𝓜𝓸𝓸𝓷 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓑𝓪𝓬𝓴 - 𝓟𝓪𝓲𝓰𝓮 𝓑𝓾𝓮𝓬𝓴𝓮𝓻𝓼

000

Prologue!

Life has always been a little complicated for Azalea Faye Griffin. That's something she would never deny because it's the simple truth. But she never let that stop her from going through it and she never gave up. Mainly because she grew up with older siblings who never let her quit. She grew up with her father who never let her hate herself for who she was and how she was born. Azalea always thanked God for giving her such a loving and supportive family and home and she'd never take them for granted.

Azalea was a quiet person. She kept to herself and she liked it that way. She liked the peace of her own apartment, she liked the quietness she could experience when she took her hearing aids off and simply read a book. She didn't have many friends, actually she only had one. One she met through her older sister Aubrey Griffin. Azalea met Azzi Fudd during her freshman year and the two instantly clicked for their love of books. They went to libraries together, they went book shopping together, they spend weekends in Azalea's quiet apartment reading and they took each other out on book dates. It was a simple and strong friendship the two had. Azzi learned so much from Azalea, so much that whenever Azalea - or Zee - takes her hearing aids off, Azzi could still sign to her and they could still talk.

Azzi was someone who came into her life unexpectedly and she instantly grew close to the girl. And Aubrey, gosh, Aubrey herself was grateful for Azzi, her teammate. Aubrey still remembers the first day Azalea told her about Azzi and how happy she was that someone actually wanted to be her friend. Aubrey felt happy and so much proud when Azalea for once made a friend outside of her brothers and sister. Someone else she could actually talk to, someone else to share her feelings with. That pure smile on Azalea's face when she told her older sister about Azzi was something Aubrey would never forget and always cherish.

That's how she spent her college years. With Azzi and Aubrey. She took her classes in the safety and warmth of her apartment just a few minutes away from the UConn University campus. She studied Social Psychology, she kept her grades up, never below 90%. She went to the library with Azzi, worked at the library, she watched Aubrey's and Azzi's basketball games from home due to how she hated crowds and loud noises. Mostly from her hearing loss. But she never once stopped supporting her sister and friend from the security of her apartment. Her life was content and she loved it that way.

But what happens when one day Aubrey spontaneously brings the rest of her basketball team to Azalea's apartment and suddenly her small circle of friends expands. A lot.

Of course Azalea knew who each of Aubrey's teammates were, she watched the games from home. Of course Azalea knew who Paige Bueckers was. She knew who the star player of UConn was. From edits, to whispers, to reports, to basically anything on social media, Azalea was well aware of who Paige was. She'd never thought that the girl she seen all over her social media was going to become someone else who she'd cherish. Grow to love like never before. Let her in and let her see parts - both physically and emotionally - no one has seen before.

Paige Madison Bueckers was no stranger to popularity. That's something she'd never deny because it's the truth. She had many friends, ones she cared more about than others, she knew she could have anyone she wanted, and well, sometimes she took that to her advantage. Paige had many meaningless hookups, but she never got too close to any of them. Even if the girls wanted more, Paige never gave them that.

It was no lie that Paige had a reputation of being a player or leaving parties with a girl trailing behind her. She had a natural charm that worked easily and made it easy to have anyone she wanted. Her charismatic personality and the fact that she was the Paige Bueckers worked like a charm anytime and every time.

But that all changed the moment her eyes locked on the most beautiful girl she'd ever seen.

When Aubrey - her teammate - mentioned heading over to someone's house, Paige never expected to feel like the world had just stopped the moment she seen her. Azalea. Paige honestly thought they'd be heading to another party or something along those lines, getting drinks, dancing with random strangers, and just having a good time. But even if they didn't go to party, that night, those few hours were definitely Paige's best time of her life. Meeting Azalea didn't compare to the awards and records she's broken, didn't compare to all the fame, the fans, the success. Everything about her just shook Paige to her core. Literally and figuratively, though she'd obviously never admit that.

As time went on, Paige made it her mission to get to know Azalea. Know her, see her. She wanted to be the one for Azalea. Call her delusional and crazy, but she knew that Azalea was it for her. And it wasn't just for her looks, no. Those hours when she met Azalea, she could see her gentleness, how she spoke to her friends, how she welcomed people - reluctantly - into her apartment. Her aura, her spirit was so warm, so kind. Immediately, all those meaningless hookups, all the girls throwing themselves at Paige slipped away from her mind. None of them could ever, ever compare to Azalea.

Frankly, Paige didn't care that Azalea was Aubrey's younger sister. That she was her teammate's sister. She didn't care about what Aubrey had to say. She just wanted Azalea. She wanted to be better for her, she wanted to learn about her, she wanted to care, to love, to hold her. She never thought she'd be like this, think like this before but now she is and she does not want to go back at all. The day she met Azalea she started dreaming and she did not want to be woken up from it.

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Author's Note!
- Okay....so maybe I went a little overboard but hopefully you guys will like it. It's probably a little too long for a prologue but fingers crossed it good. 👍🏼