Jac💭

Being a college basketball player meant playing games over thanksgiving break. This year the UCONN women’s basketball team played two games in the Cayman islands. Sure it was hard for them to be away from their families, but the team was practically family at this point. Paige was sad that she wasn't going to spend the holiday with her girlfriend of 6 months, but was excited to get to go somewhere fun to play basketball with her best friends. Everything about this season was exciting for the blonde. She was finally able to play the sport she loved with her people. 

That was until Azzi tore her ACL.  After a previous season riddled with injuries, it was an unexpected blow. Paige had told you with the news. She usually had her walls up and didn’t let you see when things got to her. That wasn’t the case this time. 

“Hey, baby!” you answered sweetly from the couch. You couldn’t have imagined the news she was about to tell you. She immediately walked over to you and wrapped her arms around your neck and buried her head into your chest. You immediately held her tightly as a confused look spread over your face. You ran your hands up and down her back trying to comfort her. She stayed in your arms for a few minutes before she pulled away to look at you. 

“Azzi tore her ACL. She’s out for the rest of the season.” Her words came out cold. Silence fell as your jaw hit the floor. You couldn’t believe this. It felt like one more thing that this team would have to battle through. You heard faint sobs coming from her mouth. Your heart shattered into a million pieces at the sound. 

“Omg, Paige. I’m so sorry.” You spoke softly. Your hands found her cheeks and you gently held her face. You wiped away a few of her tears. Your eyes were locked on the blonde. You wanted nothing more than to take away all of her pain. 

“I just don’t know if I can keep the team together. Everyone is so upset. They all look defeated.” As she spoke, more tears rolled down her cheeks.

“Paige, they all look up to you and love you so much. You guys will get through this together. I know it.” you said before placing a kiss on top of her head. She broke down and sobbed into your chest as you held her. Seeing her like this causes a tear to escape your own eye. She eventually spoke again. 

“I need to pull it together. I need to be there for her. I’ve been through it and I can help her get through it too.” She was trying desperately to pull herself together.

“I know, baby. Right now, you need to get it all out. Then once you process everything, you can be there for Azzi.”

“Yeah, I know. You always know what to say, sweetheart.” Paige had stopped crying now, but you could tell that she was absolutely gassed. You couldn’t help, but smile at her compliment. 

“Honey, you look exhausted. Let's get you to bed.” You stood up and extended your hand to the blonde. 

“I still have to pack for the Islands.”

“I have your packing list, so  I can do that for you. You have enough on your plate.” You said through a smile. She gave into you and took your hand. You pulled her off the couch. You put her arm around your shoulder and then wrapped your arms around her waist, helping her walk to your bedroom. You let go of her as she climbed into the warm bed. You pulled the covers over her before leaning down to connect your lips. You pulled away and pulled out your phone and started grabbing her things to put into her bag.

“Did I ever tell you how lucky I am to have you?” Her eyes were fixed on you as you packed for her. You pause your actions and smile at her. 

“I think I’m the lucky one.” You continued packing for your girlfriend. She tried to stay up and watch you, but she fell asleep after a few minutes. You couldn’t help, but giggle at how cute she looked. You finished packing for her and put all of her bags in her car before getting ready for bed. You crawled into bed and wrapped your arms around her waist and rested your chin on her shoulder. You placed a quick kiss on her cheek before drifting off to sleep.

Time skip to the next morning

Paige had to be up early to head to the facility to get on the bus, so everyone could ride to the airport together. Her alarms woke you up first. You quickly turned it off and decided You still needed to braid her hair before she left. You had planned to do it the night before, but for obvious reasons that didn’t happen. You had about an hour before she needed to leave. Your arms were still wrapped around her waist and you pulled her in closer before peppering her face with kisses. Her blue eyes slowly blinked open and she rolled over to wrap her arms around your shoulders.

“Good morning, pretty girl.” She spoke with her raspy morning voice. She placed a quick peck before setting into your arms. 

“Can you even call it morning? It’s literally 3 AM.” you spoke looking at her. Her eyes were closed and she was dangerously close to falling asleep again. You poked her until she opened her eyes again. 

“Hey!” she whined. 

“You have to get up, beautiful. I still have to braid your hair and you need to leave in 45 minutes.” She smiled at the nickname as she got up and walked into the bathroom. You pulled yourself out of bed and headed into the kitchen to make some coffee. You pulled out 2 mugs and maked you both a cup. You handed her a cup as she sat on a stool in your bathroom. You pulled a hair tie out of her hair that caused her blonde locks to fall from the messy bun she had it pulled into. You run your fingers through her hair softly before grabbing her brush, spray bottle, styling cream, gel, and 3 hair ties. You sprayed her hair with water until it was damp. You sectioned her hair and pulled the excess into a ponytail.

“Thank you for doing all this. I know you probably wish that you were still in bed,” Paige spoke with a laugh. You couldn’t help but giggle at how sweet she was being. 

“Of course, baby. I can’t have you leaving without your good luck charm.” you spoke as you put some gel on her hair before starting to braid it. This has become a tradition for the two of you. You always did her braids before her games. Paige liked to say it was her good luck charm. You pulled the braid tight to make sure that it would stay for the whole trip. “Sorry this hurts.” you spoke softly.

“I’m totally fine,” she said, trying to reassure you. No matter how many times you had done her hair, it still made you nervous that you were hurting her. You quickly finish one side and move onto the other. You finished the second  rather quickly. You attached the braids to her ponytail before placing a kiss on top of her head.

“All done!” You said proudly as you looked at her in the mirror. Your hands fell to her shoulders.

“Thanks, pretty girl.” She said as she got up, turning around to face you. She wrapped her arms around your waist tightly. You follow her actions and wrap your arms around her neck. “I wish you were coming with us,”she whispered into your shoulder.

