Spin the Bottle
The knocking at her door continued. Cameron tried to open her eyes and realized that if she concentrated really hard that she could manage it. "I'm coming" she called and grabbed the complimentary robe at the foot of her bed so she wouldn't give whomever was on the other side of the door a heart attack. She opened it and it revealed a waiter with a tray.
"Good morning madam, would you like me to set this up on the balcony?" He entered and walked to the other side of the room. Given that it was a cruise ship stateroom, it didn't take very long. The curtains were drawn and the sun blazed in. He opened the door and laid the table for her meal.
"That seems like a lot of fuss for toast and coffee." She said, thanking the waiter on his way out. The previous night was a blur. A glass of champagne when they boarded, the lifeboat drill (she felt like a perfect idiot wearing the bulky life jacket in the cocktail lounge), dinner was positively gone. There were flickers of a really good Cote du Rhone and a fish she had never heard of, but she found that it was easier on her head if she didn't think about it all that hard.
She lifted the cover on her plate and found her toast, buttered, with an assortment of jams, jellies, and honey. There was another plate on the table containing slices of smoked salmon, capers, onion, lemon and a scoop of cream cheese. She didn't remember ordering it, but it looked delicious, so she made herself an open faced sandwich.
In the distance she could see the port, Sorrento, Italy and the volcano beyond that. The sea was calm and blue. Capri was directly ahead of her, small and rocky looking. She poured the second cup of coffee and breathed in the fresh, salty air.
"Good morning. Did you sleep well?" His voice startled her.
"Oh my God. I didn't even see you there." Cameron turned and saw House on his balcony next to her, eating his much larger breakfast.
"The eggs are magnificent. It's hard to find someone who really understands the boiled egg." He tapped on the shell of what appeared to be his third egg.
Cameron nodded and realized that she needed a Coke. "Hold that thought." She got up and went to the mini-bar. She reached in, passing the beer, tonic, ginger ale and bottled water, she found the Cokes, in the back. The ice bucket still held solid cubes, so she took one of the crystal glasses from the glass doored cabinet and walked back out onto the balcony. She took a long sip, "Oh yeah, that's amazing."
"Rough night?" He asked politely, sitting back with a copy of L'Unita.
"I think I was just exhausted. I only had one glass of wine. What time is it?" She had lost track somewhere along the line and there was no clock in the room.
He looked at his watch, "Just a bit after eight. We have plenty of time. The tour leaves at ten."
She swallowed, "Tour?"
"Check your itinerary; we're off to Pompeii this morning." Was it possible that he was excited?
"Right. I remember it all now. This sure is nice though, just sitting here like this. What are you reading?" She squinted at the print, "Is that in Italian?"
"We are in Italy." He said matter-of-factly, "That wacky Berlusconi, what's he up to today?"
"You know Italian?"
He sighed, "I know French and Spanish, the other Romance languages just fall in behind."
"You're like Batman or something. You know everything and what don't you have on your utility belt?" She poured another cup of coffee.
He chuckled, "I choose to ignore that you picked the darkest of the superheroes. So how do you come to be conversant in Comic-book Geek?"
"My husband. I still have all the boxes stored away." She stood, "I better get my act together here. What do I do with the dishes?"
"Just leave them. They'll take them away when they clean the room." He turned the page. "Knock on my door when you're ready."
Cameron put on one of her new outfits, a short denim dress and buttery soft leather sandals. She had a very small purse, just large enough to hold her room key, ID and some money. She stuck her sunglasses on the top of her head.
House whistled appreciatively. "You're looking very sophisticated."
"Uh. Thanks."
The bus bounced along a mountain road, bordered on the left by the sea. The view was gorgeous, but the ride was hot and uncomfortable. They were dropped off at the ticket booth. They were told to wait while their guide made arrangements for the entrance fee. Cameron took the opportunity to use the restroom. She gave one of three guys in uniforms a dollar (not having an opportunity to exchange any money). When she emerged House laughed. "You know that there's no charge, right?"
She shrugged "So he got a buck. It's nothing to me and it's something to him."
Their guide took them up an inauspicious ramp, Cameron noted that it was dirt and mud, "I don't know what I was expecting, but this isn't it."
"I think it's on the other side of the fence." House said, shuffling along with their group.
The first part of the tour was of different objects that were excavated from the site. Cameron studied the casts of the people who were killed in the eruption. All were in fetal positions. It was gruesomely interesting.
They crested a small hill and the full scope of the place became apparent. "Oh my God, it's a whole city. I thought it would be, like, four huts. I had no idea." Cameron's voice was choked with awe.
Their guide showed them bath-houses, shops, great homes and modest hovels. Streets, temples, amphitheatres. Everywhere stray dogs hung around splayed on the marble slabs trying to stay cool.
It was about two hours into the tour and while it seemed like they had only seen a small part of it, House was staring to lag behind. "Hey are you okay?"
