Chapter Four: Landing in Real Time
Lex Luthor walked into the informal dining room to find Meri reading the financial pages of The Daily Planet as she ate scrambled eggs and bacon. He grinned and walked to the buffet to pour himself a cup of coffee. "Anything interesting?"
Meri reached for a slice of bacon with her well-manicured fingers and raised it to her mouth. "Seems LuthorCorp is in negotiations to take over management of McConnell Canning in Metropolis." She took a small bite of the bacon and chewed thoughtfully. "Seems that speculation over a possible takeover has caused McConnell stock to take a ten point drop. On the other hand, the news hasn't helped, or hurt, LuthorCorp stock at all, oddly enough."
Lex grinned. "Some fluctuation is to be expected. I told you that, in the end, the business arrangement we've brokered will be very profitable for both our companies."
She smiled, chewing thoughtfully. "Midas," she said with a slightly accusatory tone.
Grinning, Lex sipped his coffee. "I missed your razor wit at dinner last night. Big date?"
Meri's smile was guarded. "A date."
Lex sat at the table, placing his cup on the table in front of him, examining it as he spoke. "Isn't Clark Kent a little young for your tastes?" At the end of the question, he leveled a look at her.
Meri put the paper down and returned a cool look to Lex. "I know, I've always gone for older men, but," she shrugged. "What has it gotten me in the past? Hell, the last one turned out to be a corporate spy for Queen Industries. I figured I might be better off with someone my own age. Besides, you have to admit Clark's not a bad looking and he's a really nice guy."
Lex leaned forward and placed his forearms on the table. "Your own age? Merida, how old do you think Clark is?" he asked apparently perplexed.
She shook her head, bewildered. "I didn't include that in his application." She shrugged. "Does it really matter?"
Lex shrugged. "Maybe not. Depends. You have always had a rather pristine set of morals, though. Part of the reason, I believe, you wouldn't date me when I asked."
"I wouldn't date you, Lex, because you have a habit of discarding women rather abruptly when you've gotten what you wanted from them. I am no notch on a bedpost." Meri frowned and leaned forward. "What does that have to do with age, Lex?"
"He's seventeen."
Her jaw dropped open. She shook her head and stood. "What?" She ran her hand through her hair. Then shook her head again. "What are you doing being friends with a teenager?! You weren't friends with teenagers when you were a teenager!"
Lex's lips curled up on one side. "That may be, nonetheless, he save my life a couple years ago. Since then, we've become as close as brothers."
Meri laughed outloud then. "Oh, come now, Lex! You'd never even consider allowing me to date your brother," she turned back to him with her hands on her hips. "Unless you were done with me."
Lex's eye widened and he stood. "Wow, Merida. That was brutal."
"But honest." She responded, matter-of-factly.
Lex smiled. "Maybe," he looked into his cup. "But in the case of Clark, I only want what's best for him," he placed his coffee cup on the table. "In this case, underage or not, that might be you."
Meri frowned. She shook her head and stalked out of the room.
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Clark arrived home to see Meri's car in front of the barn. He smiled and walked into the barn. "Meri?" He called and walked, quickly, up the stairs. Meri was sitting on his desk chair, looking out the half open loft door. He frowned as he tossed his backpack onto the couch.
She turned to look at the backpack and shook her head with a scoff.
"Meri?"
"How old are you, Clark?"
Clark frowned. "Seventeen, why?"
"Dammit, Lex," she sighed. She rubbed her forehead and then, she raised her voice to clarify: "And I'll bet you're still in high school."
"Yeah." He frowned and approached her. "Meri, what's going on?"
She jumped to her feet, then and circled around to the other side of the couch from him. "At least tell me that you're a senior."
He shook his head, bewildered. "Junior. Are you going to tell me what's going on?"
Meri put her hands on her hips. "Do you have any idea what your mother would do if she found out that her seventeen year old son was in the loft kissing a twenty-two year college senior?!" She shook her head, fiercely, sending her red hair tumbling around her shoulders.
Clark's eyebrows rose and he smiled. "Twenty-two?"
"She'd kill me, that's what she'd do. And she'd be right to." Meri ran her hand through her hair. "I knew I should have kept calling you Mr. Kent."
