Title: The Kissing Party
Author: EV empressvader01@hotmail.com
Rating: G
Pairing: Lana/Pete, Clark/Lana (implied)
Setting: Pre-series Fic
Summary: Twelve year old Pete and Lana go to a party and experience an important first. But will Pete tell Clark what happened?
Disclaimer: Superman/Smallville belong to DC comics/the WB.
Feedback: I live and breath the stuff.


"What do you mean you can't go Clark," Pete said jumping down off the porch rail. Sometimes Clark thought Pete wanted to fly and decided to jump from higher and higher places until he proved it could be done.

"I mean I can't go," Clark said walking down the steps where he and Pete met and began the walk to the baseball diamond.

"But Lana's going to be there man," Pete said. "It's your chance to make your move. Getting girls is like... well... baseball. If you're in the game, at least you have a chance of hitting that home run, if you never show up, well, you're not getting that home run for sure."

The way twelve year old Pete talked, you'd think he was an experienced player. And that he had dated for years. But Clark knew better. Interest in the opposite sex was new and neither had or had had a girlfriend anyway.

"First of all, I always hit a home run."

"Yeah, unless Lana's nearby."

"That's the thing, Lana's not a game. Besides, I trip over my feet whenever she gets near me. Don't you think it will be worse at a party?"

Pete laughed. "I best just take her off your hands then."

"Don't even think about it!"



--------------

That evening Pete stood at the mirror in his room, checking out his profile.

"Peter!" Mrs. Ross called from downstairs.

"Coming!" Pete replied double checking himself.

"How do I look?" Pete asked his older brother, who was throwing a football in the air a few paces away.

"Alright," his brother replied. "For a scrub," He said pushing his brother's head playfully. "Don't slobber on whatever girl gets stuck with you."

"Pete!" His mother called sharply. "Your ride's here."

"Ride?" Pete questioned.

"Didn't you know," his brother said. "Mom arranged for Nell to take you, since Clark wasn't going."

"Lana's aunt is taking both of us?"

"Mom arranged it when she found out you and Clark weren't going."

"This is going to be weird," Pete said.

"The little Lang girl is cute ... for a 12 year old, why don't you make a move?"

"Can't, That's Clark's girl," Pete said.

Pete came downstairs, his mother kissed him and he wiped away the kiss.

"Mom," Pete said. "Don't you think I'm a little old for that?"

"You'll never be to old for a kiss from your mom. Now you be good. If Jacob's parents call me..."

"They won't," Pete said. ('Becase they won't be there') Pete thought while grabbing Jacob's gift and running out the door. Nell's back car door was unlocked. He climbed in the back of the car and put on his seat belt.

"Hi Pete," Lana said.

He turned and smiled at the girl beside him. "Hey Lana."

They pulled off. It was weird sitting this close to Lana. He really had no experience with girls, let alone been this close to a girl in the back of a car. If only Lana had been sitting up front. Clark's girl, he reminded himself as they pulled away from his house. Lana was now starring out the window, not looking at him or looking very enthusiastic about the party. She seemed to be day dreaming, lost in some world inside her head. Suddenly he noticed how the light hit her and seemed to make her, well, beautiful. Truth was, because of Clark, Pete never paid much, if any, attention to Lana. She was off-limits. But right now he couldn't take his eyes off her.

"We're here," Nell said.

Pete shook himself out of the trance, grabbed his present and got out of the car. Then he remembered what his father told him about being a gentleman and came back to hold the door open for Lana.

"Sorry, Nell, forgot my manners for a second," Pete said.

Nell and Lana looked shocked.

"Thank you Pete," Lana said.

"Well, your mother can certainly be proud of you," Nell said. She started the car and pulled away.

"Should we go in... together?" Pete asked.

"I guess," Lana said.

"Ladies first," Pete said and Lana started toward the door. He followed. Suddenly she stopped.

"What's wrong?" Pete asked.

"I don't really want to go."

"Why?"

"I don't, well I don't know him that well. I don't even know why I was invited," Lana said. "Actually I do, I think he kind of likes me and Nell likes dressing me up for parties"

"Really?" he said shocked. "He likes you?"

"Don't sound so surprised."

"It's not that I can't imagine a guy liking you, you're like the prettiest girl in our class, not that I--well--you know"

"It's okay," Lana said. "Let's just go in."

They walked up to the door together and rang the bell. Jacob opened the door. He looked quite excited to see Lana, but his smile dropped when he saw Pete was with her.

"You two together?"

"No," Pete replied.

"Kind of," Lana added.

