Sheldon entered The Cheesecake Factory, seeing how dreadful the horrendous lunch shift was after hearing Penny complain about it many times. He concluded that her job will be an easy and a plebeian task for him, knowing that it is incomparable to his occupation as a theoretical physicist at Caltech.
The uniform was uncomfortable and itchy, and Sheldon knew that Penny would kill him if she finds out how he made her look. Sheldon decided to tie the long blonde locks he had up in a ponytail using a rubber band after failing to find a hair tie. He had no clue how to apply her makeup, so he left the face bare.
The disastrous part about getting ready was choosing the undergarments. He was reluctant to pick up the bra and panties that he knew he had to wear while in Penny's body. After seeing how much unorganized her closet was, he spent twenty minutes fixing things, causing him to miss the bus.
Sheldon was ten minutes late for Penny's shift, and earned a lengthy scolding from her manager. He grabbed the ordering slips and pen before proceeding with the first table of the day, which were two muscular patrons. He asked what they wanted, and as a response, one of the men reached out and slapped his butt, earning a yelp from Sheldon and him running across the room.
"What are you doing, Penny?" One of the waitresses beside Sheldon asked. "You know you have to put up with them unless you want to get fired. The boss doesn't want to lose anymore paying customers because you snitched on them. It sucks, but you gotta go through it."
"Why should I receive a firm hit of the buttocks?" Sheldon responded.
"Gee, Penny. Buttocks? Who uses that word?" The other waitress left her and took another table.
Sheldon sighed and went back to the two men who were scanning and drooling over Penny's body.
Oh, dear lord, Sheldon thought as he realized that he has six hours more to endure.
"Dr. Cooper, I need you assistance with a paper," a young man strolled into Sheldon's office with a folder in his hand. Penny gave him a nod and lifted one finger, signifying him to wait a second.
What do I do...what do I do?
Penny stood up from the desk chair where she doodled random numbers and made it seemed like she was working. "How can I help you mister...?"
"Williams, and you agreed to assist me with finishing this paper last week. I just need you to look it over and tell me if it's accurate."
"Um... Sure. I promised, didn't I?"
Mr. Williams walked over to examine the whiteboard beside Sheldon's desk. "Dr. Cooper, you do know that these equations aren't solved correctly."
"They aren't? Thank you and I'll take it from here."
Penny shoved the younger man out of the office and shut the door. She went back to the desk and took out the folder that was handed over to her.
That doctor lied.
He said a paper, not ten pages of it.
She sighed and flipped over to page one. Penny couldn't comprehend any of the words on the paper. Most of the vocabulary used is nothing that she has seen before. She glanced over to the sticky note that reminded Penny that she had to read all of it by 10 am, which is in about an hour and thirty minutes.
Penny didn't have the knowledge to understand and correct the paper if did have any errors. Her mind was working really hard to take all the information in but there must have been more than a hundred thousand words. She was getting a headache and Penny wondered how Sheldon could possibly do this on a daily basis. The answer was right there on the tip of her nose.
Sheldon could do it because he's Sheldon, and she had to give him credit for that.
Meanwhile, on the other side of Pasadena, Sheldon was three hours into Penny's shift, and he never wanted to vaporize so many people out of thin air until now.
His feet were sore from walking around the restaurant, and he needed to burn the uniform he was wearing when a handful of young children threw macaroni and cheese at him. Sheldon tried his best to be courteous throughout the day, but it proved to be impossible after the fourth hour. As the day progressed, Sheldon needed to wait on tables with groups of men. He had to force himself to tolerate their advances, and it was extremely difficult.
Sheldon approached a table with another one of those Neanderthals that reminded him of Penny's ex-boyfriend Kurt. Strong, but a meathead.
"Hello, welcome to the Cheesecake Factory. My name is Shel... Penny and I'll be your server for this evening. May I start you off with drinks?" Sheldon said, ignoring the looks the patron was giving him.
"My name's John. You, young lady, are a stunner," John reached out to touch Sheldon, but he quickly stepped backwards.
"So, what will it be?"
John smirked. "I want the bottled blonde beauty standing right in front of me."
"Are you suggesting you are succumbing to cannibalism and want to consume me?" Sheldon questioned, the innuendo flying over his head.
"Funny, eh? I like funny girls."
Sheldon stifled a scream when John grasped his wrist. "Want me to take you somewhere nice?"
"No, thank you. Water? How about water for you? Let me get that for you, sir." Sheldon released himself from his grip and headed towards the kitchen area.
When he came back, he watched as Penny's manager converse with John which ended with a stern look from the manager. "PENNY!"
"What is it?" Sheldon walked towards him, expecting to be reprimanded.
"Penny, the customer over there complained about your inappropriate behavior. This the fifth time this evening and I expect better from you," he said as John snickered from behind.
"I'll have you know that I can and will file a complaint against your superior because of this misunderstanding. That costumer over there is being highly inappropriate to me, and I want him out!" Sheldon exclaimed.
