Wednesday Night Phone Calls
Dad calls on a Wednesday night.
"Hi, slugger," he says, and Penny gets off the couch for the bottle of merlot in the fridge. "How are you?"
She's surprised that he doesn't ask how Leonard is, as that's usually his first question, but that will come next. "Good. Tired."
"Get sleep," he says in his usual brisk way. "You've been doing auditions again, haven't you."
It's not a question, so Penny doesn't answer, just jumps straight to self-defense. "I can't get my name out there if I don't audition. And I'm not spending the rest of my life waitressing at the Cheesecake Factory."
"Not that I don't want bigger things for you, but there's nothing wrong with being a waitress. Aunt Ida did it for thirty-two years."
"I'm not Aunt Ida," Penny says between clenched teeth for what seems like the millionth time. "How are you, Dad?"
"Fine, fine. Farm nearly runs itself. How're you and Leonard?"
"Nonexistent," Penny says glumly, going from aggravated to miserable in seconds. "He's going out with Raj's sister."
"The Indian boy who can't speak around you?"
"Yeah," Penny chokes out, and a little sob escapes from between her lips even as she's denying everything she's about to say. "She's very pretty and very smart and – and, Daddy, she hates me."
"Hold on, slugger, I'm getting your mom," Dad says, sounding as though he's completely freaked out, and Penny tries to smile between tears.
There is shuffling in the background and a low murmuring of voices – "you take this one, Rosie, I can't do this kind of stuff" – before someone finally comes on the line.
"Hey, honey," Mom's voice spouts from the phone. "Sorry about that. Your dad's looking about as terrified as you were when we took Maisie to the butcher in town."
Penny makes a face at the memory. When she was six, there was one rather scrawny chicken she had taken on as a pet and named Maisie. That chicken had followed her around everywhere for nearly a year. Unfortunately, skinny Maisie had eventually filled out rather nicely. "Really, Mom?"
"She's fine, Bob!" Mom calls, and Dad grumbles from the background. Penny manages a little smile; Mom's the only one who still persists in calling Dad by his high school nickname since he decided to go by his middle name. "Now, honey. What's wrong?"
"It's nothing," she says, grabbing a Kleenex from the coffee table. "Just some personal stuff."
"That boy your dad told me about. Leonard, right?" Mom says, and Penny shakes her head. It's always been hard keep secrets from her nosy parents.
"Yeah," she admits. "He's going out with Raj's sister."
"And who's Raj?"
God, this is like talking to her mom about her fellow cheerleaders in high school. "One of Leonard and Sheldon's friends. He can't speak to me, remember?"
"Fear of pretty girls from Omaha?"
She laughed, holding back a hiccup. "Just girls in general."
"So what's going on with this Leonard? Do I have to send your cousin Max out?"
Penny gave an internal groan at the thought of brutish Max, her Aunt Wilma's son, coming to California. "Mom, it's fine."
"If that man broke your heart…" Mom threatens. "Now. What has he done?"
"Nothing!" she protests. "It's not him."
"Okay," Mom says, and Penny drains that glass of wine – she's going to need it now. "I'm going to give you some advice. Don't interrupt, now."
Penny, like she always did when she was still living at home, shuts up.
"You're in love with Leonard, whether you realize it or not. No, don't protest. You're in love with him, and now you've lost him. So you either let him go and regret what could have happened for the rest of your life, or you get him back."
"He's dating Priya," Penny mutters, feeling seventeen again.
"My advice still stands. He said he loved you, didn't he?"
Penny nearly drops her empty glass. "What the – how – Mom!"
"Oh, good Lord, Penny, shut your mouth, you'll catch flies," her mother says smartly, as though she's sitting on the couch next to her rather than fifteen hundred miles away. "If you want to talk to someone back home, don't call Mia Lionels. That girl can't keep a secret from her mother, and Bertha can't keep a secret for her sister, and the good Lord knows that she can't keep a secret from anyone."
Penny chews on her lower lip. "Oh."
"So, if he said he loved you and he's as nice a guy as your father – who still hasn't fed the dog! Bob! – says he is, then he means it. Wait for the relationship to end. It'll fizzle out."
"Mom…" Penny sighs, a million things running through her mind, and stands up to take her wine glass to the sink; might as well put it back lest she nearly smash her hand again. "Thanks."
"Honey, it's my job."
Leonard walked into 4A, coming back from early dinner with Priya on Wednesday night, when his phone rang. "Hello?"
"Shut up, sit down, and tell me why you're not trying to win back that nice actress Mother told me about."
He sighed and sat down, like his sister had ordered. "It's complicated."
"Bull – Charlotte, darling, it's almost eleven o'clock," she said, and muffled the phone.
