Part Three

Being normal was difficult. For the next three days, Chloe had
breakfast with her Dad, caught the bus to school, went to class, worked
on the Torch, and hung out with Clark and Pete like she usually did.
Inside, nothing was routine. Before, her thoughts had centered on the
paper and Clark, now all she could think about was Bacchanalia and Lex,
mostly Lex. Like the rising waters of a river in a rainstorm, thoughts
of Lex flooded Chloe's brain. She would catch herself daydreaming
about the curve of his lips when he smirked or the intensity of his
gaze. For some reason, his eyes captivated her and Chloe couldn't stop
picturing them.

"So, have you thanked the little people yet?" Pete's voice intruded on
Chloe's reverie and she was jerked away from Lex Luthor's eyes and back
to the Torch's office.

"What?" Chloe looked blankly at Pete and Clark's grinning faces. Even
Lana's beautiful features were enhanced by her amused smile.

"You have that look in your eye that you get when you're practicing
your acceptance speech for the Pulitzer," Clark explained.

"Yeah, here's a Kleenex for the drool," Pete added and handed Chloe a
tissue.

"Oh, sorry." Chloe felt her cheeks heat up in a blush and she crumpled
the tissue in her hand. Writing and its future accolades had been the
furthest thing from her mind, not something that happened very often.
"I guess I spaced. Have we found a filler for the half inch on page
three?"

"Why don't we just make the words bigger?" Pete suggested, only half
in jest. He loved Chloe and he enjoyed working on the paper with her
and Clark, but he loved football more. He glanced at the clock,
practice was in twenty minutes.

Chloe frowned at Pete. "We are not messing with the font on MY paper
just so you can make it to goon practice on time."

"Then why don't you fill it with a short editorial. You can finally
write that article on how very, very, very, very, very, very, very,
very underfunded the drama club is." Clark tried to help his friend
out of the hot seat by directing Chloe's wrath onto himself.

"That's only because they're also very, very, very untalented." Chloe
pulled up her miscellaneous file, it was where she kept all the
inconsequential fluff pieces. She might find something that wasn't
too dated to fill the space. She was afraid that if she tried to
write something new it might turn out to be a sappy monologue on the
way Lex's eyes subtly changed color with his moods. "Be serious, guys,
I want to finish this tonight."

"I have a suggestion." Lana's soft voice was still a bit tentative.
After the whole Principal Kwan fiasco, Lana had decided that she did
want a position on the Torch, she just didn't want to step on Chloe's
toes again. She sat down on the edge of the desk. "You could run that
review Marcie wrote on the cheerleaders last half-time show."

"That self-serving, badly written, propaganda? Lana, it rhymes!
There is no way that crap is going anywhere near my paper. I won't
even grace my garbage with its presence...." Chloe halted her tirade
in midstream when Lana could no longer hold in the giggles. She was
being teased. Clark and Pete were laughing too. Chloe threw her hands
up in mock frustration. "Didn't you hear me say that I want this done
tonight? I guess if you want something done, you have to do it
yourself."

"Good help is hard to find." Lex walked into the Torch's office, his
hands stuck casually in his pockets. They all looked toward him at the
sound of his voice. Clark was leaning over Chloe, his hand on her
shoulder.

"Eyes are the window to the soul," Chloe said without thinking. She
shrugged lamely at the odd looks her friends gave her. "I know that
cliche has nothing to do with the 'work' theme we had going, but I
like it. So, what brings you by the Torch, Mr. Luthor?"

"Nothing in particular, Miss Sullivan." Just you, Lex added silently
to himself. He was concerned that she might be suffering from some
after-effects of the drugs Rothman had slipped her. He also wanted to
make sure that she hadn't decided to investigate Rothman further on her
own. But what he really wanted was to see her again. Lex had tried to
focus on work, but his mind always drifted back to Chloe. More
specifically, he thought of her laying in his bed so deathly still and
pale. It haunted him.

"Are we finishing this or not?" Pete turned his back on Lex. He
frowned at Chloe. Sometimes she went too far to get a story and being
friendly to Lex Luthor was definitely too far. It was bad enough that
Clark was all buddy-buddy with him. Besides, he didn't like the way
Rich Man looked at his best girl. "I thought you wanted this done
tonight?"

Unaware of the tension behind Pete's words, Lana smiled at Chloe, a
curious gleam in her eye. "Why the sudden rush to finish this before
the weekend? Got a hot date?"

