005. Outsides
Facades
James Wilson was considered to be an exceptionally bright young doctor. He was the Princeton-Plainsboro's wunderkind. The Boy Wonder. Saint Wilson. The youngest Department Head in the hospital. The all-round nice guy. The kind doctor. The caring soul. The only friend to Dr Gregory House much to the bafflement of all and sundry. He wore all of these titles with apparent ease but it was all a façade. And no one knew…except for one.
Dr Gregory House was the Head of Diagnostic Medicine. He was, if you chose to listen to the hospital gossip mill, mean, nasty, sarcastic, acerbic and intolerant of anyone lacking his intelligence. He was crippled, pain-raddled and a drug addict. He rarely shaved, he wore jeans and t-shirts, even leather jackets on occasion, and never wore his lab coat. He didn't look much like a doctor. But it was all a façade. And no one knew…except one.
There was a new nurse in the Oncology Department. She was very pretty and very funny and Wilson hadn't had sex in a long time. His wife had left him three weeks ago and the last time he'd had sex was at least six months before that. The nurse…he was fairly sure her name was Jenny…obviously liked him. He could tell; he'd had a lot of experience. He knew after only a couple of minutes of conversation that if he wanted he could have her in his bed tonight. It wouldn't even be wrong. He was almost a divorced man after all.
As he talked and flirted with her, he felt an odd weight on him and knew someone was watching. He looked up and saw it was House and he smiled. He'd made plans tonight to go over to House's place to drink beer, eat pizza and shoot the breeze. They might even watch the baseball or whatever bizarre movie House had found. The last one they'd watched had been this British movie called 24-Hour Party People. Wilson had had a bit to drink that night and the movie had seemed incomprehensible to him. All he could remember was that it had something to do with the band Joy Division.
He turned back to the pretty nurse. "Looks like my ride's here," he said with a charming smile. "I have to go…Jenny, wasn't it?"
The nurse's face fell then she gave him a wry smile. "Josie, actually but you were pretty close. I guess they were right."
With that strange comment, she patted his arm and walked away. Wilson dismissed her from his thoughts; she was pretty and quite fun to talk to but not what he really wanted.
He walked over and grinned at House. "Hey, House. Is it time to go? You promised beer and pizza."
House seemed to pause for a moment but before Wilson could ask what was wrong, he seemed to collect himself.
"Yeah," House said quietly. "Yeah. Let's go."
Wilson gave his friend a curious look at the tone of voice but then dismissed it. The two men walked down the corridor towards their offices; the Boy Wonder and the mean and nasty Dr House. Two facades. Two souls. Too far apart while so close together.