Chapter 12
The Fairy Godmother
Sunday evening - Clark's hotel room
"Did you bring a change of clothes, Jimmy?" Clark asked, as he looked over Jimmy's current outfit of blue denim jeans and a blue and white vertically-striped oxford.
"Why?" Jimmy asked. "Did I spill something?" Jimmy was almost as careful with his clothes as he was with his cameras and the suggestion that something was wrong with his appearance caused him to begin checking himself for food stains.
"No, but you're going to look out of place tonight in what you're currently wearing, and I've only got an hour before I have to be at Lana's."
"Well…I did bring something. It's downstairs in my car. I'll get it and be back in a minute."
Clark handed Jimmy the key card for his room and got ready to take a shower. By the time Jimmy made it back with a garment bag slung over his shoulder, Clark was out of the shower and had another too-small hotel towel wrapped around his waist as he tried to do something with his hair.
My hair has been an unruly mess for as long as I can remember, Clark thought. Oh well, if I remember correctly, Lana always liked it that way, and that's good enough for me.
After seeing Jimmy hang the garment bag from the clothes rack, Clark pointed his photographer to the shower. A new agony awaited Clark as he learned that Jimmy liked to sing in the shower and wasn't very good at it.
When it was time to leave, Jimmy was neatly attired in a tweed jacket, gray slacks, and his signature piece of clothing, a red bow tie. Clark shook his head, wondering if Jimmy would ever join the rest of the world and start wearing regular ties. Clark himself was wearing a custom-tailored two-button, single-breasted black suit jacket and slacks. His red tie stood out against the backdrop of a snowy white shirt, and he had just slapped on some cologne when Jimmy proclaimed himself ready to go.
While they rode down together in the elevator, Clark asked, "You doremember how to get to Lana's house, right?"
"Oh yeah," Jimmy replied, "once I've been somewhere once, I can find it again with no problem…but, aren't I following you over there?"
"Yeah, Jimmy, you are. I just want to be sure you can find it if we get separated in traffic."
"No worries, Clark. I'll be there."
Sunday evening, Lana's house
Meanwhile,Lana was sitting calmly in a chair in front of her vanity table and its three-sided mirror as Evangeline worked her magic with curling irons, and several different hair care products. By the time she was finished, Lana's hair was a silken confection of chocolate curls.
Lana clapped her hands in delight as she checked out her hair in the vanity table's mirrors. "Oh, Evangeline, you've outdone yourself. Thank you, thank you!"
"You've done the same for me several times, Lana. I'm only too happy to be able to return the favor."
After that, the two women chatted happily as Lana carefully applied her cosmetics. Just as she was putting on her final touches, Evangeline ventured to ask the question that had been bothering her since meeting Clark earlier in the day.
"Lana, this guy Clark has been the source of a lot of heartbreak for you, yet now you're as giddy as a school girl over him. Are you sure you're not setting yourself up for another fall? Once this dance is over, Mr. Big City will have to return to Metropolis and you'll still be here."
Lana finished with her lip liner and set it down on the vanity table before she replied. "This time is different, Evangeline. Don't ask me how I know, but it is. Clark is finally ready for me. In the last few days, he's let me inside in a way I could only wish for in the past. All the old barriers have come down and we're so comfortable together. We're meant for each other like bacon and eggs or…or peanut butter and jelly. I love him, I always have, and he loves me back."
"What's with the food similes? You're making me hungry."
"Well, I'm already hungry, so maybe that's it."
The two friends wrapped each other in a hug, with Evangeline taking extra care to not muss Lana's hair or makeup.
"Be careful, Girl," Evangeline said. "I just don't want to see you get hurt."
"No promises. If I'm not willing to take any chances, then where will I be? I'll tell you where: stuck in the same old rut I've been in for years."
"Go with God, Girl. I'll be praying for you…praying for the bothof you."
All that remained was waiting for Prince Charming to arrive, but unlike Snow White, Lana wasn't in a magical coma and thus had to endure each minute as it slowly ticked by. When they heard Clark's car door shut out in the drive, Lana hurried into her closet and pulled out the little black cocktail dress she had picked out and pulled it on over her slip with help from Evangeline. She then put on her earrings, stepped into her shoes, grabbed her summer-weight shawl and headed downstairs.
Evangeline had gone ahead to let Clark in so he could see Lana make an entrance as she walked down the stairs. All he was capable of saying was, "Oh…"
Evangeline looked up at Lana and said to herself, "Why do I feel like Cinderella's fairy godmother right now?"
