The Kent farm was home to two horses – Midas and Dakota. Neither horse belonged to the Kents but they were boarded there by their owners who were both away at university and only came home during the holidays. Part of the agreement allowed the Kent's to ride the horses any time they wanted.
Dakota was a chestnut Arabian mare who had a lovely placid nature. She was the perfect horse for a beginner like Lois, whilst Midas was a huge Hanoverian gelding. Midas was very powerful and he needed a strong hand and guidance. Clark often wondered how he would manage him if he did not have his powers. His dad often commented how hard it was to control him if he was in one of his flighty moods.
Tues 15th Nov – 7.24am
"Clark, don't bother telling me that I am getting Dakota. She is so small." Lois stated over breakfast.
"Well there is no way I am letting you get on Midas. You won't be able to get on him, never mind ride him." Clark replied.
"You can help me."
"I won't Lois. I am sorry I will only teach you if you ride Dakota." He was adamant.
Lois stormed off upstairs. "God Clark, you are so boring. I don't know how Lana puts up with you. Going out with you would drive me insane. I am going to get ready and then I will get Midas out of the stable, myself if I have to." She shouted stubbornly.
Clark stood up and walked to the bottom of stairs. "You will not. I want nothing to do with helping you if you are going to be this annoying."
Lois did not answer until she appeared in a pair of jodhpurs and knee high riding boots. "Ok, Smallville but once I prove I can ride a pony, I will ride Midas...deal?"
"Dakota is not a pony, Lois. She is a horse." Clark said, distracted by the outfit Lois was wearing.
The tight blouse did not leave much to the imagination and those jodhpurs clung to every curve of her gorgeous body.
Lois noticed his attention. "Clark, you can stop drooling now."
She decided to have some fun. "Do you think this blouse is too tight?" she asked as she approached him.
He started to shuffle uncomfortably on the spot before moving a few steps back to counter Lois's advance forward.
"No...umm...it's fine." He stuttered.
Lois moved her face within inches of his. "Are you sure?" She could feel his deep breaths on her face. She couldn't help herself.
Clark swallowed nervously. "Well maybe it is a little tight."
"But you like it, don't you." Lois asked, as she moved another inch towards him.
He was mesmerised and his words just came out. "Yeah..." he moved his lips forward, unable to stop them if he wanted.
Lois backed off. "Thanks for that SmaIlville, I will go and put on a tee shirt." She said as she skipped upstairs acting as though nothing had happened.
Clark shook his head to snap himself out of his trance. This was the second time in two days she had this effect on him, the first being at the lap-dance club.
Lois appeared in a polo shirt. "Shall we go?"
Clark smiled. "Ok then. I am just going to ring Sheriff Adams to let her know. I don't want us to be shot for making any unplanned moves."
Clark dialled the number and put it on speakerphone as they agreed they would. "Hi Sheriff."
"Hi Mr Kent. What can I do for you?"
"Lois and I are going to do some horse riding in the back paddock behind the barn. I just wanted to warn you."
"That's fine." Sheriff Adams replied. "I have your parents on another line. Can I put them on?"
"Hi Clark." Martha announced excitedly as though she had not spoken to him for years.
"Hi mom. Where are you?"
"We are staying at the Talon. Lana said it would be fine since she is at Met U dorms with Chloe."
"How is Lana?"
"She says she is snowed under with work and will ring you in a few days." Martha explained.
"She must be worried." Clark replied.
"She must be..." his mom commented but with an air of uncertainty. "Chloe will be ringing later. She is concerned."
"Mom, Lana wasn't bothered was she?"
"I am sure she is, but she seemed to have her mind on other things." Martha tried to make excuses.
"You don't have to make excuses for her." Clark was disheartened.
"Can I put your dad on?" his mom changed the subject.
"Yeah, of course."
"Say hi to Lois for me."
"Hi Mrs K. You're on speakerphone. We can talk later." Lois told her.
"Hi dad."
"Hi son. How are you holding up?"
"I am looking after him." Lois joined in the conversation.
"I'm sure you are Lois." His dad chuckled down the phone.
"Dad, we're fine. We haven't killed each other, well not yet anyway. I promise I won't let Lois cook. You want the farm back in one piece, don't you." Clark joked, and then he felt a fist in his gut.
"Smallville..." she glared at him.
"I'm sorry Lois. I couldn't help myself." He grinned at her.
"Look, I will leave you two to your bickering." Jonathan suggested.
"Talk soon, dad. Love you both." Clark replied.
Lois studied Clark's face. "I don't see that much of that these days, Clark. It's nice to see it again."
"See what, Lois. What are you on about?" he asked, puzzled.
"Your smile. You have the cutest grin." Lois smiled.
Clark looked at her seriously. He grabbed her hand and led her to the sofa and made her lie down.
Lois did not move, she was curious what he was up to.
"Right, the thermometer must be around here somewhere." Clark said with a straight face.
"What do you need that for?" Lois asked.
"Never mind." He said placing his large hand on her forehead. "You must have a fever. You are delirious, you actually complemented me."
Lois smiled. "Very funny Smallville." She said as she moved to get off the sofa. He offered his hand to pull her up and on doing so, he overdid it and toppled over.
It all happened so fast that Lois did not know what was happening until she found herself sitting astride Clark who had ended up on the floor.
She was just about to get up when he sat up, leaving their lips within striking distance of each other's again. This close proximity was getting too uncomfortable so she stood up and walked a few feet away, leaving Clark sitting there with the odd look on his face – one of disappointment.
