My penname may be different, but it's still me! Here's another chapter.
But first, I want to get a little bit sentimental. As you probably know, Cory Monteith, who played Finn Hudson on Glee, recently passed away. You may have seen Kaley and Kunal's tweets about his passing. This tragedy has struck me and many other Gleeks extremely hard. None of us were expecting this, and we will all miss Cory very much. He was an amazing guy, and everyone who met him had only good things to say about him, a rarity in Hollywood these days. So, this chapter is dedicated to him and his girlfriend, Lea Michele, who loved him more than anything and is surely struggling right now. I'd also like to thank you guys, because all of the other fandoms have been so supportive during this tragedy, including the TBBT fandom. For that, I think I speak for all of us Gleeks when I say that I am very thankful. It is good to know that the fandoms can all support each other, and I feel like we really, truly are a family. So thank you all for that.
Even though I am still extremely sad at the premature death of one of my idols, I subscribe to the theory that writing is the best medicine, so that's why I decided to write this chapter.
DISCLAIMER: While you all have been extremely nice and helpful during this difficult time, the Big Bang Theory writers still haven't gifted me rights to their show. Bummer.
At first, Bernadette and Amy thought they had the wrong address when they pulled up to a Tiffany & Co. But sure enough, when they both checked their texts, this was the address Leonard had given him. They were both very confused.
The two women got out of their cars and started heading towards the entrance. They spotted each other, and met just outside the door.
"Hey," Bernadette said.
"Did Leonard text you too?" Amy asked.
"Yeah," Bernadette replied. "What could Leonard possibly need at a jewelry store?"
The two women stepped inside and scanned the store. There was a pair of women trying on as many bracelets they could fit on their wrists, and a woman nagging the man who must've been her fiancé about getting her a bigger diamond. Finally, they spotted Leonard in the back of the store, hunched over a glass case.
"Leonard?" They both said at the same time as they reached him, their synchronization a coincidence, not on purpose.
The experimental physicist turned around at the sound of his name and smiled slightly. "Hey," He said.
Bernadette and Amy both reached over and slapped him lightly on each of his shoulders. "Oww!" Leonard cried, reaching up to rub one of the spots where he'd been hit. "What was that for?"
"You scared us half to death!" Bernadette chastised. "You sent us an SOS text! We thought something was seriously wrong, and all you needed was help picking out jewelry?!"
"I'm sorry!" Leonard said. "I just needed a woman's opinion and I had to make sure you came."
"Oh, just buy Penny anything," Amy told him. "She's so effortlessly beautiful, she can make anything look good."
"I don't want to just buy her anything!" Leonard responded. "This has to be perfect for her. If all goes well, she'll only get this once."
Amy and Bernadette both gave him surprised looks, finally understanding what he was getting at. "Wait wait wait! You're buying Penny an engagement ring?!"
Leonard smiled slightly at their reactions and nodded. "Yeah," He said. "I am."
The two women practically squealed and proceeded to hug Leonard so tightly it actually almost hurt him. "Oh Leonard that's great!" Bernadette said at the same time Amy cried: "Yay! I'm going to get to be a maid of honor again!" Leonard laughed and hugged them back.
"Wait a second," Bernadette said, ending the hug fest.
"What do you mean wait a second?" Amy asked her, her excitement still bubbling over. "Leonard is going to propose to Penny and they're going to get married and I'm going to be a maid of honor again and finally get to walk down in the aisle with my tiara on while a million eyes watch me and "The Way You Look Tonight" plays! This is great news!"
Bernadette sighed and turned towards Leonard. "Are you sure Penny is ready for this? We all know that a huge commitment like this scares her. I know you guys are going to get married someday, but I just want to make sure you're not going to get hurt now."
"Well…" Leonard began. "She kind of…she kind of already knows I'm going to propose to her."
Bernadette and Amy both nodded, not saying anything and still looking at him, clearly wanting more details.
"I mean, I guess you could say we're already engaged?" Leonard continued. "I didn't actually propose to her yet, but we agreed to get married. I want to do something romantic for her."
The two women nodded again. "We can help with that." The latter said, and then they marched up to the display case, one on each of Leonard's sides.
"I really don't know much about jewelry," Leonard told them. "My mother always said that diamonds were just overly priced metastable allotropes of carbon."
"When picking out an engagement ring, you have to pick something classic," Bernadette explained. "Pretty, simple, something to accentuate her beauty, not take the attention away from it."
"But it has to be sparkly!" Amy cut in.
"I'd go with the traditional Tiffany ring," Bernadette said, pointing to it in the case. "Simple silver band, nice sized diamond…"
"But thousands of other women have that ring!" Amy said. "Our Penny needs something just as beautiful and special as she is! I mean, I know that's kind of a tall order but…"
"Oh-kay," Leonard said, beginning to get uncomfortable.
"What about this one?" Amy asked, pointing to another one of the rings. "Cushion-cut diamond, lots of little, bead-set diamonds, a curved band, and it evokes the glamour of the Edwardian period."
"Do you honestly think that's Penny's taste?" Bernadette asked. "And that diamond's huge; it will just totally overtake her hand."
Amy opened her mouth to retort, and so Leonard quickly interjected. He didn't want to get in the middle of an argument today. "Hey, what about this one?" He asked, pointing to a ring towards the back of the case.
Bernadette and Amy both looked at it, the former tilting her head to the side as she examined it and the latter leaning forward for a closer look. The ring was cushion-cut, a nice sized diamond but not obnoxious. There were smaller diamonds on the band, but the ring wasn't too big. It would go nicely on Penny's finger.
"Oh," Bernadette said simply, as if her breath was taken away.
"It's beautiful…" Amy said, looking at it dreamily.
Leonard smiled. "We'll take it."
I actually did pick out a real ring, so if you want to see it, just Google the Tiffany Novo.