Penny opened her door to the tentative knock. This was just a normal, unpatterned knock, and she was familiar enough with Sheldon's habits to know that it wasn't him at the door. Instead, Leonard stood there, squinting at her through his thick glasses and smiling sheepishly. He was clutching a few envelopes.
"Looks like the mailman mixed up our mail again," he said, holding out what were probably bills.
She took them from him without much enthusiasm. "Again? I really gotta talk to him."
"Oh, I wouldn't do that. He's very, uh... cranky," Leonard said hastily.
She nodded, wondering just how stupid he thought she was. Obviously, he'd found some way to steal her mail from the mailbox downstairs as an excuse to talk to her. If it had only happened once, she might have believed him, but three times a week was approaching stalker status. If he hadn't been Sheldon's roommate, she would've punched him in the throat, but she needed him. He was, after all, a valuable source of information. So she smiled brightly at him and said, "Thanks, that's really nice of you. You wanna come in for a minute?"
He preened under her attention. "Sure."
"So, uh, how did you and Sheldon become roommates?" she asked as she led him into the living room. She sat down on the loveseat, and to her annoyance, he seated himself next to her.
"It's not a very interesting story. I had just accepted a position at Caltech, and he'd put up an ad for a roommate." He chuckled. "Although he did make me fill out all these crazy questionnaires before he even let me see the apartment."
Penny's face fell. "Was he always like that?" she asked in a low voice.
"Yeah, as long as I knew him. His mother had him tested to see if he was crazy, you know," he added with another laugh.
"Genius often appears crazy to ordinary people," she answered calmly.
"I'm… I'm not ordinary," Leonard spluttered. "I have an IQ of 173."
Penny smiled. "Wow, that sounds like a lot," she commented, but inwardly, she wanted to laugh at seeing Leonard puff himself up like a bantam rooster, trying to impress her. She knew Sheldon's IQ was almost twenty points higher, which actually meant he was light-years more intelligent than Leonard. "So, do you and Sheldon work together?"
"We both work in the physics department at Caltech, but no, I think we'd kill each other if we ever tried to collaborate on a research project. All he does is scribble ideas on a whiteboard. Most of the time, it doesn't even amount to anything. I'm an experimental physicist, so I get to work with cool equipment like lasers."
"Wow, lasers," she dutifully echoed, wondering how she could get him to stop talking about himself.
"So, uh, I was wondering if you'd like to have dinner with us."
"You and Sheldon?"
"Yeah, and Howard and Raj too. We're going to a restaurant - my treat. Sort of a welcome-to-the-neighborhood sort of thing."
"I'll pay my own way, but sure, I'd love to have dinner with you."
Several hours later, Penny was fuming inside. Leonard had tricked her. It was obvious he'd never intended for any of his friends to join them. He even made up some story about Sheldon having a colonoscopy. While she knew Sheldon, and certainly wouldn't put it past him to voluntarily choose to have a test like that, no one had a elective medical procedure at seven o'clock on a Friday night. As she walked up the stairs with Leonard, she asked him point-blank, "Was this a date?"
Of course, he stammered, blushed and tried to deny it, but she had already guessed the truth.
"I'm flattered, really," she lied. "But I'm not ready to start seeing anyone right now. I'd like it if we could be friends though." She suspected no matter what she told him, there was little she could do to nip his crush in the bud.
After she said goodnight to him, she waited twenty minutes and then went and knocked on their door. Leonard beamed when he saw her. "I just came to check up on Sheldon and see how he's doing," she said.
He looked panicked. "I'm sure he's fine. He's actually in his room, and people-"
"Aren't allowed in his room," she finished.
Leonard scrunched up his face in bewilderment. "Well, yeah, that's exactly how he says it, actually."
"He told me before," she grinned, and then brushed past Leonard and headed down the hallway. Just like before, she had absolutely no intention of following Sheldon's self-imposed rules.
"Hi, sweetie," she said as she pushed open his door. He was lying on his bed, propped up against his headboard and reading one of his comic books.
He scowled at her. "What are you doing here? This is my room. People can't be in my room."
"I'm not people; I'm Penny, and you know I never listened to your silly rules anyway."
"Why are you here?" he repeated, and this time, she saw the flash of pain in his eyes. She entered the room, closing the door behind her to keep their conversation private. Sitting down on the edge of his bed, she tried to suppress her vexation when he scooted further away from her. "I don't know if you'll believe me, but after three years apart, I still think about you all the time. I still miss you. I want to start over. Maybe we can just be friends for now, but I never stopped having feelings for you."
"Your feelings didn't stop you from cheating on me," he snapped.
She pressed her lips tightly together, reminding herself that she knew this wasn't going to be easy. Sheldon had always been suspicious and slow to trust people. "You said that before, but I honestly don't know what you're talking about."
The muscles in his neck grew taut as he ground his teeth together. "It was when you were shooting Serial Apist. I decided to surprise you by visiting you on set. I was trying to be supportive," he added, giving her a look of disgust. "I looked everywhere. Eventually, I found you hiding out in the costume area, with your tongue down some other man's throat."
