Confessions of a Matchmaker

o n e

h a l l e

v a l e n t i n e

Don't worry, I'm not in the matchmaking business with Valentine as a surname but it is our middle name so our real surname which is Garcia was dropped to make way for a cheesier and more romantic surname. Besides, The Valentine Matchmakers is a pretty catchy name.

Matchmaking had been the family business for as long as I've known, it was my grandmother that started it, presumably around the time that she'd lost her job and her affair with a rich landlord at the time had ended. One good fact about nosy old women: they love to meddle. Which is great actually because matchmaking is the most meddlesome job ever. It can be described as playing with fire really because when playing with love you can easily get scorched.

Even my younger twin brothers got into the business—apparently, fifteen year old girls these days find it absolutely cute that they help people find their true loves. My older sister, Carmen, I'm not so sure about her because she actually has a life so unlike me she doesn't stay up all night looking for potential love matches. She goes out for parties and has a lot of boyfriends, she drinks, she does it all really. She's living her life.

My mom calls it her rebellious phase—huh, this 'phase' has been going on for over three years. She still has a hangover practically every morning and ever since I got my license, I became a designated driver. I do feel guilty when I complain, she's had it harder than I have in more ways than one. She used to live with her dad but then he died so she came to live with us when I was nine. I know she hated me, she called me a snot but slowly that faded out and we became the best half-sisters.

Then came David and Henry, they truly were little rascals or like I call them: the twins from hell.

Today I had the afternoon shift with Carmen, she was in the backroom looking for a match for a high maintenance client. It was a good thing she wasn't around, I could focus on completing my history homework since we were empty today. 

That's the thing with Carmen, she just refuses to stay out of my business and my nonexistent love life. I can understand why, in school she has always had guys trailing after her and made herself unforgettable with the number of boyfriends she had. It was sort of disappointing that I didn't follow her path but instead I wasn't very interesting, I wasn't invisible but I wasn't exactly noticeable. Most of my classmates knew my name but I didn't really have any close friends.

I was barely midway through my homework when the door swung open, in walked Dylan Morgan and a much smaller girl by his side. Dylan was a pretty popular senior, he was good at sports and he was funny. From what I've heard, he's one of the most easygoing people on earth and laughs a lot more than normal people but of course, that's only what I've heard. Juniors like me don't talk to seniors like him, he's a year older than me and I'm not as interesting as the people he hangs out with anyways.

The girl by his side was petite with candyfloss pink curls, pale skin and wide brown eyes. She was nervous, I could tell, shifting her feet awkwardly and fidgeting obviously. Her nails were chipped from nail biting which was a former habit of mine. She had now licked her lips so much that they were chapped. Despite all this blatant signs of anxiety, she was beautiful.

She possessed a rather raw beauty, she actually shone with it. Her beauty was rare, the type that a lot of people wished that they had but most didn't notice—with the brain of every matchmaker, my mind was already whizzing around with possible matches for her. I had a lot actually but it would be best to find out what school she went to first.

"Hey. I'm Dylan and this is Kade. You are—" he squinted to read my name tag.

I finished for him, pushing my homework to the side, "—I'm Halle. Nice to meet you."