“Me too,” you say before placing a quick kiss on her cheek. You both stood like that for what felt like hours. “I’m going to miss you.”

“I’m going to miss you more,” she said as she lifted you off your feet and spun you around as she pressed quick kisses all over your face and neck. You couldn’t help but giggle at the ticklish sensation and your adorable girlfriend. You tried to wiggle out of her grasp, but she just held on tighter. 

“You better get going or you're going to be late,” you said through laughter. She squeezed you tight one last time before letting go. 

“Yeah, yeah I'm going,” she said sarcastically. She grabbed her phone and keys. She looked around to make sure that she didn’t forget anything. 

“I put your bags in your car last night, sweetheart.” You explained so that she knew where all her stuff was. 

“Oh okay. Thank you so much for all your help. Make sure to tell your family that I said hello!” She said before walking over to you and giving you one last tight hug. She pulled away and kissed you. “Bye, baby!” She called out as she headed out the door. You watched her leave and blew her a kiss before crawling back into your bed and drifting off the sleep. 

Time Skip to after Cayman Islands Trip

Away games sucked. You snuggle up on the couch and turn on the game. Of course you missed her like crazy. It didn’t help that you found it alarmingly attractive when she would argue with the refs, get a block, or make a good shot. You often found yourself missing her like crazy.  She always called you after the games. You would talk to her  as the adrenaline wore off and she eventually fell asleep listening to you talk about your day. Most of the time, you couldn’t bring yourself to hang up on her, so you just kept her on the line as you got ready for bed. Falling asleep with each other on the phone helped you not miss her as much. Nothing compared to actually falling asleep in her arms. The only thing that made it worth it was seeing her the next day. She would come home and be so excited to see you. It melted your heart. She would walk through the door of your apartment with her bag in hand. You would immediately jump up at the sound of the door opening. She would immediately drop her bag and greet you with a kiss before wrapping her arms around you. You two would stay like that for a few minutes, neither of you speaking, just enjoying each other's presence. You would then break the silence and talk about the game. Paige would rant for hours if things were especially bad. You held onto every word. 

After landing, the girls hopped onto the team bus and headed back to the practice facility where the girls left their cars. Most of them could barely keep their eyes open due to the exhaustion from the long travel day as well as two games they played. When they got back to the facility, Paige immediately put her bags in the back seat of her car. She waved goodbye to the other girls before heading home. 

Paige was an efficient driver, so she made it back to your shared apartment in no time. She didn’t bother to grab her backs. She just went straight to the door and unlocked it. When she walked in, she immediately started smiling. You were snuggled up on the couch wearing one of her UCONN hoodies. She assumed that you had fallen asleep waiting for her to get home. Her assumption was right. After watching the tough UCLA loss earlier on the trip and seeing how well Paige played, you decided that you had to be awake when your girlfriend walked through the door. Unfortunately delayed flights and long layovers meant that Paige got home later than expected. She walked over to you and picked you up to take you to bed. Her touch instantly woke you up. It took you a few moments to process what was going on. When you realized that Paige was home, you were instantly energized. 

“PAIGE!” you said as you wrapped your arms and legs around her. You pulled her face closer to yours and softly kissed her. 

“Hi princess.” She was clearly exhausted. Her head was resting on your shoulder.

“You played so well! I was watching!”

“Aw, thanks sweetheart.” You could tell that she didn’t believe you. The team was really going through it. It was clearly weighing heavily.

 You slide out of her arms, still standing close to her. “My mom sent me some leftovers for you,” you said walking into the kitchen, holding on to her finger to guide her to follow you. “ Are you hungry?” you asked, looking into your girlfriend's bright blue eyes.

She just nodded. You made her a plate as she watched you from the barstool that she was sitting on. You put the plate in the microwave and got her a glass of water. You put the food in front of her as you moved to stand behind her. Your hands wandered up and down her back. It was clear that Paige wasn’t  fine. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” You ask as you wrap your arms around her shoulders and rest your head on her. 

“I just thought we were through all that hard stuff. I didn’t expect this to happen. Playing without her is so hard. I’ve been trying to keep everything together and lead the team, but it's just so hard.” She had started tearing up at this point.

“Paige…” you said softly. It broke you to hear how much she was struggling. “You don’t have to keep yourself together for me.” Paige had stopped the tears now. “How about we do some self care and then we can cuddle and watch your favorite movie?”

“That sounds perfect.” Paige said softly. You stayed with her as she finished eating. Then you took her into the bathroom and sat her down on the stool that you kept at your vanity. 

“Let's take these braids out…” you spoke softly as you pulled out her ponytail. She softly nodded at your actions. You take the pointy end of your comb and pull the braids apart. All of the gel and product made this a bit difficult. After unraveling the braids, you run your hands through her hair before brushing it. 

“Oh that feels so much better,” she said she felt the tension release when the braids were out. 

“Good. I know you're tired, but we are almost done sweetness.” You placed a kiss on her cheeks before pulling a fluffy headband over her head so her hair wouldn’t get wet from washing her face. You grab her face wash and put a little on your hands before gently rubbing the product on her face. She looked so relaxed under her touch. She didn’t usually put a lot of time into her self care, so it meant alot for you to take the time to take care of her. You gently padded her face with a damp towel to clean off the product. You placed a short kiss on her nose before rubbing in some serum and then moisturizer. Last, you put a lip mask on her lips. 

“All done!” you said proudly. 

“Thanks,” she said, her voice was laced with exhaustion. 

“Go put on some pajamas while I grab some ice for your ankles.” She listened to you immediately. You wrapped the ice around her ankles before crawling in bed with her. She immediately wrapped herself around you and held you tight. “I’m happy that you're  home.” you whisper into her chest.

“I’m always home when I’m with you.”

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