Fic: On Checking the 'Check Engine' Light
Title: On Checking the 'Check Engine' Light
Author: fujiidom / Maura
Pairing/Character: Sheldon/Penny
Rating: MA (!!!)
Summary:
Penny and Sheldon break down on the way towards the city. They have a bumpy ride home.
Spoilers: Nope
Author's Note: I had a little plot bunny that turned into a little ficlet. This was originally purely smut, but I added some plot as an afterthought. I was having a hard time finding anything overtly dirty between these two and couldn't let it go. Well, dirtier than some other BBT stuff out there. This is a one-shot and just for fun, so I hope you like! Also: MA!, MA!, MA! Please do not read if you are young in age or mind.
Or read here if you prefer.
Author's Note: I had a plot bunny that was originally for something else, but fit too perfectly in with Sheldon/Penny to pass up. This isn't really supposed to be a very plot heavy piece, it mostly exists to add some S/P hotness to table. Also, yeah, a little exhibitionist of the two, but to those who find this out of character I'll give you my two word defense: sandwich shop. ;D Enjoy!
On Checking the ‘Check Engine’ Light
“We’re going to die, Penny! Oh, my God! We’re going to die!” Sheldon was pitching a fit, taking melodramatic gulps of air, in the passenger’s seat.
“Sheldon, the flares worked and I managed to contact the police before my phone crapped out. I owe you one for not checking the light as often as I should, you've made your point, I'll concede that much. Everything else, however, is fine. The car's just dead,” she sighed turning over slightly in her driver’s seat.
“No, Penny, just look outside your window!” She rolled her eyes and craned her neck back to do what he said. “Don't you see the obvious state of peril?”
“Sheldon, it’s the highway. Same one we’ve been sitting next to for an hour. There’s not even anyone out. Only, like, a hundred people have driven by-that’s nothing for a highway,” she yawned through her words. “So what’s wrong, do you see a nail or a person or something?” she pulled her sweat jacket tighter around her, but not from the cold.
She always felt a bit unnerved when talking to Sheldon and couldn’t help let some of his theatrics get to her from time to time. She couldn’t stay on the defensive forever.
Plus, he was always saying terrifying things, so she’s obliged to a few real shivers of fear.
She finally got back in from her meandering thought process to hear him babbling on about the speed of cars approaching optimum axel resistance and the drag of something’s coefficients. All it takes is one vehicle! She wanted to be mad at him, but it’d been an hour and they were stuck in the middle of nowhere on the Pasadena Freeway and she was a little scared, too.
Nowhere as scared as Sheldon looked, his body rocking with tremors of panic. That can’t be good, her mind pushed her to help him out.
She grabbed his left hand and held it tightly, until he was able to focus on her hand long enough to distract him from his terror.
“You’re holding my hand,” he observed blankly. “Why are you holding my hand?”
“To get you to calm down,” Penny squeezed his palm and let go softly. “See? It worked!”
He frowned and seemed to be a bit confused about just how it had worked, but thought better of questioning her assistance.
Before they could talk about it more, the car flooded with light as a police car pulled up behind them.
“Oh, thank God!” Penny cried, bursting out her door and walking in the direction of the other parked vehicle. “Hi, how are you? Thank you so much for coming! We were getting worried about what to do,” she breathed out excitedly, clutching hands in front of her chest instinctively.
The police woman explained that there was a tow truck a mile behind her and would be arriving any second. Right now, she needed the car’s description, papers, and their names.
After taking Penny’s information, she looked over to Sheldon and fixed him an appraising stare. She then looked Penny over, again.
“Are you two wearing costumes?” the pen in the officer’s hand clicked, as if she was dotting the question mark at the end of her words.
“No, I just came from work. I work at the Cheesecake Factory. He, uh, yeah,” she trailed off as she, too, took in Sheldon’s outfit. A fire-truck red The Flash t-shirt and a bright orange long-sleeve shirt underneath, he did sort of look like his was in a costume.
She used to always think of it that way, too. Now, though, the better she got to know Sheldon the more his clothing choices had grown on her.
Sure, he had no genuine sense of style, but he was consistently vibrant. Uniqueness, by any of today’s standards, is hard to find.
To the untrained eye, she could definitely see making that mistake a possibility.
