Chapter 36 - Red
Chloe made jokes about the low quality of the class ring, and Pete made sure to remind Clark how disappointed his dad would be, but none of that stopped him.
And the moment he put on the ring, he was glad they hadn't. He felt different. For one thing, he felt really good—the closest thing he had to compare it to was a combined caffeine-and-sugar high. No—it was more like the way he felt when Lana smiled at him. He felt reckless, a little stupid, and completely out of control. He said whatever popped into his mind, things that normally would have mortified him.
Thing was, he couldn't remember why he would have found them mortifying. They seemed perfectly natural. So did stealing his parents' credit cards and going on a shopping spree—most of their money was rightfully his, anyway, between the work he did on the farm and the money he took home from his fake internship. And when he strode into the Talon, dripping confidence, and asked Lana out on a date, that seemed natural, too.
What didn't seem natural was taking her out in his dad's beat up pickup truck. He had a billionaire as a best friend. Certainly, he could do better for the girl of his dreams.
Lex was dealing with a couple of minor conflicts that had come up at LexCorp when his security guards announced that Clark was at the front gate.
It wasn't his usual internship day, but now that Clark was in school, Lex wasn't as worried about Clark's cover stories to his parents. It was probably easy for him to say he'd been hanging out with other friends after school, and his parents would never think twice about it.
Unfortunately, Lex was a bit overwhelmed with work. He kept his eyes on his laptop as Clark came into the study.
"Any updates on the meteor research?" Clark asked.
"Nothing since yesterday."
"When are you gonna tell those guys to hurry it up already? You're paying them enough, aren't you?"
That was when Lex looked up from his computer. Clark stood at the pool table, tossing the cue ball from one hand to another, wearing a new coat. The coat wouldn't have been notable, except that it was the kind of coat Lex only wore to a meeting if he needed to impress the weight of his power and wealth on whoever he was meeting with.
Lex opened his mouth to speak, then closed it. He tried again. "I wasn't aware that a two thousand dollar coat came with a backbone. What's going on?"
"I'd like to borrow the Ferrari. I've got a hot date tonight and I want to rock her world."
Lex barely contained his laughter. Clark had to be joking. "Rock her world?"
If Clark was being ironic, he didn't show it in his face. He just nodded solemnly.
"Ah, so Lana at last."
"Well, like you said. A man needs to know when to make his move."
Lex kept watching him. There was something very off about Clark. It reminded him of the effects of the Nicodemus plant. It set his heart racing a little—when Lana was infected by the Nicodemus toxin, she'd gone from trying to seduce him to trying to take his head off with a coffee mug over the course of less than a minute. Lex spoke very carefully. "Hey, I'm glad you're finally acting on your feelings, but . . . Lana's never struck me as the kind of girl to be impressed by a Ferrari."
"Fast cars, fancy home, and a ton of money never seemed to hurt you, did it?"
It wasn't quite like the Nicodemus effect. Clark just seemed . . . different.
"Come on Lex. I just want to make tonight special."
Normally, Lex wouldn't have hesitated to grant Clark any favor he asked. But right now, Clark wasn't . . . Clark. "I don't know. It's a very expensive piece of machinery, difficult to handle."
"It's not like I'm going to, uh . . . drive it off a bridge."
Lex just stared—that one stung. It wouldn't have, except it was the kind of jab Clark never made, and he clearly intended for it to hurt a little.
"All you have to ask yourself is," Clark said, "who's more responsible than Clark Kent?"
Lex gave in then. He handed over the keys and told Clark to be careful. Clark didn't even thank him.
As much as Lex liked his cars, the Ferrari was just a thing. If Clark totaled it, Lex could replace it—or rather, his insurance could replace it. But he didn't give in because he didn't care about the car.
He gave in because he was genuinely afraid of what Clark would do if he didn't.
On some level, Clark knew that the bar where he took Lana was a bad place for him. A bad place for her, too. But he took her there anyway. The loud music, the dancing girls, and the smell of alcohol pumped up the high in his mind. It was cool. It was everything he usually wasn't, everything he wanted to be. He couldn't remember having wanted to be this way, but he knew it was what he wanted. Didn't everyone?
Lana was boring about the whole thing. She kept trying to get Clark to leave and go somewhere quieter and more boring, so when the new girl from school approached him, he just went along with her.
Then, somehow—he'd never remember how, later—he ended up starting a bar fight.
It felt amazing. He couldn't believe he'd never used his powers like this before!
He spent the night making plans to run away with Jessie, and he dropped by his parents' house the next morning to pick up a few things. Predictably, his mom came running up to him as soon as she saw him, her voice shrill and panicky.
"Where were you all night? We looked everywhere, Clark!"
He didn't stop to face her, just kept walking toward the Ferrari. "Last night was the best night of my life."
