Chapter 2

Clark was restless. As he waited for Chloe to show up, he was running through his mind all the scenarios that could explain Chloe's comment about her trusting him. He trusted her. Why would she think that he didn't? He rose from the couch and walked to the window in the loft. If she did know his secret, how should he react to that? Should he deny it? Make some excuse for it? Footsteps on the stairs jarred Clark out of his thoughts. Clark turned around quickly and took a shaky breath. This was it.

Chloe quietly walked up the stairs to the loft. Boy, there sure was a lot of them. She heard Clark walk across the floor boards above. She paused for a moment. Well, he was there waiting on her. Darn, she was hoping that he would have forgotten and she could just go home. She had gone over in her mind all afternoon how she should open up this conversation. She ran through many of those out loud, but none seemed to quit be the right thing to say, if there even was a right thing to say. This afternoon Clark had looked so pale. She didn't want to see him that way again. Chloe took a deep breath and started to move up the stairs again.

When she reached the top, Clark was standing at the window looking at her. He looked nervous. Well, that was better than petrified.

When Clark saw Chloe, he knew that this conversation was going to change their relationship forever. There was no way that it wouldn't. Clark suddenly remembered his manners. "Hey, Chloe…" he softly breathed out the words. She barely heard them.

"Hey, yourself." she said with a grin. Chloe walked over to the couch and sat down. Clark was still standing by the window. "Clark, it will be easier to talk to you if you come over here and sit down."

"Yeah, right." Clark made himself move over to the couch and sit. He knew that he was sitting stiff, but he just couldn't relax. He looked at Chloe for a moment, then looked down at his hands. He waited.

Chloe watched Clark for a moment. She was hoping that he would start this conversation, but it didn't look like she was going to be so lucky. She sat for a moment in silence just in case. Clark didn't look up once during that time. Chloe sighed deeply. "Clark, look at me."

Clark wasn't sure that he could do that. It was going to be hard enough to just sit there. Clark stood up. "Chloe, maybe we shouldn't have this conversation after all." He wondered around restlessly. He rubbed the back of his neck absently. "You know, I don't remember anything, so maybe we should just leave it that way. What I don't know can't hurt me, right?" . Clark still had his back to Chloe and was trying to make light of the situation.

Chloe just shook her head. "Clark, come over here and sit down now. We are going to have this conversation whether you like it or not. We cannot continue to have this between us and not resolve it. We ARE best friends and best friends talk to each other." Chloe didn't mean to sound so stern, but her patience was wearing thin. She wanted to get this over with.

Clark turned around and looked at her with his hand still behind his neck. Finally, he let out a big sigh and dropped his arm to his side. "You're right, Chloe. We need to clear the air." He slowly walked back to the couch and sat down. Clark turned his body to face her with his arm along the back of the couch, their knees touching.

Chloe smiled. "Now, that's better. Do you want to start, or shall I?" Chloe turned her head to one side and smiled wider causing her dimple to pop out.

Chloe's smiles were always contagious and tonight was no exception. Clark let out a slight chuckled and smiled back at her. "I guess you better start since I have no clue what I even did yesterday."

Chloe nodded her head and pressed her lips together. "Fair enough. Well, here goes."