Author's Note: Thank you once more to the wonderful Jislane for her support! And also to clint bolr and scissorhands101 who added this story to their favorite/alert lists
Disclaimer: I do not own TBBT. I only own my plot and my OC, Marie. However, the OC is not going to be around the whole story. She'll only be placed in situations where I deem needed.
Three weeks passed by and Sheldon had not heard a word from Penny. Leonard, Howard, Raj, Amy, and Bernadette asked him every day what had happened the last time he spoke to her, but he found himself strangely without an answer. It took until Thursday of the third week for them to notice her apartment was empty. Not a single trace of Penny was left, now residing there was an vacant space.
Leonard was the first to confront Sheldon. "What happened three weeks ago that Penny decided to move?" he exclaimed. Sheldon looked away from the angry man before him. "I might've neglected to mention a few things about our last encounter" he said softly. "Like what?" asked Leonard. Sheldon sat in his spot, his hands clutching his pants legs like they were a lifeline. His gaze fluttered about the room, never landing on Leonard for a long period of time. 'That her dream finally came true' Sheldon wanted to say, but instead what came out of his mouth was. "She decided that her living arrangements here were inadequet so she decided to leave" Sheldon said. Leonard searched Sheldon's face for any twitch that would've given him away. He waited on baited breath for the 'Bazinga!'...but it never came.
His world fell apart and Leonard sunk into the chair next to the couch. "Did...she say where she was moving?" asked Leonard, his voice conveying his broken heart. Sheldon shook his head as he got up and looked outside. There was a soft knock at the door and Sheldon spun around so fast he thought he was going to fall over.
The door opened slowly and in walked Amy. At the sight of his girlfriend, Sheldon released the breath he hadn't been aware he was holding in. She glanced at him and for a moment looked pained. 'But of course she's pained. Her best friend left without so much as a good bye' Sheldon thought bitterly. Amy went to hug him and in a split second he took off running out the door, out of the apartment and into the cold weather.
It was cold in New York as Penny walked through the busy streets and into Central Park. It was almost her first week of filming and she was excited to being her breakthrough role. As she walked, she watched couples strolling through the park before finally coming across a playground. With a sad smile, she sat down upon the swing set and gently pushed herself back and forth.
Shoes crunched behind her and she turned to see her a co-star coming towards her. "Hey Marie" said Penny as she swung back and forth gently on the swings. Marie sat beside her. Turning to her co-star, she almost laughed at her state of dress. With just a black and grey striped sweater, Penny wondered if she was cold. But seeing the plaid kilt and black leggings that were covered with knee high Converse shoes, she guessed she probably didn't. Marie pulled her black fuzzy bull hat with red devil horns tighter to her head. "Something bothering you Cali?" asked Marie, a concerned expression on her face.
Penny chuckled. "You know I'm from Omaha originally right?" she asked. "Well duh, but you came here from Cali so your name is Cali" said Marie. "But still, what's on your mind?" she asked. Penny sighed. "Is it that guy back home?" Marie asked. Penny nodded. "The same guy who couldn't be happy for you when you told him the news? The one who caused you to abandon the life you knew and move here, without so much as a word goodbye to your friends?" asked Marie.
Penny let a tear slide down her face as she pulled her coat tighter around her. "Penny...what exactly is your relationship with him?" she asked. "I don't know alright Marie? How am I supposed to know? One minute he'll smile warmly at me, the next he's giving me a backhanded compliment. Then he'll hug me, but then flinch whenever I sit next to him. His girlfriend is my best friend but I find it so difficult to be happy for him" Penny said. Her phone buzzed and she glanced down to see Amy had texted her.
"Bestie where are you?" it read.
Her heart broke at having left everyone with no goodbye. No one, besides Sheldon, knew of her movie role. "How come you never answer their texts?" asked Marie. Penny winced at her question, knowing that she was hiding from the life she left behind. "I don't want them to find me" she said softly. Marie chuckled and patted Penny's shoulder. "They are your friends, the first friends you made since moving to California. Don't you think they deserve to know?" she said. Penny sighed. "You are right" she said as she texted Amy back.
"Moved to New York. Finally got a role in a movie that's being filmed here. Sorry to make everyone worry. Moving was a last minute idea, you can thank Sheldon for that...but...never mind Bestie, don't worry. Tell the others I'm sorry and that I miss them very much"
She put her phone away and began to sob a bit more. Marie smiled warmly at her friend and gave her a hug. "Its ok. Things work out in the end" she said as they stood up and headed back to the apartment they now shared here. "That guy" Marie said as Penny turned to her. "The one who let you go" she said. "He's a freakin' fool". Penny laughed lightly, almost airy and for a moment, she was reminded of Sheldon. Marie looked at her oddly. "What the hell was that?" she asked, an eyebrow raised at her friend's laughter. Penny blushed and looked down at the sidewalk. "Sheldon used to laugh like that all the time, at least at jokes that were funny to everyone else but he completely missed. Its his way of covering up the fact that he didn't understand the joke" she said. Marie gave a knowing smirk, but said nothing as they headed home.
Sheldon walked around Pasadena, trying to clear his head. She left without a goodbye, abandoned the group...abandoned him. He wanted to be mad, but he found he couldn't. He was just hurt. It was a peculiar feeling, and he was at a lose as to how to cope. He was never taught what was protocol for these types of situation, so he was never taught was was social convention. His phone buzzed and he opened it to find a forwarded text from Amy.
"Moved to New York. Finally got a role in a movie that's being filmed here. Sorry to make everyone worry. Moving was a last minute idea, you can thank Sheldon for that...but...never mind Bestie, don't worry. Tell the others I'm sorry and that I miss them very much"
His heart plummeted and he couldn't grasp why. Was it because someone close to him left? He supposed that could've been the reason, it certainly made sense. Or was it that Penny was upset with him? That he was the reason she fled from Pasadena? But the longer he thought the more questions he encountered, all without an answer. He was going to have to write this down in the journal when he returned home.
Author's Note: Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed!
