Ali POV
Today was shopping and organizing. With this in mind, I chose a loose t-shirt and jeans with my black and white sneakers for my outfit, prioritizing comfort and functionality over looks—even if I might have wanted to look nice for Sheldon because he actually left a decent impression on me. Looking at my shirt again, I changed my mind. I noticed Sheldon had worn a superhero shirt yesterday, and the shirt he picked for me was my Superman shirt, so I pulled a Wonder Woman shirt from my drawer and put it on with my jeans. I looked at myself in the mirror and said, "That should do it." It was 7:45 a.m. when I heard a knock on my door.
**Knock**knock**knock** "Ali"
**Knock**knock**knock** "Ali"
**Knock**knock**knock** "Ali"
Laughing a little at Sheldon, I walked over to the door and opened it to see him standing there with a bright smile on his face and his bag slung over his shoulder. He was wearing a Flash t-shirt with a yellow 3/4 sleeve shirt underneath, khaki pants, and brown shoes. He looked slightly silly but in a charmingly endearing way. Smiling at my thoughts, I said, "I hope you're having a good morning, Sheldon. Please come in. I was just about to grab a quick bite and then we can leave."
His smile widened as he walked in. He seemed to stiffen when he saw the mess still present and said, "I can help you clean and organize when we get back if you want. To be honest with you, the mess is slightly off-putting. I had hoped with your propensity for organization it would have been picked up by now."
He looked almost scared of my reaction to his words, but I could tell he had no malice behind them. To me, it seemed like he had a problem expressing himself or that others didn't understand what he meant. Not that I fully understood why he felt the need to point out something so glaringly obvious, but I always felt like I was an understanding person. You can't grow up with a sister like mine or a mother like ours without growing a thick skin about words or finding a meaning hidden underneath subtext. So I sighed with a light smile on my face and said, "I know it's not ideal, but most of this is Penny's boxes. I also needed to go shopping so I had the right things to help with putting things away."
Sheldon nodded his head in understanding as I finished up the last of my yogurt and cheese breakfast. With a sigh, he finally said, "I can understand that. When Leonard moved in, my apartment was a wreck for days, much to my disappointment. No matter how much I told him to rectify the situation, he took his sweet time about it."
Chuckling as I washed out my yogurt cup, I said, "He does seem like the type to leave his things just laying about."
Sheldon gave a breathy laugh and said, "I like the way you think. We might be able to get along better than I originally anticipated."
I just smiled and said, "I look forward to getting to know you, Dr. Sheldon Cooper."
His smile got even bigger at the mention of his title and he said, "Yes, yes, I suppose you do. I also look forward to getting to know you as well." Straightening up, he cleared his throat and said, "Now that social niceties are out of the way, shall we head to the store? You will have to drive, of course."
He looked at me apprehensively for some reason, but I just nodded and headed to the door to grab my bag and keys. Turning around, I said, "After you, Sheldon."
In The Car
Sheldon POV
So far, my day was turning out to be just lovely. Ali is a wonderful conversationalist when it comes to comic books and shows. I will have to observe her further before I make any major decisions about her character. I did notice she is educated in literature—her doctorate on the wall of her room proved that much at least—but her knowledge of sciences might be lacking. I will have to try to ease her into that with fun facts and judge her reactions. I might have to teach her like I do with Leonard. At that thought, I shook my head in disappointment.
After Penny and Ali left our apartment last night, the three Neanderthals began their fight on who gets to 'call dibs' on our new unsuspecting neighbors. They didn't even look to me to see if I had any opinions on the two women. Although I know it's never a smart idea to 'call dibs' on a woman. Missy taught me that when the boy next door tried that with her in middle school. Boy howdy, did he get a lickin' or at least that's what Meemaw said when I told her the story. She was proud of Missy for standing up for herself, and I learned never to lay claim on a woman unless she tells you, you can. Even then, it's dangerous. Women don't like to be seen as property—at least the ones in my family don't.
