Hello everyone, thanks for the amazing reviews. You guys are awesome.
So here goes another chapter, thanks to my beta, Toledo Girl, who is just as awesome.
I hope you enjoy it and feedback is very much welcome. :)
CHAPTER 6
Riley looked to both sides and crossed the street at the same time the alarm rang. He removed the old Yankees cap from his head, carefully placed it inside the bag he carried on his shoulder and entered the large building.
The hallways were large and tidy. Dressed up children rushed in groups to their classes, and Riley instantly felt like an outcast. All the other kids seemed to be properly dressed up and well taken care of. Riley couldn't help noticing the expensive clothes and the brands they carried stamped on their backpacks or sweaters, or overhearing the conversations about the summer they had spent in Europe or in the Hamptons.
Trying to remain unnoticed, he starred back to his image on the glass wall of one door and realized that was not where he belonged. Back home, school was the only place where he could find some peace and quietness, and with his mother's leave, he had lost absolutely everything.
Without noticing, his jaw went hard out of anger. He left a heavy sigh when he saw a bright yellow sign attached to a scarlet red door, which read 6th grade. Riley twisted the doorknob as discretely as possible, but his arrival caused a much bigger impact than he had imagined. Children of about 11 or 12 sitting in groups stopped talking as soon as they spotted the new kid standing on the doorway, who wore a sweater too large for his size and looked too small to be in that class.
Without saying a word or showing any signs of affection, Riley walked through the desks heading to the back of the room.
He kept his head up and looked ahead. Although never in his life having any reason to be so confident, Riley had always been too daring and too secure to bend his head against anyone or anything.His unique way of facing life and its difficulties were just part of who he was, and it was that contrast of traits, his arrogance and his quietness that overflew around him anywhere he went that made him so fascinating to other people. He was also intimidating.
Riley knew the whispers and gossip were about him, but he couldn't care less. Those kids looked as strange to him and he did to them, but it wasn't long before a tall, blond woman entered the room and all the talking ceased. The teacher smiled to the students she had already seen in the school in the previous years but when she spotted Riley, her gaze lingered. Smiling to him, she asked the new boy his name and where he came from, introducing him to the class. He had an angelical face and didn't look at all like a bad kid so she decided her first challenge that year would be to have Riley House make new friends.
She then smiled at him, clueless as to who she was dealing with.
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House took a step forward and hesitated.
He hadn't seen Cuddy since the night in her house when they had almost lost their minds. But well, if losing their minds was as good as that had been, they definitely should do it more often.
He kept his hand on the doorknob for a few minutes, struggling with himself, refusing to admit he was there to find out how Riley's first week in school had been. He would never ask, but he knew Cuddy too well and could easily manipulate her into telling him. Not that manipulation was necessary. As any other female, Cuddy already had a predisposition to share information.
But that was a different situation, he had to admit. The atmosphere between them would be heavy and deciding to ignore that, he walked into her office as if nothing had happened.
Cuddy looked up, tired of insisting he should knock before coming in. She waited until he said something, but nothing came out of his mouth.
"Something wrong?" she asked evasively.
"Wilson said you wanted to see me," House lied.
"He did?" Cuddy frowned. House was an excellent liar and she wasn't immune to that special talent of his "Wilson must have gotten confused, then," she explained, suddenly feeling nervous. Would House have said anything to Wilson about what had happened between them?
"Or maybe," House suggested, noticing she was blushed. "You got confused and did ask him to tell me to come here," House tried to trick her, making her actually believe him and subtly making room for the topic she was trying so much to avoid.
"I don't think that's what happened," she argued.
The way she looked away, looking so nervous, gave House more courage, because he knew how uncomfortable she was feeling that moment. He needed to know that to make sure he had control over the whole situation between them.
"You sure?" he insisted, taking one step forward, now so close to her that Cuddy had to turn her head up to look him in the eyes.
After a week of silence, Cuddy felt like she couldn't withhold her frustration anymore. She had been feeling embarrassed for allowing herself to be carried away, for the way the moment they had shared had ended and her ego was wounded by his indifference towards everything.
"I suppose you didn't come here to talk about what happened," she raised her voice, feeling she was being as sarcastic as he used to be "Now if you excuse me, I have work to do."
"I think it's lovely you chose to forget what happened and pretend it never did," he smiled childishly, making her angrier. "Bad for business, remember?" After that, House gave her a friendly wink, testing her. That made Cuddy lose her mind.
"You're an ass, House!"
"You're not the first woman to tell me that," he replied, in a calm tone. "Probably won't be the last."
