"They like you. Everyone likes you."
"Do you?... I have to know."
"No."
The words hung heavy in the air between us from the moment I got into her car. Actually, they'd been hanging in the air ever since they'd been spoken. Damn her for putting me on the spot like that in the first place. Things had been going along just fine until then.
She didn't say a word through the first half hour of the drive, which really sucked. The Friday morning traffic was sporadic and uninteresting, so all I had to do was watch the scenery. The radio was on, but it didn't really do much toward covering the intense silence. I knew I had to do something to get her talking if I was going to survive the remaining two hours of the drive, so I threw caution to the wind and spoke.
"Are you going to sulk in silence for the entire drive, or just part of it?"
Okay, so maybe that was the wrong thing to say.
She shot me a death-glare for a second before returning her attention to the road. "I'm not sulking."
I nodded. "Okay... moping, then."
Cameron sighed. "You know, this is my car, this is my vacation... I don't have to put up with your crap out here like I do at work."
Whoa. That was definitely unexpected. "My crap?" I said. "What did I do?"
"Nothing," she muttered. "Just forget it."
We were both silent for a minute or two, but then she suddenly burst out, "I just have to wonder, why did you agree to come with me if you don't like me?"
I cringed. I knew from the start I'd have to address that at some point during the weekend, but I was hoping it wouldn't be for a while yet. "I was dying of boredom, you had free tickets to a jazz festival," I said. "It seemed pretty logical to me."
"So, you preferred spending a weekend with me to dying of boredom. I'm flattered."
"You should be," I said, pretending not to notice the biting sarcasm in her tone. "There are very few people in the world whose company I can tolerate. You're one of them."
She looked over at me for a second with a confused look on her face. "You know, I just don't get you at all," she said as she turned back to the road.
I couldn't hold back a slight smile at that. "This surprises you?"
"We had a great time at that truck thing, didn't we?" she said without even acknowledging that I'd spoken.
"Yes, we did," I said. No sense even trying to deny it. We'd had a blast.
She pursed her lips in frustration. "I don't understand how you can enjoy yourself when you're with someone you don't like."
I rolled my eyes. "Oh, will you get over it already? I like you, okay? Geez, are you always this insecure, or just when it comes to your co-workers?"
"Then why did you say..."
"Oh, you know me. I have a reputation for not liking anybody, and it's one I've gone to a lot of trouble to live up to. I tell Wilson I don't like him half a dozen times a week, and it never bothers him."
"Maybe it does, but you're too wrapped up in yourself to notice."
Ouch. That seemed entirely too probable for comfort. Suddenly the pain in my leg escalated from slightly-annoying-but-bearable to I-need-Vicodin-now levels. "You know what?" I said after a second or two, in an unabashed attempt at changing the subject. "I really need to stretch my legs as soon as possible. Think we can pull over at the next stop?"
I thought I'd kept any indication of pain out of my voice or body language, but she glanced over at me with a concerned look on her face. "You okay?"
"Yeah," I said, reaching for the Vicodin in my pocket. "Just... sitting in a car for a while... bad for the leg."
She nodded and signalled that she was turning into the upcoming truck stop.
And so ended uncomfortable conversation #1 of our lovely little trip.
"I spy with my little eye, something that is... orange."
"The Garfield doll that's stuck to that car's rear window," I said, pointing dead ahead. "That was too easy. Okay... I spy with my little eye, something that is..." I looked all around at the scenery, the other cars on the highway, the interior of the car... and then my gaze fell on Cameron. "Brown."
"Okay, um... the dashboard," she said.
"Nope."
"The writing on that truck?"
"Nope."
She named half a dozen objects from the mud on the side of the road to the dashboards of the other cars until she finally sighed and said, "Okay, I give up. What is it?"
"Your hair."
"What? That's cheating!"
"It is not."
"I couldn't see my own hair!"
"You could if you looked in the mirror."
"Well, I wasn't even thinking of things that were on me! That's unfair... I want a do-over."
"No do-overs. You lost. Point to me."
She muttered something under her breath that I didn't quite catch, though I was sure I heard the word "bastard" somewhere in there.
"Care to share with the rest of the class?" I asked.
"I said, 'I don't want to play this anymore.' We've run out of things to spy anyway. Let's try... word association."
I narrowed my eyes at her, but played along. "Okay, you start us off."
She bit her lip as she thought for a moment, and then said, "Jazz."
"BB King."
"That's not a word."
"It's the first thing that came to mind."
She rolled her eyes, but then sat a little straighter in her seat. "Wait a minute," she said as she watched a sign on the side of the road pass us by. "I think this is where we turn."
