old soul | matthew gray gubler

43. thanks be

y'all had to have known my manic updating wouldn't have lasted. i literally have adhd, i cannot predict when my body will want to write so please enjoy this before i disappear for another month

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"Okay, let's go around the living room- I guess- and say what we're thankful for!"

Sheila, ever the charismatic conversationalist, was leaning over herself with excited chatter. She held her glass of sparkling grape juice so sophisticatedly, Charlotte wondered if she'd been a regent woman in her past-life. Sheila, much like the rest of her family, had an old soul, one that could fit in with her generation, but belonged with the elders.

Charlotte smiled at her suggestion, nodding approvingly at her from across the living room. The apartment was cramped- Charlotte sat upon Matthew's lap in the small arm chair, Prune was splayed over the floor in front of them, CeCe was curled up on the loveseat with Sheila, Aisha, and Aisha's fiancé. He- Henry- had flown in the previous week to visit his future-wife and fit right into the little family. Each had their own glass of wine, bar Charlotte, who felt like a teenager again with her own shoot of sparkling grape juice. Faces were red, bellies full of a make-shift meal, and all were joyous and bright.

Sheila demanded the room's attention again, "I'll go first. Charlotte, don't cry. But I'm most thankful for you this year."

The aforementioned woman already had tears glassing her eyes. "What! You know I will," she jutted her bottom lip out, tilted her head in saddened attention.

Sheila continued, "This year was really hard and you were a super bright light through it all. I mean, you got me an agent, you're helping Daniel in college, and you're somehow managing to put up with a man child and your own baby."

Matthew jokingly defended, "Hey!"

Laughter, then Sheila again, "Kidding! Kidding! But, seriously, Char. Thank you. So much."

Charlotte wiped at her cheek, flashed an appreciative smile, "Thank you."

CeCe tossed her arm over Sheila, "Yeah, without you, we would've gone without coffee one too many times on set."

Laughter rang out again.

Matthew tapped Charlotte's thigh rhythmically, a song no one else could hear playing in his head. Charlotte leaned back into him a bit more, let her head fall into the space between his shoulder and his neck. He welcomed her by wrapping his arm tighter.

CeCe went next, still holding an arm around Sheila. "This year, I was most thankful for sprinkled donuts and Tinder. I pray to Aphrodite that, this year, it'll be useful for more than just hookups."

Charlotte scrunched her nose, "At least you got some good ones."

CeCe raised her glass, "I cheers to that!"

Aisha and her fiancé both took their turns, staring into one another's eyes like star-crossed lovers defying all odds to even breathe the same air. Their love was familiar, as all love was, but special, in the sense that it was so old, no one could remember the one without the other. Their edges bled into one another, noses starting to form the same shape, unless it was a trick of time. Charlotte knew that would one day happen to her and Matthew, that it was already starting to. That was enough to be thankful for, loving yourself as you exist within someone else.