"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! CLARKY, MY MAAAN!!"

I found Andrew and Tucker – women everywhere and clearly enough empty beer bottles on the table to intoxicate a good size baby elephant.

"Guys – "

"Dude, you HAVE to check Roxy out!" Tucker shouted over the techno music behind us as he gazed at the brunette wearing a tiny glittery red dress in his lap. He leaned over to me and added, "She does this thing with her tongue that is in-CRED-ible!"

"No, man, Saphina's the best," Andrew drunkenly protested. "She has hands like a – "

I closed my eyes with disinterest. "Alright, I get it. Look, guys, I just came over here to tell you I'd like to leave now. Are you coming with me or not?" I asked as sternly as I could, trying to ignore the many stares I was getting from the collection of girls the two horny boys had gathered that night.

"Hell no, Clark. We ain't leaving! It ain't even midnight yet!" Andrew protested with an angry look, which was quickly covered by a smile as Saphina offered him the lemon slice from her latest drink.

"It's 3:30, Andy. Seriously, you have no other way of getting home and I'm not letting you guys try to hitch a ride from some other person probably drunker than you…" I frowned as I noticed it took the girl three tries to get the lemon slice successfully in Andy's mouth. "…if that's even possible at this point."

"Clarky, Clarky…" Tucker shook his head in shame, holding out a set of very familiar keys. "We had Pete park your truck outside in case you wanted to leave before we did. We're gonna stick around here a while longer…like allllll night!"

Both of them broke out into laughter again, and I couldn't help but look at them in disgust.

"Whatever. I'm leaving. Try not to kill yourselves."

"HAHAHAHAHA!!"

"Alright then, Party Pooper. Go sit in your dorm room alone all night while we have some REAL fun, right ladies?! Woohooo!"

"Sick horn dogs," I muttered under my breath.

I knew most guys could be pretty careless and stupid, but I never thought Andrew or Tucker – my buddies since grade school – would ever become that selfish. I only hoped I wasn't the only guy in the world who didn't find immediate pleasure in getting ridiculously drunk and then sleeping with five random girls in a night club.

The cool air was gratefully welcomed to my face as I exited the club and made my way through the nightlife of downtown Metropolis – back to where the world made sense. It was only then that I realized how tired I was. My nice comfy bed in the dorm room sounded especially nice. I actually started to jog a little to my parked car on the side of the road at the thought.

Suddenly, I stopped. That wasn't my truck…was it? Why was there a big, dark patch on the front? Kinda looked like…a person?

It figured it was probably some homeless guy. And that would be the third one in a year. I'd gotten into the routine that most other Metropolis people do – give them some money and direct them to the nearest shelter.

The one occupying my hood that night was wrapped up in a large brown trench coat, curled up like a cat. I guessed it was a good thing I hadn't waxed the truck recently.

I reached out and grabbed their shoulder. "Excuse m – "

"Hmm?" The body rolled over, and to my surprise…

"Lana?"

"Wha?...Dean?...Wha're you doin' 'ere?" She looked at me through squinted, drunken eyes. She tried rubbing one with her hand, buried in the overly large coat sleeve.

"Dean? No, I'm Clark…remember?"

"Clllaaarrrrkkkkk…" She said my name slowly, as if trying to register it in her mind.

"Um, I think I better get you back inside – "

"NO!"

I jumped a little.

"Iwssjust…tryingtogetome…" She sat up and slipped off the hood, landing on her wobbling feet. I rushed over to grab her, preventing her from keeling over onto the pavement.

"You were going home? Well…where's you car?" I wondered, trying to keep a good grip on her, although she kept changing the direction in which she wanted her weight to rest.

"DonthaveoneI…walk." She looked up into my eyes. They seemed to be lost and looking more dreamy and dazed than they had before.

"Ok then…where do you live?"

She looked down at my chest in confusion, her head bobbing around a little. Her mouth opened as she tried to say something. I raised my eyebrows in anticipation as she looked back up at me.

"Blue."

And then she passed out.

The drive to the dorms was somewhat nerve-racking. I actually ran a couple stop signs wondering one, simple thing: if I let her sleep in my bed, where would I sleep?

Pete had the only other bed in the room and the dorm floor definitely wasn't big enough for my long stature. And when Pete brought home a girl, she always slept in the bed with him. But I was positive that if I did that, I would get no sleep whatsoever.

I eventually reached the dorms without any answers to my problems, but carefully snuck Lana up to my room anyway. I just wasn't raised to forget about her…I couldn't forget about her.

When we reached my floor I noticed a note written on the dry eraseboard on the front of my room. I curiously read:

Clark –
I'm staying at Shannon's tonight.
Happy B-day.
- Pete

I let out a sigh of relief, now that I knew there would be enough sleeping space for the both of us. Looking down at her sleeping form in my arms, I got a tingly, warm feeling inside. I wasn't sure why...

Well…maybe I was…I just didn't think want to admit to myself that I was feeling that way. It was weird. And every other time I felt that way, it always ended badly.

Girls and love in general was not my strong suit. I didn't have much experience because I knew I could never let them get too close. I didn't know what would happen if I got too into a moment or if I accidentally used one of my powers in front of her. My mother had always told me there was a chance that a girl who really cared for me would understand, but I was always too chicken to take that risk. I'd rather bury myself in homework and school where I knew no one would get hurt…I guess I figured a nice house and well-paying job would be enough for me…or at least that's what I had convinced myself to believe.

As I set Lana carefully down on the bed, she started to stir.

"What's…what's going on?"

I pulled out a shirt and some sweat pants from my drawer. "Put these on. They'll probably be more comfortable."

"Mmmmmmk…" And before I could stop her, Lana dropped the coat she had on and slipped out of her dress, letting it fall to the floor.

"Whoa! Uh, ok. I'll just go…um…I'll go change in the bathroom…" I snatched up some pajamas for myself and headed down the hall to the restrooms, Lana's figure firmly tattooed to my mind.

And I definitely couldn't lie to myself – she clearly had curves in all the right places. But I made sure I didn't think about it so often – didn't want to dwell on someone who would be out of my life as soon as the sun rose.

I changed and made my way back to the dorm room, cautiously using X-ray vision to make sure she was fully clothed. I opened the door to find her sprawled on my bed, almost swimming in my shirt and pants. As a covered her up with my comforter, I noticed she still had a lot of eye makeup on her eyes. I wasn't very familiar with how to take it off, but I could guess that it would probably be a lot harder and more annoying for her to do it herself with a hang over the next day.

I poured water from a water bottle onto a napkin and started to rub her eyelids as gently as I could. And as I did…I wondered why she had the stuff on at all. It definitely didn't do her natural beauty justice at all.

"Staaahp…" She muttered, smacking my arm until I backed off. As soon as I did, she fell back into her deep sleep.

I laughed a little to myself and then decided to settle into bed as well. Maybe in the morning, this would all be a big, crazy dream.

But couldn't stop a grin from growing as I thought…probably not.