Perfect Match

by Monica Miller

  So that’s why her decision to go back to London had really struck me.

  Everything was going great and well, our companies were going great too, since that was the reason why Katerine was in Los Angeles in the first place. And that’s why they decided to get her back after they finish with their assignment to merge the two companies.

  “But why don’t you stay here?” I complained running a hand through my hair. I was sitting on my leather chair and she was on my lap with a hand wrapper around my neck, looking as stunning as always.

  “Because I can’t,” she said and her accent seemed more prominent now. I guess I never cared about her accent, even thought that was the only thing Emma talked about. Everything Kate said Emma would try to repeat in a British accent and she was actually cute, because her accent was actually terrible.

  “You can ask them for a job here or you can find something else to do,” I told her while I ran my hand through her brown hair.

  “Matthew…” Kate started and I sighed.

  “I’m not ready to lose you yet,” I whispered and she gave me a shy smile.

  “You know I really like you, Matthew?”

  “Yeah, I do know,” I admitted and she laughed. “I like you too. For real. And I don’t want you to go back to rainy London and be there and I’ll be here and…”

  “Matt, c’mon, don’t be like that…” she cut me as her hand slowly caressed my cheek. “It’ll be okay, my family is there and well… You know what I think about it.”

  “About what?”

  “About you and Emma.”

  “Kate, do we really have to talk about this? Now?” I asked and laughed.

  “We don’t if you don’t want to. But that’s what I think. That you guys would be so great together I can almost ship you two.”

  “Do what?”

  “Oh, Matt you’re so innocent. You don’t know what it’s like being a part of a fandom, don’t you?”

  “Barely… Wait, what? I do like Harry Potter though.”

  “It’s like Dramione, you know? Draco and Hermione. You’re… Emmatt.”

  “Kate, c’mon!” I said and she laughed. “Only you could say something like that! Tell me I should date my friend while you’re breaking up with me.”

  “I’m not breaking up with you. It’s just that we can’t work on long term. But you and Emma…”

  “Look, she doesn’t like me, Kate. Not like that. We’ve been through things before, but it’s not like we could work as a couple because we’re…”

  “Friends and know everything about each other and stupid enough not to use that as an advantage?” Kate finished my sentence.

  “Um… No, but because…”

  “You’re so blind that you can’t see she’s crazy about you and likewise? You’re stupid even though it’s hard to accept that. You guys could be perfect together. You’re like perfect match. Made for each other, but you keep avoiding that.”

  “She’s not crazy about me.”

  “Oh no and I’m J.K Rowling! C’mon, Matt, she’s definitely into you. How could she not be? Please, tell me you won’t find a stupid bitch again and that you’ll try with Emma. Please?”

  “Katerine!”

  “Please?” she asked with her eyes big like a puppy’s.

  “I’ll… give my best, okay?” I said and she started applauding like a five year old. “God, you’re cute,” I told her and my lips crashed onto hers.

  “You know you’re one of the greatest boyfriends in the world?” Kate whispered before kissing me again.

  “Of course I know, I’m Matt Nicholls,” I replied with a smirk. “You’re not bad yourself.”

  “Very funny,” she said sarcastically and I laughed then I slowly ran my hand through her honey brown hair and smiled. “I think I’ll miss you, Mr. Nicholls.”

  I nodded then kissed her softly on the lips. I’ll miss her too, that’s for sure. It was impossible not to, I’ve gotten used to seeing her every day in the company or just hanging around. Of course, I’ll still have Emma, but it seemed selfish to think about it when Kate was still here. After all, I did care for her a lot.

  “What is that thing Sabrina told me about you moving to London?” Emma asked slamming my office door to the wall and placing her hands in her hips with a completely confused look on her face.

  Katerine looked at me for an advice and I just shrugged. I had no idea how Sabrina found out since Kate has just told me. She got up from my lap and ran a hand through her hair and smiled friendly at Emma, who was looking from Kate at me and from me to Kate and I knew this would affect her a lot. Maybe more than it affected me and that was somehow weird.

  “Well, you know, my office decided to finally close the deal and they said I can come back to London and that they actually need me there and… I said yes.”

  “How could you?!” Emma asked and I couldn’t suppress a smile when I saw her so angry. “You can’t leave! Why would you leave? You have us here. You can find another job, maybe here! You can’t leave! Matt, say something!”

  “I tried, okay?”

  “Try harder!” Emma added with a harsh tone then looked again at Kate. “Please?”

  “Emma, my family is there. I haven’t seen them in months! I can’t just move here, you know? But… You know, maybe in time?”

  “But it’s unfair!” Emma said like a five year old and Kate smiled, turning to look at me.

  “I’m sorry…” Kate muttered and hugged Emma who just sighed. “Dude, you’re taking it worse than Matt.”

  “What does Matt know?” Emma complained like I wasn’t even there and I laughed.

  *

  The next few weeks went by really slow. I hated everything recently, since Kate left. I got really used to her and it was hard that the distance was the reason why we broke up. Because there was nothing in the world that could’ve make me break up with her and that was annoying. That I found someone so perfect I really liked and now we had to break up because she moved back to London to be with her family and guys with British accents. I know Emma would’ve died to go there.

