********** Part 10
Lana stood in Lex's study for a few seconds before she realized that Lex really had just walked out and left her standing alone. She couldn't believe he was being like this to her, when she had been trying to say she was sorry. Is that what you were trying to say? A voice intoned.
"Shut up." She answered into the empty room and stormed out after Lex. She heard a door slam shut above her and followed the large oak staircase up two flights. She hadn't been upstairs before but had a pretty good idea of what was on this floor, bedrooms. Lex's bedroom more than likely.
"Great, ok so bad idea after all," Lana whispered as she turned around to go back down the stairs, cursing her luck when she bumped into Vernon.
"Miss. Lang, were you looking for someone?" he asked quizzically.
"Uh, no, NO!" she stammered and ducked around him, starting hurriedly down the stairs.
Good retreat Lana, very sophisticated, that same voice mocked her.
She stopped on the top stair and turned back around, "Actually I was looking for Lex, and I know he came up here and well." she didn't quite know what to say after that. Try I seduced Lex and feel guilty about it and need to apologize.
Very funny, she silently answered.
"I need to talk to him now." She said instead.
"Oh yes well, his suite is at the end of the hallway, but perhaps I had better see if he's.available" Vernon asked nervously watching her shake her head and scoot around him, walking quickly toward the room.
"Don't bother, it's fine." She threw over her shoulder.
Lana knocked once, well sort of knocked she admitted, and then opened the door and went in. She almost lost her nerve when she realized that the large heavily draped bed in the middle of the room took up most of the space.
"Looking for someone?" Lex asked as he heard the door fall open.
"Look, I'm sorry about what I said downstairs, well part of it anyway, I meant to say I was." Lana started to lose her nerve when Lex just continued to stare at her from the other side of the bed. "Well I was sorry.again."
Lex dropped the phone back in the cradle, waiting to call down to have his car brought around. He had thought a nice leisurely spin around some country roads would make him feel better.
"Sorry? We'll Lana that's actually very good of you, thanks I appreciate it. I mean it wasn't even your fault was it; some weird fluke, and you came all the way here to apologize for it. Thanks I appreciate it." Lex answer in the sincerest tone she had ever heard him use.
'Well I really am Lex, and about Clark and everyone, well you understand right." She went on a ghost of a smile forming, while relief flooded through her.
"Of course I do. I completely understand and I won't ever say a word, I promise.' He smiled holding up his hand like a boy scout.
Ok so it didn't go quite that way, Lana shook her head to clear it of her fairy tale meeting as she took a few more steps toward the Talon's bar, juggling the handful of mugs. She had gone up the stairs after Lex, furious that he was furious but when Vernon told her it was Lex's bedroom she had chickened out and ran out of the house.
You have to get a grip on yourself, Lana mentally admonished. You should have just gone in and told him you were sorry and made sure he wasn't going to say anything to anyone.
But Lana knew why she hadn't gone in to the bedroom, she was afraid that Lex would ask her questions she couldn't answer, like what had happened, and why had she seduced him. She didn't have any answers, because she hadn't let herself think about the questions. It was too awful to realize what she had done, let alone any reasons behind it.
Of course actually thinking about what they had done wasn't awful, she at least admitted. If she tried to think of an answer as to why, her mind always came back to the what-to the kisses on the balcony, Lex kissing her and holding her.
"Lana? You there?" Clark asked again for the third time. Lana looked around where she had stopped in the middle of the café, her hands full of empty mugs, trying to focus on what Clark had been saying.
"What?" she jumped when he reached out and laid a hand on her arm, almost making her drop her breakable burden. "Clark watch it." She snapped.
"Sorry, I thought something was wrong, you were standing here frozen and you were all red." He said feeling suddenly guilty, but not sure what for.
"No I'm sorry Clark, it's my fault, I was thinking of something and lost track of.well everything." She lowered her voice and smiled as she did, and prayed he didn't ask what she had been thinking about.
"Where were you then, it seemed far away?" Clark asked as inwardly Lana groaned.
"Yes Lana you seemed very preoccupied, where were you? " Lex's smooth voice sounded behind her. Lana spun around and came face to face with Lex, who smiled his curious smile as his piercing blue eyes focused on her startled face.
