Chapter 2 - Introductions

The other two girls were immediately distracted and started looking at the menu, however Katie could see Penny's façade drop for a second and the slightly confused look on Penny's face, her eyes darting towards the bar every few seconds. The more Katie looked at him, she was positive he was the guy from the beach, and Penny, just like that morning, seemed to be fixated on him, which was unusual for her, she didn't normally act like that with guys. Katie felt protective of her friend, even though Penny was a strong person, when she fell in love, she loved with all her heart and became so vulnerable, she was too easily hurt when in love.

The girls ordered their food and while they waited Katie still noticed Penny taking glances at the man at the bar anytime she thought she could get away with it. Katie started to watch him too, and she noticed how the waitress hugged him after she gave him his food, like he was an old friend, she also saw Penny noticed that too, a slight frown on her face as she watched them hug. He never looked back at them and after a few minutes she saw him say something to the bartender then walk over to the bathroom area, so Katie thought now was a good time as any and excused herself to go to the bathroom.

"Hey…Hey you." Katie said as soon as they were out of sight of the girls table.

Leonard was about to open the door to the men's room when he turned to look at who was calling him. She looked immediately familiar and it took him a second to realize she was sitting with the group of pretty girls at the table. "Are you talking to me?"

"Yeah, do you know Penelope?"

"Who?"

"Penelope, do you know her?"

'Oh Crap', Leonard thought, they were mad at him, they must have saw him turn and look at them, so now they were going to confront him because they thought he was a creep or something. "I don't know a Penelope. I just eat dinner here a lot and you and your friends laughter just surprised me." He watched the girl nod, a stern look on her face. "I don't know anyone named Penelope and I'm sorry I turned stared at you all, if it offended you." Leonard was so ashamed at that moment, he looked down at his hands for a moment then back at this woman, who suddenly he found was not looking so stern but seemed to be analyzing him.

Katie didn't know why, but he seemed like a nice guy, "That's okay, we're not offended, so no harm done." It was then that Katie decided to try something, Penny seemed attracted to him and he seemed to not be a creep, so why not introduce him to her. He didn't even know who she was, maybe this was a good thing. "When you get done there, since you're alone, why don't you come eat with us."

Leonard almost fainted right there, did he hear her right, she wanted him to join them, he must have heard her wrong. "You want me to come eat with you?"

Katie couldn't help but smile at the innocent way he said those words, he was definitely not a creep. "Yeah, come over and talk."

Leonard was beyond surprised, "Umm…..okay."

Katie smiled again, "okay." then turned to go back to the girls.

No sooner then Katie sat back down she turned to Penny, "He is going to eat with us."

Penny looked at her confused, "Who?" then her eyes got wide. "NO! you didn't, Oh my God, Katie what did you do. Oh my God." Penny's face went red and she seemed so flustered it made Katie want to laugh, she looked like a schoolgirl being asked on her first date.

"What's happening?" Amy asked as both her and Bernadette looking from Penny to Katie in confusion.

This was just too funny to Katie, Penny was so nervous, a real basket case, she had never seen her like this before. "I just invited a guy to eat with us."

"Really who?" Bernadette now looked even more confused than Amy.

Katie now saw the man pick his plate up from the bar and start to walk over, she couldn't believe she could tell he was nervous too. "And here he comes."

"Oh my God, I'm going to die, Katie I hate you." Penny whispered to Katie, she was a wreck right now.

"Hi" Leonard stood at the table. "I'm Leonard" he really didn't know what to do so he held out his hand.

Katie, couldn't believe how nervous he was, and how nervous Penny was, they were so adorably cute. "Hi Leonard, I didn't introduce myself before, I'm Katie, that is Bernadette and Amy and of course this is Penny." Katie giggled as she shook his hand. Bernadette and Amy shook it too as they watched everything very confused.

Leonard then turned to Penny. "Hi, I'm Leonard." he said, 'God' he thought 'she is beautiful'.

Penny couldn't tear her eyes from his big brown ones, they were like pools and she thought she would get lost in them. The butterflies in her stomach were going crazy and her voice didn't seem to work right. "Hi, I'm Penny." she squeaked, embarrassed she sounded so pathetic.