"Happy Birthday man," Pete said giving the new 13 year old his gift.

"Happy Birthday," Lana said handing him a card as she stepped in behind Pete.

Jacob lead them into the living room. The door was opened between that and the dinning room where the table was laid out with chips and punch and such. A teenage girl (their supervision) was sitting on a couch listening to headphones. Music was playing on the stereo in the room, but the closest thing you had to dancing was a few people kind of bopping to themselves in corners. Girls and boys were separated. A couple of guys called Pete just as a girl called Lana over. He went over to the guys that called him and they started talking.

About a half and hour later (a few more guest arrived by that time), the doorbell rang and it was a young twenty-something guy. Jacob taped his sister (the lounging teenager that was the bad-excuse for supervision) on the shoulder and she got up and greeted the guy. Then she whispered something to her brother and disappeared outside. Everyone had stopped to watch this and continued to watch Jacob after their supervision stepped out.

Jacob smiled, lowered the lights and changed the up-beat pop music to what sounded like Barry White.

"Now it's time for the real fun to start," he said grabbing an empty soda bottle. He kneeled on the floor nobody moved.

"Well, are you all chicken or are all of you babies?"

Everyone looked at each other and cautiously came over making a circle.

"What if your sister comes back?" Lana asked.

"She won't, not for two hours," Jacob said with a special smile for Lana.

Pete noted Lana looked terribly uncomfortable with this situation.

"No quickie kisses here either," Jacob told them. "I'm counting, at least 5 seconds of lip touching. And anyone who's too chicken can leave the circle."

Of course no one would admit they were chicken, so no one moved.

"I think the birthday boy should go first," Jacob said staring at Lana.

He spun the bottle, but he didn't get Lana. Much to Lana's relief it was pointing to a girl 2 spaces to the left of her. Everyone was kind of quiet when the game began, but then they caught onto the game and started laughing and teasing and chanting the count for each kiss. Most had a little shyness when it was there turn. Lana looked relieved every time it missed her. Finally it was Pete's turn and as luck would have it, it landed on Lana. There eyes met across the circle.

"Kiss, kiss, kiss," was chanted by the crowd.

Pete knew he had to do it, but he also knew Clark would kill him if he kissed Lana. That meant he would kiss her before Clark even had a good conversation with her. But he wasn't going to look like a coward. He carefully leaned forward, Lana looked like she was going to run for a moment. But she sighed and leaned forward and met his lips. There lips touched and it was... well... weird and awkward and nothing like TV. Neither one of them knew what to do except keep there lips touching. Yet there was something about that touching that was... warm. They stayed in that position, lips touching, barely moving until they heard someone say five. It was followed by the annoying oohs and ahhs. Pete looked at Lana across the circle and she glanced away, but smiled.

Everyone was bored with the game about twenty minutes later and went after snacks and finally did a kind of group dancing with each other. That's what they were doing when Jacob's sister came back and resumed her place on the couch.


Nell picked Lana and Pete up as the party whined down.

"Did you two have fun?" she asked as they got in the car.

They glanced at each other and smiled.

"It was okay," Lana told her aunt.

On the way home in the car Lana turned to Pete.

"I'm glad it was you," Lana whispered.

"Huh?"

"I never kissed anyone and if it had to be anyone at that party, I'm glad it was you. Those other guys creep me out, but you're nice."

Pete smiled. "I'm glad it was you too." (He wanted to add, 'but don't tell Clark').




The next day Clark and Pete stood in the Ross yard playing catch.

"So she was there?" Clark asked.

"Everybody was there," Pete said.

"What was she wearing?" Clark asked.

"Clothes," Pete replied.

"Well I hope so, but what did it look like?"

"I didn't talk to her that much."

"Did you play spin the bottle?"

"Yeah."

"So, you kissed a girl, for real? What was it like."

"Weird," Pete replied "...But.."

"But what?"

"Weird in a good way, I think it stops feeling weird with practice. And you know a guy like me can always find girls to practice on."

Clark laughed. "Did... she... kiss a guy?" Clark ask cautiously.

He thought about telling Clark the truth, that he and Lana had shared a first kiss, but he didn't see the point.

"It was weird, every time I saw someone spin it and thought it was going to her, it didn't."

"Really?"

"Yeah, none of the boys that wanted to kiss her got her."

"Weird," Clark said.

"I guess you two are meant to be," Pete said. "Me, I have to have me a harem."

"Do you even know what a harem is?" Clark asked.

"Of course I do," Pete replied.

And from there the two boys continued to argue. And Pete never told Clark about that spin the bottle party kiss.

-END-