Title: ...NOBODY CARES
Fandom: characters SMALLVILLE: CHLOE, LEX.
Theme/Prompt: #39: MASK 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. Nobody Loves You... (PART ONE)

Chloe Sullivan pretends not to notice the tall, handsome man sitting in the corner of the talon. She doesn't acknowledge his presence, or the fact that he is reading Fyodor Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment" or that there is a small coffee stain on his table. She simply walks past him over to the counter to order her strong black coffee with two sugars and a spoon. "To go." She adds. She doesn't need to know that tense look on his face as he ponders over the words. She turns her back to him and looks at the beautiful vintage coffee machine, and tries not to think about him. Instead, she attempts to calculate how many cups of coffee the machine holds. It keeps her occupied for a while, but she soon gives up with the answer being 'not enough.' She grabs her coffee and spoon and thinks about leaving, but glances out of the window and notices the dark skies outside. 'Perhaps it would be better to sit inside. I won't get wet.' She uses this excuse to stay and walks over to the table nearest the emergency exit. She knows Lana won't mind if she uses it to escape. Strangely enough, this table is exactly opposite the man she hasn't noticed. She tries not to look at him, and sips her coffee slowly. She then removes the lid of the cup and stirs the coffee with the plastic spoon the waitress gave her. Chloe pretends she doesn't know where she picked up this habit, but it's obvious she picked it up when she was being kept in the safe house by the man she still hasn't seen yet. She puts her spoon down slowly and sighs.

She feels so pathetic now.

She's still waiting for him but he hasn't even glanced over at her.

She can feel tears stinging her eyes and she feels so silly now. Why would he talk to her? He's a twenty-two year old hot-shot business man, the son of the most powerful man in Metropolis but still powerful in his own right. Why would he talk to a seventeen year old girl? All she did was help him nail his father by finding out both of their deep secrets, die a non-death, be brought back to life only to be kidnapped by a strange man who wanted to show the metal man in Terminator Two how its done… she's nothing to him.

Chloe clenched her jaw. The past three months she spent with him (and her father and several body guards, a few FBI agents and one or two personal maids…) opened her eyes to him. She had always known he was a clever and dangerous man, but now he seemed so much deeper. As if he had removed his mask for her. For her… And now he is sitting half room away and he still hasn't even waved to her. She knows that waving is beneath him, but that small flick of the hand would show her that she did matter. Even if he didn't mean it, that one lie would be enough for her. It's not like she's expecting some deep and dark relationship with a man five years older than her, she just wants a friend.

'Fine. Don't talk to me. I only died for you.' She mumbles in her mind and sips her coffee. 'If you won't think about me, then I won't think about you.' She bites her lip and reaches for her handbag and pulls out a small orange notebook and pen and begins to scribble down anything and everything she can think of. And the non-dramatic irony is that she can think of no one but him now. It's bizarre. When she's with him, she can't think of anything but getting away from him, and when she's not, all she thinks of is their next meeting. She looks at what she's written and is not impressed with the words on the page: I don't want to be with him. I don't want to be with him. She knows that this is the one thing she does want: to be with him. When she finally looks up to glance at him, he's not there. Chloe gives herself a mental slap and screws up her mouth in annoyance. 'I should have gone to talk to him. And now he's gone.' Chloe shakes her head. 'I'm so pathetic.' She picks up her coffee and takes a long sip. It's cold now, so she decides to throw it into the bin and order another one.

She gets up and walks to the counter and orders another cup. "To go?" The waitress asks, but Chloe shakes her head and sighs. She looks across the counter as she waits for her coffee and finds him standing there; he is talking to Lana quite animatedly. Her heart does half a somersault; she's glad he's still here, but she's sad that he's not here with her. The butterflies slowly die away, and she finds herself feeling much worse. The waitress appears again and passes her a steaming cup of coffee. Chloe hands back the money and takes her place again. She shakes her head and berates herself for having such feelings. She shouldn't be thinking about a man who doesn't want to talk to her.

She takes a long sip of her coffee and tries to ignore the heavy feeling in her heart. 'I'm such an idiot. Of course he'd rather talk to Lana. They all would.' She looks back up at the counter, a tear sitting on the edge of her bottom eyelid and notices that Lana has gone into the store room and he's holding his coffee in his hand. He turns and spots Chloe and gives her a warm smile. 'It's too late,' She grumbles inside and looks back at her notebook. "Do you mind if I join you?" He asks, his voice suddenly sounding so close. Chloe looks up and finds him standing right in front of her. "Knock yourself out." She waves a hand to the chair opposite her which he takes and sits down.

"How are you?" He asks, his eyes looking strangely sharp.

"I'm alive, so I can't complain." She says flatly, 'Dude, you lost the magic get over it. Just get over it.' She thinks, but she's not sure if she's saying this to him or herself.

"I've been meaning to talk to you but I'm always so busy."

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

He gives her a tight look. "Is something wrong Chloe?" He asks in a concerned voice.

She looks at him with a tired face, 'Yes there is. I've done so much for you and you can't even have a proper conversation with me and I miss how you used to be when it was just us and a room full of strangers and my dad and now we're back in the real world, surrounded by people who you like better, so you just threw me away. You just used me, and it hurts, but not as much as the fact that I'm still so hung up on you but am just a pathetic seventeen year old who nobody loves and so I can't do anything to make you love me and now I wish I wasn't here thinking about you in different ways, with you looking at me with those dreamy eyes not having a clue how I feel and wondering why I haven't spoken in so long… Oh, I need to speak…' She sighs. "I'm just a little stressed. Adjusting to life after you've been killed takes a while." 'I really need to get over this non-death of mine…'

"Is there anything I can do?"

'Well… you could proclaim your undying love for me and whisk me away to get married in a white castle, but that's not going to happen. So you could just slip away from me slowly without breaking my heart.' She smiles at him, "No. It's not your fault." But she knows it is. If he wasn't so charming and didn't make her go weak at the knees and sent shivers down her spine everything would be ok. But the sad look on his face makes her feel guilty so she lies like she always does and doesn't tell anyone the truth.

They continue their conversation, but something's different. That glowing spark in him has vanished and Chloe's too tired to try and find it. She's not even sure if it's there anymore. He's put his mask on so tightly that she can't even see the line where it begins and his true self-ends. He looks quite stiff for a moment and sighs, "Chloe, I wanted to tell you something…" Her ears prick up slightly. "I just wanted you to-"

"Chloe!!" A voice cuts him off. It's Clark. "I've been looking for you everywhere!!" He flashes her a cheesy grin and waits for her to join him, "C'mon, Lois wants to show you something. It's probably something illegal, so I've got my phone ready to call the cops. With any luck they'll take her away." Clark looks at Chloe who glances at the man she's sitting with. "I'm sure he won't mind. He's had you for a whole three months. It's my turn now." Clark grabs Chloe's hand and pulls her up.

"Sorry," Chloe offers feebly and shrugs her shoulders. "It's ok" He reassures her, "It wasn't important anyway."

"Oh," His comment stings her, "I'll see you later then." She gives him a small smile as Clark drags her away. She can't help but feel a little pained as she glances back at him. He seems to have gotten over her.

It's a shame she hasn't.

khushiyan