"Let's get started on this riding lesson." She said, walking out of the house..
Clark got off the floor and followed Lois out to the barn to get Dakota.
"Lois, I will start at the beginning, ok?" Clark explained.
"Ok Clark." She looked at him strangely. "So tell me Clark, which end is the head and which is the tail." She asked sarcastically.
"That's hilarious Lois. Now I will go and get the saddle and show you how to put it on."
"Smallville, I am not an alien from another planet. I am sure I can manage to put on a saddle." She said grabbing it off of him.
Ten minutes later she had still not managed to secure it correctly to the mare's back. "What were you saying Lois?"
Lois rolled her eyes at him. "Ok, you win. Show me."
He took her through putting on the bridle and saddle. "Ok, take her outside."
Lois took the reins and led the horse outside to the paddock. It was colder than she first thought so she ran into the house to get a jumper.
"Give me a bunk up, Smallville." She lifted one of legs and waited for him to help.
He hoisted her up so she was sitting in the saddle. "Comfortable?" he asked.
"Yep, now can we get started." Lois asked hopefully.
He nodded. "I will lead her around and you just get used to sitting on her."
"Are you ok?" Clark asked her after ten minutes.
"Yeah, just a bit bored with going so slow, when are you going to let me gallop?"
Clark turned around and smiled. "You have to walk before you can run."
"Let go of me." Lois suddenly yelled, and then when Clark did, she got a bit carried away and kicked the horse to go faster.
Dakota lurched forward, taking Lois and Clark by surprise. Lois held on for dear life but she was soon unseated. Her foot ended up caught in one of the stirrups and she was dragged around the paddock until she managed to pull her leg free.
Clark ran over to her, as she lay in a heap in the corner.
"Lois, are you ok?"
Lois stirred. "Yeah, I fine, just a bruised ego and a sore ankle."
Clark helped her up. "Lois, this is not going to work. Let's forget it." He said as he stormed off to the house.
Lois secured Dakota to the fence and followed him in, curious what was going in.
Clark was standing at the kitchen bench with his face turned away from her.
She walked over to him and touched his shoulder so he would turn around. "What is your problem, Smallville."
He turned around giving Lois a shock. He looked angry and upset at the same time.
"Lois, have you got a death wish or something." He shouted.
"I only fell off a horse. I am fine." She said in a calm voice.
"Why do you have to be so impatient, why can't you take your time to learn things properly. In fact why do I even bother trying to teach you anything."
Lois was confused and getting annoyed by Clark's aggressive onslaught of words. "Chill out! What is with you?"
"You are reckless Lois and you expect everyone else to bail you out when you get in trouble." Clark ranted.
"Reckless, just because I fell off a horse."
"No, it's not just the fall. You always seem to attract trouble and put your life in danger. One of these days I will not be here to rescue you."
"Smallville, you make it sound like you rescue me all the time. Is this about me being kidnapped the other day."
"I don't want anything to happen to you." His voice softened and he went to hug her.
"Smallville, don't pretend you care." She snapped, as she pushed him away.
"Of course I care. Why wouldn't I?" Clark asked,
"Because you hate me." She became teary.
"Hate you? Why on earth would you think that?" Clark asked, trying to hug her again.
This time Lois did not push him away. She relaxed in the safety of his strong muscular arms. For the first time in ages she felt safe, like she was where she belonged.
She looked at him. "We need to accept that we will always have a love-hate relationship. We seem to set each other off without trying."
Clark had an idea. "I know. Why don't we try and get on for the next week or so, otherwise one of us is going to be charged with murder. Instead of bickering about things, let's agree to be honest if there is something bothering us."
Lois smiled. "Ok then. Is there anything you want to say. You go first."
Clark looked uncomfortable again. "This is a bit embarrassing but could you stop teasing me."
"Teasing you, as in poking fun at you." Lois asked for clarification.
"No, teasing as in coming on to me." Clark blurted out.
Lois felt guilty. "Ok, I am sorry. I can be a bit of a tease."
"You need to be careful. Some men could take it the wrong way and misread the signals." Clark lectured.
Lois was annoyed with his condescending tone. "Clark, do you think that I am like this with other men."
"Are you not?" he asked.
"No, I am not that type of girl." She defended herself.
"Then why do you do it with me."
"I don't know. I enjoy making you squirm if I am honest. I have never known anyone act like you when someone gets close to you. I am surprised you and Lana even made it past first base to be honest."
Clark looked at her. "What do you mean?"
"Well, take the lapdance for instance. You would think I was torturing you, not giving you a thrill."
"A thrill..." he repeated.
"You know what I mean. Most men would be turned on by a lap dance regardless of whether you were dating the girl or not."
For some reason Clark decided to pursue this. "Maybe I was turned on."
"Well, you have a strange way of showing it." She laughed.
He looked at her with one of the most serious expressions she had ever seen. "Lois, do you know what I wanted to do after that dance."
"No." She asked.
"I wanted to rip your clothes off and..."
"Enough Smallville." She stopped him. "You don't have to lie to make me feel better about myself."
"Who said I was lying." His face showed he was telling the truth.
"Prove you're not." She groaned.
"Ok then." He walked towards her, not breaking eye contact with her . He wanted her now and nothing would stop him, well not until the cell phone rang and broke the moment between them. Within seconds they were at opposite ends of the kitchen. The electrifying tension had turned to embarrassment, both unwilling to look at each other.
Clark gave in and picked up the cell. "Hello." He snapped.
"Hi Clark, it is Lana..."