Author's note: The series resets with this episode. Remember that as this story progresses, many times they resume the storyline as if never having sex before with each other. So is the case in this episode.
One of my readers requested adding pictures of the new characters, but this is not allowed by Literotica. When a new character is introduced, I will put in parenthesis the character's real name so you can look them up on the internet.
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Leonard and Penny were in bed, Penny is flying high, she got Leonard off twice and she too came several times.
Leonard was lying flat on his back, panting heavily as Penny rose up on one elbow and tenderly caressed his heaving chest, "Aw is my hunk of a man having a little trouble catching his breath, here?"
He smiled from ear to ear, "No, I'm good, if my P.E. teachers had told me this is what I was training for; I would have tried a lot harder." He started laughing harder.
She planted a hot kiss on his lips and looked at him, while her hand slid down under the covers to try and get his cock hard yet again, "Do or do not, there is no try."
He was stunned, he twisted around and stared into her green eyes, "Heh, did you just quote Star Wars?"
She smiled back at him and gave him a peck on his nose, "I believe I quoted The Empire Strikes Back!"
He was happier than ever before, he hugged her and pulled back, "Ha, ha, oh my God! I'm lying in bed with a beautiful woman who can quote Yoda." He kissed her several times and cupped the back of her head and looking into her eyes, he exclaimed, "I love you, Penny!"
She blinks what seemed like a hundred times and she panicked, pulling back she stared at him, "Uh...Heh, thank you!" She patted him on the chest.
He looked at her, disappointed he didn't hear it back and replied, "You're welcome...I just wanted to put that out there."
She stammered, "Oh, yeah, no, I-I'm glad!"
He was about to cry, "Yeah-Oh, good. Good, glad is good!"
She stammered, "Yeah...No-Um..." She looked at the clock, "It's getting pretty late. We should, tsk, go to sleep!"
He tried to hide his disappointment, "Yeahhhhhhh!"
"Okay, good night sweetie."
He kissed her, "Good night!"
She flipped over and put her back to him. When her head landed on the pillow, her eyes shot open wide in disbelief of what just occurred.
Leonard lay there, he knew he put his foot in his mouth and just hoped it wasn't the beginning of the end of their relationship.
Leonard was sulking around for the next couple of days. At the comic-book store, his three friends noticed it and confronted him.
Raj was first to question him, "Maybe he's having a spat with Penny."
"No, there was no spat."
This peeked Howard's interest, "Oh, but something happened."
Leonard continued looking at the comic books, "I don't wanna talk about it."
Sheldon added his two cents, "I sense you're going to and I don't wanna hear about it, excuse me!" He turned and went to another part of the store.
Howard continued to push, "What'd you do, Romeo? Did you pour maple syrup all over your body and ask her if she was in the mood for a short stack?"
Leonard just gave him a dirty look.
Raj tried to get it out of him, "Think it would be funny to put on her panties and jump around, but it would up just creeping her out?"
He looked up at him, "What? No!"
Raj continues, "Just asking dude. It happens.
They kept up on him; Howard leaned in, "Did you ask her to start waxing?"
He shook his head, "No! I'm walking away from you now."
That evening was bowling night, Penny was their anchor and Leonard was feeling self-conscience about her being out with him, especially after his declaration of love. Once there, things got awkward, and there was a confrontation between the two of them.
Leonard had some food and turned to Penny, "Would you like some chili-cheese fries?"
"Oh yes, I looooove chili-cheese fries." She grabbed a couple and began eating them.
He saw an opening, "Oh really? You love them?"
She licked her fingers, "Yeah, why?"
"No reason, just glad to hear you're comfortable saying you love something."
It ticked her off, "You wanna get into this right now?"
"Get into what? Why wouldn't you love the chili-cheese fries?" They've been in your life a long time. They make you happy. They deserve to know!"
She was getting upset now, "Okay, look, you caught me by surprise last night. I didn't know what to say."
He nodded, "Okay, now you've had time to think about it. What do you wanna say?"
She was getting pissed, "I'm not sure."
"How can you not be sure?"
"This isn't the place to have this."
"No, the place was in bed after I said, I love you and you said, "Thank you, good night!"
"Don't push it Leonard."
"I am not pushing anything!"
"You are! You don't get to decide when I'm ready to say "I love you!" She got up and stormed out of the bowling alley.
Raj looked to Howard, "Ah, the premature "I love you!"
Howard nodded, "I guessed premature, does that count?"
The next day, after forfeiting the bowling bet to Steward and Wil Wheaton, Sheldon went over to Penny's to try and get her to play in the rematch. He gave her ice cream and she put in the freezer, "Did Leonard send you over here?"
"No, we haven't spoken since your abrupt departure last night, caused us to forfeit to Stuart and his dastardly ringer, Wil Wheaton."
She nodded, "Yeah, I'm sorry about that."
"Not too proud to admit that I cried myself to sleep. I engineered a rematch against Stuart this evening."
"Oh, honey, I don't know. Things are a little weird with Leonard right now."
"You want me to remove him from the team? I'm the captain, I can do that."
"No, no, that's okay. Just let me talk to him and I'll get back to you.
As always, Sheldon continued to push, "When are you going to talk to him?"
"I don't know."
"He's in the laundry room now. Now would be a good time."
"You're not gonna leave me until I do it, are you?"
"Oh, I think we both know the answer to that question."
She got up and headed to the laundry room and when she got there she saw him folding clothes, "I think we should talk now."
He didn't want another confrontation, "What? No, it's okay. We don't have to talk because there's nothing to talk about. Everything's good!"
"Really? So you didn't get snarky because I said something nice to a bowl of chili fries?"
He nodded, "All right, maybe I overreacted. So we're in two different place; emotionally. So what? And maybe I'm a little ahead of you, and that's fine. If fact, it makes sense because let's face it, I've been in this relationship two years longer than you."
She felt horrible, "Look, Leonard, you have to know how much I care about you. It's just that I've said the L word too soon before, and it didn't work out very well."
All the time Penny was speaking, Leonard couldn't look at her; he continued folding his clothes and sort of tuned her out. He finally looked up at her, "Really? I wouldn't know what that's like."
She felt horrible, "I'm sorry! You know what I'm talking about."
He wanted this conversation to end, "Yeah, I do!"
"So we're good?"