"Are you doing anything tonight?"
Penny looked up from her cell phone and over at the other server and shrugged. "I'm kind of tired."
Jennifer smirked in return as she put table thirty-two's order on a tray. "You're always tired. Twenty years younger than me and no energy at all. What is wrong with you? Maybe you're dying." The older woman carefully grabbed butter pads and steak knives. "I saw this thing on 'Good Morning America' yesterday about-"
"Hey," Penny cut her off as she grabbed a tray jack. "I understand senility is a sign of old age and I usually try to just brush it off…" Jennifer flipped her off and Penny chuckled. They worked in tandem, delivering the meal to the seven-top. The blonde's eyes traveled over to an empty table with four chairs that would be inhabited by her neighbors any minute now. Her nerves had been building up toward this all day.
She hadn't seen Sheldon once since Thanksgiving, always apparently just missing him. It wasn't even a matter of him staying in his room to avoid her, as it had been before 'the incident'. No, he was instead basically living at the university again. Penny knew it was entirely her fault that he'd essentially disappeared from his own schedule. She felt badly about it, but the other three didn't seem to mind that he was absent, so she decided to stay silent on the matter. But it was Tuesday night, and he would absolutely be there. Penny was uneasy about how much better she felt with that reassurance in the back of her head. Somehow, she needed to be able to get back to the way it was before all of this had happened, and getting back onto speaking terms with Sheldon was top of that list.
"Hey Jenny," she started as they walked back to the kitchen together. "Can I ask your opinion on something?"
"Only do nudity if it's tasteful," the brunette answered instantly. "Otherwise, when you become famous they will play it on cable all the time and you'll never be able to live it down."
Penny stopped. "They don't show nudity on basic cable."
"By the time you get famous, they will," was the response she got. Glaring, Penny threw a lemon wedge at the other woman. "What did you need, honey?"
The younger woman sighed. "I…okay, you know Leonard?"
Jennifer clicked her teeth together. "Little guy with the coke bottles? Kinda squirrelly?"
"Yeah," Penny answered through a tightened jaw. "So, we broke up."
"When?" Jen asked, clearly unsurprised by this turn of events.
Penny crossed her arms over her chest. "Couple weeks ago."
"So, what's the question?"
"Okay, well…last week I kind of…." Penny bit her lower lip. "Kissed his best friend."
"Oh," Jen grinned. "The Native American one? He's a cutie!"
"He's Indian," Penny corrected automatically.
Jennifer stared at her blankly for a moment. "No, we call them Native American now."
"No," Penny chuckled. "I mean he's really Indian. From India." She started rolling clean silverware. "And either way, it's not him. It's …..Sheldon."
The other server stared at the floor, clearly trying to place the name. "Which one is that?" she finally asked.
"The tall one?" Penny answered unsurely.
"Spock?" Jen exclaimed. "I thought he was gay."
"No," Penny replied airily. "He's just never shown an inclination in any direction."
The older woman stopped in the middle of polishing spoons. "So, he doesn't have a penis?"
Penny brought her hand up to her forehead, feeling her cheeks get pink. "No, I assume he does have a penis."
"Who's junk are we talking about?" Alex, another server, asked as he stepped between them to grab a fork.
"Spock's," Jen answered.
Alex turned and looked at Penny in disgust. "Nimoy? Isn't he dead? That's sick."
"No, he's not dead." Jennifer said. "And not really the Vulcan. You know the tall peculiar guy, the one who-"
"Not barbeque bacon cheeseburger!" He spoke up. He was somehow even more horrified by the idea of talking about Sheldon's anatomy than that of the elderly actor's.
"Yes," Penny finally answered.
"What happened?" Alex asked Jennifer.
"Penny sucked face with Spock," she responded smoothly.
"Stop calling him that," Penny snapped.
Alex grinned. "And now you're defending him."
"It's actually kind of sweet," Jen reasoned to the other server as he dug into a large bowl of pasta that had been made by accident. He nodded in agreement as Penny picked up a fork and started eating as well.
"I hate you both," Penny noted. She sighed. "Trust me, it isn't like it sounds. There is no chance of it happening again." She quirked her lips to the side in thought. "I just don't know if I should tell Leonard that I accidentally…."