  And somehow the picture of Emma being surrounded by classy guys with British accents was a little disturbing. Yes, I haven’t gotten over Katerine yet, but I could never stop worrying about Emma.

  I knew Katerine was right when she said that we should try. There is nothing in the world that could go wrong after all. Except for the fact that we could totally ruin our friendship and I know for sure that would be my fault.

  Even though I knew that I should be the one who does the first step, I didn’t. I avoided Emma for days after Kate left, but she gave me time and I knew she hated the fact that Kate left, too.

  I hung out a lot with Ben and Rick in the meantime because they were guys and they knew I didn’t wanna talk about it and we just talked about other things, drink a lot and played video games and we made Emma leave the house about three times because she said we were “annoyingly immature”. Well, I couldn’t agree more. There was nothing more immature than three guys in their twenties playing FIFA and yelling at the TV the whole day. Plus, we kind of made a lot of mess because it was easier to order pizza and drink cans of beers than making actual food. So she went to Monica’s for a few days and Ben stayed in the apartment just like the old times.

  Rick told us something about some girl he was hooking up with, but of course he wasn’t that excited about it. I knew Rick’s all time crush was Monica and Ben knew it as well, but he didn’t care. He even thought it was “cute”. At least that’s what he told me when we were alone. I would never be just as calm and classy as he was since Rick wasn’t bad at all and he made Monica laugh all the time. But Ben was mature and sure of his feelings for Monica, so it didn’t bother him. Anyway, I thought it was a good thing that Rick was now dating someone or at least having a connection with someone. I knew he slept with Lucy when he met her and then flirted a lot with Anne and Jane, he still flirts with them
all the time, it’s annoying at some point really, but he never dated someone.

  The truth is Rick and I became really good friends. Not as friends as Ben and I, because I knew Ben since I was in school and we shared a lot together and we grow up together so our friendship was tougher than that, but I liked Rick. And I hated the fact that he was still hoping for something with Monica because it was just a crush since Monica and Ben were that great. I couldn’t even picture Monica and Ben apart. They were the greatest couple I’ve ever seen. They looked like one of those couples you see in magazine or on the red carpet, all full of confidence and aware of how great they are. So it was just bad for Rick to keep wishing he’d get to date Monica.

  After about a month after Kate left my bosses announced me I have to go to New York to convince some potential clients to invest in our company. Yeah, that was the last thing I needed. Going to New York. Of course Kate and I still talked on the phone daily. She said everything was going great in London and that she barely realized how much she missed everything. She was so happy there. I thought it was just selfish for me to want her here, because she belonged there, in a rainy frame and surrounded by her family and old friends.

  “Hey, Ems…” I started crossing my arms over my chest and she stopped talking on the phone as she saw me in front of her desk. She smiled nicely at me and waited for me to speak. “I am supposed to go next week in New York to close a deal with some clients.”

  “So nice!” she interrupted me, and I smiled. “What am I supposed to do when you won’t be here?”

  “Actually…” I took a pause for effect, because I knew she was curious and I liked teasing her. “I was thinking about…” she frowned at me and I laughed. “Why don’t you come with me?”

  “What?” she asked a little higher and a few colleagues looked at us. “Sorry,” she whispered and I laughed again. “In New York?” she asked still whispering.

  “Yeah… Aren’t you my secretary? Plus best friend and the greatest person I’ve ever met?”

  “I thought you were the greatest person you’ve ever met,” she teased and I glared at her.

  “Well yeah, but you know… I’m an exception. So you’re the second greatest person I’ve ever met,” I assured her with a smirk. “Whatcha say?”

  “I don’t know. Do you need me there?”

  “No, Emma, I don’t need you,” I said laughing and then I stopped when I realized how that sounded. “I want you there,” I added.

  It seemed to be some kind of fight inside her head because she opened her mouth to say something a couple of times, but she didn’t seem to come to a conclusion. I just waited for her to figure it out that I couldn’t go to New York, one of her favorite places in the world, without her. I have no idea if she knew that I was aware of how much she liked New York even though she never been there. But once in a while she has wallpapers with New York or London on her laptop or phone so I couldn’t go there without her. Plus, it was a really good start for me to start making her realize that we could be good together.

  “Okay, dammit!” she finally said with a smile who gave away her excitement. “Like I could say no to New York,” she muttered between her teeth.

  “Like you could say no to me, Ems,” I corrected her and I noticed she suddenly blushed and I took that as a good sign.

  I was going to New York with Emma. Well, that surely will be interesting, right?

  Chapter 19

  Sunrise in New York

  ~*~ Emma West ~*~

  I have to admit the last few days have been interesting.

  Firstly, because Matt was acting weird since Kate left and I couldn’t blame him. I was still grieving after she left to London. Without me. I mean, how could she? She was dating Matt freakin’ Nicholls and she came back to London? Okay, I get it, rain and hot accents on classy guys, and Harry Potter’s land, but we were talking about Matt Nicholls. You just can’t ditch him for London. Or Rio, New York, Paris, Spain or anything.

