Chapter 16
It's been a month since Penny moved in with Leonard. Leonard has been busy reviewing the construction designs for the hotel expansion project and would regularly go to design meetings all morning until heading home sometime around two in the afternoon. Penny would sometimes prepare lunch or buy takeout food for them to eat together. After lunch, they would either hang out along the coast or take a walk around the nearby villages. Penny was glad that despite Leonard's busy schedule, he made sure that they spend time together during the day and not just work all the time and come home in the evening. There were times when Leonard would still go to his maintenance job from time to time.
They were having lunch one day when Leonard's phone rang. He answered it and told the person on the other line that he will come over after eating his lunch.
"Honey why do you still go to these maintenance calls? You have a better job now." Penny asked.
"I don't know. I guess I still miss it...and it brings us extra money which is not a bad thing." Leonard said.
"Okay, but I don't want you to become stressed out and get sick again." Penny said.
"I know and don't worry, I'll be careful." Leonard said kissing her cheeks. "How about this, tomorrow I don't have anything going on so we could do whatever you want. We could go back to the river if you want? I know you'll love it there." he asked.
"Really!?" she smiled.
"Yeah sure….we'll be there all morning and go back after lunch." he said.
"Okay!" Penny said.
The next day, Leonard rented a motorcycle and they went back to the hidden river. Penny liked riding the motorcycle with Leonard as she gets to wrap her arms around him and feel his warmth. She would just rest her face on his shoulder while the wind blows over them. They arrived at the foot of the hill and hiked to the trail they took before and reached the forest opening in no time. Penny was no longer scared in swinging down from the big tree. She grabbed the rope tightly and swung down, crashing into the cool water below. Leonard followed after her making a big splash on the water. They swam and played on the water, sometimes going under to see the river bed through the clear water. Penny then held Leonard's hand and pulled him close for a kiss. It was something new for both of them to kiss underwater. They kissed until they have to go above to get some air.
Penny smiled at him. "That was fun!" she said.
"Yeah. Let's do it again." Leonard said as he pulled her under again. Penny was surprised but gave in and locked her arms around him while he held onto her.
They resurfaced again while Penny still held onto him. "Honey let's stay here all day." Penny said.
"Penny we only have snacks with us." he said.
"I don't care." she said as she hugged him tight. "Do you wanna know a secret?" she smiled at him.
"Like what?" Leonard asked.
"Remember when that weird British guy recognized you and I followed you that night to your place?" Penny said.
"Yeah. You came and we ended up drinking and throwing up. Then I ended up getting sick for two days." Leonard said.
"Well, you had the last shot of tequila but couldn't find the lemon slice right?" she said.
Leonard became curious. "Okay?….continue…." he said.
"Well I put the lemon slice in my mouth when you took the shot and we ended up making out." Penny smiled at him.
Leonard was surprised. "You naughty girl!….I knew we did something stupid that night!" he exclaimed. Penny laughed and hugged him tighter.
"Are you mad at me?" Penny smiled at him.
"What? Of course not!…..so does that mean that our first kiss is when we got drunk and fooled around?" he asked her.
"Absolutely not!….our first kiss was when you got me my pearls." Penny said.
Leonard nodded. "Okay….we'll make that our official first kiss." Leonard said and drew her close for a kiss. "What were you thinking when you put that lemon in your mouth?" he asked.
"I don't know….I guess I got carried away when we were pouring our hearts out and thought to do something crazy just to mix it up a little bit." she smiled at him.
"You are really something." Leonard said.
"What are you gonna do about it mister!?" she teased him.
"This!" he said as he quickly kissed Penny on her neck. Penny laughed and tried to break free but Leonard held her tightly.
"Leonard that tickles!" she laughed while still trying to break free from his grip. She eventually broke free and splashed some water towards Leonard. They continued like this for the rest of the day until they got hungry and decided to go down the hill and get something to eat before going home to get some rest.
Once they were home, Penny dragged Leonard into the bathroom to take a shower which led to them having sex under the stream of water. They were done after half an hour of fooling around in the shower. They got dressed and ended up in bed to sleep and recharge for the rest of the afternoon.
A couple of hours later, Leonard woke up and saw Penny was still sleeping. He leaned onto her and kissed her on the forehead before getting up and going to the bathroom. He washed his face and went to the back of the house to pick some of his homegrown vegetables to cook for dinner. He went back inside to start cooking in the kitchen. He was humming while putting the ingredients one by one into the pot when he didn't notice that Penny was already awake. He was surprised when she suddenly hugged him from behind.
