"OK, 4B…" Mimi Shawcross checked the ad on the crumpled piece of paper she repeatedly shoved in and out of her jeans pocket on the way up the stairs, begrudging the 'out of order' sign on the door of every lift door she passed on the way up. She reached the fourth floor when the door at the foot of the stairs opened up.

"Oh, excuse me?" She spoke, and a tall slim shadow formed out on the hallway. "I'm here about the roommate ad in the paper?"

The shadow moved, and from the open doorway emerged a tall, slim man to match the silhouette, a puzzled look on his face.

"I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with a 'roommate ad'." His tone was quite blunt, and the look he gave to Mimi emitted a sense of vagueness with a subtle hint of superiority.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Is this not 4B?" Mimi stammered a little as she uncrumpled the piece of paperer the 134th time that day.

The man looked up at the door number, "I sincerely hope not."

Mimi's eyes followed where the man's went, and widened when she realised she was stood outside 4A, "Oh, I'm sorry! Um…" She failed to think of a way to end her embarrassment, and simply bowed her head and scuttled across the hall to the door that obviously noted 4B. She knocked a couple of quiet-ish knocks, not wanting to come across as being a noisy person, but loud enough to hear on the other side. "Right Meems, don't blow this." She adjusted the strap of her holdall bag on her shoulder as she tucked her auburn hair behind her ears with the other hand.

The apartment door swung open, and there stood a preppy-looking blonde girl with a tired expression and a bed-head to match.

"Oh, is this a bad time?" Mimi's face filled with nerves, the tired expression on the blonde's made her feel this was a bad idea. "Um, I'm here about the ad in the paper?"

The blonde's expression changed to confusion, "Ad?"

"Yeah, the ad for a roommate, female wanted, must be good at sewing…". Mimi scrunched her face as she tried reading the rest of the small print.

"Um, I'm not looking for a roommate…"

"Oh, I have the right apartment, am I too late?" Mimi's heart sank. She needed to find a place to live soon.

"I never put an ad out." The blonde politely stated, "Um, are you okay? You look like you're about to cry."

Mimi lowered her head, "No I'm fine, I must have the wrong address. I'm sorry to have bothered you." She began to turn away from the lost opportunity before she was called back.

"Hey, um, why don't you come in and have a drink? You look tired."

Mimi smiled with delight, "Oh, that's so nice, thank you." She outstretched her hand. "I'm Mimi."

"Hi, I'm Penny." The blonde smiled back as she opened the door fully and gestured to the couch that was positioned in the middle of the spacious apartment lounge. "Excuse the mess, things got pretty wild here last night."

Mimi looked at the pizza boxes and empty beer bottles on the coffee table in front of the sofa she just sat on, but it was better than trawling across the state of California with the heaviest bag in history. Penny sat down next to her, looking at the holdall Mimi was carrying; it looked like it was going to burst at the seams, and covered with dirt.

"I don't suppose you have any idea where I can find a local hotel that's reasonably priced, do you?" Mimi allowed the filthy bag strap to slide off her aching arm onto the floor.

"Erm, I'm not too sure." Penny started to make a clicking sound in her mouth and looked like she was thinking hard. "Do you need a place to stay? Where are you from?"

"I'm from Boston. I'm looking to make it big in Hollywood as a director."

"Hey, me too!" Penny exclaimed, "Well, I'm an actress, but we've kinda followed the same path!" She looked over at Mimi who still had the out-of-date ad in her hand. Her auburn hair fell over her face as she hunched over. Her body appeared weary and defeated; Penny felt a little sorry for her. "So, you need a place to stay tonight? You can sleep here for the night if you want, recharge your batteries?"

Mimi's eyes lit up as she looked up at Penny, "Really? I don't wanna imp-"

"Don't worry about it!" Penny smiled, "It'll be a nice change from my usual company." She stood up from the couch, carefully stepping over the dirty bag. Feel free to use the shower, want me to take your clothes down to the laundry room? Save you walking back down and back up?"

"Oh Penny, you're so kind! The first bit of hospitality I've had since I've been here - well, apart from that kind man in Nevada who offered me $20 if I licked his lollipop…but thinking about it he didn't have any sweets on him."

A bewildered look graced Penny's face, boy that was such a naive story. This girl was a bit weird, what did she get herself into?

"Well, there's no men with lollipop's here." Penny laughed nervously before clearing her throat. "Um, the bathroom's just through there, I'll take your stuff down to the laundry room."

"Thanks." Mimi smiled as she opened the zip of her bulging bag to find some clothes to wear.

"Hey Penny."

"Hey, Leonard."

Penny was putting the last of Mimi's clothes in the washer as the spectacled man entered with his own load of clothes. He carefully noted the camouflage-print cargo pants in Penny's hand.

"New pants?"

"Oh, God no, ugh, I'd never wear camo." Penny dumped them in the washer as quick as she could. "No these are Mimi's."

"Who's Mimi?" Leonard asked, as he unloaded his own clothes into the washer next to Penny, hiding the Superman briefs underneath a t-shirt.

"Oh, she turned up at my door thinking I was looking for a roommate who could sew…" Penny closed the washer lid. "She looked kinda sad so I said I'd let her stay the night."

"Oh, well that's pretty kind of you." Leonard finished putting his washing in and turned to the blonde. "Who are you and what have you down with Penny?"

Penny scoffed playfully, "Hey! Well she said she was an aspiring director so she reminded me of when I moved here and how nice you and Sheldon were to me when I moved in so I thought I'd follow suit."

Mimi turned the water off in the shower before stepping out. She couldn't remember where Penny said she kept the towels. Panic struck inside Mimi's mind as she tried to think if she actually was informed on the location of the towels. But should she search? Where would someone keep towels in an apartment bathroom? How could she search without looking like a weird stalker?

While she was trapped in her own thoughts about towels, she didn't hear someone was at the door.

"Penny, Penny, Penny." Sheldon Cooper was knocking on his friend Penny's door. There was no answer, but he heard life on the other side. Penny was normally okay with him entering without her opening the door for him, and this was an emergency after all, so he let himself in.

There was no sign of her in the lounge, but there were sounds coming from the bedroom. For some very un-Sheldon-like reason, he entered the bedroom, but the door was open ajar.

"Penny, I need you to take me to the comic book store-" He stopped mid-sentence as his gaze met the red-head who was walking around the bedroom naked. "You're not Penny."

Mimi's eyes widened as she heard the blunt, familiar voice coming from behind her. "Oh, Good Lord." She whispered to herself, too shocked to turn around. What was she to do? She was naked in someone's apartment, and a man had just walked in. Was this man Penny's boyfriend?

"Where's Penny?" Sheldon asked the stranger, not really phased by the fact that she was naked - well, he could only see her from behind and the waist-below was hidden behind the bed as she was scrunched over. "Maybe she's deaf." Sheldon said to himself, thinking of logical explanations as to why the girl didn't respond to his question.

Mimi slowly turned around to face the man, only to find the guy from earlier that day, who she mistook as the roommate requester. Her hair managed to fall over her breasts, concealing her areolas from him.

"If I wasn't awkward already, this tips the scale."