Curiousity sparked in Chloe. She hadn't seen or heard from Lex for a few days, and she was abeginning to wonder if what had happened between them even meant anything to him. She fiddled around the Torch office, these thoughts darting through her mind, distracting her from her goal. She wasn't getting anything accomplished, and the deadline for this issue was tomorrow.
"Snap out of it," she told herself. "You can worry about Lex another day." She tried to push all the thoughts out of her mind. As soon as she cleared her head, she started working again. Then the thoughts resurfaced.
"You don't have a snowball's chance in hell with Lex, Chloe," she told herself. "Get over it, or it'll be worse than the Clark situation." Clark. She hadn't even thought of him in the past few days. Funny to think that Lex actually did help her get her mind off of the farmboy, and ironically, onto him. She started up her work again... the thoughts still there.
"Lana, I desperately need a caffeine high."
Chloe had stopped by the Talon to get a late-night cappuchino. She had finally finished the newest edition of the Torch, but it had taken her forever. She was glad she had gotten here right before closing time.
"Sure thing, Chloe," Lana said. "Your usual?"
Chloe nodded, and put her head in her hands. She was so sleepy... she hoped she would be able to make the drive home. She heard the door to the Talon open, but didn't bother putting the energy into lifting her head up to see.
"Lana, I brought the Talon's bills over."
Chloe's head shot up at the voice. It was Lex. She abruptly stood up from the chair.
"Lex," she said, feeling her face growing hot.
"Hello, Chloe," he said. She had expected him to remark, but she didn't expect the coldness behind it. It was the withdrawn Lex that she had been afraid of, before she saw the real Lex behind it all.
"Chloe." She turned, and Lana set her drink on the counter. Still slightly awed by the chill in Lex's voice, she sat down, and sipped on her cappuchino. She barely heard Lana and Lex's conversation, she was too busy being caught up in her own thoughts to care. 'I wonder...' Chloe thought, 'if he's avoiding the subject for a reason...' She snapped out of her thought train long enough to see Lex walking away.
"Bye..." she weakly called after him.
Lionel pulled off his glasses and wiped them with a cloth. What someone didn't know, wouldn't hurt them, and what they didn't know was that he had recovered from his blindness. He could fully see, and he loved every bit of playing the handicap card. As Lucas would say, 'you have to play dirty sometimes.' Speaking of Lucas, Lionel wasn't particularly fond of the boy. Sure, he had taken him in, but the boy showed more spite than Lex ever did. Lex... he missed his son, but he needed to do this little game. Lionel put his glasses back on, and pulled himself out of the chair. He summoned his servant to him.
"Tell Lucas to come to me. We need to talk."
The servant obeyed, walking out of the room. A few minutes later, he returned.
"I'm sorry sir, but Lucas isn't here at this time."
"What?" Lionel said. "Then where is he?"
Lex mucked out the stalls diligently. It was days like this that he missed with his mother. He remembered the ranch, the horses, and of course, the chores. He knew that a farm took a lot of work, so he decided to help as much as he could around here, no matter how many hard chores Mr. Kent gave him. He heard footsteps in the loft. Wondering if Clark was home, he headed toward the stairs. He leaned down to brush some dirt off of his pants, and when he straightened back up, someone collided with him. It was Chloe.
Chloe yelped. "H-hi, Lex," she said.
"Chloe." he nodded, then turned to go back to work.
"Um... do you know where Clark is?" she inquired. "I wanted to talk to him about something."
"I haven't seen him." Lex started to muck the stall again.
"Okay..." She decided to turn her attention to him. "So, farmwork? You don't seem like the working type."
"Everyone has a hidden side." He continued his work, not glancing at her.
Chloe wanted him to look at her, just so she could see if any of those feelings were still there. She walked up to him. "Lex," she said. "We need to talk about the other night."
Lex looked at her cooly. "What about it?"
Chloe's anger flared. "What do you mean, what about it?" She put her hand on his shoulder, stopping him from his work. "The thing about it is, that you kissed me. You kissed me, Lex, and then you expect to just forget about it like that?"
"You should. It didn't mean anything anyway. It was one of those spur-of-the-moment type situations."
Chloe's anger faded, but resurfaced into sorrow. "You... asshole." Tears welled up in her eyes. "I thought I could confide in you. I thought you were my friend." She turned to go, but stopped. "You really are a Luthor after all."
Those last words stung Lex. He watched her leave, and watched Clark enter the barn. Clark walked up to him.
"What was that all about?"
Lex, not wanting to get into an uncomfortable situation, simply said, "I wouldn't give her an interview."
Chloe walked through town, not really sure or aware of where she was going. She only knew that she was trying to get Lex off of her mind. She wasn't watching where she was going, either, and bumped into Lucas Luthor.
"Ah, you're... Chloe, right?" he asked. He smiled at her, more of a smirk really, and extended his hand.
"I apologize, but I'm not in the mood right now to exchange happy gestures and make friends." she turned to go, but Lucas grabbed her wrist.
"Is something wrong?"
Chloe gave a sarcastic laugh. "I don't believe you," she said. "I barely know you, and you have the audacity to ask me if something is wrong, as if we've been friends for years?"
Lucas withdrew slightly. "We could be friends."
Chloe scowled. "I don't trust Luthors." She shook her wrist from his hand, and continued down the street.
Lucas watched her go. Even though she didn't let on, he knew that something had happened to hurt her feelings, and it didn't take much guessing to know that it had something to do with his brother.
Chloe finally returned home, and went straight to her room. She curled up with a pillow on her bed, and sobbed.
Her father entered the room. "Honey..? Is everthing okay?"
"I'm fine, Dad. It's just... boy problems."
Gabe seemed to understand, and closed the door gently behind him.
Chloe sat up, leaned over the side of the bed, and fished for something under it. She pulled out a shoebox, decorated with markers and gems. On the top of the box was the name 'Clark.' She opened the lid, and fished through the items. There were pictures of she and Clark, as well as some items that brought back memories. She pulled out a picture of them standing in his loft by the window when they were younger, the sunset in the background. She smiled, remembering that day. Mrs. Kent had taken that photograph the same day that she had kissed Clark. Her first day here from Metropolis. She had felt so lost and vulnerable that day, until Clark had introduced himself to her. Then, she knew her hero had come. She traced Clark's outline on the photograph. Maybe it was better to love someone you could depend on, even if they hid things from you.
Lex officially felt like an asshole. After he had finished mucking the stalls, he had spent the rest of his time worrying about Chloe. He had to do that for his own well being, as well as hers. If anyone found out, the consequences could be bad. So, he made a decision to throw her off and make her forget what had happened. But how could he throw Chloe off if he couldn't even throw his own self off with his act? He sighed, and flopped down on his bed. Or, what was temporarily his bed. He had been at the Kent farm for near a week now, and he felt at home, mainly because it felt more like family here than it did at the mansion. However, he loved his Dad. He would always love his Dad, no matter what his Dad did to hurt him. But he couldn't let him hurt Chloe, so the only thing Lex could do was hurt himself.
"Chloe..."
Lucas walked into the office at the mansion, his footsteps clicking on the wood floor. He spotted Lionel at the desk.
"You wanted to speak to me?"
"We'll speak later. Where were you earlier?"
"In town. Does that matter?"
"No, I guess it doesn't... but-"
"...Dad... does Lex have a girlfriend?"
"No, son, not to my knowledge."
"Well I think he's been keeping something from you."
