Leonard paced around the apartment. Back and forth, with his arms folded, every so often being raised to wipe the sweat beads off his forehead. His thoughts were blasting through his head. Sheldon walked out of his room, carrying a blue display folder.
"Leonard" Sheldon mumbled.
"What do you want?” Leonard barked, making Sheldon jump.
"Do you know what time you came in last night?"
"About 11:30pm... Why is that?" Leonard asked.
"When you walked in the door, it was past 10pm, you turned on the television causing me to be awoken by the noise of the said television. This breeches our Roommate Agreement. Do you have anything to say for yourself?" Sheldon explained to Leonard.
"This is not the time." Leonard stormed out of the apartment, grabbing his keys and storming down the stairs. He pulled out his phone and decided to text Penny.
"Hi, can we meet up?"
Leonard continued down the stairs, and decided to go for a walk, to clear his head.
What did that kiss mean? Why did she do it? Was it a way to say thanks to Leonard, or did it actually mean something. Could it be possible that she accidentally kissed his lips going for his cheek? But then how could she explain the second kiss. Girls like Penny never end up with guys like Leonard. That wasn't the way it worked. Guys like Leonard found themselves at home on Friday nights studying or playing Dungeons and Dragons with guys like Sheldon. Where as girls like Penny, or 'women' like Penny belong with the guys that play football, and go to the gym. Maybe he could try that? Maybe he could be like those guys. At least that would give Penny a reason to like him, an excuse to be seen in public with him. Was it worth changing to be with her, was she that perfect? Of course she was, she was Penny.
It had been about 45 minutes, and Leonard was still walking. He didn’t have any idea why, or where he was going. His phone buzzed in his pocket.
"I'm at work, sorry Leonard"
Leonard understood. But he was almost at the Cheesecake Factory so he thought he'd go and see her. He walked in to the restaurant and saw that Howard and Raj were already eating, probably one of their frequent bromance dates. They have become less common these days since Raj feel in love with Cinnamon, but Howard was destine to make their relationship work…
Leonard went to join the boys, hoping that Penny would notice that he was here. Penny walked out of the kitchen, carrying about four different plates of food on her arms, heading the booth by the window. She put it down, and greeted the family in the booth. Leonard tried to look like he wasn't admiring her, but that was hard. She turned around, and noticed that Leonard had joined the table.
"Oh hi Leonard" Penny exclaimed, with a smile growing on her face. Leonard's smile matched the extent of Penny's almost immediately.
"Hel..." he cleared his throat, "Hello Penny."
Penny put his hand on his shoulder, sending shivers down his back.
"I'm on break in a second, did you want to grab something to eat?" Penny asked, grabbing Raj and Howard's empty plates.
Leonard just nodded. Raj and Howard both stood in amazement at how Penny acted around him. Raj was studying astrophysics, and Howard is in his final year of studying to be an engineer. They had met both Sheldon and Leonard on the orientation day, and remained friends ever since.
"Man, if your not going to hit that, you got to hook me up" he said, admiring Penny's behind as she walked away.
"Oh grow up, we are just friends and I would 'hook you up' with her if your going to use terms such as 'hit that.' Have some respect." Leonard asked, checking his phone.
"Leonard striked out. Gentlemen, I’m moving in." Howard stood up from his chair. Leonard grabbed his arm and pulled him back down. He didn't say anything else, as Penny walked out of the staff room. She came over, as Leonard hoped up to greet Penny. After realizing that Penny had never been to their building since they had known each other, Penny hadn't met Raj and Howard who often spent time in their apartment playing board games or the game console.
"Penny, this is Raj" Raj waved, and his cheeks turned a strange reddish brown color" Penny waved, unsure of why he was so nervous.
"Raj can't speak to women,” Leonard explained.
"Okay, that’s not normal, is that like a medical condition or is it like an emotional problem?" Penny whispered to Leonard, slightly freaked out.
Leonard went to introduce Howard.
"Ashonte Madame mazel" Howard bent down and kissed Penny's hand.
Without even replying, Leonard grabbed her other hand and moved her away from Howards grasp. They kept walking outside, and along the footpath until they reached this quaint little bakery on the corner of the street.
"I'm sorry about that" Leonard immediately replied after a horrid awkward silence.
"It's ok, that Howard fellow really needs to learn some boundaries..." Penny laughed as she starred at the menu.
"I might just have a coffee and slice of cake, what would you like?" Leonard asked, stepping towards the counter.
"Well its my lunch break, so I’ll grab a plain meat pie thanks."
The lady behind the cashier rung up all the items, Penny pulled her wallet out.
"That just comes to $13.95 today."
Penny went to hand a $10 note to her, to pay her way but instead Leonard just pushed forward a $20 note.
"I got it" he smiled.
"Aw thanks" Penny said, grabbing his arm. Once again sending the flash of shivers all throughout his body.
"Did you want to just go and sit in the park?" Leonard asked, grabbing his change and coffee.
Penny nodded. They walked across the road together, hands almost touching, but not enough to be classified as hand holding. Leonard had a smile on his face from ear to ear, while Penny tried to eat her pie one handed.
They sat on a small bench underneath a Jacaranda tree; the park was filled with ladies walking with strollers, and people on pushbikes. Apart from the noise from the traffic, it was nice to sit in the shade and listen to the faint noise of the birds, chirping in the background.
"Leonard" Penny said, swallowing a bite of her pie.
"Yeah?" Leonard sat there awkwardly sipping on his coffee.
"About the other day."
Leonard automatically sighed.
"It was sort of, kind of an accident. You know, when I kissed you. I shouldn’t of, and I am really sorry if that made you think that it was going to lead to something, I'm just really not after a relationship at the moment. You are such a nice and amazing guy, and any girl would be lucky to have you"
'But I want you' Leonard thought to himself.
He nodded, understanding where she was coming from.
"Look, I have to get back to work, I’ll call you okay?"
"Okay" Leonard smiled, as Penny tapped his leg and walked off, back across the road.
'I'm always just the nice guy, always the friend, always the one who watches from the side-line...'
Leonard continued to sit on the bench for about another half and hour. He received a phone call from Sheldon asking if he could pick him up from the train store. Of course he had too, the shop had no 'acceptable' bus pants in this size.
