass?'"
My face flattens, "Ha ha."
"Here they are!" Ella appears back on screen with a sonogram.
"Oh my goodness," I gasp and bring the screen closer to me, "do you know the gender yet?"
"They said we probably won't know until the end of the month at the earliest. And even then it isn't very accurate," she says, sounding defeated, yet hopeful.
"Well I hope it's a girl," I chuckle.
"Me too," Ella nods, "we'll be screwed in the name game if it's a boy."
"We'll have plenty of time to pick out a name if it's a boy," Tyler shakes his head.
"True," Ella shrugs.
"Well I'm going to hang up so you can have dinner," I take a peak at the clock on my phone. It was almost 6.
"Okay," Ella smiles, "love you!"
"Love you too!" I smile as the call ends and another one rolls through.
I click accept and sigh, knowing exactly what he was calling about, "Hey dad."
"Colette," he says, but I can hear the hesitation in his voice.
"It's nice to hear you. It's been almost a three months since we've talked," I plop down on my bed.
"It has been a while, but it seems you've had someone to keep you company," he chuckles.
I sigh, "Are you talking about Joey?"
"More or less," he says shyly, "I just want to know if he's treating you good. I've read some bad stuff about him, and if it's true, I don't want you around him."
"What rumors have you heard?" I laugh, remembering a conversation Joe and I had a while back.
"I read that he got a girl pregnant and refused to claim the child," he says, trying to get a reaction out of me.
"He'd never met her before and when they did the DNA test, it came back negative," I sigh, waiting for the next one.
"His sister was found doing cocaine in a bathroom at one of his games," he whispers.
I shake my head, despite him not being able to see me, "She was crying because it was senior night. She was an emotional teenage girl and the media took advantage of it."
"Well," he sighs, "if those aren't true then...well... he plays for the Bengals. We're a Steelers family, it's not going to work."
I laugh, "You act like it's the end of the world. So what they're rivals, it's just a game."
"You're lucky you're my favorite daughter," he says and I smile.
"I'm your only daughter," I chuckle, and I can hear the smile on his face when he says, "I know, Collie. But you're still my favorite."
"Thanks dad," I smile takes over my face and I sigh sadly, "but Joe and I aren't dating. So it doesn't matter that much anyway."
"You spent the night at his house but you aren't dating? I might need to have a talk with this 'Joey'. He is not going to humiliate you like that," he says, and his voice gets angry.
"Dad, it was late so I slept over. That is all. We're really good friends," I calm him down with a soothing voice.
"Yeah, that's what I said about your mother too," he scoffs, "friends never work like that."
"Well it does with me and Joe. Take it or leave it."
He sighs, "Leave it."
"Dad," I scold him, "he makes me really happy. I haven't been this happy in years."
"Well," he clears his throat, "if he makes you happy, then I'll take it. Bengal or not, whoever makes you happy is the person I want you with at the end of the day."
"Good," I smile warmly, "I miss you. I passed by the Pittsburgh house, but no one was home."
"Your mother and I were at the airport yesterday. We just got back from a trip to Germany," he says proudly. Ever since I can remember, my parents dreamed of traveling the world together. When my brothers and I went our separate ways after high school, they retired and started traveling. My dad was a neurosurgeon and my mom was a chiropractor. My oldest brother followed in his footsteps.
My parents have always been two people that I look up to for relationship advice. They love each other more than they love themselves. I want to feel that love one day.
Which is why I started writing so many songs about it.
"Oh wow," I say, "what did you do?"
"Touristy things, you know. We had a good time," he sighed.
"Well, I'm glad you enjoyed your trip," I nod.
He chuckles, "Thanks. I hope Cincinnati is treating you well."
"It is," I smile.
"Good," he says and we both go silent for a moment, "Oh, your mother needs me to help with something. I love you, Colette."
"I love you too, dad," I say, and he hangs up. I hated how he called me Colette. It's my real name, Camden being my middle name, but I hate it.
In high school, a bunch of girls taped up pictures of me next to a border collie dog because my nickname was Collie. They said I looked like one.
What a stupid insult. Border collies are the smartest dog breed. But, it was high school, and everything hurt.
That's why I barely have friends. After I finished college, I signed with my record label and moved to New York to work on my music. That's when I met Ella on a rooftop one night.
She was contemplating suicide.
Thankfully I was able to coax her down, and she got the help she deserved. After that, she got the deal to start the Emily in Paris series.
Fate works in weird ways.
Later that night, Joe FaceTimed me and I couldn't decline. We talked for hours about random things. Eventually we fell asleep on the phone around 12:00 a.m.
⇜⇝
Not much happening! Hold on! It'll get good soon!
Thanks for reading! I love you all!