Perfect Match

by Monica Miller

  “Matt, let’s go!” I told him taking his hand in mine and he laughed and shook his hand.

  “Hey, why am I the only romantic here? It’s Valentine’s Day, love. It’s raining. It’s awesome,” he said as he kissed me again.

  “If you’re gonna catch a cold I’m telling you, I’m not taking care of you!” I said and he nodded and I kissed him again.

  “Don’t worry, I’m nice enough and I’ll take care of you if you catch a cold,” he whispered and I laughed.

  The street was empty and we were the only crazy people kissing in the middle of the sidewalk when we were supposed to be at a party. I felt my clothes so tight on me because of the rain, but I didn’t care anymore. His kisses were addictive and even thought this was going on for almost a week now, I couldn’t get used to it.

  It was magical the fact that I could kiss him when he was telling me boring stuff and I didn’t have to hear them out and I could just hold his hand whenever I want and stare at him all day long.

  “Okay, you just can’t get enough, can’t you?” Matt laughed as he cupped my face with his hands. “Let’s go, Ems.”

  I nodded as we started walking slowly in the rain, Matt stopping ever five feet to kiss me again, but I didn’t complain. We made to Hilary’s house around 8 PM although we should’ve been there at 7.

  “Emma! God you’re so… wet!” Hilary yelled when she saw us on her porch. “And you brought… Matt. Obviously,” she continued checking Matt out and I elbowed her ribs and pushed her inside, and Matt followed.

  “So how come you’re throwing a Valentine’s Day party?” I asked Hil when we entered the bathroom and she put a towel around me.

  “You know, I’ve been talking to people from our high school and I said a get together would be good. And I’m so happy you could make it! And… Matt? Really? I could’ve sworn that you and Matt would end up together. I told you at Prom, but you were so blind to see! So you’re dating now?”

  “Um… It’s… Definitely something,” I answered with a shy smile, considering I haven’t actually talked to Hilary in years.

  I can’t tell her everything about my life now since we’re just former classmates. I don’t know what happened to her since she graduated college, I don’t even know about her college life. Gabrielle and Monica were my best friends now and I thought Hilary wouldn’t like to hear something about Gabrielle.

  “So how’s Gabrielle?” she suddenly asked. “I’ve seen your pictures together on Facebook. She’s still a bitch, isn’t she?”

  “Yeah, a bitch who casually dated Shia LaBeouf and it’s about to date Jensen Ackles,” I replied with a shrug. “You don’t know her, okay?”

  “So you’re really bff’s right?”

  “Yes, we’re bff’s, Hilary,” I answered. “I’ll go find Matt, okay?” I told her and she nodded as I handed her the towel.

  I walked out of the bathroom trying to not kill her for saying that my friend is a bitch. She wasn’t. Okay, Gabrielle had her moments, but everyone around here had to get over it! It had been over five years since we graduated high school, and we were different people now. I don’t know about anyone else, I just know Gabrielle’s different. She’s mature and an amazing friend who is about to date one of my favorite actors. Because even though she’s technically still dating Shia, we know that is gonna happen, right?

  Hilary’s house was crowded, and I was surprised I didn’t remember anyone. Actually, I barely remembered anything from high school. Yeah, I remember my Senior year and the moment I met Matt, but well, how could I forget about the first time when I saw Matt? I remember I was attracted to him, but how could I not be since he was so good looking and charming? I didn’t feel like he was the One, though. I still don’t know about that one, but ever since Prom night I’ve had this unspoken crush on him. I just tried to stop it, considering we could never be a good thing. Because we were friends. But now I’m starting to think I did a huge mistake by avoiding my feelings towards him.

  I looked for Matt for about 5 minutes and then I found him in a corner talking to… Curtis? I stared at the blonde haired muscled guy who was caught in a rather interesting discussion with soon-to-be my boyfriend.

  What? Matt’s not your boyfriend, stupid, my conscience announced.

  I walked towards them without thinking and Matt’s lips turned into a smile when he saw me.

