Sorry I disappeared for awhile. I've been really busy. So today I decided I should be productive and instead of doing homework I wrote this instead...
I own nothing except for the OC character. Thank you.
Chapter Three
Sheldon had started to spend more and more time with Clara. She was still the adventurous bright girl he remembered from his youth, just older and more formal. Her days of mix matched patterned socks and heart sweaters were over. She was a gentle, sophisticated young woman. If anyone were ever to suspect that Sheldon would become entranced with such a woman, they would have laughed it off. But here she was.
Clara had become a frequent member of the group in the first week she visited. She met Howard, an engineer with "only a Master's degree" as Sheldon so blatantly put it. There was also Raj, a shy Indian man who could only hold conversation with a woman after ingesting even the smallest bit of alcohol. Clara found herself particularly liking Bernadette, Howard's wife. She was short, shorter than herself at least, with golden curls and bright blue eyes. Her voice may be high pitched but if she got pissed off, it was anything but tiny. According to Penny, Howard used to be a real creep before he met Bernadette. But now anyone could see the absolute love and adoration he held for her whenever he looked at her.
Amy still didn't like Clara in the slightest. But she knew she had Sheldon loosely wrapped around her finger. Well, even saying that seemed a little much when it came to Sheldon. Sometimes it seemed as if they were barely in a relationship. They were more like colleagues with occasional hand holding and a peck on the lips maybe once a year. She still had her hopes though. At least it didn't seem like Clara was getting anywhere with Sheldon either.
In reality Clara had no intentions of romantically pursuing Sheldon at all. She wished she could tell Amy this but she wouldn't be able to without revealing her real intention for being in Pasadena, which she wasn't ready to do yet.
"You've never played Halo?!" Sheldon exclaimed one Wednesday night to Clara after she admitted she knew nothing of the game.
"I'm sorry Sheldon my fi-… friend isn't much of a video game player."
"Well that's no excuse. Penny isn't either and she's fantastic at playing. Let me teach you." He then went into detail on the mechanics of the game and eventually convinced her to play with them for a while. She had no idea what she was doing and just pressed random buttons but with Sheldon's help they eventually won. Well at least she thinks they won. She wasn't entirely sure.
"That was a great round Sheldon, but I think I should be heading back to my hotel," she grabbed her coat but Sheldon held her back.
"You can't leave now, we are about to head to the Comic Book store. Oh you would love it there. Remember when we played the game where we fought the aliens and saved the world? There are things like that there!"
"I guess I can go but then you have to let me leave. I'm awfully tired."
"Alright, alright; we'll go for a short trip."
There was no such thing as a "short" trip when it came to those four men in a comic book store. Two hours later and after much persisting from Clara, they finally made their purchases and had only argued half a dozen times.
"Where do I drop you off?" Leonard asked as he pulled the car from his parking spot. Clara gave directions to her hotel and Leonard pulled up right in front of the door.
"Let me walk you to your room," Sheldon said as Clara was about to exit the car.
"I think I can find it pretty easily Sheldon," she said, shutting the door. He got out of the car anyway and followed her inside.
"What floor?" he asked as the elevator doors closed.
"Eleven," she said and he pressed the button.
"This is a very large hotel. I wasn't accustomed to hotels having so many floors."
"It's even worse in Vegas." The rest of the elevator ride was relatively silent. Sheldon hadn't ridden an elevator in a long time so the ride made his head spin a bit. The corny elevator music didn't exactly help the awkwardness either. Alas the machine dinged and the doors opened. Clara pulled out her room key and was about to say goodbye but Sheldon persisted walking with her to her door.
"I hope you had fun tonight," he said.
"I did. Well, the comic book trip was a bit long but I understand. If I had been in an antique store or something it would have taken me just as long, maybe longer." Sheldon gave a breathy laugh at her statement. "Well, goodnight Sheldon." She was waiting for him to walk away before opening the door.
"I'd like to spend more time with you. Maybe we could have dinner together. Or, I know that a movie is also a customary outing event if you would prefer."
"Sheldon, are you asking me on a date?"
"Well, not exactly but I would like to see more of you. Unless you want it to be a date, I guess it could be more of a friend date than an actual date. However, if it you want it to be an actual date-"
"Sheldon I'm engaged," she suddenly cut him off.
"What?" He shook his head, trying to make sense of what just spurt from her mouth.
"I'm engaged to be married. My fiancé is in the hotel room. That's why I didn't want you to walk me up here. I wasn't ready to tell you yet."
"Why were you keeping this from me?"
"Well, I wasn't sure how you were going to react. And I really wanted to ask you to be my man of honor, or best man if you would prefer. I couldn't just show up on your doorstep and ask you straight forward so I decided to wait and ease into it. I shouldn't have blurted that out, now I've scared you. Oh Sheldon, I'm sorry…"
The door behind her opened and there stood a young man, younger than Sheldon, with green eyes and light brown hair. This must be the fiancé.
"Oh, sorry to interrupt," he had a distinguishable British accent, though not as 'Northern' as Clara's was. "Um… Clara love, are you coming inside soon?"
"Yes just give me a minute." The man nodded and shut the door.
"So that was him?" Sheldon asked curtly. He wasn't entirely sure why but all the sudden he felt extreme jealousy. This must be what Amy had been feeling.
"Yes, that was him. His name is Arthur Williams."
"Arthur," Sheldon snorted. "That's a name from the 1950's. Not a modern name like Sheldon." Clara crossed her arms.
"Well I like his name. No I love his name, and I love him. If you don't want to be part of the wedding Sheldon just tell me."
"I do want to be part of it. Clara Winthrop, I will be your man of honor."
Clara's already big eyes widened and a huge smile came across her face, "Really? Oh Sheldon this is the best thing you could have ever done for me," she wrapped her arms around his neck and he did the same on her waist.
While riding the elevator back down to the lobby Sheldon couldn't help but replay their hug over and over in his head. She just felt so right in his hands, and he had her scent still lingering on his shirt. An image came into his mind of her deciding to run off with him instead, but a little voice in the back of his head reminded him that not only was she going to marry another man, but he was in a committed relationship with Amy. If only Amy made him feel how Clara did.
It was then that Sheldon vowed to give Clara the best wedding possible. He may not be able to make her his but that didn't mean he could ignore his responsibility as Man of Honor. He just hoped this infatuation would eventually drift away. The rest of the night he kept repeating the same two words in his head: she's engaged, she's engaged, she's engaged.
