Perfect Match (28 page)

“Where were you, Emma?” my mother’s voice scolded me as soon as they saw me.

“Give her a break, honey, she’s never home, she’s young. How are you doing, darling?” my father asked.

“I’m okay,” I answered with a wide smile. Wider than it should be, I thought for myself. “Can I stay with you?” I asked with a shy voice and they looked at me in surprise, since we haven’t done anything in family for over 5 or 6 years. In my last high school year I was so busy and the other ones… I guess I just grow up and we got more distant every day.

“Sure, sweetheart,” mom told me and her voice melted.

“I’ll be back in five,” I told them and they smiled as I rushed towards the stairs.

I changed my clothes and I was relieved that they haven’t noticed I was wearing a man’s shirt. Seriously? I thought my mom would notice and I took carefully Matt shirt out and I realized it smelt like him. I sighed and heard my phone rang as I put my PJ on. I reached for my phone and a smile crossed my face as I saw the text.

“Goodnight, beautiful.”
it said. Just two simple words. But they meant the world.

*

I woke up at 8 AM without alarm, and stretched as I looked at my phone. I had no missed call or a text. I sighed as I went to take a shower. I thought about the previous day, spending the day with Matt, covered in syrup and all the stuff we found available in the kitchen, then the ride home, how he kissed me in his car, so sweet and perfect…

Then the night I stood there on the couch with my parents, just talking, laughing like we hadn’t done in quite a while. We watched movies and laughed at the characters, and I realized how much I’ve missed them and I wished Rick would be there to make it perfect. And to be a family again. During the years we haven’t actually got together, even in holidays, because my parents got used to go on cruises and I spend Christmas at home, with Rick, Monica and Matt… And the others.

Last Christmas, for example, it’s only been the four of us. Ben had to work and Monica was so upset, maybe she wanted to go again to some cold country, like the time they went to Canada, but he went to work instead, in Florida. So we stood there, all four of us. In the first day Monica was really depressed, but Rick managed to entertain her along the way.

Everyone knew Rick had this huge crush on Monica. She knew that, too and she felt it was cute and I didn’t know if I liked the fact that she was acting that nice with him and made him get his hopes up. Rick was positive about the fact that he’d end up dating her at some point, but I couldn’t see that one happening. Not because he isn’t good looking, because he is. But he is younger than her, and Monica is dating Ben.

When I got out of the shower it was already 9:15 and I put on a Victoria’s Secret blue lace underwear, a transparent white shirt and a pair of short jeans. I wondered if I should wear heels, I had no idea where Matt was planning on going, but I always thought shorts look awesome with heels so I decided on a pair of black sandals. After I finished with my natural makeup, which means eyeliner, lipstick and mascara, I heard the doorbell. I arranged my hair once more and shoved my phone into my back pocket.

“Matthew, is always a pleasure to see you,” my mother said. “Are you planning on taking my daughter away today, too?”

“I’m sorry, Mrs. West. I don’t think we’ll be that late today, though. The sky is pretty clouded so it may rain, so…”

“Good morning, mom. Matt,” I said with a smile wider than should have been. He smiled back and I felt the butterflies racing in my stomach.

“Emma, you are going to catch a cold dressed like that. I was just telling Matthew that I don’t enjoy the fact that he’s taking you away from us these days.”

“I’m sorry. My boss is such a creep, so I couldn’t get off work. But I’ll try my best to get home more often.”

I took my jeans jacket to please my mom and managed to get out of the house, and then Matt took my hand. I smiled to myself and bit my lip as he opened the door of his car.

“Your boss is a creep, huh?” he asked as he looked at me. “I’ll keep that in mind, Miss West. Don’t you hope to get any bonus any time soon,” he finished his sentence when he got back on the driver’s seat and started the engine.

“And what kind of bonus you had in mind? And by the way, where are we going?”

He looked at me for a second and leaned to me, pressing his lips on mine. His tongue slowly massaged mine and I put my hand on the back of his hand, pulling him closer. He pulled out of the kiss way too soon and smirked. God, I hate him so much sometimes.

