Matthew Gray Gubler Short Stories - Christmas Edition

Sleigh Ride #1

One

"Let's take the road before and sing a chorus or two."

"Ready?" Matthew asked from next to you in the driver's seat.

You nodded as you clipped your belt into place and he pulled out of the driveway, setting off for the nearly four and half hour drive from California back to Vegas. It was early morning, around 7am, and you were both heading back to where you had met as kids for Christmas celebrations with your families before returning home to California for a New Year's party with your friends.

You spent the first hour or so of the journey napping in the passenger seat, a late night of packing last minute items and wrapping forgotten presents having tired you out. When you woke up the journey was half way over. At this rate you'd be at your parents' house in time for lunch and preferably another nap.

After stopping at a rest stop for a comfort break and a mandatory "on the road" pasty, you were back on the road again. It was fairly quiet save for the window wipers that Matthew had had to turn on to brush away a light covering of rain that was falling down. It was nice to see a bit of the wet stuff for a change; those drought seasons were too inconsistent and unpredictable. The squeaking from the wipers was being to irritate you and you needed a distraction before it put you in a bad mood.

You dug around in your bag, pulling out your iPod. "You know what this journey needs?"

Matthew didn't answer, concentrating on the road ahead. You plugged the device into the aux cord and searched for a playlist. You watched Matthew's face for a reaction as you pressed "play".

His face lit up as soon as he heard the familiar introduction to "Sleigh Ride".

"Wahey!"

You giggled; you loved seeing him so happy.

For the rest of the journey you sang along to Christmas songs at the top of your lungs with Matthew joining in as enthusiastically as he could without crashing the car. The drive was definitely starting to look up.