CHAPTER 6
Chloe drove home, recognizing how fitting the sudden rainstorm was. Perfect accompaniment to an onslaught of teen angst and melodrama. The radio was blasting as loud as it would go, attempting to drown out the curses repeating in her head like a mantra. She rolled down her window and sickly enjoyed the harsh wind and stinging rain hitting her face, it was a desperately needed wake up call. She sped up, her foot like lead on the gas, until she heard a strange sputtering sound. Glancing down at the dashboard, she started to laugh. Louder and louder, shooting directly from her chest, verging on hysterical.
She was out of gas.
Swerving over to the side of the road, Chloe jumped out of the car and paced around it. It was too much, as if someone had looked up ABSOLUTELY HORRIFYINGLY BAD DAY in the dictionary and planned this, just for her. She screamed as loud as she could into the rain, the wind choking her and trying to steal her voice away. Complete sentences, even simple words, failed her. She just had to make noise. A strange sense of exhilaration overwhelmed her, there's no freedom like the awareness of being at rock-bottom. She kicked her car with the toe of her shoe, feeling a full-on explosion coming on. A stream of loud obscenities spilled out of her mouth until her chest felt weak and deflated. She was lost in her own emotional release, her own well-deserved catharsis. So lost, she didn't even notice another car pulling alongside hers. She didn't notice a man get out and lean casually against his car, watching her temper-tantrum with mild amusement. It wasn't until she had finally worn herself out, and let her thoroughly drained body slump onto the muddy ground by the side of the road that she noticed the familiar face.
Or rather, the familiar head.
"Damnit Lex." She mumbled breathlessly.
"Don't let me interrupt. Please. Continue." He punctuated his comment with a slight hand gesture.
"Go away." Her cheeks were flaming red with anger and embarrassment. She didn't want to be seen like this, especially with Lex looking sharp and sane, even in a soaking wet suit.
"It looks like you could use a ride." Lex reasoned.
Chloe quickly considered her options. She could either swallow her pride, or what little she had left of it, or sit out here in the rain until someone else happened to drive by. It was a surprisingly difficult decision to make. She stood up, smoothing her muddy hands over her wet, equally muddy jeans. Wiping her eyes with a clean patch of skin on her wrist, she walked over to Lex's car.
"What are you doing out here anyway?" She asked.
"Driving over to Clark's. I wanted to discuss something with him."
She looked dully into Lex's eyes. "You might want to wait awhile. He's busy with company."
The rain started to fall harder, pounding the dirt around them, but Lex made no move to get into the car. "Busy?"
Chloe stared directly at Lex, all energy and anger worn away for the time being. "Busy."
"Oh." Lex responded, pressing his lips into a thin line and nodding as he put the information together. Chloe thought she recognized a flash of anger behind his eyes, but it was gone so fast, she could have imagined it. "Well it's good I drove by when I did.
"Yeah." She looked at her muddy sneakers before peering up at the man in front of her. "So Lex…" Chloe drawled, a slight, twisted smile flickering across her face as she stepped in closer to him. "How does it feel to finally get to be the hero for once?"
He returned the wry smile, reaching behind her to open the passenger side door. "How does it feel to be the one who gets saved?"
Chloe sat down in Lex's car, probably destroying the leather covered seat beyond repair, and thought carefully. After Lex slid into the driver's seat, he saw her shrug her narrow shoulders. "Not terrible."