I instinctively got up early the next morning. Being raised on a farm my whole life seemed to force me into the habit of never sleeping in. I don't even think I could do it if I tried.

Lana (who obviously did not grow up on a farm) was still passed out on my bed, covers everywhere on the floor and her body sprawled diagonally on the mattress. I smiled at her cute-without-even-trying look before heading downstairs to the cafeteria to get us both some breakfast.

A few minutes later, Lana slowly woke up, groggy and confused. She had no idea where she was or how she'd gotten there. Leaping out of my bed in shock, she looked around for any sign that would help her understand what happened the previous night.

I probably should have knocked instead of just barging in on her like I did. I didn't think she would be awake yet. But when I opened the door, I discovered that Lana was very, very much awake.

With a high-pitched scream, she rushed over to the door and smashed it on my face.

I stood outside the room, breakfast in hand, feeling somewhat stupid. A few guys passed by and I smiled casually, as though having a girl scream at the sight of me and kicking me out of my own dorm room was a normal situation. I'm pretty sure they didn't buy it.

After a few seconds, I swallowed and carefully tapped on the door. "Uh…Lana?"

"What's going on? Who are you?" she asked with panic through the door.

"I'm Clark Kent…from the night club last night? You got kind of drunk and ended up asleep on the front of my car. You couldn't tell me where you lived so I just took you to my place…" I listened closely. "Are you still there? I don't recommend jumping out of the window – we're twelve floors up."

Soon, the door creaked open and Lana's shaken face appeared in the crack. She looked down at her clothes.

"I thought those would be more comfortable to sleep in. Your dress is on the floor by the bed," I explained helpfully. The girl was obviously still trying to connect the dots of last night's happenings, and failing miserably at the attempt.

Her gaze wandered over to the direction of my bed. "Did we…um…"

It took me a few seconds, before my eyes bulged. "N-no! No, I…you slept in my bed and my roommate was out for the night, so I slept in his."

"Oh…good." She laughed quietly and then turned back to me, only now noticing the coffee in my grasp. She licked her lips involuntarily.

"This is for you…but you'll probably have to let me in first."

"Oh, right. Sorry." She backed away, allowing me full entry into my room. She closed the door after I made my way in and then covered her face with her hands. "Wow, I am really sorry I slammed the door on you. I just didn't expect – "

"It's okay. No harm done. Here. Sit." I handed her the small cup of coffee and made room for her to sit next to me on my bed.

"Thank you," she muttered softly. "I mean…for everything. Most guys would've just left me passed out on the side of the road. And you just take me in like I'm your best friend and give me your bed, your clothes, your coffee…"

"I just thought it was the right thing to do," I admitted truthfully as I cracked the lid off a bottle of orange juice took a huge swallow. "Did you sleep alright?"

"I suppose. I don't remember much past the last five minutes. And my head feels awful." With that, she fell back onto the bed, covering her eyes with one hand, holding the coffee on her stomach with the other.

"I guess you had quite a lot of drinks last night."

"No kidding. Ugh. I'm surprised I'm not immune to hangovers by now."

I bit my lip, feeling a little weird at the reminder that she was a night club showgirl. Awkwardness began to ensue. "Stuff…stuff like this happens to you often?"

"What do you mean?"

The juice refused to go down my throat calmly, so I set it down on the nightstand. "Just…is this was girls at clubs do? Get drunk every night and forget what happened?"

She sat up on her elbows, taking a tiny sip from of the coffee. "Some of them do – a lot of them actually. I personally don't do it very often, to be honest. Just when…I have to…"

I stole a glance at her. Her head was down, tracing the outline of Chipper the Morning Squirrel on the coffee cup with her fingernail. I could tell she wasn't comfortable talking about her life with people. I definitely could respect that.

"You're a very good singer."

She looked over at me with tired eyes, but smiled brightly. "Thank you." Her eyes suddenly narrowed as she inspected my face and then added, "Wait a sec…I think I remember you now…"

I hastily picked up the orange juice and swallowed a mouthful, lifting my eyebrows slightly. "Do you?"

"Yeah…" A smiled still grazed her face. "You were the birthday boy, right?"

"Oh…uh…yeah." I could feel my cheeks flush almost instantly.

"You're a very good kisser."

I met her eyes, feeling so much more awkward and uncomfortable than I had the whole previous night. I took another swig of orange juice to avoid speech.

She giggled, looking up towards the ceiling. "I bet your girlfriend loves that about you."

"No, she doesn't." Lana's glanced snapped back to mine as I added, "I don't have a girlfriend."

"No way."

"Yes way."

She slowly sat back up, but not taking her eyes off me for one second. "But…why not?"

My entire high school and college life was filled with people asking me that very question – why don't you have a girlfriend? Sometimes I beat around the bush without actually answering, and sometimes I flat out lied.

But, for some reason, I felt like Lana deserved to know the truth. So I shrugged, looking down at the juice bottle, "I don't have someone because…" I then looked up, back into her eyes, "…because I'm not allowed to love."

We stared at each other for only a few silent seconds, but it felt much longer at the time. Her mouth slowly opened soon after, as she whispered, "Me too."

I looked into her eyes and suddenly felt a connection. Something was holding her back as well. But what it was, I couldn't tell just yet. All I knew was that we shared a deep feeling…a feeling I'd never let anyone else see because I thought I'd be too embarrassed. How ironic that a girl who had made me feel so uncomfortable minutes before made me feel so at ease right now.

"It hurts when life locks your heart away, doesn't it?" she asked, her swirling brown eyes still penetrating mine.