All the color drained from Penny's face. "That was why you left? Why you let me come home to an empty apartment? Holy crap, Sheldon, you divorced me without even asking me about it? You're such a genius, so you tell me: is there any other possible explanation for what you saw?"
He scowled. "The principle of Occam's Razor-"
"Screw your stupid scientific principles!" she shouted. Jumping up, she ran out of his room and didn't stop until she had slammed her own apartment door behind her. Even as she left, she knew she should've remained calm and talked things out rationally. But she had never been rational where Sheldon was concerned. She had followed her heart, believing their love was enough to weather any storm, and now she was suffering the consequences.
Three years, ten months ago:
Sheldon watched Penny intently as she gazed around his small combined living room and kitchen, taking in his books and sci-fi collectibles.
"It's so… you," she grinned. "Somehow, this is exactly what I pictured. So what's this Halo game you mentioned?"
"We can discuss that after we eat," he stated.
Again, she smiled at him, causing his pulse to race. He still wasn't sure why a beautiful woman like her would voluntarily choose to spend time with him. Even after exchanging several texts, he still half expected this to be some elaborate prank. He swallowed hard and offered her a seat in one of the lawn chairs.
"Don't you have any real furniture?" she asked.
"I have my desk, the bookshelves, and of course, my bed," he replied.
She gave him a look he couldn't interpret. "Maybe you can give me a tour later on."
Over dinner, she chatted volubly, asking him questions about his work and the collectibles which constituted his decor. He was flattered by her attention. Even though she didn't understand a thing about theoretical physics, he found himself drawing pictures on a napkin, trying to explain it to her. At one point, she put a hand on his arm, smiled up at him, and said he must be a genius. She was right, of course, but this was the first time that hearing those words caused a rush of heat to sweep through him.
To cover up his confusion, he quickly changed the subject, declaring it was time for Halo. He intended to show off his prowess at the game. After all, she hadn't even known what Halo was. But to his surprise, she beat him several times in a row. She laughed whenever she got the drop on him. Sometimes in her excitement, she brushed against him with her arm or knee, flustering him further. He grumbled that someone as aesthetically pleasing as she was shouldn't be so skilled at video games. Instead of taking offense, she just grinned at him.
"Is that a compliment?" she teased, and he was struck speechless. He'd never met anyone like Penny. When his watch chimed, warning him that it was almost his bedtime, it startled him. The evening had seemed to fly by; he realized that he'd actually enjoyed having her over at his apartment.
He stood. "It's time for me to get ready for bed. You'll have to leave now," he said, although not without a certain feeling of reluctance.
She glanced at him, smiling but with a furrowed brow. "Um… all right." She started to make her way toward the front door, and then stopped and looked at him quizzically. "Sweetie? Aren't you going to walk me to the door?"
He frowned, puzzled. "You are perfectly capable of showing yourself out."
She crossed her arms, huffed and tapped her foot. After a beat, he walked over and then motioned toward the entryway. A half-forgotten lesson in manners dredged up from the recesses of his brain led him to open the door for her. Instead of leaving, she leaned against the doorframe and was smiling up at him.
"You know, I had fun tonight. It was weird… but fun." She drew closer, and before he could register what she was doing, she'd stretched up to press her mouth to his for one brief moment.
He stared at her, once again completely unable to form a suitable response.
"Hey, are you okay? Holy crap, don't tell me I got this all wrong."
He blinked and refocused on her. "Got what all wrong?" he asked faintly.
"I thought this was a date, but now that I think about it…" She trailed off, looking over his shoulder at his sparsely furnished apartment.
"I don't know," he answered, still in a state of bewilderment. "I've never been on a date. I've never been kissed on the mouth either," he said with almost an accusatory stare.
Her mouth dropped open in shock. "Oh honey, that was your first kiss? Really?"
His jaw tightened as his face clouded over. "There's no need to mock me."
"I wasn't." She laid her hand on his arm. "I just wish I'd known. I always thought a first kiss should be really special… magical."
"Magical?" he asked, curious despite himself. He'd been overwhelmed by that first simple kiss, but from what she was describing, he wondered what more there could be.
"Can I come back in? Just for a minute," she added when he looked conflicted.
She closed the door behind her, leaving the two of them alone in his apartment, which suddenly seemed a lot smaller than it had just a few minutes ago. She took his hand and smiled up at him. "Let's try this again." His pulse began to race as she pulled his arms around to circle her waist and slid her hands up to his shoulders. "I really like you, and I think you're cute," she said. Looking deeply into his eyes, she slowly rose up on her toes. He could feel her breath feather against his cheek a moment before her lips touched his. Once again, the sensation staggered him, and he found himself clutching at her, pulling her closer as her mouth clung to his. She tasted like strawberries, and that made him want to lick her lips. He didn't, but for the first time in his life, he wanted to.
