Chapter 15
Leonard was hunched over his work desk looking over his experimental data trying to figure out where he may have made a mistake. Maybe it was a calibration error or a miscalculation on his part. He tore off the calculation from his pad paper and crumpled it when he heard a knock on his door.
"Anyone home!?" Penny smiled at him.
Leonard immediately smiled when he saw Penny standing by the door. "Hey….what a nice surprise!" he said as he walked up to Penny and pulled her close for a kiss. She kissed him back.
"How did you find my lab?" he asked her.
"I asked around….it's like a maze in here…" Penny said.
"I'm glad you visited!" he kissed her again.
"Well...I wanted to find out more about my boyfriend's work...so maybe...you can show me around in your lab." Penny teased him as she put her hand around his neck.
"Ok let me show you around." Leonard took her hand and proceeded to explain on what and how his lab equipment worked and what experiments he was working on. Penny was really impressed at how smart Leonard was and how passionate he was with his work. Leonard could tell that Penny was trying hard not to look bored and confused as he continued with his explanations but he appreciated that she made an effort to be interested in his work.
Penny put her hand around his neck. "Honey...are you expecting anyone else here today?" she asked him.
"No. why?" Leonard became curious.
"Well...I was thinking of locking that door and...you know?…." she winked at him.
Leonard gasped. "Nooo...You mean here?...now?" he asked her.
"Why you got a problem with that?" she teased him.
"Well no….it's just that I haven't fooled around in the lab before…" he said.
Penny went to the door to lock it and flicked the lights off. "Really?...Never?" she smiled at him.
"No. I'm serious...this would be a first for me…" he pulled her close to his body.
"Then buckle up stud…." she said as she kissed him hard. Leonard grabbed her hips and directed her to his desk while returning her kisses.
They decided to get dressed and fix themselves up after an hour of making love in his laboratory. They were smiling, satisfied with their intimacy as they fixed their hair and clothes.
"That was fun." Leonard said as he tried to help Penny with her hair.
"It was….I should visit more often…." she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.
Leonard smiled. "I won't say no to that." he paused. "So, do you want to go out and get lunch?" he asked trying to catch his breath.
She shrugged her shoulders "We could just eat at the cafeteria...is the food here any good?" she asked.
"It's alright I guess" he paused. "Ok, let's go to the cafeteria so I could finally introduce you to the guys…" Leonard said as he took Penny's hand.
They went out his lab and made their way to the cafeteria. Leonard could feel all eyes looking at them as they walked along the corridor. He felt proud for having Penny as his girlfriend.
As soon as they entered the cafeteria, all eyes were immediately focused on Leonard and Penny. She suddenly felt uncomfortable at the unwanted attention from everyone and gave Leonard's arm a squeeze. Leonard led her to where Sheldon, Howard and Raj was sitting.
"Guys...I want you all to meet Penny….Penny this is Howard, Raj and Sheldon." Leonard said as he introduced Penny to them. The guys just stared at Penny.
Penny turned to Howard and Raj. "Hi! I'm Penny, Leonard's girlfriend!" she said as she waved at them.
At the mention of the word 'girlfriend', the entire cafeteria suddenly became quiet andeveryone turned their heads toward the couple. No one spoke a word.
Penny leaned towards Leonard and whispered to his ear. "What is happening? Why is everyone looking at us?"
Leonard looked around and sighed. "Honey, you're a beautiful blonde woman in a room full of nerds...and you just announced that you are my girlfriend...it's the first time this happened here…" Leonard explained. "By the way this is Sheldon." he nudged her side.
"Oh right!" She turned to face Sheldon. "Live long and prosper Sheldon!" She said in a robotic voice while putting up the Vulcan salute.
Sheldon's face lit up and raised his hand to reciprocate the Vulcan salute. "Leonard I like her!" he smiled at Leonard. Penny just smiled at Sheldon.
"Good to know Sheldon." Leonard said as he pulled another chair for Penny to sit on.
"Hofstadtew!" Barry Kripke said in a slightly loud voice. Leonard sighed and hung his head.
"Is it twue that this gowgeous giwl is youw giwlfwiend?….how did you managed that?" Barry mocked him.
