Disclaimer: I do not own Smallville.
Clark swallowed nervously as he walked through the halls of Smallville high. Just eighteen hours ago his father and Pete had destroyed the class ring, removing it's influence over him, but not his memories of what he had done while influenced.
He came to a stop outside of the Torch office, hand on the handle as he considered what to say to Chloe. Somehow he thought; "Sorry I got you drunk and slept with you." Just didn't seem like it would cut it.
"Clark...?" He turned around, watching as Chloe walked towards him and anxiously wrung her hands together. "Hey."
He gulped and smiled hesitantly. "hey, so... How are you?" He asked nervously, cursing himself on the inside. '"How are you?" Really?'
She smiled at him nervously, blushing as memories of that night passed through her head. She tilted her head to the side and twirled her a lock of her hair around her finger, quirking her lips in thought. "Fine." She replied, her eyes looking off to her side. "Listen... About a few nights ago..."
She paused and he tried to speak. "Chloe, I'm sorry about-" "It was nice but-" "the other night, I shouldn't have taken advantage of you-" "It didn't have to mean anything, it wasn't that-" "it was wrong and I wasn't myself, I was drugged-" "big a deal..." "and I'm really, really so- Wait, what?" He stared at her in wide-eyed shock, her words finally sinking in.
She shrugged and repeated herself as though unaware that he had been speaking. Truth be told she had been so focused on building up her courage that she had been unaware he was even speaking. "Yeah, it didn't have to mean anything." She blushed.
He stared at her in shock. "Chloe, wha- are you- I- uh-..." He stumbled on his words, finally choosing to stay silent and just gather his wits about him as he looked down at her.
She almost visibly wilted under his gaze, playing with the hem of her jacket. "Uh, it's just... We're both sixteen and it was just sex... Ya know?"
He finally licked his lips and nodded, his brow furrowing. "Right, I mean..." He swallowed again. "...It didn't have to mean anything." He smiled.
She beamed up at him. "Great!" She turned and walked into the Torch office. "See you later."
He turned as she shot the door, his smile turning into a light frown. 'It didn't have to mean anything...' He closed his eyes and sighed, running his hands through his hair.
He groaned as he pushed himself off the wall and started to walk back down the hall.
"...Who do you think wrote it?" Clark walked a little faster as he rounded the corner, catching sight of Pete and Lana.
"I have no idea." Lana replied, shaking her head in response to Pete's question.
Clark smiled, patting Pete on the shoulder, Pete looked back at him strangely and he awkwardly dropped his hand from his shoulder. He turned and paused briefly as he saw Chloe take a seat on the Torch's bright-red couch.
Cherry-red lips nipped at his collar-bone as they edged towards the bed, he grunted as they shifted, twisting their positions as he gripped her hips, running a hand down her left leg, feeling smooth skin, he carelessly smirked as he grabbed her around the waist, lifting her through the air with a casual grace to land on the edge of the bed with a yelp. She looked up at him with a pink blush across her cheeks, hazel eyes wide. He couldn't help but think she was adorable.
"So, what's going on?" He asked them, suppressing the urge to lick his lips. All of a sudden his throat was feeling dry.
Chloe's grin faltered for a split second, however she replied airily, blushing slightly and raising a finger to wrap her hair around, (Something that brought back memories, brought up thoughts he shouldn't be having.) "Lana has a secret admirer." Her pearly whites shone in the light that seeped through the curtains.
A grunt escaped him, a jolt like static ripping through him, he felt far too vulnerable in that moment, and she must have noticed as her lips curled into a near-predatory grin, teeth gleaming. But GOD if it wasn't hot. He moaned as she put her mouth back into action.
He sucked in a breathe of air, shuddering slightly. These thoughts, these... Memories had plagued him for the past week, ever since they had... He briefly shook his head, trying to shake clear the web in his mind. He looked up and couldn't help but draw back slightly at the looks he was receiving.
"You feeling okay, Clark?" Pete asked with a confused frown, beside him Lana looked worried.
"Yeah, I'm fine, what were you saying about a secret admirer?" He asked, pasting a smile onto his face.
A look of comprehension crossed Lana's face, evidently Clark was worried about her new 'Admirer' being the 'Freak of the week', to quote Chloe. She smiled at him, touched by his concern. "It's nothing."
