Title: Your Move
Author: Kiki
Rating: T
Spoilers: None
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Summary: Answer to Rapierhomme's Challenge #4 "The Kiss"
Author's Note: This whole idea came from listening to this great song by Justin Rutledge called "The Suffering Of Pepe 'O Malley Part III." I wrote this quick, so hopefully it's readable. I gave a link to his site where you can download it. It might help explain the tone of this little fic. Feedback definitely needed. www. justinrutledge .com (multi media section)
"Lois, are you sure about this?"
Lois rolled her eyes. "Of course. I'm not going to let a silly thing like Clark Kent, stop me from seeing my favorite country boy."
Lana and Chloe groaned.
"What?"
Chloe watched her skeptically. Lois in denial never ended well.
"Well I think tonight will be great. The lights, the music… very romantic." Lana sighed.
The cousins just looked at her.
"What? …Fine I'm excited to see my boyfriend. Sue me." She shrugged giggling.
Lois and Chloe exchanged glances.
"If I ever get that way about a guy-shoot me." Lois told her.
"Ditto." Chloe agreed.
"Hey! There's nothing wrong with being in love and excited to see someone. And Chloe, you can't talk. How many girl's nights have you spent talking about how great Jack is?" Lana asked.
Lois laughed. "She's right. I swear I know more about Jack than his own sister does."
Chloe quickly changed topics. "We better hurry up and get dressed. We gotta be out the door in an hour."
Over an hour later the girls emerged from Chloe's in total country attire. Lana had gone for the innocent-farm girl maiden look, complete with pigtail braids, jean skirt and pink cowboy boots. Chloe opted for a jean skirt and a plaid shirt. Lois had originally intended to 'borrow' one of Clark's but after their little discussion earlier that morning she went for the basic cowboy look of jeans, boots and white tank top.
"Damn we look good." Chloe grinned.
"Yup, all we need are these" Lois threw out three straw cowboy hats with a flourish, "to complete the look."
The three girls ambled their way towards the center of town and Smallville Park where the stage and activities were set up.
They were all highly animated and slightly rambunctious. They were looking forward to one last Smallville party before they all returned to Met U for their third year.
They could all feel the charge in the atmosphere. They felt giddy and excited. Chloe grinned widely. Yes, tonight would be a great night. She could feel it.
"What are you grinning like a fool for?" Lois asked, watching her cousin curiously.
Lana shot Chloe a warning look.
"Nothing, just excited. Aren't you? Our favorite country boy will be playing in less than an hour." Chloe quickly deflected.
"Hell, yes." Lois replied, brightening.
"C'mon you two, talk later, we have some prizes to win" Lana said grabbing each by the arm and tugging them along.
They spent the next hour playing games and checking out the booths. The boys were at the Jacob's farm for the bull-riding events. They had all agreed it would be better to meet later.
"Ooh, country boy's starting in 5. We better book it back to the stage." Lois exclaimed grabbing both girls and practically dragging them through the horde of people.
Lana looked confused. "Why don't you just call him by his name?"
Chloe piped up for her cousin. "That's 'cause she's known Justin since she was 10."
Lana's eyes widened excitedly. "You mean you know Justin Rutledge?" She whispered almost reverently.
"Whoa, calm those teeny-bopper tendencies. Yeah, I met him while the General was stationed up in Canada."
"That's so cool! Can we meet him after?"
Chloe rolled her eyes. Lana never met a famous person she didn't like.
"Oh, definitely" Lois replied smirking
"Perfect. But who would've figured big city-girl Lois Lane would fit in so well in the country lifestyle. Coming back to stay at a farm, her very own farm boy and god forbid-a love of old style country music." Lana teased.
Lois turned and glared at her.
"Excuse me, it's more like alt-country." She said indignantly.
Chloe and Lana shot each other amused looks. Lois didn't refute the farm boy comment. Interesting.
They finally made it to the edge of the dance floor.
"I think I hit at least ten people!" Chloe complained rubbing her arm, which she was sure would be bruised by morning.
"Poor baby" Lois said, her voice sickeningly sweet.
