The two women had finally gotten back adjusted to school. Robin waited anxiously for her acceptance letter from University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. It was in the city that her and her mother had always wanted to move to.
She was starting to worry. She had worked so hard throughout her years at UCONN, ensuring that she did everything in her power to keep her education first. While she loved volleyball, she knew that she had dreams bigger than the sport. Robin had always loved helping people, since she was a little girl. And now, she had the opportunity to combine her love for sports and passion for medicine and make it something beautiful.
"Button," Harley spoke out, causing her friend to snap out of her nervous pacing, "consistently refreshing your email will not bring the email here faster."
Robin sighed, closing her laptop and placing it on the coffee table in front of her. She plopped back onto the couch and sighed loudly. Harley sat next to her, comfortingly patting her leg. She could understand why Robin was so stressed in this situation, but she also wanted her best friend to relax.
"I don't understand what's taking so long, like I am starting to freak out." Robin said, her hands placed over her eyes and then dragging down her face. "Like it's literally late January! I need to start looking for places to live and my mom has to start packing the house and putting it on the market. We have so much to do and soon enough there will be no time."
Harley allowed her friend to vent and felt upset for her. She knew how much this mattered to Robin and did not want to invalidate her feelings. However, medical schools were sometimes extremely slow with their responses because the process was meticulous. Both of the women knew that already.
"I understand, Robin, I do. This is a very stressful time for you and you know that I stand by you 100%. However, I want you to know that while this is a time of anxiety, you still have to enjoy the ending of this semester. This is the last five months of freedom until you are tied down, learning more about stethoscopes and shit."
Robin chuckled at her friend, "You're right, but I am just so scared."
"And that's understandable, but we need to focus on the now. You and I both know that that school will be accepting you! Let's go out somewhere! Aubrey, Paige, and the girls have a game today, should we go?"
"Hell yeah, I haven't talked to my baby all day." Robin frowned, looking at her phone. She noticed that her messages from yesterday were still delivered and it was already mid-day the next day. While that did upset Robin, she did recognize that the championship was coming up.
But, she swallowed all of the negative thoughts about their relationship and began getting ready for the game.
The crowd roared as they waited excitedly for the UCONN Women's Basketball team to come out and face the USC Trojans in their Elite Eight Game. This was a huge game for the team and they needed to win this game in order to make it the Final Four.
Paige was locked in, making sure she had no distractions this game. She felt bad for not talking to her girlfriend today, but she needed to focus. They were head to head with JuJu Watkins, another amazing player in the college basketball league.
"Hey P," Aubrey said, sitting down next to the blonde, "have you talked to Robin today?"
Paige shook her head, continuing to tie her shoes. This caused Aubrey to be confused, not knowing whether the girls were in a good place or not.
"Oh, are y'all good?" she responded.
"Yeah, we're straight," Paige stated, looking at her friend, "I just needed today for myself, you know? This is a big game and I didn't need any distractions."
"Did you talk to her about that? You know Robin, she's probably freaking out." Aubrey questioned, confused as to why Paige was acting this way, "and to refer to her as a distraction is crazy. Don't fuck up with her, P."
"Get off my ass, Griffin." Paige said with furrowed eyebrows, "Robin knows how I feel about her, and I don't need you coming in here trying to be high and mighty. I'm stressed out and I needed time to clear my head. What's the problem with that?"
Aubrey sighed, getting off the bench, "I am not saying it's a problem to want to be alone or have time for yourself. It's a problem when you're not being communicative about your actions. You know how she feels about you and you know about her past relationship. Don't be a dick, Paige."
Paige was frustrated, but she knew Aubrey was right, like always. Never would she ever want to hurt her girl. Hell, she was in love with the woman. She'd been so used to being alone and bottling up her feelings, and so now that she had someone who she could rely on a hundred percent, it was hard.
"I love you, P, and I don't want you to be frustrated before the game." Aubrey stated, holding onto her shoulder, "But, I also don't want you to make stupid decisions and lose the one girl that you love."
Paige nodded and silently thanked her friend. After the game, she knew she'd be doing a lot of making up and apologizing to do. She'd never want Robin to feel neglected or sidelined because the entire reason she was there was to be her protector.
Meanwhile, Robin sat in the stands with Paige's jersey on and a sign that she'd made for her before they left their place. She was proud of the girl and she knew that the National Championship was theirs.
The players made their way on the court, the crowd erupting in cheers and screams as they named who would be in the starting lineup. Paige's name was called and the crowd went crazy, and Robin held up her sign.
"Looks like we have UCONN Women's Volleyball captain, Robin Ali, here to support the Women's Basketball Team tonight. Ali has returned with a Championship ring herself after defeating Nebraska back in December! And would you look at that folks, her sign says 5 on the court, but 1 in my heart! A new UCONN love story!?"
The jumbotron camera went from Paige and onto Robin who proudly held up her sign dedicated to her blonde. When she noticed herself on the screen, she pointed to her jersey and mouthed "that's my girl."
Paige smiled brightly as she watched Robin appear on the screen. She filled with pride as she watched her girl represent her and still show love, even after she'd been an asshole.
Seeing Robin there and smiling kept Paige's momentum going throughout the game. She played fiercely, not allowing anyone to make shots on her. While USC was an amazing team, packed with good offensive players, they just couldn't catch up with the girls defensively.
The score was close, 98-93, with UCONN in the lead. Every person in the crowd on their feet as the shot clock ran out.
USC played amazingly, but UCONN was better.
Blue and white confetti fell from the ceiling of the arena and the girls began to celebrate on the court. The smiles and joyous laughter was contagious as they embraced each other. They were another step closer to winning the entire championship, and they felt amazing.
"Nice work out there, 5." Paige heard from behind her. Turning around, she was face to face with JuJu who held a smile. The sophomore guard looked up to her, and while she was upset that she could not lead her team to victory, she was proud that the woman she looked up to did have the chance.
"Thank you, Ju," Paige smiled kindly, "You worked hard out there. I'm excited to watch what you do next year."
The pair shared an embrace before Paige went off to find her girl. The blonde's eyes scanned the entire court, searching high and low for her girlfriend. Finally, she spotted her dark, curly hair from the crowd and ran to go embrace her.
Robin immediately knew that it was Paige because everyone else had enough sense not to sneak up on her like that. She turned around in her arms and hugged her tightly, extremely proud of the dedication that she put on the court tonight.
If anyone deserved this win, it was Paige.
"I'm sorry, baby," Paige said, her face stuffed into Robin's hair. Her voice shook, upset with herself that she would ever treat her girlfriend like this. "I didn't mean to shut you out today."
Robin's heart broke, hearing Paige sound so downcasted, despite just making it to the Final Four. She understood why she did not hear from the blonde. Today was such an important day for her and if space was what she needed to take a step towards a ring, then she was fine with it.
"Don't apologize, P." Robin said, rubbing her girl's back, "I understand why you needed space. Just talk to me next time, okay?"
Paige nodded, hugging Robin closer to her. Paige never wanted to feel like this again, where she feared that she messed up with her girlfriend. Everything was going perfectly until she had the lack of communication. Despite being a talkative person, the blonde truly struggled with voicing her emotions, but she wanted to learn how to.
"Final Four, babe!" she shouted, pulling away and shaking Paige's shoulders, "My girl is going to be a national champion, I can just feel it."
"I'm just trying to catch up with you, my love."