In the secluded quiet of Lexcorp, Lois waited impatiently for Lex to see
her. She itched for a smoke, yet the hawk-like gaze of Mrs. Bennett meant
that she could not disregard the no-smoking sign. Moreover, Lex hated the
smell so she resisted the urge, even though nervous tension made the
muscles in her shoulders and back cramp into agonizing knots.
At last, Bennett looked up at her and inclined her head in a gesture that meant she should go into the office. She stood quickly and went in, breath hitched in her throat. Lex was seated behind his vast, very clean desk, looking at the screen on his computer. A lazy wave of the hand indicated she should sit and she complied, wary of the menacing presence of Mercy in the background.
As always, the conversation started without preamble.
'So Clark has not turned up at work for the past couple of days.'
'H-his handheld cannot be traced and no message at the Planet. Perry's filed a missing person's.'
'Did you see him at the gala?'
'Only for a few minutes. I was with you most..,'
'Did any of the Planet staff see him leave?'
'There was only Jimmy, and he didn't see anything.' Then Lex put down the screen of his computer and focused on her.
'The reason I have called you here Lois, is because I find that our relationship can no longer be sustained on a meaningful level.' A slow leaning forward and a deliberate steepling of fingers.
'You are not what I am looking for at this stage of my life, and I fear we must both move on for our mutual benefit.'
'What! You...you're breaking up with me?'
Lois' voice broke as she said the words. She had always known this day would come, but still found it overwhelming. She felt relief, to be out of a game she so rarely saw the point of, but she heard too the snide remarks and sarcasm laced comments that the breakup would cause. She saw in a flash all the doors that would be closed to her now she was no longer Lex Luthor's girlfriend. All the boutiques that would no longer extend her unlimited credit. All the magazines that would put her picture on the going down barometer...
'You can't do this to me.'
She hadn't meant it to sound so accusing and as Lex raised an eyebrow a fraction of an inch, she quickly backtracked. Thoughts flooded into her head but none of them in the shape of a coherent argument.
'I mean, I've always done what you asked. I've been useful...'She sounded whiny, she should not sound whiny. Cosmo said not to sound whiny.
'But alas, not useful enough. Ms Graves will show you out.'
'This' thought Lois as she walked over the vast span of featureless carpet, 'is what is called an end of a chapter.' Funny, she had never thought them to be so unexpected, or marked—so unexpectedly marked. At least she got to keep the jewelry, and the riverside apartment, and maybe Gucci wouldn't take her off the preferred customer lists till next year. And if she hurried, she could really make that Amex Black count.
She hurried out of the glass and steel lobby of Lexcorp, and hailed a taxi.
'The Redmoon mall. And step on it.'
'I had to. He held my treatment hostage. I couldn't bear the thought of being poor and suffering, Chloe. I just couldn't. These past years, I have known what being truly alone is, and how scary the world is and about being nobody's favourite person, and no one ever cuts you any slack... I've been an orphan a long time—and I can't tell you how that fear ate into me. Even when I was in Smallville. You know, the homecoming queen, the town princess, I always felt the horror of being excluded, of being alone. So even though he was the enemy and evil and manipulative—he was familiar... Oh! I can't say this. You won't understand.'
The last words of Lana's rant were borne away by the wind that whipped her hair into straggly ends of static and snarls. She turned a crumpled face to Chloe, wiped of all trace of makeup—swollen and imperfect, and wet with the rain that was just beginning to fall, banishing the heat wave that had gripped Metropolis in its suppurating haze for the past month.
Chloe however, was adamant. The sharp wind whipped through her hair, and she buried herself deeper in her jacket, trying to trace solace in its worn texture. She watched the swirling current of the river as the wind whipped the water into contusions of oily reflections, while her mind muddled along with the viscous flow of the tamed river. A part of her regretted coming here to meet Lana. She did not want to be betrayed again; but another part wanted closure, wanted explanations, and so she stood with her flimsy summer skirt flapping against her pale legs in a staccato rhythm of discomfort, while Lana attempted catharsis by shouting an explanation against the various background noises.
Chloe let the sounds of the cars buzzing off to pleasant and anticipated destinations lengthen the moments they stood like that. Two women standing slightly apart on a rain swept pavement looking onto a turbulent river, lit by the vast city around, and the orange gleam of a wet urban night.
As another vehicle approached and then zoomed off in a sound byte of speed, Chloe finally turned to look at Lana.
'You could have come to me.'
'I did once, and I caused you so much hurt. I didn't want to do that again.'
Lana must've whispered the words, for they came at her in the familiar dipping, drowning cadence—vulnerable and vastly irritating, and despite the lack of volume she heard the words clearly, so maybe her mind was shaping that answer, and Lana had said something entirely different...
'And what did he expect from you? The pleasure of your company?' She retaliated, with a surge of carefully nursed venom.
This time Lana stepped closer, and there was no denying her words. 'You know what he wanted from me. He wanted the same thing from you.'