“I just really like The Flash,” Sheldon interjected, sardonically.
There was then a flashing of lights heading in their direction as a medium-sized tow truck pulled in front of both cars. The truck driver hopped down from his seat, leaving the door ajar and the truck on. He was sorting through a stack of paperwork as he approached the others.
“Ain’t this a cute, lil’ toy car?” he screamed out over the loud hum of the engines and echo of highway traffic coming from either side of them.
He seemed familiar with the police woman and exchanged words before approaching Penny and Sheldon and shoving a thick clipboard with the papers she needed to sign.
They gathered all the necessary things from Penny’s Cabrio and watched the short man chained the car up and used crank to haul it up on an angle.
“Do we know why your car died, then, sweets?”
Penny grimaced at the creepy little man, “No, not yet.”
“It probably had something to do with her reckless disregard for the check engine light’s function,” Sheldon added in. Luckily the phrasing was obtuse enough to mostly go over both their heads.
Penny didn’t appreciate him making her look like an idiot in front of a police officer and some creepy tow truck driver, so she smushed his left foot with her heel.
He didn’t bring it back up.
The police woman said her goodbyes to the truck driver and told Penny and Sheldon that everything seemed to be in order, wishing them a good night.
And then they were alone with this creepy, short truck driver who was openly leering at Penny.
She turned to Sheldon as they followed the man to the truck, giving him a frightened expression. He seemed to get her point and matched it with an I Agree, But Oh Well, look in return.
Penny kept reassuring herself that the police woman liked him and knew where they were.
“So, you two kids together?” the man wiped his hands with an already blackened rag and grinned in Penny’s direction.
Seeing no other option, she grabbed Sheldon’s hand, once more, and nodded vaguely.
Letting out a huff, the driver told them to head around the other side of the truck to get in.
They had few seating options: next to but practically on top of the driver’s seat and an even smaller opening in a cramped second row of seats, with a cardboard box full of what looked to be pretty heavy metal parts and tools taking up half the other side.
Sheldon had made his way up first and took the backseat. There was no way, Penny grumbled mentally. Seeing the chubby little man licking his lips as he shut his door, she figured an uncomfortable ride home in tight quarters with Sheldon was better than the obvious risk of groping.
She launched herself up the high seats and sat down half on Sheldon’s knee and half against the cardboard box full of junk. He looked scandalized. She shushed him, silently begging him to play along. He didn’t want the front seat, either.
“Are you two gonna be comfortable like that? There’s an extra space up here, if you’d like a lil’ change of scenery,” the truck driver bellowed, wagging his eyebrows at the pair.
“I’m fine! We both get carsick in the front, anyway,” she rambled, hoping he would just shut up and get a move on. They were nearly half an hour’s drive away and she didn’t want to deal with of his sneering and creepiness any longer than she had to. “Don’t mind us, we’ll be just fine! Just fine!”
He let out a gross, wet cough and flicked on the stereo.
It was playing what sounded like Van Halen and doing so loudly enough that the metal in the box next to Penny started to rattle and hum.
She shift around still half on Sheldon’s lap and realized this was going to get pretty weird. Probably pretty quickly, too.
Shifting into drive, he pulled back onto the highway. Penny couldn’t even hear herself think as they bounced up and down along the road. Once off the shoulder of the road and away from the dim lights overhead, Penny and Sheldon disappeared into darkness.
With the loud music and the darkness, it was easy to imagine the creepy little pervert driving the rig wasn’t there.
As the truck picked up speed, Penny began bouncing a bit less high but a bit more frequently. It was more like vibrating. Evenly buzzing with the boom of the bass from the lame eighties music and weighed down vehicle bumping at every pot hole and uneven strip of road.
At first the jostling hurt and was kind of making her sick. Penny felt like she was four years old again and playing hobbyhorse on with one of her uncles, sitting with her legs on either side of Sheldon’s bony knee.
She was afraid she was going to actually start getting sick so she decided to find a better way of going about this. Leaning in and shouting as loud as she could, to be heard over the noise, “I’m gonna puke if I don’t sit better! I know this sucks, especially for you, but please bear with me. I owe you one, remember!”
He just nodded, stiffly. He must feel nauseous, too, she figured.
