A Second Chance
Chapter Three:
Lois drove down the unfamiliar streets of Metropolis, attempting to find the apartment she had helped her cousin obtain, and as she was driving she couldn't stop herself from thinking about every little thing she has been feeling over the past week since she left her home.
Sadness and excitement.
Over the past week she has been doing nothing but driving further and further away from her home to her new one with occasional stops, and even though she was feeling quite excited for this new and exciting adventure in her life she couldn't help feeling saddened by the mere fact that she was starting over away from all her family and friends.
After she had left she had missed them all dearly and she couldn't help wondering how this was affecting every single one of them. It wasn't Bruce or Oliver that she was worrying about since they had the means and necessities to visit her whenever they wanted. It was her mother and sister that concerned her the most.
Her mom has always been there for her, even when she was grieving for the love of her life, and now she was miles and miles away from her. Her sister, on the other hand, would probably pretend like her absence didn't bother her all that much, but deep inside she would be feeling like she had lost a part of herself since they had always been together since the day she was born.
Even though she missed both of them like crazy she knew that everything was going to alright not only because they could call each other every single day if that's what they wanted, but also because if she started feeling homesick or they missed her too much they could see each other whenever they wanted.
Aside from the sadness she was feeling she was also experiencing profound excitement.
Excitement for this new chapter in her life—excitement for finally moving forward with her life—excitement for finally taking that step—excitement for living for herself and for no one else.
To anyone on the outside it would seem a little harsh maybe even a little cruel to leave her family and friends behind, but honestly, she needed this more than anything else.
She didn't want to find love.
She didn't want to have more freedom.
She didn't want to escape from her life.
She just wanted to follow her dreams, and that's exactly what she intended on doing.
Ever since her father had passed away she has always been the one thing that held her family together. Whenever her mother needed some time to herself she was the one that distracted her sister, and vice versa.
She had always put their feelings above her own, and now it was time that she did something for herself.
It was time that she turned her life into something that she could cherish for the rest of her life.
And that all started with her moving in with her cousin.
Several minutes later, she parked her car directly outside of the ginormous apartment building her cousin had managed to get a pretty decent deal on, which was practically in the dead center of the city, and slowly got out of her car, but instead of walking inside she stared up at the building in complete and utter awe.
It was ten times better than she could have imagined.
It was beautiful.
It was big.
But, most of all, it was surrounded by the beautiful city she has dreamed of living in for as long as she can remember.
She slowly spun around in circles, as her eyes took in everything that was surrounding her from the bright, green trees to the busy, crowded streets to the nonstop noise.
For most of her life she has lived in small-towns, where there was nothing but open fields, narrow streets and complete silence, but now she was living in a place that was the complete opposite of that, and she couldn't comprehend the way it was making her feel right now.
Nervous? Terrified? Happiness? Contentment?
She didn't really know how to explain the emotions she was feeling right at this moment, but she did know one thing for sure…she was more than thrilled to finally be here.
Chloe slowly walked out of the apartment building, intending to pick up a few things from the local store down the street before her cousin arrived, but stopped dead in her tracks when she noticed her cousin standing a few feet away from her, looking at everything surrounding her, and she couldn't help the face-splitting grin that spread out across her face from the mere sight of her.
"LOIS!"
Lois quickly spun around at the sound of her cousin' voice with a wide grin plastered across her face, but before she could utter a single word she was running full force towards her, and practically trampled her to the ground. "Woah! Chloe!"
She quickly pulled away from her with a slightly embarrassed expression lingering on her face. "I'm sorry, Lo, I'm just really excited to see you."
She grinned from ear to ear before pulling her back into her arms, hugging her, fiercely. "I've missed you too, cuz."
"This is really happening? Your really here?"
"I'm really here, Chlo." She slowly pulled away from her, and glanced up towards the apartment building. "You never told me that it was so big, I mean I just thought it would be smaller."
"Everything in this city is big. That is something you'll have to get used to." Her eyes widened, slightly, and a mischievous expression spread out across her face. "There are so many things I have to show you! The Daily Planet, the college, the—"
"Hold on a second, Chloe, I haven't exactly moved in yet, and there is something I need to discuss with you before we go gallivanting around the city."
She frowned, slightly at her words. "What do you need to talk to me about?"
"I'll explain as soon as you show me around our new apartment and unpack my things."
