A/N: The long-awaited chapter 2. Read & Review! Meet the OC's.
The next evening Raj, in his normal style of outfits, was sitting on his normal chair. "This evening sounds like it's going to be fun right?" he asked.
"It should be," Howard sounded very eager. "Maybe these girls could have a little fun on the wild side."
"Howard, stop, you got Bernadette, we were hoping you'd stop being creepy by then." Leonard begged.
"Well things change when your woman's out-of-town visiting relatives." Howard replied. "What's Raj gonna do anyway? Just talk to the other weird guys in the corner while we meet the girls?"
Raj looked offended. "I'm going to come and meet them too, don't be so mean Howard" he half whined, being his normal slightly emotional self.
Penny, who was over to help them choose outfits and go with the guys to the party, held a cup of her favorite drink. "So, what's this party going to be like?" she asked.
"I-It's a comic book party at the comic book store..." Leonard told Penny sheepishly.
Penny looked at Leonard. "Well I know that, I meant what sort of thing is going to happen?" She asked.
Raj looked at her. "It's a launch of the new comic that's coming out, almost like a gala, without the overly fancy outfits." he said.
"Maybe we'll have some fun." Howard smirked a bit.
Penny looked at Howard dryly "And what if I tell Bernadette?" She asks.
Raj snorted, amused.
"She's visiting her parents... What harm could be done?" Howard asked, lightly.
"A lot... Bernadette's sweet and adorable, but inside is a fire demon you need to lure into Mount Doom with the ring!" Leonard joked.
Raj laughed, though not in a nasty way. Sheldon didn't say much, that was very odd to everyone.
Penny saw this and went up to Sheldon. "What's wrong, sweetie?" She asked him.
Sheldon looked at her, feeling she was his mother and he were her son. Their bond was like that and Leonard often was like a father. "I don't think we should go to the comic book store tomorrow, it's Thursday, Thursday is Vintage Video Game night!"
Penny looked at him. "Isn't it also the third Thursday of the month?" She asked, used to most of the schedule.
Raj nodded.
"But it's off schedule!" Sheldon was so used to sticking to a routine.
"What?" Howard looked at Penny. "Is that like when you have your little 'special time' of the month?"
Penny scowled at Howard.
Raj realized. "Oh, its 'anything can happen' night." he said.
Howard looked nervous at her. "You look just like my mom when I won't eat my rice pudding..."
"Yeah, therefore we can go!" Leonard beamed at that, glad Raj brought that up. Hopefully it would bring Sheldon in a better mood.
Raj smiled "Plus it's the newest comic book coming out, with a meet and greet the author." he said.
Penny smiled then. "See, Sheldon?" she said happily.
Sheldon sighed sharply. "Ah, alright! We can go... But I'm not driving."
"Of course, why would we make you drive?" Leonard nearly scoffed.
Penny smiled "I'll drive some of you." she said.
"You don't wanna stay?" Leonard asked.
Penny looked at Leonard. "I want to meet this female comic maker." she said.
The boys stared at her about willingly going to the comic book store with them.
"What?" Penny asked, crossing her arms.
"Oh, a girl as a guest in the comic book store is really rare." Leonard explained to the blonde girl.
Penny looked at him. "Well, if you don't want me to go I won't." she huffed.
Raj gave Leonard a look.
"I'm just saying, you can go if you want to, I'd love for you to come with us, but if you're really up for it..." Leonard shrugged. He didn't mean to sound nasty about that when he explained to her about why everyone was looking at her when she wanted to come to the comic book store.
"Then I'll come..." Penny said.
"Okay, great." Leonard smiled at her, hoping she wasn't still mad.
Penny shook her head. "Yeah..." she said.
"Alright, hopefully the comic maker will be as good as Stan Lee, you all might've had gelato with him, but I got to go to his house, get a restraining order, and nearly watch the Laker's game with him!" Sheldon bragged.
"We know, you told us a hundred times about that incident." Howard rolled his eyes.
Penny chuckled a little.
Raj looked at them "I can't wait... Maybe she has a good-looking friend." he said, grinning.
"Yeah, but could you talk to them?" Leonard asked.
"I'm talking in front of Penny, aren't I?" He asked, looking at Leonard.
"Without doing something embarrassing?" Leonard added to his question. "You've known Penny a long time."
"He's a changed man, I don't think he needs alcohol anymore." Howard pointed out, being closer to Raj than the others.
Raj looked annoyed at Leonard. "Thank you, Howard." he said.
"I'm starting to look good now, huh?" Howard smirked to Penny.
Leonard rolled his eyes.
Penny looked dryly at Howard. "In your dreams." she said.
"So, it's agreed, we're going to the comic book store and meeting the girl." Leonard laid out.
