Chloe and Emmeline were on their way to the Talon to grab some drinks before spending some time on the next issue of the Torch. When they walked in, they saw some guy looking back at Lana and her aunt, Nell.
"Hi," Chloe and Emmeline greeted.
"Hey," Lana smiled.
"Hi, Chloe, Emmeline," Nell said.
"Hi."
"Oh, Chloe, how did the sleepover go? Did you two get a lot of studying done?"
Lana's wide eyes darted to Chloe for a second and Chloe looked back at her with a look of confusion. "Uh, I have to be completely honest with you, Nell," Chloe told her. "We didn't study. I invited Em over and we all had a Keanu DVD-a-thon. Once you get lost in those brown eyes, geometry loses its appeal."
"It's true," Emmeline put in. "I've seen The Matrix three times. Well, four now."
"Well, I'm just glad you two had fun," Nell smiled. "Don't let the grades suffer."
"Okay."
"Bye."
She grabbed her purse and got up and left the Talon. Lana smiled broadly and put her hands on the girls' arms.
"Thank you so much, you guys!"
"Yeah, sure!" Chloe said. "If you'd given me more of a heads-up, I could have come up with something a lot better than a Keanu DVD-a-thon."
"Sorry, it was a last-minute thing. I had to get out of the house, so I told Nell I was staying at a friend's place. You were the first person that came to mind."
"Really?"
"Really."
"So, uh, where were you last night? Is there a new guy in Lana Lang's life?"
"Yeah. His name's Dean. You both passed him on the way in."
Chloe's brow furrowed. "You're dating an older man?"
"Relax. He's Nell's new boyfriend. He's an insurance adjuster she met after the tornado. He's always around and they're in this lovey-dovey daze all the time."
"Yeah, and you want to tell them to get a room, but it's her house."
"Tell me about it. After I caught them slow dancing in the living room, I decided to stay at the Talon."
"Well, you know, next time you need to clear out of the love shack, you don't have to lie about it. You can stay at my house for real any time."
"Thanks."
Emmeline looked over at Chloe for a second. She wasn't losing her to Lana, was she?
The next day, Chloe and Emmeline rushed up to Pete and Clark at school.
"Hey, guys. Why didn't you tell us about the superhero deal?" Chloe demanded. When they both gave her blank looks, she continued, "Pete pulls a guy from a mangled truck and rushes him to the hospital? That's got Torch exclusive written all over it. So how about an interview?"
"Maybe later," Pete said with a hint of annoyance in his tone
"Your reluctance wouldn't be part of a vast conspiracy designed to cover up the whole spaceship thing, would it?"
"What are you talking about?" Clark asked. If Emmeline didn't know any better, she'd say he got kind of nervous.
"My source from the medical center gave me a call. He said that the guy that Pete brought in was rambling on about some alien spacecraft that landed in the cornfield."
"You don't really believe that, do you?"
"I don't know. Not unless Pete can corroborate the story."
Pete looked at Clark icily, then said to Chloe without taking his eyes off him, "Sure, Chloe. I saw a spaceship. I even met an alien."
"Really? Would you like to describe it?"
"Actually he looks a lot like Clark."
Chloe and Emmeline raised their eyebrows with a smile. "I thought aliens were little and green," Chloe joked.
"I guess things aren't always what you think they are." He walked away, leaving them with that final statement.
"Okay, what's up with him?" Chloe asked.
"Just guy stuff," Clark answered. "Um, you're not really looking into this UFO story are you? I mean, it sounds like Inquisitor stuff."
"Maybe, but if there is some truth to it, that's front-page news. For the Daily Planet."
Later that night, Emmeline headed up to Clark's loft to find him looking deep in thought.
"Knock, knock," she said with a smile. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, why?"
"You look upset. And don't try to deny it. When you're a shy person, you learn to read emotions fast."
Clark gave her a half-smile. "Well, first Pete's not talking to me, and then Lana just came by, and our conversation didn't exactly go the way I wanted."
"Well, if you don't mind my asking, what happened with you and her?"
"She told me stuff about her and Whitney, but I didn't want to tell her about what's going on between me and Pete. She didn't take that very well."
"Why not?"
"When I told her that what's on my mind is kind of personal, she got upset because she was sharing personal information with me. She said that if you care about someone, you owe it to them to tell them the truth."
"Well, she's right about that, but Clark, if you don't want to talk about it, you don't want to talk about it. She can't just force you to tell her things you don't want her to know. If it's really that personal, you should only tell people you really want to, like your parents. No one should force you to do something you don't want to do."
"Wow, Em. Where'd that come from?"
She smiled at him. "Call it personal experience."
"Well, thanks. That helps."
"No problem."
"Hey, guys, have you seen Pete?" Clark asked as he ran up behind them the next morning.
"No, and he was supposed to meet me to help me with some last-minute homework," Emmeline said. "I thought he was with you working out whatever's going on with you guys."
"Well, the weird-meter just kicked up another notch," Chloe said.
"Hospital visitor log," Clark read as she handed him a piece of paper.
"Yeah, um, I was looking into Ray Wallace's death. It turns out he had a visitor drop by just before he flatlined. A certain Dr. Steven Hamilton."
"The meteor freak?"
"Yeah."
"I thought he left Smallville."
"So did I. So Pete plays Good Samaritan and Dr. Hamilton visits the patient."
"The patient dies and Pete disappears," Clark finished.
"It's not exactly a smoking gun, but…"
"You think Pete's in trouble?" Emmeline asked.
"Maybe. I'm gonna go check on Hamilton."
Chloe looked back at the paper. "Okay, well you know, he used to have a place down on Allentown Road. Maybe he's, uh, back there…" The two girls looked up and noticed that Clark was gone. "Clark? Clark?" Chloe looked back at Emmeline. "I hate it when he does that."
"You think Pete's gonna be okay?"
"You know, you've gotten really close with him lately. Anything you wanna tell me?"
"I've told you a hundred times, we're just friends."
"That's what I kept saying about Clark."
"Oh, come on, you know that you'd be the first to know if I was interested in Pete."
"Touché."
Emmeline went over to Pete's house when school was over, hoping he was the one to answer the door. To her relief, he was.
"Hey!" she smiled. "I'm glad to see you're alright! What happened?"
"It's complicated. Believe me."
"Well, the important thing is that you're okay."
"Why? Were you worried about me?" Pete asked, giving her a playful smirk.
"You're my friend. Of course I was worried."
Pete laughed. "Hey, did you still need help with that homework?"
"Actually, I turned it in earlier today, but thanks."
"In that case, how about you come inside for some cookies Mom just finished making? I've also got The Matrix waiting to be watched."
Emmeline smiled broadly. "Count me in."
