"Airport germs. Airport germs. Airport germs." Sheldon did his familiar neurotic dance around the hotel lobby.
"Can we get him checked in first?" Leonard asked the woman behind the front desk. "Before he explodes all over the furniture."
"Of course," the woman said with a smile, "Room 307." She began to hand the room key to Leonard, but Sheldon snatched it immediately and bolted towards his room in a fury.
"Hey, wait!" Leonard shouted. "After your shower, meet us down here for some sight-seeing. Twenty minutes."
Sheldon stopped and looked at Leonard. "Twenty minutes? I've never taken a twenty minute shower in my life!"
"Sheldon, we're on vacation. We don't have time to wait while you complete your two hour bathing ritual. Can't you skip it just this once?"
Sheldon paused for a brief moment of thought before bolting down the hall again. "Go without me!" he shouted without looking back.
Emily smiled at Sheldon's antics. "A hot shower sounds wonderful," she said to no one in particular while rubbing her neck. Amy rolled her eyes and sat on the couch.
"Alright, here are you keys," Bernadette said as she passed the keys to her friends.
"My key says 307-308. Which is it?" Emily asked.
"You'll be in 308 with Amy. She and Sheldon always get adjoining rooms," Bernadette said.
"Oh, good to know."
"Oh, dear," Sheldon sighed as the lock flashed red again after inserting his card for the fifth time. He examined the card closely, looking for anything that might obstruct the sensors in the lock. Nothing. He leaned his head back in frustration but was caught off-guard by a piece of lint on his shoulder. Airport lint. "Oh, good lord!" he shouted and shoved the key into the lock again.
Red light.
"Go slower," he heard a voice say from behind him. He turned to see Emily standing close behind him with her hand out asking to see the card.
"What?"
"You need to slide it in and out more slowly." She smiled and grabbed his hand with the card in it. Together they pushed the key into the lock. The moment passed in slow motion before the finally heard the click of the door. Emily looked up at him and smiled.
Green light.
"Finally!" Sheldon rushed into the room. "See ya," he said while slamming the door.
"Don't you want to go to your room and freshen up, Amy?" Penny asked after seeing Amy still sitting on the couch.
"Not really."
"Everything okay?" Leonard asked. "You seem a little off today."
"I'm fine. It's just been a long day."
"Sheldon is a handful," Leonard sighed.
"Can I come with you to your room?" Amy asked Penny.
Penny and Leonard looked at one another, knowing that they were looking forward to spending a few minutes alone together. But Amy needed them.
"Sure," Penny said in a very comforting manner.
It was a quite walk to the room. The only sound was the chatter of the suitcases as they wheeled along the marble floor. Amy seemed lost in some emotional black hole, and Penny and Leonard were debating whether to save her or let her solve it for herself.
The rooms continued to pass.
301. 302. 303.
"Is there anything we can do?" Penny said quietly to Amy. "We really want you to enjoy this trip."
304. 305. 306.
Amy continued walking as if no one had said a word.
307. 308.
She stared at the door of Sheldon's room, listening to the sound of his shower hissing. She looked at the door to Emily's room and mentally measured the distance between the two. No more than six inches. Six inches had felt like miles to Amy in the past, but today it might as well be the width of a single hair.
309. At last.
Leonard unlocked the door and started loading the luggage inside.
"Does Sheldon ever talk about our relationship?" Amy asked while still staring at the adjoining hotel rooms. Leonard's eyes got wide as he rushed back into the room in hopes of dodging the conversation.
"Umm, of course he does," Penny said.
"Does he talk about our sex life?" Amy's stare never left those menacing six inches.
Penny was caught completely off guard. She looked at Leonard, but he was indisposed after feeling an urgent need to brush his teeth. What would she tell her? The truth?
"Oh, Amy, I didn't think you guys were…." Penny fumbled through her words, hoping a suitable answer would come to her.