Now it was Chloe's turn to look away.
'Clark.'
But the sound was torn away by the thunder that lay pale the cityscape in its incandescent stab of light, and the storm burst.
.
At last, Bennett looked up at her and inclined her head in a gesture that meant she should go into the office. She stood quickly and went in, breath hitched in her throat. Lex was seated behind his vast, very clean desk, looking at the screen on his computer. A lazy wave of the hand indicated she should sit and she complied, wary of the menacing presence of Mercy in the background.
As always, the conversation started without preamble.
'So Clark has not turned up at work for the past couple of days.'
'H-his handheld cannot be traced and no message at the Planet. Perry's filed a missing person's.'
'Did you see him at the gala?'
'Only for a few minutes. I was with you most..,'
'Did any of the Planet staff see him leave?'
'There was only Jimmy, and he didn't see anything.' Then Lex put down the screen of his computer and focused on her.
'The reason I have called you here Lois, is because I find that our relationship can no longer be sustained on a meaningful level.' A slow leaning forward and a deliberate steepling of fingers.
'You are not what I am looking for at this stage of my life, and I fear we must both move on for our mutual benefit.'
'What! You...you're breaking up with me?'
Lois' voice broke as she said the words. She had always known this day would come, but still found it overwhelming. She felt relief, to be out of a game she so rarely saw the point of, but she heard too the snide remarks and sarcasm laced comments that the breakup would cause. She saw in a flash all the doors that would be closed to her now she was no longer Lex Luthor's girlfriend. All the boutiques that would no longer extend her unlimited credit. All the magazines that would put her picture on the going down barometer...
'You can't do this to me.'
She hadn't meant it to sound so accusing and as Lex raised an eyebrow a fraction of an inch, she quickly backtracked. Thoughts flooded into her head but none of them in the shape of a coherent argument.
'I mean, I've always done what you asked. I've been useful...'She sounded whiny, she should not sound whiny. Cosmo said not to sound whiny.
'But alas, not useful enough. Ms Graves will show you out.'
'This' thought Lois as she walked over the vast span of featureless carpet, 'is what is called an end of a chapter.' Funny, she had never thought them to be so unexpected, or marked—so unexpectedly marked. At least she got to keep the jewelry, and the riverside apartment, and maybe Gucci wouldn't take her off the preferred customer lists till next year. And if she hurried, she could really make that Amex Black count.
She hurried out of the glass and steel lobby of Lexcorp, and hailed a taxi.
'The Redmoon mall. And step on it.'
'I had to. He held my treatment hostage. I couldn't bear the thought of being poor and suffering, Chloe. I just couldn't. These past years, I have known what being truly alone is, and how scary the world is and about being nobody's favourite person, and no one ever cuts you any slack... I've been an orphan a long time—and I can't tell you how that fear ate into me. Even when I was in Smallville. You know, the homecoming queen, the town princess, I always felt the horror of being excluded, of being alone. So even though he was the enemy and evil and manipulative—he was familiar... Oh! I can't say this. You won't understand.'
The last words of Lana's rant were borne away by the wind that whipped her hair into straggly ends of static and snarls. She turned a crumpled face to Chloe, wiped of all trace of makeup—swollen and imperfect, and wet with the rain that was just beginning to fall, banishing the heat wave that had gripped Metropolis in its suppurating haze for the past month.
Chloe however, was adamant. The sharp wind whipped through her hair, and she buried herself deeper in her jacket, trying to trace solace in its worn texture. She watched the swirling current of the river as the wind whipped the water into contusions of oily reflections, while her mind muddled along with the viscous flow of the tamed river. A part of her regretted coming here to meet Lana. She did not want to be betrayed again; but another part wanted closure, wanted explanations, and so she stood with her flimsy summer skirt flapping against her pale legs in a staccato rhythm of discomfort, while Lana attempted catharsis by shouting an explanation against the various background noises.
Chloe let the sounds of the cars buzzing off to pleasant and anticipated destinations lengthen the moments they stood like that. Two women standing slightly apart on a rain swept pavement looking onto a turbulent river, lit by the vast city around, and the orange gleam of a wet urban night.
As another vehicle approached and then zoomed off in a sound byte of speed, Chloe finally turned to look at Lana.
'You could have come to me.'
'I did once, and I caused you so much hurt. I didn't want to do that again.'
Lana must've whispered the words, for they came at her in the familiar dipping, drowning cadence—vulnerable and vastly irritating, and despite the lack of volume she heard the words clearly, so maybe her mind was shaping that answer, and Lana had said something entirely different...
'And what did he expect from you? The pleasure of your company?' She retaliated, with a surge of carefully nursed venom.
This time Lana stepped closer, and there was no denying her words. 'You know what he wanted from me. He wanted the same thing from you.'
Now it was Chloe's turn to look away.
'Clark.'
But the sound was torn away by the thunder that lay pale the cityscape in its incandescent stab of light, and the storm burst.
.