Chapter Twenty

"YAY!" Chloe yelled when her father pulled the car into the parking lot of the fairgrounds. She bounced in her seat looking at the banners for the carnival. She looked into the rearview mirror and smiled at Clark. "I thought we'd never get here!"

"Me too," Clark said back, all scrunched up in the back seat. He grinned and squeezed her shoulder. She leaned her head into his touch.

"Hey, pipe down," Mr. Sullivan said to her, tired of hearing Chloe's complaints of how he drove. Or rather how slow he drove, which was only the speed limit. He aimed the car towards the main enterance. "I'll turn back..."

"No! I've waited so long!" Chloe pleaded. "This was like the longest day ever !"

"The whole day felt like a month." Clark agreed.

"Feels longer than that," Chloe said, leaning and looking at the rides that could been seen over the tall wooden fence.

"Really?" Mr. Sullivan said, and turned the steering wheel, away from where kids and adults were gathering in front of the ticket booth. He loved to mess with the daughter he loved so much.

"Daddy! It's over there! ITS OVER THERE !" Chloe screamed. Her father drove farther away in the parking lot.

"Look at allllllllll those pretty cars," Gabe said, pushing Chloe back in her seat. "I hope I can find parking out here in the boondocks."

"DROP US OFF HERE !" Chloe screamed. She reached for the lever on the door and Gabe hit the child-protective locks. "LEMME OUT !"

"Chloe, we can walk," Clark said, and held her shoulders. He knew he had a calming affect on her. "I'm ok with walking, Mr. Sullivan."

"We're here but not over THERE!" Chloe said and twisted in her seat and looked at Clark. "You know I hate walking!" She growled and Clark fell back, the calming effect withering in Chloe-craziness. She turned, looked at her father, growled again and he jerked the wheel; Gabe, like Clark caused many a Chloe-Growl, and the growl aimed at him was a loud guttural one. She bared her pearly white teeth, the braces she wore from 5th to 7th grade made them even and straight.

"Down girl! Down," Gabe said fearfully to her and parked by the fence. "Here...get out...just don't bite!"

"Thank you, Daddy," Chloe said sweetly and kissed his cheek. Gabe unlocked the doors and the kids got out of the car. Chloe skipped over to the driver side window and held out her palm.

"Here." Gabe took out his wallet and pulled out a $20 dollar bill, and started to lay it on Chloe's hand.

"Its my treat, Mr Sullivan," Clark smiled, thinking of Lex's advice, leaning into Gabe's view. "Chloe's My date."

"I like the way you think, Clark," Gabe said and yanked away the bill. "Yoink!"

"DAD!" Chloe snapped. She was embarrassed that her father was acting like a cheapskate.

"Like a real gentleman. You didn't let me finish, Chloe," Gabe smiled. She rolled her eyes, falling for his one-liner. "Clark, take care of My bunny."

"DAD!" Chloe fussed, totally embarrassed. She hoped that endearment slipped past Clark.

"She's safe with me," Clark said and took her hand.

"She says that all the time, you know," Gabe smiled. Clark smiled back.

"Can we please go now?" Chloe looked at Clark and tugged on his hand; she loved her father, but he was well past her 'Daddy-is-embarrassing-me' quota.

"Sure, Snugglebunny, Clark said and actually winked at her. Gabe laughed. "Let's go."

"Gr...erk" Chloe started to growl, but she stopped when she realized it was Clark that said her childhood nickname and not her father; she instantly forgave her father for slipping Clark that anecdote. 'That is sooo hot,' she thought, how Clark said it, meant it and she squeezed his hand and swooned. "Ok."

"I'll be back here at 11 PM," Gabe reminded. "Stay outta trouble, you two!"

"Sure thing, Dad," Chloe said and she and Clark waved bye to Gabe and walked hand in hand to the ticket booth.

"What no 'Daddy'?" Gabe said. But Chloe didn't hear him, she was too into being with Clark, leaning close, nothing between them. Gabe smiled sadly at his daughter, knowing that he was no longer the only man in her life.

"...We need to see Beppo's act, and I wanna ride 'The Hurler' and 'The Silver Banshee' and 'The Doomsday' AND 'The Eradicator' before Dad picks us up," Chloe said, counting off on her fingers her and Clark's carnival to-do list, slightly bent at the waist, peering through openings in the fence and catching some of the rides' names. She turned and looked at Clark, barely missing where his eyes were looking. "Hey...Why are all the names so menacing?"

"Well, maybe that 'Sparky-Pig-a-Doodle' ride is in the kids area again," Clark said. "You loved that name."

"Oh god, Clark," Chloe said, grabbing his forearm and started giggling. "I still think of last year," She started laughing louder, "you on a the lil' motorized piggie on a train track."

"You asked me to ride with you and you didn't get on!" Clark said and kicked aside a some ice cubes from Chloe's path.

"That's besides the point," Chloe said, smiling, noticing his show of gallantry. 'His parents taught him well,' she thought, 'for me.'

"Everyone laughed at me," Clark fussed.

"Everyone laughed with you," Chloe said and leaned her head into his arm.

