Crossover at Gampel

chapter twelve

"I'm sorry for earlier. I shouldn't have told you what to do about Kate. Real advice wouldve been better. I was just pissed about you not telling me but I understand why. Theres obviously a lot that we need to catch each other up on since you are so far away," Madison explained her thinking.

"Yeah, we do need to catch up. I'm sorry for getting so mad when Nika came in. It was just bad timing and a good time for me to leave. Maybe me, you, Paige, and Nika can all hang out later?"

"Yeah, that sounds great," Madison said smiling at me, then leaning in for a hug.

Nika and Paige walked in shortly after, giggling. It must've been a good practice, they both seemed happy. As soon as Nika saw me she started to get awkward. I told her I was sorry about earlier, and explained everything to her. She was completely understanding and out of the corner of my eye I could see Paige staring at me.

Nika eventually sat down next to Madison and Paige joined Nika. She continued to stare while we talked and I couldn't figure out why. I got up acting like I was going to grab something across the room, I reached my bag acting like I needed lip balm. Once I grabbed it I walked over to Paige sitting next to her. After I sat down she immediately relaxed like the only reason she was staring was because she wanted me next to her. The conversation eventually trailed off and we were all just staring at our phones. While scrolling on Instagram, I got a text from Paige.

Paige: wanna go get dinner??

Kaleigh: yea, i would love to, but why couldn't you just ask that out loud??

Paige: i just wanted it to be us...

Kaleigh: oh wow, thats very bold of u Bueckers

Paige: shut up, how are we gonna leave?

"I'm gonna go back to the hotel so I can pack up since I leave tomorrow. Maybe I'll catch up with you guys later," I said while winking at Paige to hint that she should leave shortly after.

"You don't have a car, I'll drive you," Paige says, getting up.

"Bye guys," Nika said.

"Bye you two!" Madison yelled, seeming like she knew something was up. We walked out the door after I grabbed my things.

"We're so slick" I said jokingly.

"Oh yeah, for sure" Paige replied while grabbing my waist pulling me closer as we walked. We got to the car and Paige opened the door for me.

"You dont have to keep doing that for me," I said getting in.

"I know, but I want to," Paige said smiling back at me.

Right when we got in the car we decided to just get pizza and bring it back to my hotel. Paige went to reach for the aux cord but I stole it from her before she could reach it. I laughed as I looked over to see her side eyeing me. She pulled out of the spot and I finally decided on playing my The Weeknd playlist.

The drive to the pizza place was short, we walked in after Paige opened my door for me, once again. We decided to just keep it simple and get a large cheese pizza. We sat down at a table while we waited for the pizza to be made. Paige kept grabbing my knee under the table, which made me nervous for some reason. I don't think I've ever been nervous around someone the way I am with her. I just don't want to mess anything up.

"So, you're really leaving tomorrow, huh?" Paige asked, bring up the topic I didn't want to think about.

"Don't talk about it, I don't want to," I said while putting on puppy dog eyes.

"Then don't. No one wants you to, well Kate, but she doesn't matter. The people who care about you are in this area. Not in the corn state," Paige said, being serious about me not leaving.

"I wish it was that simple, Paige. I have school," I did want to stay, but I couldn't miss any more classes. I was already missing tomorrow because I had to travel.

"Transfer," Paige said, keeping it simple.

I opened my mouth to call her crazy but maybe she was right. I only had a few good friends in Iowa and now I was going to try and keep my distance from Kate. Plus, I missed my mom more than anything when I was in Iowa, if I was here I could literally drive back to Mass.

"See I'm right," Paige said, giving me a small smirk.

"Honestly, it's not a terrible idea," I said looking directly at her.

The pizza was ready so Paige grabbed it and carried it with one hand which showed off her veins. We got back to the car and instead of going to my hotel, she took me to campus. We had a picnic in the middle of the grass. It was awesome, like something out of a movie. This was by far the sweetest thing someone has ever done for me.

We decided to go back to Paige's place since I didn't want to pack and she didn't want me to leave. She said it would make her too sad to see me pack to get ready to go back to Iowa. When we walked in, Nika and Madison weren't there, so we went to Paige's room. I immediately sat down on her bed getting under the covers because I was freezing. Paige saw me do this and went into her closet and threw a UConn women's basketball sweatshirt at me. I was already wearing a crewneck so I decided to take my current sweatshirt off to wear hers. I sat up in her bed pulling my crewneck off revealing the lacy black bra I wore beneath it. I honestly wasn't paying attention to Paige up until that point, but she was definitely paying attention to me. I put the crewneck off to the side before Paige walked over, taking the UConn sweatshirt back, moving it to the edge of the bed.

She sat down on the bed and I felt butterflies like never before. She leaned in placing her lips on mine. After a few seconds I began moving closer, finding my way into her lap straddling her. Our kiss continued to become more and more passionate. My hands found their way underneath her shirt beginning to pull it off, our lips separating for the first time. My perception of time was completely gone, I couldn't tell if we had been here for a few minutes or a few hours. The only thing that filled my mind was the thought of the blonde girl I was kissing right now.

Paige slowly pulled away allowing for her eyes to meet mine. She looked at me with begging eyes and said, "Please don't leave me."

At that moment, I never wanted to leave her. That night I slept in her arms, never wanting to move. When I woke up, Paige insisted I wore her clothes to the airport. She gave me a gray UConn sweatshirt with matching sweatpants. She took me back to my hotel to grab my things and then to the airport. My heart broke as we pulled up to the airport knowing that I would have to leave Paige. I couldn't even think about having to handle the Kate situation because I probably would've never left. After a very long goodbye and a few tears I made my way into the airport and onto my flight.