3 Meeting the Group

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 the said "That sounds like fun, I will be right back."

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 sounds like two men fighting. I think they saw me cause I heard one say something that I couldn't make out. I shut the door and put my towel in the laundry while grabbing 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 see Penny standing in the hall with nothing but a towel around her. A small man and a sightly taller man stood blocking her in, while looking at her with googly eyes. The smaller man is saying some repulsive pick up lines that make me wanna punch him in the nose.

Annoyed with the pixie primate I walk in and say, "Hey Penny I have your clothes." The two new guys spin around and the little primate then 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 smile and say, "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 to nice to say something but I'm not."

He looked only mildly embarrassed but smiled, that is when Leonard came back from helping Penny turn on the shower. Looking at Sheldon and Leonard I said, "Is this creep a friends of yours?"

Leonard looked sheepishly at his feet and said, "he is a good friend once you get to know him." While Sheldon just remained quite but the look on his face almost screamed I am not his friend. I decided that 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 sit next to Sheldon look at him and say, "So I know your like some kind of numbers genius, but what do you do for a living?"

Sheldon blushes slightly and says, "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 a experimental physicist at Caltech. I mostly work with lasers right now it is 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 in to 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 and being unbearable." This comment coupled with my own finally made Howard move from the couch with me and onto a chair across the room. Finally with space I gave Sheldon back his own space 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 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 haven't heard him utter a sound since I cam 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 to 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 say while looking to Raj he smiles at me looking appreciative of my response. Sheldon just sat there stoically the during this 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 would 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 is 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 say, "I quite like comic books so it doesn't bother me if you like them. I find the story lines to be intriguing I even like the duality of some of the more 'grey' villains." 

All of the guys looked absolutely gob smacked except Sheldon I have a feeling he saw my doctorate on 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 8am tomorrow for shopping if you still want to join I will meet you in the hall. You can knock on our door if you are 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 and then off to bed I have a long day tomorrow after finishing up my nightly routine I say goodnight to Penny and I'm off to dream land.