Raj and Howard placed their trays on the cafeteria table and took seats across from one another, joining Leonard and Sheldon. "I'm telling you, something is going on with her," Raj continued the conversation that began in the food line.

"She didn't want to be there. I don't blame her. Meeting my mother on a holiday centered around food is a lot. I wouldn't want that to be my first time meeting her, either. Honestly, I'm surprised my mother didn't scare her off earlier in the day," Howard shared his thoughts on Thanksgiving dinner a few days prior.

"You guys live across from the hall from Penny and see her more than we do. Has she seemed off lately?" Raj turned his attention to the men who had been at the table when he and Howard approached. "She's barely joined us for dinner when we know she's not working. It's like she's been avoiding us since Halloween. We didn't do something to embarrass her in front of her friends at her party, did we?"

Taking a bite of his sandwich, Sheldon shook his head, "It's been great. Aside from her using our wi-fi, I've hardly noticed her in recent weeks."

"Uh," Leonard hesitated in sharing what he knew occurred during his neighbor's party.

Raj narrowed his eyes at the man next to him, "What do you know?"

"You know Kurt and I kind of got into it at Penny's party," the men at the table nodded, recalling what happened. "Penny followed me back to my apartment. She was upset about the situation and we started talking. Something happened between us that night."

Squealing, Raj began the questions, "Omigod. Was it everything you thought it'd be like? Are you two dating now? Are you keeping it a secret and that's why she was so weird at Thanksgiving?"

Hanging his head, Leonard shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know. We've barely spoken since then. I asked if we could talk about it the next day after she had sobered up. She didn't want to talk; she said it didn't mean anything and she was drunk. I'd love to talk to her about it, but I don't want to seem needy."

"But you are needy," Howard jabbed Leonard with his elbow. "You've gotta talk to her and sort this out. As annoying as it is sometimes to have someone mooching our food all the time, it has been nice having a woman around."

"Fine," sighed the physicist. "I'll try talking to her, but I make no guarantees she'll be willing to talk to me. I'll let her know it doesn't have to be weird between us."

Entering the living room with a laundry basket tucked under his arm not long after returning home from work, Leonard paused before exiting the apartment, "I'm going to try talking to Penny. I know she's doing laundry tonight."

"While I kind of miss her stupid questions, I don't miss her eating our food and not chipping in for it," replied Sheldon, not turning around from his laptop.

"Whatever," Leonard brushed off his roommate. Trudging down to the laundry room, he paused before turning the corner to enter the room. Opening a washing machine and beginning to empty his basket into it, he opened his mouth to speak to the blonde who was transferring her laundry to the dryer. "Penny, can we talk? The guys nominated me to talk to you after Thanksgiving."

Penny closed the dryer and turned around. Crossing her arms across her chest, she prompted the physicist, "What do you want to talk about? Nothing happened at Thanksgiving that I'm aware of."

Sighing, Leonard moved closer to where Penny was still standing, "The guys, well mainly Howard and Raj since Sheldon didn't seem to care, have noticed you haven't been hanging out with us as much since your Halloween party. They miss seeing you all the time. I miss seeing you all the time. Is everything okay?"

"I've just been working a lot. I was wanting to go home for Christmas, so I was working a ton, but I don't think I'm gonna be able to swing it," she explained.

"So you weren't avoiding me? I thought you were maybe avoiding me after what happened between us at your Halloween party."

Penny shifted uncomfortably, looking over her shoulder before answering, "Fine. I was sort of avoiding you. A lot happened that night. I did some very stupid things."

"I should go," Leonard brushed past her and was out of the laundry room when he heard Penny calling after him.

"Leonard, wait! Come back! I didn't mean kissing you." She stood in the doorway as he turned around to rejoin her in the laundry room. She closed the door behind him after he entered the room. "That was probably the least dumb thing I did that night."

Leonard tilted his head, "What are you talking about? It sure felt like you regretted it with how you've avoided me for the past month."

"I slept with something that night," Penny hesitantly revealed. "I was drunk. He was drunk. I don't remember what led to ending up in bed with him. I just know I was not alone when I woke up."

Reaching for the doorknob, Leonard stepped back before opening it, "So I stopped us kissing because you were drunk, then you go home and sleep with someone else? Wow. I told the guys something happened between us after I left the party. I'm pretty sure they think you've been avoiding me because of what happened that night. I was supposed to tell you it doesn't have to be weird between us and ask you to join us for dinner this week."

"I'm sorry, Leonard. I didn't want you to find out, especially not like this. It didn't mean anything. Like I said, we were drunk and I barely remember what happened. I do remember kissing you, though. And I remember what you said about me being perfect," Penny smiled at the memory. "I'm sorry for distancing myself from you and the guys since then, but I really was trying to earn some extra money to be able to go home for Christmas."

Leaning against one of the dryers, Leonard took a minute to process everything his neighbor had told him, "So you kissed me and I stopped it because you were drunk and you went home and slept with someone else? And you really have been working a lot because you wanted to go home for Christmas?"

"Yes," Penny nodded as she positioned herself next to the physicist. "Do you mind maybe not telling the guys about this? Can you just tell them I really was working a lot and when I wasn't working I was exhausted from working so much?"

"You're embarrassed about this, aren't you? You were afraid you might say something during Thanksgiving and that's why you were so quiet, right?"

Nodding again, Penny confirmed his conclusion, "Yes, okay?"

Leonard smirked, "Okay. I won't say anything, but you should know when I told the guys something happened between us, Raj assumed we slept together. I kind of didn't correct him. Can I ask one more thing? Why were you embarrassed about sleeping with someone? It's what you do. You get drunk and sleep with people you kick out the next morning."

"I liked kissing you and I felt bad about sleeping with someone after you were such a gentleman and stopped our kissing from going further because I was drunk. I've been thinking a lot about everything that happened that night and that's part of why I've been avoiding you. I thought it would be easier for me to sort through my feelings if I don't have to see you every day."

"You have feelings for me?"

"I didn't say that," Penny moved towards exiting the laundry room, motioning for Leonard to follow. "So, what are we having for dinner tonight?"

Thank you for reading. I know these first few chapters were a little rough, but there will be answers to the questions I've received. Please just stick with me a little longer- I've got about 12 chapters outlined so far. I usually write Shamy, so I'm still figuring out a non-Shamy story.