Chapter Two:

The short man with glasses was smiling at her. "Forgive Sheldon, he's not a people person."

"People are idiots." The other shot back.

Penny raised her eyebrows. Watching these two argue was kind of fun. She froze. "I need a drink." She muttered suddenly. What she really needed, was a life, and an acting job. It'd been a while since the last one.

They both blinked at her.

"A drink? You'll have to be more specific than that. Oh, dear lord, you're not going to faint are you?" The tall one backed away in horror.

She wrinkled her nose at him. "Why would I faint? I don't faint. What's he talking about?" She glanced at the other one.

He winced, "Don't ask... Oh no.." His head sunk as the tall one launched into a diatribe on personal hygiene and the occurrence of flu and epidemics and the plague.

Penny listened with a puzzled look on her face. "Alrighty then." She gave them both a strange glance. Her friend had said this guy was the best, so... "Listen, I don't have a big job for you, I just broke up with this john, and he's refusing to give me some stuff that is mine, and I just want it back." She shrugged.

"My roast..." Moaned the tall one, in utter dismay.

"I have an idea." the short one declared. "Let's discuss this over dinner. That way you," he waved at Penny, "Can give us the details, and you," he glared at the tall man, "can eat your roast!"

"There's not enough for all of us." The other gasped.

"Oh please, there's enough for four of us."

"I AM hungry." Penny said. These two were crazy. Like looneytunes.

"I don't need a wife."The tall man glared at her. "Let's get that clear."

"Good." Penny smiled. "I don't want a husband."

"Really?" The short one seemed disappointed.

"Really." She replied firmly. "I just had this terrible breakup, and..."

The tall one stood up and grabbed his coat. "Fine, you may come. Let's go. But no crying."

The other scrambled for his coat and held open the door for her, and tried to talk to her all the way down the stairs and out into the mist, but she didn't really understand what he was saying, something about bowel movements? And then the tall one, who was actually really cute, in a twitchy, skinny, way, cut him off about the inappropriateness of his discussion topics when discussing dinner invitations, and she'd already accepted anyways, though he didn't know why she should, and they'd better hurry, and Penny quit listening altogether and instead focused on keeping up and paying attention to where they were going, in case she had to run away, her momma had always said don't trust people who don't speak plain English.

She hurried along, her nose wrinkling once in awhile. He was from Texas? He didn't sound like he was from Texas. Maybe he was from North Texas? She'd never met anyone from North Texas.

Suddenly they were going up the stairs of an older house, and she noted the number.

2311 Los Robles.

"You two live together?" She questioned.

"Yes."

"No."

They both answered. The tall one sighed again. "Yes we live in the same house, but no, we do not live 'together'." He made quotations with his fingers, shaking his head. "This is a boarding house run by Mrs. Gunderson. She lives on the first floor and provides meals which are mostly adequate, and she keeps a very clean kitchen."

"We live on the second floor." The short one declared.

"Oh?" Penny questioned again.

"Two rooms, a hallway, a shared living room and kitchenette, and a bathroom." The tall one recited with a drawl, and finally she heard a bit of Texas.

"It's a big second floor." The short one nodded.

"Oh please," the tall one snarled, "If I could afford it I'd have rented your room too and had the whole place to myself."

Penny grinned, and walked into the living area. There were some desks, and a sofa, an armchair. She went to sit down and suddenly there was a squawk.

"You can't sit there!"