Title: NOBODY LOVES YOU...
Fandom: characters SMALLVILLE: CHLOE, LEX
Theme/Prompt: #42: LOSS from LJ community, 50scenes
Word Count: 1635
Rating: U
Warnings/Spoilers: NONE.
Disclaimer: NEITHER SMALLVILLE NOR ITS CHARACTERS ARE OWNED BY OR FOR ME AND I DO NOT CLAIM THEM TO BE. I AM NOT MAKING ANY PROFIT FROM THIS, NOR HAVE I CREATED THIS FOR ANYONE ELSE PROFIT.

Summary: MY TAKE ON HOW AFTER BEING SO CLOSE IN SEASON 3, CHLOE AND LEX DRIFTED APART. PART TWO (CHLOES VERSION) IS UP NEXT.

Lex Luthor has been sitting in the same spot for the past hour, waiting for her to come. He knows she always comes in here, at least once a day, but for the past few days he's been waiting here and she hasn't come. He decided that if she didn't come today, he'd just have to go to her house and talk to her. He couldn't keep this pretence any longer; he needed to tell her the truth. But if she doesn't come this time, he's come prepared with a book in hand to read in case she unknowingly stands him up again. He hopes she doesn't. He's wishing her to be here so hard that he doesn't even notice her when she walks into The Talon. The sharp smell of raspberries and cream remind him she's here and he can't help but smile as the scent brings back memories of the past three months. She's given up so much for him that she deserves something in return. He just hopes that what he says is worth her waiting. He watches her slowly as she orders a cup of coffee, and he knows that she'll order a strong black coffee with two sugars and probably a spoon. He chuckles to himself at the habit he brought into her, stirring everything. He's not sure why he does it himself, it probably cools the coffee down. His heart falters a bit when he realises she hasn't seen him yet. He secretly wonders whether she's trying to ignore him purpose, or whether she just hasn't noticed him there. 'I should have sat the front of the shop. Then she'd have to notice me.' Lex is not pleased with himself. It seems that fate is trying to keep the two apart. Or it's her. He wouldn't blame her if she wanted to separate from him, he wasn't even with her all the time she was gone. He had told her that he had to return to Metropolis to make sure nobody realised what happened but he knew that she hated it. He thinks she hated it even more that he and Gabe were always talking about how they could increase security. She probably thought he was neurotic. He doesn't blame her though. He just didn't want anything to happen to her.

He glances up to look at her, and finds that she's gone from the counter and is sitting at the table right opposite him at the other end of the room. He has a perfect view of her, and watches her slowly stir around her coffee. She puts the spoon down and sits there quietly, a sadness creeping slowly against her face. Lex begins to panic. 'What if she hates being back?? What if she wishes she never left at all?' He looks away from her and stares down at the book in his hands. He doesn't want her to think he's a stalker now, so he pretends to read Fyodor Dostoevsky's words, all the while thinking about her.

He feels so pathetic now.

A grown man pining over a schoolgirl. A beautiful school girl, but a schoolgirl nonetheless. She probably thinks he's far too old for her and waits for someone younger to whisk her away. 'I shouldn't be thinking about a girl who's five years younger than me..' He's never complained about his age before, but now it seems to haunt him. He can't do anything for her. He glances up at her again and watches her scribbling in an orange notebook. Lex has grown accustomed to her notebooks, but now he wishes he could do the same. He could never write his feelings down for anyone to peer at. But with her it was so much easier. She already knew what he wanted. Yes, he was under the equivalent of a truth serum and he did nearly get her killed so he did owe her some dark and depressing secret, but she knew him. It was more liberating being able to talk to her without fearing her actions. Though she was a reporter, he knew she was a reporter with ideals and that what he loved the most about her. He was able to take his façade off when he was around her, and he wants to do that again.

'I should do it now…' He gets up quietly and notices that his coffee cup is empty, 'If she sees the empty cup, she'll wonder why I'm still here and that won't be good considering she might just hate me.' He picks up the cup and walks over to the counter, and orders a strong Irish coffee. If he wants to do this now, he'd better come prepared. Lana approaches him and smiles. "Hey Lex, how are you?"