"We talked about this, Penny. The customer is always right. You're overreacting! Go serve his order with an apology and a bright smile on your face. I expect no more complaints after this."
Sheldon rolled his eyes as the manager walked away. He reached John's table again and sighed. "Have you made your decision?"
"Still want you, baby cakes."
And at that exact moment, John signed his named in the 62nd slot on Sheldon's list of mortal enemies.
Penny barely made it to the second page when she gave up.
She figured that no one would need her for the rest of the day, so she decided to kick her feet up on the desk and watch "Sex and the City" reruns on her phone. As the episode played out, she indulged on a bag of Cheetos and a diet Pepsi. The desk chair was reclined back as she enjoyed the cool air the AC brought into the room.
When she finished five episodes, Penny took out her magazines from the bag she brought along with her if Sheldon's job got too boring, which she anticipated it would be. She browsed through her Cosmopolitan magazine when someone knocked on the door. It caught her off-guard and Penny accidentally spilled the can of Pepsi with her feet, not realizing how long they actually were.
Penny called out that she'll be there in a second as she cleaned the mess and put her things back into her bag. After straightening out the items on Sheldon's desk, she walked over to the door to answer.
"Dr. Cooper, I just wanted to see what you are up to this evening," Penny guessed that she this man was Dr. Gablehauser, whom she had already met before but she was unsure.
"I'm...um... you know, calculating equations and yeah." She didn't what words to use, and Penny made Sheldon sound stupid in front of his boss.
"Calculating equations? Alright. Have you finished the papers you were presented with?"
"What papers?"
Dr. Gablehauser pointed to the stack on Sheldon's desk. "Those."
"Oh. Not yet, sir. I'm almost done though," she lied.
He gave her a nod. "Carry on, Dr. Cooper."
She headed back to the desk chair as Dr. Gablehauser shut the door behind him. Penny started to flip through the page where she had left off before she was disturbed yet another knock on the door.
"What is it now," Penny muttered to herself. "Come in!"
A woman about Penny's age entered the office with a similar folder that Mr. Williams held earlier. "I need your help with this paper, Dr. Cooper."
"I'm busy."
"Please, you promised me last week at the lecture. It's for my dissertation, and I really need this."
Penny sighed. "Fine."
The woman smiled and handed her the folder before leaving the room. "You were right, he believed it."
Mr. Williams grinned to himself. "I knew he was acting weird. He wasn't himself earlier and seemed to be forgetting things. Took it to my advantage and had my paper read as well."
"Tricking people isn't really my strong suit," the woman dropped her head.
"Hey, you'll get a good paper after Cooper reads it over, and you'll soon get your doctorate."
The two looked at Dr. Cooper's office door before walking away.
Back in the office, Penny wished she hadn't accepted any of the papers. She was going to kill herself if she had to read one more page about the whatever-experiment.
Sheldon trudged up the stairs, exhausted and the body he was in felt incredibly sore. He dropped trays of food on the floor, on costumers, and himself a couple times during the shift. The manager threatened that if she came back the next day with a sour attitude and loss of coordination, Penny's job would be gone even before she knew it.
He finally reached the fourth floor landing and knocked on the door when he realized he forgot his keys.
Knock, knock, knock, "Leonard?"
Knock, knock, knock, "Leonard?"
Knock, knock, knock, "Leonard?"
Leonard opened the door. "Why are you knocking like that?"
"Leonard, I always knock like this," Sheldon entered his apartment and noticed Howard sitting in his spot. "Get out of my spot."
"Your spot?" Howard raised his eyebrow.
"Yes, mine. If you do not wish to receive yet another strike for your insubordination, I suggest you move your seat somewhere else."
Howard looked over to Leonard. "Is she serious?"
"Penny, what on earth has gotten into you? First, Sheldon thinks he's you and now you're acting like him? What's going on?"
Sheldon sat down on his spot after Howard had scooted over to the right. "Penny and I had woken up in the morning in our incorrect bodies. I am in Penny's, and Penny is in mine."
Raj swallowed the beer in his mouth. "This is some weird crap, dude."
"Where is Penny anyways?" Sheldon asked.
"You're right there- oh, you mean Penny in your body. Last time I saw your body, it was back at the university. I was going to offer him, I mean her, a ride back home but the office was locked when I went to ask." Leonard informed Sheldon.
Sheldon reached over for the phone and dialed Penny's number. She picked up and greeted him with a slurred 'hello.'
"Penny? It's Sheldon. Where are you?"
"Isn't it a little weird calling yourself Sheldon even though I'm hearing my own voice?" Penny said, sounding very drowsy.
"I'm serious. What is your exact location?"
"I'm still here at the university. A bunch of young people came to and asked me to read their disser... whatever. Took me forever to finish all of them, but they probably will realize that I overlooked a lot of mistakes."
"Penny, I'm a physicist not a proofreader! You shouldn't have accepted all those papers. They're just undergrads trying to increase their chances in receiving their doctorates by having papers read by me!"
"Well, they're gonna look like fools now."
Sheldon sighed. "Stay there. We'll pick you up."
