Losses - Paige's Rookie season sucks

Paige was blessed in the way she wasn’t used to losing. That’s what made the way the Dallas Wings season was starting even harder. She was playing her heart out, each game she led in either assists, points or even both. Still it wasn’t enough for the team to pull off the win. 

The togo box of food barely touched now sat on the dresser top, next to the smoothie that sweated out all of it’s coldness. The TV behind it was playing some repeats of Law and Order on mute. Her phone was laying next to her face down while she stared into, not at, the TV. She knew there were so many things besides the losses but that’s all she could think about. 

It was after a couple moments that her phone started buzzing. She quickly turned the phone over to see the picture of her and Honey filling the screen then slowly answered the call.

“I asked you if you ate and you didn’t answer me.” The girl's voice filled the phone. 

“I didn’t want to check my phone.”

“Cool but that doesn’t mean you get to disappear on me or not eat.” Anybody that knew the pair knew Honey ran a strict program when it came to Paige. She wasn’t strict in the sense that the basketball star couldn’t party or live her life but Honey made sure Paige knew she wasn’t allowed to disappear. She didn’t allow her girlfriend to fold in on herself or neglect things like eating or basic regulation. Honey was there for Paige even when it was a fault and she was neglecting herself. 

“I wasn’t hungry so I ate a side of mashed potatoes but I kept the rest for later.”

“Okay.”

“I don’t like this.” Paige went on to talk about how things just weren’t clicking. She didn’t talk about the team's faults, she talked about them as if  they were all her own. Focusing on what she was doing wrong and how she only made 11 points, 4 baskets and 2 free throws. Honey just listened, only jumping in if Paige started with negative selftalk. She learned that when it came to bad games the blonde just needed to talk. There was no fixing a game that had already ended, she just needed to reset. 

Eventually Paige stopped talking and they sat in silence for a few seconds before she squinted at the screen. 

“Are you wearing my hoodie?” Honey looked down.

“Wanted to be close to you.” 

“How’s the house?’ She asked delicately.

“Good. Went food shopping because I still need meals before you come back.”

“You're not happy.” Paige said matter of factly. 

“You're losing games.” Honey shrugged. 

“That the spiral I just went on, that’s not how you feel.”

“I don’t like it here yet.” She laughed at herself. “It feels stupid saying that.”

“You're allowed to feel that way, you are allowed to miss things.”

“It feels stupid complaining when you have real issues going on.”

“My not putting a ball in a net is no more important than you not being okay.”

“You’ll come back to me in one piece, yeah?”

“That’s not even a question.” 

Team Housing Tour - Paige shows Honey the new apartment

“I can’t wait for you to get here.” Paige said to the phone that was propped up against a stack of folded towels on the kitchen counter. Honey was on the other side of the screen, face illuminated by the laptop her phone was resting on. Her hair was pulled back, while her eyes kept switching from the phone to the laptop. 

“I know.” Honey smiled. “I’m excited too. I just can’t wait for class to be over.” Paige laughed softly. She looked around at the apartment. It’s team housing so it was mostly furnished already, but that was someone else's furniture and already worn in. The couches and cups chosen by a player before her. She was living in a dorm so she only had a few things to bring, plus the things her and her family had just picked up. She wanted Honey to pick out the rest. 

“I can’t wait for you to graduate and come finish the apartment.”

“Oh so you don’t hate my aesthetic.” Honey joked, while typing away.

“Honey, baby.”  Moe stepped into the screen. “I wish you were here. She already took over-  let me just show you.” She picked up the phone and began walking away from Paige.

“You know I would’ve shown up.” Honey laughed. “Don’t tell me I don’t have closet space.”

“It’s a tight fit.” Moe laughed. They laughed while talking about moving parts of Paige's clothes to the guest bedroom closet. Sharing opinions on if it made more sense to have casual clothes or formal clothes in their primary closet. It was only a few minutes later when Paige came back into the screen, taking her girlfriend back with many protests. 

“We can arrange the clothes once you get here.” Paige flopped on the couch, resting her head in her little brother's lap. “You're going to be here right?”

“I am not going to miss your first professional game Paige.” She said it confidently but she really wasn’t certain. She graduated on May 11th, the first game was May 16th. That gave her barely 5 days to pack up her life and drive it to Texas. She would do anything for Paige but the universe had to work with them for this one. It was 4 hours from Connecticut to Philadelphia. Then 24 hours from there to the new apartment. Plus time to pack, take breaks, and sleep. 

