Betty or Veronica?
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. If I did, Lana would be a lot less perfect and Clark wouldn't like her, Pete would get any girls he wanted (aw, come one, he's cool) and Chloe would rule all.
A/N: If this story seems random, it's because it is. I wrote it in, like, five different sections at different times and the story changed quite a few times. Anyway, I hope you like it and reviews are always welcomed.
****
The tall figure of Clark Kent stepped into the dusky light of The Talon. He didn't have a clear idea of what he was doing there, but he had a feeling it was to talk to someone about something very important. It was after he ordered his usual latte that he noticed his friend Chloe Sullivan sitting alone in a booth near the door. He quickly approached her and sat down.
"Clark." She said with a surprised look on her face. "Uh… what are you doing here?"
Clark frowned slightly at the anxious look that had suddenly replaced her surprise. "I'm just getting a coffee. Don't worry, there will still be some left for you to hoard whenever you get a craving."
Chloe shot him an exasperated look coupled with a sigh. Clark noticed that her attention wasn't fully on him… or a story, which was usually the case. Instead, her eyes were darting to the door every ten seconds and she couldn't concentrate on their conversation.
"Chloe? Earth to Chloe! What's up with you today? You have your coffee right in front of you, so this isn't a caffeine-deprived state…" Clark trailed off as Chloe suddenly straightened up and smiled at something just over Clark's left shoulder. He turned his head and saw Lex Luthor, heir to billions, walk through The Talon's double doors.
"Clark. Chloe." He nodded in introduction as he sat down at Chloe's side. Clark furrowed his brow in confusion. Whenever Lex sat with them, he usually sat next to Clark. What had suddenly caused this change? Clark also didn't like the giddy smiles on both of their faces and the arm that Lex had casually thrown over Chloe's shoulders.
"What's up, Lex?" Clark continued casually, hoping that an explanation for their strange behaviour would work it's way out during their conversation.
"Not much, Clark. And you?" Clark hoped his face wasn't as red as it felt as Lex reached out with his hand and stroked the side of Chloe's face. He was even angrier at the fact that she seemed to enjoy it.
"What is going on with you two?!?" He finally cried when he noticed that Chloe was leaning heavily against Lex's frame.
Lex shot a glance at Chloe, who sighed, then nodded. Lex turned back to Clark. "Chloe and I… well, during your Lana phase, we bonded and now…" He trailed off, leaving Clark with a good idea of exactly how close Lex and Chloe had become.
He couldn't believe the emotions that were coursing through him at that moment. Anger, Hurt, Betrayal, Anguish. All of the emotions that he never believed he would be feeling if he knew Chloe were dating someone.
"Why didn't you tell me?" He didn't bother to hide the hurt in his voice.
Chloe made a small noise of disbelief. "Yeah right. It's impossible to tell you anything unless it has something to do with Lana Lang. The truth of the matter, Clark, is that I have moved on and found a great thing with Lex. I just hope you can be happy for us…"
Clark closed his eyes as the words reverberated inside his head. Great thing with Lex, I hope you can be happy for us. He shook his head, trying to rid his mind of the thought. When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in his bed with a racing heartbeat.
It was only a dream
. He sighed deeply.****
Chloe Sullivan looked out of the window of the school bus as it roared past the Kent farm. She was looking forward to seeing her handsome best friend first thing in the morning. Instead, she was sitting beside Pete, who was moaning about the latest cheerleader whom he was dating.
"Pete! Chloe. Hasn't. Had. Her. Coffee. I don't have the patience for your girl problems right now." She slumped backwards on the seat and crossed her arms. "Farm Boy is going to be late." She didn't notice the bemused expression on Pete's face as she turned her attention to the passing scenery.
As they stepped off the bus as it idled in front of Smallville High, Chloe saw Clark standing on the front steps talking to none other than Lana Lang. Chloe fumed inwardly. Lana Lang, the most sought after girl in school. Every guy wanted her and every girl wanted to be her… except, Chloe noted with pride, Chloe.
