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Kelis had barely raised her hand to knock on Kayleigh’s apartment door when it swung open and Kayleigh stepped out, pulling it mostly closed behind her.
“I need you to be cool,” Kayleigh said in a rushed whisper.
“Always,” Kelis replied, because of course she did.
“Not the time, Kelis. I need you to be, like, cool cool.”
“Girl, what is wrong with you?” Kelis asked, lowering her voice to match Kayleigh’s. “You’re all twitchy.”
“Paige got here early. They’re in Azzi’s room, getting ready. So I need you to not freak out.” Kayleigh looked over her shoulder and pulled the door a little further closed.
“Oooooh. Gotcha. I can be cool. Totally chill. Absolutely calm,” Kelis said, grinning. Kayleigh rolled her eyes.
“You’re really inspiring confidence right now,” Kayleigh said. “It’s fine. Azzi’s our teammate. Paige is her girlfriend. It’s no big deal.”
“Dude, she’s Paige Bueckers. She’s, like, the definition of a big deal.”
“Not helping, Kelis! Just...be quiet until we get to my room, ok?” Kayleigh shot her a quelling look, like murder but with her eyes. Then she opened the door and walked casually down the hall, just like she did every day.
“Do you even remember how to make your arms and legs work normally?” Kelis whispered, trying not to laugh.
“Shut up,” Kayleigh said out of the corner of her mouth. They tiptoed the rest of the way to her room in silence.
“I feel like I’m in a heist movie right now,” Kelis said the moment the door closed behind them. “What are we stealing, other than our teammate’s privacy?”
“We’re not invading anyone’s privacy! We’re just...getting ready...while hearing the normal sounds of people in a shared apartment.”
“Yeah, ok stalker,” Kelis said.
“Says the person who begged me to call her the next time Paige visited so she wouldn’t miss out!” Kayleigh said pointedly.
“Because you literally wouldn’t shut up about it!”
“It was an experience, ok!” Kayleigh hissed, motioning Kelis closer. “They’re like The Notebook if it wasn’t stupid and sad!”
Kayleigh cracked her door open and hovered near it, listening. The two girls took up positions on either side of the open door, finally quieting down so they could hear what was happening across the hall.
A mellow R&B track was playing, underscoring the sounds of people moving around, talking and laughing. They could hear water running and bottles clinking, and then a moment of quiet before they heard Azzi’s voice clearly.
“Can you sit still so I can do your eyeliner?” Azzi said, her voice fond and exasperated all at once. “You’re all wriggly.”
“I’m wriggly because you’re going to poke my eye out!” Paige replied.
“Babe,” Azzi said, in the same tone she used when KK got too out of pocket. “I have never once poked you in the eye, so stop fidgeting. And keep your hands to yourself.”
“Can’t help it, Az. You’re all up in my business in that dress, with those eyes...”
“Behave,” Azzi said dryly. Kayleigh looked across at Kelis, who had one hand covering her mouth, trying not to giggle.
“I’m not great at that, when it comes to you,” Paige said, soft and flirty.
“You never have been,” Azzi agreed, equally as softly. And then it was quiet, and Kayleigh and Kelis just stared at one another, eyes wide, while the seconds ticked by.
“OK I mean it now. Sit on your hands if you have to,” Azzi said eventually. She was obviously trying to sound stern but missing by a mile. “This is why I can never put on lip gloss until right before we leave to go out.”
“Poor baby,” Paige replied, sounding not at all contrite.
“Are they for real?” Kelis whispered.
“This is what I was trying to tell you!” Kayleigh whispered back. “Actual romance novel in my apartment!”
Kelis giggled, and Kayleigh shushed her, grateful that Azzi and Paige were always so caught up with one another they hardly noticed anything else.
“We should finish getting ready. I bet Azzi will be over in a minute to check on us,” Kayleigh said.
Sure enough, Kayleigh had just finished putting in her earrings and Kelis was checking her lip liner, when there was a rap on the door and Azzi poked her head in.
“Kayleigh, are you about ready?” she asked, then looked around the corner and saw Kelis. “Oh hi, Kelis, I didn’t hear you get here.”
