He tried to drive slower than usual, since he had a passenger in the car. He had always driven alone since he came to Smallville, so it was strange to have someone else in the car with him, and he wasn't sure he liked it.
"You know the way to my house?" she asked.
"I've driven past it many times," he responded.
She nodded. "I need to be back soon."
"Got plans with the quarterback?" Her silence made him glance at her. She looked closed off, the way she usually did when she was angry. "Something wrong?"
She looked past the windshield for a minute. "Whitney and I are having a disagreement right now," she said.
He gave a wry smile. "That was so politically correct that it had to be a lie," he said. "What's going on?"
She shook her head with a little false smile. "He did something that upset me. I asked him to apologize yesterday and he insisted that he didn't do anything." She looked down at her hands. "I'm not exactly speaking to him."
"What'd he do?" Lex was interested. Perhaps he could use this to his advantage.
She was silent a moment before answering. "He… he forced Clark to take my necklace the night he strung him up." She swallowed. It was obviously a sore subject. "He lied to me about it twice. And now he won't admit that he did anything wrong."
Lex shook his head, trying not to smile. Clark had taken his advice. "Wow," he said. "That's bad." He turned at a stop sign.
She shot him a look, but he was serious. "Yeah," she said. "I know. I… feel so bad for Clark. It's sort of my fault. He returned the necklace and I thought it was Whitney and then he came over to make sure I got it, and…" She was silent. Lex could practically see the wheels turning. Suddenly she turned in her seat to face him. "Lex, what would you do if you felt something but you weren't sure that you were supposed to, or that you even did, or if it was wrong?" After she stopped she bit her lip, as if she hadn't meant to say all that. "From a strictly hypothetical point of view," she said weakly.
He nodded. "Of course. Hypothetical. Well." He thought of how to phrase his question. "Are we talking about Clark?" He asked. "Hypothetically," he added.
Lana stared out the windshield. "Hypothetically…" she said, "We might be talking about Clark."
Lex nodded again, suspicions confirmed. He felt like grinning, but he didn't. "Well," he said. "I always believe in taking the bull by the horns." She looked at him quickly. He continued, "I believe that being shy and stalling is the worst thing a person can do, and if you feel anything, you should explore the feeling instead of shutting it off." She was looking at him seriously. "Can I ask what else happened that night?" he said after a moment's hesitation. He had realized suddenly that the night Clark had been upset was the night he had told Lana about the necklace. Do-gooder that he was, Clark still wouldn't have been upset that Lana was angry with Whitney. Well, maybe a little, but not enough to produce the state Lex had seen that night.
"What do you mean?" Lana said quickly.
He shrugged. "It seems like there's something you're not telling me."
She stared at him. An image of a deer in headlights came to mind. Then she looked down. "I can't believe I'm telling you this," she said slowly. He waited. "But… I kissed Clark that night. After he told me. I was upset," she said quickly, defensively. "I was upset and confused, and I…"
"And now you're not sure if you meant it or not." Lex finished.
She nodded, biting her bottom lip unconsciously.
Lex sighed softly. He didn't know what to do now. He couldn't honestly say that she loved Clark. She didn't, not yet. His propaganda would not be well received. On the other hand, he didn't want to push her towards Whitney because he really did think that the football star didn't deserve her. She had more class than that. He hesitated. "Lana… I can't choose your opinion for you. But do you want to know what I really think?"
"Yeah," she said. "I do."
"I think that you deserve better than the quarterback. And if 'better' is Clark, then you should go get him before somebody else does." He was silent for just a moment. "And I do think that Clark is 'better'."
She looked at him, devoid of expression. He could see her turning over his words in her mind.
"Here's your house," he said. They had pulled up next to the white fence that marked Nell's property. The trees that arched over their heads shaded them from the sunlight. Lana, after a moment, blinked and got out of the car. Lex followed suit. When he came around the car she was already at the gate. "Lana," he called.
She stopped and turned, not quite looking at him.
"Like I said," he told her. "I can't choose your opinion for you."
"I know," she said a bit sadly. "I know."
He hesitated. He didn't want to let her go like that. "Lana, if you…" he searched for the words. "If you ever need to talk, I'm here." He sounded totally absurd. Totally ridiculous. He sounded like a grief counselor, or a woman. But all Lana did was nod and smile a little. "You can come over any time," he added. Then he mentally shook himself. What?
She smiled. "Thanks, Lex," she said. "You've been a big help."
He shrugged and smiled. Inside he was very confused. It was like he was on autopilot. He would never have expected himself to say those things. "If you need to talk, I'm here?" Teen soap operas had similar scripts. "Just being a friend," he said. "Hypothetically."
This time she laughed, and went inside. He walked back to the car and got in. Once he had started to drive, he said, "What was that?" He did not respond. Instead he shook his head. "I need more Advil."
He turned on the radio to an Oldies' station. "You're just too good to be true…" the speaker sang. Lex grinned in surprise. He listened for a while, and by the time he pulled in front of the Luthor house, he was singing along. "Oh, pretty baby, don't let me walk away, oh pretty baby, now that I've found you stay…" He turned off the car and tucked the keys in his pocket. Humming, he locked the car doors and went inside. His housekeeper almost had a heart attack when she saw him humming, but he ignored her and went upstairs to try and burn off his headache on the treadmill.
