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DEDICATION Here’s to the 10 characters, 5 couples, 3 teams, 2 sets of siblings, and 1 amazing friend group that changed my life. This one is dedicated to you, the readers. Thank you for hanging out in Chicago with me.
“Well, you might not want to hear this, but I’ve always liked Rio and I’m glad you two found your way back to each other, even if it is just as friends.”
“Hallie,” I soothe, circling her forearms to pull her hands away. “I wasn’t sure if you wanted to be, but yeah. Yes. Please. I want you to be my girlfriend. You have no idea how badly I want you to be my girlfriend.”
“Because I’m going to kiss you and when we listen to next year’s playlist, I want this song to be on there so we can rewind it back however many times we want to and remember this.”
It’s no secret that I haven’t exactly been smooth in my attempts to meet someone else in hopes of convincing myself that Hallie wasn’t my person. I’m shit at talking to most women outside of the safety of the friend zone.
His attention moves back to my mouth, once again asking the question, “You single, Hal?” I finally give him the long-awaited answer, nodding to tell him yes. “Good.” He takes a slow predatorial step towards me, tone sharp and leaving no room for question. “Because we aren’t fucking friends.”
“Hallie, do you know why I’m not scared?” He holds up the mix CD. “It’s because I know I’ve got a lifetime of getting these from you. We’ve got a lifetime of best moments ahead of us.”
All my best memories. He kept them. He listens to them still. For so long, I held on to every little detail of our relationship, replaying them in my mind on a loop. I cherished the smallest moments we had together. Even at my lowest points, I was grateful that I got to be loved like that at least once in my life. I never forgot him. I never forgot us. And apparently, neither did he.
“Are you sure that’s not just a first-love thing?” “No, baby. It’s a last-love thing.”
“The other night when I said I hoped that one day you’d let me fall in love with you again, what I meant to say was that I hope to earn the chance to fall in love with you again. And that’s not going to happen if I’m too busy regretting the past. So, yes. I made the biggest mistake of my life, and it’s probably going to take some time to fully forgive myself for it, but I don’t want to waste that time without you.” With both hands, I cup her jaw, sliding my fingers into her hair. “It’s always been you, Hallie, and I think we both know it.”
“Rio.” Her eyes bounce between mine. “You should know. It’s always been you too.”
“Because it’s always been us.” With his knuckle, he tilts my chin up so I look at him. “Even when I thought I didn’t want it to be, I knew it was us. I sat there getting this permanently inked onto my skin, trying to convince myself I was only getting it as a reminder that love existed when the whole fucking time, I knew it only existed with you.”
I don’t slow down at all. He looks insane from this view. Big and strong, but weak when it comes to me. He throws his head back, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat, and there’s something about knowing that I still have this power over him that has me shifting and moving, trying to find friction between my legs.
It’s the most peace I’ve ever felt, Hallie coming back into my life. To know that I’m loved, long before hearing the words again. To feel it in every fiber of my being. To see it in the way she looks at me. To hear it in the way she speaks to and about me. We are rare. What we have is rare and I’m going to spend the rest of my life protecting it.
“Exactly. I want to rewind all of it, Hallie. I want to remember everything. You made sure we could remember our first years together, so I made sure we would remember this one.”
I shake my head. “You’re my childhood dream.”
“Playing for Chicago feels like I’m playing for my hometown because it is my home now. You’re my home. Being loved by you for the rest of my life is the only dream of mine that’s never wavered. There’s no doubt in my mind that I’m already exactly where I want to be.”
“How lucky am I to have been loved by you for fifteen years now?”
This second chance doesn’t feel like luck. It feels like a reward.
“Friends are the family you choose, and I’ve got to say, I’ve got the best family a guy could ask for.”
And I…well, I found love because it was always out there, waiting for me, even when I questioned its existence. In fact, I found it right next door—where it had always been. I feel so incredibly blessed that I get to go through life with these nine people. Besides Indy, we’re all a bunch of transplants from other places who found a home in the windy city…and with each other. I’ll speak for all ten of us when I say, there’s nowhere else we’d rather be.