“You know me,” Kelis said. “Quiet as a mouse.”
Kayleigh stifled a giggle, and Azzi looked at them both strangely.
“Sure,” Azzi continued. “Anyway, Paige should be ready in a minute – she's being extra picky about her mascara – and then we can go. Yanna’s already down there.”
“OK we’ll be right out,” Kayleigh said, and Azzi headed down the hall. Kayleigh turned to Kelis. “Remember: cool.”
“Are you telling me or yourself?” Kelis asked.
“Shut up. I’m fine.”
“Ok, champ. Show me how it’s done,” Kelis said, still laughing a little as they walked toward the living room.
“You two look great,” Azzi said when they entered.
“You too,” they chorused back, which was an understatement. Azzi was wearing a dress that channeled old school Hollywood glamour. Next to her, Kayleigh felt like a teenager dressing up for her parents to take her out to dinner, which she kind of was.
“Looking good, ladies!” Paige came down the hall, matching Azzi in glamour if not style.
“Thanks,” Kelis managed, while Kayleigh just smiled.
“Baby, can you look at the back of this? It’s being weird,” Paige said, flipping her hair over one shoulder and going to stand in front of Azzi.
Azzi reached up to adjust Paige's collar, then smoothed her hands down both shoulders of Paige’s jacket. Paige turned to grin at her, and Kayleigh and Kelis watched as Azzi’s face softened and seemed to glow from within when she looked back at Paige.
“This can’t be real,” Kelis murmured from next to Kayleigh, who elbowed her. They both watched as Paige leaned in to kiss Azzi’s temple and whisper in her ear. Kelis scooted closer to Kayleigh and lowered her voice even further. “Is Azzi an actual Disney princess and no one told us?”
“OK, princess,” Paige said, as though she’d heard Kelis. Kayleigh hoped to god she hadn’t. “Ready to go? KK’s been blowing up my phone for the past five minutes.”
“Yeah. No telling what she’ll get up to if we leave her unattended for much longer,” Azzi said, sharing a knowing grin with Paige.
Kayleigh and Kelis followed the couple out of the apartment and down the hall, watching avidly as their dynamic unfolded in real time in front of them. The entire way downstairs and onto the bus taking them to dinner, Paige was subconsciously making things easier for Azzi. When Azzi paused to adjust the strap on her shoe, Paige took Azzi’s phone for her and put a hand under her elbow to steady her. She opened every door, she shifted to intercept Jana when she almost backed into Azzi while taking a photo, and she made sure to secure Azzi’s preferred seat on the bus (right side, midway down, aisle).
After they sat down, Paige took Azzi’s hand and guided conversation around and over her, like she’d been doing it for years. Kayleigh guessed she had. Azzi, meanwhile, relaxed back into her seat, one shoulder pressed into Paige’s, looking more at ease than Kayleigh had ever seen her. She chimed into the chatter every now and again, but she obviously didn’t feel the need or burden of carrying the conversation.
“Do you think she ever talked in groups when Paige was here?” Kelis asked Kayleigh. Yanna, who was sitting in front of them, overheard the question and laughed.
“Not as much as she does now. Azzi’s never minded being quiet, and Paige has always been a very attentive spokesperson,” Yanna answered. “It’s probably a good experience for them to have a year apart, but they’re always better together in the end.”
“KK calling them mom and dad makes so much more sense now,” Kelis said, and Kayleigh nodded. Then she went back to watching them, in a supportive and totally not creepy way.
When they arrived at the venue, Kayleigh noticed that Azzi and Paige took a minute to themselves before standing up. Azzi squeezed Paige’s hand, and Paige tilted her head into Azzi’s, closing her eyes for a moment. Then they looked at one another, both of their expressions saying I love you better than any words Kayleigh had ever heard.
When they got up, they were no longer holding hands, though Paige kept a hand near the small of Azzi’s back, guiding subtly. They were contained now, for lack of a better word. This was public Paige and Azzi, not the private version she’d been privileged to briefly see.
