Chapter 4
Lois sat on the bed, her back resting against the wooden piece as she dug her hand into a bag of barbecue chips. They were the leftovers from lunch, since they couldn't go to the restaurant to eat until Clark came back. "Do you know when he's going to be back?" She asked. "I'm starving."
Chloe looked at Lois, and frowned. "I don't know Lois." Turning back to the television, she could feel Jimmy's hand on hers. She smiled at the warmth, looking over at him as he smiled in return.
Flipping the channel again, she came to the news. Lois was about to change it, but Chloe stopped her.
"Whoa. Leave the news on Lois. I want to see if we can get out of here tomorrow."
Sighing, she set the remote down and stared at the TV. There was an emergency scroll at the bottom of the screen that told of the road closures. Her eyes drifted over to the window, the light now completely gone from the evening. Darkness had settled in, the only light from outside being the few parking lot lamps. Wondering if Clark was alright, she instantly slapped her hand back into the chip bag to drown her worries away in the great taste of barbecue. It was more of an excuse to keep her mind off of Clark.
"Lois." Chloe said suddenly.
"What?" She asked, annoyed.
"The TV." Chloe replied hastily.
Lois tore her eyes from the chip bag and focused on the TV. A report came across that a man in a black ski mask and bright red winter coat had disregarded a road barrier and walked onto the interstate. What was more surprising was the fact that the man had done it twice, both times saving a life or two in the process. Apparently the man had disappeared from the area as soon as he had finished. There was description of the vehicle the man had driven, and for some reason it sounded eerily familiar.
They were all broken out of their focus on the television by a cold gust of wind.
Clark closed the door and removed his balaclava. "Wow, it sure is bad out there." He said, locking the door so that the others didn't continue to catch the draft. With his back turned to them, he took off his boots and slipped out of his coat. When he turned around, he was greeted with three gaping faces. "What?" He asked, his eyebrows furrowing.
Lois was the first one to speak. "Where were you?" She asked, not quite sure if the pieces of the puzzle fit quite right. Her eyes went to the hook on the door where his bright red winter jacket hung. She was skeptical, but when he placed a black ski mask on top of the heater by the window, it all fell into place.
"He was helping someone out of a ditch." Chloe said instantly, covering for him.
Clark looked from Lois to Chloe, the blonde's pleading eyes telling him to agree. "Yes." He stammered quickly, recovering himself. "I was helping someone out of a ditch."
Lois kept her eyes on him. She didn't believe him. "No you weren't." She replied, her voice stern.
"Are you calling me a liar?" Clark asked in surprise.
"I am." She said with no hint of laughter. She was being completely serious.
Clark gulped, his jaw clenching as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I'm sorry you think that." He replied, disappearing into the other room and headed for the bathroom.
Lois blinked as he simply walked out of the room. She kept her eyes on the doorway, waiting for him to back in, but he didn't. Her vision slowly drifted over to Chloe and Jimmy, both of them staring right back at her. "That was him on the TV. Wasn't it?" She was sure of it, but she needed reinforcement.
Chloe nodded, and Jimmy replied. "It was. I don't think he can deny it."
"He just did." Lois said, looking back to the doorway. She quickly got off the bed to find him. She needed to get to the bottom of this. Her mind may have been a jumble of mixed feelings and emotions, but she couldn't let the matter drop. Walking into the other room, she was found no one. She was about to head back, but he suddenly stepped out of the bathroom.
"What do you want?" He asked with no hint of sincerity in his voice. He brushed passed her and grabbed his luggage.
She crossed her arms and stood still as he walked by. Not bothering to turn around, she asked. "Why are you lying to us?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Clark replied, lifting his bag up onto the bed as he began to rummage through it.
"Stop it!" Lois almost screamed. "I know you weren't helping someone out of a ditch. We all know you weren't."
Clark had had it with her questions and tone of voice. "Leave." He said, staring at her with hard eyes.
"No damn it. Why can't you just tell us that you saved three lives by risking your own and going onto that interstate?" Her words were coming out in a panicked attempt to get to the bottom of it. Normally she would have been gentle about asking him, but her emotions and feelings were getting the best of her.
"Where did you hear such an absurd thing?" He asked, deflecting her question as if it was of little importance.
