A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE
By AllegraSee first chapter for disclaimers etc.
CHAPTER 4 : FAVOURS
Chloe had finally given up on the idea of getting her personal statement finished that night and instead figured a walk might get her brain cells firing again. As she headed down the street, she wondered if Clark would still be in his barn. She sighed. Even if he was, it was too far to walk and you never knew who was hiding out in those woods. Besides, the lovelorn expression on his face as he peered through his telescope at Lana was just too much for Chloe.
Ever since she could remember, Clark had had a thing for Lana Lang. It was like an irresistible urge to be close to her. She was the forbidden fruit and as long as it was forbidden, Clark would want it. Chloe, on the other hand, was always available. The only monopoly on her time was the school paper and that just made her feel even more of a loser. If she could just become a cheerleader or something, maybe get herself a boyfriend, it might alert Clark to the fact that she is actually a girl under that friend demeanour.
No matter which way she looked at it, Chloe realised that her love life was just chasing round in one big circle. She wanted Clark, Clark wanted Lana, Lana seemed to want Whitney. Maybe she should hook up with Whitney and tidy things up a little bit, Chloe chuckled mirthlessly.
She pulled her coat tighter across her chest and crossed to the other side of the street. Everything was hopeless. If only a knight in shining armour would appear beside her now, offering to sweep her away from Smallville. Chloe was roughly pulled from her reverie by the sound of rustling on the outskirts of the woods. The teenager could hear twigs snapping and leaves rustling so it couldn't be a mass murderer, well not a stealthy one anyway. Then again, look at the 'Scream' movies, the murderers were complete klutzes but they still got their victims.
Shuddering at the thought, Chloe took a step back from the tree line and pulled out her mobile phone, paused to dial the police if anything other than a deer showed its face. The young journalist couldn't have been more shocked by what she saw.
The battered shape of Lex Luthor emerged, still battling with the brambles clutching at his long coat. "Lex?" Chloe breathed in astonishment.
Lex narrowed his eyes to focus on the shadow ahead of him. Chloe stepped forward into the glow of the streetlights. He seemed as surprised as she was to find someone else out there so late. "Chloe?" He brushed determinedly at the remaining grub on his clothes and carefully picked his way to the pavement. "What are you doing out here? It's late."
Chloe tried to ignore the unwelcome fatherly tone and smiled, "I might ask you the same thing. I didn't take you for the botanist type." She tried to suppress the laughter that threatened to erupt at the image of the ever-pristine Lex Luthor looking more like David Bellamy than a millionaire.
"My car broke down," replied, matter-of-factly, and produced his cell phone to call the mansion. Organising the pick-up, Lex turned back to Chloe. "So, that's my reason for walking the streets of Smallville at this time. What's yours?"
Chloe shrugged as they sat down on the bus shelter bench. "I'm trying to get on this summer program at the Metropolis Globe but I just can't seem to get my statement together. As soon as I think about all the other applicants, everything I write just falls apart." She smiled shyly at Lex's intent gaze. "Stupid, huh?"
"Chloe, I'll admit I've never read your high school paper but that interview you did with me at the mansion proves what a high standard of journalism you possess. Don't do yourself down. My father always told me, 'Losers never win and winners never lose'. If you think negatively, you're bound to fail. You've just got to put yourself out there."
Chloe mumbled, "Oh, that's encouraging. Thanks, Lex."
Lex smiled at the image of Chloe holed up in her bedroom, wading through newspaper articles like this was her last chance to leave Smallville. He had never needed to think about it. There was very little that Lex Luthor hadn't been handed on a plate. "Everything in life is a test, Chloe. How you handle it tells you a bit more about the kind of person you are."
"You mean grab life with both hands? That's what I've been trying to do but Smallville doesn't exactly give a girl much to go on."
Lex thought for a moment. From the way Clark talked about her, he knew Chloe had it in her to succeed and get the summer program, but maybe she needed a little boost. "How about I make you a deal? You put together the best portfolio you can and I'll make sure you get on that program."
Chloe stared at him incredulously. "You'd do that?" Her excited face suddenly fell. "No, I can't. I should do this on my own merits."
Lex smiled at yet another example of strong morals the youth of Smallville seemed to hold. "Chloe, making your way in this world isn't always about going it alone. It's about exploiting the opportunities that come your way." He watched the range of emotions cross the girl's face before adding, "Come on, Chloe. You want this summer program, don't you?"
