Chapter two-Why You Looking So Down?

      "Lex!"

      Lex smiled upon hearing his name on her lips. He stopped walking and turned around to look at her. "Yes?"

      Chloe stopped about a foot in front of him. She wore a smile on her face and started to shake her head with amazement at him. "You always had a way with being one step ahead of everyone."

      Lex smiled. "Not everyone," he said, referring to his old friend Clark.

      "So, tell me, did you know who I was the whole time or did it just happen to click in at the end?" Chloe asked as she took a cigarette out of her pocket and lit it up.

      "I guess you'll never know," Lex answered. "What's this? A new habit?" Lex asked, referring to her addiction to nicotine.

      "More like an old one," Chloe answered, as she inhaled.

      "Come on Sullivan, you never smoked when I knew you," Lex told her.

      "Well, you never really knew me did you?" Chloe pointed out. "I was just the geeky-thorn-in-the-side reporter in love with her best friend." Chloe smiled to show Lex she was just nostalgic not angry.

      "I know more about you than you realize," Lex told her.

      "You didn't know I started smoking when I was 17," Chloe pointed out.

      Lex waved it off, "Frivolous details I'm not for. I'm just for the stuff that makes the person who they are."

      Chloe nodded and thought for a second. Then she asked, "So what is it that makes me?"

      "Maybe you'll tell me sometime," Lex answered.

      Chloe looked at her watch. "I'm sure I've kept you long enough. You should get to whatever important thing it is you had scheduled."

      "Frivolous meetings," Lex said with a smirk. "I'd much rather get to know this new out-of-high school Chloe."

      "Ah yes, but, you'll only find that I'm still a slave to the words," Chloe told him.

      "One of my favorite things about you," he said.

      It grew silent between them. People continue to bustle around them in the Christmas Eve rush, but neither noticed. They only seemed to pay attention to each other.

      "Why don't you come by my flat? Gerard can make us a great breakfast and we can catch up," Lex said.

      Chloe wasn't sure but Lex seemed to be on the edge waiting for the answer. Yes was the answer in her soul, but her head said no way. There was no way she would let Smallville have the pleasure of gossiping about the small town girl who fell for the infamous Lex Luthor only to be a fling.

      "It's a sweet offer Lex, but I'll have to take a rain check," Chloe answered.

      Lex nodded and looked away in disappointment then back at Chloe. "It would make the boyfriend uncomfortable," he said, assuming Chloe had one.

      Chloe didn't say a word.

      "Or..." still hung up on Clark, Lex almost said.

      "I have quite a few things to do today before I leave for Smallville later," Chloe lied.

      "Going to see the family for Christmas. Have a nice time," Lex told her sincerely.

      "Thanks Lex. Don't work too hard, OK? Merry Christmas," Chloe said and slowly started walking away.    

      "Chloe."

      Chloe turned around. "Yeah?"

      "I won't forget about that rain check," Lex said.

      Chloe smiled and said, "See you later, Lex." Though Chloe didn't really take Lex seriously. She walked off without giving him her phone number or getting his.

      "Merry Christmas to me," Chloe whispered to herself as she put a small rotisserie chicken into the shopping basket.

      She strolled along inside HEB towards the soda isle as the corner of her eye caught the site of a Black Forest cherry cake. She stopped next to it and sighed.

      With a shrug she said, "What the hell? It's Christmas." She put the cake inside her basket.

      After waiting a good 25 minutes in the long lines it was finally Chloe's turn. "Hi," the cashier said with a smile. "Did you find everything OK?"

      "Yeah," Chloe said nodding.

      "Your total is $10.39," the cashier told her.

      Chloe pulled a 10 out of her pocket and handed it to the cashier. "I have the change," Chloe hoped. She reached back into her pocket and pulled all the change out, only a quarter. Damn, Chloe cursed in her mind. She reached into her other pocket, 13 centers. "One more penny," she whispered to herself.

      "It's OK," the cashier told Chloe.

      Slightly embarrassed Chloe shook her head and said, "No, no I got another penny somewhere." She kept searching.

