Perfect Match (33 page)

“So what are we up to today?” Matt suddenly asked and I shrugged. “I have an idea,” he continued and I moved my head from his chest to look into his eyes and he smiled. “We could… stay here and continue what we did last night,” he finished with a smirk and I felt my cheeks burn.

Not a good time for blushing, Emma, could you just stop doing that?

“I… Yes, it’s… A decent idea,” I teased and he laughed as he trailed his finger on my back sending shivers through all my body. “Okay, it’s a really good idea,” I said and he nodded with a victorious smile.

“Ems, seriously, I’m sorry for all I’ve said earlier and I’m sorry for…”

“Stop it, okay?” I said and kissed him. “I’m sorry, too.”

“No, there is something I wanted to say to you, actually and it’s…”

“What about we skip talking and get to the point?” I asked and he raised an eyebrow and I kissed him again.

*

We stood in the middle of the kitchen, Matt wearing just a pair of boxers and looking so good it was almost illegal and I was wearing his shirt and I gotta say I liked how I looked. Matt decided we should do something to eat and he offered to do it while I was sitting on a chair with my elbows resting on the kitchen counter and staring at him shamelessly. The radio was on and some song was on the background, too low to recognize it.

“We should go to Vegas,” he said as he moved around the kitchen with a plate of pancakes in his hand.

“Vegas?” I asked and laughed and he gave me a sweet look.

“Yes. It’s close enough, an hour by plane… A few hours of driving… Maybe we should go with the driving,” he said with a shrug.

“Yeah, good idea,” I replied laughing and he took a seat next to me and placed his left arm around me and kissed my cheek.

“No, I mean it. We have been living in Los Angeles for how long? 6 years and a few months now? More? And we still haven’t gone to Las Vegas or… I don’t know, San Francisco. It’s unfair,” he said as he run his hand through my hair and pulled me closer to him.

“I guess we could… go to Vegas,” I agreed as I took a bite of his pancakes. “Man, those are awesome,” I said and he nodded.

“Just like me,” Matt bragged and I rolled my eyes and took another bite of it.

“Let me,” he said as he took the fork out of my hand and started feeding me like I was two years old.

I couldn’t stop laughing because he wasn’t serious, making airplane sounds or stories that would make me eat it and it was actually hilarious.

“I’d really like to know what you’d say to your brother if he walked in now,” Matt said as he placed a cup of hot coffee in front of me.

I stared at him and realized that the chances of Rick coming in were pretty high and I was actually surprised he didn’t bother us at all last night. I mean, normally he should’ve ask Matt where was I if he slept in my room like he did when I wasn’t at home. And I wasn’t ready to tell Rick. Or anyone. I told Gabrielle, but she was different and she was kind of my best friend, alongside Monica. And Monica would be thrilled if she knew about us. But I couldn’t say anything about it right now cause the things were pretty rough on her and if I were Monica, I would’ve hated to find out the rest of them are so happy around me and I’m the only one who’s miserable.

So I wasn’t ready to tell Rick anything, because considering how close he was or wished to be with Monica he would tell her and ruin everything.

Maybe it was a wise decision to keep this for a while longer because honestly I had no idea what I was doing. Yes, I was dating Matt but apart from that I knew nothing else. I wanted to tell him this, but it was stupid and I couldn’t just waste our time together talking about stupid things, right? I couldn’t let him know I had doubts about this thing and that I had no idea what I was doing.

I told him I loved him and that’s one of the truest things I’ve ever said and it felt so right at the moment, but now I was starting to freak out. What if I did something that would make him realize I’m not as great as he wanted me to be? What if I wasn’t good enough and I couldn’t do anything about that? See, I always had Matt to ask him questions like that, but right now I couldn’t. It was so easy asking for advice when I was dating other people, but right now was just awkward. Awkward because I knew him so well and he knew me even better.

“Baby…” he started before pressing his lips against mine for a second that felt like Heaven. “You’re overthinking again,” he whispered to me and I giggled.

See what I’m talking about? It’s freaking me out the way he knows me so well.

