Chlexville
Season 1
Episode 6 : WHERE IS THE HOURGLASS?
Chloe tapped her pen on the plastic box in front of her as she waited impatiently for the digital clock to beep. She had listed thirty words on her pad already and this game was definitely hers. She adjusted the pillow she was plopped on.
"It's just not the same with a digital timer," she mentioned offhandedly. "I think the sand timer is an integral part of this game. Don't you agree?"
Lex grunted his answer, which she could not be sure of really. Lex grunts his yeses and nos in the same rude manner. Truthfully, she had been rather surprised when Lex invited her to his place to have a rousing (right!) game of word factory. He always won at this despite her delusions of having a vast vocabulary. But for the past three games, Chloe had been winning. He was apparently not in a game mood, but Chloe decided she could take advantage of it for a few games. It wasn't often that she beat the master.
The small digital clock finally beeped, much to her wakefulness' relief. Chloe reached out to turn it off. "I have thirty words. Who goes first?"
Lex's eyes scanned her face before saying, "I will." He picked up his list and went down the words. Chloe's eyebrow arched. "Earth. Death. Evil. Marble. Grave."
"Lex, what the hell!"
He pointed with his pen at the letter blocks arranged on the square container, spelling the words out for her.
"I mean what is wrong with you today, and why did you invite me when you're in such a dark mood?!" At his feigned look of innocence, Chloe grabbed his pad and flipped through his earlier lists. "Hell. Toll. Black. Power. Yard. And this is the best one!" she exclaimed. "Cemetery! What person actually finds the entire word snaked around a word factory box?" she demanded.
"A really acute player," he suggested.
Chloe dropped the pad in frustration. She didn't really care that they have been having a few problems lately. She was his friend and she cared about him. "What's bothering you, Lex? You've been at my butt, hounding me for two days. And now I finally show up and you've got this whole secrecy black veil going on. Not to mention you lost the sand timer I gave you!"
Lex ran his hand down his face and shook his head to clear it. "I guess I've been a little preoccupied." He physically felt the brunt of Chloe's glare. "Fine. A lot preoccupied. And I was just worried about you."
Chloe sat up on the mattress and clutched the pillow to her chest. "Don't tell me. Clark told you about Cassandra's vision. And seeing that I'm close to Clark, you wanted to make sure I wasn't dead yet."
He flinched but nodded. "Can you blame me? You keep courting death in your wild expeditions in the glory of Smallville High's Torch."
"Wow, Lex. For someone who doesn't believe in fate, you were acting mightily disturbed."
"My little fight with fate involves me, Chloe," he informed her lightly. "I'm not going to tempt that bitch to fuck with you too."
She could swear that if she were drinking something at that moment, she would have sprayed him with it. Lex had always been cool and confident and he never ever used words like those around her. "So you believe in fate."
"I believe in fate to the extent that it can ruin my life and the lives of people I care about. But I believe that our destiny is up to us to make."
"Do you have a remote for those curtains because this room and you particularly need some sunlight. Brighten up, Lex. Life's too short for us to act so dark and morbid!"
"Not if I have anything to say about it."
Chloe's lips curved into a half smile. "That's right. If it's up to you, none of us would die, huh."
"If it were up to me, I get to choose who dies now and who lives with me forever."
"I should be scared," Chloe said teasingly, "but oddly enough, you're giving me thrills with this sinister Lex." When her comment did not bring out the smile she expected, Chloe crawled over to him with concern. She touched his shoulder, "What brought this on, Lex?"
"Cassandra," he replied easily. He would not have told anyone else.
"She told Clark someone close to him would die without even knowing she was talking about her own death. She could be mistaken. Whatever she told you, she could be wrong." Chloe shrugged. "Granted, she can see the future. But she's as human as you and me."
"She didn't tell me anything, Chloe. That's the problem."
"Why?"
"Because whatever she saw when she touched me… It was so evil it killed her. My future killed her."
Chloe nodded and forced him to look at her. "Okay."
"Okay? I have possibly the most hellish futures there is."
"You create your own destiny," she said, throwing his words back at him.
"What if it's fixed?" He was beginning to wonder why he was sharing his insecurities with a high school girl, even if it was his high school girl. And he could really mull about how he refers to her as his now, if only the situation were different.
Chloe shook her head. "You control what happens, Lex. I know that much about you."
"Did Clark tell you about the gravestones?" Chloe shuddered at the memory, and he drew her close to him. "My name wasn't there."
"Thank heavens!"
"No," he whispered. "What if I caused all of that?"
"Lex!" she protested, pushing away. "You could have been buried in your own very elegant mausoleum! Us peasants would be in the crowded cemetery."
"Well thank you for that."
"No, no!" She took his hand in hers and ignored the tingling warmth in the pit of her belly that belied their pretension that everything was the same between them as it had been a few weeks ago. "I mean, what you're saying isn't possible."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Because, Lex," she told him, holding his gaze, "do you honestly believe that whatever evil there would be in your future could escalate so far as to kill me?" A smile flickered across her lips, "Your very own judo student and bubbly snoop? The only girl who corresponded with you through Excelsior, through Zero, through the son of the devil incarnate, through running your car off the bridge and almost slamming into her best friend in the process?"
He stared at her for an interminable moment, knowing he couldn't just answer automatically because she deserved an answer that he really believed was true. The sheer ardor of her trust that shone in her eyes gave him exactly what he was looking for, so he said, "Never."
Chloe nodded and reached for her bag. She unzipped her purse and took out a wooden sand timer with the light blue powdered sand inside. She handed it to him. "You can have my hourglass. I'll just get a new one on the way home."
fin