Pacify Her | Paige Bueckers

three | reminisce

"Yo," Paige snorted as she held a duffel bag, walking into the team's headquarters. KK Arnold, Azzi, and Ice Brady had been making TikToks by the lounge. They all turned to face Paige, who they'd been wondering about in the last day. Coach Geno gave the ladies a week off to adjust to the start of the new school year and any residential moves on campus.

"My fault for not answer yall calls," Paige apologized. Despite her blonde hair and blue eyes, indicating that she was undoubtedly Caucasian, Paige spoke with black vernacular—probably due to her step mom and two brothers being black. "Y'all not gonna believe this though" Paige went on, putting her bag on the floor and tapping the keys on the vending machine. "This chick, never seen her before, decided to start a fan club for me here. Like, an official fan club that's been acknowledged by the school."

"Girl boo!" KK said in response, "she got a crush on you or sum?" KK never took anything serious. But Paige hadn't been thinking about that, surprisingly. Women acting in what would otherwise (had it not been Paige doing the judging) be considered obnoxious behavior did not spark Paige's imagination anymore. She assumed nowadays that it was more so of a "bandwagon" gig. Like a trend, you know? Everybody wants to be apart of Paige Buecker's success story.

"Man," Paige shrugged, "I don't know. But she seemed to be a huge fan of me. She smelled good as fuck, too." KK and Ice gave each other a "here we go again" look. Paige was a natural flirt, though only select women on the team knew that. Paige often kept these kinds of endeavors away from Azzi, not that she owed her anything. But she knew that Azzi was a lover girl in comparison to Paige's party girl. The last thing she'd ever want to do is hurt the peanut butter to her jelly. Paige figured that since Azzi was present, she would limit her involvement in the situation.

"So, how do we become members of the fan club?" Ice, who was the tallest in the room, asked. She stood at a staggering six-feet and three inches in comparison to Paige's six-foot even stature, Azzi's five-foot-eleven inches, and KK's five-nine vertical.

Paige cracked a smile, rolling her eyes. "I don't know what's going on with all that" she admitted, "I was just called to the guidance center by one of the counselors to give my blessing or decline." Though Paige more or less hinted at what she picked, the answer still was not crystal clear.

"Well," Azzi folded her arms as she sat on the arm of the long velvet blue couch. She'd been wearing a full UConn tracksuit, as the air conditioning was always being blasted on high here at the headquarters. Despite that, however, Azzi was damn near sweaty at the moment. Her arms were actually folded to hide the clamminess of her palms.

"Did you approve or reject the club offer?" Azzi continued with her question, looking Paige in the eyes intently. Paige folded her bottom lip in, hoping this didn't cause any hostility between she and Azzi.

"I mean," Paige dragged, "she's a fan. We are a pretty big team, I can't exactly tell her that's wrong."

"You could" Azzi squinted, forcing a small smile so that Paige didn't think much. "But I digress, okay." That was the last of Azzi's involvement in the discussion at hand. She pulled out her phone and aimlessly scrolled through Instagram, unable to even focus on the images before her. Paige seemed to think nothing of Azzi's behavior and went back to talking about the woman she'd just met.

"What do sister girl look like?" KK asked Paige, tilting her head and pouting her lips. Paige's pupils widened as she thought, something that was visible due to her eyes being blue. She looked into the distance as she pictured Ava's face once more.

"Her name is Ava and she's brown, like a beach sand brown, kind of" Paige answered almost right away, "she has hair like Azzi's." This made Azzi hone back into the conversation, her head perking like a dog. Perhaps this girl had some close resemblance to Azzi, and that's what made Paige seem into her?

"Her nose fits her face," Paige shrugged, looking into the distance. "I don't know, her cheekbones are high and give her face a plumpish look. But her nose works with that, I guess." KK came to a conclusion.

"So she just looks like one of us?" She asked, referring to the fact that the basketball team was mostly black and moderately attractive.

Paige scoffed, "she doesn't have an athletic shape" she said, no longer paying attention to her words. "Her body is nice though, she's got a gyat." KK slapped her hands together and rubbed them, prompting small laughter from Paige and Ice. It's funny, really, because KK hates when people ask her if her guns pink. Azzi rolled her eyes at the direction that the conversation was heading in, but nobody could see that because she was looking at her phone.

Azzi remained quiet during the remainder conversation, for the most part. She got off her phone and soon toyed with her left braid, as her hair had currently been in dutch braids, her signature hairstyle. She could feel the jealousy roaring within her, one that she struggled with taming. She had known Paige since she was in her early teens, but basketball, ironically, had always been the barrier between them. They couldn't date, being teammates, and their success made the possibility of having a discreet, respectful romance near impossible. So Azzi always settled, something she hated but understood that it was the lesser of two evils. She allowed Paige to be a free-bird, not tied to a label, while still having sexual relations.

Make no mistake, however. Azzi's sudden jealousy was actually a rarity. Azzi grew up in the spotlight as well, having made a name for herself in her preteens. She understood having fans and fans being infatuated, but this felt different in Azzi's spirit. Besides that, Paige usually can't even remember fans' names. She takes pictures and goes on about her day, rarely reporting to anybody any out-of-pocket thing that a fan might've said or done. But here was Paige, describing this woman and remembering her name. Though Paige did not explicitly state that she had an interest in Ms. Ava, she did come across as incredibly flirty and excited when talking about her. So for her own sake, Azzi decided that she should probably meet Ava herself, so that she could better scope her out and decide whether or not she believes Ava will be a sincere threat.