heart of glass • joe burrow

012

February 12th, 2022

kenzie hasn't talked to joe since she arrived in la letting him know she landed safe, but she wasn't mad. the super bowl was today, he has a lot to do and making someone who isn't even your girlfriend a top priority on that list on a day like today wasn't necessary.

kenzie was wearing a joe burrow jersey, a black one, with some black jeans. izzy was wearing a bengals t-shirt with some white jeans, layla was wearing a bengals shirt with some black flare leggings. patrick and travis were both wearing jerseys.

kickoff was at 3:30pm but because of la traffic trying to get to the stadium, they left their hotel around 1:30. their hotel was in los angeles so without traffic, it would take about 45 minutes.

"i'm so nervous." izzy said as she sat in the car. they decided to rent a car while they were there instead of uber.

"me too." layla said buckling her seatbelt. "like they've been the underdogs all year and now look where they are."

"no matter the outcome, props to those guys. they fought hard this year." patrick said from the passenger seat in the front.

kenzie hasn't spoken since they got in the car. she was too nervous. she was the one driving, izzy sat behind her and travis sat behind patrick leaving layla in the back row by herself.

"yeah, i'm proud of those guys." travis said nodding his head thinking about the season the team has had.

"did you guys see the conversion on 3rd and 27? who is able to convert on 3rd and 27? that was an amazing play." patrick said, it truly was an amazing play although it was in a chiefs game, nobody could deny that.

"kenz," travis said looking at his sister from the middle row. "you ok?"

"mm?" kenzie said. "yeah, i'm fine." she focused back on driving, and overthinking.

"are you ok to drive?" travis asked, noticing his sister's body language.

"yep, i'm fine." kenzie said with a short smile. "we are almost there anyways."

they closer it got to 3:30pm, the more nervous kenzie grew. arriving to the stadium and seeing in for the first time, the yellow and blue jerseys heavily overpowering the orange and black ones, seeing the logos everywhere, the field, all of it.

"this is so stupid." izzy said taking her seat. their seats were pretty good, section 102, row 5. "the bengals are the home team but why are we at the ram's stadium? the super bowl shouldn't happen at someone's home stadium. so many more rams fans that bengals fans."

kenzie sat in her seat, no players were out on the field yet, but the stadium slowly started to fill up. she was anxious and impatient at the moment, she was bouncing her leg.

"hey," travis said leaning over to his sister. "it's gonna be fine. they got this."

kenzie took a deep breath and nodded. she had no reason to doubt this team, they made it this far already. they know how to win when it counts even if it isn't always gonna be pretty.

it's here. super bowl 56 was starting, the players were running onto the field and the fans were cheering louder than ever. everyone could feel the anticipation and tense atmosphere.

once the bengals made their way to their bench, joe immediately scanned the crowd for kenzie. once he spotted her, he smiled and waved. she smiled and sent him a thumbs up.

the bengals won the coin toss, and chose to receive first. there is this superstition that whoever wins the coin toss, loses the game. kenzie has never hoped anything was more wrong.

the game was currently 23-20, the rams were winning. the bengals have the ball, and it third down. this is their last chance to win this thing. the ball was snapped, joe looking around the field to throw it to a receiver.

jamar was wide open, down the field. but he saw him to late. aaron donald was already making the sack. that was it, the bengals lost.

as the yellow and blue confetti fell, jamar threw his helmet down. he was open. they could've won this game with a touchdown or even let it go into overtime with a field goal.

this is really how their season ends? rams fans cheering and jumping, bengals fans sadly shaking hands to show a good game.

"that's bull." travis said. "jamar was open. i saw it."

"come on, we gotta go before traffic gets bad guys." patrick said standing up, making his way out of the stadium.

everyone in the group was talking about how unfair the last play was, and how some insane flags were called for no reason.

kenzie didn't speak, she left an empty pit in her stomach. the only thing she could think about what how upset the players on the bengals feel.

they probably don't think they did enough, but they did. the tried and they tried amazingly.

"can someone else drive?" kenzie asked, speaking for the first time since the game ended.

travis took the keys and kenzie sat in his spot in the car. she was silent to whole way back to the hotel, she didn't have anything to say.

the streets were packed with rams fans celebrating, kenzie couldn't help but feel envious.

she got back to her hotel room and showered, for a long time. she put on something more comfortable, a hoodie and some sweatpants. her hair was still wet so she put it in a braid.

she heard her phone go off but assumed it was someone checking if she was okay. but it went off again and she checked it.

joey b

kenzie
delivered at 8:45pm

could you come over? i
wanna be alone, alone
with you
read at 8:48pm

yeah, of course

kenzie was shocked at that text, she didn't think joe would want her around right now. he sent her the address of the hotel he was staying in, and she went over.

she didn't have a key so she didn't really know how to get upstairs. "ms. mckenzie?" the desk clerk asked.

"yes, that's me." kenzie said, a little confused. how did she know who she is.

"you can follow me." she said with a smile walking towards the elevators.

the elevator ride was silent, and the hotel was very nice. they got off at the 12th floor, the highest one and they walked down to the end, where the master suite was.

"here's this." the clerk said handing kenzie a key. he should be in there. the clerk walked away and back to the elevator.

kenzie took a deep breath, and swiped the hotel key to get in the room.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

cliffhanger?? kind of :)