  And it was weird not to talk to Matt because he was so sad, and he wasn’t in the mood for anything. I kind of felt like he was avoiding me, but seriously why would Matt avoid me? I was his friend. I guess he knew I would be there for him. But he was a guy, and guys never talk, and I could understand he preferred spending time with my brother and Ben. So I went to Monica’s for a few days just to give him space.

  But it was weird to be away from him and I couldn’t hide that too much, since Gabrielle told me it was pretty obvious that I was thinking about Matt being single again. I didn’t want to tell Monica that, because she’d go into shipping us like she always does. FYI, I’d never double date with Monica and Ben. Never.

  Secondly, Matt told me to go to New York with him.

  New… York!

  At first I thought he was joking about me going with him. I could understand why his boss would send him there, because he had persuasion skills and he was charming, but I never thought he’d want me there. Technically, I was allowed to go since I was his secretary, but it was New York!

  So the next few days I was only talking about New York and he had nothing to do but listen to all my babbling with a smile on his face. He never mentioned Kate those days and it felt weird, but it was like nothing ever came between us. Not that Kate was between us, because I liked her. She had texted me when she landed in London and told me everything about the weather, and the cute guy from the airport who helped her with her luggage.

  Of course we had a night flight to New York. I always hated flying and I promised myself I won’t sleep, not even for a minute. And I should’ve known Matt would laugh for half an hour because I was afraid of night flights and people glared at him because he was annoying. No, he was not. In fact, Matt is never annoying and what’s annoying is the fact that he’s always perfect.

  When he finally stopped laughing he told me I had nothing to fear, and that he was right there. He took my hand in his and my heart stopped for a second. I had the impression he was acting a little bit different since Kate left that he looked at me differently, but that couldn’t be.

  We talked about a lot of things that night and I knew he was tired because he spent all day at the office, while I took a day off to have everything done, and now I was making him stay awake because I was frightened. I am always afraid to travel by plane, to be truthful. But at night is worse.

  “Emma… Just breathe,” Matt teased me when I squeezed his hand because we had turbulence now. I hated them!

  “I am… breathing,” I whispered and he laughed. Good thing he’s laughing.

  “You’re so cute,” he said and I felt my cheeks burning. You just don’t say something like that in a plane when someone’s frightened to death. “Ems, c’mon, are you five?” he asked still laughing placing his hand around my shoulders and pulling me closer to him. “Plus, you know I won’t let anyone hurt you. Especially a stupid plane.”

  “Oh, thank you, Superman I can relax now,” I replied sarcastically.

  “I am a little offended that you think of me as a guy who wears his underwear over his pants,” Matt whispered in my ear and I laughed. “I’m sure you pictured me naked though, right?”

  “But of course!” I replied and he laughed. “You should get some sleep.”

  “Nope, I’m good,” he said and immediately yawned. “I’m not tired,” he told me with a smile. “I have to stay awake to protect you from the big, bad plane,” he said then laughed again.

  “I’m sorry, some of us actually are trying to sleep,” a bald man who sat behind Matt told him and he muttered a sorry then started laughing like nothing happened.

  Yeah, that was just Matt. And this was going to be a long flight.

  *

  When we landed in New York I felt so relieved and Matt started laughing and complained about that fact he could barely feel his hand because I’ve squeezed it so hard.

  It was 11 AM when we landed and I was eager to see everything and JFK seemed so perfect, like
in the movies. Only that the movies were shoot back in L.A. and they were made to look like JFK, but that wasn’t actually true. But now I was in New York. With Matt, who was now having trouble with our luggage, but I was too excited to give him a hand. We stopped a cab and Matt said we were going to stay at the Empire, because the company was paying for it. Seriously? The Empire?

  I wanted to see everything from the cab and of course it was a terrible traffic in New York, especially on 5th Avenue and I hated that I didn’t sleep in the plane because I felt my eyes closing while I was staring on the window. Matt was sitting next to me with his hand in mine and his eyes were closed. Yeah, he’d never understand why I love New York.

  We finally arrived at the hotel about half an hour later and I could tell Matt was so tired, he hasn’t slept at all in over 30 hours and I felt really bad for making him stay awake the whole flight. He went to the reception and while I waited, I realized how tired I was.

  Our room was at the fourth floor and in the elevator we haven’t said anything because we could barely move. He was the first who entered the room and somewhere inside of me I hated him for it, because I wanted to be the first who saw everything, but I was too tired to argue.

  “Um… Yeah, I forgot about that one,” Matt started. “I booked the room before I told you about it, so I got only one bed. Do you mind? I can go and… Book another room for you or anything?”

  “Don’t be stupid, Nicholls,” I told him pushing him out of the way and making my way towards the king size bed in the center in the room and letting myself fall into the wonderful mattress. “You really have to try this. And I don’t mind, we’ve slept in the same bed a lot of times.”