Thanks my lovely reviewers… You keep me sane! Hah, actually, no one could do that. Sorry Lana/Clark fans (if any of you are reading this), I've decided to write only from Chloe and Lex's point of views…But of course, they will make appearances. Not sure where I'm going with this at all, so keep reading. PS: Sorry, this chapter is REALLY long in my opinion, but once you pop the fun don't stop!
Also, fyi, this does take place somewhere after the 1st season, except for all purposes there is no Whitney, none of Clark's sparse love interests, and a slightly less menacing Lionel…I think.
Disclaimer: Not mine. Also, I don't own Pringles. (lol)
Chapter 3: Crossing the Line
"I thought of stopping by, you know…to the dance. Just to make sure the band I hired had made it okay, and to say hi to you and Clark, of course."
Lex had just unknowingly made things worse for her, Chloe thought morbidly. Why did he have to tell her he had almost stopped by? That he had almost been there to at least take pity on her so she wasn't alone? Lex could have almost made the dance okay. After several moments of just staring, Chloe realized guiltily that she had made him feel uncomfortable. That in itself was rather amusing, making a Luthor uncomfortable with just her stare, but she tried not to dwell.
"Did you?" she finally choked out, trying hard to erase the look of bewilderment that threatened to show.
"Well,… It's just too bad you didn't. I mean, I've gotta hand it to you, Luthors sure know how to party."
Leave it to her to turn the biggest social disaster of her life into a joke. However, Lex seemed a little too focused on the road ahead as Chloe glanced over at him. Maybe she was being too forward, but again she had to stifle a grin at the thought of making him feel uncomfortable. Wasn't it always the other way around?
Don't go changing the rules nowshe thought with a giggle.
"Something tells me I might have looked a bit odd as a wallflower at Smallville High's junior prom," he finally replied while wearing his infamous billionaire, high-class, businessman, mad scientist smirk on his lips. That smirk was like a challenge to Chloe, whether he meant it to be or not. Every time it appeared, she had the urge to say or do something to make it disappear, just to show him that she could indeed play with the big boys.
"Hey," she said without thinking, "I doubt you would make a very convincing wallflower. I mean, I'm sure someone would take pity on you after a while."
From the looks of it, pity didn't rank very highly in the Luthor book of all things necessary for power and success.
Lex: 1, Chloe: 1, she thought with images of the scoreboard coming into play just as the smirk was silently defeated and replaced by a look that Chloe was certain meant he was trying to imagine anyone pitying him. This time, the imaginary scoreboard was accompanies by imaginary cheering fans.
Finally, several minutes of silence later, the car turned into the parking lot for the theater. Chloe almost pressed her face to the expensive glass of the car window in excitement upon seeing the chaos that was teenagers freshly out of school and celebrating summer with a movie. The scene was almost reminiscent of her days in Metropolis, with it's many cars zipping in and out of the parking spaces, the bunches of people scampering in and out of the glass doors to the lobby, some of them strolling along the sidewalk waiting for other members of their parties to arrive. The purple and green fluorescent lights blinked invitingly around the billboard-like list of movies above the lobby entrance, and a giant sign with an image of popcorn on it was blinking with a few pieces of the neon light apparently not working. It provided an interesting contrast, the cheap-hotel like feeling of the faulty neon lighting compared to the big city feel of the green and purple lights. In a way, that was how the theater fit into Smallville. It was one of the small town's only claims to fame, other than the meteor shower and its effects on the citizens, of course. Too bad there had never been a story involving the theater that had ever been worthy of even a newspaper such as the Torch. It was a fun place for people to hang out, but it was never Wall of Weird material, and therefore Chloe never took any investigative interest in it.
Over it all was a cloudy evening sky turned pale pink and orange. The sun's setting rays cast a warm glow over the shiny tops of cars and glinted off of glass windows like the sun shines off of water at the beach. However, the clouds were heavy with gray shadows, and the weather forecast had called for rain with possible thunderstorms throughout the night. There was a good possibility of a storm before the movie was over, and Chloe suddenly wondered who she was getting a ride home with, also suddenly wishing Pete had been able to come along instead of babysitting his little cousin. He never missed their annual celebratory first movie night of summer, which made her suspect it had more to do with Lex's presence than he let on.
Focusing again on her situation, she decided that if she got home by the same means as she arrived, the conversation with Lex would be more structured, a bit awkward, and occasionally nonexistent. However, if it meant not enduring the naivety of Clark and Lana concerning eachother, then Chloe was willing to suffer the consequences. These days she was finding it tough to stomach the two timid lovebirds when put together, though she did her best to act normal and peppy around them. As much as she tried to forget about Clark, she just couldn't get him off her mind.
"Uh, Chloe?" Lex was saying, "Not that this isn't entertaining, but I think pressing your nose up against the glass is making you look like some kind of zoo animal or something. People are starting to stare…"
And just like that, reality came into place around her as she realized she had indeed been pushing her nose against the window in her effort to see the clouds that threatened rain when she had spaced out completely, making sort of a pig imitation with her nostrils all exposed. She pulled back almost too quickly only to see that Clark and Lana were standing on the edge of the sidewalk in front of the lobby, giving her the same odd look as the other spectators. At first, Chloe felt her face get slightly pink, then seeing how amused everyone was by her, she had to laugh. She had actually left a small foggy spot where her breath had been on the glass, and she quickly wiped it away with the back of her hand.
