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"What the hell am I doing here Grace?" mumbled Cuddy while trying to fix her red halter top so it would show less cleavage. Grace's clothes had always been a bit… slutty.
"We've came here to watch." She said carelessly as she linked arms with one of the girls with them.
Grace had brought her classmates also; Amy, Tracy and Melanie were all there under Grace's orders.
"And?" Cuddy asked.
"And for the party afterwards."
"What party?"
"Oh it's just a little thing we arranged at downtown."
There were million things running through Cuddy's mind. First of all how she should be at her room studying. And how she was going to be behind in all of her assignments thus classes. And of course she knew who would be in the practice so Grace bringing her here had logic of her own, no matter how stupid it was.
Finally managing to turn her attention to what was going on in the field; it wasn't hard for Cuddy to spot him, staring at her baffled.
"Grace!"
"What?"
"He's staring. What do I do?"
"Just wave."
"What?"
"Wave!"
"Why? That would be stu-"
"I said do it."
So shyly, Cuddy raised her arm and gave him a quick wave with a smile following it and she was relieved to see him acknowledge her and wave back.
After the very boring practice, Cuddy had found out that Grace had plans with Trevor who wanted to take them out to a well known pub at downtown. It was mostly visited by college students. Even though Cuddy didn't want to go, she couldn't help it when Grace had insisted with her puppy dog eyes.
And now she was standing at the bar, bored out of her mind; because Grace had ditched her to hang out with Trevor, she was making small talk with Melanie. Every five minutes or so, her eyes searched for House but she had lost him right after the practice.
She looked around and saw Grace making out with Trevor beside the ladies room. It looked like they were about to go in. Huh, so much for not liking him… At the table, Tracy was sitting there with a guy from the football team who was whispering things in her ear and making her laugh. The rest of her friends and the team were drinking and grinding each other on the dance floor.
Disgusted, she turned her head away from them to listen to Melanie's interesting story about her lost dog and tried to seem at least a bit interested.
Her hand went to her glass and she turned to find that it was now empty. Just as she was about to order another one, she heard a familiar voice behind her.
"Don't you think you've had enough?"
She smiled to herself, knowing who exactly was the guy behind her. Not wanting him to notice her excitement, she barely turned her head to answer him.
"Says who?"
"Says your reaction to Melanie's dog."
"It's an interesting story and I'm listening." She lied.
Walking in front of her to face the two girls, he spoke, addressing Melanie also. "No, it's not."
Offended, Melanie gave him an angry look and walked away, telling Cuddy that she'd be back later.
"Hope she won't…" murmured House as he took her place, next to Cuddy.
"That was rude."
"But true nonetheless."
She rolled her eyes and couldn't help but smirking.
Seeing her smile despite her efforts didn't go unnoticed by House as he watched her acting uncomfortable around him. She didn't know where to look, what to do with her hands or what to say. He liked it and oddly enough for him he found it adorable.
"Get up, we're leaving." He blurted all of a sudden.
"What? Where?"
"Out." And without waiting for her to reply, he stood up, grabbed her stuff for her and headed out the door. Cuddy had no choice but to follow him.
Once they were outside, she spoke. "Give me my stuff back." And she reached for her bag but he pulled it away.
"Why?"
"Because it's mine." And she reached for it again only for him to pull it away again.
"Not a good enough argument." He said playfully.
"I don't need a good argument to get my own stuff back."
Ignoring her, he started walking. The street was empty considering it was 11.30 pm and everyone had school tomorrow. It was an almost narrow road, surrounded by red brick buildings and illuminated only by street lamps. It looked beautiful. And Cuddy followed him into the darkness, not knowing where the street went.
Their footsteps were the only sound they could hear as it echoed in the empty street, Cuddy's heels beating House's. She noticed how slow his pace was and she somehow knew wandering around slowly was not his kind of thing so this was for her. Not worrying about her bag for a second, she closed her eyes and tried to enjoy the peace she hadn't felt for a long time. And it felt good.
"Nice, isn't it?" he asked calmly.
"Very." She responded.
"You're not used to this." He deduced from her.
"What?"
"The quiet. You're not used to it."
"Got a sister going through puberty and lots of cousins. Can't find some time for myself."
"But now you can."
"Yes." She said softly and smiled at him, glad to see him smile back.
"How about you?"
"Sorry, my sister's already done with her puberty."
She hit him playfully on the arm. "You know what I mean!"
"Oh the quiet thing yeah…" he fell into a silence for a minute. "Only child, had lots of alone time growing up."
"You must be lucky." She said, envy in her voice and heard him sigh.
"Yeah, some might say that…"
"But you don't?"
"No."
Their mood had changed from calm to sad. She felt the sorrow running through him and wanted nothing more than anything to give him a hug, assuring that everything was going to be okay. But she didn't even know him.
Noticing the tensed air between them, House quickly changed the subject. "So you're taking Mrs. Burrell's class next year also?"
"No, why would I do that?"
"Assuming that you'll fail."
"Hey!" she said, acting like she was offended. "Why would I fail?"
"It's a hard class for a freshman like you. You can't do it."
"Sure I can!" she challenged him."
"No, you can't. You can't even get your own bag from me."
Frustrated, she launched at him one more time, aiming for the bag but he was quicker as he grabbed her waist and pulled her to a secluded part of the street, pushing her back against the dark red brick clad wall and he stood in front of her, watching her now panting face. He realized that her panting was only due to her excitement.
Lifting her face, she came face to face with him as they stared deep into each other's eyes without saying anything. Slowly House handed her bag back to her.
"Feminists… Can't even accept a man carrying their bag for them." He murmured, jokingly.
"Yes because you were doing that purely out of altruistic reasons." She rolled her eyes.
"Dr. Cuddy! You hurt me!" he said dramatically.
Her heart skipped a beat when she heard him calling her a doctor. She was just a freshman but she was a candidate nonetheless. It was strange to hear him say that but flattering.
She realized she hadn't even thought herself a doctor until now. It was him who first called her that.
Still staring at him with amazement, she snapped back to life when he pulled away from her and started walking again. Quickly, she hung her bag on her shoulder and followed him.
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