Clark's look of unalloyed adoration brought a smile to Lana's face as she stepped off the stairs to stand right in front of her man. "Hi, Clark," she said shyly.
Offering her his arm, Clark said, "Wow. Each time I see you, you're more beautiful than the last."
Taking his proffered arm, Lana replied, "You're looking pretty good yourself, Clark. I never got that many chances to see you play dress up when we were younger, but you do it well."
Lana thought they were headed straight out to Clark's car, but changed that idea when she saw Jimmy setting up a portable flash/reflector in the kitchen.
"What's this?" Lana asked, as she pointed to Jimmy's gear.
"Well," Clark replied, "as I recall, we didn't get any pictures taken the last time we were at a dance, so I decided to make use of Jimmy's talents. Though the image of that white satin dress is still burned in my mind, I would like something more tangible to have. A picture or two that I can place on my desk at work, and on my bedside table at home. What do you think?"
"That sounds very nice. We never had a sitting for pictures when we were dating, and a picture of us together is better than a picture of just you any day."
Jimmy spent the next five minutes arranging them in different poses and taking several shots of each pose. When finished, he popped the memory card out of its slot and placed it into an empty slot in his camera case.
While he dismantled his flash/reflector, Jimmy said, "I can have 8"x10" prints of these shots ready sometime tomorrow. Or better yet, Clark, I'll send thumbnail shots to your e-mail account, and you and Miss Lang can choose the ones you want to be full-sized."
"That sounds great, Jimmy," Clark said. "Thanks."
Lana echoed Clark by saying. "Yes, Jimmy, thank you very much."
Evangeline shooed Lana and Clark on their way, promising to use her key and lock up after Jimmy left. She had just stood back to watch during the photo shoot and, despite herself, was affected by the way Lana and Clark interacted. Small touches, subtle glances, the way they seemed to fit together as they stood for their pictures. She began to hope that this time would be different for her best friend.
As the happy couple left, Evangeline asked, "Jimmy, would you tell me something of what Mr. Kent is like in Metropolis?"
Jimmy looked up from storing the flash/reflector unit and said, "Clark the writer is brilliant, hard-nosed, relentless, one of the best in the business…but I don't think that's what you're asking about."
Jimmy gathered his equipment together and sat it in a pile on the kitchen table as he collected his thoughts. "Clark is renowned for the privacy of his personal life. No one except his writing partner, Lois Lane, even knows where he lives. The only reason she knows is because they dated off and on for a couple of years."
"Why didn't they work out? A couple of years is a pretty long time."
"I'm not sure, but they never even got engaged." Jimmy shrugged his shoulders and took a seat at the table, as he said, "Scuttlebutt around the office said Clark was holding on to someone else, somewhere else. Is Miss Lang the one?"
Evangeline smiled and said, "I think so, Jimmy, I think so."
"Anyway, about Clark. He's the best friend a person could ask for. He thinkshe's mean to me and I just don't know it, but the truth is, he just has a rough way of teasing me. He's extremely supportive of me personally and professionally. If I need help with something, Clark is the one that's there first, the one that stays the longest, and the one that's last to leave. He never asks for anything in return, doesn't keep count of the number of times he's helped me, and always deprecates his own contributions as being 'nothing.'" Jimmy shifted in his seat. "It's not just me, but everyone I know in the office feels the same way…even Lois, if you catch her on a good day. If I live to be one hundred, I'llnever be the man that Clark is, but I'll keep trying."
Jimmy stared Evangeline straight in the eyes and said, "If Miss Lang takes him away from his friends in Metropolis, I hope she's worthy of him."
Evangeline had begun to revise her opinion of Clark during Jimmy's speech, and raised her hopes for Lana just a little bit. It looked more and more like the light at the end of Lana's romantic tunnel was going to be daylight and not an oncoming train.
Sunday evening - Smallville Middle School
Clark and Lana stood in wonder as they looked at their old high school. A bright red banner that hung over the front doors was splashed with large yellow letters that read, 'Welcome Back, Class of 2005. Go Crows!'
The outside of the old building was lit with flood lamps that cast a warm glow on the sand colored building.
"It's been more than half a lifetime ago," Lana said, "but it seems like only yesterday that you, Chloe, and I left this building for the last time."
"Yeah," Clark said, "I wonder what memories are waiting inside for us?"
Lana grabbed his hand and said, with a playful tone in her voice, "Let's go see."