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You Could Meet Him on the Bus: Everything You're Missing
by Taima Hiroshima
The next morning she was standing at the bus stop with her shoulders slumped. She was wearing her jogging pants with a hole in the knee and a baggy beige t-shirt. Her hair looked like it had barely seen a comb, and she wasn't wearing any makeup, not even the lip gloss she normally put on.
Her shoelaces weren't tied. There didn't seem to be much danger of her tripping over them though. She didn't even lift her feet off the floor as she shuffled down the aisle. She dropped into her seat behind House.
"You didn't bring my doughnut!" House sounded put out. One look into her red rimmed eyes and he shut his mouth. Tiffany stared at him for a minute before her face crumpled. She buried her face in her hands and sobbed quietly.
House didn't even blink as he sipped his coffee and watched her. She seemed to have been crying a lot recently. She couldn't keep it up for much longer, really. Sure enough, she lifted her face and sniffled. House tossed her a napkin.
"Sooo... I take it Prince Charming wasn't touched by your effort on the debate team?"
"Prince Charming is GAY," Tiffany spat. She slouched back on the seat and crossed her arms.
"Well, I always had a sneaking suspicion as to why his father had to have a ball to find him a wife... Strapping young gent that he was," House murmured. Tiffany looked at him as though he had just blasphemed.
"House," Tiffany rolled her eyes. "I mean he's really gay. I saw him kissing his boyfriend. Why am I such a fag hag?"
"Oh, come on Tiffany. Don't you have any girlfriends you can talk this over with or something? Anyone but me?" he was feeling a little desperate. She looked at him, with a heartbroken expression on her face, eyes glistening. House groaned.
"Oh, you're about to pour your heart out to me, aren't you?"
"In my whole life, I've just wanted someone to love me. Anyone. One person."
"It's not all it's cracked up to be." House said in a low voice. Tiffany stopped crying after a second.
"Really?" she sniffled.
"Really," House leaned against the window and absently massaged his thigh. "When you love someone, it consumes every whisper of every waking hour. All you can think about is this relationship. And in the end it's not going to bring you anything good. You're better off alone."
"But what's so great about being alone then?"
"You get to control the remote control." There was silence. Tiffany looked down at her hands and sighed.
"That's why you're so grumpy, isn't then. You might be able to pick whatever show you want, but you'd rather fight over it with someone, wouldn't you? It's empty like that..." Tiffany's voice faded off. She looked thoughtfully out the window.
"That guy you like. Does he know that you like him?"
"No," House admitted.
"How come you haven't told him?"
"Because you see what's happened to you? I don't want that to happen to me." There was a beat while Tiffany gave him an evil look.
"Oh, come off it, girl. How many Oreo cookies did you have to eat before you could cry yourself to sleep last night?"
"None! I just had to eat a few pudding cups." House raised an eyebrow. "Okay, four."
"See," he sounded triumphant.
"But at least I'm trying. I'm putting myself out there. What have you been doing lately?" House glared at her. She looked at him innocently. The bus pulled up in front of the hospital.
"At least I don't look foolish... Sitting in the bus in my grubbies with tear stains on my cheeks." House grabbed his bag and limped off.
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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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