Grow As We Go

New & Old

With March Madness around the corner, life for the team had been nonstop chaos. With an undefeated record heading into the Big East tournament and all the hype surrounding Azzi, her legend was only growing. From constant interviews, television commercials for the brands she was sponsoring, and team interviews; life for Azzi was quite hectic. While they hadn't talked much about Paige's recent flirting with cheating, Paige and Azzi looked to move past that incident by simply never really discussing it since that night. Managing to squeeze in some bit of time to go out for dinner, Paige and Azzi would talk about family and team, but never touch the subject that only given a glimpse of what they truly felt on certain matters in their relationship. The only focus at this point was to just move forward and enjoy the moments within the craziness of March Madness as they quickly approached the biggest tournament of all Women's College Basketball.

"You've been all smiley today, what's up with you?" Azzi asked as Paige took it upon herself to pay for dinner.

"Can't I just take you out? I feel like we've barely had a chance to really talk and hang out" Paige reasoned.

"Yeah, its been kind of crazy with the build up to the tournament then all the interviews the team is having to do" Azzi said as she didn't want to harp on the subject of the team too much with Paige, fearing that it may make her feel some kind of way with all the success and exposure the team was getting as of recent.

"I know, it's been cool to see. Wish I could've been there" Paige smiled.

"Which is why I enjoyed tonight and love that you came up with this" Azzi smiled as she took a sip from her tea. "But that still doesn't take me away from my earlier questions, what is going on with you?" she asked.

"Well, you know I had to fly home last week for my doctor's appointment..." Paige began to say.

"Which I'm sorry I couldn't make, I completely forgot about the training with Chris in New York" Azzi quickly replied. "Then the whole thing with Brian interviewing me for ESPN instead of Alyssa, which in itself is a win for me. You're cool with that, right? Brian coming out during the tournament" she then asked.

"It's fine, I know you guys are friends and only went to prom as friends" Paige nodded on at Azzi's question. "I actually got good news or at least I'm hoping for it to be once I tell you" Paige smiled. "Also not getting my hopes up, but it was good news" she then added as Azzi just laughed.

"Just tell me already, the suspense is killing me" Azzi replied.

"The doctor cleared me for basketball activities" Paige smiled as Azzi beamed with happiness and joy for her girlfriend. "I'm not cleared to play, but I can start rehabbing doing basketball drills to hopefully get back in shape. But I'm making a ton of progress Az" she said happily.

"That's great news, I'm happy for you" Azzi smiled.

"While I'm not plotting and thinking ahead, I did spend a lot of time thinking back over all the things that you've done in getting me to this point and all the sacrifices you've made to be there for me; I'm grateful and appreciative of that and I just want you to know that" Paige told her as Azzi just smiled.

"You would've done the same for me, you did do the same for me...." Azzi stated.

"Not to the extent you have" Paige quickly replied. "So, to thank you for this good news and all you've done, I have been planning a very special dinner for us" she said.

"A special dinner? Give more details" Azzi said a bit more intrigued with this bout of news.

"You know that Gordon Ramsey restaurant that opened up, that just happens to be near the tournament site...." Paige began to say as Azzi literally jumped up and down with excitement.