Penny shrugged over and tried sitting with her back perpendicular to his, but their faces were extra close and she was already hyperaware of where he was, so that wasn’t an option.
She began turning a bit so that her back was up against the front seat, but he pulled her back into ear shot, yelling, “That’s entirely unsafe!” He clearly wanted to say more, to explain in detail why it was unsafe, but the music prevented him from saying much.
Eventually they ended up in the basic sitting on your lap places. Like Santa, or Grandpa Joe.
She tried to focus on anything other than the fact that she was starting to like the bouncing up and down feeling, in this position.
She checked the clock and couldn’t believe that only two minutes had passed. They passed exits twenty-two and twenty-four and she had to start taking calming breaths.
Oh, dear God. This was so not going to go well-she could feel her skin tingle in that recognizable way. Oh, dear God.
She wanted to turn around and see if Sheldon could tell, but couldn’t move.
The song changed to Springsteen. She liked Springsteen, he looked good in jeans. Her mind trailed off, she couldn’t tear her attention away from the way the crease in Sheldon’s slacks bumped against her steadily.
If she hadn’t been on top of him, she wouldn’t have felt a squeak radiate through his chest. She tilted her head back, before she could tell herself not to and tried to make out Sheldon’s features in the dark.
The flickering of the highway lights gave her weird flashes of his face, which was twitching in his attempt at remaining unaffected by their position.
If she was feeling it, of course he was. He was still a guy, even if it was Sheldon. Ten times worse, she supposed when she saw a bead of sweat drip from his forehead. Definitely not nausea related.
She couldn’t move to the front, she just couldn’t. She didn’t want to make the guy stop the truck. She tried in vain to move the cardboard box to her left, it didn’t budge. Considering her options, Penny took a few deep breaths and made an awkward but necessary decision.
She leaned back to Sheldon’s ear, “This is probably going end up awkward, but I want to get home and away from this guy! We’re both adults! Let’s worry about it later!”
The song switched, again, sounding like Ratt or Poison. She couldn’t really tell, but was actually thankful for the cheesy music. It continued drowning out their noises and keeping their conversation private.
Sheldon screamed her name back, wanting to protest.
“It’s fine! It’s human nature! Seriously!”
He was just biting his lip, now. She couldn’t hear it, but if she could she was sure his breath was coming out ragged.
“Oh-ok-okay!” he managed to reply, fidgeting with his hands and eventually settling them near his knees, on either side of her legs.
Within a minute, as expected, she felt him start to poke up at her where the fly of his pants was already pressed against her, underneath her thin velour shorts.
Her ears were ringing and she was gnawing at the inside of her cheek. They were drowned out by the music, but she didn’t want to take any chances in making noises.
As her breathing picked up yet another level, she felt him twitch through the layer of clothing between them.
On its own volition, her bottom moved around slightly until she could feel him hit her in just the right spot.
She felt around for his hand, a third time. Lacing her fingers in his, she brought it up to her stomach, letting them both feel each stilted breath.
He raised his other arm up to her stomach, next to their intertwined hands. Seemingly unsure of where to place his hand, he eventually laid it flat against the cotton covering her ribs.
The truck continued zooming along the highway.
She wasn’t sure, now, if some of their rocking had nothing to do with the shaking of the truck, but none of that seemed to matter right now. This felt really good and it’d been a while since she’d been intimate with anyone. Sure, it was a little middle school, being fully clothed and all, but contact was contact.
Then Sheldon’s hand was grabbing at her breast, over her bra. She didn’t even remember it being under her shirt. She wasn’t complaining and the pitch black of the seat let her push away any worry that they’d be seen.
She was just surprised that Sheldon was suddenly copping feels. It seemed unfair. She wanted a chance to grab at him, too. It was all she could think about, but their surroundings made that pretty much impossible.
She settled for pushing down, hard, and twisting around. At this, they both froze and took in the new set of tremors shooting through their muscles.
What had started as blind grabbing on Sheldon’s part turned highly pleasurable as his instincts kicked in. He pushed her bra up and aside to begin palming and pinching deftly underneath her shirt.
She nearly yelped out as she felt him begin grinding himself with more force against her, her nails dug into the top of his right hand and she brought their entangled, sweaty hands higher up towards her heart, mindlessly.
