Matthew Gray Gubler Short Stories - Christmas Edition

Baby, It's Cold Outside

Cast: 

You: Y/n

Matthew Gray Gubler

A chilled out day of watching Netflix and playing board games with her boyfriend Matthew had been exactly what the doctor ordered. Christmas decorations covered the room from floor to ceiling leaving barely any room to move. The tree took pride of place in the furthest away corner, beautiful lights twinkling away in the slightly darkened room. The sofa had been adorned in festive cushions and warm, woolly blankets, the furniture having been perfectly rearranged to make the space all the more inviting. Y/N sat on the large, grey corner sofa with a mug of hot chocolate in one hand, locked in an intense game of 'Battleship' with Matthew who sat across from her. An abandoned round of 'Scrabble' lay on the floor next to the table. They had long given up on it after learning that Matthew wasn't the best at spelling and had spent the majority of the game trying to come up with funnier and funnier combinations of curse words.

Y/N had been perfectly content rolling dice and moving small plastic pieces around the various game boards, enjoying a rare day off with her boyfriend. That was until Matthew had decided to burst her bubble of bliss by ridding himself of the guilty conscience he had accumulated from keeping something from her for so long. He hadn't known how long the guilt had been building up but it had been slowly chipping away at him all day, a sickly knot tugging tighter and tighter in his gut. He just couldn't take it anymore, knowing that she deserved to hear the truth from him before word got back to her from his friends.

"Y/N?"

She turned her head to him, a small smile upon her lips. She was none the wiser and her innocence made the guilt all the worse.

"I.... I... err... I cheated."

Everything around them slowed down and he could see her outward vibe towards him changing. Time was passing by so slowly that he noticed every minute behaviour of hers change. Within seconds he found himself being pushed out into the cold with no jacket to spare him of the elements as she shouted a wide range of expletives at him – more than he could ever recall hearing in his lifetime-, telling him not to bother coming back. The door slammed shut with such force that impacted snow from the roof above became unstuck and fell off, coating him in a thick sheet of the white compressed powder. All he could do was just stand there encased in shock and confusion, getting increasingly colder and wetter by the second.

Nearly three hours after he had admitted to cheating (and despite Y/N making it very clear that she wanted nothing to do with him) Matthew found himself back at her home having changed into a dry outfit and picking up a jacket along the way. By now the residential area was dimly lit by street lights, outside decorations and garden lanterns. He knocked on the front door a couple of times. As he waited for her his head hung down and he placed his present-filled hands behind his back. He had trawled the shops for quite some time looking for the perfect "I'm really sorry" gift.

Her head bobbed into view through the small frosted glass pane and he could just make out her features. She was not happy. She reluctantly opened the door, resisting the urge to yell at him for coming back.

"What are you doing here? I told you to leave." Without giving him time to answer she shut the door and faded from sight. He followed in after her. When she noticed him following her she groaned, knowing he wouldn't leave unless she heard him out.

He moved his right hand around to his front to indicate that he had brought her a peace offering.

She snorted, "Flowers aren't going to work this time, Matthew."

He brought out a small gift bag from behind him with his other hand.

"Seriously, Matthew? I can't be bought. You cheated. Material objects aren't going to fix that."

His face screwed up as though confused. He put the gifts on the coffee table. It may have been cold outside but, boy, was it even colder in here.

"I'm sorry."

She rolled her eyes.

The silence between them was deafening.

She crossed her arms over her chest, "Is that it?"

He furrowed his brow at her.

"Is that all you have to say for yourself? No explanation for why you cheated, just 'I'm sorry'?"

"There's not much to explain. I was weak, I cheated and I'm sorry."

Never in her life had she felt so disrespected and unimportant.

"An apology isn't going to cut it. I want you to leave." She headed back towards the door in an attempt to get him out of her home. She couldn't stand having him there.

He followed her again, groaning; "I can't believe you're getting so worked up over me cheating at a board game."

She stopped in her tracks incredulous; "Wait... what?"

He stopped behind her, "I said; 'I can't believe how worked up you're getting over me cheating at a board game' but if you want me to go, I'll go."

Embarrassment would have overcome her if she hadn't been so angry at him, "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"What?"

"I thought you had cheated on me."

"Why would you think that?"

She looked at him in total disbelief; "Maybe because you bloody told me so yourself earlier on!"

He grew sheepish, "Oh."

"Too right fucking 'oh'! Are you seriously telling me that you completely turned my world upside down all because you cheated at a board game?" She was outraged and this only made him feel a hundred times worse.

"I don't know whether to laugh or to cry." She was so conflicted. Her body couldn't seem to make up its mind either, tears streaming down her face as she laughed.

Matthew pulled her in for a hug, glad when she didn't push him away.

"I hate you. You're such an idiot," she mumbled the words into his chest. She didn't mean them, though.

He shook his head as he laughed, knowing that everything would be okay. He couldn't believe how much trouble he had been in all over picking the wrong phrase to start admitting his guilt to. He really had to get better at using his words - and at board games.