no strings attached - j.b

"Hey, uh, can we...can we talk about...something?" Phoebe pushed her empty plate away from her and placed her folded hands on the table as she looked at Joe, who was sipping his coffee.

"Sure, what's up?" he asked as he set his cup down and eyed Phoebe. She seemed rather nervous and chewed on her bottom lip, taking her eyes off him and sighing softly before looking at him again.

"We should talk about what you said to me yesterday" Phoebe's heart pounded as she said it and she didn't know how to act. She needed to talk to Joe about it. She needed to know if he had really meant it.

"When we were in Ja'Marr's bathroom?" Joe asked, confused. Phoebe shook her head. "No, when we were...in bed" she corrected him. "I... can't follow you, Phoebe" he raised an eyebrow questioningly.

Phoebe took a deep breath. "I heard...you say to me that you hated how hard you are falling for me, Joe. I know...you thought I was asleep, but...you woke me up when you came out of the bathroom and I was half asleep. I did...hear it."

Her heart was racing so fast by now that she was afraid she would pass out at any moment. She pressed her fingernails into the back of her hand to stay in the here and now before her whole body would go crazy with nervousness.

Joe looked at her in surprise. "I..." he stammered. He had no idea what to say in response. "I...uh" he started again, but no words came into his head. He had really firmly expected that she had been sound asleep and hadn't heard.

Maybe there had been a tiny hope that she might have heard, but somehow he hadn't expected her to call him on it the next morning. He was not at all prepared for this moment and was at a complete loss as to how to respond.

"Joe, I know it's not exactly fair to just spring this on you, but we should...we should talk about it" Phoebe sighed. While her heart was still racing, she was suddenly quite uncomfortable with the whole thing.

In her mind, this conversation could only go one of two ways. One, Joe denied that he had said it or explained to her that he hadn't meant it. Two, he admitted it and everything between them would take a whole different direction.

Because if he admitted it that he had feelings for her, even though by his own admission he apparently hated how much he had fallen for her, maybe then she would have the courage too....

The overwhelm that had been written all over Joe's face since she had started talking was something she hadn't expected. Of course, he hadn't known she'd drop a huge bomb like that at breakfast. After all, if he'd wanted Phoebe to hear, he would have said it right to her face.

Joe nodded. "Yeah, I mean..." he cleared his throat.  "Yes, I said to you that I hated how much I was falling for you, and yes, I was very sure you were asleep..." Joe exhaled deeply.

"But?" Phoebe looked at him questioningly. "Sounds like there is a but" she mumbled a little disappointed to herself. Joe sighed. "But I didn't mean it like...that" he shrugged.

"Like what?" Phoebe asked. "Like it being true, Phoebe" Joe sighed. "Oh" Phoebe swallowed the lump in her throat as a stabbing sensation suddenly made her heart beat normally again.

"Then why did you even say it? Why? If you thought I wouldn't hear anyway?" Phoebe's lower lip quivered and she quickly lowered her head to keep Joe from seeing the disappointment that also resonated in her voice.

"I...don't know. The whole evening, it was so intimate, so gentle, so emotional, it just came out of me at the end without thinking. In the heat of the moment" he shrugged.

"But you didn't mean it?" Phoebe asked again. Joe shook his head. "That means you don't have feelings for me?" Phoebe checked. Again, Joe shook his head. "Are you...disappointed?" he asked uncertainly as Phoebe immediately took her eyes off him again.

"What, no, of course not" she shook her head frantically. "I...mean, we said no feelings, no comitment, that was part...part of the deal" she shrugged.

"Ok, good. Because I don't want things to get weird between us...because I said that" Joe nervously ran his hand over the back of his neck. The tension could be felt throughout the room as Phoebe nodded. "Yeah, me neither" she mumbled.

They fell into an even more awkward silence. Joe tapped his fingers impatiently on the tabletop while Phoebe played with her fork on her plate. Neither knew how to start a conversation to get out of this awkward mood.

Only Phoebe's phone, which buzzed at irregular intervals, interrupted the silence. After two minutes, Phoebe yanked it in annoyance. "for fucks sake, can't I even be left alone?" she growled, but hoped she could somehow get an excuse to leave without making Joe feel like she was running away.

She read the first of the countless messages Kim had sent her, and Joe was sure her face color dropped significantly as her whole expression dropped.

"Oh fuck, no" she mumbled as she typed stressedly on her phone. "What...what's wrong? Are you okay?" Joe asked worriedly as Phoebe stared open-mouthed at the screen, panic reflected in her eyes.

"Nothing's okay. We've been exposed" she turned her phone to Joe. "Fuck" Joe muttered when he saw the tweet. It showed a series of pictures of Phoebe and Joe, making out, at Fiona's party. You could clearly see the two of them.

"how did this happen?" sighing, Phoebe stood up and typed away on her phone again. "What...are you up to?" Joe asked, overwhelmed. "I'm going to call Katie. I hope she hasn't seen the pictures yet and I can break it to her gently. I'll try to talk to her at noon today. Explain everything to her and then I'll call the representative our family. You better call your reps too" she sighed before walking away from Joe.

A few minutes later she returned. "What did Katie say?" Joe asked with interest as Phoebe sat back down at the table with a sigh. "She was quite surprised when I told her what was in the picture and is very anxious to hear my explanation at lunch today" Phoebe mumbled.

"Did you get to your reps?" she then asked. Joe nodded. "Good, I think they told you the same thing mine told me. We're supposed to stay calm for now and see how everything turns out. Maybe everything will be half as bad and it's not worth worrying about somehow?" Joe nodded again.

"All right. Still, it would be good if you gave me the number of your reps so that in case of emergency, our reps can exchange information as soon as possible to determine how to proceed" Phoebe stated with a sigh.

"How are you so good at knowing what we need to do in a case like this?" Joe asked, surprised. "I grew up in the focus of the press. Do you really think this is the first time I've had to get on the phone with our rep for almost making negative headlines?" Phoebe stood up with a sigh and wiped her forehead.

"I should go. Katie wants to see me as soon as possible and I want to get it over with as soon as possible" she explained. "Do you want me to come with you? I mean we are both equally involved in this. You shouldn't have to face Katie alone" Joe offered her.

"that's sweet of you, but no thanks. I know how to handle Katie and I think it's better if it's just me talking to her. Maybe they will still come at you but for now it's rather better if I go alone" she explained.

Quickly she packed her things and left Joe's house. An uneasy feeling spread through her. Of course she had been looking for an excuse to leave, but right now it looked like more problems would be created than solved.

I know most of you probably thought that now everything will become good and they get together after Joe admitted it but lets be honest, after all the things they two have been through in this story, there has to be more difficulties before they finally get together, right?

TBH i just like drama lol

WHO-DEY 🧡