Even though she’d made the decision to go along with this, for some reason the idea of actually peaking didn’t really occur to her. Now, though, it was right around the corner.
Still blinded by the shadows, Penny dragged the hand clutched in her own towards her chin, as she felt herself begin the shudders of release. Synchronized with the silent cries ripping through her throat, she pushed the back of his hand against her neck to feel the reverberation created by her moans of satisfaction.
He was then seizing up below her, encasing what felt like her entire torso with his long arms. Still squeezing her, he buried his head into her neck, kissing and breathing heavily against it as he slowed his body’s rocking to a stop.
She kept his hand in her lap, despite the awkwardness of their continued bumping and soiled clothing. She hadn’t really thought that far ahead and still couldn’t find it that big a problem.
Eventually she fished out her purse from besides them and pulled out a tiny bottle of lotion. Rubbing it on her arms and hands, she offered him some.
He held out his left palm. Her mind reeled to think that had been under her shirt just a second ago. She squirted a tiny bit and capped the small bottle.
He looked at it inquisitively, unsure of what to do. Having watched as she rubbed what was on her hands around and shook them a little to dry more quickly, he mimicked the actions.
The image of Sheldon being unsure of something so basic was kind of amusing. He was brain dead from the look of it and some part of Penny felt rather proud of rendering him such a way.
Just then, the truck lurched to a halt. The short man pushed open his door and hopped down without turning the loud music off, or saying anything to the passengers in the back seat.
Giving each other another nervous look, the two opened their own door and realized they were outside their apartment.
“Something smells nice!” The man commented loudly, as they both hopped down and landed briskly on the ground below.
“Thanks, its vanilla,” Penny grimaced slightly.
He handed her a the undersides of the two pieces of paper she’d signed, calling them receipts and bid them a good night before trotting back around the truck and pulling away towards the auto mechanic’s shop where he was to drop off Penny’s car.
Penny started walking inside first, glancing back to see Sheldon standing meekly a few paces behind her.
“Come on, Sheldon! We’re home, let’s get upstairs!” she nodded her head.
“I am very sorry, Penny. I tried to control my bodily reactions as best I could, but-,” he mumbled, looking down at the ground.
“What’re you talking about? Didn’t we go over this in the truck, I told you that it was fine, we’re adults. What’s a little dry humping between friends?” she grinned, somewhat strained by the awkwardness of the conversation herself.
“Yes, but-,” he began again.
“And it’s not like you were alone, there. I was just as affected,” she pointed out.
“Surely that was for my own peace of mind,” he had finally met her eyes, but was frustrated she couldn’t understand his embarrassment. “I understand that on some physiological level it was stimulating, but rather than allow me to participate alone--,” he rambled, hoarsely.
“Sheldon, believe me, I was plenty stimulated,” she widened her eyes for emphasis. “So it wasn’t the typical way of going about it, but it worked.”
“So, you were satisfied?” he seemed surprised.
“Um, yeah,” she answered plainly. They began walking in together when she added, “You seemed to enjoy it, too. Or was that just my imagination?”
“No, no-definitely not your imagination. That was, however, my first pleasurable sexual encounter, so I’m still a little unsure how to read all the variables,” he answered quietly as they began climbing the stairwell.
“Oh,” her eyebrows knit together. She’d figured as much, but it still kind of sucked to hear it.
She now knew he was built just the same as everyone else, just with different, ultra-complex wiring. It’s a funny thought that makes Penny want to see the difference in his eyes, not just in his touch.
When they get to their floor, she fidgets with her keys for a minute before asking him what has been rolling around in her mind for the last three flights.
“Do you want to maybe, try it again with less clothes on?” she feels like her bottom lip is surely going to start bleeding if she bites it any harder.
“It, as in, copulate?” he tilts his head, genuinely curious.
She can’t help but smile at how adorable and weird he can be at the same time. She nods her head.
“Well, that depends. Are you sure you don’t find my inexperience a ‘turn off’?” he even makes quotation marks with his hands. Yeah, she’s totally not turned ‘off.’
“God, Sheldon. You always find a way to ask too many questions, I much prefer you good and drowned out by music. Let’s go,” she grabbed his hand, one last time, and turned the key in her lock.
