Payback
DJ Dubois
September 2002

Notes: The characters from Smallville belong to the WB and DC Comics.

Chloe walked into the Talon, feeling pretty good about herself. The night before, she had beaten Lex Luthor in an arm wrestling competition. Accordingly, he promised her a night on the town. What should I wear?

"Hey, Chloe," Lana greeted, walking over in her perfectly arranged apron, ready to take her order. "Great job last night."

"Thanks," the reporter replied. "I'll have a cappuccino."

"Be right back," the brunette agreed, hurrying off. Three minutes later, she came back with Chloe's drink. "Here you go."

"Looks great," Chloe accepted, sipping on the concoction. Mmmm...wonderful.

"So what are you going to wear?"

"I don't know. I was going to call Lex to ask him where we're going."

"Sounds great. Clark's going to meet me later to go to the movie," Lana informed her.

"Cool," Chloe complimented. I'm glad they're happy. Hopefully, Lex and I can get something going.

Lana turned toward the door to see Pete and Clark enter the restaurant. "Guys, want to join us?"

"Sure," her boyfriend agreed.

"Aw, Clark. My manhood's still recovering after last night, Man. I still can't believe she said that stuff about Erica and me," Pete complained.

The farm boy grinned. "Pete, get over it. Come on."

"Okay," the other man acquiesced, following his friend over to the table. "Hey, ladies."

"Pete, what's going on? By the way, I'm sorry about spilling all of that stuff about you."

"Aw, that's okay," he relented. "So, do you want to do me a favor and give me a shot at you. "

"My arm's still a little sore after yesterday," Chloe told them.

"Come on. Certainly, Chloe the Champ isn't afraid of Poor Pete," Pete baited.

She raised her eyebrow. What's going on here? He wouldn't do it last night. Something stinks here. "Okay..." Flexing her arm, she put her elbow on the table. "Let's have at it."

Clark said, "You heard the Champ, Pete."

"All right," Pete agreed, putting his elbow down and clasping hands with her.

"Ready, guys?" Lana asked.

"Ready," the two combatants chorused.

"Go," Clark declared.

For a minute, the two friends' arms trembled and strained against each other, trying to pull the opposing one to the table. Neither was gaining an advantage.

Unfortunately, for Chloe, she was wearing a baggy sweatshirt with an old pair of jeans. As a result, she couldn't pull the "distract the man" tactic. Still, she held her own.

All around her, she heard people coming and going, smelled coffee everywhere, but kept focused. I'm going to outlast him if it kills me.

"Ready to give in yet?" Pete asked.

"Are you?" she huffed, straining to keep her arm up.

At that moment, a familiar voice inquired, "You can't stop, can you?"

She turned to see Lex standing there. He had a serious expression on his face. "Hey, Luthor, ready for tonight yet?"

"Yeah," he remarked coolly. "I don't want to take you away from your sport there, Champ."

"Don't worry about me," she grunted, still straining to keep her arm up.

"Well," he whispered, leaning close to her. "It's going to be a night you'll never forget. Champagne, fine food, dancing..."

Now, she was intrigued. Geez, he's really going to do this with style.

"Uh, Chloe, am I boring you?" Pete jibed.

"Of course not," she protested. "I'm just getting ready for tonight's entertainment is all."

"Oh...yeah, I'll bet," her opponent cracked. "Billionaire Boy's got...everything planned out."

"He'd better," she cracked.

Lex took out an old quill pen from his coat pocket. Holding the pen end, he began to tickle her ear with the feather. This is going to be sweet payback, Sullivan.

"Hey!"

"I thought you were woman enough for all of us, Sullivan," Lex snickered, the smug grin on his face.

She frowned. This is war. Redoubling her efforts, she stained further against Pete.

Then, Lex blew in her ear and kissed her cheek.

Her mind began to float as she envisioned herself with him. The match didn't matter. Nothing mattered. Then, she felt her arm begin to give. NO! Snapping back to reality, she came to her senses just in time to see Pete put her arm flat on the table.

"Yes!" Pete exclaimed. "I did it!"

"Way to go, Pete," Clark complimented.

"Nice job," Lana agreed. "Sorry, Chloe."

"Hey, some people believe in using tag-team effort here. I was fighting on my own," Chloe protested.

"Just like your cheating last night by distracting me with your ...ah...assets?" Lex laughed. "Turn about is fair play."

It's a lot better when I'm on the giving end rather than on the receiving end.

Guessing her thoughts, the businessman stated smugly. "Turn about is fair play, Chloe. Now, c'mon, do we have that date or are you going to stay home and pout all night?"

"What? And let you off so easily? I don't think so, Luthor. You still owe me," she asserted with a bit of mirth. I want to be ticked at him, but how can I? Why does he have to be so darn sexy? "See you guys later. Clark, Lana, enjoy your movie."

"Thanks. We will, " he assured her. "You two have fun as well."

"Meantime, I'm going to celebrate with Erica," Pete exulted.

"Yok it up, Ross," Chloe stewed. "I'm going to want a rematch."

"Whatever. I just want to enjoy this." He shrugged, sipping on a coffee.

"Hey, Sullivan, the meter's running," Lex baited.

"I'm coming," she told him, giving her friends an excited smile before composing herself. I'm not giving Luthor the satisfaction of seeing me jumping through hoops for him. After that, she walked through the doors heading for the Ferrari.

"You set...finally?" Lex wondered, the grin on his face.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you, Luthor?"

"Dang straight," he cracked. "Now, let's have our dinner, shall we?"

With that, they drove away from the curb in search of that perfect dinner experience. Even when she had lost the battle, a night with him represented winning the first stage of war. It was a win-win situation.

THE END