no strings attached - j.b

whats my name

Back in Cincinnati, Joe and Phoebe looked for Tris at the exit to pick them up and take them home. The flight back had been relaxing, both of them sleeping almost the entire time, Phoebe's head resting on Joe's shoulder, his head against hers.

Apparently the sex this morning, with the following make out session in the shower and the stress afterwards of packing and getting something to eat before they had to sit on the plane, had left them both pretty beat up.

They found Tris, who immediately pulled his cousin into a hug as a greeting before high-fiving Joe as they walked to the car together. Phoebe squeezed into the back seat while Tris got behind the wheel and Joe took the passenger seat.

"Now tell me, how bad was the wedding?" Tris gave his cousin an amused look through the rearview mirrors, who just rolled her eyes with a sigh. "It was pretty great" Phoebe muttered wryly. "Ran into the big three, huh?" Tris checked with a grin.

"yep, first grandmother, then mother, then Virginia and then mother again" Phoebe listed her encounters with her family. "Twice your mother, damn, that sounds like a busy evening" Tris laughed.

"Honestly, after the second encounter she was the one who had the bigger problem with me being there" Phoebe shrugged. "Why is that?" Tris asked, surprised.

A grin spread across Phoebe's face. "Because Joe found out that Virginia boyfriend didn't work on Wall Street after all, like they told everyone" Tris looked at her through the mirror in shock. "No, really?" Phoebe nodded with a grin.

"How did you do that, Joe?" Tris turned to Joe, who just shrugged nonchalantly. "Asked him for some investment tips and threw in some fake stocks and he totally fell into the trap" Tris laughed. "That's the best thing I've heard in a long time"

"You should have seen Virginia's face when Norm told us what he really was. She ran away really mad. Or Mother when she tried to intimidate me into not telling anyone" Phoebe laughed.

"oh, I'd love to" Tris joined in her laughter. "But honestly now, what an irony, right? You bring Joe along to have someone play your fake boyfriend and in the end it comes out that Virginia is lying. You guys haven't been exposed, have you?"

Joe and Phoebe shook their heads. "We played our parts perfectly. Everyone bought that we were dating" Phoebe grinned with satisfaction as she winked at Joe, who just smirked.

"And Joe, what do you think of Phoebe's nice family now that you've met them?" Tris looked at Joe with amusement. "Whew," Joe groaned out. "To be honest, I thought Phoebe was exaggerating a bit when she explained all the things I could expect on the flight out, but...that was almost an understatement"

Tris laughed out. "so they were on their best behavior" he noted, which Phoebe confirmed with a vigorous nod. "I have never witnessed so much unfairness and manipulation between family. Great respect that Phoebe has to put herself through that on a regular basis" Joe added.

When they arrive at Joe's house, Phoebe unbuckled her seatbelt too. "I'll just walk him to the door" she explained to Tris before getting out of the car and helping Joe get his suitcase out of the trunk.

Together they walked silently to his front door and stopped in front of it while Joe looked for his keys. "I...I just wanted to thank you again, Joe, for making...everything just a little bit better" Phoebe stammered as Joe opened the door and put his suitcase inside before turning back to her.

A smile spread across his face. "No problem. Honestly, it was fun playing your boyfriend for the weekend. With everything that went with it" he winked at her, which made Phoebe giggle. "Yeah, I had fun too" she confirmed.

"What...what do we do now?" she asked quietly afterwards. "You mean when we see each other? Now that our time as a fake couple is over?" Joe asked. Phoebe nodded and lowered her gaze to the floor. "I mean, we can't avoid seeing each other."

Joe laughed. "No, I don't think we can. But...I'd say we go back to what we were before? Not friends, but ok? If we run into each other, we say hello, maybe exchange a few words, and that's it?" Joe suggested.

Phoebe nodded. "Yeah, that...sounds good to me" she raised her head and a slight smile was on her lips. "Ok, then...see you at the facility soon for sure" Joe returned her slight smile. Phoebe nodded. "Yeah, I guess so"

"Ok, have a good evening then" Joe spread his arms and pulled Phoebe into a strong hug once again. "By the way, I think we made a very good fake couple" he whispered in her ear. Phoebe laughed as she disengaged from his arms. "Yeah, me too."

She turned and ran down the stairs before turning back to Joe, who was still leaning against the doorframe. "by the way, it's Evelyn" she said.

It took Joe a moment to understand what she meant. "Faith Evelyn Brown" he grinned. Phoebe nodded before raising her hand, a slight smile on her lips. "Have a good evening, Joe" she turned back around, hopped down the rest of the steps and immediately got into the car.

Joe continued to watch the black car until it disappeared around the next corner before closing his front door and hoisting his suitcase onto the couch to unpack it.

What a weird weekend that had been. He'd had fun, he really had. And somehow, he'd felt like he'd gotten to know a whole other side of Phoebe in these last few days. A side he kind of liked.

• • •

"You almost look sad that the weekend and the wedding is over. Is it that bad that you just broke up with your fake boyfriend?" Tris snapped Phoebe out of her thoughts.

"What, no" Phoebe took her eyes off the passing scenery outside the window and looked at her cousin. "Just glad to finally be back. Even though the wedding really wasn't as bad as I thought"

"Because of Burrow?" Tris asked with a grin. "Yeah, also because of Joe" Phoebe crossed her arms in front of her chest "Did you guys fuck again?" Tris was still grinning. "What, no, what makes you think that?" indignantly Phoebe sat up in her seat.

Tris shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. After the last time you ended up in bed so out of nowhere all at once again, I figured you certainly couldn't have lasted two nights in the same bed without falling all over each other."

Phoebe shook her head. She couldn't tell Tris that he was right. That the two of them had barely lasted 24 hours before Phoebe had given Joe a blowjob. Tris could never know that. Not yet, anyway.

"We didn't hook up" she lied about it, crossing her arms in front of her chest. Tris laughed out loud. He had seen through his cousin long ago, but if she didn't want to talk about it, he wouldn't push her. Not tonight, anyway.

"Alright, fine" he shrugged before changing the subject. "Oh, by the way, I decided that our housewarming party is next Friday" he informed his cousin.

"Friday? Isn't that a little soon?" Phoebe asked, surprised. "Oh, come on. We've thrown legendary parties in shorter time. So, are you in or out?" Tris asked.

"Of course I'm in. But we should start planning and inviting people as soon as possible then" Phoebe thought out loud. "Don't worry. We'll start right away tomorrow" Tris grinned.

"Hey, you can invite Joe, now that you guys are getting along so well" he gave an amused look to his cousin, who would love to be at his throat if he wasn't behind the wheel right now.

Only one more sleep till the Bengals play again!!! Can't wait!!!!

WHO-DEY 🧡