Ruby is in the bar, beer in hand. Her hair falls in down onto her shoulders, her hair glossy in the low light. Her lips are red and shining, her eyes glowing maroon.
She is absolutely beautiful.
House limps over to her table, thumping down next to her and studying her face.
"Greg. You are probably wondering why I called you." She looks to the side, barely hiding her smile.
"Yeah."
"Greg… I have a new boyfriend."
House chokes on his drink, but hides it well.
"Oh."
"Aren't you happy for me?" She is grinning like a happy young child.
Her words hit him like a shot in the heart.
No. "Yeah."
He forces a smile. She nods energetically.
"His name is Adam, and he's such a sweet guy. I love him so much. He's really rich, and really nice. But his parents don't want us together, because he's at, like, a different social class." She explains, and he nods.
"When did you meet him?"
She swirls her drink with her finger. "Two weeks ago. I didn't mention him because I thought he was going to blow me off, but now we're really dating! I'm so happy."
Her joy seems to radiate from her and warm his painful, throbbing soul. "Congratulations." He rasps, and she laughs.
"Yup." She looks at him suddenly. "When we get married, will you walk me down the aisle?"
Her words are so unexpected he spits his beer out.
"What?"
"My dad is too sick…my brother is still recovering. You're the best friend I have."
He pretends his heart doesn't well at those words. "Yeah. Definitely." He grins spontaneously. "You're probably the only person who has ever said that to me."
She smirks. "I'd believe it."
"Bite me." He glares, but his eyes smile.
----------
She is scrubbing his dishes furiously, not even imagining what this odd, yellow and stinky substance that is plastered to his plate.
"Ruby?" House calls, sitting on his couch and sipping his drink. He hasn't spoken to her all evening.
"Yes?"
"Where did you meet Adam?" She suppresses the urge to snort, as he hasn't been able to talk about anything else the last three days.
"On of my clients knew him. It was… love at first sight, you could say." She is grinning now, and he hates it.
"Oh."
"Where did you meet Stacy?" The question catches him off-guard, but he recovers quickly.
"At a strip club."
"What were you doing there?" She knows it's a stupid question, but asks anyway.
"I was there for entertainment, she was there with some colleagues and trying to get a beer to calm her nerves. She didn't even sit down next to me. She saw me across the bar and her friends convinced her to go up and hit on me and see what I did. We ended up going home together." He explains quickly, downing his drink between sentences. Ruby nods.
"Sounds like you guys were meant to be." At this, House laughs, a rough and raspy and distinctly unfriendly sound.
"Yeah. That's it." He snarls, and she isn't sure why he's angry.
"Greg? What's wrong? Are you drunk?"
He sighs. "Maybe."
"Why?"
"You don't want to know."
He stands and staggers into the kitchen beside her, grabbing the wet dishes and drying them.
"Thanks." She whispers, and he appears not to hear her.
They work in silence until she leaves early, and she doesn't tell him it's to meet Adam, because a part of her knows that will break his heart.
------------
"Adam?" The man is young and noticeably cute, his brown eyes dancing at her.
"Yeah Baby?"
"Have you met Greg House?"
He putting on his jacket and tosses her a look. "Don't believe I have. Who is he?"
"A friend."
"How old?"
"Old."
"Good guy?" He asks, and she smiles.
"I think so."
"Ok. Well, I'd love to meet him, sweetie."
"I don't think he'd want to meet you, though." She laughs, and he frowns.
"Just what kind of friendship do you guys have, Ruby?"
"A close one. I clean his house." She replies, clearly not sensing his anger.
"Oh, really? And I suppose you two are together whenever I'm not around? Is that the guy you met at the bar?"
"Maybe. What's it to you?" She is getting defensive and crosses her arms over her chest.
"What's it to me! Come on, Ruby. Have you slept with him?"
"No! I would never do that to you, Adam!" She is yelling now, and he stomps toward her.
"Well, maybe you need to rethink your friendship, then."
"What does that mean?" She whispers, and he grins viciously.
"You promise you'll never see him again and I won't call this all off."
She bolts from house, trying to hide the tears streaming down her face.
------------
For reasons she can't explain, she rides the bus to his house. She sees the lights and thanks the Gods he's home.
"Ruby, what's wrong?" His silver gaze jerk over her face, and he steps back and lets her come in.
Her maroon eyes are shiny and leaking, and she buries her face into his shirt.
"Ruby, are you okay?" His voice is unusually soft and kind, and he slumps onto the ground and pulls her into his lap.
"Adam said…" She sobs roughly between words, "that if I ever saw you again, he'd, he'd, he'd leave me!" House feels anger surge through him as her face crumples with those last three words.
"Ruby, that's ok. I'll clean my own house. If you love Adam, you should go with him." He's never said anything like this before, but somehow, he's done lots of things with Ruby that's he never done before.
"Greg, do you love me?" She sits back and holds his face so he can't turn away, but sees the anguish in his eyes.
"I don't know." He breathes, and she buries her eyes in his.
"Yes or no, Greg."
There is a long, pregnant pause. "Yes." The word is mumbled so quietly she can barely hear it, but she does and it's unmistakable.
"You're my best friend, Greg. In that way, I love you too. And you're probably more important to me than Adam." Her voice is strong and firm and House finds comfort in it.
"Oh." It's all he can think to say, and she smiles.
"Yes. Well. Do you promise to be my best friend forever?" She grabs his hand and he snorts.
"Should we get BFF bracelets?" He jokes, and she sticks out her tongue at him. He sighs. "I promise, Ruby."
-----------
Later that night, they're on the couch, House with popcorn and Ruby with a Popsicle. Ruby convinced House to watch The Silence of the Lambs, and she screams about every other scene.
There watching Clarice and Hannibal in the hospital:
"You know what you look like to me, with your good bag and your cheap shoes? You look like a rube. A well scrubbed, hustling rube with a little taste. Good nutrition has given you some length of bone, but you're not more than one generation from poor white trash, are you, Agent Starling? And that accent you've tried so desperately to shed? Pure West Virginia. What's your father, dear? Is he a coal miner? Does he stink of the lamb?
You know how quickly the boys found you... all those tedious sticky fumblings in the back seats of cars... while you could only dream of getting out... getting anywhere... getting all the way to the FBI."
House points toward the screen, laughing.
"What?" Ruby snaps, and he turns to her.
"You here that? Lector says Clarice is a rube. You do know what that is, right?" House teases, and Ruby looks pissed.
"I'm not a rube."
"Oh, but you are."
She shoves him hard and he laughs even harder, swinging his arm around her shoulder and giving her a noogie. His knuckles push into her skull and she narrows her eyes, jabbing him in the side, hard. He yelps and lets her go.
She hops to her feet and skips to the phone.
"Can we call Wilson?"
"Why?"
"Because he's really cute and I want to see him."
House laughs. "Fine."
Wilson arrives fifteen minutes later, and the three settle onto the couch.
"Hey, Rube?" House calls, and Ruby growls.
"What?" She snaps, and he chuckles.
"Grab me a beer, would you?"
"I'm not your slave!"
"But you are my maid."
She slaps in the face, hard, and he howls as Wilson laughs. Ruby is laughing now, too, and pulls on top of House and starts hitting him again and again and the doctor can't stop howling and jerking and laughing.
And all the sudden, before anyone knows what is happening, House and Ruby and are kissing.
Wilson goes silent and sits back, enjoying the show and Ruby winds her arms around House's neck and House grabs her face gently, the soft smacking noises and popping until the finally pull apart.
Oh, shit.
TBC.
Dun, dun, dun.
Don't know whether it's going to be a friendship or romance. What do you think now?
