Title: Making the Shot
Author: Nadia Mack
Disclaimer: I Own Nothing
Summary: A double date leads to some hidden intentions.
Author's Notes: This was an answer to a challenge from the FD2C Site.

Double dates are the worst, or so he presumes. This would be the first time he ever gone to one, but what he feels is worst about it is not just who he's on a date with, but the other couple that would be there with them.

Clark had met a college co-ed on his way to class one morning. He liked her well enough; she was pretty and seems like a cool person to hang out with. Only problem is, he didn't know how to ask her out, so when he finally had the nerve to, he might've said that they wouldn't be alone.

So, like all good friends needing help, he turned to his partner in crime to help him out.

"Are you sure about this, Lois?" he asked nervously, fidgeting recklessly with his tie. He has tied and retied it several times to the point of nausea. He never could get this sort of thing to work.

"Of course I'm sure," she replied, moving her way towards him and taking his tie from around his neck.

"Hey!" Clark half-heartedly reached out for it but it was already too far gone from his grasp.

"Not this time, Smallville. Ties are for formal occasions, not dates"

"And why can't tonight be a formal date occasion?" he lightly argued.

Lois didn't answer; she only turned and looked at him doing a quick one over and notices a few things missing. She messed up his combed back black hair to make him a little less stuffy and a little more relaxed. Then, she unbuttoned the top two buttons on his blue dress shirt, taking the dress casual wear to a whole new level.

"Hmm," she reacts.

Clark stares in concern.

"What's 'hmm' is that a good 'hmm' or a bad 'hmm'?"

She continued to look at him up and down, her head cocking to each side after she was finished observing a part of him.

"You look pretty good," she admits.

Clark is left in perpetual fright. "Pretty good?" he shrugs in concern. "That's like saying 'I'm okay looking.'"

Lois looks at him with great amusement. "Clark… you are okay looking"

"This is a disaster!" he plumps on the couch.

She smiles as she shook her head in contemplation. "I don't think she's good enough for you anyway, so you shouldn't give up this fast. You haven't even gotten out the door and already you've succumb to first date jitters"

Clark stopped and processed her words. "What do you mean she isn't good enough? What's good enough?"

"I'm just saying… there are plenty of potentials out there. That's what dating is all about. The first date. The getting to know them period. And if you think it just won't work out, you end it and move on to the next one"

"That'll make me a player," he responds in disgust.

"No," she argued. "You may be playing the field, but as long as you don't lead them on or take advantage of them the wrong way, you're just being cautious"

"Fine!"

"You are such a baby"

Clark heads to the door and stops midway.

"After you," he gestured to Lois, letting her take the lead.

She could only smile.

The Rack

"The Rack?" Lois whispered next to Clark with both their dates outside of them. "The innuendo involved," she remarked sarcastically.

"Do you mind," Clark complained. He could never take her anywhere without having to hear her quip about something. "It's a respected working establishment"

Lois chuckled at his defensive stance and looked around. The Rack was Metropolis' center for pool playing junkies. She turned to her date and asked him to get themselves a couple of drinks.

He obediently abides.

"So, who's your date?" Clark asks curiously.

Lois shrugs. "I don't know, I forgot his name"

Clark looks at her with wide eyes. "You don't even know his name?"

"It's not like you gave me any notice." When she saw his resolute face. "Oh, cool it Smallville. It's just a date"

"You don't even know him!"

"And the moral of this story is…" she wondered sarcastically. Poor boy Clark really needed to get out more.

"What you're doing is wrong," he morally threw at her.

"Look at it this way; at least I won't have to worry about dumping him tonight"

"That's twice as wrong"

"Shouldn't you be canoodling with your date right about now?" She seamlessly changed the subject towards him. He was blindsided by it because by the time he turned to talk to his date, he saw her making out with… a girl?

Lois would've keeled over with laughter if she hadn't held her stomach together. She laughed incessantly to herself when Clark's confused expression turned of that with amusement.

"I can't believe this"

She couldn't hold it in anymore and burst out laughing. "You sure know how to pick them"

"I had no idea," he shook his head left and right.

Lois now really felt sorry for him. He hasn't really gotten it right just yet in the whole dating scene.

"Come on, Smallville," she called out, hoping to not waste the night away just because of some misunderstanding. "Play with me," she added with a mischievous glint in her eye that didn't go past Clark.

"You sure know how to make a guy feel special, Lois." Perhaps the night wouldn't be a complete loss. At least he was there with his friend. He paused when he realized something. "What about umm… your date?"

"Oh, don't worry about him. He's gay too"

Clark stopped in his tracks.

"You knew about her?"

"I didn't want to say anything," she replied guiltily. "I only found out after you asked her out. You were so excited about it, I didn't want you doing a Lana-redux and spend the rest of your night brooding, so…"

"You decided to double date with me," he finished for her. Though he was disappointed that his date didn't work out, Lois' kind gesture more than made up for it.

She grabbed his hand and led him to across the room. "Come, Smallville. There's a pool table with our names plastered all over it"

First time all night, Clark laughed.

"Did you know that shooting pool evolved from a form of French croquet?" Lois randomly says as she grabs herself a cue stick while Clark sets the balls on the table. Clark couldn't help but eye her with intrigue.

"Do I sense a history lesson coming on?" he teased.

"Haha… You know, getting kicked out of schools isn't the only thing I'm good at"

"So I've noticed," he admitted under his breath. "So, Lois Lane, talk to me about French croquet," he slyly insisted.

"What do you want to know?" she replied playfully.

"I don't know, you're the teacher. Teach"

"Oh, so is that how it goes," she smiled.

He laughs. "I mean it, tell me"

"Let's just say that French royalty didn't like to get all hot and heavy outdoors and decided to bring the game inside. The green cloth on this table is France's answer to grass"

Clark laughs again, both amused by the lesson and interested in it.

Once he finished racking the balls on the table; he looks to Lois in a gentlemanly fashion.

"Ladies…"

"…First. Yeah, yeah, I know" she finished, knowing his small town etiquette will never cease to exist in him.

At the beginning of the game, Lois breaks and pocketed three balls as she did so. Not the start Clark was expecting.

She smirks at him.

Clarks smirks right on back.

"I didn't know you played"

"We should go on double dates more often," she mused. Clark though was actually taking her words seriously…

"Lois"

She looked up as she held her cue stick in position.

"Yeah"

Clark looked at her with hidden adoration. There's something about tonight and them being together that made so much sense. How could he not have seen it before? He leaned his forearms on the table and stared at her at eye level.

"Do you want to go out with me Saturday night?"

Before even thinking, Lois struck the cue ball right off their table and onto another, completely taken by surprise.

The End