A few hours later, they plopped down onto the large, beige couch in the living room, and rested their heads on the cushions, sighing, heavily. "You have a lot of things. Did you really have to bring your entire WhiteSnake album?"
Lois glanced over at her with narrowed eyes. "Are you trash talking the greatest band ever known to man?"
Chloe attempted holding in her mirth, but she couldn't stop herself from laughing at that absurd statement, and as soon as she managed to calm down she locked eyes with her cousin. "Your kidding, right? WhiteSnake is so old news. Maybe you should try listening to bands of this century."
She rolled her eyes. "You mean listen to crap music about love, drugs, and heartbreak? No thanks."
She quirked a brow at her. "Most if not all the songs you have written yourself are about love and heartbreak, so what's the difference between your music and the music of the new age?"
"That's completely different, and you know it. My music has hidden meanings and messages behind the lyrics unlike the transparent music you probably spend most of your time listening to. I think I'm going to have to show you what good music really sounds like."
"Uh-huh. That is never going to happen. I enjoy the music I listen to. It may be sappy and romantic, but that is exactly what I like the most about it."
"Of course, it is."
She narrowed her eyes at her. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"It means that you're a sappy romantic."
"I am not!"
"Yes, you are!"
"Prove it!"
Lois quickly sat up with a determined expression lingering on her face. "Okay. Let's start with that boy in elementary school you had the biggest crush on. You literally brought him candy, stuffed animals and anything else you could get your sticky fingers on just to impress the poor kid."
"That doesn't count. I was just a kid, and if I remember correctly you did the same exact thing to the same exact boy."
There was no way in hell she was going to rebuke that not only because it the complete truth, but also because it wasn't really helping her prove her point in this ridiculous conversation. That had been the first fight they had ever had, but it had also been the moment that they made a pact to never, ever chase after a guy they both liked.
It always ended in disaster, and there was no way either of them were going to allow the likes of a man to get in-between them.
"Fine. That one doesn't count, but what about that one guy you were obsessed with since you were ten years old? I remember you talking about him almost all of the time. He was obsessed with some other girl, and never saw you as more than a friend, which only made you want him even more."
Chloe grinned from ear to ear, knowing exactly who she referring to, and honestly, it was quite a coincidence that she brought him up since she would be meeting him very, very soon. She didn't expect it to turn romantic or anything like that, but she knew without a doubt that they would be good for each other.
"Clark."
She clapped her hands together, excitedly. "Yes! Clark Kent, I think. You deliberately dated other guys just to make him jealous."
She rolled her eyes at her. "That's all in the past, but none of this matters anyways. I think you've proved your point, I'm a sappy romantic, and I'm proud of it, but if we're being realistic you can be just as sappy and romantic as the rest of us."
"Oh really? Name one single time I did anything romantic."
"What was that guy's name? Jacob Barnes? Oh yes, I remember you had your rich friends, Bruce and Oliver, pay the owner of a five-star restaurant to close early just so you could have the entire place to yourself for the entire night with the guy. If that isn't romantic, then I don't know what is."
Lois glared at her. "That doesn't prove anything."
Chloe snickered at her. "Oh, I see, you can relish in my romantic mistakes, but I can't do the same to you?"
"And on that note, I think that's enough boy talk for a lifetime. I'm not here for romance or anything related to men altogether. I'm here to spend time with my cousin, get accustomed to this very large city of yours, and start this new chapter of my life."
"Speaking of, we have plans tonight with a friend of mine."
Her smile fell, slightly. "What? You already made plans with one of your friends? I just got here less than three hours ago. When did have time to arrange a night out with one of your friends?"
She grinned at her. "I've been planning this for a few days now. You need to make some new friends and my friend needs to get out of his never ending shell of loneliness and despair."
There was a part of herself that just wanted to stay in the comfort of her new apartment since it was her first official day here, but the other part of herself knew that her cousin was right. She needed to make some friends, especially since she planned on living here for the foreseeable future.
Of course, she would always have Bruce and Oliver, but they were usually busy with their growing incomes and businesses, among other things.
It would be nice to know someone other than her cousin, she thought to herself.
"Fine. Who is this mystery friend of yours I'm meeting tonight?"
A mischievous grin spread out across her face. "You already know him, kind of, we were just talking about him."
She frowned, slightly at her words, but then it clicked almost immediately, and even though there has always been a part of herself that was curious about the man her cousin had spent most of her life obsessing over she couldn't help wanting to avoid meeting him.
