I own nothing! I am blatantly plagiarizing this chapter from S7E21 of TBBT and I apologize to the humor gods. I am merely borrowing the characters to fulfill my fangirl fantasies.
Since most of this is straight out of the episode, that means major spoilers! You have been warned.

"This is how 'anything can happen Thursday' turns into 'It won't stop coming up Friday.'" Complained Sheldon as they made their way through the downtown Pasadena shops.

"How about that Asian fusion place?" Leonard suggested alternatively.

"Fusion and Asian? I'm trying not to think about science!"

Penny smiled at the not so subtly stereotypical comment Sheldon had just made when her eyes caught a glimpse of a familiar face. It couldn't be, Penny's head whipped back towards the small restaurant's window, but her eyes weren't deceiving her.

"What the hell?!" Penny exclaimed as the full reality of her two best girlfriends clinking wine glasses without her hit home. "Bernadette isn't working late!"

Sheldon and Leonard followed her gaze.

"And Amy doesn't look sick," Sheldon observed.

"Why would they lie to us?" Penny could hear the slightest bit of hurt in her own voice.

"That's a good question!" Sheldon began his traditional round of three knocks on the window, drawing the startled glances of restaurant patrons. Knock-knock-knock "Amy and Bernadette," knock-knock-knock, "Amy and Bernadette," knock-knock-knock, by this time all eyes were on the tall lanky man rapping on the window "Amy and Bernadette – Why did you lie to us?"

Penny felt her cheeks warm slightly as she pushed into the restaurant aware that people were tittering at the antics of her friend. If only they knew how lightly they had gotten off with the amount of crazy Sheldon was capable of. As she approached her would-be girlfriends, however, she felt a small turn in her gut once more.

"You're not working late," She directed at Bernadette. "Why did you lie to me?"

"And you told me you were sick, but you look just as pale and sick as always," Sheldon told Amy, much less tactful than others as usual.

Amy looked away covering any tinge of hurt with the downward tilt of her face, "I'm sorry, I'm just sick of hearing you obsess about what to do after string theory."

"We kind of just wanted one night where we didn't have to hear how miserable you are making this movie," added Bernadette to Penny.

"But none of that means we don't love you," Amy quickly added.

Penny thought back to the last few days. The movie was definitely the only thing interesting that had happened for weeks. She didn't have anything else to talk about really, but she'd hoped they would have been happy for her not annoyed.

"I haven't been complaining that much have I?" She asked Leonard, sure that he would be proud of her. Enough so that he would deem any complaining as something he could find tolerable.

He hesitated, searching as Penny felt her own annoyance rising.

"I also love you," he finished lamely.

"Well you know what, maybe I need a break from all of you," she asserted determined to salvage one night out of the shitty week she'd been having, she looked to the doorway her eyes falling on Sheldon. Incredibly, he was in the same boat she was. As they made eye contact in that split second she made her decision.

"C'mon, Sheldon," She said stepping towards him.

"Where are we going," he asked curiously.

"We're going to have anything can happen Thursday and you're gonna tell me all about your science stuff and I'm gonna complain about my movie and we're gonna support each other because that's what friends do."

"Okay."

Thrilled he had cooperated, she lead the way out of the restaurant her stomach and chest still tight with emotion, but glad that at least her dramatic exit had gone as planned. She heard Sheldon speak behind her.

"Cause if I had to pick now I'd probably go with dark matter-"

"Shut up," she snapped her irritation flaring.

Didn't he understand they were making a statement? A scene? As an actress that was what she was supposed to be good at. Apparently, she wasn't good at anything else. Not finding a decent role that didn't border on pornography. Or having anything interesting to bring to the table. She finally had something, anything, to talk about for the first time in months and it still wasn't up to par with her friends' standards. Even when she finally felt like she was getting somewhere she was going nowhere.

As she lead the way blindly passed familiar shops and boutiques fuming she felt her anger fading and with every silent second she realized she was literally going nowhere. Sheldon was still following and she remembered she wasn't the only one who had been physically and emotionally ditched. She stopped at the corner and turned to face Sheldon. He caught himself just before bumping into her, putting out his arms in front to steady himself, but narrowly avoiding actually touching her.

Penny let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding and looked up at Sheldon.

"So, what do you wanna do?" She asked letting her arms fall to her sides.

"I don't know…" Sheldon replied analyzing his options. "My pizza option still seems the most tempting."

"You mean the most safe," Penny countered.

"Not necessarily, the pizza delivery men in this city are absolutely riddled with countless unknown pathogens from handling money," Sheldon said his eyes getting that light in them that Penny associated with the light on her laptop that blinked when it did stuff. "Plus, what if our delivery person turned out to be a criminal and robbed us at gunpo-"

"Stop, okay I get it, death is everywhere," she said cutting him off before he could make up a CSI episode plot in his head. "Let's just get Asian fusion."

"Alright, but just so you know, the probability of our delivery boy being a robber-murder is significantly lower than the probability that we are going to get food poisoning tonight."

