Part 3 of 4
It was Lois' second week in Smallville and Chloe was having the time of her life. Her cousin easily persuaded her to take some time off from The Torch; her power of persuasion was always far more compelling than anything she could think up. She took a mental note to have her teach her the ways of the Lane one of these days.
Relaxing within the walls of Smallville's resident coffee house, The Talon, Lois and Chloe were mapping out their days' events.
"There's a barn party about forty five miles outside of town tonight," she recommended as she held out a flyer that was given to her the night before.
Chloe looks at her idly. "How do you find these things, Lois?" She often wondered who the reporter in the family was even though Lois had no interest in journalism whatsoever. She's a natural at it.
Lois shrugs. "What do you mean?"
"Every time we get together, you always find something interesting to do. I've lived here for years, and the most excitement I get are meteor-freaks going homicidal and natural disasters. You're here a day and already you've got connections. What's your secret?"
"Yeah, I know," she replied with confidence while flawlessly avoiding the question.
Chloe balled a couple of napkins together and uses her cousin as target practice. "HAHAHA…" Chloe's says, both cousins laughing.
Across the room, Martha Kent notices the two young ladies having a good time. She sees Clark approach the counter, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek before turning his attention at the same two ladies she was just eying a moment ago.
"They're very close," Martha observed.
Clark just shrugged it off. "I guess." He's hasn't really had the chance to talk with Lois since their last impromptu meeting at The Torch just a few days ago. Although he wanted to deny it, he kind of missed talking to her.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, sure. Why?" His mom always had a way of seeing through his facade.
"Lois seems nice; she helped out the other day with the register"
"Yeah." When he processed what his mother just said, he went back. "What? You let a stranger handle the register?"
"Lois is hardly a stranger, Clark. We were really shorthanded and I asked if she could help. Besides, at the end of the day, everything was accounted for"
Clark relaxed, but was still a little troubled by the fact that even his mom had gotten to know a little bit about Lois than he did.
"What do you think of her?" he found himself asking.
She looked back at the young woman before returning her gaze to her son. "She seems bored"
Clark looked at her confusingly. "What do you mean?"
"She's bright but when I asked her about school and her future, she didn't really have any answers. She's attending Met-U next fall and she's anything but excited"
"She told you that?" A part of him was thrilled that Lois would be living close by but then worried at how things could possibly change.
"Not in so many words, but she did look uninterested. I just think she isn't challenged enough." Martha then noticed how Clark was looking at her and momentarily wondered what he could be thinking. "Why don't you go over there?"
Clark debated whether or not to do so since he saw Chloe's car outside. "I don't want to impose," he convinced himself.
Martha's motherly instincts kicked in and realized perhaps that there was something about Chloe's cousin that has her son's head spinning. Smiling at the thought, she grabbed a tray of muffins and handed it to Clark.
"Here," she says and gazed towards the two females across the room. "Give them some muffins," she recommended. Clark eyed the muffins and their table for a second before making his decision. He got up and kissed his mom on the cheek again.
"Thanks"
Martha smiled brightly as she watched her son approach the girls' table. If she didn't know any better, Clark is smitten by the town visitor.
"Hi," Clark greeted rather apprehensively as he approached their table.
Lois and Chloe turned to him and greeted him in return.
"What ya got there, Smallville?" Lois smiled, noticing the tray in his hands.
"Muffins," he answered, smiling too. "From mom"
"Yes!" Chloe says, raising both hands up in the air. She put it down when she garnered weird looks from the crowd as well as her companions. "What?" she looked at her cousin defiantly. "You'd be doing the same thing if you tasted her cooking"
Lois shook her head, chuckling at her and then moved over to make room for Clark in the booth she and Chloe sat at.
Clark hesitated to sit down next to her but did so anyway.
"Care to join us?" Lois says then pointing to Chloe.
"Yeah, Clark," Chloe says, holding up a flyer. Clark takes it. "Lois found this barn party outside of town, we're heading over there tonight. Want to come? You know what, forget it. You're coming with us," she concluded without giving Clark the chance to say no because she knew he would.
"I don't know, Chloe"
"Come on, Smallville, live a little," Lois pursued.
"I have a name, you know," Clark responded. She only ever said his real name once and it wasn't even used directly.
"I know," she says, then finishing with, "Smallville"
Clark grins at her, and she grins right back at him in return. Chloe on the other hand caught the exchange both in interest and with a tiny bit of hurt, but she made sure not to show it. She got the feeling early on the reason why Clark had been adamant about spending time with them was that he was seeing Lois differently, and that he may very well be interested in her.
Lois' cell suddenly starts ringing off. She looks at it, her face changing from fun to annoyed in a matter of milliseconds.
"Everything all right?" Chloe asks.
"Parental unit is calling; the general must have a need to blame me for something. Excuse me while he and I scream outside." Clark moved out of the booth to let her exit. Watching her head outside, Clark turned to Chloe with interest.
"She doesn't get along with her dad?"
Chloe momentarily puts aside what she was thinking and answered his question truthfully. "Not so much. Uncle Sam has always been hard on Lois"
"Why?"