"We want to help you."
He scoffed, tossing his bag into the trunk. "Help me. Help me what? Stay here on the farm, doing chores, wasting my life for a $40 a week allowance?"
His dad approached him then as well. "Clark, I wish you could hear yourself for just a minute. There's something very wrong with you. It's that ring."
That amused him. "You're still upset about me buying this stupid thing? How pathetic."
"Clark . . ." His father reached out for his hand.
Clark jerked it away and deepened his voice a little. "You really don't want to touch me."
His mom's jaw dropped, and his dad asked, "Then why don't you just hand it to me then?"
"Clark, please," his mom said. "It isn't the ring itself. Chloe found out it's made out of red meteor rock."
"You know how the green rock makes you sick?" his dad said. "Well, we think that this red rock is affecting your mind."
Clark glanced down at the ring, then back at his father. He'd suspected as much, but he'd play along.
"It's changed your personality, Clark," his dad said.
"Everything I've been doing and saying is because of this?" He gestured to the ring.
"That's right. That's why you've got to take that thing off right away."
Clark laughed lightly. "Take it off? I just wish I would have found it sooner! Hey, if you guys want to waste your life in this mud hole, that's your problem. I'm through being poor."
He slammed the door and drove off to the mansion. Lex would understand.
Lex hadn't necessarily expected Clark to bring back the Ferrari right after his date, though he did hope Clark would keep it hidden from his parents, as well as that whatever Clark was going through, it would be over by the time they met again.
Of course, nothing was ever that easy. Clark strode into the study the next morning, flippant as ever. "Lex. If it's all right with you, I'm going to keep the Ferrari a little bit longer. I'll send it back when I get myself set up."
Lex held out a hand. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down. Clark, what's going on?'
Clark plunked himself down in the leather recliner beside the couch where Lex was working on his computer, sighing as he put his feet up. "I left home."
Lex shut his laptop and gave Clark his full attention "What happened? Was it a fight with your folks?"
"My parents don't understand me."
Lex swallowed. As much as he'd never gotten along with the Kents, he knew they loved Clark, and Clark adored them. They didn't deserve to have to deal with this, and Clark was going to be devastated when he snapped awake from whatever this was.
"Truth is, there's nothing left for me here in Smallville."
Nothing left. Lex stared at Clark for a moment. "What about Lana?"
Clark actually rolled his eyes. "She's old news. I've got a new girl. Jessie."
Lex shifted and firmed his voice. "Kinda sudden, isn't it?"
Clark's voice sharpened in turn. "Look, you're the one always telling me I need to find my destiny. Well, one thing is for certain, it's not here in Kansas."
"So you just packed your stuff and you're off."
"Problem with that?"
Enough was enough. Lex stood up. He wondered if he could trick Clark into going into the meteor rock prison. He couldn't imagine Clark falling for it, unless . . . "Maybe you're right to get away from your folks. Maybe I should do the same. I never wanted to live in Smallville anyway."
"You can come with me."
"Nobody's using the penthouse in Metropolis. We can stay there. Let me just grab a few things. Make yourself at home."
Clark grinned, and Lex left the study, trudging down to the experiment room, and then into the prison cell.
It wouldn't take long. In this state, Clark would get bored. He would come looking for Lex. Lex expected it to take less than a half an hour.
It took about five minutes.
"Lex?" Clark's voice echoed through the experiment room. "Where are you?"
"Left something in here," Lex said from the cell. "Hang on, it's heavy."
"Oh, let me help." Clark's footsteps sounded, and then he walked straight into the trap.
Lex slammed the door behind him and stood in front of it.
Clark groaned at the effects of the meteor rock—he'd never actually been in this room, as far as Lex knew—then he straightened up. "I should have known. You don't understand me, either. You just want to use me."
"Clark—"
"You have no idea what I'm capable of."
That sent shivers down Lex's spine. "I think I have a pretty good idea."
Clark shook his head. "You're no different from my parents."
"I think you should call them."
"Or what?"
"Or I will."
Clark's eyes became daggers for a moment, but then he simply shook his head. "I'm leaving now." He took a menacing step toward Lex.
Lex fished the pendant out from under his t-shirt collar. "I will use this."
"Damn it, Lex!"
"I'm going to call your parents."
"No, you're not!"
That was true. But he needed some time to think. "I'm going to call . . . someone. You're going to stay in here and cool down."
Now a hint of panic played with the edges of Clark's voice. "Come on, Lex. You're my best friend. You wouldn't really leave me here, would you?"
Lex's jaw pulsed. He had hoped never to have to do this.
Clark's eyes widened. "Oh, no. No, no, please, please . . ."
"I'm so sorry, Clark." Lex turned the door handle with one hand, holding up the pendant with the others in case Clark got any ideas, and he locked the door behind himself as he went.