Chapter Four

Clark paced the office of the Torch mindlessly, pausing occasionally to look out of the window for some sign of her, any sign. Chloe was late this morning and Clark was worried, she was only ever late in on release days but today was just another day. She should have been here by now. He gave up pacing and sat at Chloe's computer, idly fingering papers and documents, looking through the in-tray for any decent news. It wasn't enough; his mind was back at the Luthor Manor as he replayed the scene over and over in his head until he was sure he would crack. He couldn't forget that tiny, soft moan that had escaped her lips as he kissed her. Not Clark but Lex. It made him ache inside and he wondered just how long he had felt this way about Chloe without fully realising. He had wanted to be the one to kiss her like that, to have her kiss him back the way she had kissed Lex. He had wanted to be the one. He slammed the papers in his hands down onto the desk in a flash of temper and was surprised to see a deep crack running through the wood; he sighed loudly and stood up again. He continued to pace the office floor until the door opened behind him and Chloe stepped in, hanging her jacket and bag on the back of the door and smiling at Clark.

"Morning," she beamed. "Man, I really thought I was gonna be late this morning. My car has died completely, she's just given up. I had to beg for Dad to drop me off on his way to work,"

"I thought you were a little late," nodded Clark, sitting down on the old sofa and running a nervous hand through his hair. He wanted to scream at her, to tell her how he felt, to shout out everything he had seen and heard but he couldn't. They were friends, he had to give her the opportunity to tell him what had happened, he couldn't possibly admit to invading her privacy. "I didn't get to see you before I left the mansion on Sunday morning," Chloe looked at him, her eyes flickering with something Clark couldn't place; fear, nerves, panic.

"Yeah, I spent the night in one of the bedrooms; I didn't wake up until way after midday. I think all that booze went straight to my head," she laughed nervously, hoping that Clark couldn't see straight through her deception. "By the time I finally came down, you and Lana were gone," Silence. Clark stared at her, steely-eyed. "Did you have a good night? I thought it turned out to be quite a wild party after those stuffy guys went home,"

"It was definitely interesting," he ventured. "Although Lana and I were wondering where you and Lex had disappeared to," There; he had mentioned it now and he regretted it instantly. Why did he have to bring it up? At least he had given her the opportunity to come clean and just tell him the truth. Be honest with him the way they were supposed to be.

"I pretty much collapsed after I got out of the bathroom, Lex made sure I wasn't going to choke on my own puke and put me to bed. I thought he went back down to you guys," said Chloe, busying herself with the paperwork Clark had been jumbling up before she arrived. "Maybe you were asleep by the time he got back to you; Lana said she was pretty tired,"

Clark was silent; Chloe had blatantly lied to him about what had happened with Lex. She didn't trust him enough to even tell him that she had kissed his best friend, he felt hurt and betrayed. Chloe may have hidden the truth for fear of hurting him but the damage was already done, she should have just been honest with him. They had fought so often about that very thing and now, here she was, lying to him about something as simple as a kiss. He glared at her and could tell she was getting uncomfortable with it.

"Where did this crack come from?" she asked with a frown, running her finger along the groove Clark had made in his temper.

"I know about you and Lex, Chloe. You don't have to pretend," he spat at her. Chloe looked up at him, her eyes wide with shock and confusion at how Clark could possibly know what had happened between her and the boy billionaire.

"Clark, I…"

"I saw you, I went out to see if you were okay and I saw you kissing him in the hallway. He was all over you, Chloe," he said, not caring if he was shouting now. Chloe glanced at the glass window in the office door; other students just arriving at school were staring through, wondering what all the fuss was about.

"Jesus, Clark. Keep your voice down, I don't get what the big deal is," she said, dropping the papers and walking around the desk to sit opposite him on the sofa. She turned to face him but he couldn't look at her. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you but I thought you'd think it was weird. I mean, Lex is older than us, you might've thought it was sick or something,"

"It's not that, Chloe. It's the fact that you lied to me, I thought you wanted us to be honest with each other but you lied to me anyway. Sometimes, I don't understand you at all," he snapped, he didn't really know what he was saying but all of his feelings and confusions about Chloe were coming out of him in a torrent of words. "What are we doing? I thought we were friends but things have been weird between us for a while,"

"We are friends, we've talked about this. We're just friends; I can't handle anything else with you, Clark. It's too intense and I always get hurt. I've told you before, I feel like a back-up plan with you. Whenever things don't work out with Lana, you fall back to me. You couldn't make up your mind and now, it's just too late. I've given you so many chances, I can't do this anymore," she said angrily.

"This is not about wanting to be with you…" started Clark.

"Isn't it?" she asked, her voice rising to compete with his. "Isn't that exactly what this is? You're jealous because I kissed Lex and not you,"

"No, Chloe. You don't get it, I'm not jealous; I'm just upset that I'm not important enough for you to talk to about this stuff. We're supposed to be best friends but you just lied to me. I can't believe you lied to me about the simplest thing in the world,"

"You are a lousy liar, Clark," she sighed, dropping her head into her hands. "Can we just drop all this friends crap because this has got nothing to do with us being friends and everything to do with us being together,"

"We're not together," he said. "How can it be about us being together when we're not together?" Clark was on his feet now, pacing the office again and wondering why he was getting so mad at her. They had both ignored the ringing bell ushering in the first class of the day; this was too important, this had been coming for weeks.

"God, you are so infuriating," she said, clutching at her hair as if wishing she could tear it out in anger. "You talk about being honest but you can't even be honest with yourself. Just look me in the eye, Clark, look me in the eye and tell me that you aren't jealous of Lex," Clark looked away from her and she sighed. "It makes a nice change from me being jealous of Lana,"

"Is that what this is about? Are you getting back at me because I stupidly chose Lana over you? It was a mistake, Chloe, a stupid mistake. Don't punish me because of that," said Clark, sitting down next to her and grabbing her hand.

"Get over yourself," she sighed. "This has got nothing to do with you. Did it never occur to you that I might like Lex? I mean, he's attractive, he's funny and he's very charming, why wouldn't I like a guy like that? Or don't you think I deserve someone like that?"

"Chloe…" started Clark but he was interrupted by Chloe's cell-phone ringing loudly from her bag. She didn't let him finish his sentence, jumping up from the sofa to grab her bag and dig out her vibrating phone from the bottom of it. She smiled subtly when she saw the name flashing on the screen and pushed the green 'answer' button.

"Hey Lex," she smiled; she didn't even look up to see the expression on Clark's face. She didn't even notice his anger until the door slammed behind him as he stormed out of the office and away from her. She sighed sadly and carried on speaking to Lex.