It wasn't because she didn't want to spend time with the people her cousin cared about. It was because she already knew a lot about this guy, and he seemed to be a lot like the guys she knew back home, and the last thing she wanted was a reminder of the mistakes she had made over and over again, especially when it came to men.
"Clark Kent?"
She nodded.
"You want me to meet your best friend, who just happens to be a reminder of all the men I made mistakes with back home? I need a new, fresh start not a living, breathing reminder of my life back home."
"How would he be a reminder?"
"He's a farm boy."
Chloe chuckled, loudly at her insane reasonings. "Trust me, Clark Kent isn't just a farm boy. He's so, so much more than that."
Lois quirked her brows at her. "Is that a hint of feelings for a certain farm boy I hear lingering in your voice?"
"No. My feelings for him are in the past. We're just really good friends, and I think that you two are going to become even greater friends than we are."
"Whatever."
She quickly shot up from the couch. "Now, I think it's time we take a tour through the city. You should know everything there is to know about this place. It's not as safe as your small-town."
"New Albany wasn't all that safe either or are you forgetting all the trouble I constantly found myself in?"
"Trouble your handy friends got you out of all the time." She corrected her before a particular thought occurred to her. "Bruce and Oliver are quite handy, I mean they did help me out of that sticky situation a few years back…"
Not this again, she thought to herself, she had sent them to find out the truth about her sudden death, and instead they had saved her from a crazy man with metal arms. She had claimed to see two men dressed in green and black, which described their alter egos to a tee, but there was no way she could tell her cousin the truth. It wasn't that she didn't think she deserved to know the truth, but she had promised them that she would never tell a living soul, and she intended on keeping their secrets to herself.
"I told you before by the time they arrived you were already saved."
She just nodded at her.
"This is besides the point. If I'm going to be a great investigative reporter one day I have to know exactly how to find the best stories, and a little danger comes with the job description."
Her eyes widened, slightly. "So, you've made up your mind? Your going for the Journalism degree?"
"Sort of, I mean I'll be majoring in Journalism and Business."
"And what about your music?"
"I want music to be a big part of my life just like it always has been, but it doesn't exactly pay the bills either. Ever since my father passed away I've been interested in discovering the truth and I've always wanted to own a business like my mom, which is where my music comes into play."
"You want to be able to perform at your own bar?"
She nodded.
"So? What? You're going to investigate stories, run a business and perform all at the same time?"
She nodded again.
Chloe shook her head from side to side with a soft smile lingering on her lips. "You have to know that that is going to be hard to maintain, but I have faith that you can do it. If anyone can live up to all their dreams and expectations, it's you."
"Thanks, cuz."
"Since we're on the subject of our futures there is somewhere I want to take you, well someone I want you to meet."
"Where are we going?"
"Your future." She quickly grabbed her hand, and practically dragged her out of their apartment.
Thirty minutes later, they were standing directly in front of The Daily Planet with their heads leaning as far back as they would go, as they attempted to see the rotating globe on the top of the building, but it was merely impossible.
Lois couldn't take her eyes off the building. It was even better than she could have ever imagined, of course she had seen pictures, and she had probably seen this place when she was younger, but she didn't remember all that much from the few times she had visited Metropolis.
In her mind she had always pictured this place being humongous, beautiful and mesmerizing, but she never imagined that it would be this amazing. It was like she was looking at her future—like she was moments away from reaching her future, but she knew that what she was feeling was all a fantasy.
As much as she wanted to walk inside that building like she actually belonged their she couldn't, at least not yet, but one day she would be able to.
Chloe glanced over at her cousin with a knowing expression plastered across her face. "What do you think?"
Lois looked over at her. "I think it's amazing, but what are we doing here? You told me that you wanted me to meet someone. This is a building not a person."
"Well, the person I want you to meet is inside."
Her eyes widened, slightly. "What? We can't go in there."
She took a few steps towards the revolving doors. "Of course, we can, tourists come all of the time to walk around the largest building in Metropolis."
She rolled her eyes at her. "I'm pretty sure that the person you want me to meet isn't going to be roaming around in the lobby, and I know for a fact that you need a special ID that proves you're an employee to even get far enough in the building."
"Someone has been doing some research."
"Well, obviously I would like to work here one day, but that's after I finish college. We can't just walk up there, I mean we could, but eventually security would catch up to us."
