A/N - Okay, so I was listening to Scott Alan's song His Name. (YouTube it: search His Name Sarah Davis) Anyway, this suddenly kinda just formed in my mind, and bam, here it is! Hope you enjoy :) It may become a two-shot. Just a bit of fun!
Despite the ferocious pounding in her head and vile taste in her throat, Penny awoke with a smile on her face. Releasing a half-hum half-groan, she stretched her arms over her head and blinked her eyes open, squinting as she sat up and gathered herself from her sleepy state. She grabbed for the large bottle of water she knew she'd left for herself before going out and gulped what was left in it down before forcing herself out of bed and padding into her bathroom. After a quick shower, much needed toilet break and even more needed tooth brushing to get rid of the taste of alcohol and possibly vomit (though she was sure she hadn't been sick), she felt human enough to head into the kitchen. The taste of coffee after mint toothpaste was better than the post-alcohol non-brushed taste that she'd just gotten rid of.
"Morning sweetheart," her mother said with a knowing grin, pouring a fresh mug of coffee and handing it over as Penny sat down at the breakfast bar.
"Mmhmm, hey."
"How did the Nebraskan nightlife treat you as a legal drinker?"
Holding up a finger, Penny took a large sip of coffee before replying. "Just as well as it did when I was eighteen."
"Better than the LA nightlife?"
"Difficult to say, I can't remember much from nights out. Besides, whenever I went out in LA, I was always with Kurt. Last night I went out as a single girl for the first time in four years and it was-" Penny's eyes suddenly went wide. "Oh God."
"What?"
"I... kind of... hooked up last night." Penny admitted, the memory suddenly incredibly vivid. So that's why she'd woken up with a smile.
"So, the Nebraskan nightlife treated you really well."
"Yup, guess it did." Penny smirked. Her mother had always called her out on these things, knowing what had happened without even having to ask - they always joked, along with Penny's older sister, that it was because she'd been the exact same. Sometimes she hated it, but for the most part, Penny enjoyed having this closeness with her mother, and being able to talk to her like a best friend. Now that she was twenty-one, at least she could share these things with her mother and not get the judgmental head-shake.
"So I guess its not that bad being single then, huh?"
"Nope, not all. I'm gonna go get my phone."
"Check for any evidence of the fun?"
Jaw dropping, Penny's head turned back to look at her mother as she went to leave the kitchen. "Mom!"
"What? That's what you're gonna do, anyway."
"Ugh, shut up." Penny laughed as she headed back to her bedroom. Her mom wasn't wrong; she headed straight to her phone.
There were a few messages from her friends; a few from the night before that she managed to read from the drunken attempts at writing that they had gotten home. The rest were from this morning, various stages of the usual hungover hatred and trying to work out what had happened. But Penny wasn't looking for those messages. She'd hooked up with a guy; surely she'd gotten his number too. And it wasn't even just making out hooking up - no, it was sex in the back of his car hooking up.
Unable to find any evidence of a new contact or number, not even in her notes or recent calls, she groaned. Her memory was very insistent on reminding her just how amazing their time had been. And only that, apparently, as she found no photos of this guy on her phone either to aid her memory of what he actually looked like. Aside from hot, because she could remember flirting like hell over her Cosmopolitan and thinking how great it would be to run her hands through his blonde hair. Or was it brown? One of the two, anyway. His eyes had been amazing too, looking at her both like she was the most beautiful person to walk this earth, and that he would take her right there on that bar if it were socially acceptable to do such a thing. Which was both cute and insanely hot. Behind those black-rimmed glasses (so damn hot, she remembered) were the most admirable blue... green... brown... something eyes that had ever looked at her. God, she wished she'd drunk less so she could remember what he actually looked like. Usually it was a blessing, making it easy to avoid awkward encounters should she ever bump into the person - she wouldn't be able to give them even a second glance. But this time she really, really wished she could remember what he looked like.
Or what his name was.
"Fuck."
She didn't even know his name. Sure, she remembered moaning and yelling it. A lot. So much so that she could almost feel it in the back of her throat. She could even hear him groaning her name; a memory that made her bite her lip mid-smile.
"Oh my God!"
Jumping up, Penny practically flung herself over to her purse from the night before that she'd dropped onto the couch to the side of her bathroom door. He'd written his number down on the back of a napkin! Suddenly perking up like a meerkat, she dropped her purse as she remembered that she'd then placed that napkin in her bra, winking at him, saying it was for "safekeeping". Hopping to the pile of clothes by her bed, she fumbled through them. No napkin.
"Oh balls."
Of course it still wasn't with her clothes. She'd taken them all off in the back of his car, and neither napkins nor bras were adhesive. That napkin with both his name and number were somewhere in the back of his car with her panties. Her new purple panties as well, she remembered with a sigh. Oh well, at least he had something to remember her by.
Leaning her head against the side of her bed, she sat on the floor and shut her eyes. Boy did she wish she had drunk a little less so she could remember a little more. Especially with this guy, who had a really cool job that she no longer knew the title of. She'd bragged about it to her friends later after the pair had stumbled back into the club, him returning to his friends who didn't look like they belonged in a club, her returning to her friends who were instantly on her for the gossip. And she had had a lot to tell them. She was pretty sure that she'd gotten so carried away in her drunken post-sex excitement that she'd slurred about him being the one and that she'd marry him right then and there if she could.
