Worst Timing Ever
Chapter 7
The day had quickly turned into one of the worst days Clark had ever had in his life.
There really wasn't anything that jumped to his mind that could possibly top the awful day that he had had today and the kicker was that it wasn't even close to being done.
He sat there at the table in the busy restaurant with his hand gripped around the glass of his scotch. It was his plan to get very drunk tonight. That was the only way he could get through the meal as he sat across from Lois and her fiancé, Bradley.
It had been such a shock to his entire system when Lois had introduced the elegant and put together gentleman as her fiancé when they had been in the airport. If he had assembled a list of things that Lois could say to surprise him upon her return to Metropolis, the fact that she was engaged would probably not have even been on that list.
And now he had to sit idly by and listen to their love story as Lois practically gushed to Lana and Chloe about it as they all munched on the appetizers in the middle of the table.
Clark sighed and grabbed a nacho before popping it in his mouth. He tried to focus on chewing and swallowing so that he did not really have to concentrate on the conversation taking place.
"Lois and I met at a bar just around the corner from the building where she worked." Bradley said with his hand on Lois' as it rested on the table. "We were introduced by a co-worker of hers that is a friend of mine."
"Hang on there, buddy, we were introduced?" Lois gave him a glare and a disbelieving glance all wrapped up in one as her pretty eyes moved over Bradley's face.
"What? Love we were introduced or have you forgotten already?" Bradley asked with a teasing smile.
Lois shook her head vigorously and sighed as she looked around at Lana and Chloe before placing both of her hands on the table. Clark knew that it was in an attempt to keep her annoyance in check.
She used it whenever she was interviewing someone for a story and was not getting the answers she wanted but knew that it would do no good for her if she let the interviewee know how frustrated she was with them especially when he was not around to help charm them the way Lois liked. It was a technique that she had had to develop and he had helped with that.
Clark briefly wondered if Bradley knew this little quirk about her.
His attention was put back on the woman his mind had been conquered by the last few weeks as she started in on an explanation and as she did Clark was caught up in the redness of her lips as she spoke.
"We were introduced by Kate who is a woman I work with and by the way, Bradley's ex-girlfriend but that was only after this klutz spilled his drink all over me after he collided into me as I was about to leave to go back to work."
Chloe laughed a little as did Lana but Clark could tell that neither was really interested or happy about this little turn of events. Those two more than anyone were in his corner and had been rooting for him to get his act together longer than even he knew. It was nice in a way to know that he was not the only one shocked and upset by this guy's abrupt arrival into their lives.
Chloe was, however, a little less subtle about her feelings than Lana was at times. She was never one to beat around the bush but maybe it ran in the family considering Lois was like that too, pretty much all of the time.
He loved that about her. Who was he kidding? Clark loved everything about her.
"So this Kate girl, is she pretty? Were you two serious? Were the two of you in love? Tell me that you're not using Lois to get this Kate jealous." Chloe questioned and caused Jimmy to choke on his water a little.
"Chloe," Jimmy scolded as he calmed down a moment later.
She turned her head to look at him and smile. It was a light smile that matched the innocent look she had plastered on her face and with her blond pixie hair cut; Chloe could convincingly feign innocence.
"What?" Chloe asked and turned her face toward Lois who was fighting a smile on her lips as she tried to be mad at her cousin.
"You really shouldn't be asking him things like that." Jimmy said and smiled a little at Bradley. "She can be a little, overprotective of her cousin, forgive her."
He was sitting next to Lois with an expression on his face that indicated to Clark that he was a little put off by Chloe's questions.
Clark sat up a little straighter. He was grateful to his friend because for the first time since they had met at the airport this guy looked like he had just realized he had bitten off more than he could chew.
Good.
He smirked and he decided for the first time to join in. "I think it is a fair question, actually."
Lois turned her head toward him sharply and furrowed her eyebrows at him with a slight frown playing on the red lips he had been enraptured by moments earlier.
Clark thought that he should care that he was the one that had upset her slightly but any time her focus was solely on him was never a bad thing. So he could hardly feel bad about it at all.
"Clark." Lois scolded him in the same way that Jimmy had Chloe.
Lana sighed a little and spoke a second later. "Lois we all love you so much and you can't honestly expect us to not ask Bradley tough questions considering the fact that you plan to marry him after only just meeting him."
He heard her every word but was unable to break his gaze from Lois' eyes. Clark tried to suppress the tingling sensations that ran through his entire body as she stared at him. He wanted to tell her how he felt, wanted to tell her how he had woken up after all of this time to see that she was the only person in the world meant for him.
Clark knew, though, that it was hard to do that when another guy had his hand resting possessively on the back of her chair because they were very much a couple. So he kept his mouth shut but he found it hard to keep his conflicting emotions out of his blue eyes.
Lois seemed just as caught up in the gaze as he was. Unlike him there were no wild emotions in her brown depths but there was a calm that seemed to settle over her entire body for the first time all night as he stared at her.
He wasn't sure what to make of that. Clark was left no time to ponder anything as Lana's words finally seemed to settle upon Lois. She looked at the petite brunette but gave her a smile instead of being offended which would usually have been her reaction to such words from anyone.