Penny rolled her eyes as she waited for the little man to indicate it was safe for them to cross the street. "I'll risk it," she crossed her arms over her chest trying to abate the angry hurt feeling inside of her.

Sheldon let out a groan as he stared at the food on his plate. Penny was actually quite happy with the options she'd been given, but Dr. whack-a-doodle was clearly struggling with his.

"What's wrong?" She asked watching him poke at things.

"I don't understand my food," he complained. "There are Chinese noodles, Korean barbeque and … a taco."

Penny smiled softly at how distressed he was over his food, then said "Its fusion."

"My mother would lock her car doors if she had to drive through this hodge podge of ethnicity."

Penny laughed out loud surprised at the clever joke about his Texan mother. She realized he probably meant it as a statement and not a joke, but it eased some of the tension she had been carrying since they'd left their group. Enough so that she finally was able to ask the question swirling around in her head.

"Do you think I've been complaining too much about the movie?" Penny asked. She knew she was risking more humiliation at the hands of the tactless physicist, but she needed to know.

"Not at all," he said straightaway.

She looked up from the noodles she'd been pushing around and was surprised to find his thoughtful gaze upon her. "Thank you," she said feeling her stomach unknot considerably. A lot more than she'd expected in fact. She thought she noticed a small smile forming at the corner of his lips, but it was gone before she could be sure.

"… but to be fair most of what you say sounds like whah whah whah clothes whah whah."

She scowled at his Charlie-Brownesque impression of her and straightened. If she didn't know any better she'd think he was teasing her. But Sheldon Cooper doesn't tease. He calculates. So what was that shift between comforting bff to condescending asshat?

Penny shook her head, now she was overanalyzing too much. "Hey," she said changing gears, "I'm just curious why you're not upset with Amy."

"I am. So much that I'm gonna bring her here for date night," he said pushing his Korean barbeque further from his taco.

Penny laughed, there it was again. That humorous side that she wasn't sure was intentional. Penny took a drink of water as the thought of the 'dates' he was referring to crossed her mind. She knew all about their new kissing arrangement because of Amy. It turns out that there might be something human in the robotic makeup of her physicist friend. Her gaze wandered to his lips as she considered what it would actually be like to kiss Sheldon Cooper. It would probably be really awkward because he was so much taller than Penny that she'd probably have to stand on tip toe. And he was always so damn hygienic his mouth would taste like mint toothpaste. She wondered, would he be precise and technical? Moving his lips carefully against hers as she held herself against him? Or would his need for control cause him to hold her firmly to him as he moved his lips against hers expertly and confidently.

"You are enjoying your meal?"

Penny spilled water down her front as she jumped, surprised at where her thoughts had lead her. She felt the flush in her cheeks and a slight chill on her flesh. Dear God, did she just turn herself on thinking about kissing Sheldon? She looked up at the smiling man waiting for her response.

"Yes, thank you, and more water please? Thanks." She told the waiter being careful to enunciate.

As the waiter left, she stole a glance at Sheldon who was occupied with slowly chewing the egg roll on his plate. He clearly had no idea where her thoughts had lead and a good thing too. She gulped the water down chastising herself. It's not as though she were deprived, after all she had Leonard.

Yes, Leonard. Who was loving and supportive and who she really didn't deserve. Who always looked out for her even if he did confess she complained too much. But he cared a lot about her that's why he was always pushing her to do better.

Because you're not good enough.

The thought creeped in like it always did small at first, but more and more convincing as she thought of the way he made fun of her. The way he talked down to her. But this was Leonard, sweet, socially inept and overly attached. Or at least that's what she kept telling herself. When they had gotten back together there was a considerable change in their relationship. Where before it seemed as though he had been chasing her, lately it seemed as though she were chasing him. Not just chasing, but desperately seeking out his approval. Getting down on one sloppy drunken knee had shown her just how much things had shifted and when he rejected her she knew she really was desperate. If there was a playing field it was far from being even…

"There is something seriously lacking here."

Sheldon's voice startled her causing Penny to meet his gaze trying to decipher his meaning. Of course he was referring to the taco that was now missing a bite from it.

"I understand what they were trying to go for with the melting pot of ethnic flavors, but you'd think they'd be better at calculating the pairings," he remarked setting the remaining taco down and wiping his mouth with a napkin.

Penny sighed, of all the people to be at dinner with during a moment of inner turmoil. She watched him as he decided to try another option from his plate, thinking back to when they first met. Naturally, she had been impressed by him and the sheer mental prowess he had. It was like meeting a beefy guy at the gym, Penny just had to appreciate the effort that brought about that kind of result. But Leonard had been there, never allowing there to be any doubt as to which of them she could choose. Besides, Sheldon was very clearly uninterested.

No, actually, there was one moment she recalled surprisingly easily where he seemed interested. A memory sparked in Penny's mind of her looking up at the tall Texan as he leaned proudly against the white board containing his work. She had complimented him and he flirted back quite easily. Flirted! It was so long ago that it was probably not worth looking into, but curiosity began to bubble up inside her.

"Hey, Sheldon," she said barely believing she was actually going to go there. Why not?, she told herself, what's the worst that could happen?