"Oh, goodie, we're almost there," I said, rubbing my hands together in glee. Well, I wasn't actually feeling gleeful, but I felt as though I probably should be.
Cameron handed me a scrap of paper and said, "Could you navigate from here?"
I took the paper and studied the scribbles on it carefully. "Did you write this, or a chicken?" I asked.
She sent a glare my way. "I'm a doctor. We're supposed to have lousy handwriting."
"Touché." I squinted at it for a few more seconds until I finally felt as though I understood the words. "Okay... take a right here," I said.
She turned right without question. For some reason, that jumped out at me as being a step in the right direction. At least she still trusted me.
Thanks to my amazing skills of shotgun navigation, we arrived at our destination less than five minutes later. It was a large, gorgeous house with an ocean view, the kind of place only the filthy rich could afford, and there was a limousine parked in the street-like driveway. I couldn't help but gape at first sight.
"Here we are," Cameron said as she stopped the car and undid her seatbelt. "Home sweet home, for the next few days at least."
I snapped my mouth shut and gave a low whistle. "Beautiful. Think they're taking offers?"
She laughed and got out of the car.
I was just following suit when the mansion's front door swung open and four very excited people ran down the steps towards us. "Allie!" one of the women squealed.
Cameron held her arms out and the still-squealing woman enveloped her in a bear hug, dancing on the spot for as long as she held onto her. When she finally let go, the other woman did the same. I was a little worried that they might sprain something, or possibly smother Cameron to death.
They soon let her go, however, and then the two guys moved in. One of them seemed a little awkward with her, but gave her a quick hug and a peck on the cheek, but the other guy... for some reason, I felt my eyes narrow and my back straighten as I looked at him. He looked like one of those guys who grew up getting exactly what he wanted when he wanted it, and expects the same even still. His movie star good looks were probably a big help in that department, and I could tell from the way Cameron looked at him that his charms weren't lost on her.
This guy was trouble.
"My God, Allie, you look absolutely beautiful," he said as he looked her up and down. Then he wrapped his arms around her and pressed her body tightly against his own.
"It's so great to see you, Dennis," she said.
All I could think was, somebody bring me a bucket.
"So, who's your friend?" Dennis asked as he spied me over her shoulder.
The two of them parted, and Cameron gestured to me and said, "This is Dr. Gregory House. He's... my... boss."
Dennis gave her an odd look, but then stepped forward and held his hand out to me. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Gregory," he said. "I'm Dennis Peckford."
I didn't really want to shake his hand, but Cameron was shooting me a please-don't-be-a- jerk look, so I took it and forced a smile. "It's... Greg," I said, not really wanting to get buddy-buddy with this guy, but not wanting to hear him call me "Gregory" in that uppity tone all weekend, either.
"Greg," he repeated. Then he turned to the other three young people and said, "This is my brother Sam, his fiancée Beth, and her sister Jenn."
I was a very good boy and shook hands with all of them without saying a word. I could see that Cameron was in agony waiting for me to put my foot in it, though. Like I would ever purposefully embarrass her.
"Shall we go inside?" Dennis said once the introductions were over with. He led the way before anyone even had the chance to answer. "Sam, get their bags, would you?"
Sam stopped and rolled his eyes. Then he turned on his heel and walked back to the car.
Lovely guy, this Dennis.
I took in as much as I could of each of these folks as we walked up the front steps and entered through the massive front door. Dennis I could figure out at first glance, and his brother was no less of an open book. They were similar as far as looks went, but beyond that they were like night and day. Sam was obviously the grew-up-under-Dennis'- shadow younger brother who did whatever big brother told him without a word, but with a rebellious heart. He didn't seem to have much self-confidence and little or no backbone to stick up for himself. He'd snap one of these days, though, and the two of them would never speak again, that much was clear.
As for Sam's fiancée Beth, she was blonde, bubbly, and bulimic. The two of them looked just dysfunctional enough to suit each other. Jenn was slightly quieter and healthier, but just as blonde as her younger sister. From what I could tell, she was the one of the two girls that Cameron was closest to, which seemed to stand to reason. Jenn actually seemed to have some substance to her beneath the peroxide. I just hoped she wasn't with Dennis, cause a guy like that wouldn't waste any time in extinguishing the light of intelligence in her eyes and turning her into yet another one of his lackeys.
Yes, these were interesting people, indeed. I was starting to feel as though this weekend might be fun after all.
Until Dennis spoke again.
"So, Allie... will you and Greg be sharing a room?"
I almost choked on my own tongue, and I swear Cameron turned as red as a beet.
"Um... no... separate rooms," she said. She didn't even glance in my direction, just stared at the floor like she was hoping it would open up and swallow her whole.
No, there was no question now - this was definitely going to be fun.