"I wasn't laughing," Clark reminded. He was the only rider over 5 foot tall on the ride. Or over 6 foot tall, for that matter.

"You should have...it was hilarious." Chloe listened to the cheerful calliope music playing over the speakers at the ticket booth, and happily spun herself around while they stood in line for tickets. The strobe lights stopped and bathed Chloe in a ruby red glow. Clark gave a little gasp at the sight.

"Beautiful," Clark whispered. But it was loud enough for Chloe.

"If I remember correctly," Chloe said and held his hand, "that's twice you called me beautiful in the last 20 minutes. Before, what was I?" She gave him the Chloe-Resolve face; her jaw was set, eyes serious and she tilted her head.

"Umm," Clark said. "You were still beautiful."

"Oh really?" Chloe said and crossed her arms.

"Yeah, and pretty and cute and other stuff I was too ...dumb to say," Clark admitted.

"Aww, " Chloe said and hugged him. "I'm happy that you've smartened up to say it now."

"Me too," Clark whispered and looked down into her eyes. Maybe it was the strobe lights, or maybe it was natural, but there was a twinkle in her eyes. She pressed closer and rose up safely on her boot-clad toes. He smiled down upon her, and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Hey." The tall skinny ticket seller with a nasally voice was REALLY annoyed that he himself was a dateless wonder. "There's a line you know."

"Oh yeah," Chloe said, looked beside her and smiled at the family next in line.

"Do I need to shield my twins' eyes?" said an older woman. She held onto her 2 blond little girls. The twins were dressed alike, of course, wearing matching green overalls and yellow shirts.

"No," Clark said and released Chloe from the embrace. She slid down and frowned; she was all for the woman to cover the kids' eyes.

"C'mon, kid," said the ticket seller. "You two together?"

Clark opened his mouth to say but...

"HELL YES!" Chloe shouted with glee and pulled on Clark's hand, and dragged him to the ticket booth. "We're a couple. Two of us. Together."

"Yes, two tickets," Clark said and Chloe looked at him expectantly. "For us," He said and she smiled blissfully.

"Just gimme $16 bucks, kid," the ticket taker said with a sigh. "Let's keep the line moving." Clark patted the left pocket and looked puzzled. He thought he put the $20 dollar bill in that pocket. Chloe simply jammed her hand into his right pocket. She found the bill but she let her hand slide around.

"CHLOE!" Clark shouted. "What are you doing?"

"Just giving you a helping hand," Chloe said and pulled the crumpled bill from his pocket. "Jeeze," she said innocently or as best she could muster up. She pressed the bill into his hand. "I might not want to next time."

"Better say sorry to her, kid," the teller said when Clark handed him the money. The guy gave Clark the tickets and the change back from the $20. ":If you don't, you'll regret it later..."

"Sorry, Chloe," Clark whispered and took Chloe's hand.

"I'll hold the tickets, Clark." Chloe snitched the tickets from Clark. "You hold onto me." Clark never let her go when they went through the turnstile, when Chloe handed the tickets over and when they got back torn ticket stubs. Clark laughed while Chloe guided him to a concessions booth.

"I take it that you want some cotton candy?" Clark asked.

"Please Clark? Pleaaaaaaaase? Strawberry with powdered sugar on top?" Chloe asked with her best bewitching smile; she had a good feeling that he really couldn't resist her charms anymore.

"What's a carnival without some?" Clark said, finding her more irresistible. "There's yellow...white...pink..." He looked at Chloe; he knew she had a slight dislike for pink.

"Green cotton candy?" Chloe noticed and pointed it out. Clark winced. "I can't believe they are marketing 'Meteor Fluffs' cotton candy! That's way gross."

"You have no idea," Clark said and Chloe caught the sadness in his voice. It always surprised her how the talk of the meteors always brought him down.

"You know," Chloe said, pulling Clark from the depths that he seemed to be in, "I'm suddenly ok with pink. Can I have one?"

"Sure," Clark said to her. "Hey...hi, you two," he said and waved at two friends from school, Wendy Mezze and Colleen Doranwen, walking by him and Chloe. Both girls waved back getting into line for the Bizarro Fun House attraction.

"Hey Jodi!" Chloe greeted her friend standing in the line. "It's our first date," Chloe announced all smiley. She absolutely wished she could get on the P.A. system and announce it. She even wondered if she could talk Joe Young into saying something about her and Clark during Beppo's act.

"I thought you two were already going out," Jodi said, scanning the menu. She was craving something more substantial than a corn-dog.

"No...we just hung out, went to the movies, picnicked, walked around town together," Chloe said, a little tired of the dumb feeling she got explaining just how not together she and Clark have been since eighth grade.

"Yeah," Clark said, needing to quantify his own dumbness. "We just studied and did homework together."

"Yeah, thats My point," Jodi said, wondering how the hell these two were on the honor roll if they couldn't figure out their relationship. "Everyone thought you two were already a couple...always together."

"Sounds familiar," Clark and Chloe said at the same time. They looked at each other and laughed.

Jodi popped yet another Dexatrim pill and washed it down with the large size cup of A&W root-beer she bought. She was handed a little cardboard box that held a double hamburger and large fries she also ordered. Chloe snitched a fry.

