THE NEXT morning, Jenessa expected Paige to be lying next to her asleep, but instead the bed was empty.

Immediately, deja vu dawned on her and she felt her heart begin to hurt. Taking one last good look of the room and the smell of the pillow where Paiges head previously laid before she untangled herself from the blankets and left.

They had practice, but at 4pm. JJ decided to make some waffles and iced coffee for herself, she threw the frozen waffles in the toaster and pulled out her caramel macchiato carton from the fridge, along with some whipped cream and caramel drizzle.

By the time she finished, her waffles popped. She put some butter on them then plopped on the couch to eat. The dorm was quiet, peacefully quiet.

Jenessa could hear the faint sound of birds chirping outside the window, and threw a blanket over her legs and lap.

Once she finished eating, she wandered into her room and sat down at her desk, sipping on the coffee as her laptop loaded up.

incoming call from sista4life 🩷

JJ clicked accept and Caitlins face popped up on the screen, she smiled and placed her phone against a stack of books.

"CC! Hi! I feel like we haven't talked in forever." A big grin prominent on her face. "I know, I know. It's hard when we're both so busy." The Iowa girl sighed, scratched her head.

"Good thing you called actually...there's a lot to tell you." Jenessa continued, her smile turning into a frown as she remembered last night and mornings events.

"Oh babe, what happened." Caitlins voice was full of worry. "Well, we went to watch a horror movie. Me, Azzi, Nika, Paige, and KK. It was super gorey and I got grossed out and almost puked. But Paige held my hand the whole movie and followed me to the bathroom when I ran out, THEN she called an uber for us and took us back to the dorm." Jenessa's voice was quick as she recalled the night. But Caitlin easily kept up, used to the way her best friend spoke.

"Sounds like you two had a good night! Im super happy for you Nessa, but why'd you frown and shit?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. JJ sighed, a groan leaving her lips.

"Just when I thought things might be able to go back to how they were, but better obviously... She let me sleep in her bed last night cause I get scared right?" Caitlin nodded at this. "Well, we cuddled, I fell asleep on her chest, and when I woke up this morning- gone. It was like I was 16 all over again. Complete fucking deja vu Cait. Im pissed and I'm hurt." Jenessa curled up in her chair, resting her head on her knee.

"What if she just had a class or something?" Caitlin tried to reason. "It's Tuesday, Paige doesn't have classes on Tuesdays." The girl responded while rolling her eyes.

"Okay- maybe she went to grab coffee? Or breakfast or something? Go shoot or work out?" She continued, trying to find a reason as to why Paige would ditch her AGAIN.

"According to her instagram story, shes out with some girl Caitlin. It was a photo of her holding someone's hand." Jenessa spat, quickly becoming angry and annoyed instead of hurt. "My fucking god, does she ever learn?" Caitlin's energy shifted, matching JJ's as she found out the new information.

"Guess not, I've got to be some toy to her or something. Like, she wants to prove she can get me back over and over to just rip my heart out every time. And as much as I want to hate her- I just cant C." The brunette sighed, fixing her blue light glasses.

"She was your first love Jenessa, it's understandable you cant let that go. To this day I still think about Mark sometimes.." Caitlin admitted, a disgusted look on her face. "MARK? No fucking way- Caitlin that was like middle school wasn't it? He was so ugly too!! And still is!" JJ laughed, her mood lifting as her best friend just whined and held her face in her hands.

"Make you feel less pathetic?" Caitlin laughed once she lifted her head. JJ couldn't help but nod, a small smile on her face. "You always know how to cheer me up Cait, I miss you, so much. More than you know."

"I miss you too Nessa, it's killing me having you at Uconn. But you're thriving and I know it, you belong there." Caitlin smiled sadly, a mixture of feelings for the separation of the two.

Jenessa had just arrived at the gym, she walked into the locker room with her bag hung over her shoulder. Of course, the first person she locked eyes with was Paige, quickly, she turned away with a scowl.

Nika walked out of the bathrooms and swung an arm around Jenessa. "Hey girl, you feeling better?" The Croatian girl asked, a warm smile on her face. "Much, how was the end of the movie?" She asked.

"Disgusting! But they survived in the end, so that was nice." Nika laughed and Jenessa joined her, the girls energy was hard to resist.

She peeled off her hoodie and threw on the practice jersey, then tied her hair up into a ponytail. Jenessa already had her basketball shorts on and quickly pulled on her shoes.

Practice went by quickly, and luckily Geno just made them do a lot of shooting drills. So Jenessa and Paige didnt have to communicate in any way.

"As much as I love making threes, having to be my own rebound and only being able to have the ball bounce ONCE is a killer." JJ panted as her and Ines laid on the cool gym floor. "Thats one of Geno's favourite drills, stamina, power and strength all in one." Ines groaned, rolling onto her side.

"Understandable but it fucking sucks." Jenessa laughed and turned her head to face Ines. "We should probably get up and go change, we stink, and I miss my bed." Ines suggested as she slowly pushed herself off the ground, feeling her muscles stretch and burn.

Jenessa whined and followed her movements, standing up as well. The two trudged into the locker room and lazily changed. JJ didn't bother to put her sweatpants on and just changed out of her sweaty jersey and back into her Uconn Huskies hoodie.

