The Phone Call Consequence

Chapter 2

I lay against my apartment door for only a minute before I heard the familiar sound of

Knock, knock, knock.

“Penny?”

Knock, knock, knock.

“Penny?” it was softer now.

I groaned against the door, “Please go away, Sheldon.”

Wine….I need wine. If I can get drunk everything will be semi-okay, right?

Knock, knock, knock.

“Penny?”

“Just go away, Sheldon!” I choked back on a sob.

“Penny, you left your iPhone on the floor. I’m trying to give it back to you. Open the door.”

“No!” I yelled.

Sheldon sighed dramatically and I huffed. I heard shuffling under the door and then saw a slender hand push my phone into my side of the apartment door. “Now Penny, I advise you to clean your cellular device with a Lysol wipe.”

“Thank you.” I managed through the door. I tried to keep my voice from cracking but I failed miserably.

It was a good thing Sheldon didn’t seem to understand emotions well. He most likely didn’t even realize I was upset.

“I’m going to go disinfect myself. There’s no telling how many bacteria and what else are breeding in this hallway carpet.”

Through my tears I couldn’t help but laugh at how ridiculous he is.

I heard him walk away and sighed to myself as I picked up my Iphone and stared at it.

3 missed calls, and all from Leonard. I wasn’t about to call him back.

Who does he think he is? How could he do this to me?

“Enough of this.” I slung my phone across the floor and got up swiftly. Without even a thought I marched to my kitchen cabinet and yanked a bottle of vodka out. It wasn’t wine but it would get me drunk.

I didn’t want to think about Leonard, and that stupid female voice, or the fact that he had hung up on me.

He said he loved me. He said he wanted to marry me more than once. He called me beautiful. So why was he cheating on me?

I didn’t see Leonard as a player; but he was just that.

I choked on another sob as I uncorked the vodka, and drank straight from the bottle. A third of it was gone in one gulp. I free fell into the couch.

Who needed Leonard? Not me...I was….just fine without him…

Hot tears burned my eyes as I chugged at the vodka again.

Why has every relationship I ever have gotten into ended so badly?  It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t always me who screwed up.

I know I’ve been known to sleep with a lot of ‘strange’ guys. More than I like to admit. That hasn’t happened in probably more than 3 years, though. I’m not proud of my behavior for sure. I don’t even know what was wrong with me. I actually dated a few guys, including Leonard. The latter being the one I dated the longest and thought I might even marry. Seems as though I was proved wrong.

I shouldn’t have trusted Leonard so much. The ones I trust the most are the ones that fail the worst.

Oh wow, that rhymed Penny. You should be writing poems. Ah he he!

I was getting downright drunk and I could feel the effects.

I took another swig and laughed as I thought of Leonard’s funny looking glasses. I imagined him as Dexter from Dexter’s Laboratory and laughed harder.

“Leonard, Leonard, Leonard. What a stupid name.”

I barely heard Sheldon knocking and calling my name. It sounded urgent but I could care less. “Go away, Whack-a-doodle!” I let out a strangled giggle.

The tears were coming down hard as I continued to laugh. I dropped the empty vodka bottle to the floor and watched it as it rolled away from the couch.

“Penny! Open up this door this instant!” Sheldon rattled on the doorknob continually. “PENNY!”

The sound was beginning to grate on my nerves and I had the urge to throw the plate that was lying on the coffee table at the offending sound. I hadn’t put it in the sink last night.

“Ha!” I threw the plate at the door. The shattering had the desired sound with the satisfaction of Sheldon’s yelp.

“Penny, are you alright?”

I lay back on the couch and stared at the spinning ceiling. Leonard can go get sunk by an iceberg. I was just fine without him. Just fine, fine, fine!

 “PENNY?!” Sheldon yelled in frustration.

I felt numb. At least numb was better than feeling pain.

“Penny I’m coming in!” I heard pattering of feet and then nothing.

Maybe that noisy Shelbot gave up.

I want another drink. I have to get up to get it. I don’t know if I want to….Oh what the heck.

I rose up slowly, watching as everything went sideways and I almost tumbled. I giggled hysterically. This was fun.

I stumbled across the apartment to the kitchen. I nearly fell when I reached into my drink cabinet. My hand immediately found the schnapps.

There was creaking at the apartment door and then a click. “Finally!” It was Sheldon of course.

I popped the cork on my drink and took a swig while turning to see Sheldon holding a screwdriver. Is that how he opened my door…

“Sheldon look!” I giggled and held up my bottle, “schnapps!”

“Oh, good lord, Penny! You are drunk!” Sheldon gasped, looking as if he wanted to bolt on the spot.

“Yeah, I know. Ain’t it fun?” I swayed on my feet. I knew in the back of my mind I should be sitting down, but the couch seemed so far away from where I stood.

“It’s isn’t,” Sheldon chided.

“Schnapps, schnapps, schnapps. It’s so fun to say. Say it!” I tried to walk toward him.

First the schnapps fell out of my hand and to the floor with a crash, and then I found myself slipping in slow motion to the ground. I felt pain shoot through my foot, but I was so drunk it didn’t register what was going on.

I started crying.

Sheldon panicked, “You’re bleeding!”