A/N - Happy Easter! This is kind of a filler chapter, kind of a chapter to see a bit more of the other characters, and kinda some more 'ugh Priya sucks'. Thank you so much for the reviews, follows, favorites etc, keep them coming, I love to see what you all think :) Enjoy!
Head pounding, Penny dragged herself over to the fridge, grabbing a water bottle and sitting down at the counter. She took a few large gulps, relishing the hydration. Resting her head on her hands, she thought about the night before, trying to remember what had happened after she had convinced Amy and Bernadette to do a fifth round of Vodka shots, to no avail. A noise from the sofa caused her head to snap up. Rubbing her eyes, she walked over cautiously, jumping when she saw a figure tangled up in a blanket. As the figure continued to stir, she recognized the face of Amy Farrah Fowler. She got another bottle out of the fridge, and waited for her to fully wake.
"Penny?"
"Morning," Penny sat down on the armrest of the couch, handing Amy a bottle. "Feeling rough?"
Amy took a few gulps of water. "Indeed. Do you too, feel rough?"
"Yup," Penny sighed.
"Yay, besties feeling rough together! Is this what high school and college were supposed to be like?"
"Pretty much," Penny flopped down next to Amy once she had sat up. "Do you remember anything?"
Amy thought for a while. "I remember Sheldon telling me I'm going to regret drinking alcohol in the morning, and that you are a bad influence."
"That I am, that I am..."
"Oh, don't say that, I can assure you, from what I do remember, it was a hoot!"
Leonard lifted his head from the toilet seat for what felt like the hundredth time. He heard a foot tapping behind him and turned around to see Priya looking down at him.
"Hangover?" She handed him a bottle of water.
"Little bit," he muttered, taking the bottle and taking a few sips.
"Well you did drink a lot," Priya frowned.
"It was my birthday, I was allowed," He hauled himself up to the sink and rinsed his mouth with mouthwash. "Ugh, that's better."
"Perhaps you should go back to bed," Priya sighed. "Drink the water and try to sleep."
"Yeah..." He dragged himself past her and back into his bedroom, where he collapsed onto his bed and sprawled out. "God, I'm so tired."
"Considering the party ended at three and you've been up since five throwing up, that doesn't come as a surprise." She picked up her bag. "I'm going to take Raj back to the apartment, he passed out on the sofa but he's awake now. I'll be back later. Make sure you get some sleep."
Leonard gave her a half-hearted wave as she left, wishing she'd shut the light off before leaving. When he next woke, it was 2 in the afternoon, and he realized now how empty his stomach was. Slowly getting up, he shoved on his robe and shuffled into the kitchen. Sheldon was tidying the apartment; he gave Leonard and quick 'good morning' before continuing to pick up trash. Penny and Amy were sat at the counter, filling plates up with last nights leftovers.
"Morning," He mumbled, sitting down next to them and grabbing a plate.
"Rough night?" Penny asked, carefully putting crisps in a ham sandwich.
He nodded as he picked up a biscuit. "I think I feel as rough as you look."
"Hey, we don't look that bad," Penny frowned.
"May I interject here?" Sheldon turned around. "You all look equally terrible. If I didn't hold the knowledge that you all had hangovers, I would believe you were homeless alcoholics breaking into my home." He gave them a small smile, as though this were supposed to be some kind of compliment.
"Sheldon, as your girlfriend, I find that really offensive." Amy said.
"I'm sorry, Amy, but I can't lie." Sheldon shrugged.
"Wanna order a pizza or something? I don't think these leftovers are gonna help."
"Excuse me!" Sheldon turned around again. "It's not Pizza Night! It's Sunday afternoon, we do not have pizza on a Sunday afternoon."
"We're having pizza, Sheldon." Leonard took his phone from his robe pocket. "Shall I see if Howard and Bernadette want to come over too?"
A half hour later, a still blue Howard and Bernadette walked into apartment 4A, holding the pizza order, which they'd picked up on their way over. Sheldon had cleared the coffee table and couch area, so they all gathered there and sat down. Sheldon had agreed to join them, so he sat in his spot, looking around at his friends, a look of disapproval at their hungover states upon his face.