A wave of crimson immediately spread across Chloe's cheeks and she
ducked her head down to stare at the computer keyboard, but not before
she caught the expressions on Clark and Pete's faces. Incredulous
shock. It was kind of insulting, she was a fairly attractive girl.
At least she thought she was. Chloe dared a glance toward Lex. He was
smirking with amusement. The guy really needed to find a new
expression. "Don't you have football practice, Pete? I can handle it
from here."

"It wouldn't be right, making you do all the work, Chloe." Clark
frowned and stuck his hands in his pockets. He scuffed his sneakers
on the floor. "Who are you going out with?" It was a perfectly
legitimate question, not a jealous one. After all, her last dating
prospect did try to freeze her death.

"No one," Chloe answered quickly. She flipped desperately through the
computer files, hoping an appropriate one would pop up and put an end
to this awkwardness. "I'm, uh, visiting my cousin Gillian this
weekend."

Clark's frown deepened. "Again? Didn't you visit her last weekend?"

Sometimes Clark could be maddingly perceptive, especially when you
didn't want him to be. Why couldn't Lana break a nail and require his
full attention? Chloe gave up her search for a filler piece and swung
her chair around to face Clark. "She broke up with her boyfriend and
wanted to spend a girls weekend."

"And she asked you?" Pete grinned.

"Go to football practice." Chloe pointed at the door.

Pete gave Chloe a mock salute. "I'm out of here, Boss." He skirted
around Lex and bolted out the door.

"I thought she had just started dating this guy? Doesn't she break up
with someone twice a month?" Clark wouldn't let the subject drop. He
had never seen Chloe blush this much or be so flustered. She might be
a great reporter, but she was also a terrible liar.

"She really liked this guy. God, Clark, what's with the third degree?
I thought I was the ace reporter?" Chloe tried to make her voice light
and teasing, but a bit of the exasperation she felt filtered through.
It was nice that Clark was concerned, but did he have to treat her like
a child in front of Lex? It was bad enough that he was her 'hot date'
for the weekend, he didn't need to witness Clark's big brother routine.
He might decide to join in and the last thing Chloe wanted was Lex
acting like her brother.

"Why don't you tell him the truth, Miss Sullivan?" Any amusement Lex
experienced because of the situation was immediately curbed by the
worry reflected so earnestly in Clark's eyes. Clark was afraid that
Chloe was in trouble, and she had been, but Lex didn't want Clark
charging to the rescue. He was Chloe's white knight, not Clark, and he
would keep her safe while she pursued her story. The last thing he
wanted was for Chloe to view Clark as her hero. It would only nourish
the crush she already harbored for her best friend.

"And what would that be, Mr. Luthor?" Chloe's eyes snapped in his
direction and Lex loved the tight sharpness of her tone when she said
his name.

"I have no idea, but it's obvious that you are a terrible liar. You'll
have to work on that if you want to go far in investigative
journalism."

"Maybe you can give me some pointers sometime." A bad liar! Chloe was
incensed. She would show him how terrible she was at lying. Nicholas
Rothman and the guy at the Metropolis University Student ID office had
bought her lies. If she could lie to them, she could lie to Clark.
"Okay, fine, I was lying. Gillian didn't break up with her boyfriend.
She set me up with his younger brother and I didn't want to say
anything until after I had actually met the guy."

"So, you do have a date?" Lana's smile widened. Finally, something
that she and Chloe could bond over. Lana wasn't quite sure why she was
so desperate to be Chloe's friend. Maybe it was because Chloe wasn't
exactly jumping at the opportunity to be Lana Lang's best friend. She
knew if she could earn Chloe's friendship, it would mean something and
there would be no danger of Chloe worshiping her like Tina Greer had.
"I could help you pick out something to wear. Do you want to go
shopping tomorrow after school?"

"Actually, Gill and I have that covered." Chloe watched Lana's face
fall and suffered a twinge of guilt. Usually, blowing off Lana wasn't
a cause for concern, but she was making an effort at friendship for
some unfathomable reason and she wasn't as bad as Chloe had originally
thought. "But Gill's taste can be a bit scary, so a back-up would
probably be a good idea."

"Great! Do you want to meet here after last class?" At Chloe's nod,
Lana beamed. She jumped off the desk and gathered up her books. "I
really should go now, I promised Nell I would meet her at the flower
shop. I'll try to think of something to fill that space and maybe we
can get it done tomorrow afternoon before we shop."

