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Sheldon and Penny strolled down the sidewalk in a companionable silence. With any other person, he would be expected to make smalltalk, but after seven years, Penny understood that just because they weren’t engaged in conversation didn’t mean he enjoyed being with her any less. That was the great thing about Penny: she understood him completely and didn’t expect him to be anyone besides himself. Sometimes, he even thought he preferred her to his own girlfriend, which was of course, completely ridiculous. He and Penny had absolutely nothing in common. So why then did he get such a surge of adrenaline every time he looked at her lately?
The evening thus far had been surprisingly pleasant despite their earlier setback at the bar. True, dinner hadn’t been the greatest; Sheldon’s head still spun from the remembered scents of the conflicting cultural cuisine that had been carelessly thrown together on his plate. But this was kind of nice, he had to admit. Walking down the street in the dim glow of the streetlights with Penny so near to him he could touch her if he wanted to do so. Which, of course, he didn’t. He had to put up with enough of that nonsense from Amy. Penny never expected him to be anyone but himself, which was nice. He was unprepared when she gasped and came to a sudden stop in front of a storefront. His hand accidentally brushed hers, and heat began to creep up his neck, but before he could pinpoint exactly what he was feeling, she broke the spell.
“Oh, I think I see our next stop!” she exclaimed, excitement building in her voice.
Sheldon hesitated for a moment, trying to determine what she was babbling about. Then, he remembered. It was Anything Can Happen Thursday, and she was eager to push him out of his comfort zone once again. He surveyed the neon sign in the window before them. It read “Psychic.” He blinked and deadpanned, “You can’t be serious.”
From the crestfallen look on her face, apparently she had been. Aware that he had possibly hurt her feelings, he deflected. “If I wanted to waste my time on nonsense, I’d follow Leonard on Instagram.”
She gave him an amused glare before rushing over to grab his arm. “No, come on. Tonight we are trying new things.” She dragged him into the establishment.
He was just beginning to process the feel of her touch on his sleeve, when he was suddenly assaulted by a cloud of sweet smelling smoke. “Oh!” he groaned, pulling away and waving his hand in front of his face. “That’s a lot of incense! Or someone set a hippie on fire.” He gently closed the door behind them.
He squinted his eyes against lights in the shop. They weren’t bright, but the street had been twilit. They sat in a waiting room, and Penny pulled out her phone to text Leonard. Sheldon tried to look over her shoulder to see what she was typing, but she turned away. “Do you mind?” she asked testily.
“As a matter of fact, I do mind,” he said with a pout. “I can’t see what you’re typing when angle your body that way.”
“Yes, I’m aware. Your point?”
He wasn’t absolutely certain, but he thought he could detect sarcasm in her tone. Just in case, he decided he’d better explain himself. “The point is,” he began slowly as though her were instructing a small child, “I’d rather that you lean in closer so I could read it better.”
Her gaze darted up from the screen of her phone and to his eyes. “You want me to lean in closer?” she asked incredulously.
Sheldon’s pulse began to accelerate. How odd, he thought. Must be all that disgusting fusion food disagreeing with me. “No, it’s fine. Never mind,” he said quickly, his eyes frantically escaping hers.
They spent a few minutes together in awkward silence. Finally, a zaftig African American woman with green hair invited them into the back room. Sheldon had never felt so relieved.The woman gestured at two chairs around a table, and Penny immediately took her seat.
“I don’t mean to be rude or discourteous,” Sheldon began hesitantly as he tested the dodgy looking chair cushion with his right buttock prior to settling in, “but before we begin, I’d just like to say there is absolutely no scientific evidence to support clairvoyance of any kind.” He scooted gently forward in his chair, which was just as uncomfortable as it appeared. “Which means,” he continued, ignoring the unpleasant sensation of the seat against his derriere, “and again, no insult intended, that you’re a fraud, your profession is a swindle, and, uh, your livelihood is dependent on the gullibility of stupid people.” He waved his hand as if to soften the blow. “Again, no offence.”
The psychic arched her eyebrows, but said nothing. If Sheldon had been paying closer attention, he might have noticed that the corners of her mouth belied a small smirk.
Penny, who was obviously embarrassed for both of them, spoke up before he could cause further transgression. “All right, Sheldon, just ask your question.”
Sheldon crossed his arms and leaned forward onto the table in obvious challenge. After a beat, he said, “Okay, I just did. What was it?”
Penny rolled her eyes. “Oh, for God’s sake. Look, he’s a physicist who’s trying to figure out what his next field of study should be.”
Sheldon turned to her in annoyance. “For your information, I was asking her about the next Star Trek movie.”
“Okay, I can answer that one,” Penny replied quickly. “I’ll be bored.”
“All right, why don’t we begin?” The psychic closed her eyes and laid her hands palm up on the table. She exhaled loudly, waving her wrists about. Sheldon shook his head and rolled his eyes. “Your spirit guides are telling me that there’s a woman in your life you’re having problems with.”
Sheldon scoffed. “That’s an easy guess. I’m clearly an annoying person and have problems with both genders.”
“Yes, you clearly are,” she continued with a knowing glance. “but I’m seeing a specific woman that you’re in love with.”
“Oh, oh, here we go.” Penny bounced in her seat, clapping her hands together, and Sheldon couldn’t help being a little dismayed by her childish behaviour.