Penny and Raj nodded.
"Sheldon?" Leonard asked his room-mate.
He sighed sharply. "Alright, we'll go... As long as we get my Star Wars sheets by tomorrow."
Penny smiled. "You will, sweetie." she said.
Sheldon had a mini victory for that.
Penny smiled still. "Well, you better get ready." she said with smiles to the boys.
Raj looked at his outfit. "But I like what I'm in now." he said.
"It's a social convention, it's often provided the guests dress in their best clothing to please the host, whether they're interesting in attending or not." Sheldon tutored him.
Raj sighed. "Fine..." he muttered, heading off to get home to change.
Meanwhile in another apartment block a little while away there were two girls getting ready. One was called Gianna and the other Yazmin. Yazmin was the shorter of the two and was wearing her favorite X-Men T-shirt, black skinny jeans and black flats. She smiled at Gianna "Thanks for catering the party." she told her friend.
"Oh, sure, you think I should use chocolate or vanilla?" Gianna asked as she had icing ready for the mini cupcakes she had in a tray for the comic book store party.
Yazmin looked at the cupcakes as she popped her head in the kitchen. "Maybe do half and half?" she suggested. "Or Vanilla with chocolate swirls." she then added to the suggestion.
She went back into her room to change into her party outfit. "I wonder how many people are going to come to the launch..." she mused, loud enough for her friend to hear.
Gianna shrugged. "Maybe a good amount, I just hope it's not too crowded... I hate crowds..."
Yazmin chuckled and teased her friend gently. "Oh, don't worry about that... They'll be looking at me." she joked.
"Yeah, cuz you're prettier than I'll ever be." Gianna smirked lightly.
"Darn straight." Yazmin joked. She came out and was in an outfit based on the outfit the main female character of her comic wore.
"What should I wear?" Gianna was a little curious, looking at her plain self in the mirror.
Yazmin looked at her friend taking in her appearance a moment. Gianna had long black hair that even passed her shoulders, very fair skin with a couple of beauty marks, a light gray colored hooded jacket with blue pants and dull black sneakers.
Yazmin gave a sage nod. "Ah..." she simply said and pulled Gianna into her room. "I'll be your fairy godheroine tonight." she said.
"What are you doing?" Gianna didn't seem to like being pulled for a forced makeover.
"Just an outfit change, you don't have to wear makeup though..." Yazmin said. She herself was pale and quite skinny. She had short hair that actually looked pretty, not boyish.
"I think I'm allergic..." Gianna murmured about the make-up.
Yazmin nodded "Which is why I won't put it on you..." she said. She searched in her wardrobe, having some clothes that were too big. She handed her a plain, but nice top and some nicer pants.
Gianna took them and glanced at them. "You didn't batter these in perfume, did you?" she asked, as though as it happened before.
"Nope, been washed since then..." she said. "Now put 'em on" she then told her friend.
"Fine, fine..." Gianna gave in and went to privately change her clothes.
Yazmin went to choose a pair of shoes for both of them.
"You think there'll be any cute boys with a geeky side?" Gianna asked as she was getting changed.
"Of course..." Yazmin said.
"Did you get to see any?" Gianna asked.
Yazmin came in then, again. "Yes, there has been before." she said with a smile.
"Any cute?" Gianna asked as she came back out in her new outfit.
"Yes, there should be here too."
Yazmin ruffled her hair up a little and then went to sort out Gianna's hair.
"Nothing too crazy, okay, Yaz?" Gianna asked her friend before any hair got made up.
"Okay..." she said. She gave the girl an elegant side ponytail with one of her clips.
Gianna covered her eyes from the mirror, she hated how she looked.
Yazmin took her friend's hands away from her face. "You look nice." she soothed.
Gianna looked in the mirror and blinked. She smiled a little and stroked some hair behind her ear. "Wow, not bad..."
Yazmin smiled. "Now, how about we go set up?" She asked.
"Did you meet the guy who owns the store?" Gianna asked.
Yazmin looked at her. "Stuart? Yeah, he's been a good buddy." she said.
"Sorry I couldn't go in with you... You know how the Cheesecake Factory calls my name." Gianna smiled apologetically, even if she didn't have a lot to be blamed for.
Yazmin chuckled. "Yeah, one thing I'm jealous of... You can eat all you want and never get fat." she smiled.
"Sorry I couldn't go in with you... You know how the Cheesecake Factory calls my name." Gianna smiled apologetically, even if she didn't have a lot to be blamed for.
Yazmin chuckled. "Yeah, one thing I'm jealous of... You can eat all you want and never get fat." she smiled.
Gianna chuckled. "It's a blessing..."
Yazmin nodded. "Yeah." she said with a smile.
Gianna giggled a little.