Pete noticed Chloe grinding her teeth and took her arm. "C'mon Chlo, let's go inside."
Chloe gently pushed Pete's hand away and strode ahead of him, chin in the air. She avoided Clark's eye and walked right past him into the school. She felt her cheeks flushing as she thought back to the dream that she had that previous night. It had involved Clark and her alone in the loft and a serious lack of clothing. She wasn't sure that she could look Clark in the eye anymore, let alone talk to him without blushing.
She fumbled with her lock and let out a cry of frustration.
"Chloe." She gulped and turned around slowly. "I've been looking for you."
"Lex? What are you doing here?" She cursed herself for being so rude. "I mean, sorry. What can I do for you?"
He smiled, which, strangely, made her heart flutter. Usually only Clark's smiles made that happen. "I need to talk to you about that article you were going to write about me for The Ledger."
She leaned back against her locker and closed her eyes briefly. When she opened them again, she was shocked to see that Lex had placed his hand just above her shoulder and was leaning against it. She was a little uncomfortable with the limited space between them, yet, didn't want him to move away either.
"Look, I won't write anything that you don't want me to write, okay?" She finally managed.
His voice became low and husky. His smile was charming and warmed her insides. "Write whatever you want, Chloe. I trust you. This is about the interview that we had set up for Saturday afternoon. I have a meeting in Metropolis that I need to get to. Can we reschedule for Saturday night?"
She had wanted to check out a strange occurrence in the woods with Clark and Pete on Saturday night, but decided that this was more important. She opened her mouth to answer when she saw Clark looking suspiciously at them from down the hall. She looked back at Lex, who was still leaning over her. The close proximity made her thoughts fuzzy.
"Okay. Saturday night is fine."
He leaned further in and spoke softly, his mouth next to her ear. "I'll pick you up at 7."
"Where are we going?" She asked straightforwardly.
He chuckled, making her neck tingle. "A restaurant. We can do the interview at my house afterwards. It's only fair for me to take you out since I'll be cutting into your weekend." He pushed off the locker gently and smirked at her weak smile. "I'll see you then, Ms. Sullivan."
Chloe watched as he sauntered down the hallway and stopped briefly to greet Clark, who had a strange expression on his face. She turned back to her locker just as Clark reached her.
"What did Lex want?" Clark asked bluntly. "Because it looked like-"
"I'm doing an interview for The Ledger, Clark." She replied, slightly irritated at his tone. She lightened the mood by playfully slapping his arm. "You'd better watch it or Lana might think you're jealous." She heard Clark laugh nervously after she turned to put her books in her locker.
"Chloe… can I… we need to talk about…" He mumbled something that sounded like 'dream' and Chloe turned pale.
"Dream? Did you just say dream?" She started panicking; wondering if she had started babbling on the bus to Pete unknowingly or whether meteor rocks were somehow involved and her thoughts and dreams were relayed across the town.
"Yeah… and I want to know if it's true, because…" He looked like he was going to say something else, but he didn't, so Chloe slammed her locker shut and started walking to homeroom.
"Look, I don't know what you're talking about, so either spill or keep talking nonsense."
Clark stalled her with a hand on her shoulder and a very surprising question. "Are you dating Lex?"
She didn't know why the question bothered her so much. Maybe it was because of the way Lex had affected her only minutes earlier, or the fact that Clark was acting very unClark-like, or because she hadn't had her morning caffeine fix. It might have been a combination of the three that made her shove his hand off her shoulder and narrow her eyes.
"I told you that it was an interview Clark. What the hell is up with you today?" She spat out before turning on her heel and walking down the hall, leaving a very confused and somewhat hurt Clark Kent in her wake.
****
Clark was just heading out of the school at the end of the day in a miserable mood. Chloe had avoided him the entire day and wouldn't talk to either him or Pete about what had happened this morning.
"Clark!" A voice yelled at him from down the hall.
