Sheldon quickly released his grip and held his hands stiff like he just touched something disgusting.
"I sure hope you washed your hands after work this evening." He said.
"Huh? Yeah, of course." She answered. She was still blinking oddly.
"I must say Penny, you are already more convincing as an actress. Kudos."
"Oh, thanks. So, how did you know those lines so well? We haven't rehearsed that scene before." She asked.
"You emailed me the script. With the trivial language and predictive plot line, it didn't take long. Besides, you said these sessions were interaction oriented with limited focus on learning the lines. Therefore, I read them over ahead of time to facilitate the process. You're welcome." He said in his typical, cocky tone.
Penny laughed awkwardly. "Oh gee, thanks. You're getting really good at this too. You've mastered his character in a day."
Sheldon walked over to the sink. "Penny, you seem surprised. I assured you a long time ago that I could master the craft in two sessions."
She rubbed her left wrist like she just had handcuffs removed. Sheldon looked over at her, a bit horrified. He washed his hands quickly and rushed over to her.
"Oh God, I hurt you! My apologies. I saw that you were going to push me and the script said I was supposed to block you. Naturally, I was going to ignore all that tomfoolery, but if there was going to be unnecessary touching, I might as well engage in the character." Sheldon said.
Penny looked down at her subconscious movements. "What? Oh, yeah I'm fine. It didn't really hurt, I promise."
"Are you sure? I have bandage wraps in the bathroom." He replied.
She laughed. "No, I'm fine. It was just a reaction."
Sheldon let out a sigh of relief. "Oh thank goodness. My mother taught me that a true gentleman would never hurt a lady. And if I ever did she'd hunt me so fast my head would spin, metaphorically speaking."
Penny smiled. "You consider me a 'lady'?"
"I suppose I don't know for sure, but your physical appearance and demeanor suggest so. Although with your masculine hands, broad shoulders, and recently effeminate taste in men, I suppose anything's possible."
She puffed out her lips and gave Sheldon a sideways glance. "Gee, thanks."
"For what?" He asked.
"Never mind. Let's start over and try this again. You don't have to touch me, if you don't want." Penny was extremely aware of the fact she just said 'if you don't want.'
Penny, snap out of it. That was the creepiest thing you've ever said. You're essentially asking Sheldon if he wants to touch you. Why the hell does it sound more sexual the more I repeat it? I need a cold shower.
"Thank you. When you're ready Penny." He said. Penny noted that his script was on the coffee table.
Seriously starting to hate his memory.
"Ok, same scene." She said. "Dammit Tim, you didn't have to push me into your office like that. There was nobody out there. And even so, I'm allowed to come to your office whenever I want. I'm still in your class."
"I didn't push you. I just didn't want to be loitering in the hallway. It's nobody else's business what we talk about." Sheldon said. Penny smiled at the slight southern accent in his voice.
Stop that Penny. You're turning into a psycho.
Sheldon stared at Penny. "It's your turn Penny."
"Right, sorry." She responded. "You already told me you can't get fired for dating me, so what's the big secret? Why can't you even be seen with me anymore? Do you have some secret girlfriend elsewhere or something?"
"Sarah, listen to me. I really like you, but the last thing I need right now is everyone thinking I'm sleeping with my students."
"So that's it? I'm just one of your students?! And for crying out loud, what does sex have to do with any of this? Is that all I am to you? A good time?" Penny started to tear up. Maybe she was learning to emotionally connect after all.
"Oooh tears. Nice touch Penny." Sheldon said. "What do you want from me? I'm trying really hard here to make everyone happy."
"You know what? Maybe you just can't handle a relationship. Maybe I'm too... good… for you…" She choked out. She put her hand up to her mouth like she wanted to hide her emotions. Then Penny remembered she was supposed to push Sheldon. She slowly put her hand on Sheldon's chest. He would have blocked her, but he was baffled by her motions, which were clearly outside of the spectrum of the stage directions.
Sheldon looked down at his chest to see Penny resting her hand. He looked back at her. "Penny, what are you doing? You're supposed to push me. We established that you didn't have to make physical contact with me whatsoever for the purpose of this rehearsal, but we certainly never agreed to you substituting said push with a prolonged resting of your hand on my chest."
Penny retracted her arm quickly. "Sorry. It just felt really weird to be angry at you at that moment. I felt like I couldn't push you."
"Which is why we established there didn't need to be any touching whatsoever. Come on Penny, pay attention!"
"I guess you're right. Okay. I can do this." She took a deep breath. "You know what? Maybe you just can't handle a relationship. Maybe I'm too good for you." The last words barely escaped her lips.
"Or maybe I understand what it takes to make a real relationship work. This isn't a movie Sarah. If you want to be together, you have to trust me. We can't run around like we're teenagers."
Penny put down her script. "Sheldon, can I ask you something?"
"We're stopping again? Penny, you're never going to finish a scene if you keep interrupting yourself."
"I was just wondering. Did you understand the last thing you said?" She asked.
"What kind of question is that? Of course I understood what I said. That's why I said it. By interrupting your lines with your own jibber jabber, you're just preventing yourself from…"
"Not that. Did you understand the last line you read? And by read I mean recited from memory."
"What do you mean?" Sheldon asked.
"You know, the whole thing about what it takes to make real relationships work."
Sheldon tilted his head a bit. "Are you asking for my advice in regards to relationships? You know I'm hardly an expert at such. But from what I can surmise, Professor Collingsworth is explaining to Sarah that he understands the paradigm of adult relationships, probably due to his age and experience in the subject matter. Furthermore, he believes that relationships are poorly demonstrated in movies. And since Sarah's experience with relationships mainly dates back to her teenage years, he recommends that she follow his instructions for maintaining their new 'adult' relationship."
Penny nodded. "Okay, fair enough. You do understand."
"Of course. I understand almost everything."
"I still feel like you don't understand what it's like to be in love, in lust, or just attracted to someone for no good reason at all." She said.
"There's a difference between understanding something and partaking in it. Sometimes one doesn't partake in an activity due to disinterest, not due to confusion."
Penny felt a bit sad. It upset her that he could place himself in the role of a lustful and passionate man, but still claim that he had no interest in becoming one. In a way she was jealous that he could separate himself from the character so easily.
"Okay, I'm sorry for all this. Say that last line again and we'll go from there."
Sheldon nodded. "Or maybe I understand what it takes to make a real relationship work. This isn't a movie Sarah. If you want to be together, you have to trust me. We can't run around like we're teenagers."
Penny raised her voice. "You need to earn my trust. And going out of your way to hide us from the rest of the world isn't going to help."
"I'm not hiding you. I'm protecting you, and I'm protecting us. Just trust me, and I'll be the man you've always wanted."
Acting or not, Penny heard the passion in his voice.
I know you have it in you, Sheldon. You have desire and passion in you. What you call disinterest, I call fear.
She looked down at her script and decided to keep going this time.
"I can take care of myself, doctor. But for the record, you're already all the man I could ever want."
Penny looked at Sheldon. For a brief second, she thought she saw a smile. A genuine smile.
He's not THAT good of an actor, is he?