"After her mom died, he practically just let Lois raise herself; of course he doesn't see it that way"
"That's harsh." He could truly sympathize with the whole father issue.
"Yeah, but she became a better person for it"
Somehow, even though he barely knew Lois, he believed Chloe.
"So, what do you think of her?" Chloe suddenly shifted topics.
Clark was thrown off a bit. "Excuse me"
"What do you think of Lois, she's been here a while now, I want to know what you think?"
"What do you mean?" he replied evasively. He had a feeling there was more to her question than she led on, he knew her too well to think otherwise. "We haven't really talked that much"
"Hmm-mm," she replied unconvinced. "Yet you flirt so well with her"
Clark wasn't sure whether that was an accusation or an attack against him. "Look, I don't know what you're talking about, Chloe. We're more like acquaintances than friends, we've spoken a total of about, what, a half an hour since she's been here"
"Could've fooled me, you two talk like you've known each other forever"
"What's this really about?" He felt like she was baiting him.
Chloe frowned when she realized what she was doing. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to badger you like that." She sat up straighter and gripped her coffee cup tightly. "You seem comfortable around her, and I guess I got a little defensive"
He understood. "You're not going to lose me to her, Chloe," he assured her.
She shook her head knowingly. "No, Clark, it's not that. I don't want to lose Lois to you," she rephrased.
Clark felt like he was hit with a semi-truck, and for him, that kind of chances were high. "What?" he exclaimed, obviously confused.
"I've known Lois practically my whole life," she began to explain. "And I know you and I would never be more than friends, and I'm learning to be okay with that…" Clark tries to get a word in but is stopped by Chloe. "Please… let me get this out before I end up fumbling." Clark quieted himself and let her continue. "You have your parents… I have Lois," she tries to explain clearly. "I don't know how else to say it"
"Chloe…" he spoke out softly.
"I guess I'm afraid that if you and Lois become friends, or even more than that… that she'll forget about me. Sharing your friendship was one thing, I honestly don't know what it'd be like sharing hers," she sadly admitted. She's never had to share Lois with anyone.
"Chloe," he speaks over her. "I barely know her," he tried to rationalize it himself. "Just because we spoke a couple of times, it doesn't mean we're walking down the isle to have and to hold"
"Now I'm worried!" she sighed.
Clark blinked. "What? WHY?"
"Because even with Lana, you've never used the m-word"
He remained confused. "The m-what?"
"Marriage!" she whispered to him.
Clark couldn't help but chuckle at that. "Marriage? Chloe, what are you on? I'm not even out of high school yet and you're thinking about me getting married." Clark didn't even know if his lineage would even allow him to be a part of a marriage.
"Who's getting marriage?" Lois interrupted, coming back from her talk with her father.
"Nothing," Clark replies instinctively. "Chloe and I were just talking about random stuff"
Lois eyed him oddly, but only responded with a smirk before sitting down. Over the next twenty minutes, the cousins double-teamed against Kent to get him to go to the barn party with them, and after continued harassment and an overabundance of peer pressure, Clark finally broke down and agreed.
The Barn Party
Lois and Clark were at the bar counter while Chloe was getting drunk and jiggy with it in the dance floor. Lois looks amused while Clark frowned, worried for his friends safety. Lois notices his bleak expression.
"Relax, Smallville, we won't let anything bad happen to her," she assured.
"What if someone tries to take advantage of her out there?" he asks, always looking at everything pessimistically.
"Then I'll break their legs," she answered simply before taking another drink of her soda. This was apparently her cousin's first foray into barn parties so she wanted to make sure everything went by smoothly and decided not to drink. Clark on the other hand just wasn't a drinker.
Just then, they were interrupted by a slightly drunk fella. "Hey babe, I'm Greg," he introduced himself, holding his hand out.
Lois shakes his hand, unimpressed. "Hi, I'm not interested," she replied, her voice very direct. The guy, Greg, let go and turned around both disappointed and embarrassed, he wasn't as drunk as Clark originally thought.
Lois takes another sip of her non alcoholic beverage before noticing the look Clark was giving her.
"What?" she says annoyed.
"Do you turn down every guy like that?" It was like the 3rd guy that approached her tonight and they weren't even there that long.
"I wasn't interested," she answered him truthfully. "What was I suppose to do? If I responded with a name then I'm automatically obligated to have a drink with him, which means I'll be stuck in a conversation I don't care much for listening to, which then is followed up with either a dance or a table for two. And at that point he'll be under the impression that there was a chance so he asks for my number, and in turn I give him a fake one," she sighed. "I didn't want to go through all that trouble"
It was apparent that she was a professional when it came to the world of dating. A field he knew little to nothing about. Just look at his prior relationships, if you could even call it that.
Chloe Sullivan lasted a dance whereas Lana Lang lasted a couple of days, those were hardly called a relationship. Alicia Baker attempted to murder his friends, and Kyla… well, his experiences have been less than happy. Truly being in love hasn't yet happened to him, or even if it ever will.
"You've been around the block," he commented, he hoped it didn't come out offensively.
