It was late when Soren got out of the pickup truck and trekked her way to the loft. She was tired and didn't feel like eating, in all honesty, she just felt worn out and weak. She practically peeled her clothes off from the wetness and dirt, it had been threatening rain all day and into the night, misting ever so lightly. The mist finally just soaked her clothes making them stick to ever inch of her skin.
She wrapped a towel around her body and grabbed a small blue bag, taking it with her into the house. She looked into the door, checking for Clark, and quickly ran up the stairs to the bathroom. She sat the bag on the sink counter and dropped the towel, turning the water on in the shower as hot as it would go. She unzipped the bag, took out shampoo and soap from it and stepped into the shower, letting the hot water run over her.
The only movement she did was to slowly wash her hair and body down, the rest of the time she stood in the shower until it just ran cold. She stepped out, picking up the towel and drying her long blond hair. Her blue eyes peered into the mirror, looking her upper body over, she backed up a bit to look over herself. She ran her fingers through her hair, making it messier than it was. She wrapped the towel around her and made her way down the stairs and realized that it was very quite in the house.
"Hello?" She called out to an apparently empty house. She walked into the kitchen, grabbed an apple out of the bowl on the counter and went back to the loft to slip into something more comfortable.
It was a while later when Clark slid the barn doors open, looking up to the light shining down from the loft. He walked up the stair quietly, pausing to the sound of music playing softly and the sound of a page being turned in a book. He climbed the stairs until he was looking at Soren on the couch, deeply immersed in a book. He noticed something familiar standing up next to the opening, his old telescope, many memories flooded his mind but he quickly pushed them aside. He cleared his throat softly, making Soren look up to him and smile.
"I brought you something." He said holding out a white paper bag. "Lois said that you like them." He added and walked over to her handing her the bag.
Soren set her book down and took the bag, looking inside. With a smile she took a muffin out and looked at Clark. "Triple chocolate, my favorite. Thank you."
Clark couldn't help but to smile back, her smile was pretty to her and quite contagious. "No problem." He said.
"Sit." Soren said and patted the couch next to her, moving over to give him room to sit, which he did. She picked up a small remote and the music changed, which Clark realized wasn't in English to begin with.
"Was that Russian?" Clark questioned looking at the stereo which was playing one of the local radio stations now.
Soren blinked at him taken aback by what he said, nodding. "Yes, I studied Russian in college, I picked it up rather quickly." She said looking at her muffin, tearing it in two and handing Clark one of the halves.
Clark took the half with a small thanking smile. "Russian, that seems so extreme to learn." He said and bit into the half of the muffin.
"Well." Soren began, picking at a chocolate chip and eating it. "My intentions were to study abroad in Russia. They had a science program at a college there, but I didn't get the chance." She said with a small sigh, setting the muffin half on top of the paper bag. "The funding for my research and my tuition was taken, and I dropped out of college because of it. I just never went back."
"I'm sorry that happened." Clark said after chewing a bite.
"Well if it didn't happen I would have never ended up in Smallville, this is paradise compared to the frozen tundra. I don't know what I was even thinking." Soren said with a laugh, making Clark crack up too. She really did feel that way about Smallville. She never felt right anywhere until she took the job at the Kent Farm. Best decision of her life. "Do you go to CKU?"
"Uh, I did. When my dad died I quit, but mom hounded me so much I went back. I transferred to Met U after a week, it was to be closer to my then girlfriend at the time but..." he said trailing off and poked at the muffin while staring down at it, mostly off into space.
"Oh, Lana right?" She questioned making Clark look up to her. "Lois comes around more often than I like." Soren said trying not to have such distaste in her voice "What happened? If you don't mind me asking."
"We couldn't see eye to eye. We had a good relationship for awhile but...things started holding me back again." He said with quite a pause. "She finally had enough." Clark didn't really want to talk about the subject so he stood up, setting the muffin on the table in front of the couch and walked over to the hay door. He looked a the telescope, then looked at where Lana used to live with her aunt so long ago.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to pry." Soren said feeling guilty that she asked about it. She had dated a guy in Metropolis for a while, but they split for being so irreconcilable. Their differences couldn't be overlooked anymore and it was causing much distress. Changing the subject she walked over to the telescope and looked into its lens, pointing it to the brightest star in the cloudless sky.
A moment of silence passed before anyone spoke, both of them looking to the stars. "I used to look at the stars all the time. Always wondering what it was like beyond ours." Clark said finally breaking the silence and taking the telescope, looking through it at the brightest star. "This is the first time in such a long time that I have done it."
Soren looked up at Clark, being a good few inches shorter than him. She watched him shift the telescope to a different location in the sky, watching him losing himself in the wonderment of space. She felt it again, that weird pull she felt the first time when she saw him. Her eyebrows knitted together thinking quite hard on it, not sure what to make of it. She reached her hand out to touch his shoulder but pulled away quickly when he turned to face her.
"I'm going to turn in for the night." Clark said walking over to the table and picking up the half of the muffin Soren gave him. "Thanks for half the muffin." He said and quickly made his way down the stairs. When he got all the way down he paused, hearing Soren sigh and sit on the couch, hearing the rustle of paper when she picked up her muffin half and bit into it. He felt it too, that pull, he wanted to get away from it as quickly as possible. He didn't want to really figure out what it was but he was quite curious about it.
Note: I am extremely sorry that this chapter is just so late! Between trying to find work and my husband getting laid off and kids it is just been quite a busy month. Anyway! I've been asked a couple of questions by people as to where this takes place on the timeline of Smallville and it is at the end of Season 5 right before the season finale. So now that I say that, you know where this is sorta going.
