A/N Thanks again for all the reviews. Here's the third chapter of this story. I hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction using characters from The Big Bang Theory. I don't own any of the characters.
CHAPTER 3
The first rays of the rising sun illuminated the hotel room in which Leonard and Penny laid in their beds. Penny was the first who woke up. Normally she wasn't a morning person, and if she doesn't need to get up early, she considered everything before 11 a.m. the middle of the night and would punch everybody in the throat who would dare to get her out of her cozy sleeping place before this specific time. But this time it was different. Penny was on an exciting road trip and under no circumstances she wanted to waste any precious time. So, she got out of bed to start the new day. First she decided to check the weather outside and went to the window to look out. The huge sea-like body of water of Lake Michigan lay under an almost cloudless sky. The morning sun gave the surface of the water a glistening radiance, while the sky itself was colored in the most wonderful shades of yellow and orange. Nature paints the most beautful pictures, Penny thought. She relished the sight for a few minutes, happy to be at this place in this very moment.
When she turned around she looked at the still sleeping Leonard. He calmly breathed in and out and looked so cute. The blanket didn't cover his upper body, so Penny could see his actually well defined upper arms. She didn't want to wake him up, but Leonard's biological clock prompted him to awake just in this moment. He slowly opened his eyes. "Good morning Penny."
Penny smiled. "Good morning, sleepyhead."
Leonard smiled back and yawned with his hand in front of his mouth. "What time is it?"
"It's seven o'clock. Normally I would be sound asleep at this time on days I don't need to get up early. Seven in the morning is like the middle of the night for me," Penny chuckled.
"So you're a slugabed," Leonard stated.
"Yes, but not on this trip." Penny said. "Did you sleep well?" she asked.
"Yes, I can't complain," Leonard answered. "What about you?"
"I had the best sleep for a long time," Penny replied. "Your presence in this room obviously had a relaxing effect on me."
Leonard got out of bed and stretched. They had a little small talk about the hotel and the weather, before Penny mentioned Howard and Raj."I wonder if they had noticed you weren't sleeping in your room last night."
"I doubt it. I guess they were busy with throwing up the whole night." Leonard imitated a puking person, which made Penny giggle. "I'll see what Howard and Raj are doing," he said.
Penny ran her fingers through her messy hair. "And while you're doing this, I'll have a shower."
"Okay! Let's meet at eight to have breakfast in the hotel café." Leonard suggested. "What do you think of that?"
"Sounds good."
"Great! See you later." Leonard waved at Penny and grabbed his toiletries bag, which lay on a small table next to the door.
Leonard stepped out of Penny's room, and as chance would have it Howard came out of the guy's room. He looked like an example par excellence for somebody who's having a hangover. But seeing Leonard coming out of Penny's room let Howard forget his throbbing head for a moment. "Well, well, well! Someone got laid last night."
Leonard shook his head. "As always you have your mind in the gutter. Penny and I just had a nice talk."
"Dirty talk?" Howard smirked, which triggered a sudden headache attack. He gave a whimper of pain and massaged his temples.
"No, just a normal conversation among adults," Leonard replied a little bit unnerved.
"Yeah, right!" Howard said unbelieving. "Oh...how do I feel you ask? Well, I took some headache pills and now I get me some fresh air. My head still hurts like a bitch. Just as if the mighty Thor constantly hits his hammer against it."
"Hey, no one has forced you to overdo it so excessively," Leonard retorted.
"Whatever!" Howard put him off. "Later you have to tell me all the dirty details of your sexy night with the blond goddess. Don't you dare to leave something out."
Leonard wanted to put it right again. "Like I said..."
Suddenly they heard a noise from inside their hotel room. It sounded like someone had knocked something over. Leonard quickly went into their room and saw that Raj had indeed knocked something over. The telephone from the nightstand between the beds lay on the floor. Raj had fallen out of bed and swept it away. "Dude, this hangover is killing me. I won't survive this day. Please tell my family I love them. Leonard, my friend. I leave my telescope to you. But please handle it with care."
Leonard chuckled. "You're not going to die, Raj."
"How can you know that?" Raj whined. "Are you a doctor?" He paused for a moment. "Wait, you are a doctor. Ah...you know what I mean."
Leonard reached out a hand and helped Raj to get back on the bed. "Hey, maybe a nice hangover breakfast will help you."
"Forget it, I'm not leaving this room today." Raj moaned. "I just want to die. Oh, I think it's happening...I can already see the light."
A flash of light fell in the darkened room as Howard came back and openend the door. He lurched towards the bed and flopped down on it next to Raj.
