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The next morning, Clark was awoken by the blaring of his phone instead of his alarm. Reaching his hand out, he blindly searched for his phone, managing to knock his Daily Planet press badge and some papers off of the night stand. Without opening his eyes, he answered, "Hello?"
"Clark? Is that you?" the voice on the other line crackled.
Clark groaned, wanting to kill Pete Ross, his childhood best friend for awakening him from his slumber. He had tossed and turned in a state similar to insomnia until he had drifted off into an unpleasant sleep haunting by the memories of her. It was bad enough that he had nearly driven himself to insanity by replaying her sudden, if temporary return into his life.
Pete was still rambling on the other line, oblivious to his best friend's state of morning grogginess. "I've been trying to reach you since nine..."
"Nine!" Clark shot up in bed, reaching up to pull his crumpled white tee off his upper body. "What time is it?"
"A little past ten," Pete replied, unconcerned. "Hey, listen--"
"What! No, no!" Clark attempted to get out of the tangle of bed sheets, clad in only boxers now. He threw his shirt on the floor and rushed to the closet, beginning to sort through heaps of dirty laundry for his Superman costume.
"Is everything alright over there, man?" Pete asked, picking up on his friend's distress.
"Yes! I mean, no!" Clark shouted into the mouthpiece, attempted to hop into his blue tights. "I'm late!"
"For work?"
"Perry's going to kill me!" he moaned, now donning his work suit.
"You must be the fastest guy on the planet and yet you're always late. How is that possible?"
"Pete, is there any particular reason that you called me?" Clark asked, annoyed.
"Oh, yeah. I'm in the city right now...do you think that you could meet me for lunch? It's kinda important."
"Sure, why not? I mean, not only am I late for work, but I'm taking my lunch break earlier today to meet with you. Perry's going to love that," he said sarcastically, proceeding to squirt tooth paste onto the bristles of his tooth brush.
"Great! I'll see you in two hours!" Pete replied enthusiastically.
"Pete, I was being─" but he was cut off by the dial tone. He cursed and began to pick up the pace, going into super speed mode.
A minute later, he was out the door, briefcase in hand. He was tempted to fly into work today, but knew that the citizens of Metropolis would find it weird if they saw Superman carrying a briefcase in the sky. Instead, he opted to run.
He took off down the street, weaving past the congestion of the city...cars...bicycles...kids...wait, kids? Clark slowed to a stop by Metro Park, puzzled by a little girl and a boy that appeared to be her older brother crowded around a tree, their heads held up high.
He sighed and glanced around the park. It was pretty much deserted except for an elderly couple feeding pigeons over by the pond. Quickly, he placed his briefcase underneath a bench and changed into Superman.
"What seems to be the problem?" Superman asked as he approached the girl and boy.
"Superman!" the boy yelled with wide eyes. "Karen, look, it's Superman!"
Clark smiled. It was always nice when young children looked at Superman with adoration in their eyes. Clark knew that Superman was far from perfect, but he was still glad to serve as a role model for them.
"My kitty's stuck in the tree," the young girl, Karen, replied tearfully. With her finger, she pointed up at the top of the magnolia tree that was in the process of blossoming.
Mentally shrugging, Superman ascended in the air, knowing that rescuing animals from tree tops was mediocre compared to his other rescues. But he was happy to lend a helping hand anyway.
After coaxing the kitten down, he gently placed it in the outreached hands of the girl.
"Thank you, Superman!" the girl cried gleefully, happy to have her pet back. Her brother was still staring at him, almost as if star struck.
Superman smiled and after retrieving his briefcase from underneath the bench, took off in the direction of the Daily Planet building.
"Where have you been, Smallville?" Lois Lane asked the moment he emerged from the janitor's closet, having removed his Superman costume.
Clark mumbled something incoherently, starting for his desk. Already, there was a pile of mail and files waiting for him to sort through.
"Please don't tell me you've been hiding in the janitor's closet for the past three hours," Lois said, still hounding him as he took a seat at his desk.
