fresh start ; paige bueckers

✮ 21

Lily

"I kinda wish you were just coming to watch and didn't have to work." Paige says to me as she packs her bag in preparation for todays game.

UConn were playing Dayton in their season opener in the XL Centre. Marcus and I were going to be courtside during warmups and the match to capture content and then in the media room post match to conduct interviews.

"Me too, but I'm excited for my first ever basketball game." I grin from my place on Paiges bed.

Things had been good, in fact great with Paige since Marianna Gate. We were able talk it out and move on and things were back to normal in no time.

"Your first taste of WAG life." She smirks zipping up her full backpack and walking over to me.

"Uh huh," I nod reaching out for Paige as she stood at the foot of her bed, I place my hand on her hip, looking up at her, "You might even get a pre-match kiss."

"Oh really? What about post-match?" She asks cheekily, raising her brows.

"You have to work for that one." I remark smirking up as Paige towered over me.

"And how about now?" She asks reaching for my hands and pulling me up so I'm standing in front of her.

"Hmm," I ponder exaggeratedly, pretending I was thinking about it, "maybe just a quick one."

"Oh I can be quick." Paige says as she dips her head down bringing her lips to mine, pushing them together hungrily that I almost topple back onto her bed.

I smile almost breaking the kiss but quickly regain focus not wanting this moment to end. My hands trail up Paiges shirt coming into contact with her soft skin and I feel her growl lowly against my mouth. Her hands mirror mine and find their way up my shirt. Her touch is like fire on my bare stomach as they move up towards my chest and I gasp as they delicately slip into my bralette.

"PAIGE! We need to leave...like yesterday!" Azzi's voice calls out and we're both abruptly brought back to earth.

"If that was quick, I'd love to know what it's like when you take your time." I say to Paige as I readjust my clothing and she does the same.

"Stay over tonight and you'll find out." She says slinging her bag over her shoulder and leaving me flustered and red cheeked in her bedroom.

✮

"I feel like we're at high risk of getting a ball to the face." I say to Marcus as we settle into our front row seats.

"It's never happened before so if it does I'm blaming you." He jokes, pulling out his notebook and pen and scribbling down some words.

I take my work phone out of my bag and immediately open up the camera snapping photos of the venue and the girls warming up.

I had been given the uconnwbb Instagram login for todays game and my job was to post exclusive behind the scenes content as it happened. I posted the first few stories then stood up to capture another angle.

Both teams were on the court warming up but my focus was on UConn, of course. I recorded as Aaliyah and Jana each in turn took shots at the basket, to no surprise they were all going in.

"Lily! Record me!" KK called out over the ruckus of bouncing balls and squeaking shoes. I aimed the phone at her, focusing the camera and dragging down on the screen to reduce the exposure. KKs eyes stayed on the camera lens and she took a no-look half court shot but it fell a few inches short, missing the basket and bouncing to the ground.