Cameron was attempting to walk down the halls at PPTH as unostentatiously as possible. Which was quite a feat considering the fact that she was wearing six inch stiletto heels.
"I can't believe I ever agreed to that stupid bet with Chase." she muttered under her breath while passing some coworkers who weren't even trying to hide their incredulous stares.
It was a pretty stupid thing to do to begin with, as Chase always had to be right. I mean, obviously he isn't always, but there are times when he just knows he is right. That's likely her problem though, growing up with a lot of older brothers–a huge competitive streak. So of course she took up the ill-fated bet willingly, unable to see the consequences that lie ahead.
"Just pretend they aren't there. They aren't looking at you." she told herself over and over. " The sooner you get to your office, the better." Her heels clicked behind her loudly, as if her very appearance wasn't enough to bring stares, and she needed actual sound to call people's attention to the fact that her skirt length was quite far above her usual decent, low-thigh length, and that her two, ahem, blouse brothers, were much more open to the public than she would normally condone.
Which, outside of the office she might not have minded so much, but there were some people to whom she'd rather be seen as more professional. Especially after certain events that transpired recently between her and her boss. Talk about embarrassing! That must have been the worst date in the history of dates. If she hadn't pushed him so much he probably wouldn't have been so blunt. It hurt, yet she still believed her theory was true. But who was she kidding? He would never be interested in her no matter how she looked. Why should he care how she looked? But still, his insults that were always biting, yet insightful still seemed to sting her especially. Oh well, she would just have to learn to live with her defeat.
Her thoughts trailed off as she approached the diagnostics department. Not to her surprise, Dr. House was sitting at his desk, mulling over their latest case, looking as miserable as ever.
What started out as an interesting case with baffling symptoms, turned out to be just run-of-the-mill food poisoning, paired with an untimely concussion causing extreme vomiting, migraines, blurred vision, and faintness. Put together, the symptoms were confusingly unrelated. However, it wasn't long before House asked if all the symptoms had to be related, or could be looked at separately. Shortly after that, the solution was reached. Now House was moping because his only interesting case this week turned out to be a dud.
Anyway, he was just sitting at his desk looking singularly disinterested in life while Chase and Foreman were arguing about whether hospital administrator Dr. Cuddy's costume was supposed to be cat woman, or a dominatrix, Chase arguing for the latter. When Cameron walked in, there was a noticeable pause in their conversation in which they both stared, open mouthed. House looked up, half-interested in the fact that the conversation stopped so abruptly. From his view in his own office, it looked kind of like one of his hookers had walked into the outer office. But somehow, this woman looked classier.
Foreman uttered one syllable: "Wow."
"See? How bad was that?" Chase queried, obviously amused.
"It's horrible." the woman replied in a familiar voice. "Everyone is staring at me. I told you I wouldn't be taken seriously!"
Then the mysterious hottie turned around and under the nurse's hat, he saw the familiar features of the lovely Allison Cameron.
She was obviously ticked off, making her cheeks slightly flushed red, and getting her hair slightly out of place. For once, he was completely at a loss for words. And seeing him sitting there, staring open-mouthed made her blush further. She quickly turned on her heel and hurried in the opposite direction toward the coffee maker in an attempt to add some aspect of normalcy to her day. Fifteen minutes later, when the coffee was done, House sauntered over to grab the first cup. He didn't know what she did differently, but whenever she made the coffee, it always tasted just right. Much better than when anyone else made it, himself included. She was just that good. Then he exclaimed out of nowhere, "Well hello there boys! I don't see you around here two very often."
Chase and Foreman had by that time brought their conversation to a close, and exchanged some confused looks after House's comment.
"We're here every day." Foreman reminded him.
"I wasn't talking to you." House retorted, and shot a naughty look at Cameron.
She turned beet red and turned and walked as fast as she could out of the room, grabbing her physician's coat off of the coat rack, and nearly tipping it over, on her way out.
Foreman and Chase both gave House disapproving looks (although Chase's did appear to betray a hint of amusement).
"What?!" House asked innocently, while looking as far from it as possible.
"I understand that you go out of your way to be an ass..."Chase trailed off.
"But that was kind of harsh for sensitive little Cameron." Foreman finished.
"She knows I do it to everyone. It doesn't make her special or anything." House reasoned. But his logic fell on deaf ears. The two fellows continued to stare him down.
"Gosh! If you really wanted a staring contest, all you had to do was ask." House shrugged sarcastically and went back to his desk to continue moping.