Whack.
As soon as the ball leaves my hands, I get knocked on the back. The ball drops in, unaffected by the late foul, and I also get a free throw shot.
I take my place at the free throw line and zero out any stimuli around me.
The sea of fans dressed in purple across the arena.
The players hunched in ready position to grab the rebound if I miss.
The pressure of closing out this game.
Just me, the ball, and the hoop, muscle memory guiding my motion.
Swish.
Now, thanks to my basket and free throw, we’re up eight points.
“That’s what I’m fucking talking about,” Wendy says as we walk back to get ready for the Washington possession.
It takes a few more plays and two Washington timeouts, but eventually the clock runs out, with us emerging as winners.
“PLEASE CONGRATULATE THIS YEAR’S WNBA CHAMPIONS, FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, YOUR ORLANDO SURGE!” the announcer proclaims as confetti rains down on the court.
Sarah, Wendy, Marisa, Amari, and I hug as our coaches and remaining teammates start piling on too.
“First of many, first of many,” Sarah shouts as we all lose ourselves to the pure joy of the moment.
And I know that I’ve also taken the next step toward my unapologetically ambitious goal—be the best ever shooting guard, in the sport I love so much.
“AVERY,” my family screams when they let our guests flood the court. I run to them and fall into their arms as we celebrate.
“You came through bigtime at the end,” Dad says once we break apart, his eyes beaming.
“I know, she’s got me beat,” Dylan says with humor in his voice. “The only Parker sibling to win a pro championship.”
“Got me beat too,” Rawley adds with a chuckle, emerging from behind my sister. He’d been able to come tonight, since the Waves game isn’t for a few days.
I step to him, pressing our lips together for a quick kiss. “Hey.”
“Hey, Avie.” He grins, and wraps his arm around me. A million cameras go off, but we don’t pay them any attention. “My WNBA champion. I’m so glad I got to see it.”
“Me too,” I whisper, leaning into his body.
“All those dreams of yours are going to come true,” he says softly back, in my ear.
“And now I get to watch yours happen.” I’ll finally be able to make it to a Waves game, since the playoffs are done.
He pulls his head back a fraction, lips upturned. “Speaking of which, I guess I’m the only rookie left, now that your season is over.”
I give him a wink.
“Yes, but you'remyRook.”
The next day is a whirlwind.We barely get any sleep, and there’s a ton of media appearances in the morning. My dad and I have a great conversation during lunch with my family as well, after he asks about all my favorite memories of the experience.
By the end of the day though, I’m able to finally get some quality time with Rawley. I drive over to Landon’s house around five, ready to celebrate with him one-on-one.
I knock on the door to announce my presence, but don’t wait for him to answer before coming in. He and Landon have made it clear I can stop over whenever, which makes sense since I sleep over regularly now.