"You're kinda scary when you do that" Lana commented, "like you're another person."
Chloe laughed loudly.
"Hey! Are you saying I'm not nice?"
Both just looked at her.
"Yeah, who am I kidding" Lois grinned evilly as she spotted Mrs. Kent.
"What are you up to Lois?" Chloe could read her cousin like a cheap book. She was definitely up to something.
"Mrs. Kent! I told her we'd meet her here before the band started."
Martha smiled warmly when she saw who was calling her. She excused herself from the group of women and went to join Lois and the girls.
The music began as she threaded her way through the crowd.
"Just in time" Lois grinned, before grabbing Mrs. Kent and dragging her on to the dance floor. Chloe and Lana were right beside them.
Martha smiled excitedly. "Oh I love to two-step!"
"Oh, well I'm pretty crappy, so I'll switch you with our resident expert here. Lana!" Lois twirled Martha smoothly to Lana.
Lana smiled. "Let's show them how it's done Mrs. Kent."
Martha laughed. "They don't stand a chance."
Lois and Chloe both protested loudly.
"Well Chlo, you and I will just have to prove them wrong. C'mon Cous, let's give these country folk a show they won't forget." She stuck out her hand in invitation.
Chloe grasped it. "You got it."
The music picked up and so to did the dancing.
True to their word, Martha and Lana were busy two stepping expertly around everyone, while Chloe and Lois made up their own interpretive version—keyword, interpretive. They were drawing more than a few comments and stares.
Just as they seemed to have figured out their steps the song changed. They stopped and grinned at each other. Their favorite song.
Lois' eyes sparkled. "You know what this means, right?"
Chloe's smile widened. "Yup, here's where we throw out any pride we have left."
"Exactly. Must continue the Sullivan-Lane tradition."
"But of course."
Lois grabbed Chloe and they began to dance, while singing at the top of their lungs.
"Dear Madeline,
I am a tightrope walker from Barcelona, Spain
Sometimes I lose my balance, and you complain
But you'll always be,
You'll always be my dear Madeline"
Soon Lana and Martha joined in, although a bit more quietly and on key.
They looked at each other and started laughing. But there was serious singing and dancing to be done, so they persevered. Heads held back they belted it out.
"There's only boozehounds here, so I won't be home for Christmas or New Year's…"
The men were lucky enough to have returned from the bull-riding event in time to witness the action on the dance floor.
"Okay, Martha said she and the girls would meet us around here." Jonathan said, his eyes searching the area for his wife.
"Umm Dad, is that Mom with Lois and…" Clark trailed off. The brief glimpse he had seen suddenly came into clear focus as they made their way through the crowd and dancers.
"That's Lana..." Pete said, shocked.
"And figures, Chloe and that cousin of hers are right in the middle of it." Jack laughed.
They all moved closer, watching in amusement as the women were drawing quite a crowd. Even the singer and his band seemed to be encouraging them.
"I don't know about the rest of you but I'm going to go dance with my wife before someone else tries to." Jonathan said, clasping Clark on the back before whisking his wife away.
"Sorry ladies. I'm just going to borrow her for a while" he apologized.
"Well boys I'm off to steal my girlfriend away from those cowboys" Jack said. "Good luck."
Pete grimaced sympathetically. "Well Clark I hate to say it but he's right. I can't leave Lana around those guys. Plus now is as good a time as any to try to sort things out with Lois. At least in public she's less likely to hurt you."
Clark sighed. Pete was right. Lois' idea of dealing with something was to ignore it, or beat it. And that definitely wasn't helping him any.
He followed Pete and went to face Lois.
"Hey Smallville, you gonna dance with me?" She asked, looking up at him innocently, but the smirk tugging at the corners of her mouth gave her away.
"Well everyone else is taken."
She punched his shoulder. "Well that old lady isn't. I'm sure she'd love to dance with a strapping young lad like you."
"Too late." He said, grabbing Lois firmly around the waist. He was going to talk and she was just going to have to listen.
They danced silently and awkwardly. Lois continued to squirm uncomfortably.
"Would you stop that?"