This idea, she wasn't quite fond of sober. She'd just gotten out of a four-year relationship and wasn't ready for anything serious. But then again, if this guy had made her consider it when drunk, and she was still thinking about simply him now, maybe she would. Might as well, he seemed like a great guy, aside from the glaring fact that she had no clue who he was. Heck, she'd marry him just for the sex, he really was a genius.
Her phone buzzed, and she reached up to see the message. It was from a friend, asking if she may have taken her credit card by accident. With a groan, Penny hauled herself back up and went to look through her purse before replying that she didn't. Raising a brow, she wondered if she'd given the guy her number. This was likely, as she wasn't shy of giving her number to guys.
What if he called her? What was she going to say? She didn't even know his name. Hello you sounded too playful, and just hello was a bit too awkward for somebody you slept with. Hello lover? What the hell kind of person answered the phone like that to a stranger? It's not like she'd know it was him calling, since she didn't have him saved to her phone. And then what would she say? Yeah, I'd love to do it again in the back of your car. But I won't say your name. Keep it mysterious. No, there was no way out of it. It would be awkward. The part of her that wanted him to call her suddenly lessened.
The smell of pancakes wafted through to her room, leading her back into the kitchen. She slammed her phone down on the breakfast bar to announce her presence.
"Hungry are we?"
"Yup." Penny nodded.
"Here," Meryl brought over to her an empty plate along with a plate stacked full of freshly baked pancakes. "You wanna head into the front room? I'm just gonna finish this batch then go eat in there, TV's on."
"Ooh, yeah, good idea." Penny nodded, stacking the empty plate beneath the full one in one hand, she grabbed the syrup in the other. "Can you bring my coffee through when you come in?"
"Sure thing, sweetheart. I'll pour you a fresh cup."
"Awesome."
Enjoying the scent of her mothers freshly baked food, something she missed living on her own in Pasadena, she headed into the front room. Even with Kurt, they never really cooked anything. And pancakes at breakfast cafes were just never the same. She sat down, settling herself onto the couch once she'd filled up her own plate and practically drowned the food in syrup. Definitely one of her favorite hangover cures.
About to put an overly generous forkful of syrup-drowned pancake into her mouth, Penny heard a small commotion from the kitchen.
"Penny!" Meryl yelled. "Leonard's on the phone!"
Fork dropping into her plate, splattering syrup everywhere, Penny dumped the plate onto the coffee table as she stood up. "Leonard! His name was Leonard!" She announced to the room. "Coming Mom!" she yelled, whilst musing that Leonard was quite a... he's a scientist! Penny remembered, as she eagerly rushed to the kitchen. And his eyes are brown, idiot, how did you forget that after all the over-the-cocktail-glass eye-sex! Practically skidding across the floor, she grabbed her phone from her mothers hands, taking a second to compose herself. Meryl walked out of the kitchen with a smirk. "Hey, hi."
"Hi. Uh, it's Leonard. From-"
"Yeah, I remember you." Penny smiled, unable to help the flirtatious tone of voice.
"Oh, cool. Great. You wrote your number on the back of my hand and it was kinda, you know, smudged, so I just had to take a shot with guessing some of the numbers. I'm glad I got them right."
"Me too." Penny blurted out, quickly continuing to cover up her enthusiasm for his calling her. "I think I lost that napkin with your number on in-"
"Yeah, I know, I went to get my car just now and saw it in there. And by the way, I have your, umm, panties, too."
Grinning, Penny bit down on her lip as she wandered back to her bedroom. "Those I remember losing there."
She heard him chuckle for a moment before he asked, "do you want those back?"
Unable to tell if her need to squeal yes was from getting her panties back or seeing him again to get said panties (though she knew it was probably the latter), she simply nodded and replied "yeah, that would be great."
"Okay, I'm meeting someone later for dinner so I can stop by before then."
Oh. Penny was confused by the wave of disappointment coursing through her. Why did she get that from the possibility of this guy she had casually slept with the night before, having dinner with somebody else? That didn't ever happen. She could blame the whole marriage thoughts and disappointment thing on the hangover, Penny decided. "Who you going to dinner with?"
"Just the guy I was working here with, I'm heading back tomorrow so it's a kind of thank you for helping out with the research thing."
"Ah, I see." All of a sudden, she felt a lot better. And way more confident. "Perhaps you could... umm, stop by after dinner?"
"I- yeah, I don't see why not."
"I know a place that does the most amazing desserts."
"That sounds good. I'll make sure not to have dessert with my dinner then."
"Uh-huh. Just, I think, maybe tonight I'm gonna hold back on the alcohol a bit... completely. This hangover is bad enough." And I want to actually remember more than what goes on between us in the back of your car tonight.
"Yeah, good idea. I'm woke up a bit worse for wear myself. The coffee, shower and walk did help quite a bit though."
"Yeah, that's good. The fresh air always helps. So, I'll see you tonight, then?"
"Yes, I'll text you when I'm done with dinner. The table is booked for seven, so I guess somewhere after eight. Send me your address and I'll stop by."
"Perfect. I'll do that."
"Great. Have a nice day, Penny."
"You too," Penny smirked, "Leonard."