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4 – Bon Jovi and booze

"Uncle Greg! You'll never believe who I saw while I was coming here!"

"I probably don't even care." He replied un-enthusiastically, barely looking up from his Game Boy.

I ignored his reply as I sat in front of him. "Jon Bon Jovi!" No sound from him. "Well, I'm not 100 sure it was really him, because he was walking on the other side of the street and I couldn't cross because I had a red light and there were too many cars, but he does live in New Jersey and not even that far away from here… I think he's from Rumson, or Middletown…" I stopped talking. "Can't you fake some interest?"

"I like being brutally honest."

"Okay…" I looked around. The office was empty and I was wondering where uncle's employees were. "Are you even wondering why I'm here?"

"I can guess. You'd like to see Wilson, maybe?"

I blushed and hoped he didn't notice. "No." I firmly said. "I brought you the new issue of the Daily Princetonian, since, you know, I wrote an article about the hospital. Thought you might want to show it to Dr. Cuddy as well."

Uncle Greg put down his Game Boy and grabbed the paper. "I guess I have no choice but read it since you're here." He muttered and started reading.

I got up and paced around the room. I was somewhat nervous when my uncle read whatever I wrote, because I really cared about his opinion. He was right most of the time and his advice were always useful.

He was still reading when a girl entered the office. She had to be in her mid-twenties and she was really pretty.

I guessed she was the new doctor, the immunologist. I smiled and offered her my hand: "Hi, I'm Dr. House's niece, Liv."

She smiled and shook my hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Allison Cameron."

"I hope you enjoy working here…I know uncle Greg can be a real pain." I told her.

"I'm not deaf yet." Uncle remarked.

"Yeah, keep reading."

"I'm done, actually." He put down the paper. "You could have asked more annoying questions to Cuddy, I would have liked to see her get all defensive."

"Uncle…"

"It's a good article, but not as good as the one you once wrote about Francis Scott Fitzgerald. And you should have interviewed me, not Cuddy."

"I'll do that next time… I never wrote about Fitzgerald, maybe you mean JD Salinger…"

"Yeah, same thing."

I personally thought JD Salinger was better than FS Fitzgerald but decided to drop the subject. "Okay. Thanks for the constructive criticism." I ironically remarked, since he hadn't told me what he liked or disliked about the article.

"Anytime. Cameron, you're here early." Uncle said, like he had just noticed her presence.

"It's 9…" she pointed out.

"You're right, it's me the one who is here early. Chase and Foreman, on the other hand, are late. I could blackmail them… make them play a joke on Wilson…" he stressed Wilson's name, staring at me.

I looked away. "I'd better go." I grabbed my things and got up. "It was nice to meet you, Dr. Cameron. Bye, uncle Greg."

I left feeling a bit annoyed. What was my uncle trying to do, bringing up James all the time?

-----------------------------------------

The following week exams finally ended and my friends and I couldn't be happier, especially because we were feeling completely drained.

"I call a drinking night!" Michelle, a friend of Kate and I, suggested that afternoon. "Let's go to Murphy's pub later and let's get totally wasted!"

"Yeah, we'll come, won't we Kate? Unless… you're going out with Walt?" I asked.

"Nope, I wanna celebrate with you girls!" she smiled.

I wasn't a drinker. Not because I wanted to be a bore, I just didn't like the taste of most alcoholic stuff out there. But that night the excitement was such that even Kate and I took shots and drank. Not to the point of getting drunk… but more than I'd ever done before.

I went to say hello to some people and while I was getting back to the table where Kate and the others were, I bumped into someone. "Dr. Chase! I mean Robert…hi..."

"Hey…" he smiled. He was wearing a dark blue shirt which looked incredibly good on him. "How've you been? I haven't seen you in a while."

"I've been good…" My brain had frozen, I didn't know what to say. "Hum…you been here long?"

"No, I just got here. Can I offer you something?"

"Hum…I…" I shouldn't really drink anymore. I've had enough, I can't hold liquor. "Why not!" What the hell? My brain is not processing what I really want to say!

We sat and ordered drinks and I thought of something clever to say. "I'm kind of celebrating tonight, pretty much everyone here is, because exams are finally over and it's awesome, and…" I was rambling. Robert was looking at me smiling and he was just so cute. "How's it going with my uncle? Is he treating you guys badly?"

"No, he's… himself, I guess. He's the most peculiar person I've ever met." He paused. "I noticed the excitement around campus. I almost feel like I'm back in college, it was the same way."

"Where did you study?"