"Bye Ines! See ya soon!" She called out and waved as the two went their separate ways to their cars. Jenessa slid into the drivers seat and started her car, Olivia Rodrigo began playing and JJ sung her heart out all the way home.

The brunette had class the next day at ten in the morning, so once she got home she immediately went into the bathroom and started the shower.

Stepping in, the hot water burnt for a second as she hissed, turning the knob a tiny bit lower. She hummed to herself as she shampooed her hair. She conditioned her hair, shaved, washed her body, then got out and wrapped a towel around herself.

Groaning as she realized she forgot to bring clothes in, Jenessa silently prayed Paige was still in her room.

She creeped out of the bathroom and turned to corner, the blonde was standing there on her phone as she was cooking herself dinner. Paige looked up from her phone and Jenessa watched as her eyes widened at the sight of her in a small towel, hair drenched, and body still wet.

"Take a picture it'll last longer." The brunette spat, her tone bitchy and Paige visibly flinched at this. "Okay, whats got your panties in a twist?" She snapped back.

Jenessas jaw dropped and she scoffed. "Excuse me? Are you being deadass?" She asked, genuinely shocked that Paige was acting oblivious. "Uh, duh?" The blonde deadpanned, leaning back on the counter.

"You, Paige. You being a fucking asshole who clearly never changed." JJ snapped, her voice raising as she was so overwhelmed with fury. "Fuck did I do?" Paige furrowed her eyebrows.

"You made me think you still cared despite all the shit we've been through. All the shit you put me through! I thought maybe, after years you'd have matured and would apologize! Instead, I took last night as your apology, clearly that was stupid of me to do since you pulled the same crap!" Jenessa yelled, her arms still wrapped around her body as she was trying to hold to towel up.

Paige faltered, opening her mouth with an annoyed look before shutting it.

"Nothing to say? Nice, real nice of you Bueckers." And with that, the brunette turned on her heel and stormed into her room, slamming the door behind her. Not caring how immature of a move it was.

She took a few deep breaths, trying to calm down before locking her door and letting the towel fall. Jenessa pulled a black hoodie over her head, not bothering to put on a bra or anything. Then a pair of her little Brandy boxers and some Nike socks.

She brushed out her hair and didn't want to leave her room to go blow dry it, so she sat on her bed, back pressed against her headboard and turned on a movie.

Jenessa got bored and started scrolling TikTok, the third video she saw was an edit of Paige. Of course. She thought and scrolled past it, but sat for a moment, staring at the TV before scrolling back up and watching the edit all the way through, multiple times.

nessa babes🤍

i wish paige wasn't hot.

sista4life 🩷

good evening to you too

nessa babes🤍

i screamed at her...

sista4life 🩷

OH SHIT

TELL ME EVERYTHING

nessa babes🤍

well i showered and of course forgot my clothes

so i walked out of the bathroom in a tiny towel

and she was in the kitchen

when she saw me she stared HARDD

looking me up and down

all that bs

(it was hot)

sista4life 🩷

JJ.

continue

nessa babes🤍

well then i js kinda snapped at her

and she acted all flabbergasted

like bitch wdym ur tryna be all confused??

U MADE ME BELIEVE U HAD FEELINGS

U LET ME SLEEP IN UR BED AND CUDDLED UP TO ME

THEN FUCKING DITCH ME LIKE IM A ONE NIGHT STAND AND POST W SOME BITCH THE NEXT DAY??

unbelievable.

so...

then i just let er rip lol!!

sista4life 🩷

and what'd she say?

nessa babes🤍

nothing

thats the thing

she said absolutely nothing

so then i js walked away and have been hiding out in my room since

sista4life 🩷

for 22 year old women ur both quite immature

nessa babes🤍

WHAT DID I DO WRONG?

sista4life 🩷

i love you...

but you're hiding out in ur room.

nessa babes🤍

i didnt ask to be eaten up like that 😔

ur supposed to be on my side

sista4life 🩷

I AM HOE

but still

maybe if u waited for her to say sum

you'd hear something that surprised you?

nessa babes🤍

what like

oh jj im so sorry ive always loved you i was a dumb teenager i made a mistake back then and i did now too, ill go to the ends of the earth for u and i js got scared this morning im sorry pls forgive me ill do anything 🥺🥺🥺

sista4life 🩷

...

yes?

nessa babes🤍

paige is literally the most evil cruel woman on earth

its like her main goal is to completely destroy me 🙄

sista4life 🩷

i highly doubt that

we're all just stupid young adults tryna figure out life

i think you two need to have a conversation

..one without screaming that is!

nessa babes🤍

how can i do that when every time i see her i just wanna punch her beautiful face

sista4life 🩷

brainrot.

nessa babes🤍

IM JS BEING HONEST

sista4life 🩷

UR SO CONFUSING NESSA

nessa babes🤍

its what i do best 😘

Jenessa softly laughed as Caitlin left her on read, she turned onto her back and stretched. It was late now, and she wanted to be well rested so she didn't doze off in class the next day.

The brunette shut off her LED lights and curled up in her duvet, that night, she dreamt of what her and Paige could've been if shit didn't hit the fan.