I tried to tell Leonard this, but he just waved me off, saying I didn't 'know' anything about women and that I should just butt out because he was going to have smart and beautiful babies with one of our new neighbors. I thought he was preposterous because it didn't seem to matter to him which one of the two women he 'had babies' with, as long as they were pretty. There's also the fact that I don't think he is in any way going to be a romantic partner for either woman. He's not exactly the ideal 'type' women go for when it comes to the human species.
Ali pulled me from my musing when she announced our arrival at The Container Store. She pulled out a list of things she needed with the measurements of her drawers and a tape measure before locking the car. We headed inside. I was at ease with her, because her attention to detail was almost as good as mine. I have an eidetic memory, so I don't need notes, but she didn't and used them to make up for it, which impressed me. She recognized her shortcomings and tried to make allowances for herself to be better. I wish all people put effort into bettering themselves as it seemed Ali did.
I'm not perfect. I have problems with social interactions and talking to people because I just don't get how they can't understand logic, but I have been trying to work on it. Leonard and his needy personality have actually helped some in this regard. Sighing again at my thought deviation, I looked to Ali, who was in deep thought, tape measure in hand.
After watching Ali measure something for the third time, I took the paper with her notes on it. Seeing her measurements and knowing the inventory of the store because I looked it up online last night before coming, I pulled out what would fit and serve her purposes and said, "These are all of the items that will fit in your available space. You can pick color variations from these options. I don't feel like watching you measure something over and over that won't work for you."
Even I flinched at how harsh I sounded, but Ali just smiled at me and I could almost feel my heart stop.
She looked up at me and said, "Thank you, Sheldon. I was having trouble with all the options. I should have looked at the website first to get a better idea of what I wanted before dragging you with me and my indecisiveness. This helps me a lot. Color within these item parameters is in my wheelhouse."
She chuckled and started to pick out what she wanted. She picked all cream or clear containers before heading over to the book storage options and said, "Your turn. What is your favorite storage option for your comic books? If I like what you pick, maybe you can convert me. I don't think the basket I have them in currently is up to the Sheldon level of scrutiny."
At her comment, I laughed. Not my breathy laugh that I do to cover up not getting a joke the guys made, but a real laugh that I haven't done since the last time I saw Meemaw. At my laugh, Ali smiled at me so brightly I would have thought she had stars for eyes if I didn't know that was physically impossible.
Pulling myself together, I found my usual container. I pulled two down and placed them in our basket. Ali looked them over and said, "These aren't half bad. I think I'll get one for myself. Would you mind grabbing one down for me as well, Stretch? You are the tall one here, after all."
Not knowing what to say to that, I just grabbed a third box from the shelf and put it in the cart. Ali smiled up at me again and said, "Now to IKEA. I need kitchen utensils and towels. Would you be okay with eating there, or would you like to grab something before we head over there?"
I looked at her shyly and said, "I've never eaten at IKEA. Is the food decent?"
She chuckled and said, "It's not bad. Their Swedish meatballs are quite good, actually, but the rest of their food is just okay. It kind of reminds me of a cafeteria, if I'm being honest."
The idea of eating in a furniture store restaurant didn't really appeal to me, so I looked at her and said, "I have a thing about eating at places I don't know, so would it be okay if we eat somewhere else?"
Ali just nodded and said, "I kind of get that. How about we go to The Cheesecake Factory? Penny is on shift right now, so we can have her bring us our food."
I considered her opinion for a moment and said, "Even though I haven't eaten there either, I will concede to your suggestion on the condition that Penny is our server."
Ali just giggled at me and said, "Then let's go feed the good doctor, shall we."
Slightly shocked by her, I asked, "Am I hallucinating, or is that a Doctor Who joke I just heard?"
"Oh, you heard me all right. I used to love that show, but I haven't been able to watch it for a while with the move and everything."
I was genuinely starting to really enjoy my time with Ali, so I looked to her and smiled, then said, "This could be the start of a beautiful friendship."