Chloe turned to her and quirked an eyebrow in faux-curiosity. "What do you mean nothing? What happened to romantic?" She teased.
Lana pouted as she turned to look at Chloe with narrowed eyes. Pete sighed and reached over, grabbing a previously unnoticed piece of paper from Lana's hand while she was distracted. "Just let the boy read it."
Clark reached out and took the note, perusing it's contents. He blinked and drew back before looking up. "Huh, that's a little mushy." He murmured, as though deep in thought.
Lana raised her eyebrows, as though surprised. "I almost forgot, Clark Kent, the man of steel." She said softly yet in a clipped tone, as though reminding him.
An awkward silence settled over the group and Chloe and Pete glanced at each other out of the corner of their eyes and frowned slightly. Clark furrowed his brow at the two and Lana's lips pursed, as though agitated. "I'll see you guys around." She said curtly, standing and making her way out of the Torch office.
Pete murmured "bye." as she walked by, taking her seat on the couch. Clark waited until she was out of earshot before turning to Chloe and Pete. "If you ask me it sounds more like a stalker."
Pete raised an eyebrow, his lips quirked into a semi-grin. Chloe glanced up at him and then looked back down, going back to curling her hair.
The three sat companionably in silence before making their way to class.
In Biology Clark couldn't help but glance back at Chloe on occasion, and couldn't control the frown that seemed to grace his face. Why was it he could get over this with Chloe so easily when everything with Lana always became so complicated?
Without realizing it a small spark lit deep inside of him, within his very core, as the question subconsciously routed itself in his mind.
A few days later found Clark and Lana in the Torch office, waiting for Chloe to finish printing out an official certificate. On Saturday the two had met Lana's 'Secret admirer', a poetic young man named Byron, and had been held at gunpoint by his father when they took him home in the early hours of the morning, the next day they had called the Sheriff and they and Clark's father had made their way to the house again, where the father had denied any knowledge of the events in question and of Byron's existence.
Who better to talk about this stuff to than Chloe 'The Queen of weird'.
It was as the three made their way out of the school that Lana mentioned she had to go and manage the Talon, leaving Clark to walk Chloe home, leaving the two alone for the first time in weeks.
The two of them casually strolled down the street, bags flung over their shoulders, and an awkward silence settled over the two of them. "So..." Chloe started, uncomfortable.
"What do you think about this whole 'Byron' thing?" Clark finally asked, raising an eyebrow.
She mirrored his expression as she replied. "I'm not sure." He looked surprised. "I mean, I haven't met, or seen, Byron so I can't judge, but from the way you and Lana talk about him he sounds... Nice."
He smiled down at her. "He's not bad, he seems kinda cool, but his parents... I'm not sure what to think."
She turned to him. "What do you mean?"
He frowned. "It's just that I could swear he had marks like shackles on his wrists, like he'd been chained up, and the way he reacted to his parents AND the light... I'm pretty sure he was abused."
She turned away, worried. "How sure, like, 'stick a needle in my eye' sure or article sure?" He looked back again, bemused. "I mean, percentage wise?"
His frown deepened. "...98%"
"Hm." She pursed her lips and turned back to the sidewalk in time to stop just before her lawn. "I'll catch you later Clark." She grinned. "I've got some homework to do, call me when you and Lana need me." She swallowed at 'need me' and then walked towards the house.
He stared at her as she stepped up the path and without thinking his eyes slowly fell to follow her hips. Hips that fit into his hands perfectly, wide yet beautiful, curves in all the right places.
He swallowed tightly and then turned to make his way back home. "Damn it." He cursed, rubbing his eyes.
Chloe smirked at Lana and Clark, "As much as I would like to come along, Pete's got me booked for the PlayStation 2." She snickered. "See you guys later."
Chloe sighed as she walked out of the Talon. Despite her claims otherwise, she was bothered by how easily Clark had forgotten about that night.
'I suppose it's all just swept away in his "Lana-lust". She thought bitterly, pursing her lips.
"Damn defensive mechanism." She murmured under her breathe. 'I can wait, it's... It's worth the wait.' She sighed again, she seemed to be doing that a lot lately.