Chapter 4 - A Comic Is Born

Back in the apartment, as he grabbed himself a bottle of water out of the fridge, Leonard asked, "Did anyone else think they were acting weird?"

Sheldon shrugged. "Stuart is weird so it stands to reason he would pick a weird girlfriend."

"He did have a lame excuse for coming over," said Penny, leaning forward on the couch, checking to see if there was any rice left (there wasn't). Bernadette and Amy chorused their agreement.

The males all stared at them in surprise.

Then Howard chuckled. "You're right, that wasn't why he came over."

"So why?" Amy asked, frowning at Howard.

"To show off his hot lady friend."

"You think she was hot?" Bernadette asked.

"To some people," Howard quickly answered, turning to her. "Obviously not me."

Raj said mournfully, "Even Stuart gets a girl before me."

"Hey, Stuart's not so bad," said both Penny and Amy at the same time.

"Sure, he's a great guy," Leonard said magnanimously, struggling not to feel jealous, telling himself that he had got the girl.

Sheldon narrowed his eyes at Amy and could be heard muttering about Clause 210 in the Boyfriend Agreement.

"Wanna come over to my place, grab some dinner and think about some storylines?" Amy asked as they emerged out into the street.

Stuart stumbled over the sidewalk. Alice was inviting him over to her place for dinner. As he straightened up, he told himself sternly that this meant nothing; she just wanted to get going on the first comic, and was hungry.

"Sure, why not?' he said, trying to play it cool. 'It'd be good to kick some ideas around. Which story do you think we should start with?"

'It's got to be the origins story, hasn't it? How they got their superpowers and how they met. Don't you agree?"

"Makes sense. Unless we're going to do a story arc and want flashbacks."

'I think we should keep it simple."

They carried on discussing the options until they reached Alice's car, a green Volkswagen Beetle.

"Nice car," he said.

"Yeah, I like it. More individual than most of the cars you see on the road. Who wants a boring silver box?"

Stuart thought longingly about the silver box he used to drive, which was now parked permanently outside his apartment, waiting for better days.

"Yeah, right,' he said

Alice was a fast and aggressive driver, Stuart tried not to flinch when she cut up other drivers and yelled out of the car window at them.

They soon reached Alice's apartment. It was on the second floor of a dilapidated building.

"Sorry, there's no elevator," Alice apologised as they went into the lobby.

"No problemo. At least your apartment isn't as high up as Leonard and Sheldon's."

Once on the second floor, Alice walked up to a door, which was painted with big red and yellow flowers and put the key in the lock.

"Interesting door," Stuart said.

"Yeah, my flatmate had a Flower Power phase," Alice answered. "It's a good job the super has got a thing for her."

Of course, she had a flatmate who would be in. That was why she had invited him over. She had a chaperone. Stuart deflated.

"Oh," he said dully. Then he rallied. Getting invited over at all was a good sign, he told himself. "What's your flatmate called?"

"Her real name is Jenny but she answers to Hyacinth."

"Hyacinth?"

"I kid you not."

Alice pushed open the front door and gestured him inside. It was a fairly small room but cosy with battered, comfortable looking sofas with brightly coloured throws over them. It opened onto the kitchen with bright red cupboards.

"Some more of Jenny's handiwork," Alice said. "Sit down and make yourself comfortable. Do you want a beer?"

"Sure."

Then Alice called out, "Hyacinth? Hiya?"

There was no reply. Alice shrugged her shoulders. "Guess she must have gone out." She did not seem overly concerned. The evening suddenly lit up for Stuart. Alice walked to the multi-coloured fridge, pulled out a bottle and handed it to Stuart.

"Will Spaghetti Arrabiatta be ok for dinner?"

"Great," Stuart answered. He would eat anything if Alice cooked it. To be honest, he would probably eat anything so long as someone else had cooked it but especially Alice.

"So you don't mind spicy food?"

"Love it," Stuart with a confidence he hoped he would be able to maintain.

Alice started preparing dinner, chopping up vegetables and starting to fry them. Stuart offered to help, hoping he would not get taken up on the offer but Alice said, "nah, you're ok, the kitchen's too small for more than one at a time."

Stuart sat back on a sofa, beer in hand, and looked round the apartment. There were lots of posters and pictures on the walls, even a couple of super heroes.

"Does your flatmate like comics too?" Stuart asked.

"She doesn't mind them but she's not a fan like me."

"So does she like Batman and Catwoman?"

Alice chuckled. "She wanted Superman and Wonder Woman to cover the stain on the wall but we flipped a coin and I won."

They then started discussing the relative merits of the different movie Batmen, which lasted all though the preparation of dinner until Alice plonked two steaming bowls on a small table that already had a big bowl full of salad and two large wine glasses filled with red wine.

'To business,' Alice said as they sat down at the table. 'Do we start with their origins or just jump into the present?'

'Something else I've thought of, are we going to include their girlfriends? That might be fun.'

'Maybe but not straight away, that could be a couple of storylines we could run later," Alice said firmly.

"I've been thinking about it and you're right, we should start with the origins story. We could include the quiz that Sheldon set Leonard when he moved in."

'Quiz?" Alice asked and Stuart told her the whole story of how Leonard came to live with Sheldon.

"That's great," enthused Alice. "We can really work that up, I think we can draw some great scenes in the story."

As they chatted, they ate and emptied their wine glasses, which Alice refilled frequently. By the end of the meal, Stuart was very full and a little wasted.

"Lets go sit on the sofa," Alice suggested.

Stuart sat on the sofa. He wondered where Alice would sit and was delighted when she sat right next to him. There was a silence. Stuart thought he should say something, but he was content to sit there, knowing Alice was right beside him.

Alice chuckled.

"What's funny?" Stuart asked.

"You," she replied.

This pierced his bubble of hazy contentment.

"Why?"

"Funny is the wrong word. Different. You're different. You're the only guy I've ever brought back who hasn't made a pass at me ten minutes after getting inside the door."

Stuart was offended. "So, that's a bad thing?' he asked, moving slightly further away from her.

She noticed and shifted closer to him. "Not at all, it's nice. You're a sweet guy, Stuart."

"Thanks," he muttered, not at all sure that it was a compliment.

"No, I mean it, I really like you, Stuart."

It occurred to Stuart that maybe Alice was a little hammered too. But then she leaned towards him and said, "Looks like I'm going to have to make the first move," and kissed him. It was a long kiss. Her lips were very soft and she smelled sweet and spicy. When they broke apart, Alice looked at him and asked, "you're not going to faint, are you?"

"No," Stuart said and kissed her back.