"Umm...I said to Penny we'll have breakfast in the hotel café in about an hour," Leonard tossed in.
"No, thanks," Howard mumbled into his pillow. "You can have your après l'amour breakfast with Penny alone. Oh, by the way." He bumped Raj next to him with his arm. "Our Leonard here had sex with Penny last night."
"What? I didn't even noticed he left the room last night," Raj said half asleep. "Lucky bastard. I want all details later."
Leonard sighed. "Penny and I didn't..." He didn't finish his sentence, because he suddenly heard quite loud snoring. Howard and Raj had fallen asleep. Leonard shook his head and went to the bathroom to have a shower. When he came out of the bathroom thirty minutes later, Howard and Raj were entangled in a tight embrace. It was a sight for the gods. Of course he had to take a picture of this with his phone. The photo album of this road trip will be full of treasures. For the next twenty minutes Leonard read some articles in a few science magazines he brought with him. It was his holiday reading so to say.
Two minutes to eight, Leonard left the hotel room. Howard and Raj were still sleeping, this time in a less awkward position.
Leonard had left a note with some information for his friends.
Sorry guys! Penny and I had to head out without you. I'll text you from time to time about our whereabouts. If you two are feeling better, you can catch up with us later at a designated place. But you have to take a cab. See you. Leonard.
Leonard knocked on the door of Penny's hotel room. She opened it after a few seconds. The sight Penny provided was gorgeous. She wore an adorable blue spaghetti strap dress in polka-dots with a defined waist, whose hem fell below the knees. A large amount of her blond hair were pulled back and held in place with a cute barrette. Leonard who was dressed in his usual brown pants, t-shirt and hoodie was stunned by the beautiful young woman in front of him. "Umm...Wow, Penny! You look great."
Penny blushed deeply. "Thank you Leonard," she said with a coy smile.
"Ready to go?" he asked.
"Yep!" Penny closed the door and looked around. "Where are Howard and Raj?" she asked.
"They have a terrible hangover and are fast asleep. I fear, you have to make do with me," Leonard winked.
"I'd be glad to!" Penny smiled.
Together they walked to the hotel café. It offered an extensive breakfast buffet that was included in the price. They had freshly baked pastries and breads, many sorts of cereals, fruits, yoghurt, smoked and boiled ham, scrambled eggs, a great choice of cheeses, waffles, pancakes, omelettes, toast, bacon, sausages, skillet potatoes and grilled vegetables. Beverages included an rich choice of coffee, tea and juice. Leonard opted for croissants, pancakes and coffee, while Penny had fruits, a yoghurt and orange juice.
"So, what are your plans for today?" Leonard asked.
"Well," Penny answered, taking a sip of juice. "I'd like to go to the Art Institute of Chicago. It's a really great art museum, one of the oldest and largest in the United States. I don't know if you're interested in art, but I had hoped you would accompany me. I'm sure you'll like it."
"Of course I'll go with you. This sounds great," Leonard said cheerfully.
Penny clapped her hands. "Yay!" She was happy that Leonard would go with her. She had hoped for this.
Leonard and Penny finished their breakfast at nine o'clock and went straight to their rental car, that was parked in the courtyard of the hotel. Thanks to low traffic their drive to Grant Park, where the Chicago Art Institute was located, went off quite smoothly and in a considerable short time. Once there, finding a parking near the museum was the real challenge. After a while they found a cheap parking spot, but it wasn't within easy walking distance to the museum, so they had to walk a few blocks. But Leonard and Penny didn't mind. The weather was beautiful and the museum only opened at 10.30 a.m., so they had enough time to get there.
Luckily the line at entrance wasn't too long on this day and they could enter after only 10 minutes of waiting. Penny was overwhelmed by the all the artwork that were exhibited inside the museum. Leonard was equally impressed, seeing some well known masterpieces of art for real he only knew from school books, magazines or lexicons. As a former art student Penny could tell Leonard a lot about some of the paintings and sculptures. They spent particularly long time viewing iconic works such as Georges Seurat's 'A Sunday on La Grande Jatte', Pablo Picasso's 'The Old Guitarist', Edward Hopper's 'Nighthawks', and Grant Wood's 'American Gothic', the latter being one of the most familiar images in 20th-century American art.
They had spent two hours in the museum, before their growling stomachs signalled them that it was time for lunch. They went to the museum café and had a nice meal well worth the money. While they ate Leonard received a text from Howard, saying that they wanted to meet them in the afternoon. Leonard suggested to meet at 4 o'clock at the Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park, to which Howard and Raj agreed.
