Daylight - Paige Bueckers

dirty shirley

October 7th, 2022

Paige's POV:

The week dragged on with what felt like a million physical therapy sessions, classes, and exams. I've never been more relieved for it to be Friday night. Nika, Aubrey, Azzi and I all decided to go to Ted's tonight. Although being injured and not being able to play this season has been one of the hardest things I've had to accept, it's also kind of nice to be able to spend more time doing things like this. Considering that basketball is my number one priority, I used to not go out too much. 

I decide to throw on a pair of cargo pants and a white crop top, with a short sleeve button-up over it. I did some very minimal makeup and decided to wear my hair natural. 

"Damn shawty, who you tryna look good for?" Aubrey compliments. 

"She's hoping that her pretty cheerleader is there tonight" Nika smirks. 

I roll my eyes at them, "You gotta stop with that"

"Whatever, are you ready to go?" she asks. 

I nod my head yes as we start to head towards the door, grabbing a seltzer for the walk over to Ted's. 

We walk inside and are greeted by the blasting music and the smell of alcohol and sweat. I start scanning the room, not even realizing who I'm looking for. 

"Looking for the pretty cheerleader" Nika whispers to Aubrey and Azzi, while motioning to me. 

"I heard that" I say. "I'm not looking for her"

"Okay P" Azzi smiles. 

We go up to the bar, ordering our drinks. Dirty shirley of course. A few people have come up to us, dapping us up. After receiving our drinks, we head over to the back patio and make our way to a group of guys from the men's basketball team. 

"Bueckers, what's up" Ryan exclaims, dapping me up, the others following his lead. 

"Nothin much, how're you guys?" I ask. 

"Not bad, not bad" he says, smiling. "How are you feeling?"

"Pretty good, I guess. I just wanna play again" I say. 

"Yeah, I know the feeling" he says, motioning to his own broken foot. 

We continue to make conversation with the boys and I find myself scanning the crowd again. 

"Is she here?" Azzi asks me. 

"I don't know" I said, trying to play it cool. 

"Why don't you just text her and ask, P?" 

"I don't know. Would that be weird?" I ask her. 

"Why would it be weird? Just do it" she says. 

I  pull my phone out of my pocket and open the messages app. 

Alex Abrams

Hey, u guys going to Ted's tn?

hi! yes! we're pregaming on our porch 

rn, we'll prob be there in 20 :)