Chapter 19: Pretty boys make me nervous

He swirls the scotch on the rocks around the glass. He is sitting in the dark, contemplating his ex-wife. He slightly smiles as he thinks about the first time he met her.

They were in some bar down by the college. It wasn't one of his usual haunts, but he had agreed to go hang out with some of the guys from work. Most of the other guys had already found perky young co-eds to hit on. Most of the women were entirely too young for his taste. She was young too, but not as young as most of the women in the bar. And she really got his attention when she dumped three beers down the front of his shirt.

She had picked the beers up and then turned to go back to her table. He had been standing right behind her and she bumped into him and sloshed beer all over him.

The man looked annoyed to be drenched in beer. "Lucky you have a nice rack, or I'd hit you."

She cringed. She had just dumped $15 dollars worth of beer down the front of his shirt. What little bit of buzz she had was rapidly dissipating. "Dammit. Sorry." She turned back to the bar and put the empty glasses down and then grabbed a towel. She turned around to face him and began to mop up his shirt. "At least I dumped expensive beer all over you," she muttered.

He studied the blushing blond in front of him mopping up his shirt. She was shorter than him and cute. He hadn't been joking about the nice rack either. She was vigorously rubbing his shirt with the towel. He grabbed her hand and said "I think you're just rubbing it in more instead of mopping it up." The woman looked up at him and he was momentarily startled by the bright green eyes that met his icy blue eyes.

At least she dumped beer on a good-looking guy. "Let me buy you a drink to apologize."

He nodded. "Glenlivet, on the rocks." She nodded and turned back to the bar. She ordered two scotches as well as two more beers. The bartender set the drinks on the bar in front of her. She started to pick one up to hand to him but he stopped her by saying "Let me get that this time so I don't end up wearing it."

Her cheeks reddened even more as she sipped her drink and she said "Good grief, it's not like I said 'Hmmm… dumping three beers on some random dude seems like a great idea!'"

He smirked. "Yeah, I think it is a better idea to dump two or four beers on a random guy. It's a bit more balanced that way." The look on her face is strained. "Hey, it's ok. I know you didn't do it on purpose. What person would waste expensive beer like that?"

She flashed him a tentative smile. "It was flagrant alcohol abuse."

He grinned at her. "I knew you had to have a sense of humor. What's your name?"

"My name is Kate. What's your's?"

"I'm Greg." He smiled at her. "With those green peepers, you look like you should be a 'Kat', not a 'Kate.'" She blushed again. "Why do you blush so much? Haven't you ever been paid any compliments?"

She nervously said "I'm not good with men."

He laughed at her. "I don't buy that."

She shook her head. "No, really, I tend to do stupid things like drench them in beer or publicly humiliate them."

Suddenly, Lisa bustled up to them. Greg had his back to her and Lisa only saw Kate at first. "Oh fabulous! We send you to get us more beer and you flake out and start hitting on random strangers at the bar!"

Greg turned around and said "Dear God! It's Lisa Cuddy!"

Lisa's mouth made a small "O". She stared at him for a moment and finally said "Greg House?"

He grinned as he peered down her low cut shirt. "The one and only. I see the twins are doing nicely."

Lisa frowned. "Kate, you could at least hit on the ones who are not egotistical bastards with size issues. Did you even order the beer yet?"

Kate looked slightly stunned that her friend knew Greg. "Um right, yeah." She handed Lisa two beers. "Here. You go on back to Ethan. I need to buy this guy a drink. I accidentally spilled the first round of beers all over him."

Lisa shook her head as if she wasn't surprised and carefully balanced the two beer mugs in one hand. "Greg House may look like he is charming and a good catch, but he is nothing but a misogynistic bastard who wants nothing but a wild one-night stand."

Greg winked at Kate and said "Cuddy here knows from first-hand experience." Cuddy punched him in the arm hard. "Hey! You can't go around beating on men!"

Cuddy imploringly said "Please, Kate, just buy him his drink and then come back to the table. Ethan'll introduce you to some of his buddies from the fire department." Cuddy spun around and headed for the table.

Greg grinned at Kate. "You're a bad girl. You lied to your friend."

Kate impishly smiled. "I figured I owed you a drink for each beer I spilled on you." She signaled to the bartender to pour another two drinks.

