The Illusory Fixation

Penny allows Sheldon to help her run lines for a role she landed at the local Pasadena Theater. The romantic plot begins to make Penny fall for his character. Will she be able to separate fantasy from reality or begin a dangerous romance with the illusion of a man?

Chapter 1

I've spent most of my life dreaming of gracing the stages of Broadway, starring in prime-time television shows, or becoming the newest Hollywood movie star. I've always wanted to be an actress, so, on a wing and a prayer, I moved to California to start my life. And years later, here I am. I've dabbled in local theater and had one commercial. That's it. I mean, there's something to be said for making friends and living on my own. For the first time in my life, I have girlfriends. And not the kind you call when you need bodies for a social outing, I mean real friends. Best friends. Bernadette and Amy are the kind of girls I'll probably interact with for the rest of my life. And the guys have a special place in my heart too. With Leonard, I found a serious boyfriend. One who would spend the rest of his life with me at any moment. And then there's Sheldon. A man so brilliant, and yet so simple minded. I've always been jealous at how well he knows himself, and the air of confidence he has. And I know I've done a lot for him too. Then there's Howard and Raj. Not much to say there. I just wish…

:Knock knock knock: "Penny"

:Knock knock knock: "Penny"

:Knock knock knock: "Penny"

Penny stopped typing abruptly at the sound of Sheldon knocking.

"Oh boy, Sheldon's here. " She sarcastically said to herself right before crossing the room to open the door.

"Hi Sheldon" she said with a half-hearted smile.

"Hi Penny, I hope I'm not interrupting anything" He responded.

"Well, I was just writing part of my autobiography for acting class. It's actually going pretty…"

"Okay good, can you drive me to the comic book store?"

It didn't surprise her for Sheldon to cut her off when speaking.

Penny glared at Sheldon. "Tell Raj to take you, I'm sure he's going over there anyway."

"What makes you so sure that Raj is going to the comic book store? Have you recently spoken to him about his plans for today? Have you been studying his schedule to extrapolate data based on his patterns of recreational activity up to and including trips to the comic book store? Or maybe you…"

"Okay Sheldon! Never mind. I don't know if he's going. I'll take you, but make this quick. I have things to do."

"Very well. Thank you."

Begrudgingly, Penny grabbed her keys and followed Sheldon down the stairs. For a brief second she laughed at the thought of being about Sheldon's height when one stair behind him, but kept it to herself to keep Sheldon from venturing into the history of stairs or whatever. The car ride started off quiet, but as always, the hole in Sheldon's face didn't stay closed.

"I must say Penny, putting a happy face sticker on the dashboard merely prevents you from seeing your check engine light. It neither fixes the problem with your engine, nor blocks passengers viewing the dashboard from a different angle from seeing the check engine light."

"It's fine Sheldon, the engine died a while ago and I had it fixed. I think they just forgot to reset the light or something."

"Ah yes, the proverbial 'or something.' 'Something' could be that there is a new problem with the engine, or the previous problem with the engine was never fixed properly, or maybe we're about to die in a fiery car crash..." Sheldon said in his typical overly dramatic sarcastic tone. For a man that claims to be baffled by sarcasm, he sure dishes it out enough.

"I get it Sheldon…"

Upon arriving at the comic book store, Sheldon went straight for the center console to sift through the vast collection of comic books in the hopes that a new one surfaces. Or at least one he didn't have.

Penny stayed back toward the front corner of the room. It didn't take long for Stuart to spot her mindlessly playing with her cell phone.

"Um, hi Penny!" Stuart said.

Penny looked up and wandered over to the desk to make small talk. Luckily no one else was there at the moment, sparing her from the gaping stares she usually endures in that place.

"Hey Stuart, how's it goin'?" She responded.

"Oh you know, it's good. It's the same really. Which wasn't very good before so I guess calling it good now isn't appropriate. But yeah, I'm alive, so that's good. Sort of." Stuart always had something interesting and equally depressing to say. Penny learned to just brush it off, since being nice landed her as his date to a wedding a while back.

"Oh, ok, yeah I'm good too…" Penny's phone buzzed as she began to respond. She was just thrilled to have a reason to end this conversation before it began. It was a text message from another waitress she met at work. "Give me a second Stuart, I have to answer this."

"Oh take your time. I'll be here. I'm always here…" Stuart trailed off.

She opened the message. "Hi Penny, it's Larissa. Are u going to the auditions at the theater tomorrow night?"

Penny had no idea they were starting another show already. She texted back:

"What audition? I haven't been over there since the last show I did."

"They agreed to do some play Mikey wrote. A mushy love story from what Ive read. Its not bad tho. " Larissa replied.

Mikey is the son of the director from the last show Penny did. Penny got along with him pretty well. He's very outgoing, and not a threat to Leonard since he's gay. The best of both worlds.

"Send me an email with whatev info you got. I'll be there!" Penny answered.

Penny couldn't help but smile. This would hardly be her big break, but the more she could add to her acting resume, the better. She thought about how wonderful it would be to star in a romantic plot. She could play the lead. She recently figured out that she was in love with Leonard, so she could easily use those emotions to help her portray love.

Penny stopped being excited for a brief moment.

Leonard gets pretty jealous. I sure hope he'll be okay with me doing something like this. What if there's physical contact involved? Will he start a fight with me again? Well he is away for the next few months; he doesn't HAVE to know about it…

This wasn't good. Penny was already contemplating lying to Leonard. And then she'd have to lie to Sheldon, since he sure can't lie to Leonard.

Okay Penny, you can do this. You can handle this. Leonard will be fine with it. He wants the best for you. And you might not get the part anyway.

That brought Penny back to reality. She shouldn't be worried about a part in a play she hasn't gotten yet. A play she hasn't even read yet.

I'm being ridiculous. She looked up to see Sheldon paying for his comic book.

"Oh good, you're ready to go." She said to Sheldon.

Sheldon nodded and followed her out of the store. Penny couldn't wait to go home and check her email.