Lex Luthor walked into The Talon looking somewhat annoyed as he held his
cell phone up to his ear. Clark wasn't at The Beanery as he said he would
be, and Lex wasn't able to reach him at home after a couple of tries on his
cell. Since The Talon was only a short distance away, Lex theorized that
he may have stopped in to 'visit' Lana.
~ 'Visit' being defined as 'stare and stammer until he brings up her boyfriend to end the obvious tension.' ~
The first thing Lex noticed was how seemingly dead the place was compared to The Beanery. It was the business instinct in him, a lesson drilled into him by his father. But he wasn't going to question the lack of business The Talon was generating at the present moment, Clark was the mission. And the best way to find Clark was Lana Lang.
~ Speaking of which… ~
Lex spied Lana still tending the rather vacant bar. Although she was at present tending to the same piece of paper she had accidentally stolen from Clark's barn just that afternoon. Lex walked over to the bar casually and stood just on the opposite side waiting for Lana to notice his presence, but to no avail.
"Must be quite a piece of story to demand all of your attention," Lex pointed as Lana gasped in startled shock dropping the paper on the opposite side of the bar. The now worn piece of paper fell lifelessly to the floor next to Lex's feet. Lana could feel her heart pounding in her head. She wasn't sure what made her more nervous, the fact that Lex caught her completely by surprise or that he would think she wrote the sappy verse on the paper.
~ Duh Lana, I hope Lex wouldn't assume that I wrote it since it involves another girl. ~
Lex picked the piece of paper up and took a moment to read the lyrics before he passed the sheet back to her. He offered the sheet back to Lana, who had an intense look of guilt on her face as she accepted it back from him.
"Sorry, it's been slow around here. Can I get you anything?" she asked cheerfully as she folded the piece of paper and placed it in her back pocket.
"That's a rather depressing piece to be coming from the, I'm assuming, still boyfriend. Is that a secret admirer communiqué?" Lex asked cocking an inquisitive eyebrow at Lana.
"The admired is the secret part, I know who the admirer is," Lana answered as Lex maintained his look of curiosity.
"Typical Smallville reverse fate. Care to tell me more?" Lex inquired as he sat on one of the stools at the bar.
Lana hesitated. If this had involved anybody but Clark, she would mention it and Lex wouldn't think twice about intervening. But it did involve Clark, and she was sure that anything she disclosed might immediately get back to him. Still she worried about him, and Lex could probably give some insight as to who might be making Clark so inadvertently miserable.
"Maybe, but you have to swear to me details of this conversation do not go beyond you and me," Lana said imperatively towards Lex.
"So this has to do with Clark then?" Lex inferred smiling as Lana sighed, conceding the point. Lana put her hand out to shake on the non-disclosure type of agreement. Lex graciously shook her hand. "So tell me what's going on?"
"Well, really it all happened today. Clark was…distant…and very depressed looking all day. Especially in our last class of the day, he wouldn't even so much as look at me or say hi," Lana expositioned.
"Not exactly a cry for help Lana, he could have just been having a bad day," Lex reacted cooly.
"There's more. I went over to his house to see if he wanted to talk, nobody not even the parents were around. I checked his loft and saw him working out in the field. That's when I noticed this. I read it, freaked out, and ran out of there before he came back," she pulled out the paper from her back pocket and to clarify and quickly pocketed it again.
~ Still not earth shattering enough. I think she's trying to make this a bigger deal than it really is. ~
Lana waited for Lex to react. She was hoping to get information without revealing the last really awkward part of the story which has her invading Clark's privacy.
"So then, I'm sitting here reading the story not more than ten minutes ago, when Clark sees me reading said paper and bolted down the street. Try as I did to catch up to him, he was well gone by the time I even made it out the door," she concluded the story.
~ Okay that is a little more panicky description of Clark than I'm used to hearing. ~
"Has Clark ever…you know…talked about somebody as more than a friend?"
Lex smiled deviously again. "C'mon Lana, what makes you think Clark and I don't have a similar understanding to keep conversations like this in confidence." Lana looked miffed that he wouldn't yield the information, but she understood all the same.
~ 'Boy's Code of the Schoolyard' strikes again. ~
"Could you at least talk to him for me? Make sure he's okay?" she asked him with intense concern.
"I'm supposed to see him tonight, but I'm not going to pry about it. He'll tell me if he feels so inclined," Lex said as he got up from his seat and began to walk out. Lana nodded silently as she watched him go. Lex turned and looked at her. "Try not to worry, Lana," he said indifferently, "almost every guy has a bout of unrequited love in high school."
"Almost every guy?" Lana squinted her eyes skeptically thinking Lex may have been referring to himself as the almost exception.
