Homerun Proposal (Orleans University, #1)

by Maren Moore

Who cares how other people think we fit, Hallie? Who cares when I know you fit me better than anyone else ever will? Who fucking cares what they think? What they think isn’t who either of us truly are. We’re perfect together.”

my heart aches in a way that I’ve never known. I guess that’s what your first heartbreak is… everything that you hoped and dreamed love to be, shattering to pieces at your feet when you planned it so differently. Carefully. You thought it would be perfect in all the ways it would never be. Like two people who could have nothing at all in common but the way they felt about each other. But that’s not enough. Not when as brightly as the fire burns, it leaves everything charred in its wake.

“It’s not over. I’m never going to be finished with you, Hallie. You want space? Fine, I’ll give you space, but this isn’t about space. It’s about how we work together.” He pauses, his thumb ghosting along my jaw as he cradles me in his hands. “We don’t fit. Not on paper. Not in any way people would expect. But one thing you’ve taught me is that being different isn’t wrong. Sometimes the pieces may never align, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t be something beautiful. This may have started as me teaching you, Hallie, but it’s really you that’s been teaching me all along. You’ve been teaching me how to love.”

“What’s more important than baseball?” he says, spinning around, his eyes searching the stands. “Love. Something until recently I knew nothing about. You see, I fell in love this year with a girl who is so perfect that sometimes I can’t believe she even exists.

“I know a lot of you here tonight are some of my biggest fans. But the truth is, I’m Hallie’s biggest fan, and I always have been. I need the world to know that I’m in love with Hallie Edwards, and I’m not afraid to say it to anyone.”

“I’m in love with you, Hallie. I love every single thing about you, and there’s nothing in this world that I want more than to be with you. For all of the world to see you’re mine… and I’m yours. You wondered if the way that I felt was true and if I ever noticed you before that first day. And the answer is yes.”

“AliensRReal? Sound familiar? Yeah… that’s me. I’ve been your number one fan since the day you started, and that’s never going to change. I’ve wanted you for a long time, long before that day. It didn’t take until then for me to notice you; it just gave me the courage to finally step up to the plate.”

I knew it!

someone wise once told me that I can be anyone I wanna be, and I wanna be the guy who gets you, Hallie Edwards. I want to be the guy that watches documentaries with you instead of going to parties. I want to be the guy that you call when you get accepted to film school. I want to be the guy that helps you pick out T-shirts with funny sayings and the guy that kisses you in the rain. I want to be the guy that gets to love you. I want to be the guy that gets the girl. The only girl that I want.”

“I want to be your guy, Hallie. I want to support you, and love you, and be the real me with you.”

I’m standing in front of thousands of people, but all I can think about is the fact that Lane Collins is in love with me. And he wants me to be his girl.

He tosses the microphone to the ground, and it makes an ungodly loud sound, but his hands are sliding along my jaw to pull me to his lips. With “Kiss Me” playing in the background, Lane Collins kisses me in front of everyone.

I’m vaguely aware of the crowd around us going wild, cheers and hollers ringing out in the stands, but right now… all I can see is him. All I can feel are his hands holding me in place as he kisses the breath right from my lungs. As he makes a statement in front of everyone we know, claiming me as his.

I promise you I will never break your heart. Whatever happens? Me graduating, you going to NYU, whatever the world throws at us… I’ll be here. By your side. We’ll figure it out together. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to make this work. You’re it for me. There will never be another you, Hallie.”

Loving Lane Collins is the easiest thing I’ve ever done. That’s how love should be. Effortless yet monumental, like thunder in a rainstorm or the sun rising above the clouds each morning. And the most important thing that loving Lane has taught me? Love isn’t conditional. It doesn’t have terms or expectations. It doesn’t matter if two people fit together. All that matters is that together… you feel whole.

It feels crazy to think that just a year ago Hallie was moving in here, and I was internally freaking the fuck out at the thought of her invading my space. Turns out, it was the best thing that ever happened to me. Because I got the girl. I’m the lucky guy that gets to call Hallie Jo Edwards mine. And, I want her to be mine for forever.

if there’s anything that the last six months have taught me, it’s that there is nothing I can’t do with her by my side.

“Wherever you want. I want it to feel like home to you. Like this place does.” For a second she’s quiet, her body sinking into my embrace as she plays with the bracelet on my wrist. Until she glances up, her eyes meeting mine, and she whispers, “Home is wherever you are Lane.”

“Ready?” She asks. Reaching between us, I lace our fingers together and nod, “I’m ready for whatever with you, Hallie Girl.” And just like that, I pull onto the highway with my girl in the front seat, to a city that I've never visited, to a new place that we’ll make our own. There are a lot of lessons that we’ve learned together, but the most important one of all is that home isn’t a physical place. It’s wherever Hallie Jo Edwards is.