Sheldon Lee Cooper's gaze didn't move from the McDonald's counter.
Somehow, for one reason or another the blonde didn't remember being worth it, when he and Leonard decided to go to a video game sale an hour from Pasadena that morning, Penny had agreed to go with them, if only for the small store in the very same street that she had seen online and that was, apparently, specialized in high heels and all kinds of handbags.
With accurate GPS directions, it hadn't been hard to get to their destination. However, when they decided to leave, somehow the GPS system hadn't wanted to work with them anymore and they had, thus, been forced to go from street signs alone. Since the video game sale had been in a part of the town further from the city, there hadn't been very many. The two doctorandi had not had a way to fix the broken GPS in the middle of nowhere, after all. They had only begun to recognize the surroundings three hours and twenty minutes after they left the video game sale.
Unsurprisingly, with their trip unexpectedly taking so long, driven by their thirst and hunger, Leonard and Penny had decided to stop by the first McDonald's that was on their way, and Sheldon had agreed as well, without all too many objections despite the fact that it was the third Saturday of the month and that that meant pizza for dinner from the local pizza place, which was still pretty far away.
"I have heard that McDonald's doesn't really care about hygiene. I've heard a great deal of horror stories, as a matter of fact, and we've never been to this one. I also don't know why you wanted to go in instead of just go through the drive-in. I don't like being weird," Sheldon stated as he wiggled in his seat, like a little child.
Penny rolled her blue eyes when she heard the words. After all, for someone who didn't like being weird, he presented himself that way a lot of the time. "Those stories are just that: stories, urban legends. I've survived most of my teens on McDonald's, and I've never ever gotten sick," she said, her mouth full of French fries, "I had McDonald's very often, and I'm just fine."
"Well, that's debatable..." Sheldon began, then stopped when Penny glared at him. That gaze was a clear warning for him not to finish that thought, at least aloud.
"Also," she said, then took a sip from her Ice-Tea, "with that long a line at the drive-in, it was faster to just go in and order here."
"If you say so..." Sheldon responded and looked down like a dog that had been beaten. Penny decided to drop the subject already.
The next few minutes passed quietly, until they heard the soft footfalls of a small woman and the blonde who had taken their order appeared with their dinner. She didn't say a word as she put a gray tray before Sheldon and the other in-between Penny and Leonard. She smiled briefly before she disappeared, back to the counter.
Quickly, Leonard ensured that they all had their ordered food before them. A small yellow sticker adorned Sheldon's Big Mac box to indicate that its contents had been made for him specifically. As both Penny and Leonard, hungry as fuck, opened their boxes and ketchup packets and began to shovel their sandwiches and their fries in their mouths, Doctor Cooper opened his box slowly and then lifted the top off his own sandwich to inspect whether or not his order was correct. After just one second, he let it fall closed and pushed his Big Mac away, as if it were dirty. "There's cheese on it!" he shrieked. "Leonard, there's cheese on it! I can't have cheese on my Big Mac!"
Leonard, more than aware that Sheldon wouldn't let them eat in peace until the Big-Mac-with-cheese issue was solved anyway, stuffed as much of his own Big Mac ── with cheese ── in his mouth as he could, picked up the box in which Sheldon's had come and walked up to the counter, to let the woman know that the order wasn't entirely correct. He returned moments later with the news that the Ph.D. in Physics would get his new Big Mac, without cheese, in minutes, once the other orders were through as well.
"Leonard!" Sheldon exclaimed, with big eyes. "Then I can't eat the sandwich with my French fries anymore, because they will be cold by the time I get it!"
Leonard sighed. He made to pick up his own Big Mac again when Penny got up. She then stuffed the whole rest of her cheeseburger in her mouth and surprised the men by walking up to the counter with a harsh look in her eyes, that indicated that she wouldn't stop until she had her way and that she wouldn't tolerate a no from anyone who tried to answer her in that way.
She didn't really care about the fact that she had to chew for several seconds before the blonde lady at the marble counter before she could speak clearly and speak her mind. "Alright," she said when she had swallowed, "My pal ordered his Big Mac without cheese, but he got it with cheese. I don't really care how many McMenus you've got to put together, but we've ordered before all of these people whose food you're on right now, and unless I'm mistaken, that means that we're supposed to get our correct orders first, or do I have to inform your manager of the way you treat us..." Penny's eyes flashed to the name tag that hung on the blonde's blue top, "Valerie? He'll have to eat his French fries cold when he gets his new sandwich now. When I was a waitress, at the Cheesecake Factory, I gave the customer free drinks if I made mistakes."
The blonde's face fell when Penny spoke to her in that strong a voice. "I'll be right on it, Ma'am! I'm sorry, Ma'am!" she squeaked, then bustled off to make sure Sheldon's Big Mac was taken care of right away.
Once Valerie had run off, Penny made her way back to the men she had come with and sat down as well. "That's how you do it," she said, then grabbed the Big Mac with cheese Sheldon hadn't touched. "I assume you don't mind," she said when she pulled Sheldon's half-cold French fries to her as well. She wasn't full yet. No word was said as she did so by either of the Ph.D.s.
Eventually, they left McDonald's with a new Big Mac ── without cheese! ── and warm fries for Sheldon and a big box full of warm Chicken McNuggets to share to compensate for the mistake.