The psychic put her hands to her head. “Did she have dark hair-”
Penny cut her off excitedly. “Yes, yes, your spirit guides are on fire.”
Sheldon was unimpressed. “The majority of people have dark hair. Even you, at one time.”
“Peculiar that you should mention that,” the psychic continued, her lips pursed together as her eyes travelled back and forth between the two of them. “I was just about to say ‘but she no longer does.’”
Sheldon felt hot and cold all over. “Wait,” he said, hands trembling, despite his mind’s dedication to pure logic. So the psychic wasn’t talking about Amy? Who could it be then? He noticed Penny’s dark roots for a moment and fought to swallow his panic. This stranger couldn’t possibly know that he actually had feelings for… He refused to finish the thought. Instead, he offered, “She doesn’t have hair anymore?”
The psychic shook her head. “Not dark hair anyway.” She gave Penny a significant look.
“Did Amy dye her hair while we were out tonight?” Sheldon wondered aloud, feeling slightly delirious. He was beginning to fidget. This lady was making him very uncomfortable.
The psychic sighed. “This Amy is not the person of whom I speak.”
Now it was Penny’s turn to freak out. “You can’t mean me, can you?” she said with a laugh. “That’s ridiculous. Sheldon and I are just friends.”
The psychic raised an eyebrow. “Perhaps that is why his spirit is so disturbed.”
Both women turned to look at him. He felt pinned to his chair like a specimen under a microscope. Did he truly have romantic desires toward Penny? He thought back over the evening’s events. How his heart had flip flopped when she suggested they go out to eat together. The way he couldn’t keep his eyes off her as they sat across the table from each other. The quiet companionship they had shared as they walked home. The spark of static heat when her hand brushed his. It was all too much for his cold, clinical brain to comprehend. “I’m not disturbed,” he countered after a moment. “You are, you charlatan!” But he found himself unable to meet Penny’s gaze.
“You should tell her how you truly feel,” the psychic suggested. “Once you do, all your other pursuits will come into focus.”
Sheldon finally dared look at Penny. She looked as shocked as he felt. He searched her face for any trace of the affection he suddenly desperately hoped was there, but found none.
Disappointed, he rounded on the psychic. “You know what this is? Yeah, and I reserve this word for those rare instances when it’s truly deserved. This is malarkey.” He stood up, knocking the chair over as he did so, and with a dramatic toss of his head, he left the room.
He walked through the lobby, nearly gagging on the heavily perfumed air, and made his way out into the night. He looked up at the sky. A few bold stars could still be seen despite the city lights. Stars. Now there was something one could rely on. Unlike psychic mumbo-jumbo, complicated feelings, and..
“Hey,” said a quiet feminine voice.
He turned and looked into Penny’s beautiful grey-green eyes. How they sparkled in the lamplight. How lucky Leonard was to have her.
“Can I try something?” she asked.
He blinked at her a couple times. “You mean, like an experiment?”
She shrugged. “If you like. Close your eyes.”
If anything, his eyes opened wider. “Why?”
“Just do it.”
He squeezed his eyes shut, certain she was going to do something awful. And then there it was. A brush of something as delicate as butterfly wings against his lips. He found himself involuntarily kissing her back despite his brain’s tortured scream that what they were doing was wrong for so many reasons. Her kiss was so different than Amy’s, which was always so forceful, so desperate, and her touch was feathery soft and gentle, as if she were afraid she might spook him. She didn’t try to thrust her tongue inside of his mouth the way his girlfriend always did. This kiss was tender, thoughtful, and he was horrified that he found himself enjoying it.
After a moment, she drew away, and his eyelids fluttered open. “That was…” Sheldon, who never found himself at a loss for words, didn’t have the slightest idea how to describe what he had just experienced.
“Nice,” Penny finished, pink blooming across her cheekbones. “It was nice. At least, for me it was.”
“Well, this is a fine kettle of fish,” Sheldon mumbled. “What precisely are we to do now? You and I are both spoken for, yet we are trysting like a pair of illicit lovers in a cheesy romance novel.”
“Nothing’s set in stone…” Penny’s words and eyes both trailed off before they found their way home once again. “I mean, neither of us are married. Maybe you and I could actually be a thing.”
Sheldon’s heart swelled with hope that until now he had never known existed, but he quickly squelched it. “You’re just saying that because a psychic told you we’re supposed to be together. What you are feeling is a result of your defective brain’s pathetic conditioning to believe in destiny.”
“Sheldon Cooper,” Penny said testily, a hand on her hip. “Don’t you dare tell me what I’m feeling isn’t real. I care about you...I always have, in a way. It just took a disinterested third party to make me realize it.”
“Realize what?” he insisted stubbornly.
“That I love you, you weirdo!” She looked up at him, green eyes shining like emeralds.. “I’m not sure how much, and if it’s the kind of love that can sustain a healthy romantic relationship. But I want to find out before I make a more serious commitment to Leonard that I won’t be able to get out of.”
Sheldon swallowed hard. “I want that, too.”
She came up next to him again and gently linked her arm in his. “Well, who says we can’t get exactly what we want?”
Sheldon’s lips curled up into the faintest trace of a smile. “Not I.”
They walked off into the evening together, both painfully aware that their next conversations with their significant others were not going to be pleasant. And maybe they wouldn’t out as a couple after all anyway. But if what they were feeling right now was any indication, it was definitely worth the risk.