Chapter 1

"Penny, who are you texting"? Leonard's asked.

"Oh, just a friend," Penny replied. "Why?"

"It just that you have been texting for the last hour and you seem distracted from our conversation."

Penny puts her phone down on the table and looks at Leonard, "Sorry we were just fooling around, I stop now," smiling at him

"Should I be worried." Leonard looks away thinking what is she up to.? Penny seems distracted; she had this smile on her face and Leonard was sure a couple of time she was blushing, is she texting a guy. Leonard wondered,

"Of course not," Penny reassured him. "It's just a friend, and we are just messing about so stop being paranoid for god sake," Penny stood up and went to the fridge to get some water, "Would you like a drink"?

"No, I am fine thank you, just going to head next door and finish off my paper," Leonard said.

"Oh, I thought you were staying the night," Penny asked.

"Yeah, I was going to, but I need to finish my paper as its due in tomorrow." Penny walks over to Leonard and kisses him on the cheek, "Do you fancy doing lunch tomorrow."

"Yeah ok, that will be nice, pick me at about 12.00, and we go out for something." Leonard smiled.

"It's a date Leonard, and I see you tomorrow" Leonard nods and head to the door, "Goodnight Penny,"

"Goodnight Leonard."

Leonard walks into 4A; he was still bothered by the ongoings of the evening and who Penny was texting, well at least Sheldon is in bed. Leonard sighs and sat on the couch. What could have been so funny that was making Penny blush so hard. She was definitely texting a guy, is she cheating on me, all these scenarios came rushing into Leonard's head he shakes his head to get rid of those thoughts and over thinking things. I trust Penny, she wouldn't cheat on me or would she?. Stop it, Leonard, she loves you, and you know it. I should have just asked her who her friend was, why didn't I ask her. Leonard got up and heads to his bedroom thinking; I trust Penny. He tosses and turns in his bed not able to go to sleep, still troubled by the events of the evening. Penny seems distracted, and most of the time he had to raise his voice to get her attention back to him as she was too busy on her phone, she would apologize, saying sorry Leonard, Leonard needed to get some sleep. An hour later, he fell asleep still unable to figure out what the hell was going on.

Leonard was at work having lunch with the guys in the cafeteria. Howard, Raj, and Sheldon are discussing virtual time travel.

"According to exploratory study Virtual reality can be used to give the illusion of going back in time," said Raj

"That interesting, so going into the past increased the level of guilt the participants might feel," Howard replied.

Sheldon interjected, "Oh I don't know about that, but in a virtual world maybe subjects are able to reduce how many people a gunman kills, an event they had unknowingly been part of."

Raj and Howard looked at each other and then Sheldon.

"Is that your theory?" asked Raj.

"Well in a virtual world, participants could walk, talk and move similar to how they would in real life, and as previous studies have shown that people strongly associate with their virtual selves," Sheldon said.

"You will know all about that," Howard smirked,

Sheldon turned to Leonard and said, "Leonard, what's your take on the whole virtual time travels? Leonard, Leonard..." Sheldon shouts, "Are you listening to me."

Leonard jumps." Yes sorry, what was your question?"

"Leonard, what's going on, you have been very quiet," Howard said.

"Is is because Penny blew you out for lunch?" Raj grinned. Howard & Raj both giggled.

"No, No. I just got a lot on my mind that's all."

"Is this about Penny?" Sheldon asked.

"No, just work stuff. I think I am going to go back to my lab, got a lot of work to catch up on." Leonard looks away and shrugs as he leaves the cafeteria.

The three looked at each other and said in unison. "Yep PENNY"

Leonard enters 4B to see Penny sitting on her couch reading something on her phone. "Hi, Penny."

Ten seconds later, Penny looks up and say "Oh, hi Leonard, how was your day.?" Penny asked and looked back down at her phone, smiling at whatever she was reading.

"It was fine," he responded.

"Penny, what happens to you today, we were supposed to meet for lunch, and you never showed up," Penny finally put her phone down, "where we"?.

"Yes, it was your idea remember."

"Oh My God, I am so sorry I forgot, and my phone died."

"So you haven't seen the texts and the voicemail I sent you," Leonard asked.

"Just going through my phone now, I had a few messages I am really sorry, I will make It up to you." Penny gets up and goes over to Leonard and put her arm around his neck and kisses him passionately on the lips, with a saucy look, Penny releases Leonard and walks toward her bedroom "I am just going to take a quick shower."

Leonard wondered If she was telling the truth, he wanted to believe her as there was no reason not to, but after the no-show for lunch, he was not so sure now, did she meet up with her new friend?. And this morning when he entered her apartment to say goodbye, she quickly put her phone away, and there was that blush again, Leonard really need to talk to Penny about this, It was driving him crazy.

Leonard's thoughts were broken by Penny's phone pinging, he looks over at her phone on the table and saw the name that flashed up, that's definitely a guy's name. He wondered if he should go through her phone?, NO… I trust Penny but his doubts are overwhelming now, and his curiosity was getting the better of him, he could hear the shower going, so there was no chance of Penny walking in on him Leonard decides to take a look at Penny's phone. His heart is beating fast; he wondered If he might need his inhaler, he reads the message review.

Just a joke but you are like sex on legs and Thanks for meeting me for lunch, we should do it again, or maybe dinner xx.

Leonard read through the other read messages and was shocked at what Penny & this guy were texting each other. Leonard fell back on the couch and puts both hands over his face, tears in his eyes.