"Sometimes…I feel like I'd give anything…just to set it free…" I admitted wholeheartedly, "…even just for a second…"

I hadn't noticed, but my face was slowly advancing on hers. It was completely out of my control. Nothing was registering in my mind. Nothing…except her beautiful eyes…

"Yeah…" she whispered, glancing at my lips.

I had no idea what was happening. All I wanted was to kiss her. I cared about nothing else. I wasn't embarrassed, and I wasn't afraid. My heart was craving for a feeling…any feeling at all. I needed love. I needed her lips on mine.

The centimeters slipped away from between us and freedom…it was only a matter of time before my heart was alive – truly alive – for the first time.

"Take it where you want to go! Just take that ass to the floor! Pop something! Move something! Shake ya tail feather!"

Pete burst into the dorm room, busting a few moves before he noticed Lana and me. He jumped in surprise, pulling the headphones from his ears. "Sht! What the – "

"Pete!" I exclaimed, standing up from the bed. Lana followed my lead and did the same.

"Man, I thought you would be in the library or something." He scanned Lana up and down with confusion. "Who's this?"

"This is – "

"Electra!" Lana chimmed in before I could finish.

"Electra? Waaait a second…" He dropped his iPod on his bed, staring at nothing but the girl in front of him. "You're Electra! The Pulse's Electra!" He turned, staring at me in disbelief. "Daaaaaymn, Clark!"

"I should get going. Um, thank you again for letting me stay here. I was nice meeting you, Clark. And you too, Pete." She set the empty coffee cup on the night stand and then made her way to the door. Looking back at me with a small, timid smile, nothing like what she'd given me last night. "I hope to see you again."

I looked over at Pete, who flicked his eyebrows in a horny-guy kinda way, and then felt my heart race when she shut the door behind her. I wasn't satisfied. My mind was full of feelings that hadn't gone away when my boisterous roommate had entered the room. I hadn't felt like that...ever. And it felt so perfect. I wasn't ready to let her walk away.

Suddenly I remembered something. I scanned the room and then snatched up her dress. Hardly paid attention to Pete's snide remarks about what he figured last night had entailed, I practically jumped towards the door.

"L-Lana! Wait, um…" I slipped out the door, shyly closing it behind me.

She stood there in the hallway, my baggy clothes hanging loosely on her thin body, hair a mess. The mascara that had masked her face for most of last night had almost completely disappeared, allowing her hazel eyes to come dazzling out of hiding. I gave her a friendly smile. She was still absolutely beautiful.

"You, uh, forgot this…" I handed her the dress, feeling a bit awkward. I'd never had a girl spend the night with me, so I wasn't sure how to act afterwards. Especially since nothing had happened. Even more awkward.

"Oh, yeah…"

She looked down at her current clothing, so I quickly added, "You can go ahead and keep that stuff as long as you want. I-I mean, ya know, I…heh…"

I cursed to myself. The embarrassment pendulum was definitely swinging its way back towards me.

"I get what you mean. And thanks. Again." She laughed a little. "I've said that more times in the past twenty four hours than I have my whole life, I think. Anyway, I guess I'll see you later."

I nodded, trying to think of something else to say to stop her from leaving so soon.

"Um…I just…"

The plan half worked – she'd stopped her advance towards the elevator. Unfortunately, I still had nothing to say. Small talk seemed stupid. So I just went with the first thing that came to mind.

"I enjoyed talking to you. I really hope we can talk again…soon." I shoved my hands in my pockets. That was always the automatic thing for a shy, farm boy like me to do when they were speaking their real feelings to an amazing girl such as Lana Lang.

She batted her eyes in a cute, sexy way and nodded. "I'm sure we will. You can request me anytime down at the club."

That response caused my heart to sink a little. "Well, I…I kind of liked what we did this morning – just sitting…talking…sans the loud music and lots of weird people."

"Yeah, me too." For a moment I saw the excitement in her eyes – the yearning to rewind just a few minutes earlier, before the rude interruption. But the spark quickly flickered away as she sighed. "I wish I could, but I don't have much time these days. I hope to see you again though. Really I do."

"Yeah…so…can I drive you home?" I shrugged casually.

"Oh no, it's fine. I can take the bus. And it stops right in front of my apartment building."

I smiled and became extremely fascinated with my feet.

"See you around, Clark."

"Bye, Lana."

And the elevator shut with a cold click.

I let out a gush of air, running my hands through my messy hair somewhat in frustration, but also in sadness. Maybe this was suppose to be like this. But why? Why couldn't I have what I wanted just once? Even just a kiss in my dorm room. Just one, simple kiss.

I decided to wander up to the rooftop, partly to get some air and partly so Pete wouldn't hassle me about having "Electra" all to myself last night.

And as I climbed the staircase, a weird, embarrassing feeling occurred inside me - the farthest I'd ever been with a girl was a kiss. Not even a hot, wet kiss…just a kiss. In fact, the birthday kiss I'd received last night was just about the most intimate feeling I'd ever experienced.

Yes, I was a twenty-one-year-old virgin. I always felt out of the loop when the guys, even those who I knew were virgins as well, bragged about their nighttime lady adventures. It wasn't hard to figure out what they were talking about, but it was the fact that I had to fake a laugh every time they talked about it. I could only excuse myself to the bathroom so many times (and not for the reason that some of them had thought). I felt like I was the kid in a group of adults. I just didn't belong.

It seemed like I always felt like I didn't belong, anywhere I went. And when I dismissed my love life, or was laughed at for being honest at how inexperienced I was, the feeling came back even stronger. If I was a girl, I probably would've cried. But I wasn't. I was a tough, strong male.

So, instead, I continued my journey to the rooftop by myself, ignoring my problems and sealing my heart back up with each stride I made.