"You didn't think what? That Sheldon and I could ever be intimate? Well, we're not, so you can let everyone know that we have been together for almost three years and are still in a completely sexless relationship." Amy raised her voice while putting her hands on her face to help calm her nerves. "I'm sorry about that. You don't deserve that, but I genuinely want to know. Has he ever told anyone that we engaged in coitus?"
Penny felt torn and fished for a way out. "Sweetie, you know that Sheldon is a very private person. He takes your relationship very seriously."
"Please, just answer the question."
Penny didn't know what else to do. "No," she said.
She lied.
Six wash cloths. Soap. Shampoo. Conditioner . Toothbrush. Toothpaste. Mouthwash. Thirty pieces of dental floss cut into eight inch segments. Four Q-tips. Nail clippers. Nail file. Razor. Shaving cream. And aftershave. Sheldon was finally ready to shower. He moved through the thick cloud of steam towards the shower and began to untie his robe. The fabric slid down his skin as he set one foot onto the shower floor.
Then he heard it, an infuriating knock at his door.
He put his robe back on, tied it, and left the bathroom to answer the door. "Life is hell," he mumbled.
He opened the door only to find an empty hallway. The knock sounded again and he realized it was coming from the door adjoining his room to Amy's. "Amy, this had better be an emergency," he called through the door, "And even if it is, it's no reason to interrupt my shower." He opened the door and was startled to see Emily clothed in nothing but a towel and dripping hair. The six inches had been breached.
"I'm so sorry to bother you, but are you planning on using your complimentary shampoo and conditioner?" she asked.
"I hadn't planned on it, but doesn't your room carry the same amenities?" Sheldon asked in a stern voice. His long-lived admiration for Dr. Emily Richards was clouded by the presence of festering airport germs. She could have been Luke Skywalker in the flesh and he'd still be counting down the seconds until he could shower meticulously.
"It does, but those bottles are so small that one just isn't going to cut it." She smiled as she caught a glimpse of his chest through his robe.
"I see. Wait here." He retreated to the bathroom.
She peeked inside his room. His suitcase was open on the bed, all of its contents perfectly organized and color coordinated. She liked that.
"I think you'll find this sufficient." He emerged from the bathroom and held out the bottles.
She grabbed them and looked at him intently. "Thank you, Dr. Sheldon Cooper." She closed the door behind her as she returned to her room.
He fled to the bathroom.
Music racing. Bodies writhing. Lights flashing in neon colors. The club was crowded, which was expected on a Friday night, but Penny wanted to experience the night life of Las Vegas. Raj sipped his grasshopper and eyed every girl that passed. Howard danced with Bernadette, hoping to score in the bedroom later that night. And Leonard waited at the hotel to pick up Sheldon and Amy, although he knew that Sheldon would refuse to come if he knew they were going to a club.
"We're going to get sundaes, Sheldon, "Leonard said while handing Sheldon his jacket.
"But we can get sundaes here in the hotel."
"Help me out here?" Leonard looked to Amy for help.
"The sundaes here have very limited toppings. No nuts," Amy said.
"Oh, dear. I was planning on watching the Battlestar Galactica marathon on the SyFy channel tonight."
"You've seen that a hundred times, Sheldon. Let's go enjoy Las Vegas," Leonard said.
"Fine," Sheldon huffed as he put on his jacket. "But I want extra nuts for later."
"I love this song." Penny sipped her drink while watching the door for Leonard.
"I just saw Sheldon. He didn't look happy," Bernadette said breathlessly after she and Howard finished another dance. Leonard led Amy and Sheldon to their table.
"Why so glum, Tex," Penny shouted over the music.
"I was brought here under false pretenses." Sheldon sat at the table and continued to sulk, but Amy was thankful for the distractions. She ordered a drink immediately.
"Do either of you want to dance?" Penny asked as she bounced to the music.
"No. You know I don't dance," Sheldon said.
