The crowd is going crazy, chanting and clapping and I’m going as crazy as the rest of them. The crowd love Noah and Lucas and are chanting their names having helped their team win the first game of the new season against their arch-rivals. The fact that their favorite duo helped score the winning touch down isn’t lost on the crowd.

It’s tradition to come to the first match of the season as a whole family, and I’m sitting on the sidelines of the field with my mom, dad, and Isabelle. My dad is clapping wildly, and my mom is jumping up and down which always makes me laugh. For such a normally composed woman, my mom always goes crazy at football games. She’s like a woman possessed with pride for Noah and Lucas.

I just smile to myself, A few months ago I didn’t think I’d be sat here watching Lucas play with my brother ever again. The future didn’t look good for him, and I’m sad that he felt that he had to keep that secret to himself for as long as he did. It would have crushed him to have never been able to play pro football again, and it would have broken his heart. He’s a survivor, I know that, but football is his life.

His team got him a great physiotherapist, and he’s as strong as ever. Of course, my brother ripped it out of him regularly for hobbling around on crutches for a while. But that’s just them if they aren’t making fun out of each other, then they wouldn’t have the bromance that they do.

I might be a bit more restrained than my mom, but it doesn’t mean I’m not beaming with pride right now. Lucas and I have been together almost continuously since that day Noah discovered us. I never thought he’d get over finding us like that, but he did…eventually. He knows Lucas would never hurt me and I think he actually came round to the idea that it's better that I was with someone he knew.

The players on the field were taking longer than usual to clear after the game, and usually, we’d go and meet Noah and Lucas in the friends and family hospitality suite straight after, but since they hadn’t even left the field, it seemed pointless getting up just yet.

All of a sudden the game announcer comes back over the public address system. “Hello, again ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. Today we have something a little bit out of the ordinary, and we have someone who would like to say something,”

The crowd starts clapping even though no one really knows what or who they are clapping for yet. I see someone hand, Lucas, what looks like a microphone and all of a sudden they beam him onto the giant video screen. The crowd goes wild again, and he smiles, nods a gentle thanks and waits for them to calm down.

“Thank you, everyone, for your support. I think most of you will know that these past six months have been difficult for me. Perhaps the most difficult of my career actually. Being injured on the field is every player's worst nightmare, and being injured to the point where you miss the rest of the season is definitely not what you want,”

Lucas stops, and I see him gulp hard since the memory of his time spent injured still chokes him up. My brother and Lucas live and breathe football, so anyone who knows them knows how deeply affected he was. I can’t bear to watch him out on the pitch right now. I had no idea he was going to say anything to the crowd, and my heart aches a little for him right now.

“The thing is, I was fortunate during my time out to have people in my life who supported me through that tough time. But there was one person in particular who stuck with me through every hard day. Anytime I had to do my exercises, she was there to support me. When it hurt more than I thought I could handle, she was there for me. Always and without a moment's hesitation. I’m not entirely sure I’d have got through physical therapy without her,”

All of a sudden the giant screen switches from Lucas to my face and I gasp in shock. I mean, obviously, he was talking about me. I just wasn’t expecting my face to be beamed onto a giant screen. I’m just thankful I took time on my makeup today. The crowd goes wild again, clapping me and I am fairly sure that the makeup isn’t hiding the shade of red I’m going right now.

“Everyone, this is my beautiful girlfriend, Mandy! Let's give her a big clap and get her down here onto the field right now,”

All of a sudden, some security marshalls appear by my side and guide me safely down the steps and onto the field. I love Lucas, but I’m secretly cursing him right now for not letting me in on any of what he’d planned to do.

I make my way past Noah and the rest of their team over to where Lucas is standing. As I pass Noah, I whisper “What’s going on?” But he just shrugs with a big stupid grin on his face, and I know instantly that he’s lying.

As I approach Lucas, he holds out his arm to me and speaks back into the microphone.

“So everyone, this is Mandy, and I have something very important that I need to say to her,”

Just as he says, this Noah walks up beside him and takes the microphone away from him to free up a hand and hands him something in return. Lucas then gets down on a bended knee, and if the crowd had gone crazy before, it was nothing compared to what was happening now. They were clapping, shouting, until one section starting stamping their feet on the stands in unison which then caught on in the rest of the stadium.

“Mandy, I love you, and you are the bright light in my life. Nothing makes me feel as whole as being with you does. You are a beautiful person and every day I get to be with you is the best day of my life. I never want to be without you,”

The stamping and clapping from the crowd gets louder and faster, and we both laugh at the craziness of this situation. Lucas opens up a little red velvet box.

“Mandy, will you do me the absolute honor of being my wife?” I gasp. It’s not like I hadn’t worked out where this was heading by now, but the actual words still somehow take me by surprise.

“Oh my god…yes…yes, of course! I say back,” and fling my arms around Lucas’s neck before kissing him. The crowd reaches their crescendo of stamping and clapping, and it seems to go on forever. As we part lips, we are still staring into each other's eyes but laughing at the crowd still going wild for us. “I really do love you, more than you will ever know,” he whispers so the microphone can’t hear him.

Someone comes and takes the microphone away from Noah who is still grinning stupidly. “Did you know about this?” I ask him.

“Of course I did! You think I’m letting anyone marry my kid sister without them asking me first? I don’t care who it is. And anyway, if you remember he’s not allowed to keep anything secret from me anymore,”

“Isn’t it tradition to ask a girls father first?” I reply.

“Oh yeah, well he had to do that too of course. Basically, he had a lot of hoops to jump through before we let him get to this point,” Noah jokes.

At this point, the rest of their team comes running towards us, and everyone is hugging everyone else and thumping Lucas on the shoulder and congratulating me too.

I guess my life is now set as a footballers wife, but I seriously could not be happier right now.

The End