IMGONNAGETYOUBACK - NIKA MÜHL

005

Nika | April 22nd, 2024

"Ugh," I groaned, flopping on Paige's bed.

Our arrival back in Storrs was to everyone's relief; Paige was lost without her friends, Azzi was homesick (Paige deficient), KK was tired of the Florida heat, and I was tired of Violet Warner.

Not of her, but of myself around her.

When I unlocked the door of my dorm, Paige was just sitting on the couch alone. "Twin, is that you?" She asked.

"You should hope so, or else someone is breaking and entering," I quipped in response. Paige happily bounded over to me as I dropped my bags, returning her quick hug. "I brought you a present," I said lamely as Azzi walked in behind me.

Azzi hadn't even been to her own place, but she honestly spent just as much time at our place as she did her own. Her and Paige had spent a lot of time together since they met, so being apart was unnatural to them. Naturally, however, Azzi wanted to be with Paige more than her own bed.

"Hey you," Paige said slowly, dragging out each syllable as she snaked her arms around Azzi's waist, pulling her in close.

I swear, to anyone who didn't know them, they looked like a couple. Even to people who did know them, they looked like a couple. Neither of them would ever admit it but everyone knew that their relationship ran much deeper than friendship.

Azzi mumbled something in her ear, which I took as my cue to head to my room and unpack. Azzi would likely be asleep in only a few minutes, so I would get my Paige Time in then. Azzi had always been a tired traveller, needing hours even just to recharge from sleeping on a plane. I, on the other hand, as an international student, was pretty used to travel and time changes.

Once my bags were fully unpacked, I quickly cleaned my body off in the shower and changed into pyjamas, ready to have a boring day of lounging around after the action of the last few days.

When I was finished, I made my way over to Paige's room, figuring Azzi would be asleep by now.

My suspicions were proved right when I entered the room to see Azzi, knocked out, lying across Paige's bed; Paige was sitting up, serving as her pillow and also her personal stuffed animal, with the way Azzi was holding onto her. Paige's hand drifted lazily across her back.

"What's up?" She asked, glancing up from her phone. She had clearly been on TikTok, if the songs coming from her phone were any indicator.

"I have a problem," I sighed, sitting on the end of the bed. I felt a short sense of deja vu, remembering the way I had done the same thing on Violet's bed—then I snapped myself out of it. Paige nodded, shutting her phone off and giving me her full attention. "I..." I trailed off, anything to avoid saying my realization out loud.

"Oh no...tell me you didn't fall for another basketball player," Paige responded.

That's why she was my twin. "Ugh," I groaned, falling backwards on her bed, making sure I didn't hit Azzi. I was thankful that Paige knew me so well because I wasn't sure I would've been able to say that out loud.

"It's okay, Nika." She said comfortingly.

"No, it's not!" I shot back, trying to keep my voice quiet. "You know what happened last time," I said quietly.

Paige sighed, probably thinking back to what I was referencing. It was back in my first season in America, when I was new to the team and just starting to figure out my sexuality. I fell really hard for one of the seniors on our team, and I thought she liked me back. I mean, the things we did were not friend activities. One night, in her bed, our bare skin against each other, I told her I loved her. In response, she laughed. It became apparent that I didn't mean as much to her as she did to me, and the rest of the season was incredibly painful for me; after that, I vowed that my basketball life and my love life would stay separate for—well, ever.