He pointed at her, tilted his head and narrowed his eyes, still grinning. "You're twenty-two?"
She paused and looked at him. Her mouth opened and snapped shut. She frowned at him, then fought the smile that crept to her lips. "Will ya stop lookin' so damned pleased with yourself?"
He shrugged, still smiling. "You have to admit, it's pretty cool from my perspective."
She placed her hand on her forehead and groaned. After a moment, she smiled despite herself. "Yes. I imagine so." She crossed her arms and leaned on the couch, raising herself to sit on the back.
He straightened and walked around the couch. He placed a hand on her arm, followed it down to take her hand, and looked down at her, more serious, now. "Meri, I didn't think to ask your age or tell you mine. Lex told me you were on break from MetU, so maybe I should have."
She smiled up at him, unhappily. "Well, I would have never guessed it. I mean, there's nothing about you that screams teenager."
His eyebrows rose and he smiled again. "Really?"
"Well, look at you. You're tall and," she shook her head. "You certainly don't have a boyish physique." She stood and stepped away from him, withdrawing her hand from his. "And you seem more mature at this age than Lex was at twenty!"
His eyebrows reached his hairline at this news. "Really?"
She shook her head, ruefully. "This is just my luck. I finally meet a good guy and he's jailbait!"
Clark frowned at this. His long legs took him to her in a split second and he took her by the shoulders. "Meri, I-"
Her eyes were moist when she looked up at him. "As much as I said we should take it slow, I still moved faster than a speeding bullet, Clark. The first time those blue eyes studied the doorframe instead of me in my towel; I wanted you to really see me. The first time you caught me, I just wanted to stay in your arms. When you saved me from falling out of the barn, I knew I had already fallen for you." She touched his chest and sighed deeply. "But my sense of what's right and what's wrong won't let this continue."
He pressed his lips together and nodded.
She reached up, moving her hand to the back of his neck. He lowered his head and kissed her softly and slowly. She sighed into his kiss, grasping his shirt in the hand that lay on his chest between them. Then, her hand relaxed and pushed against him, breaking the kiss. She dipped her head, then looked up again at him.
"Do me a favor, Mr. Kent," she whispered. "Call me after graduation."
He looked at her through hooded eyes and let a very small smile touch his lips, slightly. "Absolutely." The knuckles of his partially closed hand, brushed her cheek.
She took his hand in hers, kissed the palm, then sniffed back tears. "Bye, Clark." Then she quickly walked down the steps from the loft and out of the barn, without looking back
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Clark and Martha arrived at the Luthor Manor on Saturday morning with the baked goods that had been ordered for the party.
"Mrs. Kent, Clark," Lex smiled. "Thank you for the delivery. You can leave the platters on the pool table; my staff will get them set up in the atrium."
Martha smiled and moved to set her platter on the pool table. Clark paused.
"Where's Meri?"
Lex shrugged his face, then frowned. "Merida returned to Metropolis yesterday. Actually, the timing couldn't be worse. This party was supposed to celebrate a business venture between our companies. She was supposed to be the hostess. But now..." he held up his hands as if to illustrate how empty they were.
Clark nodded. "I see."
Lex smiled, ruefully. "I know you do, Clark. For what it's worth, I think you two would have been good for each other." He looked chagrinned. "I told Merida that."
Clark nodded, frowning, then moved to put his platter down.
When they walked out of the mansion, Martha looked up to her son. "Are you alright?"
Clark nodded. "Yeah." He took a deep breath and kind of shrugged. "In a way, it's kind of refreshing to break up with someone because of something normal, like age difference."
As they approached the truck, Martha smiled and took his arm. "She's right, though," she grinned up at him. He opened the door for her. "If I had known she was twenty-two and kissing my son, I probably would have killed her. Or at least yelled a lot." She smiled with an understanding smile and raised eyebrows.
Clark looked down at his mother and chuckled. He closed her door, then walked to the driver's side. As he climbed in, he smiled. "Well, she did say to call her after graduation…" He pulled the truck out of the Luthor driveway.
"Clark!" Martha scolded.
His smile widened as they headed for home.