They had been dating for 5 months. No-one knew of course. It
had started off very casual, not that they were fuck buddies but more that they
kept the banter and avoided intimacy of any sort. They kept it light, breezy
and fun. Always fun. Painfullyfun.
Lex sifted through his papers rubbing his forehead
distractedly. He wanted to stop by the Torch this evening and see Chloe. They
never made any formal arrangements. Either he stopped by the Talon or the Torch
or she stopped by the mansion. This was part of the game they played, both with
each other and the outside world. Recently however, after the initial banter
and heated fumblings, they had started to have real
conversations. And not just of the business variety of which they were both
fond of. Lex liked having someone intelligent and
well-informed (sometimes too well-informed) to talk with. Their conversations
and their games of cat and mouse with the information they each had was as much
of a turn on for Lex as her physical beauty and he
knew she felt the same. Recently though, there had been conversations of a
different variety. Of hopes and fears. Especially
fears. Hopes seemed to be on the back burner for the time being.
And then yesterday he had told her the truth about Julian. In a moment of
absolute weakness he had confessed the truth, glad to have a kind ear to listen
instead of the bitter, twisted one of his father. Chloe hadn't said anything.
Again to her credit, for what could she say? She had just listened intently,
gently rubbing his arm and nodding, as if she was finally understanding things
or rather him. This of course in turn had scared him shitless and he had pushed
her away. Metaphorically speaking. He
had gotten up and slipped the mask carefully back into place muttering about having
to prepare for a meeting. He had been dismissive and cold. Chloe had
known exactly what he was doing and had been perfectly understanding before
leaving quietly with a witty parting retort leaving him feeling like the
17 year old in the relationship, immature, petty and wishing for her to come
back.
Putting his papers in his drawer he got up, walked outside to the Porsche and
sped off.
Just another Friday night in Smallville Chloe
thought. Sitting at the table with Clark
she spotted Lana looking like she was about to kill the cappuccino machine. She
was about to say as much to Clark
when she saw Lex walking in. She hadn't had any
contact with him since his confession yesterday and his subsequent retreat into
the Fortress of Lex. Seeing him she felt what was
fast becoming her standard response, excitement mixed with annoyance. Whenever
she was with him though, the annoyance slipped away to be replaced with an
alien maturity she didn't know she possessed. It was always two steps forward
and one step back with Lex and her goodwill and
patience where he was concerned seemed to know no end. A fact
which constantly surprised her.
The incredible make out sessions helped as well of course. They hadn't slept
together yet which she knew was a source of some irritation for Lex. He never pressured her and she didn't feel pressured,
yet his increasing…frustration was getting harder to ignore. She didn't want to
take that step whilst they were still in some sort of limbo. They had yet to
define the "relationship" and no-one knew about them. Which
was more than ok. She was not ready for that particular talk with Clark,
Lana, her father. Basically everyone. So the secrecy
was good. Yet it didn't inspire confidence, and neither did Lex.
Therefore she wasn't putting out. She wasn't a prude and didn't believe that
her virginity was a precious flower that needed to be nurtured for the right
man that came along. Rather that she wanted to be in a respectful alliance when
doing the deed. Not necessarily in love, but respected. Fully.
"Hi Clark,
mind if join you?" he said sitting down, nodding acknowledgement to the other
two. Lana looked at him with warmth and gave a friendly smile,
Chloe barely looked at him at all and seemed to be grimacing as Lex pushed in next to her. "That's my girl" Lex thought sardonically.
"So, how's your dad doing Clark?
Getting back to his old self?" Full of self-righteous
bullshit? He thought to himself.
"He's doing fine. He gets a little down now and then but you know Dad…he'll be
fine." Clark
replied earning a sympathetic smile from Lana and a yawn from Chloe.
"I barely got any sleep last night" Chloe said quickly, seeing three pairs of
eyes on her. Inwardly groaning at that fatal error she sunk back into
uncharacteristic silence.
"I've been meaning to ask you where you were last night actually" Lana started
playfully.
"At the Torch. I was working on something slightly
different to my usual piece. More of a character study. An
examination of the psyche. A human behavioural
piece." Lana looked mildly interested and she had probably lost Clark
after psyche. Lex had a studied look of boredom on
his face. Chloe took this as encouragement enough.
"I was researching the humanoid repression loner phenomenon, more commonly
known as the asshole syndrome." Finally having everyone's full attention she
continued, "It's the regular idiot man, wanting real human intimacy but too
scared to let down his guard thereby lashing out at anyone and everyone that
gets too close. Maybe not everyone actually. Just the select lucky few." She said all this in a casual
tone whilst looking around the Talon and out of the window. Not making eye
contact with anyone at the table.
"Why would you be looking into that Chloe?" Clark
asked genuinely confused.
Before she could form a non-answer Lex jumped in,
saying cryptically, "Why do we look into anything Clark?
There's a famous saying…" Chloe leapt up before she could hear anymore "Oh God
please, no fricking poetry. Enough
with the goddamn poetry." Before gracefully exiting the Talon, bags and
coat swirling around her.
