Leonard and Penny had a nice quiet dinner, especially after sneaking out of the Chinese restaurant where Sheldon was arguing with the owner about Tangerine Chicken. They ended up at a French restaurant where they were able to talk, laugh and let one another know about their plans for the future, especially without Sheldon, Howard and Raj to interrupt them. On the way back, Leonard brought Penny a frozen yogurt and they held hands.
Once back at the apartment complex, they sort of had an uncomfortable moment. Leonard spotted the remote camera one of his so-called friends installed out in the hallway. He gave Penny a good night kiss and again saw the camera. He moved her back, trying to escape the camera, but was unsuccessful.
She broke the kiss and Leonard spoke up, "Why don't we go into your place where it's more private?"
Penny took it, seeing her other dates always ended up in bed, that Leonard wanted to head to second or third base. "I don't think so Leonard, it's only our first date, let's take it slow." She kissed him goodnight and they parted ways.
Leonard went into his apartment where Howard and Raj were spying on him. He realized he may have crashed and burned, still not knowing about Howard, Mike, Bernie and Penny foursome.
Howard asked, "Did you make a second date?"
Leonard responded, "No, we decided to wing it."
Sheldon spoke up, "Oh my, even I know that's lame."
Leonard started getting irritated, "Everything went fine, that woman across the hall is in to me!"
The next day Sheldon was in the laundry room and Penny walked it. She confessed she didn't graduate from community college and made Sheldon promise not to tell anyone. She also confessed she didn't think she would be a good match for him seeing he was so well educated compared to her.
Sheldon told her not to worry, Leonard wasn't that well educated and had major doubts about keeping her secret. He ended up moving out and bouncing around from Raj's place, to Howard's place and back to his place, drugged by Howard, he was sitting in a chair and began to babble, "I promised Penny I wouldn't tell you the secret."
"What secret? Tell me the secret. You said Penny told you a secret, what's the secret?"
He was so out of it, he didn't know what he was saying, he never had Valium before, "Okay, I'll tell you, but you can't tell Leonard."
Leonard gripped his hands, "I promise."
"Penny lied about graduating from community college and she afraid she's not smart enough for Leonard."
"So it's nothing I did? It's her problem? Penny thinks I'm too smart for her, that's ridiculous."
"I know, most of your work is extremely derivative. And don't worry, that's not a secret. Everybody knows."
Leonard now knowing her problem went over to confront the issue. He knocked on her door early the next morning, "Hi, listen, I know what's been bothering you about us, and I have the answer."
"What are you talking about?"
"I wanna say that it's not Sheldon's fault. He tried very hard to keep your secret. If Howard hadn't drugged him, he would've taken it to his grave."
She was pissed, "He told you?"
"Yes, but it's okay. Now that we know what the problem is, there's a simple solution." He handed her a pamphlet.
She takes it and reads it, "Pasadena City College?"
He chuckles, "A place for fun, a place for knowledge."
Now she's getting pissed off even more, "Oh, I get it, because Dr. Leonard Hofstadter can't date a girl without a fancy college degree."
He senses the hostility in her voice, but still presses on, "Well, it's not that fancy. It's just a city college."
"Right, but I have to have some sort of degree to date you?"
"That doesn't matter to me at all."
"So it's fine with you if I'm not smart?"
"Absolutely!"
She rolled her eyes, turned and slammed the door in his face.
He stands there looking at the door, "Okay, this time, I know where I went wrong."
The following week-end the four guys return to the apartment, all dressed in medieval clothing. As they climb the stairs Sheldon screams out, "Worst Renaissance fair ever." He goes on and on about the horrible fair. On the third landing they all stop to argue with Sheldon and coming down from the fourth floor is Penny, dressed in a short dress, ready to prowl. She stops with her new guy. She turns to them, "Um, you guys, this is my friend Eric."
Leonard is crushed and looks down, "So, yeah, good to see you."
She feels the tension and tries to laugh it off, "Yeah, it's good to see you too."
She turns to Eric, "We should probably go. Bye guys!"
Back in the apartment Leonard tried to rationalize things, "I'm glad Penny is moving on. It gives me freedom to move on myself. Now it's just a matter of actually making a date with someone."
The next day Leslie Winkle meets up with Leonard at the university cafeteria. She takes a seat across from him, "So I heard your relationship with Penny crashed to the ground like blue ice falling out of an airplane lavatory."
"Where'd you hear that?"
"Actually, I read it, Wolowitz texted me. Yeah, I thought it was a pretty good one. I gave him an "LOL." "Anyways, it got me thinking. Now that you're unattached, maybe we can revisit our previous attachment."
"Are you suggesting another bout of stress release?"
"No, I'm all done with casual sex. From now on I'm fully committed to the traditional relationship paradigm."
"Really, what changed?"
"There's just a time in every woman's life when she gets tired of waking up on a strange futon with a bunch of people she doesn't know."
"Yeah, I can see how that would--- A bunch of people?"
She ignores his comment, "Anyways, I just figure it's time to slow things down and who better to slow things down with than you?"