I for the life of me can't figure out why it isn't taking my dashes. I'm going to start using {Character Name} for POV changes now, I will try to fix the other chapters later. A most of the beginning of this chapter is in multiple flash backs.
{Alison}
As she stood in front of Penny's door she thought about the past few minutes as she stood with her head pinned to her arm.
She had been thinking, about why she couldn't stop thinking about Sheldon. It had been a long exasperating day at work; her colleagues were about as responsive as a dead gerbil. No matter what she did they just stared at the data and suggested possible findings in a monotonous voice. Half of them were only somewhat plausible. They had stared at the altered DNA of the modified pathogen, compared to the natural form, and the cancer cell's DNA for uncountable hours. The convention was 10 days away. At least that was exciting, if they only had some data worth presenting. By the end of the day it was decided that they would observe the virus on Monday. Staring at an electronic representation of the genetic material of a DNA virus would only go so far, as risky as it was they knew they would have to do it eventually. If they weren't a toss-out team whose time was being sacrificed for the sake of Caltech's senior geneticists, they would have a sit in microbiologist to supervise their observation but the microbiologists at Caltech were too busy with their own convention project to worry about this insignificant team.
The convention was being held at a huge convention center about 80 miles away. Not a terrible drive, but she was certainly glad that this counted as her convention prep activity. Caltech was hosting it; it was set to be huge. A nationally televised science convention at the end of the summer, a new batch of students entering many levels of studies, and she got to be a tiny little piece in the mesh that made it all possible. Lots of people had to drive up on next Thursday to set up things, everyone else got to have until the following Tuesday off. Sure they would be paid overtime, but even after so few days with her team she would need a vacation. She knew that she could do way better on her own.
Alison hated group work; this felt like high school, she got stuck with a terrible group, except she couldn't go beg the teacher to let her work alone this time. However, she was determined that when the final conclusion was reached she would be the person who said it. That was all she needed, she was already team leader, if she solved a senior problem she would be promoted for sure! Yes, just like high school, make the best of it, become the teacher's favorite and get to work on your own for future projects. Except this wasn't high school. This wasn't collage, this was life. She had always pictured that she would have everything altogether, that as soon as she got her dream job she would just do It, she imagined herself as an overly dedicated researcher that practically lived at work.
But as she stood in her living room planning for a movie marathon in her pajamas with microwavable chicken for diner, she could see that it wouldn't be that easy. She would be forced into further social interaction. Living across from Penny and next to someone as perfectly friendly as Sheldon, she couldn't very well ignore them and try to just live an anti-social life. It wouldn't work out, so she would have to stay frozen in that crazy place she managed through high school in. She was a cheerleader, she was almost halfway popular, but she was still brilliant and overly analytical. She wanted to escape it all because it was just too much.
She had to study more for social situations a million times longer than she ever did for social studies. Social studies was easy, all she had to do was remember facts, names, dates, and vocabulary words and she got an A, even if she lost every single homework for a month, that's why she hated it, but it left her time to day dream about her future, this future. That was something that social situations never gave her, they only made her jealous of the people who interact so naturally, who don't have to memorize lists of rules, based on their own observations, and keep them in mind at all times in order to keep themselves from looking like a complete idiot, the people who could walk up to a group of people and make friends with all of them in under a minute.
Now that she saw that life was pushing her back to that way of thinking, interacting with people in such a forced strategic way, she wanted that to be over. Her mom always said that the hardest part of moving out would be the money and housework. The funny part was that that she never even tried to survive social situations; of course she would name such matter of fact things as difficult. She almost wanted to be real world best friends with Penny, and her brain wouldn't let her ignore Sheldon, that she would have to look at later, but she had to wrap her mind around her list of rules again, to get used to that feeling, the perky, but not overly enthusiastic way that she used to live.
Sheldon Cooper. He didn't seem to care about those rules, but he still interacted with people, but without hiding himself. Every step he took was entirely authentic. He had friends, he had his way, and he had his brilliance. She had denied herself of all of that. So seeing him living so freely gave her the same squashing feeling that girly pop music and science fiction gave her, it was just too much.
At that moment she decided to change into her pajamas. She pulled her shirt off, but if only she had had the focus to realize that she had been wearing a crop top over a camisole. She had gotten her head stuck in the arm strap; she had only ever done this once. She knew exactly what to do, but she couldn't see to do it. She knew that she'd have to run across the hall to the only person she trusted entirely. Penny. She opened the door and stepped out into the hall only a moment before Sheldon. Her head firmly stuck to her arm, and cami pulled up, only covering her bra, crop top oddly looped over one arm and her head. She was mortified. Flopping her arm over her head to straighten out a bit, she desperately verbalized, "So, I'm on my way over to visit Penny," She knocked on the door three times and called "Penny?" before asking, "What are you doing?"
"I'm just going to get the mail." Before adding
(Three Knocks) "Penny?"
(Three Knocks) "Penny?"
And going down the stairs.