“It’s a surprise actually,” he said and pressed the radio button and the silence in his car was changed with the beat of Metallica’s
Nothing Else Matters
. “Have I ever told you just how much I love this song?” he asked as he turned the volume higher.

“Nope, never… Only that you listen to this one all the time and I can’t sleep… No trouble at all,” I said sarcastically and he laughed and put his hand on mine as he started singing
“Every day for us something new”.

We drove for half an hour or more, listening to rock music. I can’t say I can’t enjoy rock music, he made me learn to love songs like Metallica’s ballads, Guns’n’Roses songs or Nickelback, 30 Seconds to Mars or anything he had on CD. He was really into rock, actually. And sometimes I found that really peaceful. He pulled over next to a forest and then took my hand and we walked through a driveway until we found a green meadow. We walked for five minutes and Matt keep laughing at me because I stumbled on my heels, but he held my hand all the way and helped me get back my balance every time.

We reached to a place where there was a blanket on the green grass and a picnic basket. Really? I looked surprised at Matt and he just shrugged and smiled.

“I just thought it would be nice. This was my favorite place in the world when I was in high school. Nobody ever went here and it’s so peaceful,” he said as he sat on the basket. “Plus, I thought we could watch a movie here,” he said, as he pointed at the laptop.

“I… know this place,” I said as I looked around. “It’s really close to school and I got lost one time and it was truly beautiful. I usually went by the lake, over there. This is really, really amazing,” I told him, sitting next to him as he placed his hand on my back and kissed me. “Yeah, even more amazing,” I added and blushed. You can’t blush, you’re not a high school teenager anymore!

“I was thinking just about the same thing,” Matt confessed and I smiled.

We started watching
Cruel Intentions
, because I know I’ve been talking about the
Dangerous Liaisons
book for a while now, and we were lying on the red blanket, Matt holding me in his arms and it was the best thing ever. His hand slowly traced my leg and I felt the shivers all over my body and I know he felt it too. It should have been embarrassing I was acting this way with him, but it wasn’t. Somewhere in the half of the movie, or not even half of it, Matt started tracing kisses along my neck and I could no longer pay attention to the movie as we started kissing passionately and Matt was now almost on top of me and my breath was harsh, and so was his. He switched his places and I ended up on top of him, and he ran his hand through my curly hair to get it off my face and kissed me again. I felt how every part in my body was now awake and I was melting there, into his arms and had no idea if this was really a good choice. I felt how excited he was himself, and I had no idea how to keep doing this. I mean, obviously, I know how, but… metaphorically speaking. Him and I. Being friends. Or more.

“God, Emma, you are really driving me insane,” he whispered as his lips touched my jawline. I took a deep breath and tried to remember how to keep breathing normally. I sighed and kissed him one more time until he pulled out of the kiss. “I’m sorry,” he said and looked away. “Got carried away. I’m sorry,” he repeated and ran his hand through my hair, and then let it slowly on my back.

I just nodded and gave him a shy smile as I bit my lip. I had no idea what to do next. I was on top of Matt, my best friend and also the guy that made me feel all those sensations in just one instant. It shouldn’t be allowed or something.

We kept watching the movie, I mean allegedly. I only had his kisses on my mind and I felt my skin burning where he had touched me and my heart was still beating as fast, even half an hour later. We ate sandwiches and laughed about something I wasn’t really aware of. I was only looking at him and how his eyes glowed when he was telling me something he was passionate about. It was one of my guilty pleasures, to stare at Matt while he was talking like that.

“You know staring it’s not a good thing, don’t you, Miss West?” he asked and I bit my lip and nodded. He pulled me closer to him and kissed me passionately. I smiled as I put my hands around his shoulders. He teasingly bit my lip and I let out a moan as he kissed me once more. “We should go, Ems,” he said and I nodded. It was getting cold, not that I felt that when he kissed me.

I helped him pack and when I checked my phone I noticed it was 3 in the afternoon. I had no idea we stayed there for so long! It was amazing how I spend all my time with this man and the time still flies. I could never get bored of Matt Nicholls.