She almost went off the deep end. Did he not trust her? No, it wasn't an issue of trust, it was something else. "The TV." She said loudly.
Clark sighed heavily and closed the adjoining door so that Chloe and Jimmy wouldn't be privy to their words. "Okay, I admit it." She had him, and from Chloe's reaction earlier he knew that she wasn't lying.
She smirked suddenly, leaning on one leg as she stared at him. "Now how hard was that?"
"What?" Clark asked, unable to place her sudden mood change. He wondered if it was that time of the month, but he quickly shook his head to remove those thoughts.
Lois got closer to him. "Why can't you accept that you did something heroic? You act as if what you did was illegal. Smallville, you saved three lives. You're allowed to gloat about it." That wasn't Clark though, he kept things to himself almost a much as she did.
"I'm sorry Lois, but I'm not comfortable with having things shoved in my face. You could have simply said that you heard about it on TV. You didn't have to be so prissy about it." He turned back to his bag and removed a clean shirt.
Her laughter cut through the tension. "You know me Smallville, there is never a point where I don't want bug you just a little."
He smiled to himself as he set the shirt on the bed. "I know Lois. It's no big deal though. Anybody else would have gone out to help those people. The rescue workers would have done it eventually. I just got a head start." He shrugged his shoulders and took out a fresh pair of socks. Sitting on the side of the bed, he removed a wet sock.
Lois couldn't believe at how modest he was being. The man had just saved three lives, but he acted as if was the most natural thing in the world. "Those rescue workers could have been too late to get to them. You saved their lives." She said in a raised tone, trying to get across how much of an amazing thing he had done.
"Whatever." Clark replied, taking off his other sock.
Lois grumbled as she sat on the other bed in frustration. Why couldn't he just be happy about what he did? "I swear Smallville, sometimes I think you're dumber than a doorknob."
Clark got up with a fresh set of clothes and walked by her, grinning. "You only say that because you know it's not true." He was almost laughing as he disappeared into the bathroom for a quick shower.
She watched the door close and fell back onto the bed. A sigh escaped her lungs as she rolled over onto her stomach. Clark was infuriating sometimes, well, most times actually, but once in a while he had his moments where he completely surprised her. Sure, she knew all about his hero complex, Chloe having explained it quite thoroughly, but she had gotten fed up with him denying that it wasn't much of anything.
She realized that no matter how angry they got at each other, or how heated their words became, it always ended with a laugh or two. She was a forgiving person, someone who let the past go by the wayside, but she knew Clark was the exact opposite. Sprawling out on the bed, she smiled to herself, knowing that they had left their conversation on good terms. It had been a while since she had genuinely smiled when it came to him. Maybe just maybe she was getting over those feelings Chloe had mentioned.
"Lois?" Chloe asked, opening the door and peeking in.
"Yeah?" She replied, still lying on the bed, her left cheek resting just below the nearest pillow.
"You okay?" The blonde asked, walking in and standing at the edge of the bed.
"I think so." She replied, turning over on her back and stretching.
"What did you talk about? I heard some yelling. Did you kiss and make up?" She laughed, her smile wider than the Grand Canyon.
"No." Lois said demandingly with a hint of sarcasm.
"Then what happened." Chloe wasn't going to give up. In many ways she was just like her older cousin. When she saw that Lois was ignoring her, she poked her.
"Hey!" Lois exclaimed, rubbing her arm. "That hurt."
"Not as much as a pillow to the head would." Chloe grinned as she reached for a pillow from the other bed.
"Fine." Lois let out an exasperated breath as she rolled onto her side. "I was bugging him to tell me the truth. I normally wouldn't pester for that sort of thing, but you, Jimmy and I both knew the truth anyways. I was curious as to why he wouldn't admit it. I mean, what he did was heroic."
Chloe smiled. "And you expect anything less from Clark?"
"Hell yes!" Lois said suddenly. "He spends all his time looking out for others, but doesn't set any time aside for himself. God, when I bothered him about what we had heard on TV, he finally admitted it. But instead of being proud of himself, he seemed ashamed. Can you believe that?" She asked, throwing her hands in the air. "I swear that man has more issues than I do."
Chloe lost her grin. She knew exactly why Clark didn't tell of his exploits. His secret kept him in the shadows.