"I'm in," Amy polished off her drink in one big gulp and took off her cardigan. "You sure you won't join me?" she asked Sheldon.
"Quite sure. Dancing is illogical." Amy watched him for a moment and then shrugged her shoulders.
"Actually, it's one of the most logical things in the world," Emily said from the adjacent table while swaying to the beat. She was almost unrecognizable. Her hair fell over her shoulders in glossy curls. She wore a slim fitting red dress and high heels. A vixen.
"Dr. Richards? What are you doing here?" Sheldon was stunned. "I never expected someone like you to partake in these ridiculous activities."
"You're looking at it all wrong, Sheldon." She sat in the chair next to him and crossed her leg, revealing more of her thigh. "Not dancing is the only illogical conclusion to the equation."
"Explain." He respected her enough to listen to her reasoning, although he was sure it was complete poppycock. How could someone so brilliant engage is the actions of simpletons?
"When we trap particles in an enclosure, what do we see when we look closely at them?"
"We see them reacting to the temperature and air pressure around them."
"Exactly. And what if we were to increase the heat and pressure?"
"They would move faster, eventually colliding with one another and the barriers of the enclosure."
"And if they didn't?"
"That question is irrelevant. The notion that particles would remain stationary in the presence of an external heat source makes no,"
"Sense?" she finished his sentence before he had a chance.
"Yes," he said with a raised brow, feeling slightly confused at the turn in the conversation.
"It's the same with humans, Sheldon. The music is the external pressure and the others on the dance floor are the heat source. With music this loud and crowds this dense, it's illogical to suppress the urge to dance."
Amy laughed at the ridiculousness of her argument. Sheldon was never going to fall for it. She handed her cardigan and purse to him and made her way to the dance floor with Penny and the girls.
"So, what do you say? Why not go out there and dance with your girlfriend?" Emily said while glancing at Amy.
Sheldon winced as he looked at the crowd while his fingers delicately traced the buttons on Amy's cardigan. He was torn.
"Come on." Emily didn't wait for his response. She grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the dance floor. He set down Amy's things and removed his jacket. This was going to be interesting.
The music thumped loud enough that he could feel the pulses on his skin. Pressure. Bodies pressed against him, a stranger's breath on his neck. Heat. The lights flashed. Dark, light, dark, light.
He watched Emily's body sift into the crowd in flashes, like a 35 millimeter film strip purring through a projector. The whole situation was repulsive to him, but he found himself being devoured by some mysterious animal magnetism. Resolve was fading.
They reached the center of the dance floor where Amy was dancing with Penny and Bernadette. Her heart nearly stopped when she saw Sheldon on the dance floor holding the hand of another woman. She stared directly at Sheldon as he approached.
"Go on," Emily pulled him close to Amy before starting to dance with Bernadette. Pressure. Both Amy and Sheldon remained still. Terrified to move. Terrified to breathe. Terrified to lose control.
Amy started to sway to the beat. Sheldon never noticed her legs before tonight. They were intriguing as they flashed in the black light. She danced faster. Pressure.
He focused on his breathing, attempting to keep his adrenalin in check, but then she put her hand on his hip and pulled him closer. He could feel her legs touch his own. Heat.
The music grew louder, a viral infection spreading through his body, and he started to move his hips. Amy watched as he moved awkwardly at first.
But soon he developed a rhythm and pulled Amy closer. She could see the beads of sweat starting to form on his neck. His breath mingled with the smell of her perfume as moved together.
But both of them felt an uncontrollable desire mounting. Sheldon's hands slid down Amy's thighs, a slow and controlled maneuver of a man with considerably more experience, when Emily interrupted.
"How's it going over here?"
Sheldon paused. He slowly pulled his hands away from Amy and stood stunned in his rapid breathing. "This was a mistake," he said before rushing off the dance floor. Amy followed but the sea of writhing bodies consumed her efforts. She emerged in time to see the door close behind him.
Chapter 4 in the works. Read, review, enjoy.