overtime | clark & martin

sixty-seven.

The minute restriction was lowkey ruining Jessica's life. Of course, she loved that Kate was getting more minutes, but Jessica had rarely sat on the bench when she played in high school. Even in Turkey, she didn't sit on the bench. But sitting on the bench toward the end of her career had to be the most humiliating thing in her entire life.

She wanted to lay in traffic.

"You know it's not so bad-"

"Do not talk to me Caitlin," Jessica says, holding up a hand as Caitlin tries to approach her in the practice facility.

"Jess-"

"No," Jessica responds, "I went from being one of like four guards to win Defensive Player of the Year to being a backup singer. I hit a game-winner at the Olympics! I have more gold medals than Elena Delle Donne-"

"She only has one-"

"I have more gold medals than her!" Jessica exclaims, "I was Beyonce and now I'm not even Kelly, I'm Michelle. I'm the other members of N'Sync. I'm the back of the Backstreet Boys. I'm the Louis and Niall of One Direction on the first album. I'm the other Supremes while Diana Ross sleeps with Berry Gordy-"

"Okay um I get it, you feel restless on the bench," Caitlin says, "But think of it this way. We're reserving you to be our secret weapon in the playoffs and then you get to run around and do whatever you want."

Jessica groans knowing Caitlin had a point but not wanting to hear it, "Fine, your right, doesn't make me happy."

"Well, nothing would make you happier than being able to play but unfortunately you have glass bones and if someone were to run into you, I'd have to get a tech and I don't think you want me to be suspended for a game, would you?"

Caitlin tilts her head and smiles at Jessica, and she rolls her eyes.

"No, I wouldn't."

Caitlin smiles, "Good, so sit on the bench. Look pretty and let me and Kate handle all the hard work."

"Just so you know, I'm pretty when I'm on the court too," Jessica responds.

"Really?" Caitlin asks, "Cause you look kind of off to me, like I can't explain it-"

"Fuck you," Jessica says, and Caitlin laughs loudly.

The rest of the season flies by with Jessica unfortunately learning to take a backseat. At the end of the day, she knew she wasn't going to win any awards, she just wanted to win a championship and so this was the sacrifice that she had to make to at least play in one more championship game.

The Indiana Fever finished as the third seed which was much better than they could have hoped for. The Sparks had finished in first which was no surprise since they had the perfect combination of Paige, Rickea, and Cameron. Honestly, they were the favorites to win the Finals and Jessica would be lying if she said she wasn't a little fearful of competing against her Olympic teammates.

Chicago sat in second place, with Kamilla and Angel having played together their entire careers and were the best frontcourt in the league. However, their struggle was finding consistent guards which was why Jessica felt that all a team had to do was outplay their guards and the rest was history.

In fourth place sat Seattle led by a very efficient Azzi Fudd, Nika Muhl, and Ezi Magbegor. Azzi, Ezi, and Nika, however, were surrounded by a bunch of younger players who had little to no playoff experience and would crumple when they played a new team.

The fifth-place New York Liberty had the opposite problem, they were a team with too many veteran players with not enough youth to balance out. All the experience in the world wouldn't save them from being run out the gym.