The day dragged on, for Clark it seemed to meander in a never ending stream of mounting frustration. After his confrontation with Lana, he tried to lose himself with chores around the farm, but nothing seemed to quiet his mind. He wanted to talk to Chloe. Their last encounter perplexed him greatly. And if he was willing to admit, which he wasn't, it seemed like she was trying to push him away. But that couldn't be, he told himself, something was definitely wrong with her and she just didn't want to talk to him about it. Just like with her krypto-ability and Dr. Knox. He knew he should be more concerned with Lana, trying to help her and getting their relationship back on track...but his mind didn't want to let go of his best friend. Clark convinced himself that as soon as he was able to get a handle on what exactly was going on with his Chloe, then he would be able to place his attention squarely on helping Lana, with Chloe's assistance of course.
Yet every attempt he made to contact his blonde friend was met with silence. Before lunch he emailed her twice and left a message on her voice mail, and nothing. Clark reminded himself that she said she was extremely busy today, that she was trying to impress her new editor, that she was possibly on the trail of some career making story. And every time he checked his computer and searched his cell for missed calls or texts messages and the caller ID to see she hadn't yet responded, he swallowed down his disappointment, and silenced his mother's voice in his head. 'Well Clark...What are you going to do? I hope you're planning on giving Chloe some space to work out everything she needs to.' His mother was wrong. Chloe was just busy.
Lana came to him hesitantly and asked if he wanted to do lunch on Main Street, Clark politely declined. He felt bad for blowing off his girlfriend, which he normally wouldn't do, knowing Lana more than likely took the time off from Isis to spend the day with him, but his best friend needed him, and he would never forgive himself if anything was to happened to Chloe. So when Lana frustrated and clearly put off, headed toward Metropolis to the Isis Foundation, Clark left for his standing mid-day, lunch appointment with Chloe.
Arriving on time at the Planet, he saw she wasn't there and the pipsqueak Olsen proved to be fruitless on helping find her. He heard her steady heartbeat, and was assured she was safe and close by but couldn't pinpoint her location among the throngs of people in Metropolis, only a quick x-ray scan of the Daily Planet building alerted Clark that she indeed wasn't there.
He waited in the city for over an hour and was able to stop two muggings, one potential hit and run and a convenience store robbery, before going back to the DP, only to find she was in a meeting with no set time of when it would be over.
With great reluctance he headed back to Smallville and the empty house. He tried calling Chloe twice again, to no avail and by the time Kara and Lana arrived that night, Clark had already succumb to a fitful sleep having neglected eating lunch and dinner.
--
For Chloe the rest of her day sped by. After her outing with Lois, in an attempt to avoid Clark, she was able to finagle her way into an inter-departmental meeting that took a couple hours to conclude. Afterward she got significant work done and much progress on a lead received regarding illegal pharmaceutical shipments, and the exact location of the new mystery lab. Though she may have appeared directed and focused on the outside, internally she was doubting the decision she made concerning Clark. Yet her resolve held and though it proved increasingly difficult not to answer when she saw his name on her cell id, she endured.
But the true test came at 12:43am. Sitting in Oliver's pent house on his very plush sofa garbed in her fluffy Smurf pajamas and her Scooby-Doo slippers; when Late Night with Conan O'Brian went on commercial break and she switched to Letterman, she eyed her cell phone sitting silently beside her. Hands itching to pick it up and press one on her speed dial for Clark, she wanted to comment on Letterman's satire and what he was saying now, and how much he differed from Conan. Chloe yearned to hear Clark make fun of Letterman, and tell her Irish was the best, (that always made her smile), and pressure her to turn it back to Conan because the show was back on and she almost missed the funny faces.
Looking at her undisturbed phone Chloe's eyes began to burn with unshed tears of frustration and disappointment. And when a single tear made it past her barricade she turned the tv off, quieting both Conan and Letterman and went to the guest room, because by this time, nothing would silence her plaguing doubts but sleep.