Lex watched in amusement as she stared at him open mouthed and he wondered how many of the cups she was going to drop before she gathered herself. His smile widened when she started to shake her head and even more when she froze as he reached out toward her.
"Let me grab these, I don't think we can afford to lose any more." He smirked as he grabbed the mugs from her weak fingers and turned to set them on the bar.
Lana wanted to cry, well actually she wanted to scream and curse, but that would just cause more questions and problems for her. Clark would think she was losing it if she started screaming at Lex in the middle of the Talon. Of course Lex would just laugh at her as usual, which made her even angrier with him.
Lana closed her eyes and slowly turned around toward Clark, flashing him a big smile, before she answered, "sorry Clark I was thinking about that biology test today and I got.distracted."
"Oh sure, I don't think I did too well either." Clark answered even though he was pretty sure he had aced it.
She laughed as she answered, "Oh I doubt it Clark, you always ace those tests and you know it." Lana ignored Lex and concentrated on Clark, even reaching out and laying her hand on his arm.
"Well.not always, but.sometimes." Clark answered blushing slightly at Lana's soft touch. "But you usually do too." He finished hastily.
Lana could feel Lex's gaze on her and took a step closer to Clark, hoping Lex would get the hint and leave her alone, "Well maybe next time you could help me study?"
"Really Lana, I would have thought you'd be great at biology." Lex answered as he waived down the new blond waitress to get him some coffee to go. He only smirked when Lana shot him an angry glance.
"Well maybe it's chemistry you're good at, what do you think Clark?" Lex watched her struggle for control over her growing anger and was glad he had gotten the cups away from her. Last time she had gotten mad at him here, he had barely ducked in time.
Lana couldn't believe that Lex was here making jokes about biology and chemistry like it was nothing, and in front of Clark. She actually couldn't believe he was making jokes period. She really wanted to scream now, anything to wipe that amused grin off his face. Instead she just smiled and turned back to Clark, her voice dropping slightly.
"Clark I was hoping that you could maybe.help me tonight. I have some inventory to do and well, I could ask someone here, but it would be more fun if you could help me." She asked in what she hoped was her sweetest voice.
Lex watched Clark get taken in by each sugary word that fell out of Lana's mouth. He knew she was doing it only because he had been teasing her, but still he felt his anger growing. Well Miss. Lang have fun tonight then, he thought as he strode forward and in front of Clark.
"By the way, I had that singer you liked, what was her name.oh yes Basha, booked for the week before Spring Formal." Lex told her and watched her eyes dilate, her game of flirtation momentarily forgotten.
"Clark you should like her, it's a bit.unusual for Smallville, but Lana said if she was ready then Smallville should be too. Of course the club we saw her at had a great.atmosphere." He remarked casually still watching Lana.
"Oh yea I meant to tell you that Chloe says that the Torch can do a write up about each group you bring in." Clark supplied trying to be helpful, before he caught the meaning of Lex's words.
"Club? What club?" Clark turned a confused gaze to Lana, and watched her turn red as her eyes flew to Lex and locked with his.
Lana couldn't think of what to say to Clark, she was too busy starting at Lex, remembering the club he was referring to.
She stumbled over her words, trying to think of an easy answer so Clark wouldn't ask any more questions, but Lex recovered and answered before her.
"It was nothing actually. Last week when I went to the city, there was a singer that Lana wanted to check out for the spring concert series, so she hopped a ride. That's all." He bit off the syllables as he said them, annoyed that Lana had upset him so much he had let the mention of the club slip out in front of Clark.
Plus he could tell from the daggers that Lana was shooting at him, that she thought he had mentioned it in front of Clark on purpose. He admitted that maybe he hadn't been quite as careful as he usually was; he rarely let himself say anything he didn't mean to say.
Lana tore her gaze away from Lex's intense one and tried to fix a casual smile on her face before turning to Clark. "I thought I mentioned it Clark?" she lied, hoping he would believe her.
"No you didn't. I thought you went someplace with Nell." Clark thought it was strange that neither Lana nor Lex had mentioned they had gone to Metropolis together last week.