Greg grinned at her. "I like the way you think." The bartender deposited the two drinks on the bar. Greg grabbed one and she grabbed the other. "So, you seem fairly normal. How did you end up being acquainted with a shrew like Lisa Cuddy?"

"She's not a shrew! She is an intelligent and talented woman!"

"Who has a nice rack, albeit not as nice as yours. You should take some wardrobe pointers from her," Greg said as he eyed her modestly-cut blouse and sipped his drink.

Kate knocked back her scotch and snapped "I am dressed just fine. Finish your drink. I want to get back to my friends."

He finished his drink in a large gulp and she gestured to the bartender for another round. She slapped a fifty down on the bar to cover the drinks and told the bartender to keep the change. The bartender quickly had two more scotches waiting on the bar. Kate grabbed them and held one out to Greg. "Here, take it. I don't have all night."

Greg carefully eyed her. He said "Well, since this is the last drink you owe me for drenching me in beer, why don't we have a nice toast so you can scurry back to Cuddy and her fireman?"

"Fine. What do you want to drink to?" She impatiently tapped her fingers on the scotch glass.

"How about to Cuddy and her fireman?" Greg smirked at her and winked.

Kate rolled her eyes and said "Fine, to Lisa and Ethan." She raised her glass to clink against his. He moved his glass close to hers, and then in a sudden calculated move, dumped his drink down the front of her shirt.

"Oops! My bad!" Greg feigned a look of innocence as he put the glass on the bar top and grabbed a towel. He started to dab at her shirt.

"You did that on purpose!" Kate swats his towel-wielding hand away from her shirt.

"It was an accident! I know! I will buy you a drink as an apology." Greg impishly smiled at her.

"Ugh, I don't want you to buy me a drink," she said and thrust her drink at him. "Take it." He obligingly takes the drink from her hand. She unbuttons her blouse and pulls it off to reveal a low cut, dry tank top. Greg's eyes widened in appreciation and he emitted a low whistle. "Shut up."

Greg batted his eyes at her and gave his best puppy dog look. "I said I was sorry."

"Right. I think the score is even now, Greg House." Kate walked away from him and back to her table.

The night passed quickly. True to her word, Lisa introduced Kate to several fireman friends of Ethan's. Kate had taken a liking to one of the guys, Tom. They spent most of the evening dancing. Soon, it was closing time. Kate gathered her purse and smelly, wet blouse and Tom walked her outside. Lisa and Ethan had headed back to his place earlier in the evening.

Tom was putting on his best moves in an effort to get Kate back to his place. "I really had a good time tonight with you. Why don't you come back to my place for a drink?"

Kate shivered in the cool evening. "I don't think so. I barely know you. How about you give me a call tomorrow and we can go from there?"

Tom took her hands in his and imploringly said "Come on, just one drink."

Kate smiled and said "I think I have had plenty tonight. How about we go to lunch tomorrow and get to know each other better?"

"Or you could come back to my place and I could make you breakfast in the morning," Tom said with a grin.

The smile fell off Kate's face and she said "I'm not that kind of girl." She tried to twist out his grasp, but to her shock, his hands tightened their grip on hers. He started to walk down the sidewalk with her in tow. Kate nervously said "Come on, Tom, this isn't funny."

"You're going to come have a drink at my place. You can leave after that." He stopped at a car and fumbled with his keys in one hand while keeping a firm grip on her.

Then he appeared. "She said she didn't want to go back to your place." Kate never thought she would be so relieved to see Greg House standing next to them. Tom immediately released her hands.

"Who are you?" Tom demanded.

"I'm her older brother. And I don't appreciate you messing with my baby sister." Greg gave Tom a threatening look and said to Kate "Are you ok, Katie? I'll give you a ride home."

Kate was too relieved to yell at him for lying. "Ok. I need a ride." Greg took her hand and lead her away from the car. Once they have walked a good distance away, she heaved a sigh of relief. "Thank you."

Greg tsked and said "That's what happens when you play with firemen." He noticed she was shivering and threw his leather coat over her shoulders. "You really shouldn't be running around in a tank top."

Kate smirked. "Funny thing happened. Some jerk at the bar dumped his drink on me."

"Really? Some bitch dumped three beers on me earlier tonight."

Kate laughed. "I bet that jerk and that bitch may have a lot in common."

Greg nodded as he opened the car door for her. "If I was that jerk, I would ask that bitch if she wanted to go out to lunch tomorrow."

"If I was that bitch, I'd say yes."