Once inside, they went their separate ways, playing their parts seamlessly. They would circle back to one another every so often, checking in with a glance. At one point, Paige brought Azzi a fresh drink. At another, Azzi encouraged a little girl to go say hi to Paige, so she could get a picture with both of them. And when Paige got up to say a few words to the assembled crowd, Azzi watched her with a quiet pride that suggested partnership rather than possession. They were a unit, even when they didn’t speak at all.
Hours later, the team climbed aboard the bus to head back toward campus, quiet laughter and conversation punctuating the post-event vibe. Kayleigh had ended up in the window seat across the aisle from Paige and Azzi. KK was sitting next to her, deep in conversation with Paige – something about Unrivaled, Kayleigh thought. Azzi was tucked up against Paige reading on her phone, her free hand resting lightly on Paige’s knee. Every so often Azzi would murmur something, catching Paige’s attention. A few minutes later Paige wrapped up her conversation with KK entirely, turning so she could slide her arms around Azzi and hook her chin over Azzi’s shoulder, focusing on whatever was on Azzi’s screen.
“Knew that would happen,” KK said, settling back into her seat.
“What?” Kayleigh asked, looking between KK and the couple across the aisle.
“Paige has a special sense for whenever Azzi’s social battery runs out. It’s like a switch flips, and she goes all soft and quiet.”
“It’s sweet.”
“Yeah but doesn’t mean it isn’t inconvenient sometimes. I can’t count the number of times Paige has gone ghost in the middle of a conversation or video game because Azzi was done,” KK said, but she was smiling. “She’s stupid soft for her girl.”
“You mean actual Disney princess Azzi Fudd?” Kelis asked from the seat behind them, and they all laughed. Paige and Azzi didn’t even look up.
“There’s a reason she’s the princess around here, and it’s not because of coach,” KK affirmed.
“She’s the most hard-working princess I’ve ever seen,” Kayleigh said. “I can barely keep up with her.”
“I think that’s why Paige loves taking care of her so much,” KK said. “Because she doesn’t expect it but definitely deserves it.”
“You know what I didn’t expect?” Kayleigh asked, and the other two looked at her with interest. “Paige to be so...”
“Hyper? Annoying?” KK suggested, smirking.
“Caring,” Kayleigh said definitively. “She’s kind of terrifying on the court, but she’s not just some callous superstar in person.”
“I know!” Kelis interjected. “Tonight she made sure to introduce me to Rebecca Lobo and was telling her all this nice stuff coach said about me. Like what?”
“Yeah, that’s just P,” KK said. “She’s got the rockstar thing going on out in the world, but she uses her powers for good. At the end of the day, she’s just like us, except way better at being basically married.”
“Relationship goals,” Kelis agreed, and KK nodded.
The conversation shifted then, to weekend plans and complaints about early morning lifts, as it always did. KK and Kelis got going about something ridiculous, their volume increasing, but across the aisle, Azzi and Paige stayed in their own little bubble. Kayleigh thought that must be nice right about the time KK screeched in her ear like a dying pterodactyl. She shot KK a look, and she eventually shut up, but still. Quiet cuddling with the love of your life seemed like a better alternative.
Back at the apartment twenty minutes later, finally divested of her resident yappers, Kayleigh told Yanna goodnight and headed down the hall to her room. Azzi’s door was still open, so she knocked on the doorframe and poked her head in. Paige looked up from taking off her cufflinks.
“Just wanted to say goodnight,” Kayleigh said.
“I’ll let Azzi know.” Paige smiled at her. “Hey, I’m gonna run some drills with KK tomorrow morning. You and Kelis should join if you’re free.”
“Yeah?” Kayleigh asked, and Paige nodded. “Neither of us has class until 11. Is 9 ok?”
“Definitely.”
“OK, yeah. Thanks.” Kayleigh still couldn’t fully shake the awkward. “Well, have a good night.”
“You too, Kayleigh.” Paige smiled at her again, then went back to what she was doing.
Kayleigh crossed the hallway to her room, already texting Kelis an update about their morning plans. Then she shut her door firmly and turned on her white noise machine for good measure. After all, her roommates deserved their privacy.