"Made out with his best friend?" Alex suggested around a mouthful of penne.
"Jen," the manager called as he opened the door. "Your five top needs their check."
"Yeah," she answered and made her way toward the swinging door. "Oh," she said quickly and let the door swing shut as she hurried over to Penny again. "I doubt this helps, but they just got sat." Penny felt something roll over in her stomach and tasted the bitter metal of adrenaline in her mouth in the next instant. Gently chiding herself at her sudden reversion to a teenager, Penny stepped through the door and let her eyes move to their table.
Where there was currently a vacant seat.
Howard, Raj and Leonard all looked up as she approached, smiles in place. Penny however, felt like she might throw up her Pasta Carbonera. She took a deep breath and consciously slowed her steps. "Hey guys," she greeted them breezily. "How's it going?"
"Good," Leonard answered quickly, a smile frozen on his face. There were about six elephants in the room to avoid, and Penny knew she'd have to stay on her toes in order to get through the rest of her shift with her sanity intact.
"Where's Sheldon?" she asked, her voice as neutral as she was capable of making it sound.
Howard looked up at her, shrugging. "I saw him for a second this morning, but since then…" He trailed off, glancing sideways at Raj. The astrophysicist shook his head. "Yeah, nothing."
"He's been kind of quiet for the last few days," Leonard supplied. He was studying the menu so carefully Penny assumed he would be quizzed on it later. "And I haven't seen him since we got to work this morning."
"Huh," Penny half-grunted in response as she tapped her pen restlessly against the order tablet. She wasn't sure why she had it out in the first place, since she knew their order by heart. The energy that was asking to be released from her body was just under the surface. She needed to take a lap around the block before even finishing her thought. She needed to get a hold on her emotions before she did something stupid and let on that whatever problem Sheldon seemed to be having with life in general was probably directly related to her molesting him.
"I'm going to go uh….get your order in," she said as she turned, not giving them the option of even deciding for themselves what they were going to eat. Once in the kitchen, Penny dropped her order pad on the counter next to the computer and strode toward the walk-in cooler.
She pulled the door shut behind her and paced the length twice before pulling out her cell phone and hitting speed dial six. It rang four times before sending her to voicemail. "This is Dr. Sheldon Cooper. I am unable to currently take your call. Leave a detailed message as to the reason for your call, and I will respond."
Penny rolled her eyes, remembering the withering look she'd given him as he'd recorded it. She waited for the digitized beep before taking a deep breath and letting out all of the emotions she'd been so carefully keeping in check for the last week.
"Are you kidding me? Could you possibly act human? You skip out on your own scheduled events just to avoid me?" She continued to pace, her shoes sliding on the wet floor tiles. "I promise I will be able to keep my hands off of you, okay? Just, get over yourself." She let out a long breath. "God!" she finally screamed into the mouthpiece before hanging up. Turning, Penny plucked an orange from an open box nearby and hurled it with all of her might at the wall of the cooler. It hit with a satisfying crack, splitting open down the center. It rebounded slightly before rolling out of sight. She felt some of the tension finally leave her shoulders and left the cooler as quickly as she'd entered.
Alex was standing just outside, staring at her strangely. "Just needed to go in their and scream?"
"And throw fruit," Penny added as she entered the boys' orders. She filled their glasses and, taking another deep breath, returned to their table. She set their drinks down with some severity, getting looks of confusion from each of them. She took a deep breath.
"You guys want to do something after I get off?" she asked, determined to take her mind off the wiry genius who had just caused her to lose her shit for no apparent reason.
"Uh, yeah." Leonard spoke slowly, unsurely. Penny smiled tightly in response. It would be slow, but they would get there eventually. "That might be fun." He pulled his vibrating cell phone out of his pocket and looked at the screen momentarily before flipping it open.
"What is it?" Howard asked when he saw the expression on Leonard's face.
"Um, it's a text from Sheldon." He glanced up at Penny. "' Tell everyone I've gone to Texas and won't be back until January.'" Leonard paused at looked over at the other two men.
"Well, that explains that." Howard leaned back in his chair.
"Not really," Penny answered angrily. "Why is he such a flake? Runs home to mommy every time life throws him a curve ball?"
Leonard frowned at her before holding up his cell phone for her to read.
"No. His Meemaw died."