At one p.m. Leonard and Penny continued their tour through the various exhibitions of the museum. Highlights during their second round were a self-portrait by Vincent van Gogh and other works from post-Impressionist painters like Paul Cézanne and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Standing before the painting 'The Philosopher' by Édouard Manet, a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism, Penny told Leonard she had to do an analysis of this work in one of her art courses in college, which was graded with an A. She bacame a little sad when she thought about it, because she remembered it was her last good grade before her performance at school began to deteriorate in a way which eventually led to her dropping out of college. Leonard recognized her mood swing and was able to cheer her up pretty quickly. "Hey Penny. That's the past. In the present we stand here and look at this wonderful painting in real. That's better than mere theory in school books, don't you think?" Penny nodded and smiled at him. "And remember," Leonard continued. "You can go back to college."
"That's true," Penny replied. "Thanks, Leonard. You always find a way to cheer me up. You're the best." She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. Leonard blushed, which prompted Penny to chuckle. "Leonard, Sweetie, you don't have to blush when I give you a cheek kiss."
"Sorry," Leonard said sheepishly and looked to the floor. "I can't help it."
"No need to be sorry," Penny smiled. "That's cute."
Leonard looked at Penny and smiled. It wasn't his cute shy smile that she already knew so well. No, it was a special smile that was new to her. A smile that immediately captured her heart. In this very moment Penny truly took a shine to Leonard. There was really something going on between them. And suddenly a feeling she felt the night before, when they talked in her hotel room, came back with a vengeance. It were those butterflies in her stomach again. And it apparently were countless millions of them. She looked at him, staring in his wonderful brown eyes. Eyes in which she could lose herself. At the same time Leonard was mesmerized by Penny's gorgeous green eyes again that had this unique sparkle. They both didn't know how long they looked each other in the eyes, because they totally forgot time and everything around them. What brought them back into the reality of the present was a fierce sneeze by a middle-aged man next to them. They both blinked and cleared their throat. "Umm...," Penny stumbled with an embarrassed smile. "Let's go to the next room."
"Umm...yeah, okay," Leonard smiled in an equally embarrassed way. He stretched out an arm to indicate the direction. "Ladies first."
They continued to look at great paintings, sculptures and artifacts. In one room Penny was amazed by one of the Thorne Miniature Rooms from the 1930s. Its attention to detail was fantastic. Leonard took a particular liking to a more than two thousand year old Chinese tomb sculpture of a pixiu or chimera creature. "Looks like something from Pokémon," he chuckled.
"What is Pokémon?" Penny asked.
"Uh, Pokémon is short for the original Japanese title of Pocket Monsters. Pokémons are fictional creatures, which humans, known as Pokémon Trainers, catch and train to battle each other for sport," Leonard answered with obvious enthusiasm.
"That sounds really interesting," Penny replied smiling. Leonard was surprised by Penny's genuine interest. There wasn't the slightest tone of condescension or contempt. Somehow he had expected at least a puzzled or questioning look. Penny was so different than the popular girls he knew from his high school days. With each minute by her side he fell for her more and more.
A few minutes after three o'clock they finished their visit at the museum and stepped out in the bright light of a sunny late September day in Chicago.
Leonard and Penny decided to have a walk in Grant Park until Howard and Raj would meet them there at the Buckingham Fountain. Enjoying some of the gardens and flower displays in the park area time went by in a flash. Around four o'clock they walked towards the Buckingham Fountain, which was located in the center of Grant Park. Howard and Raj already waited for them at the fountain.
"Ah, our two love birdies are here," Howard smirked. Raj just smiled and waved at Leonard and Penny.
Leonard and Penny both shook their heads at Howard's remark. "Hi Howard, Hi Raj. Feeling better?" Leonard asked.
"Yes," Howard answered. "We're game for anything again."
"Any suggestions, what we could do now?" Leonard wanted to know.
"First, I want all salacious details about your night of love." Howard demanded, to which Raj nodded in agreement.
"Gosh! How often do I have to say it? Nothing happened. We just talked." Leonard grumbled. "Right Penny?"
"Right," Penny replied. "And now shut up, Howard." She paused for a moment. "I have an idea what we could do now. We could make a boat tour," Penny suggested. "I saw a sign of a boat tour provider at the site where our car is parked."
"Great idea," Leonard said.
"Yeah, sounds cool," Howard agreed.