"We may all look like crap but it was a really great party," Leonard smiled, picking up a slice. "Thank you guys for doing that for me. I loved it, it was amazing."
"It was Howard's idea," Sheldon said. "The surprise party. I suggested that it be costume themed, because you like costumes, and I like dressing up as the Flash."
Once they had finished eating, Howard put the memory card from his camera into Leonard's laptop and they went through the photos, laughing more and more as they got further into the night. He then called Raj to see how he was doing, who told him that he had slept through most of the day and was going to stay away from beer for a while. Sheldon went to bed at nine, so the rest stayed up watching Sunday night TV quietly.
"We'd best get going," Howard sighed as it hit 11pm. "We have work in the morning and still need to get all this blue off. You need a ride home Amy?"
"Yes, please."
They stood, picking up their belongings and yawning.
"Thanks for calling us over," Bernadette thanked Leonard, as she hugged him goodbye.
"Goodbye, bestie," Amy grinned at Penny. "I'm not sure how I ended up there, but thank you for letting me crash on your couch."
Once Amy, Bernadette and Howard had left, Penny helped Leonard tidy away the empty pizza boxes and clear the dishes.
"Where's Priya?" She asked after a while, realizing that she hadn't seen her all day. It had been nice to hang out with everyone in this apartment again, without Priya keeping an eye on her.
"Oh, she left in the morning to take Raj home. She said she'd be back later, but I guess she's just sleeping there instead." Leonard shrugged, putting away a stack of plates. "I don't think she was too impressed with my hangover."
"She wasn't hungover?"
"I don't think she drank much."
Penny rolled her eyes. Probably wanted to stay sober and keep an eye on me. Sneaky bitch. "Well. At least you enjoyed your birthday." She smiled at him. " Did you know they were going to throw you a surprise party?"
"I actually had no clue! Sheldon asked me to go pick up the takeaway because he can't drive and Raj, Howard, Amy and Bernadette were coming over, so I thought fair enough. Then I got here and it was great!" He couldn't help his grin, he had loved having a real birthday party.
"Aw, I'm glad." She smiled at him. "Less hungover now?"
"Oh, yeah, I'm just glad I'm not being sick anymore. I spent like three hours in the bathroom by myself just throwing up whatever I drank last night."
"Priya didn't get up and help you out?" Penny raised a brow.
"No." Leonard frowned. "Though it's my fault. Would have been nice to get that bottle of water a bit earlier though, my throat felt like a desert."
Penny felt a surge of anger towards Priya. Could she not be bothered to get out of bed and bring him some water, or rub his back, bring him some comfort? Was she just judging him? She thought about the early mornings she'd spent in the bathroom with Leonard, both being sick and making sure the other was okay at the same time. And then she'd just left him after his birthday. What kind of girlfriend did that? Penny didn't like how many things she could find to dislike Priya for.
"At least you feel better now, right?"
"Yeah." Leonard nodded. He thought about the judgmental way Priya had looked at him that morning, and how she had decided to stay in bed despite knowing he was being sick. He had shrugged it off but now he thought of it, she could have at least checked on him earlier. "And you're good too?"
"Oh, I'm used to these." She waved it off with a giggle. "But yeah, I am. Just need to take a shower and get some sleep."
"Hmm, a shower would definitely help."
Penny bit her lip as the thought of Leonard in the shower filled her brain. What was it with him and showers? She thought about how Priya wasn't here, and Sheldon was asleep, and it was just her and Leonard, taking a step forward. A buzzing snapped her back and she quickly stepped away from Leonard, who was looking at her like he had that morning on the sofa. He cleared his throat as he looked at his phone, the culprit of the buzzing.
"Just email," He said, putting his phone back down.
"Oh." Penny smiled nervously. "Well, I'd better go. Breakfast shift tomorrow. Gotta take that shower!"
"Right, of course" Leonard nodded. "Well, see you around."
She gave him a quick hug and kiss on the cheek before heading out, hating whoever was in charge of making that email arrive at that moment, but at the same time thanking them for stopping anything more from happening when there was every chance Priya would walk through that door.