"There will be no need for that, I think I can help Miss Sullivan with
her empty space. Why don't you accompany Lana to the flower shop,
Clark?" Lex could see Clark's indecision. Go with the girl of his
dreams or stay with his best friend and find out what was bothering
her. He doubted that Clark suspected his interest in Chloe yet. Not
that Clark had anything to worry about, there was no way Lex was going
to act on any attraction he might feel toward Chloe. She was just a
teenager. "LuthorCorp is sponsoring several summer internships for
motivated, creative students."

That clinched it. Chloe had her filler piece and she was obviously
just nervous and embarrassed about this blind date her cousin had set
up. Clark didn't blame her, Gill's scary taste ran beyond clothes, but
Chloe had agreed to this date and it wasn't his place to stop her.
"Okay. I'll walk with you, Lana."

Chloe waited until Clark and Lana were gone and well out of earshot
before looking directly at Lex. She pointed an accusing finger at him.
"Not one word about it, Mr. Luthor." Chloe had to bite her lip to
keep from smiling at his smug expression. "And wipe that smirk off
your face too, buster. Is LuthorCorp really sponsoring internships?"

"Of course." Lex sauntered further into the room. He stopped in front
of the one window that graced the Torch's office. The afternoon light
glanced off one side of his face, leaving the other in shadow. The
look suited him. "The internships will last for six weeks and they'll
be in various departments and businesses that LuthorCorp owns. I
believe there will be one at the Inquisitor. Perfect for a Ryan Award
winner."

"I haven't won yet." Chloe glanced up from her computer screen. She
had opened up her word processing program as soon as Lex had confirmed
the filler story and had been busy formulating his information into
a brief news article.

"You will." Lex caught Chloe's gaze and held it. That night, when she
had briefly regained consciousness, she had said he had pretty eyes.
No one had ever told him that. His mother had loved his hair, his
bright orange carrot hair. He had hated it and had wished it gone many
times. After the meteor shower, when he had gotten his wish, he had
heard his mother crying by his hospital bed. Guilt over her tears
consumed him and he vowed to never wish for anything ever again.
Before he could stop himself, Lex wished Chloe would say it again when
she wasn't groggy and under the influence of drugs.

His eyes were striking, breath-taking. Chloe couldn't tell if they
were blue or green. They were intense. She felt a weird sense of
deja-vu, like she had stared into Lex's eyes before. "Lex..."

"Hey, guys." Lana breezed back into the office. "Sorry to interrupt,
I forgot my address book." Lana's gaze shifted from Chloe to Lex and
back again. It was the strangest thing. Lex was standing at least
four feet from Chloe, but Lana could swear that she had just
interrupted something...intimate.

The pretty mauve book was easy to spot among the clutter of Chloe's
desk. She picked it up and held it out to Lana. "Here you go." Chloe
wasn't sure if she wanted to scream at Lana for interrupting or thank
her for stopping her from saying or doing something extremely stupid.
Chloe wasn't even sure what it had been that she was going to say.
Could you even tell a man he had pretty eyes?

"Well, I believe I have you all the information you require, Miss
Sullivan. If you have any more questions, you can reach me at this
number." Lex scribbled something on a card as he walked toward Chloe.
Their fingers brushed as he handed her the card.

"Thank you, Mr. Luthor." Chloe looked down at the grey card with the
LuthorCorp logo on it. Lex had written in another number and 'Call me'
on it. She looked up at him and nodded. "I'll do that."

"Good." Lex turned to leave, but paused in the doorway. "I've noticed
that there isn't much in the way of clothing stores in Smallville,
especially ones that would have the appropriate apparel for a hot
date. I have a business meeting with my father in Metropolis tomorrow
afternoon, would you girls like a ride into the city?"

"No thanks," Lana answered before Chloe could. "Nell is going to
Metropolis tomorrow for a flower show. We can go with her."

"Thanks, anyway, Le...Mr. Luthor." Chloe smiled demurely. She was
getting used to this, Lex was ceasing to fluster her. "I'm sure my
hot date will appreciate the gesture."

Again Lana had the distinct impression that a whole different
conversation than the one she heard was going on between Lex and Chloe.
She managed to smile and wave at Lex as he left the Torch office and
then cast a speculative glance at Chloe. She had already returned to
newspaper editor mode and was fitting the blurb into the space in the
edition. Lana wouldn't get anything out of her now, but shopping was
always conducive to girl talk.