"Yes Barry...this is my girlfriend Penny...Penny this is Barry." Leonard said.
Penny decided to stand up. "You don't believe Leonard is my boyfriend?" she raised her eyebrows at Barry.
"Well, I just thought...you know...a giwl wike you….and a guy wike him….you know?" Barry hesitated.
"Oh, so you thought that I could do better than dating Leonard here? Is that it?...maybe you think you're better than him?" Penny folded her arms.
"Honey I know I'm bettew than him…" Barry moved closer to her smiling.
"Well I guess today is your lucky day...because today is the day a girl will touch your special place…" she teased him.
Barry smiled but before he could speak, Penny was already lining up her shot and then...
THUD!
It happened so fast that the next thing they saw was Barry on the floor holding on to his crotch having a hard time breathing. Barry managed to get up and walk away, wincing in pain. Everyone on the cafeteria cheered and applauded Penny. Penny did a curtsy to acknowledge the applause before sitting on her chair.
As soon as Penny sat down, they heard an all-familiar voice of authority.
"Dr. Hofstadter." President Siebert approached them as everyone in the cafeteria went back to their lunch.
"Oh great...now I'm in trouble." He said to Penny as he stood up. "I'm sorry about the commotion sir...I…" he was immediately cut off by President Siebert.
"Dr. Hofstadter...you have nothing to apologize for...all I saw was a creep getting kicked in the nuts…and a pretty solid kick I might add." He said smiling. "Anyway, the reason I went here to see you is to congratulate you on your latest paper. The results in your experiments are exceptional...it's not surprising since you seem 'very inspired'" he added while smiling at Penny. "I'll see you around and keep up the good work...same goes for the rest of you Scooby gang." President Siebert said looking at the three as he shook Leonard's hand. He walked away as quickly as he arrived before.
"Well I guess we better get our food huh?" Leonard stood up taking Penny's hand. They went to the counter to get some food and went back to their table immediately after.
"So Penny, how did you and Leonard meet?" Howard asked.
"Oh...we met at the Cheesecake Factory… I work there you see…" Penny said as she took a bite of her food.
"But not for long I hope…." Leonard smiled at her.
"Oh right!...I forgot to tell you honey. I got the job!" Penny exclaimed.
"Really!? That's amazing! Congratulations honey I'm so proud of you!" Leonard gave her a kiss on the cheeks. "When did this happen?" he asked her.
"Yesterday." she winked at him.
"And you're telling me this now?" he smiled at her.
"What can I say...I was gonna tell you but I guess I forgot." Penny kissed him on the cheek. Leonard smiled at her.
"I'm sorry...but can you guys care to catch us up?" Howard asked them.
Penny told them all about her new job as a fashion consultant and how she got the job because of their first date. After telling them her story, Raj leaned towards Howard's ear and whispered.
"Gee I don't know...why do you think she would lie about meeting Justin Timberlake!?" he said to Raj a little irritated.
Penny took out her phone and scrolled through it. "You don't believe me?...here." she showed them her phone.
Raj whispered to Howard again.
"Raj I don't care if Justin brought sexy back ok!" Howard almost yelled at him. Raj just bowed his head.
"So Raj really can't talk to women huh?" She asked the three.
"Not unless he has alcohol in his system…" Howard said as he took a bite of his food.
"But what about his mother? Or sister?….does he have to get drunk to talk to them too?" Penny inquired.
"Ok let me rephrase that...He can't talk to women he may have a chance of sleeping with…" Howard smiled at her.
"Poor baby." Penny said as she took a bite of her food. "How about a deaf chick?"
"Hmmm...how come we never thought of that before?" Sheldon asked Leonard.
"I guess we could give it a try. Do you guys know any deaf girl that we could introduce to Raj?" Leonard asked Howard and Sheldon. Raj whimpered and shook his head in protest to the idea.
"I don't know….I guess we could ask around." Howard said. Raj whispered to him again. "Don't worry, I know sign language...I'll teach you." Howard said to Raj.
