Chapter 8

A couple days passed since Beverley had her inquisition with Pris. She had asked a few more questions regarding her directions of study and left with a strange attempt at a smile.

Leonard was busy in his kitchen, setting out snacks and making punch as Sheldon sat in his spot repeating his words over and over again. "Oh, the horror." He mumbled as he stared into the distance. The door swung open and Penny walked through.

She stared at Sheldon as he repeated his little complaint yet again.

"Let me guess," she said to Leonard. "Pris is coming over?"

Leonard grinned. "Yes she is. How did you know?"

"Besides his little mantra and his tone, he has his Prissy face on." Penny pointed out. Leonard laughed.

"Excuse me, I do not have a prissy face." Sheldon mumbled.

"Yeah you do." Penny and Leonard said together.

"You look like…" Penny searched for the word but ended up just gesturing to his face. "That."

"So. Pris is coming over?" Penny asked as she walked across the room to the kitchen.

"Oh the horror." Sheldon zoned out again.

"Yep."

"What's with all the snacks?" Penny asked as Leonard poured out a bag of chips.

"We're celebrating her birthday."

"Oh, I didn't know it's her birthday, you should have told me Leonard."

"Why? We're just getting dinner and playing some games. Mostly just us. And it isn't her birthday until Thursday but she is going to be in Seattle then. So it's just something small."

"I didn't get her a present."

"You don't have to give her a present." Leonard said.

"No, I'll go get it quickly. I know what she would love."

"Really? Any idea what I can get her?" Leonard asked.

Penny turned towards the door. "Yeah sure. I'll get that too."

And Penny was gone.

"Sheldon, we need to talk." Leonard sat down in his chair and looked at Sheldon who was still off somewhere in his mind.

The words: we need to talk, brought him right out of his trance.

"That doesn't sound good." Sheldon was on high alert.

"No, It's nothing bad. I just want to ask you to be nice to Pris."

"I'm always nice." Sheldon actually complained.

"Just be nicer, than your usual anal selfish self. I promise to buy you a new collectable if you succeed."

"What collectable?" Sheldon was intrigued.

"Whatever you want, Sheldon." Leonard knew this was going to be a difficult conversation.

"I already know what I want." Sheldon stood from the seat, very dramatically. "A vintage edition of the Amazing Fantasy 15: Introducing Spiderman."

"That thing is worth over four hundred thousand dollars!" Leonard wined.

"Start saving."

"If you can't be nice, then I suggest you go somewhere else for the night."

There was a knock on the door. "We'll get back to this, Sheldon." Leonard was going to have a hard time convincing Sheldon to behave or leave. He walked closer to the door when there was another knock.

Knock, knock, knock, "Leonard?" a voice called through the door. Leonard stared at the door and then at Sheldon. It was definitely Pris and she couldn't hold her laugh.

Knock, knock, knock, "Leonard?" she repeated and her laugher almost broke through.

Knock, knock, knock, "Leonard?" and she finally giggled.

"I hate her." Sheldon mumbled and hovered by his seat, unsure whether he should go get himself a soda or stick to his spot.

Leonard grinned as he opened the door. Pris grinned back as she stood waiting.

"Can we talk," was the first thing she said.

"Oh, that doesn't sound good." Leonard mumbled.

"Told you so." Sheldon reviled in the thought that now Leonard was uncomfortable due to that simple sentence.

"Okay," she seemed to rethink her sentence. "I would like to tell you something."

"That sounds better." Leonard smiled again. Pris stepped backwards, giving him room to walk out.

He stepped into the lobby and stared at a tall skinny guy with longish dark curly hair. He looked to Leonard like a young JRR Tolkien Elve version of John Snow from Game of Thrones.

"Leonard, this is Embry." Pris introduced them. "My husband."

"Hello Embry." Leonard felt like a real hobbit next to this guy.

"I realized the other day when I spoke to your mom, that I hadn't even told you about him. And not…" she softly slapped the back of her hand across Embry's chest as she looked at him sternly. "Because I forgot about him."

Embry smiled. "Of course not. How could you forget me?" Embry spoke with a thick Irish accent and locked eyes with her. The way that Pris looked back at Embry, made Leonard feel uncomfortable to be in the same room but at the same time, it just caught his breath as if it was a perfect movie moment.