When the door first rang Sheldon thought nothing of it, mostly that came down to the fact he was mildly unaccustomed to hearing it ring as many of his friends simply waltzed in whenever they deemed acceptable. So it took him until the second ring before he realised that, 'oh my, that's our doorbell,' Given his track record with unwelcome visitors, the only inhabitant of the apartment straightened himself out and frowned at the offending plank of wood; it almost as if the door had decided to ring its own doorbell and was completely at fault. As it rang again, he jumped, cerulean eyes widening in surprise before he strode over to it in long strides too peer through the peephole. On the other side he could see a female with shoulder-length spiky chestnut hair, shuffling from one foot to the next, looking out of place as she lifted her hand to ring again.
This time, the tall male decided he didn't want to hear the loud, obnoxious clanging in repetition, so he quickly undid the lock of the door and peeped around the edge. The unfamiliar girl seemed to jump back, startled; her lined eyes a dark hazelnut behind glasses that seemed to be of fashion as of late yet really reminded Sheldon of his high school teacher, Mrs Adamson. Her skin was tanned, which told the blue eyed boy that either she had been on holiday or was of some form of exotic descent. He continued to study her for a second like a regular Sherlock Holmes, taking in her height and nervousness as a way of notifying she was of no threat. "May I help you?" He asked finally, lips pursed ever so slightly.
"Does...urm...Leonard l-live here?" The post-teen stammered, appearing sort of shaky as she swallowed, gnawing at her already violently reddened lips. "L-Leonard Hofstadter?" Her voice was barely a whisper and Sheldon thanked the hearing that he prided himself on so greatly, before he nodded in reply.
"Well, he's not here as of present, but I can leave a message?" He shifted to open the door a little wider to await her words, though he briefly wondered what Leonard could see in a girl that clearly had the same growth malfunctions as he did. However, he was raised a gentlemen thanks to the strong Texan women of his family and at least had the manners to take a message that he doubted would reach his roommate. As if to interrupt his words, he heard a familiar voice call out an unfamiliar name.
"Skylar! I see you've met Sheldon," It was here that said man noticed the nervousness pass over Leonard's expression, a look of fear as he scratched at the back of his neck, opening his mouth before closing it again. Both the girl, Skylar, and Sheldon turned to look at him with both amusement and worry. "Let's all go inside, I've got explaining to do," he muttered, a look of dread crossing his features as he looked between the two. "A lot of explaining,"
Two minutes later, Leonard had placed all the shopping on the breakfast bar, leaning against it for a second to furrow his eyebrows in thought before he gestured for them to sit. Sheldon immediately sat in his seat whilst the stranger sat next to him, 'entirely too close' he thought to himself before shifting over so that his side was pressed against the arm of the chair. He turned his attention to the shorter male whom was now perched on the separate chair, looking a little too jumpy for this to be good news.
"Sheldon, this is my sister, Skylar," So that confession may have caught him off guard a little, for they looked nothing alike, but then him and Missy never did look similar, and they're twins. The blue eyed man nodded, for a moment confused as to why Leonard thought he had any genuine care for this information; he had little care for Raj's sister, but that could've been she was a little so-and-so. "She's...staying with us for a while," And just like that he shot to his feet, aqua orbs narrowed and mouth spewing out a rage.
"And you didn't think to consult me first?" Sheldon inhaled sharply, hands waving in the air like he was drawing out his anger "This is a clear infraction of the roommate agreement, not to mention the fact there's no room!" Behind him, Skylar seemed to curl up on herself, burying her face in her knees as she quivered gently.
"Sheldon stop," Leonard started gently, seeing his younger sister close to tears, but the other male seemed barely capable of standing still as he paced and talked like he was on a motor 'Except you can switch motors off', the shorter thought rather forlornly. "Can you please stop," the bespectacled man grasped his roommates arm fiercely only to have it yanked back as if he had been burnt. "You're scaring her," he finished finally into the silence but, as predicted all he got was a roll of Sheldon's eyes in acknowledgement, and yet he expected nothing less from the man with no concept of human emotions. "She will be staying in my room; I will be sleeping on the couch ok?" Reluctantly, the elder nodded and retreated back to his seat.
"Ok first thing's first, she was brought up in England by her mother, who was of Spanish descent, Her name is Skylar, she is 19 and is related to me through my father, she has had a hard time and I ask for nothing but for you to leave her alone," Sheldon looked at the girl who was finally uncurling herself, still shaking ever so slightly.
"I will need to write up a section of the roommate agreement specific to her and her actions, you and solely you are responsible for her, understood?" The two men glowered at each other until a nod was passed in agreement, without further acknowledgement; the taller retreated to his room.
"I'm really sorry about him, he's very... him," in fact he couldn't think of a word to describe his eccentric friend, there wasn't a word he could think of that would ever define him or come close to defining him. "He has trouble with change, and surprises, his entire life is one long schedule," Burying his face in his hands for a second, Leonard ran his hands through his curling hair again and blinked slowly "But he's also a bitch, and sometimes I wonder why he's my best friend,"
"B-Because you're a good person, a-and you know he n-needs help?" She whispered, placing a hand on her brother's knee. "No-one can solve their p-problems on th-their own Lenny," The gentle smile she offered reminded Leonard why she was the only member of his family he could tolerate. Although his mother was cold, and his father was a mess, his siblings were always very intelligent, however she never gained his mother's harsh outlook on life even though she had learned it all for herself; Skylar remained the nicest person he could ever be related too. It's why she was his sister, and not "Half-sister,"
"Don't call me that…squirt," She let out a little laugh and smiled for the first time in a long time, her still shaky hands combing through her hair. "Sheldon's an idiot, but I promise you he won't physically hurt you, I don't think he's ever hurt anyone in his life, which is strange 'cause he's from Texas," The shorter roommate furrowed his thick eyebrows in hesitant confusion for a second. "Let's go meet Penny; she's got better social skills,"
"I cannot believe you took her to see Sheldon before me, you were basically throwing her into a hurricane before she learnt how to use a safety…thing," The blonde stood with her arms folded and lips pursed, eyes trained on her boyfriend as if he was a monkey with fewer brain cells. "More importantly you knew how he'd react, you know how much he freaks out, so why on Earth didn't you tell him? Or bring her here whilst you told him Leonard? She's as white as a ghost, probably scarred for life and it's your entire fault,"
"It's not my fault," He protested, holding his hands up surrender "Well not entirely, I thought it'd go a lot worse than that," Penny glared at him again, before rolling her eyes and placing a hand on the girl's arm, barely noticing the young brunette stiffen at the mere touch on her skin.
"Would you like something to drink? 19's legal right?" she stopped and shrugged "Oh who cares I was drinkin' at 14, so what do you want?"
"Could I just h-have cola or s-something please?" The younger girl stammered, her innocent eyes and stammer making her seem like a child although she was just passed being an adult. 'I hope Leonard keeps her at a safe distance from the guys,' Penny thought to herself, she knew just what Howard was like, after all the receiving end had been pointing her way for a long time.
"Sure sweetie, I usually keep some for Sheldon seeing as he refuses alcohol every time, I think he does it just to annoy me but it's also probably a good thing because he's always hyper, like a big kid, a big kid with a big brain and a cocky attitude," Her green eyes blinked at the cup as she poured, measuring the right amount before passing it over. "Enjoy,"
Leonard was forgotten about as the night proceeded, but even as he faded into the background he worried about the younger girl. There was a ten year difference between them, which is both a very short and very long time span; he felt he needed to protect her because of the many things she had already experienced, but did that also mean that he'd have to protect her even from his own friends?
