Chapter 4
January 02, 2034, 4:00PM.
Leonard and Sarah were sitting in the living room, watching TV when they heard the doorbell. Leonard stood up and opened the door to see Jason and his father Matt standing on their porch.
"Jason, Matt, Hi! Come in." said Leonard as Jason and Matt stepped inside the house and into the living room. "Please have a seat." he said as he shook Matt's hands. "Can we get you guys anything? Water? Beer?" said Leonard.
"I'll take a beer if you have it." said Matt. Leonard nodded and went to the fridge in the kitchen.
Jason smiled at Sarah. "Hi!" he said.
"Hi! How's your day?" asked Sarah.
"It's better now." Jason said as Sarah smiled back at him. Leonard came back, handing Matt a bottle of beer.
"Why don't you guys hang out in the backyard while Matt and I talk?" Leonard said to Sarah. The young couple stood up as Jason followed Sarah to the backyard.
"So, my son told me that he asked your daughter to be his girlfriend huh?" Matt said taking a sip of his beer.
"Yeah." said Leonard.
"I understand your concern Leonard. I have a daughter too so I know where you're coming from." Matt said.
Leonard nodded. "Thank you. I just want to establish some boundaries with the kids, you know, as a precaution." he said.
"Like what?" asked Matt.
"Curfew. No locked doors. School comes first." said Leonard.
Matt nodded. "Seems fair to me." he said as Penny came through the front door carrying a couple bags of groceries.
"Hi Matt! What brings you here?" she asked as Leonard took the bag of groceries and carried them to the kitchen. Penny sat on the couch with Leonard joining her shortly.
"Well me and Leonard here are talking about the kids." he said.
"Oh right." said Penny. "Where are the kids?" she asked Leonard.
"They're at the backyard." Leonard said.
"I agree with Leonard about setting some boundaries so the kids won't do anything stupid or something." Matt said.
"Thank you Matt." said Penny.
"You're welcome, and don't worry, I've already talked to my son about, you know?" said Matt.
Penny nodded then looked at her husband. "So what boundaries are we talking about?" she asked.
"Curfew, no locked doors, school first and if they go out on a date, they shouldn't deviate from their plan so we would know where to look for them." said Leonard.
"Let's add no turning off their phones." Matt said. Leonard nodded as Penny called the young couple back into the living room.
"Alright you two, you can come back to the living room now!" Penny yelled. The kids came back to the living room as Sarah and Jason sat beside each other, facing their parents.
"Matt and I have decided to allow you guys to see each other but with some conditions." Leonard said. Sarah and Jason looked nervously at each other. "Okay. The conditions are as follows, you will have a curfew at eight in the evening. You can hang out here in the house, but no locked doors do you understand?" Leonard asked.
Sarah and Jason nodded.
"School comes first. If your school work suffers, then we will have to intervene." said Leonard.
Sarah and Jason nodded again.
"Your phones should always be on." Matt added.
Sarah and Jason nodded, smiling at each other.
"And if you guys go to the mall or a party, you will not deviate from your plan and would always inform us of your whereabouts, do you understand?" said Leonard.
"Is that it?" asked Sarah excitedly.
"For now." said Penny.
"Ugh mom!?" Sarah pleaded.
"Do you want your curfew at six?" Penny stared at her daughter.
Sarah sighed, defeated. "Fine." she said, looking at Jason and smiling at him.
"Okay. I guess we should be going then." Matt said standing up.
"Uh actually, mom, dad, can Jason and I hang out in my room? I wanna show him my new computer." Sarah said.
"Fine but keep your door open." said Penny.
Sarah jumped with excitement. "Okay. Thanks mom!" she turned to Jason and pulled his hand. "Come on." she said as they walked upstairs to her bedroom.
Matt shook Penny and Leonard's hands. "I guess I'm going home alone then. Thank you Leonard, Penny." said Matt as he walked and opened the door.