“It’s okay if you can’t. I know it’s a tight time line.”

“I’m gonna make it.” She looked at the camera. “I can’t let Drew be there and not me.”

“Hey she loved me first.” Paige angled the camera up so the boy was shown. “I’ll scream louder than you.”

“I beat you at the draft.”

“That’s cheating there was mics near you.”

“Challenege accepted Drew.”

“Anyways.” The blonde lowered the phone back to herself. “I’m counting the days.”

“I really have to finish this draft or I might lose my mind.” 

“I know.” Paige replied gently. “I’ll let you go.”

“Text me when you go food shopping?”

“You're not here, you can’t convince me to buy green things.”

“I love you.” 

Draft Night - Honey attends Paiges Draft

The room is heavy. The clock on the stage is ticking down to when they are going to announce the first draft pick. Each tick was all Paige heard even though she was nodding along to a conversation she wasn't hearing. Her palms are damp, left leg bouncing non-stop. 

Honey noticed each ounce of it, she brushed her shoulder into the blondes. 

“Hey, look at me.” Paige moved her gaze to the girl that wasn’t more than 8 inches away.

“I’m here.” Paige said more to herself than the girl. 

“You talking about being in the room with me or in this universe?” 

“I hate this part.” Paige pulled her hands onto her lap. “The waiting.”

“I know but you can’t disappear in it.”

“But what it-” Paige swallowed. 

“Don’t make trouble that isn’t there.” Honey slid her right hand over to Paige's as subtly as she could. “That helps nothing. Stay where your feet are.” She quoted her girlfriend. 

“That sounds so cheesy.” The lights flickered as the commissioner stepped back up to the podium. The room shifted, conversations stopped and if it was possible the room got even heavier. Paige's heart was pounding so hard it almost made her dizzy. Honey removed her hand, folding them on her lap. 

“This is when you get to stop wondering.”

“I’m scared.” She shook her head slightly. 

“Don’t butterflies of excitement for being scared.”

“With the first pick in the 2025 WNBA draft, the Dallas Wings select Paige Bueckers University of Connecticut." The world stopped. Simply just paused. All eyes were on her, she knew there was cheers but the world was frozen.  She stuttered in the action of pushing her chair back to stand. Honey pushed hers out a second later, meeting Paige in the hug. 

“I love you.” Paige whispered, holding on tight to the girl.

“I am so proud.” Honey rushed back. When they let go, Paige went down the line. Hugging Coach Auriemma, her father and her mother before heading to the stage.  The table sat in silence while Paige touched her jersey and stood to the side to be questioned by Holly Rowe. They sat in silence, in awe, of the girl. They showed a view of Honey and Coach on the screen side by side while the number one draft pick answered some questions. 

Honey had almost made it though okay. She was smiling and full of love for the girl she watched grow. It wasn’t until Paige started choking on her words that she faltered. The camera caught the perfect moment of a tear rolling down Honey’s cheek. She didn’t wipe it away in an attempt to pretend like it never happened, even though the high quality zoomed in clip proves otherwise. 

After the cameras clicked off them to focus on the second draft pick, the coach turned to Honey and the family.

“Knew she’d go first.” He joked. Her parents agreed with him and they talked quietly while Honey just listened. It wasn’t until the room quieted down again that the coach turned directly to Honey. 

Official - When Paige makes it official

It’s been a year since they met at the party and in that year they had lived a lifetime. It was filled with basketball, late nights and flimsy boundaries. Each misunderstanding brought them to where they were now, at a restaurant 40 minutes from campus nearing the end of their first date. 

They had gone out all the time together. Truthfully they went on dates all the time, they shared beds and held hands in the dark. But this was the first time they called it a date. It was a struggle to get them to utter the word date but that’s what it was. It was such a foreign and comfortable feeling at the same time. The conversation never stopped flowing, even when they stole forkfuls of each other's plates. The foreign feeling crept back in when they ordered the apple cider brulee to share. 

“Make sure you only take from your side.” Honey joked as she used the back of the spoon to smack the layer of caramelized sugar. 