Chloe reached into her purse, and pulled out her Daily Planet ID. "Then I guess it's a good thing that I have one of these."
Lois quickly ripped the ID out of her hands, and stared down at it for several seconds, her mind unable to believe that her cousin was actually working here before she even finished obtaining her Journalism degree. "You work here?"
"Not exactly, you kind of have to have a degree to be on payroll, but every summer since my freshman year of high school I've been interning here, you know, building up my resume in the hopes that I can get a job here one day."
"Why didn't you tell me about this?"
She stared at her like she was insane. "Isn't it obvious? I wanted to surprise you."
"No, I mean why didn't you tell me about this the second it happened?"
"I didn't tell you when I first got the internship because you were going through a lot at the time, and when you were finally back to reality you told me that you wanted to major in Journalism. I guess I didn't want to make you feel jealous over the fact that I was interning here, and you weren't."
She took a few steps towards her. "I would never be jealous over your accomplishments, Chloe, I'm so proud of you for coming this far. I know for a fact that The Daily Planet would be a great place for you in the future, hell, even now they are lucky to have you."
She smiled, softly at her. "I didn't just bring you here to tell you about my internship I want you to meet someone that has made this all possible for me. After my junior year internship I was informed that I wouldn't be able to come back since I would be graduating the next year, but this one man changed that for me, and he just might do the same for you."
"What are you talking about?"
A knowing expression spread out across her face. "I think you might know the man I'm talking about…Perry White."
As soon as that particular name fell from her lips everything faded from her except her own thoughts—thoughts about that one man. He had been one of the best investigative reporters for years before he managed to become the Editor of The Daily Planet.
Ever since she had realized that she wanted to become an investigative reporter she had followed all of his accomplishments, and she could only hope to achieve everything he has.
"You know Perry White?"
She nodded. "Who do you think kept me on the internship after I graduated? He appreciated everything I had done, and told me that he could see me becoming a great reporter one day. If he could have hired me right then and there he would of, but there is no way to do that without a degree. I just want you to have the same chance I did. You've been through so much, Lo, I think you deserve this."
As much as she wanted this to happen she had a feeling that it wasn't going to be that easy. This man had spent three summers with Chloe. He didn't even know her. So, what made her cousin think that she would actually have a chance interning here?
"Chloe, I appreciate what your trying to do here, but it's not going to work here. I'd have to apply for the internship, and then I'd be on a waiting list for months before I even had the chance. He would easily choose people still in high school over a woman, who hasn't shown a single interest in Journalism until now."
Chloe grinned, widely at her. "I didn't bring you here to gloat about my achievements. I brought you here because you have an interview with Perry White."
Her heart literally dropped down into her stomach from those words. "What?"
"When I realized that you were going to be moving to Metropolis I told Perry everything there is to know about you physically and personality wise. I wasn't entirely sure if you would want to intern with me here during the summers, but I figured that I would set it up just in case you wanted to."
She had absolutely no wards for her cousin, and instead of thanking her with words she quickly pulled her into an air escaping hug. "You have no idea how much this means to me."
Chloe slowly pulled away from her. "Well, you haven't gotten the internship yet. Perry still needs to meet with you and talk to you. Are you ready to see what it's in store for your future?"
Lois nodded, excitedly, and practically rushed inside of the building with her cousin by her side.
It was exciting enough moving here, but now that there was a possibility that she would be interning at The Infamous Daily Planet she couldn't help feeling even more excited than she already was.
This was definitely a good start to her new and exciting adventure.
A few minutes later, they were slowly making their way towards the office of Perry White, both of them feeling excitement for two completely different reasons.
Chloe was excited for her cousin, and hoped against all hope that this would turn out the way she expected it to, while Lois was feeling excitement for the mere fact that she was moments away from meeting the man she has followed for most of her life.
"Chloe?"
They both stopped in their tracks at the voice echoing from directly behind them, and slowly turned around to find a small man with light brown hair and freckles on his face walking towards them with a confused expression lingering on his face. "Hey, Jimmy."
Jimmy stopped directly in front of them. "What are you doing here? I thought Perry gave you the day off since your cousin was moving in today."
She glanced over at Lois, who was staring at him with an inquisitive gaze. "Jimmy Olsen I'd like you to meet my cousin Lois Lane."
Jimmy roamed his eyes up and down the woman standing next to his friend, and couldn't stop himself from blushing at the sight of her.