  “Curt, this is my girlfriend, Emma,” Matt said as he wrapped his arm around me and I turned to look at him. “But I do believe you two met, right?”

  “Oh… You’re my Gabrielle’s friend, right? So how’s she? Still a bitch?”

  “Gabrielle it’s not like that, you selfish jerk,” I replied and Matt’s arm tightened around me.

  “Really, Matt? She’s your girlfriend?” he asked with a grin. “You two went to Prom together, right? I think you could’ve chosen better,” Curtis said with a grin and Matt’s fist clenched and I placed my hand on his chest and realized his clothes were still wet.

  “Um… Let’s go,” I whispered to Matt and pulled him away from Curtis. “He’s not worth it, okay? Remember what he did to Gaby, right, Matt?”

  “Yeah… That’s one of the reasons I wanna wipe away that stupid grin on his face,” he said between his clenched teeth, and I could feel he was angry.

  “You should change your clothes or something,” I told him and he shook his hands.

  “It’s okay. Let’s dance,” he said and took my arm and pulled me in the center of the room where another couples were slow dancing.

  “You’re wet, Nicholls, you seriously should-“

  “And you’re hot, Miss West, but I know you can’t do anything about that,” he commented and pulled me into him. “Don’t ruin this, okay? I’ll be fine,” he said and I placed my hands on his shoulders and nodded.

  “If anything happens to you, Matt, I will…”

  “Say ‘I told you so’? Okay, you can do that,” he said before leaning into me and pressed his lips against mine.

  I wrapped my hands around his neck and pulled him closer to me feeling the warmth of his body on mine as his hands moved slowly on my back and all I could think is the fact that Matt introduced me as his “girlfriend”.

  And then I couldn’t focus on anyone else but Matt Nicholls. And the fact that this was the best Valentine’s Day anyone could get.

  *

  “Hey…” I said as I entered his room and saw him standing underneath a few blankets.

  His lips turned into a sweet grin when he saw me and I laughed. I made my way towards his bed and sat next to him as I gave him a kiss on the cheek.

  “Oh, love, I…”

  “Told you so,” he finished my sentence and I laughed and nodded.

  I couldn’t say anything else because I started laughing and Matt raised an eyebrow at me and it was freaking hilarious. Although the situation wasn’t.

  “God, you’re so hot!” I said as I touched his forehead and he smirked.

  “Thank you for noticing, baby,” he whispered and I rolled my eyes.

  “I so told you so, Matthew!” I complained as I placed my arms around him and he moved until he sat more comfortable and he wrapped his arm around me and I left my head on his chest. “I’m so sorry…”

  “Why? It’s not your…” he took a pause and coughed. “Not your fault,” he continued and I sighed. “C’mon, baby, you warned me, okay?” he said with a smile. “And it doesn’t matter, still was the best Valentine’s Day I’ve ever had. I mean, I never really understood the importance of that day…”

  “You’re perfect, Matthew,” I whispered and kissed him.

  “Nope. I’m far from perfect,” he replied running his hand through my hair. “You’re the perfect one here, Emma, and don’t even try to argue about that one because I’m sick. It’s not human to argue with a sick person, love.”

  “Yes, I do agree you can’t argue with delusional people,” I replied as a matter of fact, and
he laughed. “So you took your medicine?” I asked and he nodded.

  “They’re so awful. I hate them. I wanna go home. There’s so warm and nice…”

  “It’s your fault! Normal people don’t just stop and kiss in the rain pretending they’re unbreakable…”

  “I’ve seen the movie too! Yeah, kind of weird, but Bruce and I are unbreakable.”

  “As I said, delusional,” I sighed and he laughed. “I hate you’re feeling sick,” I told him and kissed his cheek. “You really can’t do anything to feel better? You’ve been like this for the past four days.”

  “I don’t know, I just…” he coughed again and my heart literally broke seeing him in pain.

