Perfect Match

To my creative and beautiful daughter,
Morgan. You’ve inspired me to follow my dreams. I hope that you
will always strive to follow yours. I love you!

PROLOGUE

“Never trust a man that will look at another
woman while he is in your presence.” Noelle Reid had that one
sentence embedded in her mind, not knowing why that one piece of
advice stood out from the others, but it did. Her mother never had
a chance to give her the advice herself, but wrote them out in a
journal. “Words to live by”, as Pop said nervously when he handed
her the flowered journal. The book was put together soon after her
mother was given the diagnosis of lung cancer, her Pop told her as
he handed it to her a week after her mother was buried.

Maybe those words of wisdom stuck with her
because she remembered how her mom and Pop were together; totally
in love. In Noelle’s thirteen year old mind, that is how she felt
love should be like. She decided that she wasn’t going to settle
for anything less than that. Her mother didn’t, and she knew first
hand that she had a happy life. Noelle wanted that for herself.

Life for Noelle ever since her mothers death
had been anything but easy. Pop was so sad all the time, although
he tried to hide it whenever he was around her sister Jennifer and
herself. Jennifer was barely home, as most sixteen year olds are,
but this was her way of dealing with her mothers death.

Noelle stopped hanging out with her friends.
She didn’t want to see anyone. When she came home from school, all
she did was put on her mothers old sweater and read her old books.
She felt closer to her that way, and that was all that mattered to
her. The thing was, Noelle wanted to know so much more from her
mother. She had so many questions and feared that she may never
know the answer. Being a teenager without a mother totally sucked.
Having an older sister who was stuck up and mean hurt a lot. Having
an over-protective father that was also a former professional
wrestler that knew nothing about being a girl, was just plain
awkward. She had a lot of questions about boys. Most of her
girlfriends had boyfriends now. She had no idea who to talk to
about how she felt when no boy seemed remotely interested in her.
She had a feeling it was because she still looked like a little
girl. Just the thought of talking to her Pop about how she couldn’t
wait for her body to grow boobs made her cringe. She wasn’t sure
who would hate it more. Yeah, that conversation was better left
alone.

Summer vacation arrived, and Pop must have
gotten tired of the zombie act, because he announced that they were
going to go to a family friend’s summer cabin. Too bad he left out
the part that the friends were also going to be there. The Smith’s
were Pop’s closest friends. Howie was an old wrestling buddy and
he’d be there with his wife and son, JJ. They always played
together as kids, but she didn’t want to play. She didn’t want to
do anything, especially not hang around JJ, who he was fourteen and
all he wanted to do was be a wrestler.

JJ finally arrived with his parents, and the
first thing she noticed was how different he looked. He grew at
least six inches taller from the last time she saw him, at her
mothers funeral. His long light brown shaggy hair was cut short and
spiky. She even noticed that his legs were hairier than she
remembered. And, suddenly for her, his obsession with wrestling
didn’t bother her so much, and maybe she would want to do a bit
more than sit around in her mothers sweater.

Two days of being at the cabin with Larry and
his daughters, had JJ going crazy. Girls were so weird, he thought.
Jennifer, who was gorgeous was mean as hell. She was rude and
didn’t mind showing everyone that she didn’t want to be there. He
didn’t care too much about her. He just liked looking at her,
especially in her short shorts and bikini top. Noelle, well he
remembered his mother saying that she felt so bad that she lost her
mom at such a young age, so he tried to do what he could think of
to get her to have fun again. She used to be so much fun. He loved
that he could talk her into almost anything. Used to, anyway. He
was about ready to give up, when he asked her if she wanted to go
on a bike ride, she said yes. He loved the trails, they went riding
for hours. He especially loved the jumps on the trail, because it
fit his dare-devil personality.

“I’m glad you decided to hang out today. I
was beginning to think you were no longer cool.”

“I was beginning to wonder that myself.”

JJ didn’t want her to be sad and cry. He knew
of a lot of girls that cried at school for attention. He hated
that. He decided to change the subject. “Have you gone to the
Ruckus Room with your dad lately?” He referred to the wrestling
school her dad owned.

“No. Not interested. You still want to be a
wrestler?”

“Hell, yeah! I can’t wait to go to Larry’s
this year. I finally get to do more, since I’m fourteen. I don’t
have to just watch this year. You just wait! I am going to be the
best wrestler ever! Hey, you should become one too. You can be the
Goddess Champion.”

“I don’t wanna be a wrestler! Eww. I don’t
wanna get hurt.”

“Then you can be my manager.”

“What does a manager do?”

JJ shrugged. “Stand outside the ring during
my matches and look pretty.” He smiled at her. And the crazy thing
was, he thought that would be the coolest thing ever. She was so
cute and liked the idea of spending more time with her. He suddenly
thought about if she ever kissed anyone before. He didn’t yet, and
he liked Noelle enough to want to kiss her.

“You think I am pretty?” He liked the way her
green eyes sparkled.

“You’re alright,” he said and took off
riding.

Noelle couldn’t move. Wow! JJ just told her,
in his own way, that he thought she was pretty. Her stomach felt as
if butterflies were flying around and she couldn’t help but smile.
She felt happier than she could ever remember: all because JJ, the
coolest person she knew, thought she was pretty without the curves
she had been waiting for.

JJ stopped when he realized that she wasn’t
following. “Hey, come on or Larry will kill me for having you out
late.”

She smiled and followed him back to the
cabin.

