Ali POV
I walked out of the bathroom and saw Penny sitting on the couch with Leonard fawning over her. Rolling my eyes, I walked over and said, "I'm gonna go put my towel and bag back at home. I will be right back." I paused to look at Sheldon and continued saying, "If that's OK with you? I wouldn't want to intrude."
Sheldon looked almost shocked that I was conversing with him but quickly came to and said, "It's no trouble. Leonard is trying to seduce your sister into a probable relationship, so I wouldn't mind having someone I can converse with. Oh! I know—we can talk about your organization practices."
I giggled slightly and then said, "That sounds like fun. I will be right back."
As I started walking out the door, I heard Penny say, "Grab me some clothes, will ya?"
I just waved at her, my acknowledgment unspoken, and continued back to my apartment. Walking through the door, I heard what sounded like two men fighting. I think they saw me, because I heard one say something I couldn't make out. I shut the door, put my towel in the laundry, and grabbed Penny her favorite Hello Kitty pajama shorts and a tank top. I grabbed a bottle of water and walked out the door, locking it behind me.
Opening the door to 4A, I saw Penny standing in the hall with nothing but a towel around her. A small man and a slightly taller man stood blocking her in, looking at her with googly eyes. The smaller man was saying some repulsive pickup lines that made me want to punch him in the nose.
Annoyed with the pixie primate, I walked in and said, "Hey Penny, I have your clothes." The two new guys spun around, and the little primate walked up to me and said, "Well hello, gorgeous. I'm Howard and this is Rajesh, but he doesn't matter. What matters is you plus me and our future together."
Looking the small primate up and down, I smiled and said, "Not even in your dreams, you sleazy troll. I heard what you were saying to my sister not even two seconds ago. She might be too nice to say something, but I'm not."
He looked only mildly embarrassed but smiled. That was when Leonard came back from helping Penny turn on the shower. Looking at Sheldon and Leonard, I said, "Is this creep a friend of yours?"
Leonard looked sheepishly at his feet and said, "He is a good friend once you get to know him." Meanwhile, Sheldon remained quiet, but the look on his face almost screamed, "I am not his friend."
I decided I should stay even more so now with the troll's presence and wait for Penny to finish her shower. The pocket troll worries me.
Walking over to the couch, I sat next to Sheldon, looked at him, and said, "So I know you're like some kind of numbers genius, but what do you do for a living?"
Sheldon blushed slightly and said, "I'm a theoretical physicist at Caltech. My main focus is on string theory."
"That's impressive," I said.
Leonard, in what I can only describe as desperation, said, "It's not that impressive. If you want impressive, I work as an experimental physicist at Caltech. I mostly work with lasers right now. It's interesting stuff, really."
Howard, in all his creepy glory, smiled and sat next to me on the couch, making me very uncomfortable, and said, "If you want impressive, then I should bring you into my lab. I'm working with NASA to build telescopes."
His grin did nothing but give me goosebumps—but not in a good way. I shivered while unknowingly shifting closer to Sheldon. I felt him stiffen when our shoulders brushed and looked over and said, "I'm sorry, Sheldon. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, but Howard is making me uncomfortable with his forward behavior."
Sheldon nodded and said, "Howard, I would appreciate it if you would stop drooling over my new neighbor. You're being unbearable."
This comment, coupled with my own, finally made Howard move from the couch to a chair across the room. Finally, with space, I gave Sheldon back his own, which I could tell relaxed him due to the sag of his shoulders when I moved.
Leonard then noticed an almost invisible Raj and said, "Oh yeah, this is Raj. He is an astrophysicist at Caltech with us." Raj just smiled and waved at me shyly.
Noting his shy behavior and the fact that I hadn't heard him utter a sound since I came in, my curiosity got the better of me and I asked, "I don't want to sound rude, but do you speak out loud, Raj?" At this, Leonard and Howard laughed a little too enthusiastically for my taste. Finally controlling himself, Leonard smiled and said, "He can't talk to women. He clams up whenever one is around."
"Seems like selective mutism, probably due to nerves," I said while looking to Raj. He smiled at me, looking appreciative of my response. Sheldon just sat there stoically during the whole interaction, observing.
Leonard cleared his throat and asked, "So you just moved in. What are your plans for tomorrow? Do you need help setting anything up? Because if so, we don't mind helping. Any tech stuff and we are your guys."
I looked around at the guys. All but Sheldon looked almost pleadingly at me—Sheldon looked curious but stoic. It kind of creeped me out, but to maintain civility I said, "Well, I was planning on living alone until yesterday when Penny called asking to move in. Now I have to move my TV into my room so hers can go in the living room. It's the bigger one, so it makes sense. Then I have to work on setting up the kitchen, so that means a trip to The Container Store and maybe IKEA, followed by cleaning. I think that's about it. I don't know if Penny will need help setting up her room. Thank goodness I had a guest bed set up. She got almost nothing when she left her ex. Kurt is an ass. If I hadn't hired movers, she probably wouldn't even have her TV or dining table."
Sheldon looked almost giddy as he turned to me and said, "The Container Store—I love it there. Do you mind if I go with you? I have been meaning to get some new bins for my comic books."
The other guys grimaced, and Leonard said, "Come on, Sheldon. Why did you have to go and mention comic books? Now she's going to think we are nerds."
I giggled because Sheldon exuded happiness and said, "I don't mind the company. Penny hates when I go there. She just doesn't get the joys of a tidy space, I guess." Then turning to look at Leonard, I said, "I quite like comic books, so it doesn't bother me if you like them. I find the storylines to be intriguing. I even like the duality of some of the more 'grey' villains."
All of the guys looked absolutely gobsmacked—except Sheldon. I have a feeling he saw my doctorate in American Literature hanging by my desk when he went to get my clothes. It was at this moment Penny walked out of the bathroom fully dressed, so we said our goodbyes and headed for the door. Turning to Sheldon, I said, "I'm planning to leave at 8 a.m. tomorrow for shopping. If you still want to join, I will meet you in the hall. You can knock on our door if you're ready to leave early. Have a nice evening, gentlemen."
I shut the door behind me and followed Penny to our new home to get some measuring done for containers. Then it was off to bed—I have a long day tomorrow. After finishing up my nightly routine, I said goodnight to Penny and drifted off to dreamland.