  I sat next to him for the past four days since he started feeling sick after Valentine’s Day. I hated that I wasn’t the one who caught a cold, because seeing Matt in pain was far worse than having fever or going through that. These days I had the time to really think about it and analyze the fact that I was now so in love with him I would’ve done absolutely everything for him.

  “It’s not your fault, love,” he said again and nodded. “It is entirely my fault and now I’m paying the consequences, but guess what? I’m not sorry at all. I’d kiss you in the rain a thousand times more,” Matt said and I felt my heart stop.

  Could this get any better? This was it? This is the best moment of my life and nothing could ever be this good?

  Time is gonna pass and I’ll remain with the memory of a perfect moment when we stood in his room and he was sick and told me all the best things anyone could say?

  I really can’t think of anything better than this. I didn’t need anything else I just wanted to lay there with him forever and never be taken away from him.

  “You’re over analyzing things again,” he sighed and I shook my head. How does he do that?

  “No, I was just thinking about this…”

  “This meaning… Us?”

  “Meaning everything,” I answered and he nodded, waiting for me to continue. “I seriously can’t think of anything better than this,” I managed to tell him and sighed.

  “Oh, c’mon, this is just… the beginning, okay?” he said with a laugh. “Our life’s more interesting than me lying in a bed, deathly sick.”

  “You’re not… deathly sick, Matthew.”

  “Yeah, but I can be dramatic about it, okay? Look, Ems… I don’t know about you, but I don’t have the slightest doubt about this. About you and I. We’re perfect together. And I’ve been thinking about this since I met you. And this is our moment, you know? Although it’s selfish because I’m sick and you could get sick too and then I’ll hate myself for…”

  “Oh, shut up,” I said and turned to kiss him.

  “I love when you interrupt me like this. It makes me want to keep saying stupid things just to-“he continued before I kissed him against and he pulled me closer to him.

  “Matt, I brought you your tea…” Matt’s mother’s voice heard from a few feet away and I jumped out of bed and Matt started laughing.

  He still couldn’t understand why I didn’t want our parents to know about us. The truth is neither could I. I didn’t want them to get their hopes up, especially our moms since they wanted us together, and then something to happen, and then would get weird between our families because I know my mom and she would blame his all family. Yeah, I know, it’s just an excuse, but this is the only thing I have left before falling madly in love with him. Excuses.

  “God, Emma is such a bliss you’re here now… I really have to go to work and so does Brad and we can’t stay with him. You know, I’m really worried he’s not feeling any better…”

  “Don’t worry about it, Mrs. Nicholls,” I assured her. “I’ll be here all day. Matt would hate me at the end of the day, but doesn’t matter.”

  “I could never hate you,” Matt whispered and I gave him a smile as his mother checked his temperature again.

  “The same as yesterday,” she sighed. “Look, Emma, if this gets any worse you call me, okay? And… Call a doctor too. And… I don’t know.”

  “Don’t worry, Mrs. Nicholls, I can handle it, okay?”

  “You’re sure you don’t have anything to do?”

  “Even if I had, do you think I could actually focus on it knowing my best friend is sick?” I asked and she smiled and then looked at Matt.

  “You two are just perfect together,” she said and I felt my cheeks burning and Matt couldn’t retain a smile.

  “Don’t you and dad have counseling today?”

  “Oh, yes, but I thought I could just come home and…”

  “No, no! You have to go,” I complained and Matt took my hand. “I can take care of him. You go work things up with Mr. Nicholls, okay?”

  “Yes…” she answered and looked at Matt who shrugged his shoulders. “Make sure he takes his medicines in three hours and make him drink this tea while it’s still hot, okay?”

  I nodded and she kissed Matt’s forehead and I smiled as she left the room.

  “This whole “best friend” thing is actually annoying the crap out of me,” Matt commented after we heard his mother’s step walk away.

  “Look, it’s just…”

  “I was joking, Emma, god! You have no sense of humor lately! Why don’t we go downstairs and make something to eat?”

