Author's Note: This is/will be a Chlexy/AU/future fic. I don't own the characters, except for Sam (short for Samantha) and Tina.

The Non-Date: Chapter One

"So, how was your date?"

Chloe smiled and shut the door behind her. "I told you before I left," she explained to her roommate, laughing, "it wasn't a date!"

"Sure. The most eligible bachelor in Metropolis – the one you lovingly refer to as a 'billionaire playboy' – whisks you off for three hours of dinner and dancing, and it's not a date?"

"Sam's right, you know." Chloe's other roommate, Tina, walked into the living room, carrying a mug of coffee. She sat on the couch next to Sam and looked at Chloe expectantly. "So, are you going to talk, or just allow us to come to our own conclusions?"

Chloe shrugged off her coat and placed it on the rack. "It was nice, but it was also totally platonic."

Sam and Tina exchanged glances.

"I don't buy it."

"Me either. I mean, didn't he pick you up in a limo?"

Chloe walked into the kitchen and opened the freezer door. "Ahh…salvation." She pulled out a pint of (coffee flavored) ice cream, grabbed a spoon, and joined her friends.

"Lex and I have known each other for a long time. He moved to Smallville when I was in high school and we met through a mutual friend."

Sam rolled her eyes. "We know all this. That guy you were in love with, Clint? Clive?"

"- Clay?" Tina suggested.

It was Chloe's turn to roll her eyes. "Clark. And I wasn't in love with him. I had a crush on him, that's all."

"Whatever." Sam continued. "Clark saved Lex's life, and he just started hanging out with you guys. But how come he's calling you now? You left Smallville almost six years ago."

Chloe ate a spoonful of ice cream, buying herself a moment to think. Why was Lex calling her now?

*****

Tina took a sip of her coffee, watching Chloe. She had been staring into space for a few seconds, a slight smile on her face. Tina coughed and glanced at Sam, who shook her head and mouthed, "Is she asleep?" Tina shrugged and poked Chloe with her toe, jarring her from her reverie.

"Wha-? Oh, sorry. I was just thinking…" Chloe trailed off thoughtfully.

"About Clark?" Tina asked, just as Sam asked, "About Lex?"

Chloe smiled. "About them both. Clark and I had a bit of a falling out when I left Smallville. I think Lex was just checking up on me."

"Well, I want to hear all about it." Tina had still been at work when Chloe had received Lex's phone call and had also missed the non-date limo arriving a few hours earlier.

"It was nothing. He came to Metropolis for a business dinner, he didn't want to go alone, Pete had given him my number, so he called to see if I'd be his escort."

"Is that what you wore?" Tina gestured to Chloe's short black cocktail dress.

"Yeah, why?"

"Where'd you get it?"

Chloe sighed. Tina, apparently, already knew the answer; she just wanted to hear it from Chloe herself.

"Lex bought it for me and had it sent over."

Tina raised an eyebrow and sipped her coffee, but didn't say anything.

"Look, it's not a big deal. He called and asked me to go, I said I didn't have anything to wear, so he had Enrique bring it by."

"O.K, whatever you say, Chloe." Tina's eyes had a mischievous glint in them, and she and Sam looked knowingly at one another.

"Fine. If you guys are going to make such a big fuss about it, I won't tell you the great journalistic scoop I got."

Sam and Tina immediately snapped to attention. All three girls worked at the Daily Planet, and Chloe knew they were dying for a front-page story as much as she.

"Well?!" Sam yelped in frustration, when Chloe didn't say anything right away.

"Lex was here on business, right?"

The other two girls nodded.

"Well, it's because the Luthor Corp. investors feel that his dad is getting too old to run the company. They want Lex to move to Metropolis and take over."

"Wow," Tina whispered.

"So, is he going to do an interview with you or anything?" Sam asked.

"Actually, I honestly hadn't even thought about that," Chloe admitted. "But he does owe me."

"Oh my God! I can't believe you spent the entire evening with Lex Luthor, and you didn't once think to ask him for an interview!" Sam's exclamation was followed by a sharp knock at the door.

"Who would be coming by at this hour?" Tina mused, "It's almost one a.m."

Chloe walked over and looked through the peephole.

"I don't believe it," she muttered, opening the door. On the other side was a delivery boy, holding a vase overflowing with various flowers.

"Are you Chloe Sullivan?" he asked.

She could only nod.

"You have got to be kidding me," Sam said, walking up behind Chloe. "Now who on Earth could've sent those?"

Chloe smiled at the flower guy and reached for her purse to get him a tip.

"Don't worry about that, Miss. Mr. Luthor's taken care of everything." He handed her the vase. "And he's sorry about the strange arrangement. He said he didn't know what kind of flowers you like, so I said, 'Why not get one of each?' I had no idea he'd take me seriously."

While he was talking, Chloe found a small card buried in the flowers.

Chloe,

Thank you for a wonderful evening. I leave for Smallville tomorrow afternoon, but I'd really like to see you again. How does lunch sound? Give me a call.

Yours,

Lex

Chloe flipped the card over.

"I don't believe it!" Sam was practically yelling. "He gave you his cellphone, apartment, office, beeper, and limo numbers. He must want to talk to you pretty badly."

Chloe thanked the delivery boy for making such a late-night stop, then took the flowers into the living room, finally deciding on settling them on the coffee table.

"Well, they're not 'Kentucky Derby' flowers, but they'll do," Chloe said to herself.

"What are you talking about?" Tina looked at her strangely.

"Hey! You can't put them there!" Sam complained, "they'll block the T.V!"

Chloe just reread the card and smiled to herself.