Amy gently placed her cell back on the bedside table, but she didn't sleep as easily. For a few minutes, her fatigued mind wondered whether Penny was just looking for an excuse to call at this ridiculous hour, but the ideas soon tugged her mind into the present. Then she reran through the conversation, and the psychologist in her acknowledged how tense her voice sounded, how sober her words sounded, no slurring at all, considering that she knew Penny would most likely spend a good part of Leonard's first week away intoxicated.
Her wanderings soon grew into unease, and that became concern, and within seconds she was scrolling through her contacts searching for one of the last names, and tapped on Sheldon's number. The cell was braced to her ear with clenched, shivering fingers.
Ring ring...Ring ring...
"You have reached Doctor Sheldon Cooper's voice mail. Evidently I have been too busy to answer your call, please leave a message and I will listen when I have free time...It's Sheldon."
"Sheldon, I know you don't like voice mails so call me back if you don't wish for anymore. Talk to Penny, she called me a couple of minutes ago and it wouldn't be for any other reason," she half growled down the phone, her voice lowering with disappointment towards the end.
...
"Oooow..."
Penny groaned and turned her head against the solid surface behind it, the cramp in her neck pulling with each movement. She placed her numb hands on the floor to push herself up, but dizzyness came over her when she barely moved.
"Penny, you're not homeless."
Her eyes slowly glided open and found a pair of legs, long and skinny, connected to the man she had been searching for...for hours. She had no idea what time it was. He was staring down at her as if she was the lost one, his usual patronizing self.
"Sheldon," she moaned, and again tried to push herself from the floor, fighting the morning weakness.
"...A little help?"
The oblivious physicist looked less than impressed at the messy blond crowding his door, and so held a hand out to assist her desirably rapid departure.
"Thanks."
Her nodded a curt 'you're welcome', and stared down at his fingers fumbling with his keys.
"Sheldon, where did you go?"
His eyes remained avoidant, but he began answering straight away. "I found it was too far to Amy's so I stopped at Koothrappali's..." he excused, but he was hiding the side of his face, the one that was most likely twitching away like crazy.
"Ok Sweety," she replied, degenerated, and watched him depart silently into his apartment, placing aside her cell with his hand before he closed the door, which she grabbed instantly. She stared at the screen to find 4 missed calls and 3 voice mails.
"Penny, I've tried Sheldon and he's not replying. I'm going to call Raj and Howard,"
"Penny, they don't know anything. They said to try...a ballpit? Maybe I heard that wrong."
"Penny, maybe he just went to the gas station bathroom or something."
Penny listened, wide eyed after the second voice mail, and her eyes flitted to the opposing door. She considered knocking it, demanding an answer. Demanding why he had scared the girl who was supposed to be his girlfriend, her, and potentially his friends.
But why should she? He was not her problem, he was a grown man of 32. He could come and go when he pleased, he had functioning fists to defend himself against any assailants. The question that bothered her was...why did he lie? And where did he go? Something like going out into a world he was already weary of in the middle of the night was something Sheldon Cooper simply didn't do.