Leonard rolled his eyes and turned off the TV, where the Firefly menu was still lit up. Sheldon was downstairs attempting to have a conversation with Mrs. Vartabedian, the unfortunate woman, and he'd probably be down there for a while, so Leonard kicked off his shoes and made himself comfortable for this conversation.
"Len?" the voice said, and he winced at the taunting nickname. "Hold on a minute, okay? I have to put Charlotte down."
He made a little murmur of assent, and tried to guess why his sister called. April Brightley, née Hofstadter, was his older sister and the only sane one in his family save poor Uncle Floyd. She was nine years older than he was; married to Peter, mom of Charlotte.
April has always been the one who took an interest in Leonard, the unhappy middle child. Even when she went to Columbia at seventeen, she would invite Leonard up for the day from Princeton, and the two of them would walk around New York, simply talking. Leonard had been the one who knocked over Peter and his art portfolio in the Columbia quad and so inadvertently introduced his sister to her future husband. He had flown home from Stanford to attend her wedding as a groomsman, and from Pasadena to see his niece, Charlotte, when she was born.
"Okay," April said, and Leonard moaned. He was in for an interrogation. "What, did you stub your toe?"
"Just not looking forward to this conversation."
She snorted. "You need someone to knock some sense into you. Now, tell me why I had to hear from Mother that you and your girlfriend broke up nearly a year ago."
"How did Mother find out?"
He could nearly see the flippant wave of her hand. "Unimportant. Now. You and what's-her-name –"
"Penny."
"Penny. You told me that you loved her. Last year."
"Yeah, I told her that too. She didn't take it so well," he said, the bitterness creeping back into his voice. "How did Mother find out?"
"Your crazy roommate. What did she say?"
He let out an irritated sigh. Sheldon! "She…April, I don't think it would have worked out."
"Bullshit." April yawned. "Crap, it's late. Leonard, you need to do two things as a favor for me."
"Maybe," he said, shoving his feet into his shoes as the key clicked into the lock. Sheldon tilted his head in question – they didn't exactly have a whole lot of people call – and he mouthed April. They would just have to put off their trip to the comic book store for a few minutes, until this conversation was done. "What?"
"Charlotte's third birthday is next month. Please fly out, Len."
"Please don't call me that." On the other end of the phone, she sighed heavily, and Leonard watched to make sure Sheldon was out of the room before he spoke. "I don't think I can take that much time off, April."
"You're never sick, you can afford it," she argued. "You've got that money Uncle Floyd left you…"
"Leonard," a voice said, and he groaned. Sheldon came out into the hall, holding a mug of tea and looking for all the world as though he had nothing better to do. "Leonard, are you leaving?"
He ignored his roommate. "I was hoping to save that."
"What? Floyd's money? Jesus, Leonard. The man left you seven thousand dollars and the rest of his money to MoMA."
" 'The man' was also a freaking mathematical genius."
"Leonard! Are you leaving the apartment?"
He covered the phone with one hand. "I don't know yet, Sheldon."
"Oh." He looked rather confused. "According to the Roommate Agreement, Clause XIV, Section II, I need to have –"
"Yes, Sheldon, I'm aware." He uncovered the phone. "Sorry, A."
"Crazy roommate?"
He winched, waiting for the product of Sheldon's Vulcan hearing to make itself apparent, and then –
"Leonard, please inform your sister that I'm not crazy, my mother had me tested."
He sighs. "You heard that."
"Different strokes for different folks, as Floyd would say," April said without a second's pause. "That man is free to feel he's not crazy while I know he is."
He snorted. "April, I'll see if I can come out."
"Good. Charlotte wants to see her Uncle Leonard."
He smiled; maybe his sister was coming up with the right idea. "I only said I'll look into it."
"I heard you. I'm only nine years older than you; I'm not deaf. I'll make up the guest room bed a few days before her birthday."
"Okay," he said. "We'll see. Listen, A, it's probably really late for –"
"I said I had two things."
He gulped. "Oh."
"I don't forget that quickly, either. Stop treating me like Grandma."
Leonard winced at the memory of his grandmother. Poor thing; her Alzheimer's was as worse as ever. "Fine."
"See?" There was some murmuring in the background, and then, "Peter says hi."
"Same to him. You probably want to get –"
"Go talk to Penny," said April. "Let her know that you don't want to push her out of your life. She's your friend, at the least."
"I'm dating Priya. And – how did you know that?"
"Sisters know everything." She paused. "Priya. The clingy one Sheldon was complaining about to Mother?"
"She's not clingy!"
"Doesn't matter," April said softly. "Leonard, if she really wanted to be with you, don't' you think she'd let you keep your friendship with Penny?"
"But –" he started to say, and cut himself off. It's more than a friendship. She's…
The pause lingered on the phone between two people who were comfortable with the other's silence for several minutes before April spoke again – gently, as if her younger brother was a fragile porcelain figure who she didn't dare disturb. "Are you still in love with her?"