She was absolutely beautiful.
He quickly struck out his hand. "Hi."
Lois glanced down at his hand before locking eyes with him. "Don't take this personally, but shaking hands is so old school."
He chuckled, loudly, as he dropped his hand, and glanced over at Chloe. "You were right. She is definitely one of a kind."
Chloe chuckled, softly. "You haven't even seen the worst of it yet."
Lois glanced between the two of them with a bewildered expression plastered across her face. "Hello, I'm standing right here, or did you forget that part?"
They both chuckled at her. "I'm going to track down that boss of ours."
Once she disappeared from their sights, Jimmy stared at her for a few seconds. "Do you want me to show you around?"
She nodded.
Over the next few minutes, Jimmy showed her everything there was, including the newsroom, and even told her a few stories about his and Chloe' work together over the past year or so.
As he was telling her some random story, she couldn't help noticing that there was a slight subtleness he used when talking about her cousin, which made it completely obvious that there was something amiss there, and her being herself blurted out exactly what she was thinking. "How long have you been in love with my cousin?"
The words that were coming out of his mouth came to a complete halt, and he practically choked on his own saliva from her brash, but true words. "What?"
She chuckled, softly at his reaction. "You've been showing me around this place for a few minutes now, and that's great in all, but I couldn't help noticing the way you look and her and the way you talk about her."
"How do I look at her?"
"Like a man in love. My mom used to look at my dad like that when I was younger. So, how long have you been in love with her?"
It was useless denying it, he thought to himself.
"Ever since I met her."
Her eyes widened, slightly. "Why haven't you told her?"
"There's no point. We've already been down that road."
"What do you mean?"
He stared at her with a confused expression for a few seconds before it dawned on him. "She hasn't told you yet?"
"Told me what?"
A heavy escaped past his lips. "We used to be together. I first met her on my last internship here, and we had a little fling neither of us thinking that we would ever see each other again once the summer was over, but the summer of her junior year internship she was working here when I got the photography position. It was really awkward between us for weeks, but by the end of her internship we were dating."
"What happened?"
"We both decided that we were better off as friends."
They quickly spun around at the sound of her voice to find her shaking her head back and forth at them before she locked her eyes with her cousin. "I leave you alone for five minutes, and you manage to get all the deeds about my love life."
She grinned at her. "Deeds you refused to tell me."
"I thought we established that we had enough boy talk for a lifetime?"
A part of herself wanted to inform her that this didn't count since it was in the past, but the other part of herself knew that she had a point. They had established that they didn't want to talk about men, whether it be present or past love, for the rest of the day, and as soon as she got the chance she managed to dig up the goods about her love life.
"In my defense, it wasn't entirely my fault Jimmy made it completely obvious that something was going on between you two."
Jimmy snapped his head towards her. "This is my fault?"
She nodded at him with a smile lingering on her face. "It sure is, Jimbo."
"Jimbo?"
The expression on his face made her amusement grow even more. "Something you should know about me is that I enjoy giving people nicknames."
Chloe rolled her eyes at her. "You better get used to it, Jimmy, she'll have a new nickname for you by the end of the week."
"Well, I see that you're making friends fast."
Lois quickly spun around at the voice she had heard on the news a million times, and stared wide-eyed at the man she recognized in a heartbeat standing directly in front of her. "P-P-Perry White."
He grinned at her. "That is my name, but I'd prefer if you'd just stick to Perry."
She nodded.
Ever since she had walked inside of this building she knew that she would be meeting this man, but her imagination for this moment didn't come close to comparing to everything she was feeling from just being in his presence.
She quickly struck out her hand. "It's an honor to meet you, sir."
Perry quickly shook her hand. "Don't call me sir either."
She nodded again.
"Your cousin has told me a lot about you, and even though I've already made up my mind about your future here I think it's time we get to know each other a little better, especially if your anything like your lovable cousin."
As soon as they disappeared from their sights, Jimmy leaned closer to her. "I thought she referred to shaking hands as too old school?"
Chloe snickered. "She does, but she's been dreaming of meeting this man for most of her life. I think that her nerves are eating away at her right now."
"Nerves around Perry White? He is going to milk this for all its worth."
"He sure is."
"I think she can handle the likes of Perry White."
She glanced over at him with a weird expression slowly spreading across her face. "What makes you think that?"