Plus we’re living together. How is this possible? You should start living with someone after you know him well enough and…
Wait, you know Matt, Emma
.

Stop it. Stop overthinking
, I said to myself as I shook my head.

“What?” Matt asked as his hand slowly run up my thigh and I felt my cheeks burn once more.

Get used to it, stop acting like a teenager.

“God, you’re just so cute,” Matt said and kissed me and then a Tyler Ward’s song came to radio, I think it was “
I won’t give up
”, one of his amazing covers of Jason Mraz. “Come here,” he ordered as he took my hand and helped me to get up from my seat and walked me to the center of the kitchen and placed his left hand on my back and smiled so brightly I couldn’t stop but stare at his perfect smile. “It’s rude to stare,” he said as he sighed then kissed my forehead and murmured the words “I won’t give up on us even if the skies get rough.”

I left my head on his shoulder and smiled to myself. This couldn’t get better than this. I felt my heart racing as we slow danced in the kitchen and realized how perfect we were for each other. I remembered that moment when we danced in my kitchen at midnight that Christmas when I was home alone waiting for Rick.

“I love you, Emma,” Matt said and kissed my forehead.

“God, I love you, too,” I whispered back and kissed him. “So much it scared the hell out of me,” I confessed and he just smiled.

“Shut up for a while, okay?” he said as he kissed me once more, this time more passionate than before, pulling me closer to him as his hand caressed my back. I wrapped my hands around his neck pulling him closer to me and feeling his strong chest against mine and I wondered if he could feel my heart racing.

Matt placed me on the counter as he continued kissing me as his hands ran up all over my body and I started to forget how to breathe correctly. I ran my hand over his bare back as he started kissing my neck then suddenly pulled away.

“Man, I love this song,” he said as he smiled like a kid when the chorus of “Wherever you will go” by The Calling started playing.

“Me too,” I said, biting my lip.

“I wanna do that,” he said as he kissed me again and pulled away after he bit my lower lip and I started laughing. “Run away with my heart, run away with my all, run away with my love,” he sang and I kissed him once more before he picked me up and carried me to his bedroom while I complained because I was perfectly able of walking on my own. Yeah, when did Matt listen to me?

*

The rest of the weekend passed quickly between spending time in bed with Matt or taking night strolls on the beach and having breakfast on the beach at sunrise. That was actually one of the greatest things I’ve ever did and the fact that I was with Matt was also helping.

I tried not to think about it at least overthink like I always do, and I can proudly say I managed to do that successfully. It was hard to think about anything else when Matt was right there next to me, and he talked so much it made me dizzy.

I don’t remember a moment when Matt talked that much, but in the last few days he was talking all the time. Oh… Almost all the time. It’s not like I don’t enjoy it, I love listening to Matt talk about everything and he had a smile on his face the whole time and I loved how he always held my hand in his or the fact that he was kissing me for no apparent reason.

Maybe this would sound actually cheesy, but the city was more beautiful next to Matt. I never realized how perfect a night of March could be or that the sunrise could be perfect when you notice the sun lighting Matt’s features.

I don’t think Rick was home over the weekend, because I never saw him there and I was lucky enough because I didn’t have to give any explanation why I spent all the time with Matt nor I had to tell him about us. I knew at some point I had to tell him, but I knew that Rick wouldn’t like that cause after all I’m his sister and he always got all defensive when I talked about someone I was dating.

“I hate the fact that we have to go to work tomorrow,” Matt said as he run his hand through his wet hair and instinctively I bit my lip as I observed how hot he was with drops of water all over his chest and the way that yellow towel hung onto his hips.

“Ye-yeah, me too,” I finally replied and he started laughing. “What’s so funny?”

“I have a really bad influence on you,” Matt said still laughing as he climbed in bed next to me and started trailing kisses all over my neck.

“I don’t think you do,” I managed to say even though my voice sounded really low.

“Oh, I do,” he said as he wrapped his hands around me and in the next moment I was on top of him and he tucked a strand of hair behind my ear before kissing me.

“Then I-I don’t mind,” I said and he laughed.