He didn't respond, all the memories running through his head. Of him and Penny, of all the times he had wrapped his arms around her as she slept, content to listen to her hallow breathing and the beating of her heart. Of the way she had always looked at him.
Was he still in love with her?
"That's what I thought," April said at nothing more than a whisper before he could even contemplate answering his own question. "Take care, Len."
"You, too, A," he said without even thinking about it, lapsing into old routines, and she hung up the phone, leaving Leonard with his musings.
He looked around the apartment, lonely as it was with Sheldon retreating to his room for the moment. He missed her, he realized. He really, truly missed her.
And with a determination that far exceeded anything he'd done in the past few weeks, he walked over to the apartment and flung open the door.
She was there, on the other side of the hall, wearing a pink flowered dress that he recognized from a year and a half ago – the dress that she was wearing when he gave her the snowflake after the North Pole expedition. "Leonard, hi!"
Her eyes were rimmed red, but she had put on just enough makeup that most people wouldn't give a second glance. "Are you okay?"
"Um." She gave him a suspicious look. "Yes?"
He tilted his head. "Okay. Um. So, uh –"
"Where are you guys headed?" she said, closing her apartment door and flashing a quick smile over one shoulder.
"Oh, uh, comic book store, new comic book night," he said, the words tumbling out of his mouth before he could even think about them. "Sheldon! Are you coming?"
There was some sort of muffled call from inside the apartment, and Penny laughed – her annoying yet endearing laugh. "Wackadoodle."
He nodded, waiting for Sheldon to come and help him be his cover, when he heard footsteps on the stairs and they both turned their heads to see Bernadette, who smiled brightly at both of them. "Oh, hi, Leonard! Penny, you said you'd be downstairs five minutes ago."
"Sorry." She shrugged. "My dad called."
"How's Wyatt?" Leonard asked before he could help himself. Was that crossing some sort of line? He had liked Penny's dad a lot, however odd the entire situation had been.
"Good," Penny said. "Bernadette, are –"
"Hey," said Bernadette, her face complete curiosity, and she reached one hand over and pushed a few strands of Penny's hair behind her ear. "New earrings and you're not showing them off?"
Penny bit her lip, like she always did when I was nervous. "Yeah, I bought these, like, a year ago. Just haven't worn them before."
"They're so cute!" Bernadette said as Leonard shifted from foot to foot awkwardly, hoping Sheldon would hurry the hell up so they could head to the comic book store. "Aw, little snowflakes!"
Snowflakes.
His stomach doubled over from an invisible bunch, and Leonard grabbed the doorknob. It was the middle of spring – why would she be wearing snowflakes except for…?
He glanced at her, only distantly aware of Bernadette still chattering on. She was staring at her hands, wringing them lifeless, and she gave a covert look at him as he continued to stare at her, still in shock. Their eyes locked – green on brown, both anxious and terrified – and she looked away first.
"Um," he said, almost without meaning to, and both women turned to stare at him. "Um, I'd better go. Sheldon!" he yelled into the apartment, heart racing faster with every passing moment. "I'll meet you in the car!"
There was no response, but for once Leonard felt convinced that the man's Vulcan hearing was useful, and he left without trepidation. "Um. Bye," he said to the two women across the hall, intending it for both but finding that he couldn't tear his eyes off Penny.
"Bye, Leonard!" Bernadette called cheerily after him as he made his escape down the stairs, and a distant echo came from his ex-girlfriend.
His ex-girlfriend who evidently wanted him back.
His ex-girlfriend who he was supposed to stay away from.
His ex-girlfriend who he was probably still in love with.
Oh, crap.
"I saw what you did there," Penny retaliates as soon as she's sure Leonard's out of hearing distance, and they head down the stairs.
Bernadette is the picture of innocence. Damn meddling friends! "What?"
"That thing with my earrings, and the snowflake you know perfectly well is on my nightstand, and –"
"It worked, didn't it?" the petite girl argues, raising her eyebrows and giving up all pretense of cluelessness. "And it's not as if it was a lie. Your earrings are snowflakes."
"Yeah," Penny admits, fingering the earrings reverently. "I got them when we were still together. Just never really needed to wear them."
"Until now," Bernadette says, nodding her head slowly, understandingly.
She opens her mouth to speak, but then pauses. Is it stupid? Oh, screw it. "Hey," she says, and pauses again, almost backing out. "You remember why Leonard and I broke up, right?"
Bernadette nods.
"Well, um," Penny says, and chews on her lower lip. "I – I think I'm in love with him."
The other woman grins as they finally reach the first floor, only turning to look at her friend once they are heading out the door. "Took you long enough."
A/N: I hoped you liked it! Please review – it's far more essential to the writer in me than air. :)