Flicking on her stereo, she told him to go straight into her bedroom. She did, after all, owe him one.
Author: fujiidom / Maura
Pairing/Character: Sheldon/Penny
Rating: MA (!!!)
Summary:
Penny and Sheldon break down on the way towards the city. They have a bumpy ride home.
Spoilers: Nope
Author's Note: I had a little plot bunny that turned into a little ficlet. This was originally purely smut, but I added some plot as an afterthought. I was having a hard time finding anything overtly dirty between these two and couldn't let it go. Well, dirtier than some other BBT stuff out there. This is a one-shot and just for fun, so I hope you like! Also: MA!, MA!, MA! Please do not read if you are young in age or mind.
Or read here if you prefer.
Author's Note: I had a plot bunny that was originally for something else, but fit too perfectly in with Sheldon/Penny to pass up. This isn't really supposed to be a very plot heavy piece, it mostly exists to add some S/P hotness to table. Also, yeah, a little exhibitionist of the two, but to those who find this out of character I'll give you my two word defense: sandwich shop. ;D Enjoy!
On Checking the ‘Check Engine’ Light
“We’re going to die, Penny! Oh, my God! We’re going to die!” Sheldon was pitching a fit, taking melodramatic gulps of air, in the passenger’s seat.
“Sheldon, the flares worked and I managed to contact the police before my phone crapped out. I owe you one for not checking the light as often as I should, you've made your point, I'll concede that much. Everything else, however, is fine. The car's just dead,” she sighed turning over slightly in her driver’s seat.
“No, Penny, just look outside your window!” She rolled her eyes and craned her neck back to do what he said. “Don't you see the obvious state of peril?”
“Sheldon, it’s the highway. Same one we’ve been sitting next to for an hour. There’s not even anyone out. Only, like, a hundred people have driven by-that’s nothing for a highway,” she yawned through her words. “So what’s wrong, do you see a nail or a person or something?” she pulled her sweat jacket tighter around her, but not from the cold.
She always felt a bit unnerved when talking to Sheldon and couldn’t help let some of his theatrics get to her from time to time. She couldn’t stay on the defensive forever.
Plus, he was always saying terrifying things, so she’s obliged to a few real shivers of fear.
She finally got back in from her meandering thought process to hear him babbling on about the speed of cars approaching optimum axel resistance and the drag of something’s coefficients. All it takes is one vehicle! She wanted to be mad at him, but it’d been an hour and they were stuck in the middle of nowhere on the Pasadena Freeway and she was a little scared, too.
Nowhere as scared as Sheldon looked, his body rocking with tremors of panic. That can’t be good, her mind pushed her to help him out.
She grabbed his left hand and held it tightly, until he was able to focus on her hand long enough to distract him from his terror.
“You’re holding my hand,” he observed blankly. “Why are you holding my hand?”
“To get you to calm down,” Penny squeezed his palm and let go softly. “See? It worked!”
He frowned and seemed to be a bit confused about just how it had worked, but thought better of questioning her assistance.
Before they could talk about it more, the car flooded with light as a police car pulled up behind them.
“Oh, thank God!” Penny cried, bursting out her door and walking in the direction of the other parked vehicle. “Hi, how are you? Thank you so much for coming! We were getting worried about what to do,” she breathed out excitedly, clutching hands in front of her chest instinctively.
The police woman explained that there was a tow truck a mile behind her and would be arriving any second. Right now, she needed the car’s description, papers, and their names.
After taking Penny’s information, she looked over to Sheldon and fixed him an appraising stare. She then looked Penny over, again.
“Are you two wearing costumes?” the pen in the officer’s hand clicked, as if she was dotting the question mark at the end of her words.
“No, I just came from work. I work at the Cheesecake Factory. He, uh, yeah,” she trailed off as she, too, took in Sheldon’s outfit. A fire-truck red The Flash t-shirt and a bright orange long-sleeve shirt underneath, he did sort of look like his was in a costume.
She used to always think of it that way, too. Now, though, the better she got to know Sheldon the more his clothing choices had grown on her.
Sure, he had no genuine sense of style, but he was consistently vibrant. Uniqueness, by any of today’s standards, is hard to find.
To the untrained eye, she could definitely see making that mistake a possibility.
“I just really like The Flash,” Sheldon interjected, sardonically.