Clark spun around, hoping to see Chloe making her way towards him. He was surprised, but glad to see Lana walking his way.
"Hi Lana. What's up?" He tried to grin when she finally caught up to him.
She brushed a non-existent hair from her face. "Oh, nothing much. Are you okay? You've been kind of off all day. Something wrong?"
He wasn't sure if he wanted to talk about it with her, but no one else had offered their sympathy. "Yeah, kind of. I saw Lex and Chloe in the hallway together."
She looked at him patiently. "Well, she is doing a piece on him for The Ledger. They were probably just setting up an interview."
"Maybe. But Lex was leaning over her and… I don't know. I felt kind of weird. Chloe got kind of mad at me, too. I also had this dream that Lex and Chloe were dating and now I'm afraid it's going to come true." He said finally, exasperated.
Lana peered into his face, confused. "Why would you be afraid of Chloe dating Lex? He's not a bad person and he seems to like her."
"Exactly. Why does he like her? It doesn't make sense."
Lana suppressed a smile. "Okay, Clark. I really wouldn't say that to Chloe if I were you. I have a feeling it will get you into more trouble." She watched him rub a hand over his face to clear his thoughts. "Anyway, I wanted to know if I could borrow you on Saturday night to help me move in the new shipment for The Talon. I need someone strong who has experience with lifting heavy boxes."
Clark beamed. "Sure. What time?"
"About eight."
"Okay, I'll see you- oh shoot. Chloe said something about checking out the woods on Saturday night… oh well. I'm sure she won't mind. You need my help more than she does." He smiled again. "I'll see you then, Lana."
"Great."
****
"Chloe! There's someone at the door for you!" Gabe Sullivan yelled to his daughter, who was listening to what he called "angry girl music" at a volume that rattled the windows. When there was no reply, he ascended the staircase and knocked on her door.
"What?" She yelled over the music.
"Turn off the music please, Chloe. I can't hear myself think."
The windows stopped rattling and Chloe opened her bedroom door. "Sorry, Dad. I had a bad day."
"There's someone at the door for you."
Chloe furrowed her brow, but went to the staircase and stopped dead. "I don't want to talk to you."
"Chloe, come down, please." Clark pleaded from the foot of the stairs. "I'm really sorry about this morning. I didn't mean to jump to conclusions, I just… had this dream."
Chloe sighed, then went downstairs and led him outside. "What dream?" She asked as she sat in the porch swing.
Clark remained standing, then began pacing. "I had a dream last night that you and Lex had started dating, but kept it a secret from me. And when I saw you and him this morning, it was just… weird, you know?" He finished, plopping down beside her on the swing.
Chloe nodded. "Was that all you came over here for?"
Clark pulled himself out of his thoughts and turned towards her. "Uh, no. I can't come with you to investigate the woods on Saturday night." He expected her to reply with a question inquiring what he was doing instead. He felt guilty about ditching her and Pete for Lana, but hoped that Chloe would understand.
"That's okay. I was going to tell you that I couldn't go anyway. I'd better tell Pete that we'll have to do it some other time." She mentally noted.
Clark's eyes went wide. "What? Why can't you go?"
Chloe smiled inwardly at his reaction. "Not like it's any of your business, but I'm going out… with Lex."
Clark tried to hide his hurt. He didn't even know why he was feeling hurt. It was Chloe, for heaven's sake. "Oh."
"Yeah." They sat in an uncomfortable silence for what seemed like an excruciating long time, before Chloe broke the tension. "So what are you doing instead?"
Clark decided that he wouldn't feel guilty anymore. If Chloe was going out with Lex that night, he could certainly not lie about helping Lana. "I'm helping Lana move boxes at The Talon." He replied proudly.
"What about Whitney?"
Clark hadn't even thought of him. "I don't know. I guess he was busy."
Chloe rolled her eyes. "Clark," she said, somewhat exasperated, "you need to pull yourself out of the Lana-induced haze every so often and experience the real world." She got up from the porch swing and went inside, slamming the door behind her.