Although Cuddy had no expectations after what had happened, her ego didn't need to hear that. Feeling humiliated, she decided to put a stop to things. "I agree with you," she coldly revealed to him. "Thank you for not trying to pretend you're not an idiot."
"Oh c'mon!" He replied, feeling a little angry now. "What did you expect? Eternal love promises? I can't even use the old 'it was just physical' cliché because that wasn't even sex." He spoke keeping eye contact with her the whole time. "And stop playing the victim here, you enjoyed it as much as I did."
More humiliated than she had ever been in her life, Cuddy didn't have the strength to talk back. Indicating the door with her eyes, she simply stated: "I have work to do. And you have clinic hours. Please, leave."
Taking a deep breath, House rolled his eyes and followed her instructions. Why were women so complicated? And especially, why was Lisa Cuddy so much more complicated? And why was it that she became more fascinating to him each time, when all he wanted to do was to despise everything about her?
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It had been three weeks since Riley had started school and all Cuddy heard from him about it were disconnected words here and there. It was hard to have Riley share his feelings and from what she'd gathered, he didn't have enough social skills to make friends, even though it had been almost a month.
Time had helped her get over her anger towards House, and little by little, they started to talk to each other again. The dirty jokes and House's pranks hadn't vanished, but he seemed to be more careful about what he said. Neither one of them wanted a discussion like the one they'd had, though House wouldn't hesitate if he felt like it was needed.
Telling herself that would be the last parental responsibility she would take before convincing House to accept Riley, Cuddy got into her car and drove to his school.
Riley insisted she shouldn't bother to go pick him up every day, but he hadn't been in Princeton for too long and Cuddy thought this way he'd be safer. Besides, she liked to watch to see if he would ever interact with the other kids on their way out.
Cuddy had noticed that Riley often left the school alone and walked straight to her car. Today, however, he came accompanied by a black haired boy who was smiling widely about something they were talking about. Riley wasn't smiling, but his facial expression wasn't as grumpy as usual. Feeling happier all of sudden, Cuddy left the car and crossed the street to go meet him.
"Oh. Hey," Riley said, surprised to see her standing there, waiting for him.
"Riley," Cuddy smiled at him "Won't you introduce your friend to me?"
Riley glanced to the boy on his side, who kept a mesmerized smile on his face and apparently couldn't stop looking at Cuddy.
"Is that your mom, Riley?" the other kid asked, without really caring for the answer. He was too distracted by the gorgeous woman's cleavage right in front of his eyes, something that had been happening really often lately when it came to women.
"No," Riley replied plainly without offering more information "This is Vittorio. He's in my class. Vittorio, this is Dr. Cuddy."
"Hello, Vittorio," Cuddy stretched her hand to the hormonal young boy in front of her "I'm taking Riley home, do you need a ride?"
"Actually, my dad is picking me up. This is his week to be with me. Look, there he comes!" the boy pointed with his eyes "But thanks, anyway."
Cuddy turned around towards where the boy was pointing and noticed a tall dark haired man coming in their direction. Vittorio ran towards him and the strong man lifted the boy without any difficulty, hugging him before taking the school bag from his hands.
"Dad, this is Riley," Vittorio pointed to his new friend.
"Oh, the famous Riley," Vittorio's dad offered his hand for Riley to shake "Heard about you the whole week. How are you? I am Vicenzo Belucci, Vittorio's father."
Cuddy noticed he had a strong Italian accent and then he turned around he noticed her.
"You're Riley's mom, I suppose?" he offered his hand for her too "Nice to meet you."
"Oh, I'm not his mom," Cuddy explained, trying not to seem like she was disappointed by that. "I'm Dr. Lisa Cuddy. I am a friend of Riley's father."
"Ah," the man seemed slightly disappointed. "Well, Riley is one lucky boy for having such a beautiful stepmother."
Cuddy felt flattered by his comment, and recalling the lack of appreciation House often reserved for her, she felt irritated and heard her voice before she could think: "Oh, it's nothing like that. He and I are just friends" Shaking his hand one more time, she added, "it's nice to meet you too, Mr. Belucci."
"Please, call me Vicenzo," he requested, with his strong accent.
After saying goodbye to Vittorio, Riley followed Cuddy to the car. She took the boy's backpack and placed it on the backseat, happy with herself for making the decision. During those last few weeks, House had made her feel awful and unattractive as a woman but, Vicenzo Belucci's compliment and the appreciation she had spotted in his eyes, added to the fact Cuddy hadn't seen any wedding rings made her feel hopeful and alive again.
If Gregory House didn't realize she was worth a lot, she would damned sure find someone who did.