(MF, gang)
Just before she left her apartment for her afternoon shift at the Cheesecake Factory, three days after Christmas, Penny received a cryptic text message from her boyfriend Leonard: "please take a change of old clothes, and I will pick you up at the restaurant after your shift ; ) ." She had no idea what he had in mind, but knew there was not another person on earth that she would rather spend time with, so she stuffed some clothes in her purse. All through her shift she was anxious with anticipation wondering what her sweet nerd had in store for them.
On her break, she just sat in her car reminiscing about the past few months with Leonard, which had been the happiest of her life. She would never have guessed that a bespeckled, nerdish scientist could have captured her heart as completely as Leonard had. Her friends had on occasion made the comparison of her relationship to Beauty and the Beast...most of those people were now former friends. Aware of the incongruity of their alliance, she shrugged it off and told them, "scientifically speaking...opposites attract."
After changing in the restaurant restroom, Penny found Leonard waiting for her in front. He was standing beside his car and opened the door for her, like he always did. "Who says the age of chivalry is dead," she teased him as he slid into the driver's seat; then leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"Thanks m-lady," he nearly blushed, "may I have the honor of your company tonight?"
She saw that he had the cute,mischievous look on his face like a child hiding a cookie under his pillow and asked, "what do you have planned, my little Ewok." Her dates with Leonard had been the best times of her life and she was bubbling over with anticipation. If anyone had heard her pet-name for Leonard, they probably would have wondered why he wasn't upset; figuring it was a reference to his being short, or possibly because he was surprisingly hairy when he took off his shirt...but he knew it was because Penny found the little aliens to be preciously cute and cuddly.
"That's a surprise," he winked at her, and then added, "you're off tomorrow, right?"
"Yessss," she curiously replied, "why do you ask?"
"It's just that you might be tired," he teased her.
"Ooooo, this is intriguing," she continued. She wanted to ask if he was going to ravish her, and wear her out in bed, but she knew that wasn't it because he was still to shy and insecure around her to initiate sex...he always waited for her to hint at the subject.
A short drive later, he pulled the car into a parking lot adjacent to several warehouses and Penny was bursting with wonder. They got out of the car and he led her by the hand, which she totally enjoyed, to one of the huge buildings which was bustling with activity. "Oh my God," Penny squealed when she realized they were standing in front of one of the unfinished floats for the upcoming New Year's Day Rose Parade. "Leonard, what are we doing here," she gushed.
"Well, the University of Cal Poly at San Luis Obispo always builds a float for the parade, and since they are a sister university of Cal Tech, where I work, they contacted our university and asked for volunteers to glue on all the flower petals. It has to be done in three days and they needed assistance. I thought it would be fun for us to help out...you also get a pass to watch the parade from the bleachers. If you don't want to, I understand, I just thought..."
"Oh my God, you dear sweet man," she exploded, throwing her arms around his neck and smothering him with kisses, "of course I want to help. This is incredible. How do you keep thinking of these things...I love you." And then she realized what she had said and tried to quickly move on, "our family always gathered in the living room back in Nebraska on New Year's Day and watched the parade together...of course the last couple years I was there, I kinda had a hangover. Wait until I tell Dad I worked on a float." In the years she had been living in Pasadena, she had never gone to see the parade. She guessed it was like all the people in New York City who had never visited the Empire State Building or the Statue of Liberty. She was so happy at the moment that she thought she would burst.
Leonard just stood there looking at her, his mouth hanging open and finally responded, "do you know what you just said." She had actually screamed it once before, but it was in the throes of an orgasm, so Leonard had assumed it was just an excited exclamation. This time there was only one explanation. Penny smiled and nodded her head in the affirmative, and he asked, "are we going to act like it is no big deal."
"Yes," Penny suggested, "because if we don't I am going to cry and you know if I start crying...you're going to start crying."
"You're right," he agreed, and before he could continue they heard someone shout, "hey, come on you slackers...get to work...it's time to get sticky."
Penny turned to see Howard and Raj walking toward them carrying buckets. "Oh yeah," Leonard told her, "Howard and Raj thought it would be a good place to meet girls so they signed up too."
Howard's sleazy personality still made Penny's skin crawl, so she decided to bring him down to earth and asked, "you didn't bring Bernadette?" Bernadette worked part-time at the Cheesecake Factory with Penny and had asked her to introduce her to Howard, against Penny's better judgement.
"No, she had to work on her doctoral thesis and didn't want to be disturbed," Howard slyly answered, "come on you two, let's get you some flower petals." Raj smiled widely and nodded his greeting to Penny. She had a soft spot for the Indian scientist who just could not bring himself to speak to attractive girls (which she took as a compliment), unless he was intoxicated.
"Where's the rest of the Fearsome Foursome," Penny inquired, "where's Sheldon."
"At home, of course," Leonard informed her, "you didn't expect Sheldon to attend a fun gathering of people...and get his hands dirty."
"You're right...what was I thinking," Penny laughed.
The rest of the night, until about 3:00 AM, Leonard spread glue and Penny applied flower petals, or seeds to the progressing float. They met countless other University employees and their friends and everyone seemed to be having the time of their lives. On their break they were able to wander through the adjacent warehouses, hand in hand, and look at the other floats being prepared.
As they climbed the stairs to the fourth floor, nearly too tired to trudge, Penny kissed Leonard on the cheek and said, "thanks for this...the happiest times of my life seem to be when I'm with you."
This time visibly blushing, Leonard replied, "if you're available, they still need us for two more nights."
"Consider it a date," Penny answered as she unlocked 4B.
"I can't tell you how much I like the sound of that," Leonard responded as he turned the key in the lock of 4A.
"By the way," Penny called over her shoulder as she entered her apartment, "I meant what I said," and she softly closed the door.
