The first thing Penny did was text Amy. "I spoke to Sheldon, no more experiments!" She left it at that for now. If he had something to say to Amy, he could tell her himself. She wasn't doing his dirty work. As for the rest of it, she was fuming. He always had a lot of cheek, but this new man-sized Sheldon was even worse. He thought she was offering him sex. What was she? A self-help sex aid?
Just then she heard voices. "Just look at all this stuff," it was Raj. "It's not my fault, he said he'd be there," said Howard.
Maybe Leonard was with them, Penny thought. That's what she needed. A night in with her boyfriend would make her forget all about Dr. Crazypants and his lurid suggestions. She opened the door, no Leonard.
"Hi Penny" said Howard. Raj nodded.
"What's a die-crep-ant event?" she asked.
"Urgh…?" said Howard surprised. "You mean in… science?" he added, turning to Raj who looked dumbfounded.
"Just tell me?" said Penny impatiently, "…and keep it simple" she added.
"A discrepant event is when an experiment which we expect to produce a certain set of results, produces something unexpected."
"Thanks" she said and went back into her apartment.
The guys stood there for a moment looking at her closed door. Then Raj said, "Is it just me, or is she getting smarter since she started dating Leonard?" Howard shrugged.
Penny managed to avoid Sheldon for a week. He could keep his discrepant event to himself, she thought. The trouble this could cause was unthinkable. Leonard wasn't the most secure boyfriend she'd ever had, and Sheldon was Amy's first boyfriend and her friend. If he had ideas about her, that was his problem. Holy crap! Sheldon has ideas about her!
Amy had been inquisitive when she asked her to stop the experiments, but she reluctantly agreed. "Do you think I should stop them permanently?" said asked.
"Just until Sheldon is behaving normally again, Ames"
"Well, that could take a while," she had said in a huff.
Leonard invited Penny to the apartment that night and she was out of excuses to avoid going over there. Resigning herself to the fact she would have to be in the same room with Sheldon, she tried to put him out of her mind. It was impossible, the thoughts kept tumbled back in. All week she had been obsessing about it. Physics isn't the same thing as human desire. He's totally mad! Why is he focusing this on me? It had to be a phase; if Amy stops the experiments he will snap out of it and no one will be any the wiser. Yes, she thought. That's it.
She put on pants and a nice shirt, doing up an extra top button to be sure. No peeking this time Cooper!
Leonard, Howard, Raj and Sheldon were already sitting down to pizza. Sheldon was in his spot, with Raj and Howard sitting next to him. Leonard had the armchair.
"Hi guys." said Penny. A chorus of hellos returned.
"No Amy tonight?" she asked, sitting down on the floor by the coffee table.
"No… she's just commenced a new project mapping neural network systems," said Sheldon, who was holding up his plate and staring intently at a slice of pizza. He gave it a sniff and turned the plate.
"Help yourself, there's beer as well" said Leonard.
Raj raised a bottle in her direction and took a swig.
"Thanks," said Penny and grabbed the closest slice.
"How was your day?" Leonard asked.
"The usual" she said, "Oh… except Kripke was in today. He said he might go to the Cheesecake Factory more regularly."
"Oh no!" said Sheldon.
"We go into battle lads, the death defying evil eyes over the dinner table," said Howard. Raj and Leonard chuckled.
"You jest but he's everywhere I go these days," Sheldon complained.
"It's new comic book day tomorrow," said Raj.
"And he'll be there!" Sheldon groaned.
"Not another night wasting my money in that joint." Howard said solemnly.
"I thought you guys loved the Comic book store?" said Penny.
"We do, but after Saturday, I'm not so keen," said Howard
"What happened on Saturday?" said Penny.
"That comic artist we went to see, was a no show," said Leonard.
"You mean the Hulk guy? That's terrible," said Penny.
"We're not sure he was booked in the first place" said Howard "We turned up and low and behold Stuart's, Tremendous half-price Merch Sale," he bellowed.
Leonard smiled.
"Yes, we fell for it like Carrie fell for Mr. Big," said Raj wistfully.
"I spend 200 bucks," said Howard.
"That's pretty sneaky of Stuart, do you think he did it on purpose?" Penny asked.
"We don't know if it was all Stuart. They got the heads-up from Captain Sweatpants. Not the most reliable source in the world," said Leonard.
"Yeah, maybe Stuart was in on it, maybe he wasn't. We'll never know, it's like 'Inception' all over again." said Raj smiling. The guys gave him puzzled looks.
"Still aren't you mad at him?" said Penny.
"No, not really. We had a great time," said Raj beaming.
"Well… in this day and age, who can we expect to honor their promises," said Sheldon. "Shop owners, Comic Book artists… people" he flashed Penny a confrontational look.
What?! Her eyes narrowed.
"Maybe Stuart never made any such promises," said Penny coolly.
"Promises or suggestions, it's all a matter of perspective." he said.
"Maybe Stuart never made any suggestions either!" she said in a warning tone.
"When something is implied, its meaning is derived from the words or actions of the individuals involved. Don't you think Howard?"
Howard stopped for a minute and said "Huh?... I-I guess."
"Maybe Stuart wasn't trying to imply anything, maybe Captain Sweatpants got his facts wrong," she said tensely.
"Assuming Captain Sweatpants did get his facts wrong" he said, "Which he didn't." Penny rolled her eyes "Stuart went along with the implication which makes him guilty of deceit," said Sheldon.
Penny was getting mad now!
"Stuart isn't guilty of deceit! Captain Sweatpants dreamed up the whole lousy scheme," she yelled. "ON HIS OWN!"
"Is that so? Why did Stuart only distance himself when Captain Sweatpants questioned the plan? That is a cowardly act."
"No it's wasn't, Captain Sweatpants is CRAZY!" Penny screamed.
Sheldon and Penny feel silent, staring daggers at each other. The guys shifted uncomfortably.
"Geez guys, I wasn't that upset about it…." said Howard quietly.
Penny went straight back to her apartment. She was full of rage and wanted to scream.
"I could kill him", she said. Leonard followed her in the open door.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"He's driving me insane!"
"Yeah, he drives us all insane. Don't let it get to you"
"I'm sorry," said Penny. "I don't know what's wrong with me. I should just ignore him."
They heard the TV go on in the other apartment and Howard and Raj start nattering about a show.
"Do you want to go back in?" said Leonard. "Sheldon's just being a jerk. Forget it."
"No, I'm tired," she lied. She felt fired up.
"I can make you some tea," he said.
"Penny doesn't want tea," a soft voice came through the open door. Sheldon was standing outside looking in at her, their eyes met.
"Sheldon, don't make things worse," said Leonard and closed the door.