"I'm fine thanks. How about you?"

"I'm good thanks. You know I really miss this place." She looks around the shop and sighs.

"Don't you just live upstairs?" Lex asks, feigning concern.

"Yeah, I do. But it isn't the same as having the sense of responsibility. But I guess you know all about that." Lex raises an eyebrow, and only understands what she means when she points to Chloe behind him. "We're so glad she's back. You don't know how it's been, thinking she's been dead all this time." Lana looked at Chloe sadly.

Lex can't help it but he asks her anyway: "Weren't you in Paris at the time?"

She looks slightly uncomfortable. "Yeah. I wasn't able to get timeout until the end of the summer there was so much to do."

"Oh, so how is Jason?!" Lex asks trying to contain his smirk to himself.

Lana looks positively shocked. "He's fine. I'm just gonna help her out. She seems a little lost." She promptly leaves him and runs into the store cupboard. He chuckles to himself as he pays for his coffee and takes the cup. He turns and finds her looking at him. He gives her a warm smile, feeling suddenly a lot better. She looks away from him, a tear in her eye. Lex feels an enormous pang of guilt. He walks close to her and asks her if she can join him in his huskiest voice yet. He feels like joking around, but when her reply is less than satisfactory her begins to wonder whether seduction is the best tack to use today. "So how are you?"

"I'm alive, so I can't complain." She says flatly. 'Damn it. Of course she'd be hurt, she's been dead so long, just change the subject.'

"I've been meaning to talk to you but I'm always so busy." He tells the truth for once.

"We can see that," She says glancing at his coffee and book.

'I should have brought work with me. Why the hell did I sell this damn hole in the first place? It would have worked so much better… Maybe she's just hurt.' He asks her if anything's wrong, but he knows something is.

She doesn't reply for some time, causing his heart to bear loudly inside his rib cage. 'I'm wrong… It's me.' He can feel himself dropping into a hole.

She sighs. "I'm just a little stressed. Adjusting to life after you've been killed takes a while." A pang of guilt hits him hard. He knows what its like to be pronounced dead. Except this time he controlled it, not some stranger.

"Is there anything I can do?" He just wants to make it better, but he knows that he can't always. Especially now when this girl resents him so much.

She tells him there's nothing he can do, that it's not his fault but the guilt pangs him again. 'Of course it's my fault. If I didn't force her to die then she would have been normal. Now she's just different like me.'

He doesn't want to tell her now. She seems so defeated and he just can't seem to find the words. All he's been wanting to do is tell her how proud he is of her, and that he owes her, big time. And if she'd like to, he'd repay her over dinner. He knows it sounds corny, but it's the truth. After all those lies he's spouted out and all those tears he's caused, it's about time he was real to her again. He hasn't been real since they left, since she was kidnapped and he wasn't able to help her. And that's where his guilt hits him the most. The fact that he promised to look after her, and when he finally started to trust in her completely and begin to adore her, she was taken from him, stings.

'I have to tell her now. Before she goes again...' He begins to tell her, and is pleased to see that she seems interested. "I just wanted you to-"

A voice cuts him off and yells out her name. It's Clark. 'Of course it's Clark. It would be him. It's always him.' Lex keeps his eyes on her as Clark begins to tell a story he's not paying attention to. She seems to be interested in what he's saying, but at the same time doesn't want to leave Lex. 'But she loves him. She always has…' He tells himself slowly.

She apologises as Clark pulls her up. "It's ok. It wasn't important anyway." He lies, hoping she'll forget it.

"Oh. I'll see you later then." She gives him a small smile as Clark drags her away. Lex looks down at the table and notices her notebook is there. He begins to read it and sighs as the words burn him: I don't want to be with him. I don't want to be with him. It seems she's gotten over him.

It's a pity he hasn't.

khushiyan