Later that evening, Noelle sat outback by
herself wearing her mothers sweater. She was feeling better, and
was excited because JJ was helping with that. She kept thinking
about her afternoon with JJ and how the rest of the day, she saw JJ
differently. Suddenly, she felt nervous around him. She would
giggle when he would tell a joke, even when the jokes were awful.
She was more playful with him, and loved the fact that he was more
playful with her. His favorite way of teasing her was tapping her
on her left shoulder and she’d turn around only for him to be on
her right side. He’d smile and she’d want to laugh out loud. It
finally dawned on her that she had a crush on him. She couldn’t
believe it! She had a crush on him in a big way!

“There you are,” he said as he sat down
beside her on the picnic bench.

“Hi.”

“What are you doing?”

“Thinking about my mom,” she admitted.

JJ was silent for a few moments before he
said, “You know what I remember most about your mom?”

Noelle remained silent. She didn’t talk about
her mom to anyone anymore, and wasn’t sure if she wanted to hear
what JJ was about to say. She was just starting to feel like
herself again.

“Her smile,” he said when she didn’t respond.
“She had the nicest smile, for a mom. You have her smile. I
remember you smiling all the time. You don’t do it so much
anymore.”

“It hurts to smile.”

“I think it hurts you more when you
don’t.”

“I am smiling right now.” She liked that he
was sitting so close to him. He put his arm around her. Her
heartbeat quickened. She was sure she was going to have her first
kiss.

“I like that I am the one that made you
smile. I want you to always smile for me,” he whispered and leaned
in to kiss her, but JJ’s mother called for them from the inside.
“Crap. I’m sorry.” JJ said and the moment was gone.

The next day, Noelle and JJ were hanging out
inside, because it rained all morning. They were going to go to the
pool as soon as the rain let up, so they were each in their rooms
getting ready. Noelle dressed a bit differently than the day
before. She wore a white tank top with a pair of very short denim
cut-offs. She was hoping he’d look at her the way he looked at
Jennifer. She wanted to look so good, that he wouldn’t dream of
looking at someone else. She was sitting on the floor, painting her
toenails and trying not to make too much out of what happened the
day before, when JJ came in and jumped over her.

“I bet you can’t do that!”

“Anyone can do that.”

“Yeah, but I jumped over you and still landed
on my feet. That takes skill, and you don’t have it.” He swatted
her hair playfully.

“It takes a lot of skill to jump over someone
who is short, on the floor, hunched over. You should be so proud,”
she said putting the cap on her bottle of nail polish and
standing.

“Yeah, you are little. When are you going to
grow up like Jennifer did?

“What are you talking about?” She took a
drink of her lemonade and set it on the glass end table.

“I saw her walking this morning. She is
gorgeous! She fills out a bathing suit way better than you do.”

Those remarks did not sit well with Noelle at
all. At that moment, she hated Jennifer. She liked that JJ never
paid much attention to her sister before. She felt like she did at
school, when all of the boys in her class used her to talk to her
friends, unattractive and ignored. She hated that she was rail thin
and flat. She hated that all JJ saw was how she fills out her
bathing suit. He was her friend, and now, with him drooling over
Jennifer, she was starting to hate him too. She didn’t like it. She
felt like crying and screaming at the same time. She didn’t, only
because she didn’t want to act like a baby too. “Shut up. Why are
you checking out my sister anyway? That’s gross.”

“There’s nothing gross about her, believe
me.” He laughed playfully and messed up her hair again. “Don’t be
mad. You’re still my favorite sister. Come on, let’s play a
game.”

“No.” Noelle pouted. She was mad and didn’t
care if she was acting like a baby.

“Noelle, come on. We are going to play the
trust game. I’m going to stand with my back towards you and I’m
going to fall backwards and trust that you will catch me.”

Noelle smiled in spite of her foul mood.
“Don’t bet on me catching you.” She crossed her arms.

JJ looked at her thoughtfully. “Good point.
Let me catch you.”

“No way.”

“Don’t you trust me?” he asked
innocently.

She did. Even though she was mad at him, she
still trusted him. She would do just about anything for him.
“Okay.”

They stood where they were, by the glass end
table near the entrance of the room. They stood facing the TV. She
stood with her back towards JJ. Her heart was pounding, but she
trusted that he wasn’t going to let her fall.

“Okay, Noelle. On the count of three, you
fall back. One…two…”

And just as JJ said three, Jennifer breezed
into the room, letting them know the sun was out and she was going
to head up to the pool. JJ turned his attention to Jennifer, who
still had her bikini on. Noelle fell back and landed on her butt,
arms smashing into the table and breaking the glass. She looked
down to see a large slice on her right forearm. “Noelle!” Jennifer
cried and JJ quickly turned around to kneel beside her. Jennifer
called for her dad.

“Noelle, I’m so sorry!”

“Get away from me!” Noelle snapped. “You told
me that I could trust you.” She had her hand on her arm. She
started crying, both from the pain from her arm and from him
breaking her heart. Her mother was right! She couldn’t trust him
and would never trust any man that would check out other girls when
she was around. Her Pop came in and rushed to his daughter’s side.
Noelle glared at JJ and said, “I hate you, JJ Smith. I hate
you!”

Noelle ended up with five stitches in her
arm. On the way back from the hospital, she was quiet; too quiet.
But Larry knew that it was more than her cut up arm that got her
down. “Noelle, it’s not your fault that Jennifer gets a lot of
attention. You are three years younger than she is. It’s not JJ’s
fault either, and I want you to apologize for saying you hate
him.”

“I can’t. I do hate him,” Noelle said still
looking out the window. “He did just want Mom told me to stay away
from.”

He nodded, “You’re mom’s note.” He sighed and
lightly touched her shoulder before continuing. “JJ is a good kid.
He didn’t mean for you to get hurt. I guess it’s a good thing that
you hate him.”

That got Noelle’s attention. “Why?”