"What are you cooking there?" she said resting her face on his shoulder.
"Just a vegetable stew with some pieces of chicken." Leonard smiled at her. "You slept like a baby." he said.
"Yeah because someone wore me out in the shower." she said still hugging him.
"I wore you out?" he was surprised.
"Uh huh." Penny said. "That smells good honey." she said.
Leonard dipped the ladle in the pot to let her sample a taste of the stew. "Here. See if it's okay." he said holding the ladle steady. Penny blew on it to cool it then tasted it.
"Um...it's perfect honey." she said. "I'll go and wash up and prepare the table alright?" she said releasing her hug.
"Yeah." he said as he finished up cooking.
They started eating while making small talk. They were almost done when Leonard spoke.
"Hey wanna go outside and look at the night sky?" he asked.
Penny smiled. "Sounds good honey. I'll clean up here and you go and set up the telescope." she said.
"Okay." Leonard said as he stood up to get the telescope to bring outside. He took his star chart to check which heavenly body they could see tonight. He did a quick cross check of the chart and adjusted the telescope's alignment while making a mental calculation of his adjustments. Penny came outside carrying a couple of chairs and beers for them. She sat and looked at Leonard making his adjustments. Leonard saw her staring at him.
"Hey!…..my eyes are up here!" he teased her.
"I can't help it….I just love seeing you like this." she smiled.
"What did we just talk about objectifying the opposite sex?" he looked sternly at her.
"What can I say?….I'm a naughty girl remember?" she smiled at him.
Leonard sighed. "Ugh...I give up…" he said as he made the final adjustments on the telescope. "Here….do you wanna see?" he said pointing at the eyepiece of the telescope. Penny stood up and looked at the eyepiece.
"What are we looking at this time?" Penny asked as she looked through the lens.
"That is Betelgeuse, the brightest star in the night sky. It's commonly called the shoulder of Orion." Leonard said. Penny just looked at him confused. "Look at those three adjacent stars…" he said pointing at the sky.
"Uh huh…" Penny said.
"Well that is called Orion's Belt and on the upper right is Betelgeuse,the shoulder….see?" Leonard said.
"Yeah I see it now…..that's amazing." she said as she smiled at her boyfriend. "So what's so special about this Beetlejuice?" she asked.
Leonard laughed. "Betelgeuse!….they say that in a hundred thousand years it will explode into a supernova and when that happens, they say that the night sky will be as bright as day." Leonard said.
Penny was surprised. "Really? So it must be a very big star huh?" she said.
"You're right. They say it's around twenty times the mass of our sun." he said.
"Twenty?" she asked.
"Yeah and if you put Betelgeuse in the place of our sun, its edge will almost reach Saturn." he said.
"Saturn!? That's the planet with rings right?" she asked.
Leonard smiled. "Very good." he said.
"But then Earth will be eaten by it right?" Penny asked.
"Oh definitely….burnt to a crisp!" he said. "and Betelgeuse is not even the biggest star in the universe….there are a few bigger than him…" Leonard said.
"Wow….that is so cool." she said as she looked in the eyepiece again. Leonard opened one beer and took a sip. Penny took the bottle and drank from it. Leonard rolled his eyes.
"You're very welcome." he said as he took another bottle and opened it. Penny then kissed his cheek.
"There….satisfied?" she asked. Leonard just smiled at her.
"Hey before I forget, I'll be out all day tomorrow. We have a big meeting with all the contractors and we'll be finalizing the design for the hotel expansion." Leonard said as they sat down on the chairs.
"Oh….okay." Penny said.
Leonard moved to her and kissed her on the cheek. "Don't worry, we'll go out to dinner tomorrow evening." he smiled at her.
Penny smiled. "Okay honey." she said as she drank her beer. They stayed like this for a couple of hours, making small talk until they decided to pack up and go to sleep. They washed up and went straight to bed. Penny kissed Leonard goodnight as they slept in each other's arms.
The next morning, Leonard got dressed and took the construction drawings with him for the construction meeting. He kissed Penny goodbye as he walked towards the hotel. Penny then cleaned up around the house for the rest of the morning. She also put some of their clothes in the washer and hung them out to dry under the sun. She was done at noon and ate lunch alone as Leonard texted her that he would be having lunch with the other engineers of the project.
It was almost five-thirty when Leonard came home.
"Honey I'm home!" he announced. Penny came out from the bathroom and smiled at him.