He sat heavily on a bench and rubbed his thigh, "I just need to rest." He waited until her head was turned to open the bottle, wrestling with the cap. It fell to the ground and rolled over by a garbage can. He groaned and debated if he could just keep the pills loose in his jacket pocket.
He watched her as she approached the guide and he averted his eyes. He pretended to watch a dog walk across the lawn. He saw that she was coming back to him so he stood up slowly and decided to chase the lid after all.
She saw it and scooped it up on her way over to him. "Here, I think you lost something."
"Thanks." He put the bottle back in his pocket.
"I'm starving; thank goodness we're nearly done here. Do you suppose that we could get a pizza before we go back to the ship? I've always wondered what pizza tastes like in Italy." She waited for him to catch up as the rest of their group had moved on to the next site.
It was well after 1:00 by the time they were loaded back on the bus and on their way back to the port. They had the option to stay on the bus and go back to the dock or to disembark at the town square. Deferring to Cameron's desire to eat an Italian pizza, they opted to have lunch at a sidewalk café. House sat down at the table and ordered a scotch. "What'll you have? A glass of wine?" He asked Cameron as she looked over the menu.
"No, some water would be good." She became indecisive about the different options, they all looked so good.
House spoke to the waiter in Spanish-sounding Italian, the waiter asked House something and he turned to Cameron, "Do you want gas?" He asked her.
"Pardon?" She peered at him over the menu.
"Sparkling or still. Your water."
"Oh. Sparkling."
"Con gas." He related to the waiter, who walked towards the bar to fill their order. "So you're getting a pizza?"
"It all looks so good. The salad sounds phenomenal." She waved away his offer from the breadbasket.
"Tell you what, let's do a sampler. We can eat off of each other's plates." He placed his menu down on the table.
The waiter arrived and he ordered a pizza, a salad and a plate of risotto. The waiter wrote it down and asked, "And for your wife?"
Cameron blanched and House laughed, "No, that's for both of us." He said.
The waiter nodded and left to put their order in.
"So what did you think of the ruins?" She asked, putting her sunglasses on in the bright light.
"Amazing. I've read about them and I've always wanted to see them, but there's no way you can be prepared for it. It's interesting though. They've excavated them twice, and they'll probably have to do it again. The volcano's still active." He finished his scotch and smiled at the relief it gave.
"Feeling better?"
"Nothing like old scotch and a young woman. Makes you feel glad to be alive." He dared her to say anything. "So what did you think?"
"I had no idea it was so huge. It would take weeks to see it all. The bath-house was amazing, that so much of it is in tact. I loved how you could just imagine what it was like to be there then." She closed her eyes for just a moment, thinking about being the mistress of one of the manor houses. "If nothing else I wonder if I can get a 'Cave Canem' doormat."
"You want a doormat that says 'Beware of Dog' in Latin? Why? You don't have a dog."
"It's incredibly cool and funny. Plus, I like the drawing of the dog." The waiter put a small salad in front of her. "This looks fantastic." She forked up a bite. "It is fantastic."
After lunch they walked around the square on their way back to the dock. Most of the stores were closed for lunch, but something caught House's eye, "Oh wait, one more treat." He held the door open for her.
Cameron looked around; there were ceramic trays behind a glass counter. All different colors with big paddles shoved in them. "Ice Cream?"
"Gelato." He immediately started reading the flavors to her, "Mint Cream, hazelnut, double chocolate, dark chocolate, Swiss chocolate, strawberry, blueberry. Hell, every damn berry you want. I'm having a double, Nutella and raspberry." He ordered his cone and waited for her to decide.
The girl behind the counter handed it to him and asked, "For your wife?"
"I'm not…" Cameron started.
"Honey, come on, what kind of gelato do you want?" He teased.
"Well dear, dulce de leche is caramel, right? I'll have that. In a cup. Not too much." She smiled at the girl behind the counter.
They sat on a bench and ate. Cameron dipped her spoon into the paper cup and savored the last bite. "Is all the food in Europe this good? It's like…exponentially more delicious." She threw the cup away in the can next to the bench.
"Yes, except of course in Britain." He looked at his watch, "Let's get back, I want to get a good seat for the lecture."
It turned out the House's idea of a good seat for the lecture was in the back so he could nap. The seminars were held in the ship's theater, so it was dark and cool, with soft, comfortable chairs. Cameron knew that the morning's activities had taxed him and resolved to wake him only if he started snoring.
The seminar ended with enough time to change for cocktails before dinner. They made their way back to their cabins when Cameron ran into Dr. Weston.
"Allison! I thought it might be you. So how's everything?" He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.
His wife, a tall, thin woman with platinum blond hair and about five-thousand dollars worth of plastic parts, seemed to resent this.
"I'm fine, this is Greg House. Dr. House, this is Charles Weston, I worked with him at Cedars. This is his wife…" She strained to remember her name, she thought it was Mindy, but that might have been the other one.
