When Amy woke up Monday morning she had more messages from Bernadette and even Penny, which didn't really surprise her. It was obvious that after this kind of news about the supposed advances in her new relationship Bernadette couldn't keep her mouth shut.

A part of her had regretted sending that message seconds after she sent it, but there was no way she was going to delete it since Bernadette had read it right away.

But the other part of her thought it was a good idea. Amy planned to continue seeing Dave. She felt comfortable enough spending time alone with him and the kisses they had shared were pleasant. So she believed that in the not too distant future there was a chance that she would actually fall in love with him.

The girls were insisting on seeing her, but she didn't feel ready to face them.

"Maybe next week" she wrote before picking up the car keys from the table.

She arrived at the university and went directly to the laboratory. Once there she started to get ready for work when she was interrupted by the noise of her cell phone ringing.

"Wow, I thought I'd have to go to your lab to get some answers," Penny complained the moment Amy answered the call.

"Yes, hello to you too," she said, "what's happened, bestie?"

"Bernadette and I will go to your house after work."

"I already told you I'm very busy. I have too much work these days. "

"Fine," Penny commented after a few seconds, "But no matter how busy you are, we'll see you on Thursday."

"What's so special about Thursday? "

"It's your birthday, sweetie."

"Oh… I completely forgot about it but" Amy sat in one of the lab chairs "I just remembered that on Thursday Dave invited me to dinner."

"So you're going to get a birthday present," her friend's tone of voice changed completely. She could imagine the mischievous smile on Penny's face. "Okay, but you should at least be free for the weekend…

"This weekend I'm going to the conference in Fresno" She reminded her friend.

"That's true. You mentioned that a few day ago" Penny was silent for a moment "Bernadette and I have to go to Bakersfield on Monday but as soon as we are back we will go to your apartment and so whether you like it or not you'll tell us all the details."

"Okay," Amy agreed, knowing perfectly well that her friends would show up even if she didn't want to.

She ended the call not knowing what to feel. She had completely forgotten that in a couple of days it would be her birthday.

Last year Amy celebrated her birthday with a trip to buy a Christmas tree. It had taken weeks but in the end she had managed to convince Sheldon to come with her. Once there they found themselves standing under her mistletoe and she hadn't been able to resist the urge to kiss him.

When they got back to her apartment he had spent part of the night complaining that they shouldn't act like if they were the stars of a sex show.

And now this year she… she supposed she could invite Dave over to her apartment. And if they did kiss at least she would know it was because he wanted it and not because he was bound by some silly contract about their relationship.

.

She hadn't realized how many hours had passed since she arrived at the lab until she felt her stomach growl from lack of food. She looked at the time on her watch and saw that it was already past lunchtime.

Amy took off her gloves and goggles wondering if she should go get something to eat at the cafeteria or wait a couple more hours and buy something on the way home. As response her stomach growled again so she decided it was better to eat something at once.

She had just entered the cafeteria when she saw the person she had no desire to see choosing his meal of the day. What was he doing there? Sheldon was a man who lived by his own schedule and it was past the time he normally ate lunch.

Amy thought about leaving but before she could move Sheldon turned around and looked directly at where she was standing.

She couldn't tell out the expression on her ex-boyfriend's face. Was he upset to see her? Well, she didn't care. He didn't own the cafeteria and she could be there as long as she wanted. She walked past him without looking at him and went to where the food was where she stayed longer than necessary.

Amy felt Sheldon's gaze fixed on her and she didn't know what to do. Should she take the tray with her food and sit at an empty table? Should she greet him or was it better to ignore him completely?

She had decided that it was best to sit alone to avoid an awkward conversation that would surely only serve to cause her pain. She was on her way to one of the empty tables when she felt a hand lay lightly on her arm to stop her.

"You can sit with me" Sheldon said looking into her eyes.

"Don't worry. All the tables are empty so I can sit somewhere else so you don't get bother. "

"You never bother me" Sheldon took his hand off her arm and gestured towards the seat in front of him "Please, sit with me."

Amy sighed heavily, "Do you think this is a good idea?"

"Well…" Sheldon seemed unsure "We agreed to be friends and I thought that having lunch together at work could count as an activity that two friends can do."

"Yes, I guess you're right" she placed the tray on the table and take a seat.

"So, how have you been?" He asked after a few seconds of silence.

For a moment he thought about telling her how he had broken her heart by rejecting the idea of them being in a relationship again, but what would he do? She knew that Sheldon would continue to think it was best that they remain friends and he would most likely accuse her of trying to force him to do something he didn't want to. Which was what he always did to her when she asked him to accompany her to some family event or basically anywhere Sheldon didn't want to go.

She also thought of telling him about her supposed relationship with Dave. She wanted to see his face the moment he found out about it. After all her courtship with Sheldon had started because he had become jealous that she was dating Stuart and had come to ask her to be his girlfriend. Would he be jealous and try to ask her to get together again? He surely would. But not because he was romantically interested in her, but because at least it seemed that he didn't want to lose her friendship.

"Amy, are you okay?" Sheldon's voice pulled her out of her reverie.

"Yes, I'm okay. I've been very well" she answered simply "What about you?"

"Well, I've been better."

"How so?"

"For days my life has become completely disastrous" Amy arched a curious eyebrow. Knowing Sheldon, it was probably because some package he ordered was late "I can hardly sleep, I can't concentrate during work, I sit in a lot of the day and don't get me started on my new eating schedule."

"I must admit that it seemed strange to me that you were here alone and just about to eat" she commented before taking a bite of food to her mouth "And if you feel bad you should go see a doctor."