Bernadette and Amy looked on in a little surprise, both wondering what was happening with their friend Penny who seemed ready to crawl under the table and hide at any moment. Also, they noticed, especially Bernadette, that this guy was a little shy and very cute, Bernadette thinking she knew him from somewhere but couldn't figure out why he seemed so familiar. However, what made things really confusing to Amy and Bernadette, was Katie's little smirk that seemed to indicate she knew what was happening and was keeping them clueless.

Leonard just stood there, he couldn't move, he was stuck in place, never being in a situation like this and having no idea what to do next. He finally moved when the woman named Katie cleared her throat and asked him to sit down. The girls scooting over as he took the spot between Bernadette and Penny, both him and Penny not at looking at each other and him trying to keep eye contact with the other girls to a minimum. Leonard didn't know what to say next so he was relieved when the girls food came a moment later.

"Well Leonard, I see you found some friends." the waitress teased Leonard as she put the plates in front of the girls.

Leonard blushed, but he had a three day of growth of hair on his face, so thankfully no one really noticed. "Thank you, Martha." He was already so embarrassed and scared, Martha's teasing only making things worse.

Leonard slowly tried to eat, while the girls ate, knowing with food in his mouth he didn't have to talk and wouldn't look like the idiot he currently felt like. It the couple minutes of silence Leonard started to relax a little, but being so close to the two beautiful women on each side of him, was making it impossible for him to fully relax, it was like he was waiting for something to go terribly wrong. His discomfort made him not notice that Penny was having even a harder time with sitting next to him, she felt she could feel the heat from his body and it was driving her crazy, he was so cute and sexy. She kept taking quick glances at him, making her feel so stupid, and scared, she really wanted to know him better and she couldn't help the feeling she just wanted to kiss him.

"So Leonard, do you live here, everyone seems to know you here." Amy wanted to find out what was going on, and Katie wasn't letting them in on anything.

"No, I am just here this summer working. I have been here a month already and I guess I eat here a lot."

'Working?' Now Katie wanted to know more about him too. She still felt protective of Penny and she didn't want some guy Penny was obviously attracted to, to hurt her. "So what do you do?"

At least this something he could talk about, but he knew they would think he was a nerd after he told them what he did. "I am collecting undersea data to compare with data from the North Sea for research on the origin of the universe. We have been working on Dr Hawking's theory for over a year now and we needed data from this area for our comparison." Leonard immediately felt stupid after he explained his work, why would girls like these care about a stupid scientist, they probably dated guys who did really manly things, not like him, he never noticed Penny staring at him with extreme interest.

"You're, Dr Hofstadter, aren't you?" Bernadette blurted out, making the other three girls look at her then at Leonard.

"Yeah, I am, I'm a little surprised you know me." Leonard said confused.

"Well if I didn't go into microbiology, I was going into physics, so I read a lot of science magazines. There was an article about Hawking's work and his team, a lot about you too and how you head up his experimental physics team. There were a couple pictures of you, too, I didn't recognize you at first, you look a lot different than your pictures." Bernadette explained, "Better." she said with a smile.

"He's a scientist?" Katie said to Bernadette, then to him, "You're a scientist?" Katie had never seen scientists that looked like him, except on the Sci-Fi channel.

Leonard nodded, a little embarrassed, but even more surprised, they weren't treating him like a nerd. "Yeah, I normally work at Cal Tech in California, but I have been loaned out to Dr Hawking for the two years."

Amy now jumped in "Loaned out to Dr Hawking is a little bit of an understatement Dr Hofstadter, as I understand Dr Hawking hand picks his team, so you must be some sort of a big deal in physics." Bernadette nodded.

Penny was now completely in awe of the man next to her, as she watched her two friends make a big fuss about him and his work. Amy was brilliant and Bernadette was too, so them being impressed with Leonard was really a big deal. He was not only cute and sexy, he was really smart, Penny wondered if he could get any more perfect. "Dr Hawking is that guy who invented time or something like that." Penny was immediately embarrassed after the words left her mouth.

Leonard turned and smiled at her, her voice sounded so beautiful, to him, "Yeah something like that. He is something like a science God." Amy and Bernadette both nodded after Leonard said that.

Penny barely heard his words, his smile melted her heart, the urge to kiss him was now even stronger and again she became lost in his eyes. Katie nudging her brought her out of her trance, Penny quickly came back to reality and asked him, "Umm…so do you like working for him?"