There was then a flashing of lights heading in their direction as a medium-sized tow truck pulled in front of both cars. The truck driver hopped down from his seat, leaving the door ajar and the truck on. He was sorting through a stack of paperwork as he approached the others.
“Ain’t this a cute, lil’ toy car?” he screamed out over the loud hum of the engines and echo of highway traffic coming from either side of them.
He seemed familiar with the police woman and exchanged words before approaching Penny and Sheldon and shoving a thick clipboard with the papers she needed to sign.
They gathered all the necessary things from Penny’s Cabrio and watched the short man chained the car up and used crank to haul it up on an angle.
“Do we know why your car died, then, sweets?”
Penny grimaced at the creepy little man, “No, not yet.”
“It probably had something to do with her reckless disregard for the check engine light’s function,” Sheldon added in. Luckily the phrasing was obtuse enough to mostly go over both their heads.
Penny didn’t appreciate him making her look like an idiot in front of a police officer and some creepy tow truck driver, so she smushed his left foot with her heel.
He didn’t bring it back up.
The police woman said her goodbyes to the truck driver and told Penny and Sheldon that everything seemed to be in order, wishing them a good night.
And then they were alone with this creepy, short truck driver who was openly leering at Penny.
She turned to Sheldon as they followed the man to the truck, giving him a frightened expression. He seemed to get her point and matched it with an I Agree, But Oh Well, look in return.
Penny kept reassuring herself that the police woman liked him and knew where they were.
“So, you two kids together?” the man wiped his hands with an already blackened rag and grinned in Penny’s direction.
Seeing no other option, she grabbed Sheldon’s hand, once more, and nodded vaguely.
Letting out a huff, the driver told them to head around the other side of the truck to get in.
They had few seating options: next to but practically on top of the driver’s seat and an even smaller opening in a cramped second row of seats, with a cardboard box full of what looked to be pretty heavy metal parts and tools taking up half the other side.
Sheldon had made his way up first and took the backseat. There was no way, Penny grumbled mentally. Seeing the chubby little man licking his lips as he shut his door, she figured an uncomfortable ride home in tight quarters with Sheldon was better than the obvious risk of groping.
She launched herself up the high seats and sat down half on Sheldon’s knee and half against the cardboard box full of junk. He looked scandalized. She shushed him, silently begging him to play along. He didn’t want the front seat, either.
“Are you two gonna be comfortable like that? There’s an extra space up here, if you’d like a lil’ change of scenery,” the truck driver bellowed, wagging his eyebrows at the pair.
“I’m fine! We both get carsick in the front, anyway,” she rambled, hoping he would just shut up and get a move on. They were nearly half an hour’s drive away and she didn’t want to deal with of his sneering and creepiness any longer than she had to. “Don’t mind us, we’ll be just fine! Just fine!”
He let out a gross, wet cough and flicked on the stereo.
It was playing what sounded like Van Halen and doing so loudly enough that the metal in the box next to Penny started to rattle and hum.
She shift around still half on Sheldon’s lap and realized this was going to get pretty weird. Probably pretty quickly, too.
Shifting into drive, he pulled back onto the highway. Penny couldn’t even hear herself think as they bounced up and down along the road. Once off the shoulder of the road and away from the dim lights overhead, Penny and Sheldon disappeared into darkness.
With the loud music and the darkness, it was easy to imagine the creepy little pervert driving the rig wasn’t there.
As the truck picked up speed, Penny began bouncing a bit less high but a bit more frequently. It was more like vibrating. Evenly buzzing with the boom of the bass from the lame eighties music and weighed down vehicle bumping at every pot hole and uneven strip of road.
At first the jostling hurt and was kind of making her sick. Penny felt like she was four years old again and playing hobbyhorse on with one of her uncles, sitting with her legs on either side of Sheldon’s bony knee.
She was afraid she was going to actually start getting sick so she decided to find a better way of going about this. Leaning in and shouting as loud as she could, to be heard over the noise, “I’m gonna puke if I don’t sit better! I know this sucks, especially for you, but please bear with me. I owe you one, remember!”
He just nodded, stiffly. He must feel nauseous, too, she figured.
Penny shrugged over and tried sitting with her back perpendicular to his, but their faces were extra close and she was already hyperaware of where he was, so that wasn’t an option.