Lois sat up, finally, and rested against the wall at the back of the bed. "I can see Smallville not bragging about his exploits, but the simple fact that he won't even acknowledge it is completely absurd. He saved three people Chloe." When her cousin continued to stare at her helplessly, she continued. "I know he's been there for us and everyone close to him, and we accept it as second nature, but when he saves complete strangers, it's so much more noticeable." Her eyes closed as she screwed her fingers into her temples. "That man is an enigma."
The last word made Chloe chuckle. "It's okay Lois; I think he feels the same way about you."
"What do you mean?"
"Clark doesn't get you. He's spent his whole life being around people who treat him like a god because he's so charming and innocent. He's a good friend. No, scratch that, a great friend. He doesn't betray those close to him, and he's always there whenever you need him. The problem is that everyone except you worships the ground he walks on. In the past even Lex envied everything Clark had."
Lois was about to speak, but Chloe cut her off.
"I know you're having troubles with all this stuff about Clark, but let me tell you this. You challenge him Lois. There's no one else on this earth that makes him angrier or more confused than you do. I can't tell you how many times I've watched you two bicker and when you finally win, he looks completely lost, as if he didn't know what the hell had just happened. You may think Clark is stupid sometimes, but what you don't realize is that he's only like that when he's around you."
Lois's eyes were wide as she listened to her cousin. Her words were revealing and strong, and the truth to them was settling in. "Why only around me?" She squeaked.
"I have my theories." Chloe said with a smile.
"And?"
"Do you really want to hear them?"
Lois wasn't sure, something told her they could be a little too heavy to handle, but of course she was just too damn curious. "Yes."
Chloe grinned even wider as she began. "To him, he can do no good when he's around you. I think he feels as if he's letting you down every time you make fun of him. Every time he's saved your life, you brush it away and say you didn't need his help. I think that hurts him Lois. Not because of the words, but because of the intent. He knows you're tough and independent, and in a way he probably admires you for that, but he still feels an obligation to look out for you."
"I don't need anyone to look out for me." Lois said quickly, butting in.
"You just proved my point." Chloe replied with a sloppy grin. When her cousin frowned, she continued. "You say that, but it hurts him. He knows you can handle yourself, but those moments when you actually do need help, you don't acknowledge it. All he is trying to do is help, but you continuously shoot him down. He just wants to impress you Lois, but he thinks he will never be able to."
Lois continued to frown. "He impresses me." She said in defense.
"Oh really?" Chloe asked, finally sitting on the bed. "Tell me, what about him do you find impressive?"
"I don't know. He's got a nice body." She replied with a devilish grin.
"See!" Chloe said with excitement. "That's it. You see his physicality, turning a blind eye to what the rest of us see."
"And what is that Chloe?" She asked, getting angrier by the second. Her cousin was evading a straight answer.
Chloe didn't answer her question directly. "I've told you before how both Lana and I were once infatuated with Clark?"
"Yes." Lois said, rolling her eyes heavenwards. "I still regret answering your phone calls to this day."
"Shut up." Chloe laughed, punching her cousin softly on the shoulder. "As I was saying, both Lana and I fell for him because of what he represented: Safety, warmth, kindness and understanding. He was the only man in both our lives that seemed to care about us. We both thought we were special, but he makes everyone feel special because it's just in his nature."
"What are you getting at?" Lois asked, finally fed up with her cousin's endless explanations.
"You're falling for Clark because he represents the ultimate challenge. Someone who you can't peg, and it consumes you every minute of the day because you have always been able to do it." Her grin widened as she watched Lois's mouth open wide in amazement.
"I'm not falling for Smallville." She said hastily. Her eyes were darting everywhere. She didn't want to look guilty, but she knew she was doing a poor job at selling it.
"You say that because that's your initial reaction. That's who you are Lois, and that's why I think he's falling for you too."
Lois rolled over onto her stomach again and groaned. "You're making things more complicated." She said a second later with a muffled voice. "We're the complete opposite Chloe. He's all meek and unconfident, and me? I'm incredibly confident and strong willed."
"But you balance each other out." Chloe replied, still smiling. The more she explained it the more she became confident that she was indeed right.
"How so?" Lois asked, her face still buried in the mattress. She had been doing too much groaning into a mattress of late.