Leonard smiled at her again, just looking at her brought a smile to his face, "Yeah, it is pretty cool. He is always pushing the edge in science, it is like being on the forefront of great discoveries. He is one of a kind."

"It must be wonderful to work with someone who you admire so much." Penny said, hoping he didn't get that she wasn't talking about Hawking.

Leonard slowly nodded, not getting her innuendo, "Yeah it is amazing to be with someone like that."

Amy and Bernadette didn't notice Penny's words either, they were both impressed with Leonard and just wanted to talk to him. Katie, just kept watching Penny, she seemed completely enthralled by this guy and then looked at Bernadette and was stunned to see the same look. Katie started to eat again, not sure what to do, suddenly thinking it may not have been a good idea to invite him over to their table. However, Bernadette was very happy Katie had brought Dr Hofstadter over, as she now kept taking glances at him, she was really impressed with him and felt like flirting with him. Leonard was a scientist, like her and Bernadette really thought he was cute and interesting, plus she was going to be there a month, so why not have some fun.

The girls all started eating again, so Leonard slowly turned to look at his food and to try to think. These women seemed to be impressed by him, why would they be so nice to him, he was never a girl's first choice, especially with all the tanned muscular men that passed through this resort area each day. Leonard was really out of his element, but he knew he had to not act stupid and not talking was stupid, so grabbing some courage from the knowledge that they didn't think he was a nerd, he fought the feeling of inferiority and thought of something to say.

Leonard took a couple bites then looked at the girls, "So how long have you all been here."

Amy responded first, "We got here two days ago, so we really haven't had a chance to see much yet."

"Oh." Leonard now thought he knew why they were being so nice and frowned, they hadn't seen the men around this place yet. It wouldn't take them long to hook up with some the studs that were trolling the area.

Katie noticed the change in Leonard's expression, which confused her, so she wanted to continue the conversation to see what was wrong. "How long have you been here…Leonard?"

Penny was still looking at him, she loved listening to him talk, his voice was so…..sexy.

"I've been here a little over 7 weeks. It took us almost three weeks to set up the sensors, and the rest of the time I've spent monitoring and sending data back to our research center." Leonard explained.

"That explains the great tan." Bernadette added, yeah she was flirting, she wanted to make sure the other girls knew she was making a claim.

Katie looked at Bernadette, her eyes were twinkling, they it struck Katie, Bernadette had a little crush on this guy too and she wanted him. Katie now took a closer look at Leonard herself, he was cute and sort sexy the way he looked with his hair, facial hair and tanned body, plus you could tell he wasn't a player, he was a nice guy and it made you like him right away. 'Whoa', Katie thought, she tried to shake the thought from her mind, she had just wondered how he would be in bed and pictured that tanned body over her, she did not want to go there. She knew herself, he would be a summer fling for her, she liked taller guys, no her friend needed someone to help her over her previous relationship and this guy seemed safe, that's why she invited him over. However as she looked back over a Bernadette, she realized Penny might not get him, because the truth was Bernadette and Dr Hofstadter were a better match intellectually. "So how is the nightlife around here?" She asked Leonard.

Leonard quietly sighed, it was really pleasant to sit and actually be treated nice by four beautiful women, but as soon as these girls hit the popular clubs that would be over. They would find guys and that would be all he saw of them again, he smiled a little, well anyway today was nice and he could show them some of the clubs and have a nice time tonight in their company. "Well since it is Friday night, it should be hopping tonight. I could show you a couple of the more popular and safe places, if you like."

Amy looked at him confused, "Safe?"

Leonard nodded, "Yeah, this is a resort place, so there are some people that sort of prey on tourists."

Katie nodded, "By all means the safe places then." The other three girls nodded in agreement.

Leonard and the girls finished up their meal pretty quickly after that, then continued to talk while they had desert and coffee afterwards. The conversation was really easy for all of them, which really shocked Leonard on how easy it was to talk to them, especially Bernadette who was full of questions that he could actually answer. He found out about Amy's work, Bernadette's school, but not much about Penny except that her and Katie where life long friends from Nebraska. Time flew by and when Katie remarked that it was past 8 PM they quickly paid their bills and headed out the door, everyone following Leonard to the club he recommended.