Chapter Four
Ru swayed and fidgeted to the soft sounds of Leonard pounding on his own bedroom door. She was getting a few too many mental images for her own good, and she'd just thought of a way to communicate with Raj. She slipped a note into his back pocket, causing him to jump slightly, eyebrows raised, and then smile like Hugh Hefner during a photo shoot with his bunnies. And I don't mean rabbits.
"I think I'm going to call it a night," Ru sighed, patting Raj's butt, surreptitiously.
"Ru…" Penny started.
"Don't worry, Penny," Ru hugged her friend. "It wasn't as bad as I feared, but I just really don't want to see Howard in his underoos again."
"Yeah, I think I'll head out, too," Tracy added while looking for her purse. "This is too much excitement for a movie night."
"But we weren't finished discussing the merits of the Star Wars series of films," Sheldon protested.
Tracy patted him gently on the cheek, "Oh honey. We so were."
Sheldon blinked. "I don't understand."
"I'll explain later, sweetie," Penny reassured him.
Raj gave an apologetic wave and a nod toward the door.
"You too?" Penny asked in defeat.
He nodded and whispered something to Sheldon.
"He says that he only came over tonight because there were women. He doesn't want to stay if it's going to be a sausagefest."
Penny was giving hugs all around and arranging to meet her friends again for lunch when the door pounding stopped and an eerie silence fell. They looked at each other and all ran out the door: Penny to her apartment, the girls and Raj down the stairs, and Sheldon… He looked around the landing for a place to hide and then knocked on Penny's door.
"Is that Sheldon?"
"Yes."
"If I let you in, are you going to lecture me about Star Wars?"
"That is an extremely likely hypothesis."
"What?"
"That means, 'Yes.'"
"See you tomorrow, Sheldon."
"But…"
"G'night."
His own apartment's door opened, and he slunk into the stairwell leading to the next floor and averted his eyes.
"Are you sure you want me to have your original series Battlestar Galactica flight suit?" Howard asked in awe.
Leonard swallowed a mouthful of bile and shuddered. "Yes."
"Oh wow! This is just…" Howard moved to embrace his friend.
"Don't touch me!" both men jerked apart in surprise at the volume of Leonard's voice. "I mean… saying thanks is more than enough."
"I don't think I want your tie," Carol stated in puzzlement.
"Take it! Please! I've been meaning to get a new one, anyway," Leonard was now doing everything short of physically pushing them out of the door. "Now you two kids go have…" he stopped as he was overwhelmed with a mental image. "… Go."
"I can't believe we missed the movie!" Carol gushed.
"Yeah, real shame, maybe next time. See you!" Leonard closed the door practically in their faces and then leaned against the wood. There would never be a next time. At least, not until he got Sheldon to install a security system on his door, too.