old soul | matthew gray gubler

36. just a building

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

Charlotte stepped from heel to heel, fingers tugging at the hem of her dress as Matthew stood on her doorstep, a glint in his dark eyes. He wore a pink button up, only the collar visible beneath his sweater. Charlotte loved him with all of her heart, and her soul was beginning to reach that point, too. But, every time she saw him, no matter how he looked- disheveled, tired, loud, grinning- she felt herself elate with adoration.

However, it was he who was glancing her up and down with the affectionate gaze. He shrugged, pulling a hand from his pocket to reach for hers. "You just look so beautiful."

She slid her fingers into hers and followed him to his car. "I bought a bunch of dresses online shopping and I just realized I won't be able to wear them in a short time."

Matthew chuckled at this, "You can give me a fashion show when we get home."

Home. The word lingered in the air and Charlotte wanted to chase after it. Was her home his home? Eventually, they were going to have to decide whose house the nursery would be in. Would he move in with her? She couldn't give up her grandma's house, plus Charlotte had a roommate now. But, Matthew had worked hard to make his house nice, and he loved it more than he loved a lot of people.

Charlotte tried to push away the thoughts as Matthew opened the door for her. She wasn't supposed to stress. It wasn't good for the baby.

They rode to the restaurant in anything but silence, first going into the topic of the location itself, then somehow ending up debating the best season of The Office. Matthew was a huge fan of season 4, when Michael was at his peak, comedically, Jim and Pam were finally together, and the show finally in the swing of things.

Charlotte disagreed- strongly. "No! I refuse to believe that you enjoy sitting through that stupid celebrity walk for rabies episode! It's the worst."

"Wait, worse episode of the entire show or of the season?"

"Not the entire show. The worst episode of the entire show is, for sure, the first one. No- wait, any episode from season 9- besides that last two- are awful."

"Okay, I dig that," he nodded casually. "Season 9 went downhill, but they somehow managed to make the last two episodes good."

"No, because- what the fuck did they do to Andy? He had such potential and then he goes to the- what are they called?- Bahamas, or whatever," Charlotte rambled. "They ruined him."

"Yeah, I get that-" he continued on.

Soon, they were pulling into the parking lot and Matthew was opening her door again. Charlotte was surprised at how nice the restaurant was, not having expected him to go so above and beyond. It was surprising, too, that he was able to book a table as late as he had.

Charlotte let go of his hand as he sat on the other side of the table. She took her seat, fingers grasping for the menu. The hostess asked for their drink and she said, "Water."

"Same here," Matthew waved, a polite smile on his lips.

Charlotte's eyes skimmed the words on the menu, but Matthew was looking at her. She felt his gaze and looked up, "What?"