This Love (Paige Bueckers)

14

narrative

iris pov

three days later

13 missed calls from "Bueckers 😏"

27 unread messages from "Bueckers 😏"

I haven't talked to a single person in three days. I've sat in my room. Alone.

I'm not ready to come out yet. I'm not ready for the whole world to know about me and Paige.

I have shut everyone out. I haven't even talked to Claire. Not Paige, not my parents, not anyone.

I hear a knock at my hotel door. I've heard a lot of those the past couple of days. Normally Claire will answer the door but she is gone so I just let them stand there, while I sit in the living room watching Haunting Of Bly Manor.

The knocking becomes more frequent and louder.

"Iris?" Someone yells, "I'm not fucking stupid, I know you're in there." Caitlin.

"Caitlin?" I yell.

"Yes, bitch." She replies. "Let me in!"

I walk to the door and open it to see a freshly showered Caitlin.

"What." I ask.

"Is that really the way you want to treat your sister who just won a final four game?" She asks.

"oh shit! Y'all won?" I say.

"Did you not watch the fucking game?" She asks, shocked.

"I did not," I say, "No."

"Why?" She asks, sitting down on the couch.

"I would really like to stay away from the shit that pretty much ruined my life."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" She asks.

"Did you not see the post?"

"No, I saw the post," She replies.

"Then what are you so confused about?" I ask.

"I'm confused how the game of basketball ruined your life," She says. "Oh yeah, you met Paige through it. The love of your fucking life. Don't even act like I haven't seen the way you two talk and post about each other. Don't try to deny it."

"I love her," I say. "But I'm not ready to come out and if I keep hanging out with her, people will believe it."

"So you're just going to break up with her then?" She asks.

"I don't know," I pause. "Maybe?"

"Dude," She groans.

"I just can't handle anymore relationship drama," I say. "Especially not after what happened with Noah last year." fuck.

"Wait," Caitlin pauses. "What happened with Noah? I thought you two just broke up."

"Um, well," I pause before saying all of this in one breath, "I came out to noah and then he started calling me a Dyke nonstop and then I broke up with him and he came to my apartment drunk and hit me multiple times and then a little while ago he texted me calling me a bitch and shit and told me to kill myself."