Lord in heaven almighty. Lisa could have told me I was going to need more than my V-neck sweater from Old Navy! Who knew, it's cold in New Jersey! Seems like the other side of the world coming from Georgia. That's right, I moved. I went ahead and did it. Accepted the job she offered. I'm surprised she thinks I'm any good. She's got the best doctors in the world at that crazy hospital of hers. Went in there just a while after I arrived. Of course, I walked in and she stood right there, talking to some young thing who looked too much right out of high school to be a doctor.
"Lisa!" I called. She didn't hear. So I scurried up behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist. She spun on me furiously, but upon seeing that it was just her good ol' childhood friend, she gave me a tight hug and whispered in my ear.
"Clair. I never thought I'd see you again."
"Well," I said in my matter-of-fact voice, "Ya thought wrong. Can't get rid of this one."
She laughed, peeling away from me, signing something or other on that young doctor's clipboard, and leading me to a large office with the words on the door that made me proud to be Lisa's friend.
"Lisa Cuddy, MD, Dean of Medicine"
Who knew my neighbor, one year older than myself, who loved to write in her journal more than anything and could find fun everywhere she went would become the Dean of Medicine at a hospital in Jersey, second youngest ever, first woman ever? Who knew? When I called out of utter surprise at her enrolling in med school, she said very coolly:
"Clair, I wanted to be a doctor since before I hit puberty."
Right. What a lie. I'm sure she saw a commercial for a hospital show two days before and thought, 'Huh. I could do that.' That's just who she used to be. Now she's miss strict-o-matic. What happened to her spontaneity, I'll never know.
We entered the big office and Mr. Man with his stubble sat behind Lisa's desk, sifting though papers.
"House! What are you doing?" Lisa practically screamed.
"That's Greg House?" I asked in wide-eyed wonder. I'd heard about him. In fact, I'd heard more than I really needed to know. He was practically the only thing she talked about. 'Ooh, House made me so mad!' 'House is at it again!' 'House had a date with that Cameron of his!' So on, so forth.
"Who's that?" he asked Lisa suspiciously, pointing at me.
"Our new head of cardio. Clarissa Flowers," she used my full name instead of Clair. Interesting.
"Dr. Flowers. Cool." He leaned back in the chair.
"House, would you mind-"
"Are you two sisters?" he interrupted.
"What? No. Why?" Lisa responded, utterly confused, and rightfully so, for Lisa and I look nothing alike. Her hair is a dark curly wonder, where mine is straight, thin, and dirty blonde. Her face is defined and elegant (hell, she's gorgeous), where mine would blend into any crowd.
"Oh. I was sure. It's just," he pointed at the both of us with his pen, "you two have matching cleavage."
Lisa sighed.
"House, just get out."
"I need an exploratory surgery," he said simply, handing a file to Lisa.
"This patient was admitted an hour ago; you haven't even given her a second thought yet!"
"I need the surgery."
"So you're just going to poke around at her organs? Just a little fun?"
"I need the surgery."
"No, you don't!" she was really about to explode; he had better watch out.
"Yes! I do!"
"No, you don't! Now, get out of my office!"
"Well, alright Miss Funbags, you don't have to get all finicky about it," he said bitterly, and exited.
"Ain't he a sweetheart," I said as the door closed.
"You have no idea."
"What was he doing in your office?"
"Beats me," she searched her desk for anything missing.
"So, what have you been up to?" I looked more carefully around her cozy looking office.
"This," she motioned to the hospital.
"Thrilling," I replied unenthusiastically.
We both sat, and she smiled at me, a weak and phony attempt to wipe away any of my suspicions about her life. Poor Lisa, I know how she really is. Tired of the same routine, day in, day out. She's lonely. Really lonely. That may be the reason I decided to move here at all. She's just so sad, and she needs a friend so badly. This job is all she has.
"So you're really going to take this job?"
"No, I moved here because I just love the snow!" I laughed.
"Clair, you have no idea how happy I am to see you."
"I know Lisa. I missed you."
I stood up and squeezed her hand.
"I know you have work to do. I'm going to come back later. We'll go out to dinner."
Lisa looked so relieved. Poor darling. Here's the thing you must know; she never lets anyone see her sadness. She's so very lonely, but she always seems so confident that people assume she's just so very social. People assume that she just doesn't have time for the likes of them. Despite the fact that they'd enjoy her company very much, they don't want to invade. People assume that she's just being kind by gracing them with her presence. In truth, she has no one.
And she's such a good person. I've missed her so much.