"I already did it" she looked at him surprised since she knew how much he hated hospitals "Apparently everything is fine with me."

"Then what you are going to do?"

"I don't know what's happening to me and I feel like I'm going crazy."

"I'm sorry to hear that" Amy couldn't help but stretch out her hand and take Sheldon's as a sign of support. He lowered her gaze to her joined hands, "I'm sorry," she apologized, withdrawing her hand, "I shouldn't have done that. I know you don't like being touched.

"No. It's fine" He assured her without moving his hand "I appreciate it."

Amy didn't know what to say so she took another bite of her food. They both sat in silence eating for a few minutes.

"Are you working on something recently? "

"Since when are you interested in knowing about my work?" she asked, surprised.

"Since our friends made me notice how terrible I was as your boyfriend," he admitted without daring to look at her.

"Sheldon, look at me," she asked him, "I'm not going to lie to you by telling you that you were the perfect boyfriend, but don't think you were terrible either." She gave his hand a gentle squeeze. "There were many moments when I felt like the luckiest woman for being with you."

"Really?" Sheldon's gaze changed completely as she nodded.

"Besides, I wasn't the perfect girlfriend either... "

"You're wrong" he interrupted her "You were the best girlfriend. You were kind, loving and patient and I didn't know how to appreciate you as I should have."

"Sheldon, I… "she felt how her eyes began to moisten so she decided to stand up "I have to go."

She walked as fast as she could until she reached his lab. Once there he leaned against the door and let the crying out.

She was sure that Sheldon was sincere when he had told her that she had been a good girlfriend. That was good. So why did she feel so bad? Maybe it was because he finally told her the kind of nice things that she always wanted to hear from her boyfriend's lips… only that he didn't want to be her boyfriend anymore.

.

"I'm very happy" commented Leonard while he had dinner with Penny and Sheldon "The new Star Wars movie is in three days. "

"Thursday can't get here soon enough," Sheldon beamed for the first time in days, "I'm going to miss work to watch the original trilogy."

"Then it's a good idea that you've decided to refuse to go back to you can watch your silly movies without worrying about spending the day with her" said Penny.

"What does Amy have to do with it? "

"Wow, you don't even know, do you?" Penny rolled her eyes. "For your information, Thursday is Amy's birthday."

"That's not true" Sheldon snorted "Amy's birthday is December 17th."

"Thursday is December 17," Leonard confirmed.

"Oh," he said, "do you think I should do something?"

"Since when do you care about her birthday? You're not her boyfriend anymore," Penny reminded him.

"But I'm still her friend," he added. "How are you going to celebrate her birthday? Maybe I can join to the celebration."

"We won't see Amy until the weekend."

"So Amy will spend her birthday alone?" Sheldon frowned "You guys are terrible friends. If she wants I suppose I could try to find a way for her to go to the movie with us."

"Sheldon, we are not going to see Amy on her birthday because she already has plans… with her boyfriend."

Sheldon's eyes widened in surprise "Amy…" he swallowed "Does Amy have a boyfriend? " Penny nodded "Who is he?"

"Amy has not wanted to give us many details about him."

"Then if you don't know him it's because he's not real" He let out a sigh of relief.

"Amy wouldn't do that."

"Do you not remember when I invented the existence of the horse breeder?"

"That was different," Penny defended her, "Why would Amy invent that she has a boyfriend if it's not true?"

"To try to make me jealous, obviously."

"Sheldon, Amy didn't told me anything. But I'm sure when you refused to go back to her you broke her heart. "

"But…I didn't want to cause Amy pain."

"I know, Sheldon."

"Do you really think she has a boyfriend?" Sheldon asked.

"Yes, honey" said Penny seeing how affected her friend seemed by the news "I think it's Dave, the British man she was dating a few weeks ago."

"I…I had heard that she had decided not to see him anymore."

"That was what I knew, but maybe I'll change her mind after the…aquarium. "

"I understand" Sheldon put the fork on his plate "If you'll excuse me, I'll go to my room. I do not feel well."

"Buddy" Leonard tried to stop him to speak but Sheldon was faster and ran away towards his room.

Sheldon slammed the door shut. He felt his heavy breathing. He needed to do something to calm down. The last time he'd had a panic attack he'd lain down with his legs elevated to calm down and it…didn't work. What had really worked was hearing the sweet voice of his girlfriend on the other side of the door. Only that wouldn't happen now.

Now Amy was someone else's girlfriend. It would be this Dave who Amy would help to feel better, who she would take by the hand, who she would… kiss.

He squeezed his eyes shut to keep from thinking about that night when he had tried to win Amy back and ask her to marry him only to find that the man was kissing her.

He would give anything to be able to erase that image forever from his mind. Amy shouldn't kiss that man. Amy shouldn't kiss anyone but him.

"It's your fault," said an annoying voice in his head that oddly sounded like Penny. "She wanted to be with you again and you turned her down."

Yes. He had rejected her and it was one of the hardest things he had ever done in his life. All he wanted was to have Amy by his side again, but he had come to understand how much he had hurt her with his indifference while they were together. He had rejected her because Amy deserved a man who treated her better than him could.

His brain began to come up with many ideas about what he should do next. Ideas on how to convince her to break up with her boyfriend and get back with him. Sheldon thought about showing up at her house and telling her that he loved her and that he was ready to be her boyfriend again. But what good would it do? If she was already in a relationship with that man it was because she had feelings for him.

No. By the time he set foot in his apartment that night after returning from the aquarium he had decided on being a better friend than he had been as a boyfriend to her.

He knew that he could never stop loving her and because he loved her so much he wanted to see her happy.

And even if that hurt him…he hoped that Dave could make her as happy as she deserved.