"Hi! I'm Maxine, what can I get you?" The concessions vendor smiled.

"2 pink cotton candies..." Clark began to order to the concession girl. Jodi whispered in Chloe's ear and she giggled.

"No!" Chloe shouted from the side of the queue line. "Just get one and we'll share!"

"Ok," Cark turned to the girl and smiled. She smiled and scratched out what he told her. "Make that one pink cotton candy and 2 pops..."

"One pop," Chloe said between bites of another fry. "We'll share that too!" Clark nodded to Maxine and she x'ed out the number two and wrote one.

"2 straws?" Maxine asked the tall farmboy in front of her. Clark looked over at Chloe.

"I always snitch drinks from your straws before," Chloe said. "We shared one straw at the film festival."

"Ok," Clark said and looked back at Maxine. "One pink cotton candy...1 large pepsi...1 straw."

"Finally," Maxine said with a little exasperation and went to fill the order.

"I'll let you two share cooties," Jodi said finishing the last of the hamburger. Chloe looked at her weirdly; she thought Jodi must have swallowed the hamburger with one bite. "I'll catch up with you two later." Clark and Chloe waved bye to her.

"That will be 6 dollars," Maxine said, setting the drink and the bag of candy down.

"Oh...ok," Clark said with a hint of worry; he had only four dollars on him. Chloe reached in her her huge knapsack and felt for her coin purse. Then she remembered she used the last of her coins trying a mug of cafe con leche dulce at the Talon.

"Maybe I can get a couple bucks from Jodi," Chloe said with some disappointment.

As Chloe turned and looked around for their friend, Clark felt a lump in a pocket of his jacket. 'I must have missed it with Chloe leaning on me,' he reasoned. He reached in and pulled out the money clip. His eyes went wide at the sight of the wad of money. Then he recognized the style of te money clip from what he saw at Strayhorne's. He smiled, thinking of Lex. He slipped off a $20 bill, paid for the snacks, and stepped behind Chloe. "I got you a delicious bag of cotton candy." Chloe spun around.

"I thought you needed a couple of bucks. You're full of surprises," Chloe smiled and took the bag and opened it. She yanked off a huge pink wispy fluff and ate it. "Mmm."

"I want some," Clark said in a little voice and Chloe thought he sounded so cute. Chloe pulled off a small fluff. She slowly lifted it to Clark's lips and held there. She waited. Clark stood still and looked at it. She jabbed the fluff on his lips and nodded wide-eyed. Clark smiled and it dawned on him that she was going to feed the fluff to him, and wasn't just showing the candy to him. He opened his mouth and Chloe fed him. After she placed the fluf in his tongue, Chloe ran her finger on his bottom lip.

"You have some on the corner of your mouth...," she said whispery. Clark heard her perfectly and licked the corner slowly. Chloe watched her boyfriend's innocent act and took deep breath; in Chloe's mind mind the act was sensuous."You missed it."

"Can you get it?" Clark licked again; he hated sticky foods. He remembered the time Pete let him walk around with a piece of barbecue sauce on his cheek at the Ross Family Reunion.

"With pleasure," Chloe said and leaned in, with her mouth...

"Hey!" Pete shouted with a smile, happy to see his best friends. He was with the sought-after Erica Fox. "There you two are!"

Chloe jerked away from Clark and he stepped safely on her foot. Pete's heart stopped for a second because he received the first ever Chloe Death-Stare.

"Oh man, I'm toast," He whispered to Erica. Yet somehow he kept walking toward his doom.

"Yeah," Erica whispered back, thinking it was foolish that Pete was still walking to his friends. She took the foam container of soda; she noticed his shaky hand. "Never get between a girl and her hunny..."

"Hi Pete!" Clark's mouth formed a smile but his eyes are glaring. When he got close, Clark patted Pete's shoulder and squeezed the buff trapzezius muscles there.

"Oh god!" Pete yelped; he was shocked that Clark put the Mr. Spock Vulcan Death Grip on him. Or that he put it on so hard "Ow!"

"Hi Erica...great outfit!" He said truthfully to Pete's date.

"Thank you, Clark," Erica said, watching Pete rub his shoulder.

"Get over here," Chloe said and Pete knew he was in for more pain. Erica talked to Clark. "Peter Rodney Ross," Chloe leaned in and whispered angrily. "Your timing is like a sundial's at night: it sucks."

"You two have all night," Pete said and flinched when Chloe moved her hand fast and scratched her nose; she did it on purpose to scare him. She was satisfied. "It's not my fault you two wasted a whole year..."

"Ok, point taken," Chloe said but still jabbed her friend's shoulder. "Just don't bust up anymore kisses, ok?"

"Deal," Pete said. He and Chloe turned to their dates and went to them.

"Hey," Erica said. "Like I was telling Clark: lets go play some games...have some fun!"

"Ok!" Chloe said, suddenly bubbly and back to holding Clark's hand

"I'm all in," Pete said, taking Erica's hand. They walked, laughing, eating their candies and drinking their pops, walking past rows of rides and attractions until Chloe spotted just the right game booth.