She shrugged, unmoved by the opinion.
"Being the daughter of a general requires a heavy dose of control. If you don't know how to take care of yourself, we might as well wear a sign over our heads saying 'victim,' and I'm not victim"
"Did it ever occur to you that maybe they just wanted a drink?" he challenged, unsure why he was doing so.
"Every. Damn. Time," she responded with a laugh.
Clark returned her laugh easily. "You're a lot different than I imagined," he finally got to admit as their laughter died down.
"What?" She yelled. Lois could barely hear him now as the band on stage got louder and louder.
"I said… You're A LOT Different than I IMAGINED!" he repeated. He practically forgot that he was the only one with super hearing in world. Probably the universe.
This time, she heard him. "Oh yeah… what'd you expect?" She sincerely wondered as she glanced back and forth from Clark to her cousin. She chuckled as she witnessed her cousin head banging to the heavy metal music.
"I'm NOT quite sure," he says loudly as he led her outside. Clark made a mental note not to go far enough to the point where Lois couldn't see Chloe in her view.
Once the music went down a little from ear shot, it was finally nice to be able to think without the constant bass pounding every second.
"That was loud," he says.
"It's a barn party, that's sort of the point," she quipped.
"Can't you go ten minutes without cracking a joke?"
"I can," she replied truthfully. "But I won't," she finished defiantly but with a grin.
"You like doing what you want, don't you?" This girl confused him. He still didn't know what to make of her. Over drinks, albeit, the non-fun kind, she had been tightlipped about her life, which he found odd since Chloe was more than willing to share some aspects of her.
"Of course… I was raised to be independent and self-sufficient"
"That's definitely one way to describe you"
"Granted, we barely know each other, other than the obvious, but the only thing I like about you at the moment is your mom. You can't honestly be as weird as you are with a mom that cool"
Clark shook his head, truly having a good time.
After talking for about an hour, Lois and Clark headed back to the barn party and saw Chloe walking incoherently towards them. It appears she's had one too many drinks she couldn't handle because she fell right on Clark's chest.
"Are you… two… getting married?" Chloe began spouting. Her face was beat red and she looked very tired.
"She's definitely drunk," Lois quickly diagnosed while giving a sideways glance towards Clark.
"I'm NOT duurannnk!" Chloe mumbled, her face plastered on his chest, Clark just held her like that, unsure of what to do next. He's had little experience in parties like these.
"What do I do with her?" he uttered, keeping her still.
Chloe growled and Lois immediately sprung onto action. She grabbed a plastic bag that way lying around and let Clark, who held Chloe in his arms, towards the car. When they got there, Lois caught the first severe side affects to the consumption of alcohol.
When it comes right down to it, Chloe was throwing up.
"Well that's… not right," Clark observed.
Lois raised an eyebrow at him. "I take it you've never been drunk before," she says, making circular motions on her cousin's back as she continued to release herself.
"And I take it that you always are," he retorts.
She smiles knowingly at him. "I've developed immunity over the years. It takes quite of few heavy shots to get me to throw up, let alone lose all coherent thought and navigation."
"You're such a bad influence," he says, playing words with her.
Lois continued the role of big sister as Chloe went in for another disaster through the plastic. Clark shudders at the contents and looked away.
Lois couldn't help but laugh at him. "It's better to live and learn than to live and pay the worst consequence alone. Believe me, she'll think twice the next time she goes out drinking. Chances are, she won't go past a second glass"
"You didn't." He thought maybe he shouldn't have said anything, but Lois didn't look offended.
"Well, I don't have friends like you and Chloe around," she says softly before turning her attention back to a growling Chloe. "Shh… its okay little cousin, it'll be over in a bit"
Clark looked on amazed at how easily Lois seems to shift from one conversation to another. He could thoroughly see why Chloe looks up to her so much.
"Oh, so we're friends now?" he teased a bit, breaking the momentarily silence between them.
Lois looked up, grinning. "Well… I won't tell anyone if you don't"
They both chuckled.
"Ugh, get a room you two!" Chloe says aloud, partly still out of it as she continued to throw up.
Lois just laughed it out. "Apparently, little cousin here thinks there's something going on between us"
"Yeah, I blame the alcohol," he laughed along with her. The past few hours had his mind thinking about the possibilities. Possibilities that confused him greatly. Could he really go there with her, they only just met? Would she say yes?
Though he knew he could never act on what he was beginning to feel, it was still nice to think about it. It never seemed to be like that when he thought about Lana, or anybody else. With the others, it was always whether or not it could work, but now as he thinks about Lois, he had happy thoughts and it was scaring him.
"Clark. Clark!" he heard Lois call for him, breaking him out of his Lois-filled thoughts.
"Yeah, is she okay?"
"No, no, she's fine. You sort of spaced out there for a second, you okay?" she says in concern.
"No, I'm all right, I was just thinking"
"About?"
Clark remained silent.
"Ah… some Clark time huh? That's cool, think for yourself, no pun intended," she smirked devilishly.
Clark just shook his head in admiration.
To be continued…