girls! ✩ p. bueckers

32. with you forever

I'm puking everything in my stomach up into the toilet of our hotel room. Paige rubs my back comfortingly as she pulls my hair up into a bun.

I lean back against the tub and put my head between my legs as I sigh. Season ends in a month and a half but I think I might have to call it quits. As much as I don't want to, I don't think I can physically keep up anymore. Who would have thought that Diana would last longer than I would?

Paige has been with me every step of the way but I know that I'm being unfair to her. In the grand scheme of things we haven't known one another that long. But I feel a connection with her that I've never before.

She hands me a washcloth to wipe my face off and I grimace as I stand up. Her hands go around my waist to keep me steady and I lean against her while we walk to the bed.

I sit down on the edge and she just sits beside me, grabbing my hand and holding it tightly in hers. We both know what's happening. We don't really talk about it but we know. It's like how everyone in the league knows how my health deteriorates, but they don't tell anyone outside of the W. It's just known.

"Tonight?" My words come out soft. My throat coarse from moments ago.

Paige nods her head once. "Tonight. And I'll be with you the whole time. The team will back you up, we've talked about it. We're here for you."

"I'm just so tired, Paige."

I lean my head on her shoulder and she wraps an arm around me. She's warm as I settle into her embrace, finding comfort in her comforting me.

"I know baby. I know."

Her phone alarm goes off and we both let out a sigh. We have press to do before the game and part of that is telling the fans who care, that after tonight I'm done. I feel like based off how I've looked it can't be that much of a surprise. Sure, I've managed to put up some pretty decent numbers but there have been articles speculating about what's wrong with me.

My favorite is that I'm pregnant. You should have seen Paige's face when she read about it. She was so offended and I'll be honest, seeing a jealous Paige wasn't bad. Trust when I say she put those rumors to rest. Just don't talk to her about it because Arike still teases her about it to this day.

It takes us another ten minutes to grab what we need but then we're headed out the door. The game today is kind of early at 4 o'clock and we've been told to get there at 1.

There's supposed to be a small presser before the game and that's when I'm supposed to give my news.

The facility is busy when we make our way inside. The camera and social media people take photos of our outfits, we decided to go with a more couple one. Coordinated colors and all that jazz. Really I just told Paige to pick what I wear because I didn't want to look at clothes anymore. It's a good thing that I trust her style.

I'm wearing a light green dress. There's a cutout on the left side of my rib and it makes me look snatched. She picked out some gold heels and I usually hate heels but I approve just this once.

Our fingers are laced together as we pause for the photos. I lean to whisper something and she laughs as she looks at what I was talking about.

We finally make it out of all of that and I hear Nai and Lyss before I see them.

The media likes to joke that somehow Dallas acquired two power couples. I can't really disagree with it though. Paige and I play off one another so easily that it makes winning no big deal.

We walk over to them to see that they're doing a tiny mic interview. We're told to wait for them to finish so we play sudoku while we wait. Don't hate on us just because we're lowkey ipad kids. These are hard times out here.