"Why? Oh…" Lois' voice shot up an octave. She didn't realize they were that close. She sighed. "This sucks. I don't want thinks to be awkward between us."
"I'm sorry" Clark apologized. "But I'm tired of this game between us. We're constantly flirting around, something, until one or both of us pulls back. I'm tired of it. I'm not pulling back anymore. I want us to stop going in circles. It's making me nuts." Clark confessed, the words tumbling out faster than he wanted.
Lois tried to pull away, but he held on tightly. "What about you Lois? Aren't you tired of running away?"
She looked up at him, wide-eyed and a little panicked. "Clark… I, I care about you but we have a, umm, special relationship. We share the same friends, and I love your parents but if things didn't work out between us…everything would be ruined." Lois stumbled with her words. She took a deep breath. "But most importantly our friendship, or whatever it is exactly, it means a lot and I don't want to lose that, or you."
Clark was stunned. She didn't say she had feeling for him, but she didn't deny it either. He had no idea he, or the idea of them, could scare her so much.
"Lois— "
Before he could say anything else she was grabbed by Chloe, Lana, and his mom.
"Sorry Clark, we gotta go. I'll bring her right back." Chloe said apologetically.
"We're going onstage!" Lana explained excitedly.
Martha shot her son a sympathetic smile. "Sorry Clark. She promised."
Before either of them could say or do anything Lois was being dragged towards the stage. She looked back at him, her eyes showing silent relief, and an apology.
Clark moved to join the rest of the ditched men.
They all watched while the singer, Justin something-or-other, introduced them as his back up vocalists.
Jack leaned in laughing, "remind me to never leave those four alone together in public."
They all nodded in agreement. The memories of last Christmas, not to mention Martha's birthday party, still fresh in their minds.
They definitely had a penchant for getting themselves into all sorts of situations.
"Alright people of Smallville, I want to hear some singing out of you!" The crazy dance crowd roared in response.
Clark watched in amusement as the girls and his mom, arms wrapped around each other's shoulders huddled together around a single microphone, singing at the top of their lungs.
"She said, 'I want to die in Vienna, listening to a moonlight sonata'"They kept repeating that one sentence. But Clark was relieved to see that most of the crowd had joined in. The last thing he wanted was for them to be booed off the stage.
He watched Lois, happily singing away. He sighed. When she came back she'd have conveniently forgotten they'd even had a conversation. Unless…
He took a fortifying breath. Whoever said something about being in love and a fool, well he was about to become the textbook example.
He swallowed his pride and walked briskly through the mass of people. He continued determinedly up the side steps of the stage. He was aware that they had stopped singing, and now they were all clapping along with the music. The singer guy was saying something…but it was all a blur. He was focused on one person. And refused to acknowledge anything else.
"Clark?" His mother turned to him shocked. He ignored her and went straight for Lois.
"Lois." He said, his eyes and posture steely.
Lois turned. "Smallville? What on earth—"
He spun her around, and grasped one hand behind her head, entangling his fingers into her soft tresses, his other hand snaking its way around her waist. He pulled her forward, whispering "no more running away" before his lips assaulted hers.
He knew she was stunned. She did nothing while he nipped and licked at her lips, urging her to allow him entry. He felt her slowly soften, and the next thing he knew, she was kissing him with a passion that almost made him stumble. He pulled her even closer-if that was even possible. Lois responded by wrapping her arms around his neck.
Never in his life had he been so happy that they were fairly close in height. That was the last rational thought he had.
When they pulled away to catch their breath, and some blood had returned to his head, his super hearing picked up old Mrs. Brown mumble 'it's about time someone shut up that horrible racket.' He smiled, until he realized where exactly they were.
He turned a flaming red as he saw all the people cheering, and his mom…and dad. Not to mention the blinding spot light shining on them. Oh God. This is what Lois did to him; make him forget any rational thought. He blamed her for making him make out with her in front of the whole town.
He looked down at Lois embarrassed and wishing desperately to disappear.
He watched her look around.
Not knowing what else to do Lois grabbed Clark's hand, bowed and then dragged him off the stage to smack him for his boneheaded move, then continue where they left off, in private.
The End.