The drive home was silent, but comfortable silence as the low volume of a rock ballade was heard from the radio. He held my hand all the way and every time we caught red he leaned onto me and kissed me. Definitely, the horns of the cars behind us were annoying at some point, but who cares? I was kissing Matt Nicholls after all. And that was the moment I knew I felt more for him than just friendship.

“Hey… Wanna come in?” I asked when he stopped the engine and turned to look at me. “I mean, if you don’t have anything more important to do…”

“Like… Sitting by myself in my room thinking I’m a forever alone?” Matt replied and I laughed. “I think, hell yeah, that’s more important than just spending my time with you. Why did you even bother asking?”

“Don’t be so silly,” I said and he got closer to me and kissed my cheek. “So, coming or not?”

“I don’t know, what you think?” he asked as he opened his door. “Come, Ems, we don’t have all day.”

I sighed and then got out of the car and we walked holding hands until we entered my house and then I let go of his hand just in time to see my mom coming towards us.

“Oh Matthew, is a pleasure having you here. Are you staying for dinner?”

“I… think so?” Matt replied looking at me and I nodded.

“Wonderful,” mom said as she took my jacket. “Did you have a good day?”

“Definitely, Mrs. West,” Matt replied with a smirk and I rolled my eyes.

My mom gave Matt a warm smile and it was so weird, because she was treating him so good and I have no idea if I preferred her to treat him different or just act more like herself since she was the most restrained person I’ve ever met. It was weird she liked and approved him.

She said she’ll get us a snack in a few minutes and we walked towards my room.

“So this is your room,” Matt said looking around. “It’s weird I haven’t seen your room before,” he continued as he looked at the picture of us from last year. I don’t even remember when I framed it and why I had it on my nightstand, but I think it just fits perfectly.

I sat on the edge of my bed while Matt looked around the room and I have to admit that I was a little nervous about this, even though I have no idea why. Matt’s been in my room back in Los Angeles thousands of times because we’re living together, but this is kind of personal.

“I like it,” he said as he came and sat next to me with his hand around my waist. “It’s so like you somehow.”

I smiled and he leaned into me and his lips touched mine.

Suddenly I remembered how many times I thought about this before/after Prom and it was so unbelievable the fact that I was now kissing Matt on a daily basis and I still couldn’t get used to this. I couldn’t even think about what’s going to happen in L.A.

Sometimes I do think this is now just a vacation thing, even though it started in New York and maybe we’ll get to be together in Los Angeles too. I can only imagine Monica’s excitement. I have to accept she was right, because after all that had happened these days I can’t picture myself without Matt anymore.

Maybe I allowed this to go way too far and maybe I didn’t think about it too well, but now I was caught in this and I didn’t know what to do anymore. Was I supposed to accept that I was actually in love with Matt? Or maybe I should take it slow?

“Why don’t we go help your mom with the dinner?” Matt suddenly asked as he slid out of the bed. “I think she’d appreciate it.”

“Yeah, that’s… Yes,” I managed to answer and he laughed.

“You’re so cute, Ems,” he said as he kissed me again and he pinned me across the wall, lifting me until we had the same height and placed his hands on my back while my hands were wrapped around his neck. “We should go downstairs,” he said and took my hand.

I was surprised how normal he was acting, when I was completely out of my senses when he kissed me like that. Maybe he wasn’t into me the way I was. Maybe I
was
indeed just a rebound, like I originally thought.

After all, why would Matt act like he does after he broke up with Kate? It doesn’t make sense. We did have all the time in the world in the last five years to be like this and we never were. Because… Yes, I know I tried to stay away from him and make it seem like the only way we could work is as friends because I was afraid of becoming… addicted to him or something. I couldn’t afford myself to fall for him, because I just know something like this could never happen in real life.

Matt let go of my hand just a few feet before we entered the kitchen and mom smiled at us, more at him and she started discussing with him like I wasn’t even there. Yeah, he has that effect on everyone. Especially on girls. But I can’t picture my mom like any other girl who’d fall for Matt’s looks, even though he’s just… perfect.

“I really wish Richard was here, though. Couldn’t he just come for the weekend?”

“I know, I’d like him to be here, too,” I replied and Matt nodded.