"I'm both yours and Clark's best friend, I know both of you better than anybody, and trust me when I tell you that the two of you, when you're around each other, bring out sides of one another that I've never seen before. He hates that he can't impress you, and you resent him because you feel he's too good for you."
"I don't resent him." She exclaimed quickly. "And let me state this for the record. I'm too good for him."
Chloe could tell her cousin was trying to put a brave face on, but she knew her well enough to see through it. "Lois, I hope you're trying to convince yourself because it's not going to work on me."
Peeking out her left eye, she looked at her cousin and groaned again.
"Face it Lois. You find his Boy Scout routine endearing. It's what you want in a man, but you resent him because you think that you could never have or deserve a man like that. You're the most thickheaded person I've ever met, and while that's sometimes a good quality, it's not in this case."
"God, Lois!" She exclaimed loudly, suddenly fed up. "Stop thinking so hard and just be selfish for once. Go after what you know you desire."
After minute of silence, Lois let a small cry of frustration. "I thought what you said earlier when Clark was out saving those people was all you had. Boy was I wrong." She laughed.
Smiling, Chloe rubbed her back. "Are you going to be okay?"
Lois shrugged her shoulders. "I hope so." She replied truthfully.
"Good." Chloe said, standing back up and walking from the room, leaving her cousin to stew over her many words. She opened the adjoining room door to find Jimmy on the same spot on the bed as she had left him.
"Hey." He said enthusiastically.
"Hey." She greeted back with a soft smile, climbing onto the bed and sitting beside him.
"How did it go?" He asked.
"Better than I thought, but it's hard to predict what's going to happen. I'm done playing matchmaker. Those two are going to have to work it out themselves from now on."
Jimmy frowned. "What about Clark, don't you think you should talk to him about it?"
Chloe grinned wildly and shook her head. "He heard every single word I said to Lois."
"He was in there?" Jimmy asked, completely confused.
"No, but he was in the shower, and I know he was listening." Chloe smiled as she changed the channel on the television.
"I thought you had already spoken to Lois about it this subject earlier?"
"Yes, but that was before I got a phone call from someone who seemed hell bent on getting me to say some more to her." She sighed and turned to look at him. "Remind me to call Martha in the morning. She owes me big for this one."
-
Clark stood still, the water cascading down his naked body as he was at a loss for movement. He had heard every single word between Lois and Chloe. It wasn't a stretch to figure out that his best friend knew he'd be listening, but still, he was completely shocked by her words. He had no clue how Chloe knew so much about his inner thoughts, and how badly he wanted to impress Lois, to show her how much a real man he was. He hated that she saw him as a clumsy bonehead, but Chloe's explanation made so much sense that he was shocked, still having trouble accepting it.
So there he stood, the water having gone cold long ago as he finally turned it off. Lois, she once again invaded every little piece of his mind. Her smell, her touch, everything about her aroused him. He felt horrible that he was unable to contain his lust, unable to hold it back. It had only been two weeks since the wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Luthor, and he knew he shouldn't have been over Lana so quickly. Or maybe it was in fact true what he had been hiding from himself all along. He hadn't been in love with Lana for a long time; in fact he had been in love with someone else, someone who blocked those feelings because she could never shut her mouth long enough for him to think.
Shaking his head in despair, he stepped out of the tub and began to dry off. His groin began to stir as he dried his nether region, imagining it was in fact Lois's hand down there. He tore the image from his mind as quickly as he could, feeling guilty and embarrassed. He was alone, and shouldn't have felt bad; he was an adult with healthy urges. No, he felt guilty because it was Lois; a woman who he thought had always hated him, but in fact thought so highly of him that she even felt he was too good for her. In his mind, he wasn't good enough for her, always letting her down and failing to impress her. It struck him as odd that never before in his life had he ever felt the need to impress a woman.
Finishing with the towel, he slipped it over the shower curtain railing to dry. A knock at the door almost caused him so slip on the linoleum floor, the bottom of his feet still wet. "Yes?" He croaked.
"Smallville, hurry it up in there. We're starving out here."
"O-okay." He stuttered. He was terrified, but he was behind a locked door. "Oh man." He groaned quietly. Her voice was simply doing him in, making him unable to do his zipper up. After a few feeble attempts, he finally managed to get it done up.
"Smallville?" Lois asked again, pounding on the door.