"Nell? No she was away for the weekend. Like Lex said it was a last minute thing, that's all." She swallowed deeply, wishing she could vanish into the floor.
Clark wanted to ask more about it, but he got the idea that neither of them wanted to talk about it. Clark knew there was some uneasiness between them, so he figured Lex had been bored and Lana uncomfortable and they had both had a bad time, which would explain why Lana got so touchy every time he asked about her trip. He made a mental note to ask Lana more about it later, but had the uneasy feeling she wasn't going to want to discuss it then either.
"Oh, well sure. So how was the singer, you liked her?" he smiled back at Lana, hoping to get back to a subject that was more comfortable. Obviously he missed the mark, when Lana started to stammer and blush.
Lana really wanted to disappear into the floor now. Lex had to know there was no way that Basha could play here in Smallville, her lyrics would make parents call the police. Plus she couldn't exactly tell Clark what had made her like Basha in the city and not here in Smallville.
"I've actually changed my mind about that, I don't think she's right after all. You'll just have to cancel." She finally hissed at Lex in a small voice.
"Not right? Are you sure, I mean you really seemed to be into her music." Lex shrugged at Clark and waited to see Lana squirm out of this one.
Lana tried to think of someway to end this entire discussion while Clark was standing there staring at her, "well it wasn't actually her, I mean it was the club and the.atmosphere, I mean I wasn't actually thinking." she trailed off as she saw Lex's smile widen, realizing what she had said.
"So you were what, carried away, overtaken by the atmosphere?" he supplied when she stopped mid sentence, no longer caring if Clark caught on or not. He was annoyed at Lana for flirting with Clark and he was angry with himself for his slip.
"If you liked her Lana, I'm sure she'll be great." Clark wasn't sure why Lana suddenly looked so angry, but he had a funny feeling it had to do with Lex teasing her.
"Maybe." She finally mumbled, "but we will have to talk about this later."
"Sure Lana, anytime. You just let me know." Lex smiled again and turned on his heels and left, feeling only anger and empty satisfaction.
Lana stood in Lex's study for a few seconds before she realized that Lex really had just walked out and left her standing alone. She couldn't believe he was being like this to her, when she had been trying to say she was sorry. Is that what you were trying to say? A voice intoned.
"Shut up." She answered into the empty room and stormed out after Lex. She heard a door slam shut above her and followed the large oak staircase up two flights. She hadn't been upstairs before but had a pretty good idea of what was on this floor, bedrooms. Lex's bedroom more than likely.
"Great, ok so bad idea after all," Lana whispered as she turned around to go back down the stairs, cursing her luck when she bumped into Vernon.
"Miss. Lang, were you looking for someone?" he asked quizzically.
"Uh, no, NO!" she stammered and ducked around him, starting hurriedly down the stairs.
Good retreat Lana, very sophisticated, that same voice mocked her.
She stopped on the top stair and turned back around, "Actually I was looking for Lex, and I know he came up here and well." she didn't quite know what to say after that. Try I seduced Lex and feel guilty about it and need to apologize.
Very funny, she silently answered.
"I need to talk to him now." She said instead.
"Oh yes well, his suite is at the end of the hallway, but perhaps I had better see if he's.available" Vernon asked nervously watching her shake her head and scoot around him, walking quickly toward the room.
"Don't bother, it's fine." She threw over her shoulder.
Lana knocked once, well sort of knocked she admitted, and then opened the door and went in. She almost lost her nerve when she realized that the large heavily draped bed in the middle of the room took up most of the space.
"Looking for someone?" Lex asked as he heard the door fall open.
"Look, I'm sorry about what I said downstairs, well part of it anyway, I meant to say I was." Lana started to lose her nerve when Lex just continued to stare at her from the other side of the bed. "Well I was sorry.again."
Lex dropped the phone back in the cradle, waiting to call down to have his car brought around. He had thought a nice leisurely spin around some country roads would make him feel better.
"Sorry? We'll Lana that's actually very good of you, thanks I appreciate it. I mean it wasn't even your fault was it; some weird fluke, and you came all the way here to apologize for it. Thanks I appreciate it." Lex answer in the sincerest tone she had ever heard him use.
