When he turns, his gaze hits me like a heavy weight champion in the ring. I’m breathless. He doesn’t need to cry into my bosom. That man is smiling.
He walks toward me, confetti raining down on him, people hugging, celebrating, and crying all around him, and he parts the emotions like the Red Sea. He is sweaty and glistening. Sinewy arms are pumped and veiny from playing a long, exhausting game. Camera crews see his smile and swarm him. （I understand their curiosity.） Maybe he’s having a mental breakdown at this very moment? Maybe he threw the game on purpose? Because this is not the look of a person who just lost everything he’s ever wanted.
No. He gets close to me, and his bright white teeth glint under the field lights. He drops his helmet at his feet, and then his knee follows suit. All the chaos around us disappears. It’s me and my best friend. And he’s proposing.
“Hi, pretty friend,” he tells me, taking my hand in his, which is rough with new calluses and wrapped in medical tape. “I know we already planned it last night, but I thought you might like to hear it from my mouth rather than over text.” Nathan squeezes my hand, and I’m already crying. “Bree, my best friend, I love you. We haven’t been together very long, but we’ve also been together for years. Will you marry me? Will you let me love you every day from now on? Will you finally move out of your shitty apartment and into mine?”
I laugh. “This is all just a ploy to get me away from the mold, isn’t it?”
“It’s the only way you’ll allow it.”
“You’re so good at loopholes.”
He blinks up at me, and I see moisture on his lashes too. “Is that a yes?”
I nod my head frantically, laughing and crying and nearly peeing myself in the process. “Yes!”
Nathan shoots up from his feet and picks me up, spinning me as confetti lands around us like fresh snowfall. Can this really be happening?
“Tonight?” he whispers against my ear. “Will you elope with me?”
At this point, the camera crew gets bored with our Hallmark moment and wanders back to the winning team to hear them declare they are going to Disneyland.
Still in his arms with my feet dangling two feet above the ground, everything feels surreal. “Are you sure? I don’t know if you realize this or not, but this was sort of a big day for you. And…you do realize your team lost just now, right?” I don’t want to ask it, but the way he’s acting you would think the man was celebrating instead of mourning. And although eloping with Nathan is legitimately the stuff of my dreams, I need to know he’s sure. Need to be certain he’s not acting rashly because he’s disappointed.
He chuckles, and his arms tighten around my low back. “Yes, I know we lost. And yeah, I’m disappointed, but mainly I’m just relieved it’s all finally over. I feel like this huge weight has dropped off of me. Now, I’m just ready to breathe beside you for a while. Preferably on a beach somewhere. With you in the skimpiest bikini I can find.”
I would poke him in the sides, but he’s wearing full pads—hardly fair. Instead, I lean forward and take his lips in one bruising kiss. There, you’re punished.
“Bree, the whole answer is that I don’t want to wait another second without being 100% truly and completely yours. But if you want to wait and have a big wedding, I will. Don’t feel like you have to marry me tonight to make me feel better for losing. Because that’s not what this is for me.”
I lean in and kiss him again, taking my time to peruse his lips as if thousands of strangers are not watching. He tastes like sweat and hope, and there’s no way I’m passing this opportunity up. We can have a giant party when we get home.
“I’ll be mad if you don’t marry me tonight,” I tell Nathan, completely serious.
His cheeks crease with a smile and he sets me down. “Oh, I completely forgot to give you this—should we start over?” He holds up the ring box then pops it open.