"Do I really need to answer that, Lois?" Clark asked. It was only eleven in the morning and already, his day was beginning to go downhill. He hadn't even awoken in high spirits that morning either. "Besides, what were you doing outside of the janitor's closet?"
"I was looking for the janitor...being the klutz that I am, I spilled my coffee this morning," Lois explained, not even bothering to pull out a chair to sit. Instead, she opted to sit on the small of Clark's desk that wasn't occupied by paperwork and notes.
"Right..." Clark muttered, sorting through his mail. Most of them were letters from fans of Superman, wanting set up an appointment to meet him. Since he usually covered the interviews with Superman, people always sent him letters requesting to meet the Man of Steel himself. Of course, Clark had never replied to any of them.
"So, are you going to tell me where you've been or am I just going to have to change the subject?"
"Change the subject..." Clark mumbled, barely coherent. He leaned back against his chair and closed his eyes, bringing his hands up to rub them behind his glasses. He hadn't even had a chance to grab a cup of coffee over by Metro Café this morning and God only knew that he needed that cup of caffeine after his fruitless attempts to fall asleep last night. His unexpected run-in with Lana last night was still weighing heavily on his mind and it was driving him nuts that she was engaged. Not that he had the right to drive himself nuts over that matter. They were, after all, over. Done. Kaput. That chapter of their lives had been closed nearly ten years ago and Clark knew that he should really try to move on. She obviously had.
But then there was that little voice in the back of his mind nagging him to take into consideration if she really loved her fiancé. What if she just agreed to marry him--her fiancé, that is--because she was simply trying to move on? To prove to herself that she could get over him, Clark Kent, the guy who broke her heart and shattered her confidence nearly ten years ago?
Oh, who was he kidding? It was just all wishful thinking on his part and Clark knew it. He knew--or once knew--Lana well enough to know that she would never take anything serious as marriage with a grain of salt. She was just simply that type of person. She was too much of a romantic to just throw caution into the wind and say 'yes' to the next random guy that proposed to her. No, her saying 'yes' to this guy--whoever he may be--meant something. Something that could be even bigger than what he and Lana had back in high school.
"Earth to Clark? Anyone there?"
Clark blinked, his eyes focusing on the motion of Lois' hand in front of his face. "Huh?"
"You haven't heard a word of what I just told you, have you?" Lois sent him an accusatory glare.
"Not a word." He shuffled some papers on his desk, paper clipping them together.
She sighed, rolling her eyes. "Okay, what gives?"
"What do you mean?" he replied slowly, as if she had spoken in Latin to him.
"This is what I mean." Lois jumped off the desk, pulling up her chair from the cubicle over and plopping down. "I mean, you come to work three hours late. You're not even attempting to focus on this interview we have to get done by today and judging from the bags under your eyes; you look as if you saw a ghost last night and had a classic case of insomnia."
Clark hesitated, not sure how to respond to that. "I had a late night last night...I just need to get some caffeine in me and I'll be ready to tackle that interview with you," he assured her, really wanting her to just leave him alone to his thoughts.
But Lois, persistent as ever, pressed on. "Look, you've obviously got something on your mind. What's up, Smallville?"
He groaned, getting a little pissed off at her now. "Lois...really, I'm fine..."
"No, you're not. I've known you long enough and well enough to know that you're not."
"Look, can we just drop this?" Clark demanded, raising his voice a little.
After scrutinizing him for a few more seconds, Lois finally rose from her chair. "If you say so...but just know that if you want to talk, I'll be here."
There was genuine concern and sincerity in her voice and for once, Clark found himself appreciating her presence in his life. He hadn't made many friends since college, and even then, he always, if almost, lost contact with them. It wasn't that he was cold or wasn't friendly enough, but being Superman had a lot of demands and he had the tendency to just disappear sometimes. It was that aspect that made it hard to explain to his friends and in turn, they had moved on to more honest friends.
Speaking of friends...a realization just hit Clark. He still had to meet Pete for lunch. He shot a look at the clock on his computer.
"I gotta run, Lois," Clark said hastily, standing up from the chair.
"What? Where are you going? You just got here," Lois said pointedly.
