Author's Note: This story is a sequel to "Into the Night". It's only the first chapter, and I will be adding more when I am done with them. It takes place immediately after the first story.
Enjoy!
Clark Kent's truck made its way up the long driveway, towards the farmhouse. Chloe felt them slow to a stop, and she yawned loudly. "How embarrassing. I tell Clark I will be there for him whenever her needs me. When he does, I go ahead and fall asleep on him."
"Here we are."
She thought she detected a note of melancholy in his voice. As she reached for the door handle, she felt a strong gust of wind as Clark beat her to it, zooming to open it for her. He held his hand out to her.
"Here, you're tired, let me help you down."
"Clark Kent, gentleman." She thought with amusement. Actually it struck her quite odd, the way he had been acting lately. Not that he wasn't normally courteous, he was a Kent after all, but she had noticed that he seemed to be overly attentive to her as of late. Holding open doors and other chivalrous gestures. He was also spending a lot of time with her in general, mostly him dropping by on her at The Planet, bringing her late night latte's, and speeding her to her car when her feet hurt too much to walk. Not that she was complaining, but she thought it was a tad unusual. It was almost like he was spending too much time with her, as Lana pointed out the other day.
"Not that that's any of my business." She sniffed, during one of the rare instances that her and Chloe found themselves in the same room at the same time. They were still roommates, but nowadays hardly ever saw one another. The way she brought it up, the resentful tone to her voice, made her wonder.
"Was Lana jealous? Of me and Clark?" The idea that Lana thought something could be going on between the two of them made her laugh; that was definitely not the case. They were friends, yes, but nothing more. Clark had made it clear that Lana was the one he wanted, even if they had broken up and she had moved on to Lex. And no matter whatever feelings she had for him, she was resigned to the fact that maybe Clark would never move on himself.
"Lana, I just wanted you to know that there is nothing going on with me and Clark. Just so you know. We're just friends." This had seemed to make her happier; her icy demeanor melted away and her eyes that were narrowed with suspicion grew wide and relieved.
"Oh. Well not that it matters, as I'm with Lex now. But it was nice, ya know, to hear it from you. Not that I really thought there would be or anything." Her words were dripping with condescension.
Chloe didn't know why she felt the need to clarify anything for Lana's benefit. Secretly she wished she would have lied, just to see her squirm, or storm out in anger. But, even though they had grown apart, she still considered Lana a friend, and she would never treat a friend in that way. Even if the friendship was as one sided as theirs was turning out to be.
"Chloe?" Clark's voice broke through her stream of thoughts. "Sorry Clark, I was thinking …"
"Yeah, I noticed." He laughed. "I thought maybe you had fallen asleep standing up."
Chloe shook her head and took hold of his hand, stepping down. She could still feel Clark's hand wrapped snugly around hers after her feet had touched solid ground. She stood there for a moment, awkwardly, as he made no attempt to let go. He was looking at her, with an inexplicable expression on his face. He looked contemplative and dreamy eyed; a look that was normally reserved for Lana. He was oblivious to how uncomfortable she was. Something about the whole situation seemed off. "Could it be?" She thought fleetingly. No matter how she had hoped that one day he would look at her the way he looked at Lana, she found it hard to believe that it was happening. Clark was finally falling for her? That's why he was spending so much time with her? That's why now, he was staring at her longingly, griping her hand like a vice.
No, it just couldn't be true. She wouldn't allow herself to get her hopes up. She was just tired, and reading way too much into it. Her mind began to wonder again. "Damnit Sullivan, get it together okay. He doesn't love you. He loves Lana, period. Now you better get outta here before you are tempted to say or do something stupid." She slid her hand out from his, snapping Clark out of his daze and brushed past him.
"Chloe, wait, what are you doing?"
"I, have to head back to Metropolis, I have a term paper due tomorrow, very important." She lied. She felt herself wobble towards her car, she was definitely way too tired to make the two hour drive back, but she needed any kind of excuse to get out of there quick.