"Sheldon, I can drive you know?"
He shook his head from the other side of the line. "You don't have a car with you and I don't possess a license."
"Fine, be here as soon as possible. I am starving and tired."
Sheldon helped Penny walk up the stairs. She was so worn-out that she had to drag her body back to her apartment. Once Sheldon unlocked her door, Penny immediately flopped herself down on her couch as he headed to the kitchen and started to boil water to make her a cup of tea.
Sheldon didn't bother looking around her kitchen for food, knowing that Penny had none, but he remembered her taking his Chinese dinner from last night home.
He reheated the seasoned pork tofu, and as he waited for it to warm up, Sheldon prepared Penny's tea.
He understood that Penny was exhausted from working at the university, and knew that it was best to make a comment about he was right. Truth be told, Sheldon actually felt that Penny's job was way more difficult than his. He had never wanted to sleep right away after working six hour straight. Six hours at the Cheesecake Factory is equivalent to ten hours at Caltech. All he needed to do there was calculate formulas and work on a thesis paper or two. At the restaurant, he had to suffer through rude customers and the irritating yelling from the manager.
The break at the Cheesecake Factory was not even half of Sheldon's lunchtime at the university. He wasn't able to eat the hamburger he brought from home because there weren't any microwaves available for him to preheat.
The worst part about Penny's job is the never ending line of flirtatious men in her way. Sheldon wondered how she was able to survive a day through that and still come back to work the next day.
"Here, eat this and drink up," Sheldon said, bringing Penny the meal and tea to her. He aided
Penny to sit up on the couch, and handed her the freshly made tea.
Sheldon watch her sip and swallow the tea before moving on to the leftover meal he gave her.
"Thank you," he heard Penny say, though the words that came out were in his own hoarse voice.
"Now you know what I have to deal with everyday at Caltech."
Penny nodded. "You were right. I feel like my head was about to explode after reading numbers and symbols for an hour. How was work at the restaurant?"
"It wasn't easy compared to me working at the university."
They sat in silence before Penny finished her food.
"What now?" She asked.
Sheldon shrugged his shoulders. Of all the mysteries the universe contained, he wanted to know the answer of this mystery so badly.
"Lin," Penny breathed out, earning a confused look from Sheldon.
"She gave us the fortune cookie. We read it at the same time before the earthquake happened. That must be it!"
"An enchanted fortune cookie. Penny, really?"
Penny jumped out of the couch. "I mean it's the one thing that occurred before the earthquake and us switching bodies."
"Are you suggesting we visit that woman?"
"She's the only person who'll know how to switch us back!"
And with that, Penny and Sheldon headed to Szechuan Palace.
"Your usual table, Dr. Cooper?" The man standing behind the podium asked.
Sheldon stepped forward. "We would like to speak with Lin."
"May I ask why?"
Penny looked to Sheldon, wondering if she should tell him. "Well, when we woke up, uhh, we weren't in our right bodies."
The man stared at the two before screaming out Lin's name who tried to avoid them. He spoke to Lin in Chinese, his face clearly showed annoyance.
Lin yelled at the man one more time, and turned to Sheldon and Penny. "I cannot fix it. Only you can fix it."
"How?" Penny asked.
"When the fortune come true, then you go back. You find the answer in each other. "
Without another word, Lin left the room, leaving the two even more confused. "Excuse me, do you know what she meant by that?" Sheldon asked.
"My mother does that to people who don't get along."
Penny sighed. "How do we change back?"
The man shrugged. "It's only you that can figure that out."
Penny stopped at a red light, still thinking of what to do now. She had no idea about how to proceed. She doesn't understand Lin's words, and neither did Sheldon.
What if they never find out how, and they're stuck in a different body for the rest of their lives?
"Penny, I do not appreciate how you are driving without a license," Sheldon said, interrupting Penny's train of thought.
"You have your permit and I have my license. If we get stopped, we'll tell them you're teaching me."
Sheldon nodded. "What's on your mind?"
"A lot of things."
It was true. She was picturing the rest of her life as Sheldon Cooper working at Caltech as a physicist. That didn't sit too well for Penny. She knew if she stayed in Sheldon's body forever, he'll probably lose his job at the university. She wouldn't be able to handle his work.
Penny wished that she could just go back to the way things were before they fought back at the restaurant.
Sheldon in her body was even worse. He would have to work towards a college degree and wait years until he gets back all his degrees he had earned. Plus, he barely knows how to take care of a woman's body, judging by the way the Penny-body looked today.
And what would she tell her parents? Hey, mom and dad! I'm a dude now!
No.
Penny was determined to figure out a way to change back into her own body.
The light turned green, and she slowly pushed down on the gas pedal.
She slowly turned her head to see Sheldon looking out to the window, probably thinking about the same things as well.
A/N:
I have all the next 2 chapters plus an epilogue written, but a tiny part of me wants to expand this story more so I'll think about it.
Please ignore the silly mistakes (if there are any). I'm not much of an expert at proofreading.