She'd taken the teasing too far. Rather than amuse, it seemed to have hurt Eric. His expression clouded over, his over-excited interest gone. Amber refused to believe it was because he was judging her for sleeping with women; even if he'd come from a poorer family and/or 'the hood,' it just seemed impossible he'd be that conservative. A lot of doctors were, for who the hell knew what reason, but Eric didn't seem that way—or, to be more accurate, Amber sure hoped he wasn’t that way.
Her comments had to have bothered him on some other level. Feeling guilty for being caught thinking about her with other women, even though she hadn't minded that much? Whatever it was, she wouldn't know just by wishing to read his mind. "Did I make you uncomfortable?" Amber asked honestly. If his hands hadn't been occupied with utensils, she'd have reached to touch him. If she knew why he'd grown sullen she could fix the problem. And on the slim off chance that he was a homophobic prick, better to know now. Amber didn't quite feel like eating at the moment, so she laid down her fork and watched Eric, waiting for his response.
Jesus, was he really dragging that drenched, hissing cat back into the conversation? Amber resisted the urge to roll her eyes, settling for just crossing her legs and cutting away another serving of pancake. "Of course no one wants to learn from you, no one even knows who you are. All anyone knew last week was that you were a random guy Cuddy pushed on to House." Eric wouldn't like being reminded of that one bit, but it didn't make it any less true. Any enemy of House's, at the moment, became the group's target, in their vying for a golden spot.
"And yeah, you screwed up, but you were also right all along. Which was better than even House—maybe he’d have gotten there first if he weren’t thinking with his pants, but he didn’t." Amber popped the pancakes into her mouth: they were wonderfully chewy and sweet, the underlying strawberry taste genuine. After chewing and swallowing some, she continued, "Not even I really know what you're like as a doctor. But if you get it right sometimes, the others might start wanting to learn from you." Amber swallowed the rest. "But is that what you want to be to us, a teacher?" Seemed to her he more wanted to be a magnificent ruler to a grateful audience, but she had promised to give him the benefit of the doubt.
no subject
Her comments had to have bothered him on some other level. Feeling guilty for being caught thinking about her with other women, even though she hadn't minded that much? Whatever it was, she wouldn't know just by wishing to read his mind. "Did I make you uncomfortable?" Amber asked honestly. If his hands hadn't been occupied with utensils, she'd have reached to touch him. If she knew why he'd grown sullen she could fix the problem. And on the slim off chance that he was a homophobic prick, better to know now. Amber didn't quite feel like eating at the moment, so she laid down her fork and watched Eric, waiting for his response.
Jesus, was he really dragging that drenched, hissing cat back into the conversation? Amber resisted the urge to roll her eyes, settling for just crossing her legs and cutting away another serving of pancake. "Of course no one wants to learn from you, no one even knows who you are. All anyone knew last week was that you were a random guy Cuddy pushed on to House." Eric wouldn't like being reminded of that one bit, but it didn't make it any less true. Any enemy of House's, at the moment, became the group's target, in their vying for a golden spot.
"And yeah, you screwed up, but you were also right all along. Which was better than even House—maybe he’d have gotten there first if he weren’t thinking with his pants, but he didn’t." Amber popped the pancakes into her mouth: they were wonderfully chewy and sweet, the underlying strawberry taste genuine. After chewing and swallowing some, she continued, "Not even I really know what you're like as a doctor. But if you get it right sometimes, the others might start wanting to learn from you." Amber swallowed the rest. "But is that what you want to be to us, a teacher?" Seemed to her he more wanted to be a magnificent ruler to a grateful audience, but she had promised to give him the benefit of the doubt.