"Come on, then." Yazmin smiled.
Gianna left their room first with the door open. "Come on, now!"
Yazmin rolled her eyes. She slipped on her high heels, making her look a little taller.
"Are you ready yet...?" Gianna sounded a little annoyed with her friend's fashion needs.
"Shoes are a necessity..." Yazmin said simply. She grabbed her jacket and sunglasses and then followed helping carry the cupcakes.
"Yeah, yeah..." Gianna rolled her eyes, then had her tongue out, the cupcakes looked so great.
"They look great Gia... but we have to wait for the party." she said.
"Wait, wait, wait, i feel like that's all I ever do..." Gianna sighed, then lightly patted the cupcake container. "My precious..." she said in a near Golemn fashion.
Yazmin laughed. "Someone get me the ring! I'll lure Golem to the place of Mount doom!" She playfully announced.
Raj heard this, it ending up he was actually in their apartment building. "We once had one, but we had to get rid of it." he found himself replying.
Gianna blinked and turned over to the Indian male. "You lost the one ring to rule them all?" she exposed her geekiness to the man, surprised he wasn't exactly geeky looking, but he must have had hints due to his shyness.
"Me and my friends all wanted it, so we had to get rid of it." Raj said, stuttering a little at times. She was gorgeous, the littler one was cute but the taller was the best looking.
Yazmin smiled. "Shall I take the cupcakes ahead?" She asked slyly.
Gianna shrugged at her, rubbing her arm. "Sure, go ahead."
Raj blushed, but smiled.
Yazmin took Gianna's load too and headed downstairs. "Don't be too long now." she lightly teased.
Gianna shook her head at her friend and smiled at Raj. "Hello, your English is very well... Have you lived here a long time?"
"For a few years yeah..." Raj said. He was happy this girl was talking to him.
"Explains it, welcome, or... Rather, you should welcome me, I'm not from California." Gianna said sheepishly, and put her hands behind her back. She was even happy herself a boy was talking to her.
Raj smiled still. "Well, if you need to have a guide I'd happily help you out." he said.
"Thanks so much, I never been in this state before... It's a lot warmer than I thought it would be." Gianna said.
"If you want warm, you should visit India," he said. He then scratched the back of his neck. "Uh, what are you doing tonight?" He asked.
"Delivering cupcakes to that comic book store...Well, it looks like Yazmin is going without me." Gianna said a little shy, but was a little comfortable talking with him.
"Oh, you're catering the party tonight?" He asked.
"Gia, Gia, bring the man if you want!" Yasmin called.
Gianna flushed a scarlet color as Yazmin said that. "Pretty much... Yazmin's comics are getting famous these days, so we'll be at the party for it tomorrow, you should come."
Raj smiled, then looked surprised. "Well, I'm going tonight... and that's Yazmin? Wow..." he started, then blushes. "I think you're very pretty." he said softly.
"Oh, come on now... I'm not that good to look at..." Gianna said sheepishly.
Raj looked at her. "No, no, no you're beautiful." he floundered.
"I'll just wait in the car then." Yazmin chuckled.
"Please... Okay, Yaz!" Gianna said distantly, then glanced at Raj. She was terrible at small talk and looked at the elevator with tape around it. "Shouldn't they get this thing fixed?" she mumbled.
"Do you want to hang out tonight?" He asked her.
Yazmin got into the car. It was a rather big one, to make up for her short size.
"Tonight?" Gianna bit her lip a little. "I dunno... Yaz might need me..." she dabbed her knuckles together, a little nervously.
"Well, we could talk a while and you can leave if she needs you?" He suggested.
"Umm,... Okay, wanna walk downstairs and see her?" Gianna invited him.
"You think my outfit's okay?" He asked. He already liked her very much.
Yazmin put on a classical music CD.
"That should be perfect." Gianna smiled. "I'm not really the fashion expert... Yaz made me wear this outfit."
"Well, it looks nice..." he complimented. The color really complimented her.
"Really?" Gianna looked all around her outfit and walked in a small circle. "I feel like a doof."
"I wouldn't lie to you," Raj told her. "I'm Rajesh Koothrepali by the way, but please call me Raj." he said.
"How exotic," the girl smiled. "I'm Gianna Lorre."
"Lovely," Raj compliments. "So do you need any help setting up tonight?" He asked.
"Maybe a little bit, you wanna help, tough guy?" Gianna smirked friendly to her new friend.
"Yeah, if that's okay of course." Raj said, smiling.
"We can ask." Gianna finally came to the final step and was anxious to get to the front door of the building.
Raj went ahead and opened the door for her.
"Oh, such a gentleman..." Gianna beamed, then went in the door after him, blushing a small bit.
Raj followed her out.