“Better eat your side fast enough then.” Paige took a bite of the dessert and then looked at the girl across from her. How there was a piece of hair that kept falling forward, framing her face. How the scentless candle between them kept flickering off her eyes. Most importantly she was looking across the table at the girl she loves. When Honey looked up she stared back with the same love. She noticed how prominent the veins on Paige's right hand became since practice was heavy with her long awaited return. The way her blue eyes were searching her own.

“Stop staring at me weirdo.” Honey said before moving her own gaze.

“I’m just excited.”

“You usually are excited for dessert." Honey went for more dessert. “You look like your insides are buzzing.”

“Actually, they are.”

“I don’t know what your next sentence is but I am worried.” Paige put her spoon down and folded her hands like she was back in school.

“I know we’ve played pretend for a while now but I don’t want to anymore. I want us.” She waved her hands between the two of them. “Like the whole thing. Girlfriends/”

“This is our first date Paige.” Honey could feel her heart beat in every inch of her body. 

“We’ve gone on so many dates. We’ve spent nights in each other's beds. We’ve done everything but claim each other-”

“Claim sounds weird.”

“Let me finish.” Paige laughed. “I want you to be my girlfriend. I want everything we’ve had and we’ve been doing to be official. I want it to be us.” All both of them could hear was their own heart beats. It was like the universe had gone completely silent around them. 

“Yeah. I want that too. I want us too.”

“Oh thank god.” Paige exhaled, grinning like she just won a competition. 

“This is very stereotypical gay basketball player.” Honey put her spoon down. “We’ve been on one date and you already want to uhaul.” She dead panned. 

Before Summer - Paige and Honey Admit they like each other

Paige and Honey were sitting in her dorm for a change. The team was sitting in Paige’s and she needed a quiet place to continue writing her paper, and Honey had become her unofficial editor. They were on her bed, legs somehow intertwined with their laptops on top of their thighs. They were going on hour 4 of this writing session, the chipotle they picked up earlier was half eaten on the desk, the TV playing a blended playlist between the two. 

“You’re staring.” Honey said, feeling how the blonde's eyes had drifted. 

“I’m thinking.”

“Thinking while writing is even worse. That’s when I do my worst work.”  Paige smiled because she had become accustomed to the way she wrote essays. How she was able to just type about the topic, everything just flowing and somehow making sense. 

“What are your plans after finals? We only have 2 weeks left.”

“Leaving.” She said like it was that simple, making Paige huff. “I’m putting my stuff into storage on Friday afternoon, then driving the rest down Saturday morning.” Paige nodded a little too fast. She knew summer was coming, she knew they lived different lives in different states but she didn’t like hearing it outloud anyway. 

“Summer’s gonna be weird.” Paige tried to be casual. The other girl on the bed nodded. They sat with it, the music filling the gap. They looked at each other again before the silence was broken. “This-” Paige looked between her and their legs tangled. “This feels like more than I thought it would the night we met.”

“Jungle juice and a clunky knee brace.” Honey tried to joke. She looked at Paige, really looked at her in a soft way. “I know.”

“I like you.” The words tumbled out of her mouth before she could stop them or rephrase them. “I have liked you for a while now.”

“I know.”

“Oh.” Paige was dejected, mortified. She was admitting her feelings and got an I know in return. 

“Paige, I learned a whole sport for you.” She laughed slightly. “I’ve studied a sport just in hopes that when you are ready to go back on the court I can cheer you on. Like really cheer and know what I’m talking about.”

“So you like me too?”

“Yes, you idiot.” 

In Attendance - Honey's First Basketball Game

The first basketball game Honey attended was almost a month after they first met. She had watched a handful of games with Paige and her teammates so she understood it more than she did that night at the party. She’d never admit it, but she also watched a couple of their games online too. She heavily disagreed when Paige told her she should attend but she found herself convincing her friends to attend the game. Then all of a sudden she was sitting in section 120, 8 rows back. 

It was deep into the second quarter when Paige noticed. Well really, it was Nika who noticed first. 

“Didn’t know your friend was coming to the game.” The Croatian said as she sat next to Paige for a time out.  

“I didn’t know she was.” The blonde guessed who she was talking about, the girl she had been talking about a lot recently. 

“So she bought a ticket on her own, for a sport you’ve been teaching her about.” Paige shrugged. “Don’t shrug me off. You aren’t even playing and she still came to see.”  UCONN ended up winning, which was something they were good at. It was after the game, post game media and meeting the fans outside that the team finally made their way to their respective dorms but to Paige’s surprise, she found the familiar girl standing right outside her door.