“How could you? I’m irresistible,” he said and I rolled my eyes. “You know I’m right, Emma,” he whispered into my ear and I nodded. “Good girl.”

“We could not go tomorrow…” I suggested as I trailed my finger over his chest and he grabbed the back of my neck and crashed his lips onto mine.

“Yeah, not happening,” he said and sighed. “I mean… you could stay at home if you want to. You must be exhausted. We barely slept this weekend.”

“Can I really stay at home?”

“Yeah, it’s really an advantage to date your boss,” he said with a smirk and I punched his shoulder. “Ouch!”

“Stop dramatizing,” I said and kissed him.

And in that moment I fully understood what happiness meant. It had Matt’s name. And his smile was the reason my heart never stopped beating fast the whole weekend. All I knew is that I’ve never been that happy and I would’ve done anything for this to continue for the rest of my life.

*

It was weird I haven’t heard from Matt the whole day and I was starting to get worried. He said he’ll come as soon as possible and I hated being here without him now. I needed him. At some point I realized I became addicted to him, but how could I not want him to be around me as much as possible? How could I stay away from him now that I knew he was the only person I’ve ever loved?

I think I fell in love with Matt from our first dates. Meaning the first times we hang out together, back in Connecticut while I was still in high school. But I never allowed myself to feel that and now I know how wrong I’ve been, but hell who could blame me? I was eighteen and I had no idea what love was. Of course I was afraid of it, who isn’t? I still am. I still don’t know anything about love. I just know it’s the greatest feeling I’ve ever had.

Then Monica called and she said she must talk to me. Of course that was weird because I knew everything she was going through with Ben was pretty hard and complicated and I couldn’t do anything but jump out of bed, take a quick shower, get dressed and leave the apartment.

I had no idea what was going on with Monica, but definitely she wasn’t doing well. She’s been with Ben for so long and the fact that he just took off and left us the way he did was actually selfish. Matt was a mess because his best friend wasn’t here anymore and so was Monica.

Fifteen minutes after I left my apartment I reached Monica’s and entered the building with a sad smile on my face. I have no idea why I had a strange feeling about this and I decided to ignore it while I walked upstairs to my former apartment. I knocked on the door and Monica opened a few moments after that.

She actually looked better than I imagined, but then again, when does Monica not look good? She’s like a Greek goddess, especially with her golden hair… She’d definitely make Aphrodite feel bad. Monica was wearing a strapless black dress and her hair was perfectly curled and so was her makeup. So she hadn’t been crying. Yeah, that’s good.

“Hey!” she greeted me with a cozy smile and I smiled back at her and entered the apartment and noticed Matt on the couch.

Wait, Matt? I started at him and he didn’t even look at me. Okay, what was going on?

I turned to look at Monica who clapped her hands together and gave me a grin and then looked at Matt then at me again.

“Okay, what’s going on?” I said out loud and I heard Matt sigh.

I don’t like this. At all.

My heart started beating fast and I started trembling even though I had no idea why. I only knew this couldn’t be good. Why was Matt in Monica’s apartment and why wasn’t he looking at me? I mean, we spent the whole weekend together and everything was perfect and now I don’t deserve a look or what?

You’re overreacting, Emma
, my subconscious scolded me and I agreed.

“So… I have no clue how should I start saying this, because they isn’t an easy way and Matt isn’t saying anything as you could see, so yeah, big helper,” Monica commented sarcastically and I couldn’t help but feel even more confused than I was before.

“Just… say it,” I managed to say and she nodded.

“Look, I know what you’re going to think and it’s… You have any right to be upset, man, I would be too, but it just… happened okay? So we want you to be the first to know and I’ll totally understand if you have a problem with this and-“

“What?” I asked and my voice came out softer than I wanted.

“Matt and I are together now,” Monica said softly and my first instinct was to laugh.

Yeah, you heard wrong
. She couldn’t be serious about this.

I turned to look at Matt and he avoided my eyes and ran a hand through his hair. Okay, this would be the right time for you to say you’re kidding. I looked at Monica who was waiting for me to say something.

She can’t be serious. She couldn’t… I…