"Sorry," she offered to Lex with a smile, "Just spaced out for a second."
Lex laughed as he parked the car in a space right near the front of the theater. Chloe had to applaud herself mentally for that, since he never truly laughed at anything unless it was his fake businessman laugh which she found rather too maniacal for her taste.
Lex got out of the car and Chloe quickly followed, not wanting him to have to open the door for her. No need to bring chivalry into this already weird situation, she figured. He seemed to agree, nodding his head once, and they reached the sidewalk to meet Clark and Lana, though not quickly since Chloe was finding it difficult to keep up in her high heels.
Clark was wearing a tan jacket over his famous red plaid shirt with blue jeans and the tan boots that reminded Chloe of the hiking boots her dad had worn on their camping adventures when she was little. Lana was at his side, beaming as usual with her dark hair hanging around her shoulders, wearing a cute ensemble of jeans and a pink sweater that didn't quite cover her shoulders. Hah, Lana had worn unpractical shoes as well! They were white heels that must have felt a lot like the pins and needles Chloe's own shoes were imitating at this very moment.
"Hey, guys," Clark said with his charming smile that could melt even the meanest Catholic school nun into a puddle, and Chloe felt some old feelings arising. Actually, the memory of the prom was still fresh in Chloe's mind, as she was sure it was in everyone else's.
"Hey Clark, Lana," Lex greeted them both with a nod, and Chloe actually thought for a moment that the disquieting view she had given everyone of her nostrils had been completely forgotten. Alas, it had not.
"Chloe," Lana managed through her laughter, and she knew what was coming, "What were you doing? I mean, everyone was kind of pointing for a while…" Then she broke off into a stream of giggles which she tried to repress by placing a hand over her mouth. Chloe didn't have to look at Lex, or even Clark to know they were ready to laugh along with her.
"Okay, so my comedic timing is a little off," she said with a laugh, "And my sense of humor is a little different than most, but whatever. I might have had some things on my mind." Yeah, they should buy that. No one would ever suspect that she was thinking fluffy thoughts about Clark and had gotten lost amidst the fog of hormones, even though she was clearly blushing and avoiding eye contact with him. But wait… Was that a skeptical look from Lex?
What a rare occurrence, she thought sarcastically.
"Either way, I think you got their attention," he said with a cocky smirk and a nod towards the throngs of other young people… Ah yes, the challenging smirk. Was it ever absent for long? She didn't feel really up to the challenge this time, but… this time it was different. It was somehow colder, more menacing, and equally more challenging.
"Are you sure they were staring at me?" she said casually.
"Because I was sitting next to Smallville's most eligible billionaire. I mean, once they got a good look they probably just thought I was your wealthy high-class supermodel date."
Don't flatter yourself, Chloe, she thought dismally.
"With that face you pulled back there?" he quipped, the smirk more present than ever,
"More like my sick degenerate younger sister with the mental instabilities."
"Look who's talking about being mentally unstable."
"Well you know what they say about that, Chloe,"
He was getting unbearable.
"No, please tell me, what do they say, Mr. Luthor?"
She was getting uncontrollable.
"The distance between genius and insanity is measured only by success. And I think by business has had quite a lot of that, even in Smallville."
Stupid fortune cookie quotes…
"Well, you've proved your business isn't insane. How about the guy who runs it?"
"Why don't you tell me? I mean, you're the troubled younger sister here, shouldn't you know me better than anyone? I assume our parents left us when we were very young, and that's the main cause of your…disturbances."
"You're probably the reason they left us… Couldn't stand to see their name tarnished by your twisted ideals." …That smirk was still there. Now she wanted to win. What the hell was happening to her?
"Somehow I doubt that I was the one they couldn't stand to have sully their name," he replied rather harshly.
Okay, what is his problem? Does he have some personal vendetta to verbally beat me to a pulp in public? This is getting intense; I should back out while I still have some pride left…
"Well you would certainly know about sullied names, wouldn't you?"
Aaagh! Why, Chloe, why always bring his name into it! Wasn't the plan to back away slowly?
It was obviously a completely unoriginal insult that was referred to in some way by probably every person that didn't like Lex or his father, which made up most of the human population, but from her it seemed to have hit home. The smirk vanished without a trace, and suddenly this victory felt strangely empty. The imaginary scoreboard lit up, Chloe: 2, Lex: 1, but the imaginary fans were not cheering. Lex's eyes had adopted the cold and withdrawn feeling that his smirk had expressed at first, and now Chloe could feel the likeness he shared with his father. Somewhere around when the dead silence surrounding her dawned on her, and when she began feeling everyone's eyes on the two of them, it also dawned on her that she may have actually crossed the line. And from the looks of things, childish arguing also didn't rank too highly in the Luthor book of all things necessary for power and success.
A/N: Sorry, already way too long, but still personal reviews, bc I'm apparently that cool. Oo Sorry if I miss anyone, my computer is being funny and I can't get the one review page to come up. :(
Kit Merlot –Why thank you, I am deliberating whether to go with a purely Chlex storyline.
Fire of the Dragons –Wow, that's flattering! I can't believe I made your fav. stories list:D
ElizabethV –Yeah, that line was like my favorite too!
Chloedouble1011 –I know, and I'm ashamed of my cliffhanger! It does make for some drama, though :\
Misschief28 –Thanks so much! I love your story, btw! Sorry again for dramatic chapter endings.