*****

The LuthorCorp building in Metropolis was an imposing glass tower that
loomed over the city. Lionel Luthor's office suite was at the very
top. Lex had made many trips up the elevator, the last time had been
to find out he had been banished to Smallville. This time he had no
idea why his father had summoned him. Everything was working
smoothly at the fertilizer plant. Unless his father had found out
about the other projects he was working on. Or about Chloe and what
had happened at Bacchanalia. There was no use worrying about it, he
would find out soon enough.

Lex walked out of the elevator and crossed the large reception area.
He nodded and smiled at the beautiful redhead behind the desk. She was
new and not much older than him. "Hello. I'm Lex Luthor. My father
requested an audience." He smiled his most charming smile.

"Rebecca Chase. It's nice to meet you, Mr. Luthor. You're expected."
She smiled back and nodded at the closed door.

"Thank you." Lex didn't bother to stay and flirt. If she was behind
the desk here, then she was also in his father's bed. He walked into
his father's office to find him on the phone.

While he waited, Lex took the opportunity to wander around his father's
office. There was a well-stocked bar in the corner with a comfortable
conversation area furnished with leather chairs. Adjacent to it was
the floor to ceiling window with an impressive city view. Lex stopped
at a painting that hung on an opposite wall. It was a fashionable
abstract by some new artist that was 'in' right now. It used to be a
stormy seascape that his mother had given his father for their
anniversary. After her death, Lionel had the painting replaced with
various artistic whims that were sure to impress his business
associates. Lex had found the seascape in the basement of the office
building. It hung in his office in Smallville now.

"Lex, you arrived on time and I didn't have to send Dominic to fetch
you. Impressive." Lionel smiled at his son when he turned his
attention toward him. It wasn't a warm, proud parent smile, but rather
a sly, wolfish sneer.

"Thank you, Dad. Why exactly have I been permitted to darken the door
of the illustrious home office?" Lex walked to the desk. He didn't
sit down in the chairs provided.

"An update." Lionel sat back and tented his fingers. "How are
things?"

"I send in weekly reports. Don't you read them?" His father was up to
something. Lex was fairly certain the old man didn't know anything
about his extracurricular activities - business or otherwise - but he
suspected that they existed. This was a fishing expedition, only not
one that fathers and sons usually enjoyed.

"They tell me about the business, not you." Lionel stood up and walked
over to the bar. He made himself a drink and surprisingly poured one
for his son as well. "How is Smallville treating you? Are you still
friends with the Kent boy?"

There was definitely something going on. His father only cared about
his son's life when he was in trouble. Lex warily took the drink from
his father. He didn't like the offhand question about Clark. "Of
course. Clark saved my life."

"Yes, he did." Lionel took a sip of his drink. "Have you met anyone
special in Smallville?"

Now that was a strange question. "Why? Are you looking for a new
mistress?" Lex allowed bitterness to creep into his voice to make his
father think he was still upset over Victoria. Lionel could not find
out about Chloe. He wasn't afraid that his father would try and
seduce her - sixteen was a bit too young - but that was the problem.
She was too young for Lex too and Lionel would do everything in his
power to keep her away from him. His father would see Chloe as a
potential scandal - Lex Luthor Seduces Highschool Girl - and he would
use her father's job as leverage to make her go away.

"Lex, we both know Vicky meant nothing to either of us." Lionel's
eyes narrowed on his son. "You're up to something. You've been too
content in Smallville. Something or someone had been keeping you
busy."

"I'm sorry if my happiness disturbs you, Dad, but I've taken a liking
to the country. As long as I'm exiled there, I might as well make the
most of it." Lex set his drink down. "Haven't you heard of time off
for good behavior."

"Good behavior?" Lionel's eyebrows rose as he gazed speculatively at
Lex. "Well, I guess congratulations are in order for the Bacchanalia
deal. You'll have to tell me sometime how you convinced Rothman to
sign at that price."

Lex stared coolly back at his father without flinching. They had
played this game of wills before. He really didn't have time for it.
"Is this family moment over?"

"Yes. You may leave." Lionel waved in dismissal and turned his back
on Lex to look out at the view.

"See ya, Dad." Lex left the office. He would have to watch his step.
First his father asks about someone special and then mentions
Bacchanalia. There was no such thing as coincidence in the Luthor
world. It was a good thing that he had given Chloe the number to his
private cell phone so there wasn't a chance that the staff could report
on his continuing association with her. Lionel couldn't find out about
his 'date' with Chloe tomorrow night. His father was not above
destroying his friends to keep his son in line.

To be continued....