She began turning a bit so that her back was up against the front seat, but he pulled her back into ear shot, yelling, “That’s entirely unsafe!” He clearly wanted to say more, to explain in detail why it was unsafe, but the music prevented him from saying much.
Eventually they ended up in the basic sitting on your lap places. Like Santa, or Grandpa Joe.
She tried to focus on anything other than the fact that she was starting to like the bouncing up and down feeling, in this position.
She checked the clock and couldn’t believe that only two minutes had passed. They passed exits twenty-two and twenty-four and she had to start taking calming breaths.
Oh, dear God. This was so not going to go well-she could feel her skin tingle in that recognizable way. Oh, dear God.
She wanted to turn around and see if Sheldon could tell, but couldn’t move.
The song changed to Springsteen. She liked Springsteen, he looked good in jeans. Her mind trailed off, she couldn’t tear her attention away from the way the crease in Sheldon’s slacks bumped against her steadily.
If she hadn’t been on top of him, she wouldn’t have felt a squeak radiate through his chest. She tilted her head back, before she could tell herself not to and tried to make out Sheldon’s features in the dark.
The flickering of the highway lights gave her weird flashes of his face, which was twitching in his attempt at remaining unaffected by their position.
If she was feeling it, of course he was. He was still a guy, even if it was Sheldon. Ten times worse, she supposed when she saw a bead of sweat drip from his forehead. Definitely not nausea related.
She couldn’t move to the front, she just couldn’t. She didn’t want to make the guy stop the truck. She tried in vain to move the cardboard box to her left, it didn’t budge. Considering her options, Penny took a few deep breaths and made an awkward but necessary decision.
She leaned back to Sheldon’s ear, “This is probably going end up awkward, but I want to get home and away from this guy! We’re both adults! Let’s worry about it later!”
The song switched, again, sounding like Ratt or Poison. She couldn’t really tell, but was actually thankful for the cheesy music. It continued drowning out their noises and keeping their conversation private.
Sheldon screamed her name back, wanting to protest.
“It’s fine! It’s human nature! Seriously!”
He was just biting his lip, now. She couldn’t hear it, but if she could she was sure his breath was coming out ragged.
“Oh-ok-okay!” he managed to reply, fidgeting with his hands and eventually settling them near his knees, on either side of her legs.
Within a minute, as expected, she felt him start to poke up at her where the fly of his pants was already pressed against her, underneath her thin velour shorts.
Her ears were ringing and she was gnawing at the inside of her cheek. They were drowned out by the music, but she didn’t want to take any chances in making noises.
As her breathing picked up yet another level, she felt him twitch through the layer of clothing between them.
On its own volition, her bottom moved around slightly until she could feel him hit her in just the right spot.
She felt around for his hand, a third time. Lacing her fingers in his, she brought it up to her stomach, letting them both feel each stilted breath.
He raised his other arm up to her stomach, next to their intertwined hands. Seemingly unsure of where to place his hand, he eventually laid it flat against the cotton covering her ribs.
The truck continued zooming along the highway.
She wasn’t sure, now, if some of their rocking had nothing to do with the shaking of the truck, but none of that seemed to matter right now. This felt really good and it’d been a while since she’d been intimate with anyone. Sure, it was a little middle school, being fully clothed and all, but contact was contact.
Then Sheldon’s hand was grabbing at her breast, over her bra. She didn’t even remember it being under her shirt. She wasn’t complaining and the pitch black of the seat let her push away any worry that they’d be seen.
She was just surprised that Sheldon was suddenly copping feels. It seemed unfair. She wanted a chance to grab at him, too. It was all she could think about, but their surroundings made that pretty much impossible.
She settled for pushing down, hard, and twisting around. At this, they both froze and took in the new set of tremors shooting through their muscles.
What had started as blind grabbing on Sheldon’s part turned highly pleasurable as his instincts kicked in. He pushed her bra up and aside to begin palming and pinching deftly underneath her shirt.
She nearly yelped out as she felt him begin grinding himself with more force against her, her nails dug into the top of his right hand and she brought their entangled, sweaty hands higher up towards her heart, mindlessly.