"I know." Clark began to gather his suit jacket from the chair, but then put it down. For late April, it was warm enough to be walking out outside without the warmth of a jacket.
"What about the interview?" Lois insisted, standing as well.
"What interview?"
"The one at the Teague Estate tonight!" Lois cried impatiently. "Perry's going to kill you if you don't show. This gala is supposed to be big. Edward Teague is making an announcement tonight that concerns his law firm."
"Don't worry, Lois. I'll be there."
"Clark! Over here, man!"
Clark spun around, looking slightly lost in the crowd of tables, waiters, and hungry customers. Finally, he spotted Pete Ross in the midst of the heavy lunch crowd. Usually, for lunch, he just had Jimmy Olsen, a scrawny eighteen year-old intern, pick up something for him from a nearby deli. Today, however, he was having an Italian style lunch complete with freshly baked bread for the appetizer. A complete turnaround from his usually Chinese take-out and pizza diet.
Clark strode over to where Pete was and took a seat opposite him. Naturally, his journalistic curiosity was getting to him and he wondered what news Pete could have to tell him.
"Hey, man. I haven't seen you since what...since last Christmas?" Pete greeted.
Clark frowned. "It can't have been that long..."
"Oh, yeah; it's been that long. Every time I stop by the farm, your mom is always hounding me about when your next visit is gonna be." Pete paused and took a bite of bread out of a basket that a waiter just set down on the table. "I think that your dad is also anxious about your next visit as well."
So, it was that bad, huh? It was usually his mother that pined for his next visit, but if his father was too, it meant that he really needed to stop by soon. "I'll stop by soon, really," Clark promised, mentally clearing his calendar for sometime in the next month.
"You better; 'cause what I gotta tell you involves you heading into Smallville sometime soon," Pete said seriously, gaining Clark's attention.
"What do you─" Clark began, but was cut off by the arrival of their waitress.
"Are we ready to order?" she asked with a courteous smile.
"Go ahead and order away, man. I've got this one covered," Pete said, giving her his order.
"I'll have whatever he's having," Clark said when the waitress turned to him expectantly.
Once she had excused herself, Clark focused his attention on Pete. "What did you mean by that?"
Pete shifted in his seat, looking uncomfortable for the first time during their meeting. "Clark...I'm getting married."
He blinked, unsure if he heard right. "You're...you're getting married," he repeated, remembering his encounter with Lana last night. What was it with the world always wanting to screw him over? Not that he wasn't happy for Pete... Things just seemed to fall into perspective once your ex-girlfriend and best friend, the guy who'd swore that he'd never marry until he was at least thirty-five, both decided to jump on the same bandwagon.
"Wow...that's...that's great, Pete," Clark said, trying to sound enthusiastic, but failing miserably. All this talk of weddings and engagements was making him nostalgic.
"Thanks, man. I know that the idea of me settling down at twenty-eight sounds crazy, but I just know that she's the one...Marie, you remember her, right?"
Clark swallowed the lump forming in his throat and nodded. He vaguely remembered Pete showing her to him during his last visit to Smallville. But from what he had heard from Pete, they had been going steady for a little over two years.
"There's also something else..." Pete said, catching Clark's attention. "Marie's father is in a pretty bad shape and she wants the wedding this June...you know, before... Anyway, I was wondering...would you be my best man?"
It only took Clark a second to answer. "Of course." Although the wedding would bring back some painful memories, Pete was his best friend. They had been through thick and thin together and he wouldn't let Pete go through the happiest day of his life without him by his side.
"I'm really happy for you, Pete. You deserve to be happy," Clark said sincerely.
"Thanks, Clark."
Fifteen minutes later, their food had arrived and he and Pete were chatting like friends who hadn't seen each other in three and a half months would. It wasn't until Clark took notice of a painting hanging on the far wall that he was reminded of Lana once more.
"You okay? You got quiet there all of a sudden," Pete inquired, scrutinizing him.
He fiddled with his fork. "She's back."
"Who is?"
"Lana," Clark breathed, staring at the painting again. It was a painting of endless rows of cornfields...much like his life. No matter how hard he tried, his search for her never quite seemed to end.
Hit the purple button!