"We might have only been alone for a few minutes, but she's a lot like you, and in many ways she's different too. She definitely has spunk, and she is definitely going to need that if she intends on being a reporter here one day."
"Are you saying that I don't have spunk?"
His eyes widened to the size of saucers from the implication behind her words. "What? No! That's not what I meant—"
"I'm kidding, Jimmy, it's obvious that she made an impression on you."
"I could see us all being great friends."
She watched him walk away before she lowered herself down onto a nearby chair, and thought about his words. If she could make easy friends with Jimmy, then it wouldn't be too far stretched to think that the same thing would happen when she met her best friend.
At least she hoped their meeting would be as good as it was with Jimmy. It was the only way she could think of to cheer up her best friend, and maybe just maybe this could turn into something neither of them saw coming.
One could only hope, she thought to herself.
A little over one hour later, Lois made her way out of Perry' office with a face splitting grin plastered across her face, and she couldn't stop herself from thinking about the pure excitement and happiness she had just experienced.
As soon as they had stepped into his office, he had immediately noticed how nervous and wound up she seemed to be, and quickly put a stop to it. The entire time he had asked question after question about her life, which had only wound her up more since she wanted to know about her future here, but that had been his plan all along.
He wanted to string her along until the very last moment.
It was complete and utter torture, but it all had been worth it in the end.
Within one week she would be interning here with her cousin, and that excited her in more ways than one, but she was more excited about the friendships she had made in the matter of hours.
Perry and Jimmy were going to be great friends to have, and even though one of them was her boss and the other one was her co-worker she had a feeling that they would be playing a bigger factor in her life.
Her cousin was right, she thought to herself, it felt amazing making friends that weren't rich, business owning superheroes.
Of course, her cousin didn't know that, and she probably never would.
As soon as Chloe spotted her cousin walking towards her, she shot up out of her chair, and rushed towards her. "How did it go? Did you get the internship?"
Her face remained neutral and she remained silent.
Chloe sighed, heavily. "I can't tell from the expression on your face if we should be getting celebratory coffee or comforting ice cream?"
Lois stayed silent for a few more seconds, just to enjoy the way her cousin was silently unravelling before she grinned from ear to ear. "I think we should talk about this over coffee."
She yelped in utter excitement before she wrapped her arms around her body. "I knew it! I knew this was going to happen!"
She pulled away from her. "Perry wants me to get used to the city for a few days since I just got here this morning, so I don't start until next week, but it's official, we're interning here together."
Chloe couldn't wipe the grin off her face. "This is so exciting!"
"This wouldn't be possible if it wasn't for you, so thank you, Chloe."
"Your welcome, Lois." She clapped her hands together, excitedly. "Now, I think we should go get those coffees before we finish this tour.
"How many more places are you taking me?"
"Only a couple of places."
Several minutes later, they were walking down the busy streets with warm cups of coffee in their hands when Lois stopped dead in her tracks from the mere sight of one building a few feet away from them. The mere sight of it sent different emotions coursing throughout her veins, but mainly it brought back memories—memories of a time that she believed she was going to lose her best friends.
"Bruce and Oliver weren't exaggerating when they told me that this was the second largest building in Metropolis."
Chloe glanced up at the building she was referring to, and couldn't help feeling the resentment and anger fill every fiber within her being.
Luthorcorp.
"Let me guess, your friends have had some business deals with Lionel Luthor."
Lois narrowed her eyes at her from the tone of voice she had used when she uttered his name, but didn't question her about it since she also had some venom-filled hatred for one particular Luthor. "No, of course not, they want nothing to do with Luthorcorp or Lionel Luthor, but they did go to school with his son, Lex Luthor."
Figures, she thought to herself, her cousin would have some kind of link to that man even if it was through her friends.
"Have you ever met him?"
"Lionel or Lex?"
"Either one of them."
She wanted to tell her cousin about her past with Lex Luthor, but she knew that she couldn't not because it was something nefarious, but because it was something that affected her two closest friends, and she would do everything in her power to protect them.
And that man knew all of their secrets.
"I've never met Lionel, but I know he's not the greatest of men."
"And what about Lex?"
She frowned at her, slightly. "Why is this so important to you?"
She sighed, heavily. "It just is."
"I've met him a few times before, but it was only because I went to some charity balls with Bruce and Oliver."
Chloe narrowed her eyes at her, slightly. "Why do I get the feeling that your not being truthful with me."