  “You’re not supposed to leave the bed. Stop fighting against it. That’s the reason you’re like that.”

  “Maybe I’m still like this because secretly I want you to be worried and take care of me.”

  “Then you’re just an arrogant, selfish jerk,” I casually said and he laughed.

  “Why, thank you, Ems,” he said with a smile. “But you don’t need to compliment me all the time, love.”

  “So do you want something to eat?” I asked sitting closer to him and running my hand through his messy hair and he nodded. “Okay, I’ll make you something,”

  “I wanna go too…” he said and he made that puppy eyes and I sighed.

  “Nope. You stay here, Nicholls, okay? I can… work it out, I guess.”

  “You know you suck at cooking, baby. I can help,” he said pushing all away all those blankets. “God, I was dying here,” he said as he pulled a grey shirt over his head. “Coming?”

  “Matthew…” I started but he took my hand in his and with the other one took his cup of tea. “Fine…”

  We went downstairs in silence because I just hated I couldn’t win with him. He never listened to me and now he was so sick and still acting like he was invincible, and he didn’t care about it.

  “Stop worrying, baby,” he said as he pressed his lips on my forehead. “I’m fine. I just need something good to eat. Mom treats me like I’m in the hospital,” he said opening the fridge’s door.

  He started taking everything out of the fridge including every syrup and sauce he found and placed them on the kitchen counter. It was like he was going to war or something. I didn’t say anything, because if I learned something lately it was that Matt never listened to me.

  “God, this is so good!” He said when he took a bit of a sandwich with… caramel syrup or something? “Here, have a taste,” he said pulling the toast in front of me like I was two year old and I laughed and shook my head. “It’s good, Ems, try it!” He insisted and I shook my head one more time. “Oh, you’re driving me insane,” he said as he poured more syrup on his toast. Of course it all started to fall around and he just laughed. “This is so good…” he said as he licked his thumb. “You’re not hungry at all?”

  “No, I just wanna see you in bed again.”

  “Oh, Emma, always so eager,” he commented and I felt my cheeks burn. “You’re so cute when you’re blushing, by the way. I love that,” he commented as he finished his toast and I sighed, tossing a piece of bacon at him. “Oh, I wouldn’t do that, Miss West. Two can play that game.”

  “We’re not playing anything, Matthew, you’re sick! C’mon.”


  “You’re so boring! What happened to my funny Emma?”

  “Funny Emma is worried about you.”

  “Okay, Emma is just adorable,” he said as he leaned into me and kissed me. “I know! Food fight. This is what we have to do!”

  “What?” I asked with my eyes wide open. “What are you, three years old?”

  “Nope, just bored,” he said as he took the caramel syrup and raised an eyebrow. “Vanilla or caramel, Ems?”

  It only took me two seconds to realize Matt was actually serious about this and I jumped out of my seat and he started laughing. Okay, didn’t he have fever and was coughing all the time? Why was he acting so careless?

  I didn’t have the time to find the answer when I found myself all covered in… strawberry syrup and he placed his arms around me.

  “Told you,” he said with a shrug and leaned to kiss my lips, but I just tossed the vanilla syrup on him and he stared at me and I was surprised I was doing this.

  Five minutes later the entire kitchen was covered in all types of syrups, sauces, and other things I really didn’t want to think about. I was hiding behind the kitchen counter and I knew for sure Matt was on the other part of the room.

  “Found you!” Matt said and I jumped as he started laughing. “Oh, this is all gone,” he said when he realized his caramel syrup was gone. “And I liked it! This is a sad moment,” he continued taking a step closer to me. “But I bet you really taste good, Ems,” he said as he leaned and kissed me.

  The next second I felt something on me and I realized it was jam. Really? Did I fell for that?

  “Is it just me or is really hot here?” Matt said as he took two steps away from me and he pulled off his shirt.

  “You’re not playing fair.”

  “Why? Am I distracting you or anything? Oh, I remember, Miss West that you said you find me hot.”