beautiful mistake - joe burrow

77

"I'm going to go see the other women, okay? Can I leave you alone with them?" Elle looked at Joe questioningly. It was just halftime in the 1pm games of the NFL that Joe was watching in the living room with Elle, her brothers and her father.

Tammy, Leila and Lauren were sitting in the dining room drinking coffee. They didn't necessarily have to spend the day sitting in front of the TV. Ian was with them, contentedly and quietly playing with his wooden train set on the carpet.

"Sure, go ahead" Joe gave Elle a kiss before she turned to her brothers and raised a warning finger. "You guys be good, or I'm going to hit you with something, you hear me?" her brothers just nodded with a grin.

"Can I ask you guys something?" Joe asked Easton and Eric when Elle was out of the room. Harry was just in the basement looking for more beer, so Joe was alone with the brothers. "Sure, always, what's up Joe?" Eric asked, grinning.

"What was it like growing up with Elle as a sister?" Joe asked with interest. The siblings seemed to have a pretty good bond, and Joe was sure they must have gotten along well as kids.

Easton sighed. "Exhausting" he laughed. "So it wasn't that Elle was bitchy, although her mood really did change from time to time during puberty more often than Eric changed his underpants. But well, Elle had to outlive us as kids and well, you can probably guess that as brothers you bond against your sister, so she always had us against her early on, but that made her a pretty strong, independent and confident person"

"Too confident! Elle was known all over town and even though we were older, we were only known as Elle's brothers" Eric added laughing. "What did she do that they knew her everywhere?" Joe asked with interest.

"She was just like Elle was. She didn't put up with anything. As soon as a boy, no matter if he was much older than Elle, said anything like, 'Girls can't do this, girls can't do that,' Elle would suddenly stand in front of him and show him that girls can very well do that and usually better than boys. She'd take on anyone who messed with her and she always won, always. Everyone had total respect for her" Eric explained.

"And on top of that she had incredible grades, excelled in everything she just tried and everyone liked her. Even the guys that she totally kicked the crap out of were totally crazy about her after that. Do you know how hard it is when all your friends have a crush on your sister and think she's cooler?" Easton asked, laughing.

"But it had its advantages, too. People knew us, like I said, as Elle's brothers, but most girls thought that was cool enough to think we were cool, too. And because of Elle, we were always invited to the parties, too. Elle's personality of proving to everyone that girls can do anything too had many advantages" Eric grinned.

"And honestly, we should have noticed that she had changed. She...she must have told you about her ex, right?" Easton looked at Joe with a sigh, who nodded slowly. "When...it had started, she became quieter, you might say more obedient, not so rebellious. She just wasn't Elle anymore. We...we thought she was just growing up. You...you don't immediately suspect that there's something as horrible as that behind something like that."

Joe noticed how hard it was for Easton to talk about it. He blamed himself, you could feel it, and Eric also looked down at the floor, taken aback. "we spent a long time wondering if there was anything we could have done differently. Whether we should have noticed it earlier. Whether we.... whether we could have somehow saved Elle from hell. "Easton sighed.

"When...when Mum had called us from Cincinnati, when...Elle was in the hospital, it was awful. You know how many times we had sat on the couch with that asshole? Watching the NFL? Drinking a beer? I don't even want to think about how many times they went home after that, only to have him yell at my sister or hit her" Easton clenched his fists aggressively.

"And because of his dad, he got away with it too and Elle was destroyed. It...it sucks how helpless you feel when you see how bad your sister is because of some asshole and there's nothing, absolutely nothing you can do about it. The thought of going to see him and doing to him what he did to Elle has been in my mind so many times" Eric sighed.

"I...I can totally understand you guys. It...is horrible what Elle went through. I...I promise you I will never treat her like that" Joe stammered. He could totally understand the brothers. He too had had thoughts of hurting the person who had done that to Elle.

"We believe you, Joe. You...you're a good boyfriend. I haven't seen Elle smile like that in a long time like she does when she's around you. You do her good" Easton smiled at him. "Yes, I agree with my brother. Elle is slowly finding her way back to her old self. You saw for yourself that she beat you up pretty bad when you played against each other. She feels comfortable with you, it shows" Eric agreed with his brother, smiling.

Just then Elle came back into the living room with Ian in her arms and her father in tow. "Well, have they been good?" she asked smiling as she set Ian down on the rug in front of the sofa and Harry handed his sons a beer. Joe didn't drink any, first he still had to drive today, second he very rarely drank during the season, even if it was Bye Week.

Joe nodded. "They didn't play me anything rehearsed this time" he replied with a grin as the brothers grinned and toasted him with the beer. Elle laughed and joined Ian on the floor. "I'm glad of that" she grinned.

• •

"I don't think I can expect you home for Thanksgiving in two and a half weeks, can I?" Lauren asked her daughter disappointedly as Elle and Joe took their leave. It was after five o'clock and they didn't want to arrive in Cincinnati too late.

Elle shook her head with a sigh. "we have a game the weekend after Thanksgiving, which means I can't come. Sorry" she apologized to her mother. "That's okay. Just have to get used to you not being here on holidays" Lauren mumbled sadly.

"If you want, you can come to Cincinnati for Thanksgiving! My parents are celebrating at my house and we only have practice in the morning. My mom is preparing all the food and we were going to have dinner as soon as I got home. You're welcome to come to my place, all of you" Joe smiled and looked around.

"really?" Lauren's eyes grew wide with hope. She wanted so much to celebrate Thanksgiving with the whole family, and if she could meet Joe's parents in the process, that would be great.

Joe nodded. "You're all invited. You don't have to tell us now if you're coming. Just let us know ahead of time" he smiled. "We will. Thank you so much, Joe" sighing, Lauren fell around Joe's neck, who just gave her a smiling hug.

After Joe and Elle said goodbye to everyone, they got in the car and pulled out of the driveway. They hadn't even left Mansfield when Elle eyed him from the side.

"Are you sure you're okay with my whole family showing up at your house on Thanksgiving?" she asked. Joe laughed. "Sure. My house is big enough and I'm sure my mom will be happy to meet your parents. Besides, I'm sure you'd like to celebrate with your family, and if you can't join them, they can join you, right? And I don't mind having you over for Thanksgiving" he explained.

"That's really sweet, but...you don't have to do that. Where are we going to put everyone anyway? At most, only one couple can sleep in my apartment" Elle sighed "Oh, that's not a problem. My parents sleep in their room, a couple can sleep in my room. Then we'll just have to finally set up the guest room and the two of us will just sleep on a mattress in my gaming room. For one night we can take it"

"If you weren't driving I would smooch you to death" Elle laughed. "We're celebrating Thanksgiving together with our families" she squealed delightedly, which immediately made Joe laugh.

"Your family is really great by the way. I like them" Joe clarified. Elle laughed. "yeah, they are. And they totally like you too" she replied smiling.

I wanted to show the side how Elles family lived through her abuse and her hard times and I thought to let her brothers tell Joe their pov would be a good way to do it. Hope you like it!!

Sorry for not positing for a few days, I was REALLY busy, well and I was on a rather spontaneous city trip on the weekend in Berlin so i could post anything! Hope you all missed me!!

WHO-DEY 🧡