Guys set up their own beach on the rooftop. Their blonde neighbour inadvertently makes the heat even worse. Happens in the summer after the first season.
The early summer heat was lasting for over two weeks at this time. Los Angeles valley was bathing in over 90 degrees Fahrenheit (33c) and was forecasted to climb over 100 in the following days. Over at Los Robles apartment building was no different. Typical California weather, but for a particular sun-starved country girl from Nebraska, it was perfect. Sun was picking up strength, but it was not yet unbearably burning hot through the day.
Penny loved this time of the year, with vacations starting in a few weeks, she already had her mind set to the upcoming summer season.
"What in the world..." Penny gasped in surprise at the sight on a Saturday early morning. Various beeping and other mechanical noises woke her up earlier and she looked out the window to see what was happening. A truck-mounted crane lifting a container loaded with a few tons of white beach sand past your window on the fourth floor is not something to be seen every day. She got dressed and headed up on the roof.
"Guys! This is amazing! I cannot believe it, we're getting our own private beach?" Penny was surprised when she reached the rooftop and saw what was going on. Both Sheldon and Leonard were straightening the sand over the concrete floor. Operator of a little digger was bringing the sand to a few smaller piles all over the rooftop. Penny grabbed another rake and helped spread the sand from one of the piles into a flat surface.
"Yeah, Sheldon and I convinced the building manager to put white sand on the roof. It's a great way to insulate it and reduce the heating of the building." Leonard leaned on his shovel.
"Howard and Raj will be here soon, they're bringing the pool." Sheldon hung up his cell phone.
"We get the pool as well!?" Penny shrieked in surprise.
"Of course we are. What good is a beach without a pool?" Sheldon looked at her seriously.
"Oh, I love it! This is gonna be so good, I love you guys for doing this." Penny couldn't hide her enthusiasm. This was
definitely
a better project than that silly time machine they got a few months ago.
"Eh, don't mention it." Leonard swiped away his hand, it felt good to score a few extra points with the beautiful neighbour.
Howard and Raj arrived with the pool, which was quickly hoisted up on the rooftop with the crane. Much faster and easier process compared to carrying the whole thing up five floors.
It was 15 feet (4.5m) in diameter inflatable garden pool, with 4 feet (1.2m) of depth, perfectly sized for their rooftop. Guys being engineers, naturally made a few modifications to it. Small, but very powerful air conditioning unit was added to the filter pumps to cool the water as it passed through the filtering system. This way they kept it at a pleasant 75 Fahrenheit (24c) at all times, no matter how hot it got through the day. It served also as a refrigerator, a power unit and an ice cube maker. It kept their ice creams and beverages ice-cold, no matter the outside temperature.
All five worked for an hour, getting the whole area flat and even. They set the pool in place and let the air pump to inflate it. They were finished with heavier labour before the late morning heat became unbearable to get any more hard work done.
While Raj and Howard were filling the pool and loading up the fridge, Penny was helping Sheldon and Leonard. Together they brought up two large sun shade umbrellas, deck chairs and loungers for all of them and a few other summer beach requisites.
Howard and Raj changed into their swim shorts and hit the chairs, once everything was mostly in place. Each resting with a bottle of cold Coors in their hand. They waited for others who went down to change from casual to beach wear. Leonard and Sheldon were first to return. Leonard took a seat next to Howard and Raj. He didn't want to miss Penny's arrival. Sheldon took the seat farthest from the door. He took off his shirt and made himself comfortable opening the latest comic book purchase.
Penny came out last.
"Oh, this place is
so
awesome." She could not believe how great the whole place looked, when everything was eventually set up. She stood at the door and checked around. She slowly made her way past the crowd on her left, checking the pool on the right side with the view of the whole Los Angeles valley in the background.
If this was a cartoon, three jaws would drop to the floor, tongues rolling out and three pairs of eyes shooting out of the heads. Penny looked absolutely stunning in her red two-piece bikini. Scant pieces and thin strings barely covered any of her. Over the hips she also wore a white sheer cover. Being a thin see-through fabric, it didn't do much else, other than adding to her looks. Pair of sunglasses and a sun hat made out of straw covering her wavy blonde hair, topped off her summer beach-going style.
She looked better than many of the cover girls in magazines. Their blonde next door neighbour was a real supermodel. They all saw her wearing her colorful skimpy tops and short shorts, but now for the first time with not much more than a little bikini covering her, she looked truly amazing.
Her entrance made Howard almost choke on his sip and Leonard squeezed his beer can hard, denting it.
She gracefully made her way past the crowd, knowing very well how much attention she drew from the three of them, while the fourth kept his eyes and focus on reading the comic book. Her long toned legs grabbed the most attention from the trio, their heads swiveling from right to the left with her walking by to her spot in the sun.
Just when the scene could not get any better, Sheldon delivered.
"Ice cream and beverages are in the fridge by the pool." He was first to break the silence, with the rest slowly coming to their breaths and senses. Penny looked down upon him through her large sunglasses, hitching her breath. Sheldon looked mighty fine without his usual geeky set of shirts on. He lowered his magazine and gazed up, hiding his usual stare behind a pair of sleek narrow shades. He gave her his usual annoyed stare, but a never-seen-before hint of his abdomen muscles and shades kept her lingering over his body a little longer than usual.
"Thanks!" Penny stretched her lounger and pulled it away from the shade, closer towards the pool.
She took the white cover off her hips and laid it over the wooden frame.
She skipped over to the freezer and bent down into the drawer. As before, three pairs of eyes ogled her rear, while the fourth couldn't care less about her and returned back to the magazine. Howard, she suspected, loaded the fridge to the brink with suspiciously large quantities of beer and liquor, beside the usual sodas and juices.
She took a popsicle from the separate drawer on top and returned back to the group.
Leonard, Howard and Raj awkwardly shot their views aside, when they saw her turning around. Only Sheldon was mischievously smiling at her from his deck chair. The comic book he pretended to be reading lay on his lap.
Unlike others, he didn't mind letting her know he was openly checking her out all the time she was bent over. Same as now, walking back to her lounger she placed a bit further away from them. She couldn't tell with his sunglasses on, but she felt
his
stare. He
wanted