The Juxtapose Accentuation

Another Shot at Dating

Sheldon's attention was focused on the timer that's currently running on his phone. "Only two more minutes..." he thought. He was skeptical at first; when he asked Howard and Raj the day before, he wasn't sure that his friends would actually find someone to set him up with so fast. Finding Amy all those years ago through that dating site was nothing but a fortunate accident afterall. It was nothing but a result of them wanting to play a trick on him, which is why when his friends informed him that they found a girl who wants to see him, he didn't have much time to reconsider if he really wanted to go out with someone again. Knowing he wasn't fully prepared to meet anyone, but not wanting to back out completely, his brain worked fast and came up with the idea of setting up obstacles for this lady who his friends wanted to set him up with. He thought that would buy him time to come up with a decision and at the same time, would give him the chance to see just how far this lady would go just to be on a "date" with him.

"Looks like I won't be seeing her afterall." he whispered to himself. Looking at his phone screen, the timer now 30 seconds away from going off, he was still unsure about the idea of going on a date with someone new. He thought the whole day was enough for him to make a decision, but it's almost 10 o' clock and his mind is still playing along the line of indecision.

*Rrrriiinnnggg*

The alarm went off and he somehow felt odd and at the same time, relieved that the person didn't show up. To be fair, the challenges he came up with were far from mundane. Ha! Like his mind would ever think about anything simple. At least he wouldn't have to succumb to the social convention of handshaking and being polite to a stranger.

He got up from his spot and started walking to the kitchen. A nice cup of chamomile tea before hitting the sack sounds lovely. He placed the kettle to boil some water and sat on one of the stools to wait. Dating. Such a ridiculous activity. Throwing yourself out there, telling a girl about your self; what you like, what you don't like. Under the gaze of eyes that are probably examining every single detail of your face. Talking to a complete stranger with the hope that she's not one of those girls who likes to talk about shoes or clothes. He was a guy. Granted he's now open to acknowledging that he has emotions since they shot his part in the Spockumentary, still, he was not thrilled with all kinds of girly or hippie dippy things.

Like romance. Romance. Pouring some water to his mug, his mind wandered to what these days, is something that he tries not to think about: Amy. That's what Amy wanted, no, needed. He couldn't give it soon enough. He failed to show her the kind of romance that she deserves. It's not like he didn't try or didn't want it, otherwise they wouldn't have made out on the couch like teenagers that night on their fifth anniversary. But clearly that wasn't enough. He stopped the kiss by asking Amy's opinion about whether he should add The Flash TV series to his already long list of shows to watch. He had to though. He needed to regain control because he was starting to really like what they're doing and he wasn't used to the overwhelming feeling of pleasure, excitement and hunger for more. He wasn't ready to do more, so what did he do? He resorted to asking Amy a trivial question that he knew will throw her off. He knew that'll work, but boy, was he not prepared for her asking for time off. She usually can tolerate him and his quirkiness, and his love for all things Scifi, but he didn't know that night, that attempt to regain control over his languid senses will ignite a rift that eventually cost him his relationship with the most important woman in his life. His Amy...

He was brought back to his senses by three knocks on his door. Sheldon shuffled to the door, puzzled. "It's almost 10:30, who can this possibly be?" he thought.

He swung the door open, finding a blonde woman with short hair like Penny's, with a quizzical expression on her face. What Sheldon noted immediately was the woman's height; they were almost at the same eye level. "Interesting," he thought.

"Hi, I know it's a bit late but is this where Sheldon Cooper lives?" she asked in a sweet voice that almost didn't match her physical appearance.

Sheldon didn't know how to handle the situation. He couldn't believe that the person in front of him was actually there. He wasn't sure if the woman was there because she completed all of his challenges or because she was annoyed and was there to tell him off.

"Yes, you got the right place. And that's Dr. Sheldon Cooper, to you." he said carefully, but with a hint of smugness that always surfaces when he hears his name being mentioned in such a banal way.

The woman furrowed her brows for a second but immediately smiled and said, "I'm sorry, Dr. Cooper. I'm Vanessa Bennet. I understand we were supposed to go on a date, but... Well there were some things I needed to go through that led me here at this late hour."

Yup. This woman was definitely going to tell him off for the things he made her go through before even meeting him in person.

Sheldon was sure that he was about to get a scolding from this woman, but before he can try to say something, the woman spoke again. "To be honest, this is a first. Normally the blind dates that I go to are mostly just dinner in some fancy restaurant and talking the whole time over a good meal. So when I realized that you were like, testing me, I kind of felt confused but at the same time the idea piqued my curiosity. So i went through everything that you set up and I had trouble hailing a cab to get here so now I'm 30 minutes late but I was wondering if that matters or not because, well, I did finish your challenges. So..." her voice trailed off, she was almost out of breath after her outburst.

"Are blondes naturally this chatty? Penny is. And clearly so is this woman." he thought, getting a bit annoyed. Vanessa was looking at him with curiosity, and, if he's not mistaken, a hint of pleading. Then again, he wasn't exactly the best at reading facial expressions. He still wasn't sure how to proceed with the situation so in his best attempt to sound genuinely sorry, he said, "I appreciate the effort, however you went past the time limit that I gave you. The instructions were clear that you needed to be here on or before 10 PM, otherwise we can't move forward on this "blind date" situation." Using air quotes to highlight the words blind date.

Vanessa just stood there for a while, her eyes wide and her brows started rising. She cannot process the incredulity of the situation. "This guy is a complete whacko!" she thought. Seeing as he was about to say more, she held up a finger in front of him that made him close his mouth right away.

"I didn't know what to think when your friends told me that you were not an ordinary guy," she began slowly. "But this, this just proves that they were not lying. Do you know just how tired I am from running around all day, all over the town trying to figure out your stupid puzzles; trying to find the next clue and trying to remind myself that I don't know you and that maybe, just maybe, you're not as bad as any of the other guys that I've met over the past year," she continued, her voice getting louder and louder. "You send me on these quests, making me answer riddles... Just the idea that you had to put me through a lot before we even get to know each other and then telling me that we can't go on an actual date because i was late... Not even bothering to ask me inside to sit or offer me something to drink considering that you, of all people, should know just how exhausted I am from all the stuff you made me do... I thought the idea was "fun" at first, but those questions, those are not for the weak minded! I had to keep reminding myself that I should continue and give you a chance and not judge you right away. But seriously, what guy in the right mind would do that? Any of that!" she was yelling now.

"I... uhm..." was all that came out of Sheldon. Mentally noting that this is one of the very rare occasions where he was rendered speechless, he just stared at her. He couldn't understand why he felt frozen. Maybe because she was yelling. He still didn't like people yelling, what more if the person was actually yelling at him?

"You know what? This is so not worth it. Even if I got here on time, I think we wouldn't click. You know why? Because you're crazy! I'm out of here!" and she stormed off, running down the stairs.

Sheldon, thinking of the automatic response that pops into his head when someone calls him crazy, shouted after her, "I'm not crazy, my mother had me tested!"