She looked up at the man beside her. Maybe he was the knight in shining armour Chloe had been looking for. "Thank you, Lex. That'd be really great."
The moment was broken by the arrival of Lex's limousine. "Let me give you a lift home." Lex opened the rear door for Chloe, wincing a little as his coat rubbed against the scratches on his arm.
Chloe noticed the furrowed brow, "Are you okay?"
Lex brushed away her concern. "Yeah, just a scratch." Sliding into the seat beside her, his mind wandered to the four poster bed awaiting him at the mansion. He was too tired to make much more than courteous bits of conversation, but from the expression on Chloe's face, it looked as if she was thinking the same thing.
Clark's back was aching. He had fallen asleep in the barn last night and his mom had decided to pull a blanket over him rather than wake him. Starting the morning in crumpled clothes and furry teeth didn't exactly give him the boost he needed to get going. Showering away the tiredness, he had almost missed the school bus and had managed to forget his geometry text book.
"Just ignore him, Chlo," Pete rialled. "It's the Kent hundred yard stare again. Don't get in the way. No prizes for guessing why." Chloe looked at Pete, quizzically. "He's got colonial American history with a certain raven-haired woman."
Chloe smiled, "Ah, all becomes clear. Hey, maybe I should do an article of the male obsession with things they can't have. What do you think, Clark?"
Turning his attention away from the window, he mumbled, "Oh, yeah, sounds good."
Pete and Chloe laughed and Clark looked offended, "What? What did I say?"
Chloe patted him sympathetically on the shoulder. "Don't worry, Clark. I hope the redecoration of your cerebral Lana-shrine is going well, though."
Clark gave his friends a withering glare. "Actually, I wasn't thinking about Lana. I was thinking about Lex."
Pete feigned a startled expression. "Now that was a pairing I hadn't thought of."
"My mom invited him for dinner last night."
Chloe frowned, "I thought your dad hated the Luthors?"
"He does, that's why my mom invited him. She figured she could make some peace between my dad and Lex."
"So how did it go?" Pete asked.
"I guess it went okay, considering. But I just feel guilty."
"Guilty?" Chloe queried.
Clark fiddled with the tags on his backpack. "Lex is my friend and I don't like that he has to be kept at arm's length all the time. I mean, it's embarrassing enough that he has to come to for dinner to prove himself but it's worse listening to my dad trying to make him feel uncomfortable. Lex deserves better. I feel like I'm talking to a brick wall about the Luthors sometimes. Dad's reaction makes me feel like such a kid."
Chloe smiled, wanly. She didn't want to mention her run-in with Lex the previous night because it would only bring up the subject of what she was doing out there in the first place. That would inevitably lead to her having to lie about his offer to give her the journalist space. As editor of the school paper, Chloe prided herself on knowing a lie when she saw one. Pete and Clark would probably know she was covering something in a heartbeat.
Still, she couldn't help thinking about what Clark was saying and agree a bit with Mr. Kent. Lex was a shady figure to be around - he freaked people out even when he was being nice. He had basically offered to fiddle the judging on the summer program to get Chloe accepted. That wasn't exactly the kind of action that inspired a whole lot of confidence in a person. If he could pull strings for a friend, he could just as easily pull them again to make another enemy suffer. "Give your dad some time, Clark. Lex has only just moved to Smallville after all. He's got to prove he's made of the right mettle. Your dad's just being cautious. Don't forget, Lex did try to buy your friendship with a truck."
Clark widened his eyes, insulted on Lex's behalf. "Hey, he gave me that truck as a thank you for saving his life. He figure he owed me. That was not an attempt to buy friendship! He got my friendship when I pulled him out of the water."
Chloe raised her hands in mock defence. "Okay, sorry I spoke. All I'm saying is that, given what the Luthors have done in the past, your parents have a right to show Lex that they don't play his games. They're just laying the ground rules. Once your dad's sure Lex has got the message, he'll probably lighten up."
Clark hoped she was right, but it didn't mean he was going to get out of doing the house deliveries this evening. There was always a massive order from the Luthor mansion and it was inevitable he'd bump into Lex.
The day dragged on and when Clark woke up that morning he hadn't banked on things getting as bad and embarrassing as they did. It all happened in the middle of science. Mr. Palance was buys expounding the possibilities of cross-breeding different species of poisonous fish when Clark's mind had started wandering to where Lana was sitting a few seats in front of him. At first, the thoughts had been fairly innocent but slowly they had increased in intensity and he could feel the heat vision he had recently acquired beginning to take effect. Before he could do anything to stop it, Clark had set light to Barry Francis' book bag that was placed a little too close to the teenager's line of sight.