Leonard, Penny, Howard and Raj walked to the parking lot and right next to it was a dock of a boat tour provider. They were in luck and still could get four tickets for a lake and river tour, that would last 90 minutes. Ten minutes later they sat on the upper deck and the tour started. First the boat cruised along the Chicago River where they passed such internationally-known architecture like the neo-Gothic structure of the Tribune Tower, the Wrigley Building with its distinctive clock tower and the two corncob-shaped buildings of Marina City. Penny took loads of pictures again, just like Leonard. Even Howard and Raj were impressed by the stunning architecture on the left and the right of the river, so that for the time being Leonard and Penny were safe from Howard's sexual innuendos. Probably Raj would have joined him in those innuendos, if he would have had alcohol at hand.
The last part of the tour brought them to the calm and cool waters of Lake Michigan, where they had expansive views of Chicago's great skyline. Penny couldn't resist to make a selfie with her and the Chicago skyline in the background. She also made selfies with Leonard and Raj, but turned down Howard after he made one suggestive comment too much.
The boat tour ended around half past six and all four of them had greatly enjoyed it. In a cheerful atmosphere they returned to their car and drove back to the hotel.
After refreshing themselves and changing clothes they had dinner at the hotel café. The rest of the day before they went to sleep was spent in the guy's hotel room. At first they discussed the plans for the next day. They wanted to get up at 8 a.m., have breakfast and then start the drive to the next stop of their road trip, which was Cleveland, Ohio. Their goal was to arrive in Cleveland around 4 o'clock in the afternoon, with a break and a change of driver at the service plaza in Fremont, Indiana. For the rest of the evening they watched TV, with Howard and Raj sitting on one bed and Leonard and Penny sitting on the other. To be able to talk to Penny, Raj drank beer again. But this time one beer was enough. The experience of a terrible hangover was a lesson to him.
Around ten o'clock Penny called it a night. Leonard, Howard and Raj said good night to her and she left the room. Penny was out of the room for just a few seconds, when Leonard noticed that Penny had forgotten her phone on the table next to the door. He jumped up from the bed, grabbed the phone and hurried out of the room. Howard and Raj looked at each other with a knowing smile. "It's time for the dance with no pants again," Howard grinned.
Penny was still on the open corridor in the act of pulling the keycard out of her purse to open her door, when she heard Leonard. "Penny," he exclaimed, holding up the portable device. "You forgot your phone."
She turned to him. "Oh, thanks, sweetie."
"You're welcome," Leonard replied with a soft smile. They continued to have a little small talk on the corridor. "Okay, the guys are waiting for me," he said five minutes later. "And they surely have their mind in the gutter again." Leonard just wanted to say good night, but then he gathered all his courage and gave Penny a quick kiss on the cheek.
Penny was surprised and smiled joyously. "What was that for?"
"Just a thank you for this great day and that I had the honor to spend this great day with you," Leonard said with that special smile on his face.
Penny blushed deeply and felt those butterflies again. "You are the sweetest guy ever."
"Nah!" Leonard objected. "I'm just an ordinary guy who's favored by fortune to find such a wonderful friend like you."
"Oh my god, Leonard." Penny was really touched. "You are doing it again. Please stop being so damn sweet."
"OK, I'll try," Leonard chuckled.
"No, don't try. I changed my mind. Please stay sweet."
"Your wish is my command. Good night Penny."
"Good night Leonard." She watched Leonard returning to the guy's room and with a beatific smile on her face Penny entered her hotel room. She couldn't stop smiling. Penny was still smiling, when she went to bed an hour later until she finally fell asleep, the whole time incessantly thinking about the butterflies in her stomach and about Leonard and what a great guy he was.
When Leonard returned to the guy's room he was greeted as expected. "Oh, just a quickie this time?" Howard mocked him.
Leonard ignored him and they continued to watch TV. Two hours later the three men lay in bed, Howard and Raj already fallen asleep and Leonard preoccupied with thoughts of Penny, like the two nights before.
The next day everything went according to plan. They had breakfast, checked out and started their drive to Cleveland. As usual Leonard was the first to drive. With Penny sitting next to him the drive to their halt in between Fremont, Indiana went off smoothly. During the second part of the route from Fremont to Cleveland Howard took over the wheel. Raj sat in the passenger seat while Leonard and Penny sat on the back seat. Driving on the Interstate 90 they arrived Cleveland shortly after four o'clock in the afternoon, just as planned. They found a nice hotel in downtown Cleveland and had checked in by five. Again Leonard, Howard and Raj shared one room, while Penny had a room for herself.
They all met in the guy's room to discuss what to do on their first day in Cleveland. After a few minutes of discussion they agreed to split in two groups, because Howard and Raj wanted to eat something, while Leonard and Penny wanted to stroll around downtown first.
