"I can't believe we're watching this entire thing." Penny whined, throwing her head back against the couch. "It's so long."
"Excuse me, but I believe we watched the 'Harry Potter' series in its entirety last weekend, which is three times the length of this," Sheldon shot back acidly.
Penny turned her head to the side, seeking out her boyfriend's assistance in dealing with his impossible roommate once again. She needn't bother, however. Leonard was currently riveted to the television, on which Samwise was currently returning the ring to Frodo upon their reunion. She rotated to face Sheldon, who sat rigidly to her left. "So, which one of them is the 'Green Lantern' now?" His eyes slowly moved from the screen to meet her gaze. He stared at her blankly for several moments. "That was a joke," Penny explained flatly. "See, 'cause Frodo had the ring, and then Sam had the ring, and now Frodo has it again."
Rather than exhaling out his strange giggle, Sheldon simply continued to stare at her. "I'm going to retire to my bedroom, where it's quiet," he announced, standing and stalking off down the hallway. Penny's eyes followed him until he disappeared around the corner before turning her attention back to the movie.
"Why won't you leave him alone?" Leonard asked, not bothering to look at her.
Penny shrugged her shoulders and burrowed farther into the couch cushion. "The other day he said that if we broke up, I wouldn't still be friends with him or Howard or Raj." She looked over at him beseechingly. "Do you think that's true?" Leonard nodded passively, his eyes still on the hobbits. "Hey," she said as she leaned forward to pause the DVD player. "Are you even listening to me?"
"What? " He turned his body toward her, pulling a knew up onto the cushion between them. "Yes, of course I was listening. But," he paused, choosing his words carefully. "He's…he's not wrong, Penny."
"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, offended.
Leonard sighed, clearly not excited for where this conversation was going. Penny simply stared at her boyfriend with eyebrows raised in anticipation. "Well, it's just that…I mean, I don't think we have any intention of breaking up…..?" He asked leadingly. Penny shook her head. "…but, if we did, can you honestly say you would have any urge to come over here again?"
Penny felt a coil of defensive energy tighten in her belly, but tried to ignore it. How could he possibly think that he was the only reason she would ever want to be here? That he was the only reason she had ever come over in the first place? "Why wouldn't I?" she merely asked, curbing her sudden desire to punch him in the throat.
"Um," Leonard responded slowly. "Because Sheldon annoys you and Howard creeps you out and Raj can't actually talk to you?" He said it in a tone Penny was sure came from years of living with Sheldon, who couldn't pick up on sarcasm in someone's tone. But Penny wasn't Sheldon, she wasn't even close.
"First of all, I think Raj is on the edge of a breakthrough involving the whole talking to me thing," she defended the Indian doctor. "And Howard acting like a pig is an act that he puts on for your benefit as much as mine." She rose from the couch and made her way to the fridge to pull out a bottle of beer. She knocked the cap off on the kitchen counter before taking a long sip.
Leonard looked at her skeptically. "And now you're going to tell me Sheldon doesn't really annoy you, it's just his way of flirting?" He chuckled and un-paused the DVD. Penny knew he was no longer paying attention to her, but she still suddenly felt very conscious of her body language. She put the bottle down on the counter in front of her and crossed her arms over her chest. Her urge to march across the apartment and smack Leonard hard on the back of his head was strong, but she abstained. She knew he was being flippant and trying to joke away the entire conversation, but she couldn't just accept that answer. Was that really how they all saw her? As a fickle girl who was only spending time with them to acquire a boyfriend? How could Leonard of all people not believe that she liked them for who they were, when he himself was best friends with all of them?
"We're not done talking about this," she spoke up and watched him turn toward her with raised eyebrows. He hit stop on the remote, leaving the square screen saver bouncing happily from corner to almost-corner.
"I'm not sure what you want me to say," he finally said. He climbed off the couch and walked toward her. "Do I think that you could continue to be friends with any of us if you and I chose to dissolve our relationship? No, I don't." Penny frowned at him before taking another drink. "But that doesn't make you a bad person." She could tell he was trying to think of his phrasing again. "Sheldon is unfortunately really good at being tactless. It's the only human emotional response he seems to understand. He probably didn't even mean anything by it, though. Don't let it bother you."
As if him saying that would make it so. Before Penny could utter a rebuttal, the door swung open and Howard and Raj entered, the former holding the 'Star Wars' edition of Risk under his arm. "It's on!" Howard announced, holding the game up in front of him. "Where's Sheldon?"
Penny watched Leonard steal a glance at her before turning back to the other two men. "He's…currently being…psychotic again."
"I scared him away," Penny spoke up impassively, swallowing the last of her beer.
"Oh," Howard answered, looking slightly crestfallen. He looked at the game in his hands and then over at Raj, who simply shrugged. "We won't have even teams then," he finally stated to Leonard.
"What do you mean?" Penny asked, walking toward them.
"Well," Leonard started, looking at her. "We always play Sheldon and Raj against Howard and I."
"We're the Republic," Howard supplied, stepping forward.
"And now you can't play?" Penny asked, returning to the kitchen and opening the fridge.
"Not really," Leonard answered. Penny pretended to think it over as she reached in and pulled out a second beer.
"I can play," she said firmly.
Leonard cocked his head to the side and stared. "Um…."
"You can?" Howard asked.
Penny looked between the three of them before handing Raj a newly opened beer. " I'm going to be a Separatist." She glanced over at Raj, who was swallowing quickly. "It's on boys."