'Well I really am Lex, and about Clark and everyone, well you understand right." She went on a ghost of a smile forming, while relief flooded through her.
"Of course I do. I completely understand and I won't ever say a word, I promise.' He smiled holding up his hand like a boy scout.
Ok so it didn't go quite that way, Lana shook her head to clear it of her fairy tale meeting as she took a few more steps toward the Talon's bar, juggling the handful of mugs. She had gone up the stairs after Lex, furious that he was furious but when Vernon told her it was Lex's bedroom she had chickened out and ran out of the house.
You have to get a grip on yourself, Lana mentally admonished. You should have just gone in and told him you were sorry and made sure he wasn't going to say anything to anyone.
But Lana knew why she hadn't gone in to the bedroom, she was afraid that Lex would ask her questions she couldn't answer, like what had happened, and why had she seduced him. She didn't have any answers, because she hadn't let herself think about the questions. It was too awful to realize what she had done, let alone any reasons behind it.
Of course actually thinking about what they had done wasn't awful, she at least admitted. If she tried to think of an answer as to why, her mind always came back to the what-to the kisses on the balcony, Lex kissing her and holding her.
"Lana? You there?" Clark asked again for the third time. Lana looked around where she had stopped in the middle of the café, her hands full of empty mugs, trying to focus on what Clark had been saying.
"What?" she jumped when he reached out and laid a hand on her arm, almost making her drop her breakable burden. "Clark watch it." She snapped.
"Sorry, I thought something was wrong, you were standing here frozen and you were all red." He said feeling suddenly guilty, but not sure what for.
"No I'm sorry Clark, it's my fault, I was thinking of something and lost track of.well everything." She lowered her voice and smiled as she did, and prayed he didn't ask what she had been thinking about.
"Where were you then, it seemed far away?" Clark asked as inwardly Lana groaned.
"Yes Lana you seemed very preoccupied, where were you? " Lex's smooth voice sounded behind her. Lana spun around and came face to face with Lex, who smiled his curious smile as his piercing blue eyes focused on her startled face.
Lex watched in amusement as she stared at him open mouthed and he wondered how many of the cups she was going to drop before she gathered herself. His smile widened when she started to shake her head and even more when she froze as he reached out toward her.
"Let me grab these, I don't think we can afford to lose any more." He smirked as he grabbed the mugs from her weak fingers and turned to set them on the bar.
Lana wanted to cry, well actually she wanted to scream and curse, but that would just cause more questions and problems for her. Clark would think she was losing it if she started screaming at Lex in the middle of the Talon. Of course Lex would just laugh at her as usual, which made her even angrier with him.
Lana closed her eyes and slowly turned around toward Clark, flashing him a big smile, before she answered, "sorry Clark I was thinking about that biology test today and I got.distracted."
"Oh sure, I don't think I did too well either." Clark answered even though he was pretty sure he had aced it.
She laughed as she answered, "Oh I doubt it Clark, you always ace those tests and you know it." Lana ignored Lex and concentrated on Clark, even reaching out and laying her hand on his arm.
"Well.not always, but.sometimes." Clark answered blushing slightly at Lana's soft touch. "But you usually do too." He finished hastily.
Lana could feel Lex's gaze on her and took a step closer to Clark, hoping Lex would get the hint and leave her alone, "Well maybe next time you could help me study?"
"Really Lana, I would have thought you'd be great at biology." Lex answered as he waived down the new blond waitress to get him some coffee to go. He only smirked when Lana shot him an angry glance.
"Well maybe it's chemistry you're good at, what do you think Clark?" Lex watched her struggle for control over her growing anger and was glad he had gotten the cups away from her. Last time she had gotten mad at him here, he had barely ducked in time.
Lana couldn't believe that Lex was here making jokes about biology and chemistry like it was nothing, and in front of Clark. She actually couldn't believe he was making jokes period. She really wanted to scream now, anything to wipe that amused grin off his face. Instead she just smiled and turned back to Clark, her voice dropping slightly.