"Coming." He squeaked. She was still behind the door? His heart began to race frantically as he slipped on a fresh pair of socks. He quickly unlocked the door as he slipped his shirt over himself. Opening the door, he was standing right in front of her, his breath catching in his throat as he stared at her.
Lois tensed up immediately. He was too close. She didn't know what to do. She wanted to run, but her mind told her to stay. Finally, as if an invisible person had grabbed her, she backed up to let him pass. "Sorry." She said, lowering her eyes to the ground as her neck turned a soft shade of red.
"Yeah." Clark responded dumbly, his nostrils welcoming the scent of her hair. His knees went weak, his legs shaking as he struggled to stay upright. "I uh-let me-uh get my boots." He said haltingly. Each step proved more difficult than he could have imagined, her presence too close and way to early after hearing what just did. Needing more time to think about it was the best course of action, but he knew he wasn't going to get any. There was a restaurant up by the lobby, and he was going to have to sit across from her the entire time. Fumbling for his boots, he did them up with shaky hands.
"I guess I'm your roommate for the night." Jimmy said, suddenly walking up to him.
"What?" Clark almost yelled, more out of surprise from being ripped away from his agonizing thoughts.
Jimmy glared at Clark like he would a sick dog. "I said I'm staying in the same room with you while the girls bunk up together." He paused as Clark's eyes didn't get any smaller. "Something wrong C.K?"
Clark gulped and shook his head. "No, I'm fine." Finishing with his boots, he deliberately walked through the other room to avoid Lois. Chloe was coming out of the bathroom, turning off the light as he came closer. "What did you do?" He asked her in desperation, his eyes still wider than golf balls.
"What?" She asked with a sly grin. When he grabbed a hold of her shoulders, she laughed. "I'm guessing you heard the little chat between Lois and me?"
Clark groaned as he leaned back against the wall by the hallway door, unable to keep his resolve. "God Chloe." He said in exasperation. "Why today, why here?"
Chloe grinned at him and said. "It had to be done eventually."
"But I have to go seven days trying to avoid her, and her trying to avoid me? This is going to be a nightmare." He said, rubbing a hand over his face as Jimmy came up to them.
"It doesn't have to be, Clark." Chloe replied, resting a hand on his shoulder. "I think you and I both know that you could make this the most wonderful vacation of your life."
"I don't know." He admitted as he stood straighter, steeling himself. "Now that I know she feels the same way, it changes everything Chloe."
"What do you mean?"
"I can't stick to my original plan anymore. I've been thrown for a loop. I no longer have the upper hand." He closed his eyes and sighed heavily as Chloe opened the hallway door.
"You had a plan to do what?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, locking the door as the three of them moved out into the hallway.
"Lois." Clark said in a pained voice. "I came up with a plan this morning to-." He was cut off suddenly when Lois came through the other door and bumped into him as she walked backwards pulling it closed.
"Ouch." She said, turning around. When her eyes were right at the chin of a very familiar face, she couldn't help but visibly gulp. Her breasts touched his chest as they had both turned at the same time. Her eyes slowly lifted up to his, her breath hitching instantly. No! Her mind screamed. Not again! She couldn't take her eyes off of his as they stood staring at each other, both unable, and unwilling to move.
Chloe looked at the two of them and silently screamed to herself, hoping, just wishing one of them would make a move. "Ahem!" She said, clearing her throat. It didn't seem to work though. They both stood there stock still, gazing into each others eyes without so much as a smile or a twitch of a facial muscle. It was unsettling not knowing what was going to happen.
Clark breathed heavily, his chest pushing up against hers as he lost himself in the softness of her eyes. A firm tug to his shirt brought him out of the staring match. He quickly stepped back and turned away, embarrassed. "I-uh. Sorry." He finally said. His mind was reeling, his senses unable to comprehend what had just happened. Turning around to look back at the others would have been too difficult, so he simply walked down the hallway.
Lois let out her held breath and closed her eyes, his manly aroma still clinging to the inside of her nostrils. A shiver ran up her spine and to her neck, her shoulders jerking from side to side suddenly as her eyes shot open. Chloe was standing in front of her, but Jimmy was mysteriously absent.
"Lois?" Chloe asked with a worried tone.
"You're right Chloe." She admitted, hugging her arms to herself in fear and longing. "And I'm terrified."