Chapter Two

"Back for more coffee and muffins?"

Clark grinned. "You know how much I love those crumbcake thingies."

Lana eyed him suspiciously. "I'm closed. What do you want, Kent?"

Despite his more fierce and overwhelming attraction for Lex he was still a man and the way Lana was looking at him right now... He knew she was just being playful, not really flirting, but she was looking up at him with her long hair swept up and her dark eyes peering from behind her long lashes...

"Um, yeah, I came here to talk. I've got a couple of questions."

There was a loud crash, and Lana closed her eyes. Her expression was one of purely-induced patience. "What did you break now?" Her tone was light and joking.

"I'll replace it." Lex's gruff reply startled Clark. What was Lex doing here with Lana so late at night? It was almost ten. He had been shocked when Chloe had told him Lana was still at work, but now he was just hoping it wasn't the reason his worried heart was supplying. Because they had been spending a lot of time together under the guise of business.

"Is that Lex?"

Lana rolled her eyes. "I wish to Puckernuts it wasn't."

Clark refrained from snickering at Lana's long gone first and only dog's name. She glared at him. "Go ahead."

He laughed.

"You know when your eight years old you don't realize what certain things mean-"

"I can't believe Nell let you name it that."

"Yeah, well, her boyfriend at the time thought it was hilarious." She beckoned him inside and instead of coming he just stood there.

"Can I talk to you?"

"Why do you think I-"

"In private." The way he whispered private made him feel like he was twelve years old again, talking to Pete outside the Ross's house at dinner-time hiding the porn magazine he'd taken from Brian Tucker's locker.

He blushed but still stepped back, hoping Lana would fill the space he'd made.

She did and shut the door behind her. "What is this about, Clark?"

Ok, this was the hard part. Just get it out in the air, he thought. Just ask her if she notices anything about you and Lex. Lana wants you to start trusting her and this would be perfect. Not only would it prove that you trust her, it would also get her off your back for a little bit. Give you some reprieve.

"Is there something going on between you and Lex?"

He wondered if he looked half as shocked as she did about the question. It was sort of supposed to come out like that, only the 'you' part somehow substituted the 'me'.

"Excuse me?" She looked pissed, as if she had expended all her patience on Lex and was plumb out when Clark showed up.

"It's not what you think, Lana."

"What are you even... Are you crazy, Clark?"

"No, it's not that."

"He's my boss and Lex Luthor at that-"

"It was for me, Lana. I was asking for me."

"Well, I got that, Clark."

"No," he shook his head. "I was asking..." He trailed off. Nothing he was saying nor thinking was making much sense. He loved Lana as a friend and was very attracted to her body and her personality. He knew she felt the same for him, knew it right then and, if he had known a couple of years ago, back at the end of middle school or even the beginning or high school, things would no doubt be very different now.

But he wanted Lex. Facing the truth in order to tell someone else was more difficult then facing all by himself. Probably because he'd been hiding behind it all for so very long. His attraction to Lana provided a very nice rack to which he could hang his distraction.

But not if he wanted to change directions. Not if he wanted to get somewhere for a change. And honestly, all the circles he was going in were making him dizzy.

"I wanted to know because I'm-"

"Attracted to Lex," Lana finished, her whisper slow and awe-filled.

He just nodded, burying his hands in the jacket meant to cover him from a chill he didn't feel. He wanted to look anywhere else, anywhere but at her pretty face, a face that had once filled him with desire, but to do that would mean he was ashamed about his attraction to Lex and he wasn't. He was just the opposite. Years of infatuation had turned into something more. Sure he loved Lex as a friend; Clark loved all his close friends. He was just hoping that it could mean something more.

"Are you going to say something, Lana, or do we just stand here until Lex joins the party and I grow even more vulnerable."

She shook herself out of the funk and looked at Clark, pity in her eyes. "I am so very sorry, Clark."

He frowned and tried to keep his heart from sinking. "What do you know?"

"LEX!!" a voice screeched happily.

He felt his stomach become one huge knot. It was Victoria Hardwick.

Suddenly Clark knew just why Lana's patience was up.

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