"Clark I was hoping that you could maybe.help me tonight. I have some inventory to do and well, I could ask someone here, but it would be more fun if you could help me." She asked in what she hoped was her sweetest voice.
Lex watched Clark get taken in by each sugary word that fell out of Lana's mouth. He knew she was doing it only because he had been teasing her, but still he felt his anger growing. Well Miss. Lang have fun tonight then, he thought as he strode forward and in front of Clark.
"By the way, I had that singer you liked, what was her name.oh yes Basha, booked for the week before Spring Formal." Lex told her and watched her eyes dilate, her game of flirtation momentarily forgotten.
"Clark you should like her, it's a bit.unusual for Smallville, but Lana said if she was ready then Smallville should be too. Of course the club we saw her at had a great.atmosphere." He remarked casually still watching Lana.
"Oh yea I meant to tell you that Chloe says that the Torch can do a write up about each group you bring in." Clark supplied trying to be helpful, before he caught the meaning of Lex's words.
"Club? What club?" Clark turned a confused gaze to Lana, and watched her turn red as her eyes flew to Lex and locked with his.
Lana couldn't think of what to say to Clark, she was too busy starting at Lex, remembering the club he was referring to.
She stumbled over her words, trying to think of an easy answer so Clark wouldn't ask any more questions, but Lex recovered and answered before her.
"It was nothing actually. Last week when I went to the city, there was a singer that Lana wanted to check out for the spring concert series, so she hopped a ride. That's all." He bit off the syllables as he said them, annoyed that Lana had upset him so much he had let the mention of the club slip out in front of Clark.
Plus he could tell from the daggers that Lana was shooting at him, that she thought he had mentioned it in front of Clark on purpose. He admitted that maybe he hadn't been quite as careful as he usually was; he rarely let himself say anything he didn't mean to say.
Lana tore her gaze away from Lex's intense one and tried to fix a casual smile on her face before turning to Clark. "I thought I mentioned it Clark?" she lied, hoping he would believe her.
"No you didn't. I thought you went someplace with Nell." Clark thought it was strange that neither Lana nor Lex had mentioned they had gone to Metropolis together last week.
"Nell? No she was away for the weekend. Like Lex said it was a last minute thing, that's all." She swallowed deeply, wishing she could vanish into the floor.
Clark wanted to ask more about it, but he got the idea that neither of them wanted to talk about it. Clark knew there was some uneasiness between them, so he figured Lex had been bored and Lana uncomfortable and they had both had a bad time, which would explain why Lana got so touchy every time he asked about her trip. He made a mental note to ask Lana more about it later, but had the uneasy feeling she wasn't going to want to discuss it then either.
"Oh, well sure. So how was the singer, you liked her?" he smiled back at Lana, hoping to get back to a subject that was more comfortable. Obviously he missed the mark, when Lana started to stammer and blush.
Lana really wanted to disappear into the floor now. Lex had to know there was no way that Basha could play here in Smallville, her lyrics would make parents call the police. Plus she couldn't exactly tell Clark what had made her like Basha in the city and not here in Smallville.
"I've actually changed my mind about that, I don't think she's right after all. You'll just have to cancel." She finally hissed at Lex in a small voice.
"Not right? Are you sure, I mean you really seemed to be into her music." Lex shrugged at Clark and waited to see Lana squirm out of this one.
Lana tried to think of someway to end this entire discussion while Clark was standing there staring at her, "well it wasn't actually her, I mean it was the club and the.atmosphere, I mean I wasn't actually thinking." she trailed off as she saw Lex's smile widen, realizing what she had said.
"So you were what, carried away, overtaken by the atmosphere?" he supplied when she stopped mid sentence, no longer caring if Clark caught on or not. He was annoyed at Lana for flirting with Clark and he was angry with himself for his slip.
"If you liked her Lana, I'm sure she'll be great." Clark wasn't sure why Lana suddenly looked so angry, but he had a funny feeling it had to do with Lex teasing her.
"Maybe." She finally mumbled, "but we will have to talk about this later."
"Sure Lana, anytime. You just let me know." Lex smiled again and turned on his heels and left, feeling only anger and empty satisfaction.