A break from the usual programing, but YOU GUYS. I saw/kind of met Matthew last night! Honestly so fucking insane so I thought I'd share my little experience with you. This is obviously in my personal POV and genuinely 100% true. I literally can't stop thinking about it so maybe if I write it out, I'll calm down a bit. Here it goes!!

*****

This is literally at the Grove in LA and I was there this afternoon and this was taken tonight I'm dying inside I was so close, I sent in a text to my best friend from college last night. Attached was a TikTok of a girl who met Matthew at the Grove that same day. I've been home on break since Thanksgiving and my mom and I decided to head downtown to get out of the house and do some Christmas shopping.

It sucks to see other people living your dream, she replies late that night.

Honestly, I message back when I see the text in the morning. But the magnetism between us is obviously there, I joke.

I feel like you are going to meet him someday, she replies. My number one fan. You've seen photos of Matthew with fans in your area recently, so it's not really out of the relm of possibility. It's more of a matter of needing to be in the right place at the right time.

Honestly, I repeat. I'm manifesting.

Your day goes on as usual when your cousin texts you late in the afternoon. The neighborhood down the street from you puts up an incredible display of holiday lights for the month of December and she invites you on a bike ride through the area. You had already drove through a couple nights before with a few friends from high school, but a ride on your mom's electric bike sounded like fun.

Your cousin and her boyfriend meet you in your parents driveway and you take off through your neighborhood with a headlamp strapped over your favorite college baseball cap. You bike for a few blocks and cross over the highway into the neighborhood with the light display. It's a Saturday, so the cars are pretty packed in. You lead your cousin and her boyfriend through the cars as they play Christmas music through a big speaker strapped to their bike.

You get a few blocks in when you decide it would be easiest to ride on the left side of the street as all the traffic was stacked up on the right side. Halfway down the block, you spot someone in a rainbow-stripped puffy jacket walking next to a little kid on the sidewalk to your left. That's cute, you think to yourself, kind of like the one MGG was wearing in that photo from last night. As you get closer to the jacket, your eyes trail up to the man's face, glasses pushed up his nose, and you realize holy shit. That IS Matthew Gray Gubler.

You ride your bike right past him and you hear his voice, your ears confirming what you had seen. No fucking way. You grab your cousins attention and they stop next to you a few houses up where you proceed to freak out.

"Guys, that was Matthew Gray Gubler," you barely get out. You're so excited you don't know what to do.

"Who?" your cousin asks.

"Fucking Matthew Gray Gubler!"

"I have literally never heard of this person."

"Holy shit guys, he's in criminal minds! I'm in love with him, you don't understand!"

"Well then we have to go back."

"Are you sure it was him," her boyfriend butts in.

"Yes! Trust me, I would know!" you explain, still freaking out. "He was literally on my TV when you pulled up to my house!"

"Do you want to stop?" you cousin asks.

"I mean, yeah, but no. I love him, but I think he's with his family, I don't want to bother him. And it would be really awkward with the bikes and everything," you reason.

"Which one is he?"

"He's in that rainbow puffy. I'll give you a little thumbs-up when we're about to go past him."

The three of you climb back onto your bikes and pedal down the street. You can see his back as he walks down the sidewalk and you give your cousin the subtle thumbs-up your promised. You turn your head head to look at him as you pass by. At this point, it's pretty obvious that your looking at him and you make eye contact for a quick second. Fuck, I can't make eye contact with this man like a creeper without saying anything.

"I'm a really big fan!" you shout a little bit as you ride by, the world's biggest grin on your face.

"Oh, thank you!" you hear Matthew holler back at you and he gives you a little smile. His VOICE. He spoke to YOU with that voice.

You turn back to face the road and you let out a silent scream as you ride away. This is fucking insane. Your cousin and her boyfriend follow you around a couple more blocks when you get turned back around to the beginning of the block that you saw Matthew on. You stop at the top of the street and continue your internal freak out.

"Let's go by him again, I want to make sure," your cousins boyfriend suggest as he googles Matthew.

"No, I mean, I kind of feel bad," you hesitate. Most people are in cars and very few people are walking. The three of you are really the only ones on bikes in the whole neighborhood and between the music and headlamps, you feel like he'd know you were passing by him again. Even though there weren't really any crowds outside of the cars, you didn't want to draw any extra attention to him or seem like you were creeping, especially since he was with his friends or family. "Well, I guess we kind of have to go past him again anyway," you reason. The way the neighborhood is laid out, you end up going in a weird circle, especially with all the traffic.

"Let's go then!" your cousin pushes. The three of you take off around the corner and you make it down the length of the street when you spot his jacket again towards the end of the block. You turn your head and give an excited grin to your cousin behind you. You face straight ahead as you ride by Matthew and you can hear his voice again as he talks excitedly to the little boy next to him. You do another little silent scream and you can't wipe the stupid grin off your face the whole ride home.

*****

So there it is! Honestly, I would've loved a photo, but I think the encounter was perfect given the situation. I really didn't want to intrude, especially because he was walking with a kid and his friends or family were right behind him. I saw his face and heard his voice and he saw my face and heard my voice and that's enough for me! Honestly, I don't know how I would've been able to actually talk to this man knowing that I write detailed fanfiction about him.

Also, for privacy reasons, I'm just gonna say that this happened somewhere in the greater Los Angeles area. I don't want to blow his spot in case he lives around here. And if for whatever reason you think I'm making this up, I really don't care to hear it. I know this is something that really happened for me and that's enough! Anyway, thanks for listening to my rambling and I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed sharing!