Lois did not like anyone looking out for Lois but herself.
"I get it, you guys. You are looking out for me and I know I would do the same for you but at this moment in time can't we just focus on the fact that I am no longer sitting on that stupid, crowded plane with all of the crying babies? That alone is reason enough to start celebrating!" Lois joked and raised her wine glass into the air.
"Here, here!" Jimmy joined in and laughed.
"See Jimmy's got the spirit. I always knew I liked you for a reason." Lois teased and winked at him.
Jimmy smiled more, "I always thought the reason you liked me was because I am willing to take pictures for your stories when no other photographer at the Planet has the guts to follow into the trenches when you are on the hunt for a scoop… which usually lands us in some kind of danger which leads us to the hospital or on a few occasions, in jail."
Lois shrugged. "Well there's that."
Clark laughed despite his sour mood because there was so much truth in those words. While the two of them were writing partners and more than likely teamed up for most of their pieces, Jimmy was the photographer who was usually right behind Lois when she would dive head first into something she shouldn't. And they had been like that for longer than Clark had been at the paper.
So it gave Jimmy and Lois a bond that was special just to them because they had worked their way up the Daily Planet ladder side by side and helped each other out along the way.
Clark smiled at Jimmy then turned his attention back to the conversation. Chloe seemed no more at ease then when she had asked those questions about Kate and sort of broke the ice as to how uncomfortable they all were deep down.
He caught her eye and she sent him a sympathetic look which he hated but knew that he was probably in a very pitiful state at the moment. Clark was sitting at a table with the woman he had known for years, just recently discovered he was in love with, and there she was sitting next to her fiancé. He was starting to feel sorry himself, too.
But apparently that was not enough because Lois dropped another bomb.
"Besides you all have time to get to know Bradley before the wedding. Granted it is not a lot of time but still… doable." Lois smiled and looked at the guy sitting next to her who returned her smile in kind.
While the couple seemed to be lost in a loving moment the rest of the table's occupants furrowed their eyebrows and wore identical expressions of confusion.
Lana was the one that spoke up first, "What do you mean 'not a lot of time' Lois?"
Bradley answered the question but never tore his eyes away from Lois.
"Lois and I have decided to get married in Scotland, where my family is from, and we decided to not waste a lot of time. We'll be married in three weeks' time."
"What," Chloe shrieked.
Lois glanced her way as did many other patrons of the restaurant. People in the surrounding tables sent the blond woman various looks of annoyance but none of them were paid any mind as Clark's heart dropped to his stomach.
"Three weeks?" Clark whispered but was unsure it had been heard by anyone.
Lois just smiled more as she looked at her cousin. "We know it is soon but we want to just get married—I don't know how to even explain it."
"Well Lois don't you think this is a little, abnormal?" Lana questioned. "I mean most people date for a couple of years then get married. They don't usually meet someone and just run down the aisle, I mean unless you are drunk in Vegas or something like that."
Lois shrugged. "I have never done anything the way most people do them. You have to give me that."
"But still… Lois this is so soon." Chloe said with her eyebrows still hidden in her hairline due to the shock.
"Look this is the way it is going to happen. Chloe you can be happy for me, serve as my maid of honor or sit by the sidelines and sulk because it is all happening too soon. The choice is up to you."
"You want me to be the maid of honor?" Chloe asked stunned once again, "Really?"
"Who else is gonna be my maid of honor? You're the person I am closest to in the world." Lois smiled but Lana spoke up quickly and broke the seemingly happy moment between the cousins.
"Well what about Clark?" Lana asked and motioned toward him.
Clark was ripped from his stunned silence as things went on around him and looked at Lana as if she had spontaneously grown a second head.
"What about Clark?" Clark asked with trepidation but Lana smiled at him sweetly and it really made Clark feel like he was not going to like what she had to say.
"Well you and Clark are the best of friends. You two spend the most time together out of anyone here… even these two here and they are attached at the hip." She nudged Chloe and was referring to her and Jimmy. "So if Clark is the one you are actually, you know technically, the person you are closest to in the world shouldn't he be the one involved in the wedding?"
Lois looked at her with a raised eyebrow, "What do you mean?"
Lana said with a smile knowing that she was getting through to the hardheaded brunette sitting across from her, "He can be your maid of honor!"
He swore he could feel his eyes jump out of his skull at the words. "WHAT!"
For the second time that night people around the table sent the group looks of annoyance but Clark's voice carried further then Chloe's had and more people heard him yell out in shock and surprise.
Jimmy, and Chloe, and Bradley all looked just as shocked as Clark did at Lana's suggestion but the one person that he had wanted to be shocked and slightly put off, wasn't and that was not a good sign for Clark.
Lois smiled. "You know what… I think that is actually a perfect idea."
Clark just sank in his chair. This day was just getting worse and worse. What more could go wrong? He shook his head and the thoughts went out of his head because he knew that if he tempted fate anymore… this day could probably get worse.
It sucked.
End of Chapter 7.
Please Review.
