She couldn't get out on the street to look, where vehicles were constantly being raised and lowered, so she walked into the nearest store, a music store. The music being played in the store was the music that had played at the dance.
It made her miss Kal-El even more. It was hard to believe the dance was only 3 weeks ago. It felt like an eternity. She had been very tempted to visit him after his graduation and see what career he had decided upon. However, she had resisted. It was mostly because Zara had met him and was hanging around him by now. Maybe they were even married. She could only handle so much.
She found the key to her Jor-El. She had gotten her first check 2 weeks ago. She had gotten a little nutty and went out and brought a bunch of things. One of these things was her very own apartment. It was a modest apartment or dumpy, depending on how you chose to look at it. She had gotten a new Jor-El for her aunt and a used Jor-El, with some gravity adjustments, for herself. Then there had been food, bills, and all those other necessities that added up. She was in the hole more than she intended to be but there would be other paychecks.
She folded her pocketbook back to its travel size, which was the size of a mint and put it in her pocket. She was thankful for shrinking technology. She couldn't imagine having to carry it around with her at normal size like they had in the old days.
She stepped back onto the sidewalk and just let it move her toward her Jor-El, while she took in her surroundings. The Hall of Worlds was getting further behind her. This was her favorite part of the day, when she left her work behind her.
She looked up at the screen tacked on the building in front of her. A pretty woman with pearly, white teeth was giving the forecast. She focused onto the booming sound that she had previously been ignoring.
"The Weather Bureau has decided on 75 degree weather with gentle breezes for today and tomorrow. Then they will release a violent but necessary storm after that. All buildings and people will be taken underground for 3 hours until the storm passes. However, look for nice weather today and tomorrow."
Lois sighed it was nice to have such good weather before the storm but what did it matter? Her life consisted of going to the Hall of Worlds and her apartment. It didn't matter to her what the weather was like. She was almost ready to step off to her Jor-El but then who should appear on the screen but Kal-El.
"Good evening, folks. I'm Kal-El. In breaking news today—"
She couldn't believe he went into journalism. She had been certain that he would follow his father's footsteps and become a scientist. He wasn't always an easy person to peg. As well as she had come to know him, he still managed to surprise her. She knew she should just stay away but when did she ever follow rules? Even the ones she had made like 'we can never see each other again.' She was going to pay him a visit and see how his life was going thus far.
---
She stood outside the room where they were recording. Kal-El finally came out and got a surprised but happy look on his face at the sight of her.
"Here come into my private office and we can talk," he said.
He closed the door and hugged her.
"I thought I'd never see you again!" he exclaimed. "Did you decide to be friends with me?"
"Kal-El," she said, putting some distance between them, "you know we can never be just friends. Leaving that night was the right thing to do and we both knew it. That's why you let me leave."
"So why did you come back?"
"I just felt like there was no closure. I wanted to know how things were going for you."
He looked disappointed but he complied, "well, as you can see my career is in journalism and I do enjoy it."
"And Zara?" she asked with great effort.
"She's a nice enough girl. We haven't set a wedding date yet. She works in medicine. She vaccinates people and she's trying to find a way to cure green death. She's not you," he added.
"It was a mistake coming here. I should've known better but I couldn't stay away when I saw you on that screen," she said, as her eyes took on a wet appearance.
"There's no reason why we couldn't be friends," he said gently, stepping closer.
"We wouldn't be friends. We would be friends with benefits," she said with a smile.
"I won't tell if you don't," he said, as the space between them rapidly closed.
The phone rang and kept them from kissing. Lois backed away. Clark pressed a button and said, "hello." The phone's screen only had the picture of a lake.
-Meet me at Shrinkwater Lake and I'll give you the greatest story in history
The screen blanked out.
"Lois, I have to go."
"I'm going with you."
"It could be dangerous."
"More dangerous than the crime we almost committed?" She rolled her eyes and waved her Jor-El key. "I'm going. You can either ride with me or on your own."
He saw there was no point in arguing with her. "Okay, but I've driven with you before and I think I should be the one to drive."
She laughed and tossed him the key, "only this once."
They left to chase the story down.
TBC