"You're welcome Matt, and say hello to Debbie from us." said Penny.
"We'll do! Bye!" said Matt waving back at the couple.
The couple went back and sat at the living room. Leonard leaned back on the couch and massaged his temples.
"Honey, are you alright?" asked Penny.
"I think I'm getting a headache." he said as he kept his eyes closed. Penny placed her hands on his head and gave him a massage. "Ugh, that feels better. Thanks." he said.
"Don't stress yourself about it honey. At least they're here, safe." said Penny.
"I guess you're right. At least they won't do something stupid while they're here." said Leonard.
"I know. Now why don't you stay here and relax while I make us some dinner." she said kissing his cheek.
"Thanks honey. I love you." he said as Penny stood up and walked to the kitchen.
Seven o'clock came and Penny went upstairs to check up on the young couple. she knocked on Sarah's door and popped her head inside. Sarah and Jason were huddled in front of the computer, laughing at the screen.
"Hey guys, dinner's ready. Jason, you should join us, okay?" said Penny.
"Thank you Mrs. Hofstadter." said Jason.
"We'll be out in a minute mom." Sarah said. Penny turned around and went down to the kitchen where Leonard and William were preparing the table.
"They'll be out in a minute." said Penny.
After a few minutes, Sarah and Jason joined them and sat beside each other on the table. They began to eat quietly, with the young couple feeling a little awkward.
"So, did you guys kiss yet?" William asked. Jason almost choked on his food while Sarah's face became flushed, staring angrily at her brother.
"Mom!?" Sarah begged her mother.
"William Hofstadter, will cut it out!?" Penny yelled at her son.
"What!? They did it at the party, right?" said William as Sarah glared at her brother.
"Just drop it." said Leonard. "How do you even know these things? You weren't even at the party?" asked Leonard.
"I have my sources everywhere." William announced.
"Just leave your sister alone!" said Penny.
"Alright. I got it." said William. "I guess Sarah is gonna help you out with your homework huh?" he asked Jason.
"Uh, I guess. I'm not really good at math." Jason said.
"Yeah. she's already running circles around her teachers at school. But I'm better than her." said William.
"No, you're not! I'm the one who solved that equation along the hall last year. Even the teachers couldn't solve it!" said Sarah.
"That's cute, and who do you think put it there!?" said William. Leonard and Penny laughed at the revelation.
"You're the one who put it there?" asked Leonard.
"Yeah. I gave the janitor five dollars to let me in one Sunday morning. he was worried I might set fire to the school or something. I told him I was just gonna write something on the board and when he saw what I did, he just shrugged his shoulders and walked me out of the building." William said.
"That's funny!" Penny said laughing.
"That's what I thought. How long did it take you to solve it again?" he asked his sister.
"An hour." Sarah said.
"And how many pages did you use to prove it?" asked William.
"Four and a half." Sarah said smugly.
"That's nice. I guess you took the long route huh? Did you know that equation can be solved in under ten minutes and only one piece of paper?" William teased his sister.
"I don't believe you!" said Sarah becoming nervous. William stood up and went to his bedroom. he came back after a couple of minutes and gave Sarah a piece of paper. Sarah looked at the paper, surprised and somewhat defeated by her brother's aptitude with William giving Leonard a fist bump. "It's not fair!" she exclaimed.
"Don't freak out little sister. You still outsmart some of my college classmates." William said. "When they saw that equation, they thought it was upside down or something. It was so funny." said William, laughing.
"He's right Sarah. You're already smarter than the whole school combined." Jason said patting her on the back.
"Aww, isn't your boyfriend sweet!?" Penny teased her daughter.
Sarah's face blushed and pounded her fist on the table. "Mom!?" Sarah said covering her face with her hands.
"That's enough you two! Leave the lovebirds alone." Leonard said joining in.
"Dad!" Sarah yelled as her parents and brother laughed at the young couple's slight embarrassment.