"Angie. So Allison, what are you doing now?" He asked, knowing full well that she had a fellowship. "This little girl was the darling of our department at Cedars. She broke a lot of hearts when she left."
Allison winced in pain, or it might have been an attempt at a smile, "Oh now…"
"Hearts? That's interesting because at our shop she just breaks balls."
Weston seemed confused, "Well, we've got to be…"
House took advantage of an opportunity to escape. "We were just on our way to cocktails ourselves, I trust we'll see you later?" He wasn't taking any chances that this clown would detain him any longer.
"Absolutely, look me up in the bar. It's Chivas PRN for the rest of the evening." Weston guffawed as his wife tittered.
They were almost out of earshot before House asked, "Christ, Cameron, how did you put up with that ass?"
At dinner they were seated at a large table with an allergist from Scottsdale and his wife.
House made small talk but by dessert he had grown bored with the doctor's relentless description of his practice.
"You know, people used to move to Arizona if they had asthma or bad allergies, but we've got terrible pollution and with the non-native plants, we're getting high pollen counts as well." He cracked the top of his crème brulee.
His wife elegantly stirred her coffee with a jewel encrusted hand, "Thank goodness!" She laughed.
"Yes, it's a good life. I golf twice a week all year-round. The kids love it, they live in the pool. You and the wife," he indicated Cameron, "should come out some time, see what it's all about." He took an enormous bite of his custard.
Cameron was anxious to get out of there before House said something. She stood, "Please excuse us; it's been a long day."
"Hey, aren't you staying for the show?" The wife asked. "It's a Tribute to Broadway."
House stood with her, "You know how it is with these youngsters."
The allergist winked, "sleep well."
Cameron fumed all the way to her cabin. She tried to get into her room in enough time to slam the door on him, but the card-key wouldn't cooperate.
House took it from her and turned it around. The lights glowed green so he turned the handled for her, "Open sesame." He realized that she was still angry, "So, are you going to watch 'The Aviator' or that chick flick?"
"House, why do you…do that?" She wasn't sure why she was annoyed, all she knew was that she was.
"Are you going to keep explaining to people that we aren't a couple? Why? What do you care? You'll never see any of these idiots again, and even if you do, so what?"
She saw the humor in it and laughed, "You're right. You want to come in for a minute?" She walked in. The bed had been turned down and a fresh bowl of fruit was on the coffee table.
He walked in and noted that unlike his cabin, that hers was neat and tidy. All of her personal items were stowed on the teak shelving that cleverly adorned every wall of the room. He turned on the TV and flipped the channels while she ducked into the closet to change. The TV got a couple of local channels, the Italian version of Big Brother, CNN International and BBC. He found one of the closed circuit channels and put it on there. He opened the fridge and helped himself to a bottle of water. He sat on the sofa and put his feet up on the coffee table.
She came out of the closet in her PJ bottoms, a cotton top and the terry cloth robe. "Make yourself at home." She sat on the bed and reached into the drawer for her hand cream.
"I already did."
She leaned back in the bed "Is that Sandra Bullock?"
"How would I know? It's some girl and there's some other girl and they're doing girl-things. Chick flick." He motioned towards the TV. "Hey, check this out." He picked up a bottle that had been left on the console. "Limoncello."
"What's that?" The glass of wine she had with dinner suddenly caught up with her and she was feeling disconnected from herself, her hands tingled.
"Lemon liqueur. Tart and tangy, but sweet too. Like someone I know." He sat back down and put the bottle on the marble topped coffee table and feeling the balance of it spun it. It wobbled a bit and came to rest pointing at the bed. "Are you playing?"
It took her a minute to understand what he was getting at. "Are you?"
He got up and walked around the sofa and knelt down beside her bed. They looked at each other. Cameron shifted so that she could look into his eyes. "Don't say anything stupid." They said simultaneously. Cameron dissolved into giggles and House smiled and kissed her.
She relaxed back on her pillow wondering what would happen next. She stared up at the ceiling. He stayed where he was, analyzing the moment. "Cherries?"
"Lip gloss." She explained. Suddenly she wanted a lot more than just the taste he gave her. She also knew that it might spoil everything. She closed her eyes and reached around him for the remote control. She turned off the television and waited.
"It's quiet." He said, listening to her breath.
"Quiet is good." She reached behind her and hit one of the light switches. The lights in the room went out except for the reading lamp by the bed.
"It's dark."
"It's night." Cameron felt like the world was spinning. The boat's gentle rocking as they moved toward their next destination made her feel off-balance. Or was that his kiss?
"Your turn." He said simply.
"What?" She had grown lightheaded.
"Your turn. The game." He reminded her.
"Ah, the game." She sat up slightly and leaned towards him, putting her hand on the back of his neck and pulled him towards her. She kissed him, feeling his arms wrap around her.
He clung to her for just a moment, inhaling her fragrance of lilies and tuber roses. "Tomorrow we're playing Post Office."