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You Could Meet Him On the Bus: Truth and Chocolate Frosting
by Taima Hiroshima
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I think we all know the hair flip I'm going to be talking about here. I'm thinking there are probably only going to be three more stories in this series, but maybe more. I'm really not too sure, it's a rough guess.
She got on the bus the next morning wearing jeans and a plain red t-shirt. It was far from her usual wardrobe, where she usually wore jewelry and her t-shirts had a funny slogan or something, anything but plain, but it was better than looking like she'd just to rolled out of the Salvation Army bin.
Her eyes scanned the people on the bus and quickly zeroed in on House. He pretended to be reading The New England Journal of Medicine. The girl tossed her hair back with that gesture that all teen girls seemed to have perfected and stalked by him. She was wearing her perfume today. Juniper.
Tiffany dropped down in her normal seat and ostentatiously pulled out a box of doughnuts. How couldn't help but glance over his shoulder at them discreetly. There were a dozen of them, and they were all his favorite chocolate covered.
She glanced up and caught his eye. A slow grin spread across her face as she carefully selected one of the treats from the box. Ever so slowly, she held it up to her mouth. Her small pink tongue darted out and lapped up some of the frosting. She let her head fall back, the exaggerated picture of bliss.
House tried to ignore her for as long as he could, but the overwhelming scent of chocolate was creeping into his nose. Suddenly, the case of typhoid fever found in New Hampshire just didn't interest him anymore.
What interested him was the white cardboard box sitting in the lap of the little wench behind him.
Finally, House threw the glossy magazine onto the seat next to him. He turned around partway to glare at the girl. She smirked, licking some frosting from her fingers.
"Yes, DOCTOR?" she sneered.
"You know, Tiffany, all women are evil. It's a fact of life. Most of you are pretty enough that we men (and some other women) don't seem to mind that you're evil. I had hoped that you were young enough so that it wouldn't affect you quite so much. I guess I was wrong."
"Coming from you, Mr. I don't care how many people I hurt on the bus, because that's just how I like to start my day, I'm going to take that as a compliment." She took another bite with gusto. House paused.
"I didn't say it to hurt you, Tiffany. It was the goddamn truth, and you needed to hear it. Besides, it seems that it's gotten you to dress like you're actually going to be seeing real people, not just those on your TV screen on Passions and Days of Our Lives."
"I do not watch Days of Our Lives!" Tiffany protested, looking disgruntled. "I watch All My Children," she mumbled.
"Tiffany," he sighed. He turned back around. "I have to tell the truth."
"No you don't," she said softly. "There are some points, House, when it's better to just not say anything at all. And that was one of them. It's no wonder you ride the bus if that's the way you to talk to people. You don't have any friends who'll give you a ride." He flinched, and she knew that she'd struck a nerve.
"No wonder you're alone, House."
"Tiffany!" he snapped. She just looked at him and shook her head, strands of her hair falling into her eyes.
"I really pity you, Doctor." She held out a doughnut. House stared at her.
"You-you-you pity ME? You're the one who is a teenager and rides the bus, dresses badly, reads on the bus instead of writing notes to her friends---." He scrambled then and paused.
He seemed to do those same things.
The bus arrived at the hospital. House snatched the doughnut and limped off with as much dignity as he could possibly muster.
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Legal Disclaimer: The authors published here make no claims on the ownership of Dr. Gregory House and the other fictional residents of Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. Like the television show House (and quite possibly Dr. Wilson's pocket protector), they are the property of NBC/Universal, David Shore and undoubtedly other individuals of whom I am only peripherally aware. The fan fiction authors published here receive no monetary benefit from their work and intend no copyright infringement nor slight to the actual owners. We love the characters and we love the show, otherwise we wouldn't be here.
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