Everything In This World

By Viv

*~*~ Part Three ~*~*

A tentative knock roused Chloe from the half-stupor she had been sitting in. She glanced at the clock - it was five, which meant that no sane person should still be at school. Maybe she had imagined it.

No sane person that was, besides Chloe Sullivan. Granted, she was using the Torch offices as an exclusive hide-out, but at the same time she actually was getting some work done. It helped her to forget what had transpired between her and Clark that day ... in front of the entire school.

She groaned aloud. She could imagine what a field day the gossip queens must have had.

The knock came again, louder this time. She half-wished and half-dreaded that it was Clark, coming alternately to apologise and beg for her forgiveness, or to cement their new non-friendship forever.

"What?" She asked unceremoniously. She felt like hell, so there was no point in hiding it.

The door opened quietly as Lana stepped in tentatively. "Hey." She greeted Chloe, clearly nervous. "Am I ... am I disturbing you?"

Chloe wanted to say that she had disturbed her whole existence by just being alive and gorgeous, but she refrained from hurting the other girl's feelings. After all it wasn't Lana's fault that she had been born preternaturally beautiful and the fantasy object of every red-blooded male in town.

"No ... just doing some layout work, that's all."

Lana visibly relaxed as she stepped further into the room. "Good, because I wanted to see how you were."

Chloe jerked her head around. "Why?" She wanted to say a whole bunch of other things along with that, namely, why the hell aren't you with Clark right now, comforting him in the way only you could comfort him? But she bit her lip and waited for Lana to reply.

"Because I was worried about my friend." Although Chloe wanted to stab Lana with a very blunt knife for being the visible embodiment of why Clark would never really be interested in Chloe, she knew that deep down she couldn't fault the girl standing with all her dancer's grace in front of her. She couldn't fault Lana, she was just too nice. And she was nice enough to come through the dimly lit maze that was the school just so she could check up on Chloe.

"I'm all right."

"No you're not." Lana rejoined with more force than Chloe had ever seen her use. Her iridescent eyes glittered strangely in the waning light, and for once, Chloe got what must have caught Clark's attention about Lana, besides her looks - that this girl wasn't as straight forward as she seemed.

"Okay, so I'm not all right." Chloe admitted, still staring the other girl down. "So what?"

"So, maybe you want to talk about it." She sighed at the stony expression on Chloe's face. "I had no idea, Chloe. I mean, I knew that last year, you and Clark ... " She sat down, perching on the edge of the chair with a grace that threatened to propel Chloe to bitch wrestle her to the ground. "But I thought that was over. He ... told me it was over." She looked away uncomfortably at the pain evident in Chloe's eyes. "I don't know what else I can say." Lana gazed at her neatly folded hands on her lap. "I just wanted to be here for you, in case you wanted to talk."

Talk to Lana? Chloe screamed silently, not missing the irony of the offer. Um surprisingly, No.

She awkwardly changed the subject. "Aren't you supposed to be at the Talon? Making coffee, smiling at patrons?"

"Yeah. But I figured I'd see if you were okay." Lana said softly, then added, "Lex is minding the Talon."

Chloe was surprised enough by that disclosure to momentarily forget about her own issues. "What?" She gave a tiny chuckle. "You're not serious?"

"I am." Lana smiled mischievously. "He volunteered actually." Her face turned serious again. "He asked what was wrong with Clark today, and I told him. He said he'd mind the Talon if I wanted to go see you."

"Really?" She was genuinely surprised. She and Lex Luthor had never been close, and he was Clark's friend much more than he was hers. Much more. "Don't you mean ... if you had wanted to see ..." Chloe looked away blinking back tears, leaving the sentence unfinished. It was official; she was an official basket case. She couldn't even say his name without wanting to cry.

Lana pretended not to notice. "No, he said you. He said that Clark would always be able to run to his parents, but you ... you were different. I believe the exact words he used were 'isolated cynic' and 'stubborn'."

"Oh." It was nice to be thought of, she thought, even if it was in those unflattering terms.

Lana stood and dragged her chair closer to Chloe's, so that there was no way for her to shy away from Lana's penetrating gaze. "I understand if you don't want to talk to me," she paused, glancing at Chloe sadly, "but I just wanted you to know that you weren't alone."

Chloe blinked owlishly at the other girl, her mind embroiled in internal conflict. Part of her wanted to take Lana's nice girl act and shove it down her throat, but the other part of her genuinely appreciated her thinking about Chloe when her mind should probably have been full of Clark.

"Thanks." She smiled hesitantly. "I think ... I think I just need to be alone at the moment."

"Okay." Lana said softly, getting up and tucking the chair neatly under the desk. "You know where to find me if you need me."

"Yeah." Chloe tossed her head back, trying to shake away her emotion. She had felt too much today.

Lana turned to go, but was stopped by Chloe's voice. "Thanks." Chloe blurted out. "For ... you know."

Lana smiled wordlessly, disappearing into the dark hall way beyond.

(c) July 2002