"In Melbourne. I came here when House…your uncle hired me." He drank some of his beer.

"That must've been hard, leaving your country to start a job abroad…"

"Not really, there wasn't much for me in Australia." He spoke, almost angrily.

I wondered what he was referring to, but I thought it safer not to ask. "I wanna travel a lot. When I'm done with college and studying… I wanna visit Canada, Europe and New Zealand…and yes, Australia too…"

"On your own or with someone?" he asked, like he was hinting to some boyfriend of mine.

"On my own, I mean, with friends maybe… when I was younger I'd always thought I'd go with my uncle, I used to worship him, and he would have liked to see Europe I guess, but then the thing with his leg happened…" I trailed off. I was speaking almost incoherently. "Thanks for the drink." I had almost finished it.

"My pleasure."

I liked the way he looked at me, but I also felt a bit embarrassed. I shouldn't have worn that top, it showed a little too much for my taste. "Let's play a game. Tell me your favorite book… I'll tell you about yourself."

"What?" he laughed.

"Yeah, I do it all the time with people… they tell me their favorite novel and I tell them what they're like. According to my interpretation."

"Okay then…The grapes of wrath. Have you read it?"

I nodded. "I read it when I was in high school. I like John Steinbeck's works. Okay, let me guess… you're an only child…"

"Yeah, how do you know?"

"Because from my experience, only children like reading books where the main character has a big family or there's lots of family interaction. At least that works for me… and also, I think you're a thoughtful person but you don't want others to get too close… and see this side of yourself." I was sounding too serious but I couldn't help it. Alcohol really affected me in strange ways.

"Wow, you could be a psychologist. What are you majoring in?" Robert looked surprised, so maybe I was right… at least partially.

"Journalism, but I considered studying psychology when I started college. I prefer writing though."

"Speaking of writing, I read your article on the Daily Princetonian. I liked it, you write differently than the other people on that paper."

"Differently-bad or good?"

"Good, you speak your mind but you're not aggressive when doing so."

We chatted for hours and I ended up drinking some more. When I finally looked around, Kate, Michelle and my other friends weren't in the pub anymore. It was late, they'd probably gone back to the dorms. I frowned: "Great, thank you very much…"

"Something's wrong?" Robert asked me. He had drunk some, but he was still completely sober, like he had just been gulping down water.

"No, my friends left, but it's okay. They probably went to sleep or to party in someone's room."

"I can walk you to your dorm if you want." He offered.

I was going to say no but I didn't want to say goodbye to him already, so I accepted and we left the pub. The cool air made me feel a bit more awake… but I wasn't paying much attention and I almost tripped on some stairs. Great… make a fool out of yourself, Liv.

"What are you doing this summer now that you've finished your exams?" he asked me.

"I'm actually taking a summer course in June, so I'll be back in less than a month. I don't live far from Princeton anyway… less than a hour…and you? Are you going somewhere?"

"No, not really. I just got my job here, I'll probably be working all summer."

When we reached my dorm, I started panicking. How should I say goodbye to him? I couldn't think clearly…

"This place is really beautiful, you're lucky to study here."

"Yeah, it's a blessing…"

"I guess I'll see you around…" he smiled.

"You definitely will. I mean…" Man, I was really out of it. "Thanks for walking me here…goodnight, Robert." Impulsively, I kissed his cheek. He looked surprised but also pleased, as I smiled before entering my dorm.

Kate scared me when, after I'd closed the door behind me, she jumped out of her bed and grabbed my shoulders: "Liv! How did it go with the guy?"

"Kate! Do you want to give me a heart attack?" I sighed. "Why did you leave me without saying-"

"Are you kidding? You two looked so cute, I didn't want to disrupt anything!"

"Point is, there wasn't anything to disrupt!" I entered the bathroom and washed my face with some cold water. "I feel a little light-headed..."

"Did you kiss him?" she excitedly asked.

"No I didn't! Well, on the cheek, so it's not a real kiss, but… he works with my uncle! He's…off limits! And… just because Robert's good-looking and has beautiful eyes and a great smile and full lips, it doesn't mean I'd like to kiss him!"

Kate looked at me warily. "May I point out you just contradicted yourself?"

"Whatever, I'm going to sleep!" I took off my shoes. "Why aren't you drunk?" I asked angrily.

"You're mad I'm not drunk?"

"I'm not mad! You know what, we'd better not talk until tomorrow."

Ten minutes later I was tossing and turning in my bed. I was trying to remember everything I'd said and done when I was with Robert to see if I had made a fool out of myself.