      "There is an extra penny here," the cashier pointed to a penny next to the cash register. "It'll even out and I can get rid of this extra penny."

      Chloe looked at the long line of people behind her then back at the cashier. She nodded and said, "OK, thank you."

      Chloe grabbed the bags and quickly jetted out of there.

      As soon as she got into red Jeep Wrangler she leaned her head on the back of the seat and sighed. "How embarrassing," she said out loud. Mentally she added up her financial situation. "$20 left in the bank. Be careful Chloe cause this has got to last you for the next two weeks," she reminded herself.

      Finally, she arrived to her small apartment and sighed with relief upon coming in the door and setting her things down. She pressed for her messages and sat down on the couch next to the phone.

      "First Message."

      "Chloe, this is dad. I, uh...guess you're not home. I wish you were here. Well, Merry Christmas then. Give me a call when you can...I love you."

      Chloe sighed. Just hearing her dad's voice made her miss him more. But, even though he offered to pay for her ticket to see him she said no. She knew he couldn't afford it either.

      "Second Message."

      "Hey Chloe, its Clark. We miss you down here...{pause}...I miss you. Well, umm...Merry Christmas."

      Chloe sat up straight after hearing Clark's message. "We miss you down here," he said, but then he had said he missed her. She couldn't believe it. She never thought Clark would actually miss her. She always thought that after she left they would just grow apart and become used to not seeing each other anymore.

      No, Chloe don't start again. You finally have your own life and have gotten over your high school crush on Clark. Besides, you're 19 years old now not 15.

      Chloe got up and started setting up a plate of food: a few pieces of chicken, some rice, a Pepsi, and later a piece of Black Forest Cherry cake. She sat in front of her TV and watched Little Women as she ate her Christmas dinner.

      "Oh yeah!" Chloe exclaimed as she remembered to call her dad. She picked up the phone and began to dial.

      "Hello?"

      "Dad!" Chloe said happily.

      "Chloe! It's so nice to hear from you. I was just about to try calling you again," he told her.

      Chloe smiled and bit back a few tears of happiness at hearing her father's voice. She wished he were here so badly. He always knew how to make the best of the crappiest situations.

      "How are things in Metropolis?" He asked her.

      "There great dad! I love it here. Though it is quite boring and lonely waiting for the next semester to start," she admitted to him.

      "I wish you had let me pay for you to come to Smallville for Christmas," he told her.

      "Dad, you can't afford it. And I myself have to watch my own pennies," she told him.

      "OK, but promise that over the summer you will visit," he said.

      "I promise," she said.

      "Where do you work?" He asked.

      "I work at Metropolis Bank," she told him. "The pay isn't excellent but it's better than Wal-mart."

      "That's good. I'm glad that you work at a nice business suit type place," he told her. She giggled at what he said.

      "You're something else," she said.

      There was a short silence before her dad said, "It worries me that you are going to be alone for Christmas."

      "I'm...I'm not going to be alone," Chloe lied. "I have a few friends from school that invited me to their house. It's going to be OK Dad."

      "Oh OK, well I feel much better now. Grandma says she loves you," her dad said.

      "Tell Grandma I love her too. And I also love you," she told her Dad.

      "I love you, too."

      "Well, I have to leave so I'm not late for Christmas Eve dinner," Chloe lied again. "Merry Christmas Dad."

      "Merry Christmas, Chloe."

      They both hung up. Chloe sighed. The phone call made her slightly depressed and exhausted. She curled up on the couch and tried to finish watching Little Women, but eventually fell asleep.

      Chloe woke up to someone pounding on her door. It couldn't possibly be the landlord because her payments were always on time. She slowly got up from the couch and looked at the door. The person knocked again. This time it didn't seem like pounding. Maybe her mind exaggerated it since it was what succeeded in waking her up. She looked at that clock, 7:51 A.M.

      Chloe walked up to the door and looked into the hole at the top. She closed her eyes shut then opened them again to make sure she was actually seeing what she was seeing. "No way," is what escaped her lips.

      She opened the door to confirm it and screamed happily as she jumped into the man's arms. "CLARK!"

      To be continued...