After sauntering for two hours Leonard and Penny became hungry, so Leonard decided to treat Penny to a nice dinner in a cozy restaurant in East 4th Street, a major downtown neighborhood in Cleveland, known for its food, entertainment, and lack of car traffic.
While they were waiting for their entrée, the olives in the salad that was served as hors d'oeuvre gave Leonard an idea. "Hey, do you want to see something cool?"
Penny nodded. "Sure!"
With a spoon Leonard took an olive from the hors d'oeuvre and placed it on the table. "I can make this olive go into this glass without touching it."
"How?" Penny asked.
"Physics." Leonard said with a confident smile and placed a glass over the olive. He started to spin it until the olive got caught up on the side of the glass.
Penny was amzed. "Wow! Centrifugal force!"
Leonard corrected her. "Actually, it's centripetal force, which is an inward force generated by the glass acting on the olive." Suddenly the olive dropped from the glass and fell to the floor. "Excuse me." Leonard crawled under the table and looked for the olive, while he continued to speak. "Now, if you were riding on the olive, you'd be in a non-inertial reference frame, and would..." Leonard didn't finish his explanation, because he banged his head on the underside of the table.
"Are you okay?" Penny asked concerned.
"Yeah, I'm okay," Leonard answered, coming up from under the table again, rubbing his head. "I probably get a bump and a headache, but it's nothing serious."
"Let me see." Penny leant over to Leonard and blew on the spot on Leonard's head he was rubbing. "This will disperse the pain."
Smiling at each other Leonard repeated his demonstration of the centripetal force since he had actually found the olive. This time everything worked. A short time later the entrée arrived. Leonard and Penny enjoyed their meal and it became a really nice evening with a lot of talking and a lot of laughing. For dessert Penny had a delicious chocolate mousse, while Leonard had a fruit salad. He envied Penny for her mousse, but because of his lactose intolerance he couldn't eat it. When it came to paying for their meals, Penny wanted to pay for herself, but Leonard reminded her that he had treated her to this dinner and insisted to pay for both of them.
On their way back to the hotel they mostly walked in content silence, enjoying the bubbly night life in the streets in this part of downtown Cleveland. Leonard and Penny arrived at their hotel around half past ten. Standing in front of the door of Penny's hotel room both felt a reluctance of parting ways for the night.
Penny tilted her head slightly to the side. "Thank you for this wonderful dinner. I had a really great time."
Leonard smiled. "I'm glad you enjoyed it. Thanks to the most charming company you can imagine, I had a great time too."
Penny blushed once more after hearing Leonard's adorable compliment. "Leonard, you are really a wheedler. I'm so happy to be here with you on this trip. A few days ago I was stuck in a boring and miserable life in Nebraska, and now I'm standing here...in a hotel during a stop on a road trip to New York. If I had told anyone last week, that I would be on a road trip this week, I would have been considered crazy. That's for sure."
Leonard became thoughtful. "I'm happy too, that we are together here on this trip. And when you think about it...just because of a stone that was spun from the road by a truck and hit our windshield. I wonder if this was destiny."
Penny was reminded at the thoughts she had, the day she met Leonard and his friends. "It's funny you say this. I also wondered, if our encounter was destiny. But it doesn't matter whether it was destiny or not. We are standing here. You and I, in this very moment."
Leonard nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that's true."
Both smiled at each other. And then it happened again, just like in the museum in Chicago the day before. They looked deeply into each other's eyes, and again they totally forgot time and everything around them. But this time they were alone, no one was there who could pull them out of the mutual mesmerization they both experienced in this moment. Everything that occurred next played out as if it happened in some sort of trance.
Leonard reached out a hand and carefully cupped Penny's cheek, while his other hand held her waist. Then he slowly leaned forward and his lips gently met hers. The moment their lips touched was like if electricity would shot through their bodies. It was an incredible and blissful feeling. Something neither Leonard nor Penny experienced before in this intensity. Penny reciprocated the kiss at once and wrapped her arms around Leonard's neck. The countless millions of butterflies in her stomach literally exploded, adding a feeling of indescribable joy. When their lips parted they stared into each other's eyes again, knowing that this was a special moment in both of their lives. After a few moments that seemed like hours, they pulled away with coy smiles on their faces.
Penny bit her lip and looked shyly at Leonard. "Umm...Thanks again for this wonderful evening, Leonard."
Leonard cleared his throat. "It was a pleasure for me."
"Good night, Leonard."
"Good night, Penny."
Smiling at Leonard, Penny opened the door of her hotel room and went inside.
To be continued...