“Do post game things always take that long?”

“Didn’t know I had someone waiting for me.” Paige said, unlocking her door. Aaliyah and Nika walked in first and went right to their rooms, leaving Paige and Honey standing near the kitchen. 

“Not gonna lie, I felt underdressed. I was like the only student without a jersey.”

“I didn’t know you were coming to the game.” Paige leaned on the counter, across from where Honey sat on a stool.

“You have been teaching me so much I wanted to see if any of it was actually sticking.”

“So did it?” 

“Part of it. I should be fluent by the time you get back on the court” She shrugged.

“Whenever that happens”

“I won’t stay long, looks like Lili and Nika are already ready to pass out.” she tilted her head. “Where is Aubrey?” 

“She was staying back with her girlfriend. But we would’ve come home faster if I knew you were going to be waiting here.” Paige took a sip of the water bottle to her left.

“Just figured I’d stop by. In the neighborhood, ya know?” She wasn’t exactly lying, they both lived in the hilltop apartments but different buildings. 

“Wow you must be starting to really like basketball. Came to a game and then wanted to talk to the players afterwards.”

“Don’t flatter yourself, I just wanted to tell you I was trying.”

“The night I met you, you told me you didn’t have any interest in basketball and now you are trying on your own.”

“I didn’t, but I had also never watched a UCONN game.” She stood up from the stool. “Good game Paige.” She walked toward the door.

“Next time you are coming to the game, let me know. I’m sure I can find something for you to wear.”

Impressions - Paige and Honey Meet

Paige met Honey in the same way most college love stories start, at a party. Not a formal invite only party. A party in a house filled with too many people and sticky counters. 

The basketball house was filled with students and half filled red solo cups. The air was thick and hot despite the frosty Connecticut temperature outside. Men’s basketball had a rare few days off and decided to throw the thirsty thursday party of the week. Their parties were always something everyone wanted to attend including the women's basketball team. Paige had been to enough of these to the rhythm. Moving through the crowd, sticking close to her teammates, holding the cup low just in case anyone gets her in a photo. 

Her eyes scanned around the familiar house, half looking for her friends and half looking for nothing specifically. But it’s always when you're not looking that you find something. 

Honey was leaning on one of the walls of the livingroom, a red solo cup in her right hand. She was engrossed in whatever story the group around her was spinning. She didn’t really like parties, but she also didn’t want to be the only one of her friends sitting at home. She didn’t command the group around her as it was easy to see that she was the gravity. They all seemed to look at her after finishing their sentence. Honey gave them the small smile, the type of smile that made her eyes softer. She quickly looked down at her solo cup and when she looked up, she caught Paige's glance for a split second. They locked eyes for maybe a second before Paige looked away first, looking back at Nika across from her. 

It was later in the night when they crossed paths again. Honey had wandered into the kitchen where Paige was still standing with her teammates. Paige walked over once she saw the girl getting frustrated at the jungle juice container. The blonde tipped the container in an attempt to help. 

“They stopper gets messed up when they throw the fruit in pretending it does something.” was how she chose to break the ice.

“Makes sense, the four oranges usually hide the bottom self vodka taste.” she spoke genuinely. “Did you need yours filled or?” She nodded toward the cup.

“Oh!” Paige looked down at it too. “Sure… I’m Paige.” 

“Okay.” The girl tilted the juice container. “Now I know to find a blonde Paige if I can’t get any more juice.”

“I’m good at other things too.” She sipped and turned quickly around to look at her friends. “I’m decent at basketball too, just not right now.” Paige looked down at the brace on her leg, the ACL tear not far enough in the past. 

“Sorry, that’s like the one sport I can’t get interested in.”

“Oh.” She said for the second time in their short conversation. “Is there a reason?” Paige rested her hip on the disgusting counter.

“Just never could. But I never tried hard.”

“We are linking to watch the USC game Saturday afternoon. You should come and I can explain the game.”

Paige Bueckers x Honey Universe

Just another college love story. Paige meets Honey just after tearing her ACL. What follows them isn't a whirlwind, it's late-night pizza, basketball lessons and the realizations that love can grow in different shapes.

The story is told in small moments all about timing and choosing each other without rushing and the love that continues to be there even after the world stops watching