He continued her knocking, he had knocked that pattern three times on her door, the way he lived so fearlessly, not afraid to do anything his way, regardless of what the world thought, and it didn't stand out in a bad way. It was exactly what she wished she could be. She bit into the inside of her cheek, fighting the urge to squeal, refusing to think about anything but getting unstuck. But it was never that easy.
When Penny reached the door she squeaked out, "I am going to explode!" She couldn't tell Penny why, she didn't dare to speak the thoughts that she concealed since the eighth grade to someone who she met for real just 3 days earlier.
"So is that because you're tied up, or Dr. Whackadoodle is talking your ears off?" Penny laughed.
"Sheldon is Dr. Whackdoodle! I assumed that that was Leonard!" Alison wailed in shock. Ever since Penny heard that Alison was moving to Pasadena she had been telling her about the people here.
At hearing that Penny looked equally surprised shouting, "Leonard is my boyfriend! Why would I think that he is crazy?"
"Ummmmmm, Even I know the answer to that…." She wailed in reply.
"What part of 'Dr. Whackdoodle is driving me crazy, Sheldon won't shut up about some weird physics crap' sounds like Leonard is Dr. Whackadoodle?"
"Well I have always used the suffix –doodle as a term of endearment, and they sound like two different statements! Now can you please get me untangled before he comes back up here and sees me like this AGAIN?" She wailed frantically. Penny pulled her inside and loosened the strap so that Alison could get her head back through with minimal damage to her hairstyle. Then after a few minutes they had the whole thing straightened out. She darted across the hall and took of the tank top, changing into her pajamas. So much for movie night.
{Sheldon}
Carrying the mail up the stairs he couldn't stop his mind from wandering to Alison. She seemed so startled, and disheveled. He made a mental note to visit her after vintage game night; Raj wouldn't be able to make it, and he definitely wouldn't ask Stewart to fill in. He never planned to speak to him again. Maybe Alison could be number 4 for the day. He knocked on her door.
(Three knocks) "Alison"
(Three knocks) "Alison"
(Three knocks) "Alison"
"Is this about earlier? Or did you leave something in my car?" She asked she almost looked worried.
"No, I was inviting you to fill in for Raj for vintage video game night. Raj apparently hit it off with some girl somewhere and managed to get a date tonight. I won't be inviting Stewart for obvious reasons, and the other girls have proven themselves to be terrible playmates." He says and penny opens her door only to yell, "Only cuz I creamed you!" before closing it again.
"I think that would be nice" She said smiling.
{Leonard}
When Alison came over she announced that she had a particular dislike for Chinese food. He couldn't believe she didn't think before opposing Sheldon. They argued for over twenty minutes until she explained that it was because of all of the foods that were meat, and also sweet, namely orange chicken.
"It drives me crazy, it's like Cinnamon bread without sugar, if something is sweet it should be obvious, food needs to make up its mind!" She yelled, "Would you want a pizza flavored Popsicle? Or how about Meatloaf Ice cream? Pickle Flavored Cake? No that all sounds completely disgusting! So if sweet foods shouldn't be savory than why is it okay for savory foods to be sweet!?"
Somehow Sheldon pulled something satisfactory out of Alison's screaming and stated "That is logical." He still ate his chicken, he genuinely likes the chicken, but if he or Howard had thrown a fit like that they would still be forced into the routine until Sheldon changed the food plans on his own.
By the time they came to an agreement about the foods Howard was about to lose it. He whispered that this was worse than watching Sheldon and Amy's first meeting, than at least it was how well they got along that was disturbing, not how much they both so deeply cared about something so stupid. Leonard was also somewhat in shock that someone had gotten through to Sheldon. Sure it wasn't in a way that he or Howard could ever hope to replicate, but it proved that Sheldon was only so firm, that there is in fact a limit. All this time Sheldon's logic had been the top authority, but maybe it wasn't entirely set.
Alison had changed Sheldon's mind, she had won an argument with the great Sheldon Cooper, king of childish tantrums. Now clearly that meant that she shared a common thread, and she had her own pile of crazy, but she had made an independent decision and gone through with it. And Sheldon eventually let her.
{Alison}
As she lied in bed, well rather on top of the bed, she was thinking about game night. They hadn't gotten to play for very long after their argument, but it had been really fun. Logical. He had said it again, he had it set in his mind that she would eat the chicken, but when she gave her reasons, he accepted them, took them to be enough. He had approved, and said that her desire not to have sweet chicken was logical. The others had looked like he never backed down, like he never took anything but his way, she didn't doubt that, so it felt good to know that she had made sense, the way it happened it felt like a mark of approval to be deemed logical. She drifted off to sleep, still in her clothes, onto of the blankets, feeling for once in her life like she truly belonged somewhere around people.
I hope you can relate with Alison at least a little bit, I'm glad to hear that a lot of you like her! (Yes, Raj gets attention later, but he has to be out a little now in order for my plans to work for later.)
Until the next update,
1Shimmer