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Chapter 32
Before House even opened his eyes, he knew he wasn't in his bed. The bed he was lying on was way too soft to be his. He slowly opened each eye and turned his head to the side to see that the space beside him was empty. He listened for any movement in the house but it was quiet. He looked at his watch and saw it was almost eight thirty. Cuddy would have left for work by now, he thought. Thinking it was safe, he swung his long legs over the side of the bed to find his clothes in a pile on the floor. Memories of the night before began to fill his head. He and Cuddy had been drunk but not too drunk to know what they were doing. He sighed heavily and rubbed his hand through his hair when the door to the bedroom swung open, causing him to jump slightly. Cuddy walked into the room wearing a pale blue robe.
She glanced at him as she walked past the bed on the way to her closet. "I'm late." She said with a slight blush.
"And I suppose that's my fault?" He said in that sarcastic tone of his.
She gave him a little smile. "It sort of is. You should get up too or you're going to be later than usual and you have a patient to take care of."
"We aren't even at the hospital and you're still telling me what to do." He said as he bent over and picked up his boxers. His leg was killing him but he didn't want to reach for his vicodin yet. After putting on his boxers and slipping on his wrinkled tee shirt, he sat back down on the bed and looked over his shoulder to see that Cuddy was already dressed. He slipped on his jeans and managed to stand up again even though the pain in his leg was excruciating. He looked up to see that Cuddy was staring at him.
"What? Thinking about how wonderful I was last night?" He said in a smug tone.
She smiled and shook her head. "Actually, I was thinking that maybe we should talk later." She said almost in a pleading voice.
House shrugged his shoulders. "I don't need to talk."
"This doesn't seem a little weird to you?" She asked, not really believing him.
"We knew what we were doing."
"I know but what now?"
"Why do women have to make things so complicated?"
"Why do men have to be such jerks?" She shot back.
House stared at her knowing she wanted some kind of confirmation that the night before wasn't just about sex but he couldn't give that to her.
Cuddy had taken his silence to mean that he didn't know what to say. "Okay. I'll drop it for now but I would like for us to talk later."
"You mean you want to have another drink later?" He said waggling his eyebrows.
"Maybe this time, we could leave alcohol out of it. I have to go." She walked towards him and stared up at him. When he didn't make a move towards her, she stood on her tip toes and gave him a small peck on the cheek. "I'll see you at the hospital." She said and left.
It wasn't until he heard the front door close that he finally let out the breath he was holding and reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out the orange vile and downed two pills without any water. He made his way to the bathroom to take a much needed pee and wash the sleep off of his face. He stared at himself in the mirror. What he needed, he thought, was a long hot shower at his place. He went back into the bedroom to get his shoes and noticed the rumpled sheets on the bed. He closed his eyes and sighed. What was I thinking? He said under his breath. There was no way this was just going to go away, not with the way Cuddy was looking at him this morning and practically pleading for them to talk later. He cared about her but not enough to start a relationship with her. The crazy thing was, the whole time he was playing under the covers with Cuddy last night, he couldn't get Cameron out of his head. Finding out she and Wilson had slept together had stirred something inside of him that he couldn't explain.
He shook his head of the thoughts and went into her living room to put on his leather jacket. He just needed to get on his bike and ride, hoping the cold air against his face would clear his head. He wished he could erase everything that had happened the night before, knowing damn well he had opened a door that wasn't going to be easy to close again