Even though she’d made the decision to go along with this, for some reason the idea of actually peaking didn’t really occur to her. Now, though, it was right around the corner.
Still blinded by the shadows, Penny dragged the hand clutched in her own towards her chin, as she felt herself begin the shudders of release. Synchronized with the silent cries ripping through her throat, she pushed the back of his hand against her neck to feel the reverberation created by her moans of satisfaction.
He was then seizing up below her, encasing what felt like her entire torso with his long arms. Still squeezing her, he buried his head into her neck, kissing and breathing heavily against it as he slowed his body’s rocking to a stop.
She kept his hand in her lap, despite the awkwardness of their continued bumping and soiled clothing. She hadn’t really thought that far ahead and still couldn’t find it that big a problem.
Eventually she fished out her purse from besides them and pulled out a tiny bottle of lotion. Rubbing it on her arms and hands, she offered him some.
He held out his left palm. Her mind reeled to think that had been under her shirt just a second ago. She squirted a tiny bit and capped the small bottle.
He looked at it inquisitively, unsure of what to do. Having watched as she rubbed what was on her hands around and shook them a little to dry more quickly, he mimicked the actions.
The image of Sheldon being unsure of something so basic was kind of amusing. He was brain dead from the look of it and some part of Penny felt rather proud of rendering him such a way.
Just then, the truck lurched to a halt. The short man pushed open his door and hopped down without turning the loud music off, or saying anything to the passengers in the back seat.
Giving each other another nervous look, the two opened their own door and realized they were outside their apartment.
“Something smells nice!” The man commented loudly, as they both hopped down and landed briskly on the ground below.
“Thanks, its vanilla,” Penny grimaced slightly.
He handed her a the undersides of the two pieces of paper she’d signed, calling them receipts and bid them a good night before trotting back around the truck and pulling away towards the auto mechanic’s shop where he was to drop off Penny’s car.
Penny started walking inside first, glancing back to see Sheldon standing meekly a few paces behind her.
“Come on, Sheldon! We’re home, let’s get upstairs!” she nodded her head.
“I am very sorry, Penny. I tried to control my bodily reactions as best I could, but-,” he mumbled, looking down at the ground.
“What’re you talking about? Didn’t we go over this in the truck, I told you that it was fine, we’re adults. What’s a little dry humping between friends?” she grinned, somewhat strained by the awkwardness of the conversation herself.
“Yes, but-,” he began again.
“And it’s not like you were alone, there. I was just as affected,” she pointed out.
“Surely that was for my own peace of mind,” he had finally met her eyes, but was frustrated she couldn’t understand his embarrassment. “I understand that on some physiological level it was stimulating, but rather than allow me to participate alone--,” he rambled, hoarsely.
“Sheldon, believe me, I was plenty stimulated,” she widened her eyes for emphasis. “So it wasn’t the typical way of going about it, but it worked.”
“So, you were satisfied?” he seemed surprised.
“Um, yeah,” she answered plainly. They began walking in together when she added, “You seemed to enjoy it, too. Or was that just my imagination?”
“No, no-definitely not your imagination. That was, however, my first pleasurable sexual encounter, so I’m still a little unsure how to read all the variables,” he answered quietly as they began climbing the stairwell.
“Oh,” her eyebrows knit together. She’d figured as much, but it still kind of sucked to hear it.
She now knew he was built just the same as everyone else, just with different, ultra-complex wiring. It’s a funny thought that makes Penny want to see the difference in his eyes, not just in his touch.
When they get to their floor, she fidgets with her keys for a minute before asking him what has been rolling around in her mind for the last three flights.
“Do you want to maybe, try it again with less clothes on?” she feels like her bottom lip is surely going to start bleeding if she bites it any harder.
“It, as in, copulate?” he tilts his head, genuinely curious.
She can’t help but smile at how adorable and weird he can be at the same time. She nods her head.
“Well, that depends. Are you sure you don’t find my inexperience a ‘turn off’?” he even makes quotation marks with his hands. Yeah, she’s totally not turned ‘off.’
“God, Sheldon. You always find a way to ask too many questions, I much prefer you good and drowned out by music. Let’s go,” she grabbed his hand, one last time, and turned the key in her lock.
Flicking on her stereo, she told him to go straight into her bedroom. She did, after all, owe him one.