"I don't know, Chloe, maybe because your being just a little overprotective about all of this. He's just some billionaire I met a few times. It's nothing more and nothing less than that. I promise."
Chloe watched her walk away from her, and even though she wanted to believe the words her cousin had told her she couldn't help feeling like she was hiding something.
It was a little worrisome, mainly because she didn't want her cousin to have anything to do with that man, but it was obvious that she was hiding something about him, and that was what worried her the most. What wasn't she telling her?
A couple of hours later, they were sitting outside of a small, quaint restaurant finishing off their dinner, as they watched people pass them by, and were just enjoying being in each other' company after all of these years they had spent only being able to see each other every few years if they were lucky.
Chloe glanced over at her with a curious and worried expression spread out across her face. Ever since they left Luthorcorp she had been a little out of sorts, and that worried her even more than she already was, but she wouldn't pressure her to tell her the truth.
"What would you like to do next?"
Lois locked eyes with her. "I don't know, but we have been running around the city all day long, and I would like to shower before we meet with Clark."
"Oh yeah. I should probably head to the farmhouse. He's probably thinking of ways to get out of this."
"Farmhouse?"
She nodded. "Clark lives on a farm in that small-town you despise so much, even though you haven't taken one step inside of it."
She rolled her eyes. "I left my small-town for the city. I have no desire to step inside of another one."
All of a sudden, her phone started ringing, loudly, and thinking that it was her mother or sister she answered it without looking at the caller ID. "It's only been a few hours. I called you when I got here, you know, you don't have to call me every time you want to tell me you miss me you could just send a text like a normal person."
"Well, that's one way to say hello."
Her eyes widened, slightly at the familiar voice, and berated herself for not checking the caller ID since she had been expecting his call for quite a while now. "Joey?"
"You know, your lucky that it wasn't your mother on the other line she just might have found a way to get down here faster than you could blink. Now, the answer to your question is your generation relies on technology unlike us old folks, who still have landlines, and I think your mother would agree with me when I say that texting is overrated."
She rolled her eyes even though she knew that he couldn't see her. "You don't need to sound so much like her, you know."
He chuckled on the other line. "Oh, come on, you know that I love torturing you and your little sister."
"Is there an actual reason for your call or was it just so you could boost your ego?"
"Hey! You're the one that started this, but I did have a reason for calling. I think I just might have an opening for you, but I need you to come down here to fill out the paperwork."
A wide grin spread out across her face from his words. "I'll be there as soon as I can."
As soon as she had placed her phone on the table, Chloe stared at her, expectantly, and when she didn't utter a single word she huffed, irritatingly. "Are you going to tell me who that was or are you just going to leave me hanging?"
"Do you remember when I told you that I had something to tell you?"
She nodded.
"Well, that was an old friend of my mom. He lives here in the city, and he just happens to have a job opening for me. Being an intern doesn't exactly pay the bills, and we have quite a pricy rent."
"I already told you that I could get you a job at the diner I'm working at."
She smiled, softly at her. "I don't think so, besides this particular place is more up my alley."
"And what is that supposed to mean?"
"You'll find out soon enough, but I think you should go grab that best friend of yours, and I'll meet with Joey."
She nodded, as she stood up. "I'll call you when were leaving Smallville."
She watched her disappear from her sights before making her way into the restaurant towards the cashier counter to pay for their dinner, but before she was even five feet away from the petite brunette behind the counter she heard an all too familiar voice lingering from behind her, and it caused all those feelings—all those emotions she was feeling earlier to come rushing to the surface.
"Hello, Lois."
I've wanted to get this chapter posted for a while now, but my life is super crazy right now, and I haven't really had the time, but luckily, I found some time to get this posted. I'll try my best to update faster
Clark wasn't in this chapter for one reason and one reason only…I wanted this chapter to focus on Chloe and Lois reuniting after it being so many years, but Clark will be appearing in the next chapter
I brought Perry in early because I always felt like SV brought him in way too late. He should have been at The Daily Planet earlier on, besides I wanted him to build a relationship with Lois and Chloe early for reasons that will be revealed later on
I also thought it was really unrealistic for Chloe, Lois and Clark to get jobs at The Daily Planet without degrees in SV. It just didn't make any sense, which is why I have them on internships while they are going to college. In my opinion, that is much more realistic than anything else
I hope you enjoyed chapter three