"How's the meeting?" she asked as she took his bag and put it on the desk.
"It's okay I guess. We'll have another in a coupe of days to finish some of the outstanding items but we're about ninety percent done." he said as he sat on the couch. "Did you sleep this afternoon?" he asked.
"I did and I cleaned up the house all morning. I also did the laundry." she said as she sat beside him and massaged his shoulder.
"Ugh...thanks….that feels good….I'll wash up and change my clothes and then we can go out." he said. Penny laughed. "What's so funny?" he looked at her.
"Nothing….it's just that we look like an old married couple when you yelled 'honey I'm home!'" she said.
"It's kinda funny right?" Leonard smiled at her.
"Yeah." Penny said as she hugged him.
"Now why don't you get dressed while I wash up so we could go out….it's already sundown…." he stood up and went straight to the bathroom. Penny then went to bedroom to change her clothes. She was done when Leonard entered the bedroom and looked at her.
"What? Is there something wrong with my dress?" she asked.
"Hmmm….something is missing." he said smiling.
"What? Tell me." Penny checked her dress on the mirror. Leonard went near her and reached into his pocket.
"This." he said, holding a small box in his hand.
Penny became nervous. "What is this?" she asked. Leonard opened it and Penny saw a gold necklace with a dolphin and shell pendant on it. Penny felt a tug in her heart as she saw the piece of jewelry in the box.
"Awww honey….it's perfect….thank you so much…..you're the best boyfriend ever!" she said as she hugged Leonard tightly.
"I'm glad you liked it….I had it specially made for you." he said.
"I love it honey!….put it on me…." she said as she turned her back on him. Leonard unclasped the lock and put the necklace on her. Penny touched it while facing the mirror. "It's so beautiful honey….thank you!" she turned to him and kissed his lips. "this must be expensive….where did you get the money?" she asked.
"Well I got my first paycheck." he said as he reached into his pocket and showed her a bundle of money.
Penny looked at him. "Honey that is so amazing." she kissed him again.
"So are we still going out?" he teased her.
Penny eyed him. "Of course….I've been in the house all day….we have all night to celebrate." she winked at him.
"Okay….just making sure…." he said as he went to the drawer and took out some clothes to get changed. Penny was still in front of the mirror, admiring her necklace.
"Honey I get the dolphin pendant but why the shell?" she asked.
"Oh that's for the pearls I got you." he said while getting dressed.
"This will be bad for you Hofstadter." Penny smiled at him.
"Uh and why is that?" he went near her as he was putting on his shirt.
"You always spoiling me like this….you might regret it." she said.
Leonard wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close. "For my special girl? I don't think so." he kissed her lips. "Are you ready?" he asked her.
Penny held his hand. "Let's go." she said as they went out of the bedroom.
They walked along the coast into the restaurant where Leonard made a reservation earlier. The receptionist saw Leonard and asked them to wait for a while. He went at the backroom and returned with a bouquet of flowers. Leonard gave the receptionist a tip and gave the flowers to Penny.
"Honey this is for you." Leonard smiled at her.
"Honey it's so lovely…..thank you so much!" she exclaimed while they were being led to their table by the upper deck overlooking the beach. The waiter served them some wine while taking their orders. They made small talk while waiting for their food to be served. Leonard told her about the hotel design and the new stuff they'll be putting in like faster fiber optic networks, a state of the art sound system and security system. Penny just looked at him and listened even though she hardly understood most of the stuff Leonard's been talking about. Their food arrived and they started eating.
After dinner, they went dancing at one of the open-bar places they frequently go to. They alternated between dancing, having drinks, hugging, kissing and just having a good time together. They went home around midnight when Leonard saw that Penny was already drunk. Penny's arm was draped around his shoulder as they walked home.
"You really know how to treat a girl right Hofstadter." Penny said as they walked home.
"Are you okay or do you want to throw up on that garbage can over there?" Leonard asked her.
"No I'll be fine. Our evening's not over yet mister." she teased him.
"Are you sure?….I don't want to take advantage of you while you're drunk." Leonard said.
"But I will." Penny smiled at him.
They arrived home and Penny dragged him into the bedroom. Once inside, Penny turned around and started to undress in front of Leonard. She was naked in no time and only wore the necklace when she walked towards him. "Well?" she asked him. Leonard didn't say anything as Penny started to undress him. Once Leonard was naked, she pushed him on the bed and buried herself in his arms. They kissed and embraced while making love with each other.