Pretty soon, the bag was smoking then smouldering until someone mentioned a burning smell and all eyes turned to the first blue flames flickering out of poor Barry's bag. The kid was sent directly to the principal's office for a slap on the wrist about the hazards of bringing cigarettes to school. Clark felt pretty bad about the whole incident but he couldn't really go and get Barry off the hook. What was he supposed to say? 'Sorry, sir, I accidentally let my sexual desire for Lana Lang get out of hand and it activated my heat vision'. Clark's parents might have brought him up with a strong sense of good morals but he decided even they would rather he shielded himself from discovery than tell the truth on this occasion.
Instead, he averted his thoughts the only way he knew how. "Hey, Lana!" The brunette's silky hair cascaded around her shoulders as she turned. "Hi, Clark." She paused as if waiting for him to ask a question, assuming he had come over for a reason. Awkwardly realising the teenager had simply sought out her company, she quickly covered her tracks. "So, how did dinner with Lex hold up?"
Already at the point where he had thought himself into circles over the issue and bored his friends to tears, Clark decided against pouring the whole story out to the girl of his dreams as well. "Oh, fine. I guess I was just overreacting," he lied. If the truth be told, the affair had gone down pretty well given the possible turns it could have taken. Clark just figured that where Lex was concerned, maybe he was unnecessarily sensitive.
Lana nodded and kindly ignored her cue for an 'I told you so' speech. "Are you going to the bonfire party on Saturday?" she enquired, casually.
Clark looked at her steadily, weighing up why she might be asking. "Uh, maybe. Chloe is covering it for the school paper and she asked me to give her a few sound-bites, so I probably will. How about you?" He tried to sound as innocuous as possible but the unspoken sub-conversation constantly in motion between him and Lana wouldn't take much reading to figure what he was really asking.
"I don't know. Whitney's playing football in Oklahoma so I might have an evening in." Clark opened his mouth to pounce on the opportunity to ask for a date but was stopped by two of Lana's girlfriends appearing on the scene.
"Lana, are you coming? We've got half an hour to cram for the maths test."
Lana rolled her eyes in Clark's direction. "Sorry, Clark. I'll catch up with you later."
"Sure." Clark tried to hide the disappointment in his face. If she'd wanted to go with him to the bonfire party, wouldn't she have told her friends she'd catch up with them or something? Was that just a really useful way out for her to avoid going on a date with him? If she looked back over her shoulder, he'd know she still liked him. He watched the group of girls round the corner but Lana did not so much as glance back in his direction.
Lex had slept long and hard the previous night, his exertions in the woods catching up with him somewhat. At least he didn't have any pressing meetings or deadlines to meet today. He had enjoyed a leisurely breakfast in bed and, noticing the time, had finally figured it was time to have a shower and start the day properly.
Picking out some black slacks and a comfy sweater, he ducked into the shower. The hot water heated up his cool skin and he lathered up with pine scented shower gel. He closed his eyes against the bright daylight and savoured the sensation of hot water trickling down his back. It was only when the shower gel reached his arm that he hissed in a breath and glanced down at the superficial scratches he had received out in the woods. Lex twisted his arm as far as it would go, craning his neck to see how severe the damage was. The thin bramble scratches had inflamed into angry red track marks, swelling the skin around them into ridges of sensitive flesh. On closer inspection, he noticed tiny black specks of dirt resting in the open wounds. Carefully rinsing off the shower gel, Lex finished his shower and gingerly pulled a bathrobe over his arm.
He would have to wash the wound out properly and that wasn't going to be easy by himself when the cuts were on his right arm. He instantly regretted giving the staff a day off. Still, he was a big boy, he could bandage a few bramble cuts by himself. God knows he had dressed more wounds than this in his time. Giving it no further thought, Lex headed back into the bedroom.
END OF PART 4 - SORRY ABOUT THE DELAY! I HOPE YOU'RE STILL ENJOYING IT. I'M SORRY IF IT'S MOVING A LITTLE SLOWLY, I PROMISE IT'S GETTING TO SOME GOOD STUFF.
LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK! I'D LOVE TO HEAR ANY FEEDBACK OR SUGGESTIONS.