Leonard decided to change the topic. "Hey honey, why don't we go out to dinner tonight with Sarah?...you know...celebrate your new job…" He smiled at her.
"Oh now that you mentioned it...I kinda promised Bernadette and Linda we would have girls night tonight at a bar." Penny continued. "Linda will be leaving in a couple of days."
"Where is Linda going?" Leonard asked.
"She's going back to Seattle to help out with her family's business...this will be our last girls night…" Penny explained.
"Leonard since you have no plans tonight, why don't we have Halo night at your place?" Howard offered.
"Oh, yeah sure...it's been a while since we played…" Leonard said. "Ok! Halo night tonight at my place...you guys can bring the snacks and beer…" He added.
"What's Halo?" Penny asked the guys.
"Penny, Halo is a first-person shooter game with impressive graphics and complex story lines…it centers on an interstellar war between humanity and an alien race called the Covenant that..." Sheldon quickly explained.
Penny quickly cut him off "So it's a war game where you kill the enemy?" Penny asked.
Leonard sighed. "Basically yes…"
"You could have just started with that." Penny smiled at Sheldon.
Later that night, the guys were in deep concentration playing Halo 5 on Leonard's X-Box. Sarah was already in bed so they had to keep their voices down to avoid waking her up. Leonard and Sheldon were teamed up against Howard and Raj. Penny opened the door and went to Leonard to give him a kiss before they went out to a nearby bar.
"Hi honey!...we're heading out!" Penny said as she kissed Leonard on the lips.
Leonard paused the game to kiss her back. "You look amazing honey...you girls have fun alright!" Leonard said as he noticed the guys looking at Bernadette and Linda standing by the door. "Oh I forgot...Bernadette, Linda, these are my friends...Howard, Sheldon and Raj. Guys these are Bernadette and Linda." Leonard said.
Bernadette and Linda smiled and waved hello at them.
Howard then stood up, not taking his eyes away from Bernadette. Bernadette became slightly conscious of Howard's attention to her. He moved closer to her.
"Hi!" he smiled at her. "Howard Joel Wolowitz, CalTech Department of Applied Physics." he said as he took Bernadette's hand and gave it a light kiss.
Leonard rolled his eyes and whispered "Oh my god."
Bernadette blushed a little and gave him a weak smile. "I'm Bernadette Maryann Rostenkowski...I'm currently doing my PhD in Microbiology." she said as she looked into Howard's eyes.
"Microbiology?...Wow...that's very impressive...maybe you could study me?" Howard playfully said.
"Excuse me?" Bernadette asked.
"Well...you're studying Microbiology...the study of tiny living things...I'm a tiny living thing so maybe you could study me?" Howard smiled at her.
Penny looked at Leonard and mouthed 'What!?'
Bernadette didn't say anything back.
Howard decided to speak. "Ok, I'm gonna go for broke here and ask if maybe I could invite you out to dinner sometime?...you know...so we could get to know each other?" he gave her a hopeful look.
Bernadette thought for a second without breaking from Howard's look. "Ok!" she said with a little excitement.
"Oh my god, Bernie!?" Penny exclaimed.
Bernadette looked at Penny. "What?...it's just dinner." she reasoned.
Howard sighed with relief. "Wow….thank you!" he said as he pulled out his phone to get Bernadette's number.
"You girls should probably go now." Leonard said as he kissed Penny on the cheek. "Have fun you guys!"
"Bye honey….I'll text you when I get home." Penny kissed him back then went to the door.
"Bye Howie!" Bernadette said playfully to Howard.
Howard gasped and nearly had a heart attack. "Bye Bernie!" he said as he waved at her.
The girls went out and closed the door. The guys immediately heard a chorus of squeals and giggles from the hall.
"Howard that was amazing!" Leonard said.
"God I almost peed my pants." he was relieved and finally sat back down on the couch.
"You have one problem though…." Sheldon said.
Howard looked over to Sheldon. "What is it now Sheldon?" he asked a little annoyed.
"Didn't you see the Catholic Cross on her neck?...would your mother approve of you dating a Catholic girl?" Sheldon asked.
"Well it might be the kick my mother needs for a heart attack!" Howard jokingly said.