lock and key (matthew gray gubler fanfiction)

chapter seventeen

warnings: none
word count: 3.6k

MATTHEW

"good morning!"

my mom pops her head around the wall, coming to greet us. "good morning!" she echoes, pulling kendall into a tight hug before she hugs me. "did you sleep well? oh, maybe i shouldn't ask that."

my eyes roll again at her. "we slept fine, mom. please don't be weird."

she puts her hands up in surrender and then waves us further into the house. "did you have breakfast? i could make you something!"

"we actually went out for breakfast. thank you though!" kendall responds politely, excitedly following me and my mom out to the ranch.

"oh, did you go to the diner down the block?" i nod at her. "we used to go there all the time," mom turns her attention to kendall. "that was always where matthew wanted to eat on his birthday and he would go with his friends."

"that's really sweet," kendall chirps, nudging my arm with hers. she smiles up at me, winking.

"here they are!" mom leads us into the stables where the horses are. "matthew, francine is over here. and kendall, you can choose whichever one you want. they're all trained and all very calm."

kendall strolls around the stable and checks out the other four horses while i take out my own horse and set her up. she seems excited to see me, understandably. i haven't been around in a while and she is my own personal horse, so it makes sense that she is excited to see me.

kendall decides on a horse named daisy, a white horse that my sister usually rides. but the three of us get the horses all situated and kendall gets onto daisy with more ease than i've seen anyone mount a horse, even myself.

"be careful, you two," mom calls as well start to head off. "and if you need me, just call."

"thanks, mom!" i shout over my shoulder, the two of us waving goodbye.

she fades into the distance as kendall and i get further and further from the house, trotting around the ranch. it's adorable the way that kendall talks to the horses like she does with her cat. she talks like they can actually respond and she has full conversations with them. she even leans over to talk to my horse and pet her hair. her giggle is so loud and purely intoxicating that i'm barely looking around the ranch as we ride, only looking at her. i'm looking at her curly hair, held back by a scarf, her pretty white dress, her converse, the tattoos adorning her skin. i can't seem to take my eyes off of her.

after nearly an hour of taking the horses around the ranch, we arrive at a break in the trees, revealing a big clearing. there's a large pond surrounded by trees and wildflowers with ducks floating and birds chirping. i look over to find kendall's jaw dropped, glancing around in astonishment.

"this is so fucking pretty!" kendall exclaims, managing to kick my foot.

"that's why i wanted to take you here, baby," i jump off of francine and set her up in the shade against a tree and then do the same for daisy.

kendall starts to unpack the contents of my backpack, setting down a big blanket for us. then she starts to unpack the bag of food, snacks, a bottle of wine, and both of our sketchbooks. we settle beside each other and start eating the little sandwiches we made at my house.