"Well, let's just say I doubt Whitney has ever had this problem," Lex finished as he flashed Lana a short smile and exited The Talon.
~ 'Visit' being defined as 'stare and stammer until he brings up her boyfriend to end the obvious tension.' ~
The first thing Lex noticed was how seemingly dead the place was compared to The Beanery. It was the business instinct in him, a lesson drilled into him by his father. But he wasn't going to question the lack of business The Talon was generating at the present moment, Clark was the mission. And the best way to find Clark was Lana Lang.
~ Speaking of which… ~
Lex spied Lana still tending the rather vacant bar. Although she was at present tending to the same piece of paper she had accidentally stolen from Clark's barn just that afternoon. Lex walked over to the bar casually and stood just on the opposite side waiting for Lana to notice his presence, but to no avail.
"Must be quite a piece of story to demand all of your attention," Lex pointed as Lana gasped in startled shock dropping the paper on the opposite side of the bar. The now worn piece of paper fell lifelessly to the floor next to Lex's feet. Lana could feel her heart pounding in her head. She wasn't sure what made her more nervous, the fact that Lex caught her completely by surprise or that he would think she wrote the sappy verse on the paper.
~ Duh Lana, I hope Lex wouldn't assume that I wrote it since it involves another girl. ~
Lex picked the piece of paper up and took a moment to read the lyrics before he passed the sheet back to her. He offered the sheet back to Lana, who had an intense look of guilt on her face as she accepted it back from him.
"Sorry, it's been slow around here. Can I get you anything?" she asked cheerfully as she folded the piece of paper and placed it in her back pocket.
"That's a rather depressing piece to be coming from the, I'm assuming, still boyfriend. Is that a secret admirer communiqué?" Lex asked cocking an inquisitive eyebrow at Lana.
"The admired is the secret part, I know who the admirer is," Lana answered as Lex maintained his look of curiosity.
"Typical Smallville reverse fate. Care to tell me more?" Lex inquired as he sat on one of the stools at the bar.
Lana hesitated. If this had involved anybody but Clark, she would mention it and Lex wouldn't think twice about intervening. But it did involve Clark, and she was sure that anything she disclosed might immediately get back to him. Still she worried about him, and Lex could probably give some insight as to who might be making Clark so inadvertently miserable.
"Maybe, but you have to swear to me details of this conversation do not go beyond you and me," Lana said imperatively towards Lex.
"So this has to do with Clark then?" Lex inferred smiling as Lana sighed, conceding the point. Lana put her hand out to shake on the non-disclosure type of agreement. Lex graciously shook her hand. "So tell me what's going on?"
"Well, really it all happened today. Clark was…distant…and very depressed looking all day. Especially in our last class of the day, he wouldn't even so much as look at me or say hi," Lana expositioned.
"Not exactly a cry for help Lana, he could have just been having a bad day," Lex reacted cooly.
"There's more. I went over to his house to see if he wanted to talk, nobody not even the parents were around. I checked his loft and saw him working out in the field. That's when I noticed this. I read it, freaked out, and ran out of there before he came back," she pulled out the paper from her back pocket and to clarify and quickly pocketed it again.
~ Still not earth shattering enough. I think she's trying to make this a bigger deal than it really is. ~
Lana waited for Lex to react. She was hoping to get information without revealing the last really awkward part of the story which has her invading Clark's privacy.
"So then, I'm sitting here reading the story not more than ten minutes ago, when Clark sees me reading said paper and bolted down the street. Try as I did to catch up to him, he was well gone by the time I even made it out the door," she concluded the story.
~ Okay that is a little more panicky description of Clark than I'm used to hearing. ~
"Has Clark ever…you know…talked about somebody as more than a friend?"
Lex smiled deviously again. "C'mon Lana, what makes you think Clark and I don't have a similar understanding to keep conversations like this in confidence." Lana looked miffed that he wouldn't yield the information, but she understood all the same.
~ 'Boy's Code of the Schoolyard' strikes again. ~
"Could you at least talk to him for me? Make sure he's okay?" she asked him with intense concern.
"I'm supposed to see him tonight, but I'm not going to pry about it. He'll tell me if he feels so inclined," Lex said as he got up from his seat and began to walk out. Lana nodded silently as she watched him go. Lex turned and looked at her. "Try not to worry, Lana," he said indifferently, "almost every guy has a bout of unrequited love in high school."
"Almost every guy?" Lana squinted her eyes skeptically thinking Lex may have been referring to himself as the almost exception.
"Well, let's just say I doubt Whitney has ever had this problem," Lex finished as he flashed Lana a short smile and exited The Talon.