Work Text:
Fool you made the girl fall in love
you said those beautiful things
she thought you spoke things you mean
"I love you." The words had been so easy for him that first night. Like this was it, he had found her. She smiled against this cheek as he whispered these things to her.
"You're beautiful."
"Forever."
"I promise." And she believed him. Because he was different. Because he wouldn't lie like the others.
Caress her skin like it's glass
she hears your voice making plans
and sees your face in her hands
She made love to him. She didn't sleep with him. She didn't do him. She didn't have sex with him. She made love to him. And it felt like he made love her. He held her softly. It wasn't in an alcoholic haze or rough and quick. It was slow and right and together. And afterward, he smiled into her neck and told her about how he had plans for them to go to a bed and breakfast next weekend when Sheldon was at the conference and how someday they would move to a nicer apartment away from prying eyes and anal-retentive Texans.
You don't wanna see somebody beg
as you feel her heart surrender you begin to fall
She knows it bad when he takes her to some physics conference party deal and she doesn't even heave some long-suffering sigh. She threw on a pretty dress and stood by the man she was quickly falling for. And when he puffed himself up like a little peacocks for all his colleagues, she smiled and felt proud that she was something worth showing off. She'd been arm candy before but she'd never felt worth something. He always made her feel like she was worth something.
How do you say that something's through when it never even started
at least not for you
As time wore on, the pretty words stopped. She would snuggle up to him on her couch and whisper "I love you" in his ear and he hesitated. It just a fraction of a second, but she heard it. Every time. She heard that slight "uh" before the pretty words. And then they sounded hollow. Eventually, she stopped saying the words to start with. Because she didn't want a parrot, she wanted a man.
You breathe her air and you leave
you keep your mind on yourself and lie the glass on the shelf
After the heavenly speech your body throws holy heat
the angels sing when our eyes meet
But it was when he touched her that she forgot things like that. She just...fell into it. Into the way he made it feel special and different. Like she just wasn't another conquest on some long line of girls. She felt like she was just where she was supposed to be. And it empowered her. It changed her.
It wasn't a lie but it wasn't true
I just wanted to make you feel good
just wanted you near
I wasn't prepared I wasn't thinking of you
that you could actually love me
it never should have started
"I just....didn't think it would get here, Penny," he said, shuffling around her apartment.
"Get here? Where's here, Leonard? We don't go places, we don't do things, we just don't. What are you afraid of, huh?"
"Penny, we've been together three years-"
"Yeah, three damn years, Leonard, and we've been talking about moving in together for two of them. Have you even cracked a newspaper? No. Have you googled on your little computer and emailed me apartments? No. No, you're afraid of this, of us, of commitment."
"I'm not!"
"You're not, huh? Then where's my ring, huh? Where's the apartment? Where's the alone time? I don't see anything to prove you aren't afraid of making something more out of this. Why would you even tease me with saying you loved me, Leonard?"
She's dreaming back on the past
every opinion agreed
doesn't know what to believe
She locked him out. And told him she was done. So, he left, defeated, back across the hall to prying eyes and an anal-retentive Texan. She calls her mother and she says "Baby, you're better off without a man." She calls her sister who tells her to "get some rebound sex." Her friends invite her out for a Finally Single Again Party.
She cries on her couch instead.
It must have been for a cause
our lives have so many doors
don't think about him anymore
She heard Sheldon knock on her apartment door but refused to answer it. He knocked again. "Penny, open up or the bread will get cold." Her intrigue over that statement brought her to the door. "Oh, good. I didn't have the ingredients to make another loaf for you." He handed her a loaf of banana bread. She put it on the counter and opened her fridge.
"You want some, Sheldon?" He fidgeted and declined, saying he had to return to his apartment. "Thank you, Sheldon."
"You're welcome." He turned to leave.
"Sheldon!" he turned to face her again, hands clasped behind his back. "I'm sorry."
"Well, whatever for? You have done nothing to my person nor have you recently incurred any strikes or touched my things-"
"I'm sorry for the mess this must have caused in your life."
"Penny, I have no personal stake in this relationship other than the smug 'I told you so' I have already delivered to Leonard. In consequence, he bought home a cat." She smiled. "The bread was for you to feel better."
"Thank you, Sheldon." She followed him to the door, wiping the moisture from her eyes. He turned and opened his mouth but she just smiled and filled it in for him. "'There, there, Penny', I already know." He looked at her for a moment before giving her a curt nod and going back to his apartment.
But it was the kiss,
it took me away
it's like he knew that I am fragile
he handled me like glass
and it hurts but it's what I deserve
because I should have been more careful with the others that I handled
I should have been I should have been
She was smearing butter on her second slice of bread when she heard her door open. "I'm so sorry," Leonard said in a shattered voice. They rushed to each other's arms and she sobbed into his shoulder. "Friends?" And she smiled. And she knew.
and knowing this I know that he'll get his
but I don't want the man to suffer
oh not the way I am
because deep down I know that he's glass too
but it really doesn't matter
until it's happening to you
This is how this was always going to happen. This was always the result. No matter when or where or why or how, their relationship was always going to end like this. And she felt peace. Because she knew they had done all they could to make it work. And it didn't. It still hurt. It still hurt like hell. Because they were two broken people, trying to mend themselves separately. Trying to glue the shards of themselves back together. But this was how it was going to be. And just like every thing else, this felt right.
everybody breaks
everybody breaks
sometimes