The gig.

Lois stepped out of the shower, instantly feeling much more refreshed for having washed off the sweat and the ache from her 3-mile jog around the vicinity of the campus. It had been a bright sunny day and she'd wanted to make the most of the opportunity to take care of her physical fitness. The numerous late nights and copious alcohol consumption had left her sluggish and in need of a recharge. She'd ignored the leering and wolf whistles of an appreciative male student populace as she sweated away in her very skimpy shorts and a sports bra that emphasised her cleavage to a tantalising degree.

Towelling off quickly, she put on a change of underwear and another pair of very short shorts. Tonight was movie night with the girls on the second floor so it didn't matter if she dressed skimpily. She was comfortable in her own skin. Slipping on a yellow tank, she headed for her CD player, cranking up the volume as Iron Maiden serenaded the campus while she began to brush her hair.

She'd been slowly bobbing her head and silently singing away to one of her favourites, but it needed a different kind of energy. Something to really get the blood pumping. Iron Maiden were good but she wanted 'great'. Skimming through her stack of CDs, she came across 'The Razor's Edge' by AC/DC. Perfect! Popping the CD into the player, Lois turned the volume up another couple of notches, and this time she would be turning the air guitaring and singing up to eleven.

Angus Young's complicated yet mesmerising riff on the opening track kicked off, carrying Lois with it as she jumped onto her bed.

# "Thunder, thunder, thunder, thunder" #

The rhythm guitar riff got Lois really going, using her hairbrush as an air guitar before she brought it up to her face, mimicking the high-pitched screech of lead singer Brian Johnson. She had her eyes closed and was facing away from the door so she didn't notice the short sharp knocks on the door before it opened.

Finding the door unlocked, Clark stepped in and began to speak but his sentence was stopped short as he caught sight of what Lois was wearing and what she was doing. "Hey Lois, you know you…"

All of a sudden, the song lyrics seemed especially pertinent to him.

#"I was caught
In the middle of a railroad track" #

(Thunder)

Maybe not a railroad track, but he was certainly caught.

# "I looked round
And I knew there was no turning back" #

(Thunder)

Absolutely true. His feet wouldn't be shifting no matter how much a small part of his brain was willing them to. Also, she might notice him if he moved now.

# "My mind raced
And I thought, what could I do?" #

(Thunder)

This was one of those moments where you couldn't not look.

# "And I knew
There was no help, no help from you" #

(Thunder)

Lois was shaking her ass in her skimpy shorts, long tanned slender legs to the fore, pushing her boobs together twice each time 'Thun-der' was roared out over the track and pointing her finger at that imaginary 'you' in front of her. She was totally oblivious to the fact she'd attracted an audience consisting of one gobsmacked farmboy.

He managed to note the scent in the air, so familiar with it had he become while she was staying at the farm. His irritation at her penchant for long showers and using up all the hot water was always tempered when he used the bathroom afterwards because the scent of her body wash would mingle with the steam still in the room, bathing it in a very pleasant aroma that had an oddly calming effect on him. He could never work out exactly what that scent was and never bothered to check the bottle, but TV commercials for shampoos and body washes always harped on about exotic fruits, delicate flowers and rare herbs so it had to be a combination of those. It was oddly calming now too.

# "Sound of the drums
Beating in my heart
The thunder of guns
Tore me apart
You've been
Thunderstruck" #

He well and truly had been thunderstruck. Clark simply could not tear his eyes away from her now. His initial shock had faded into a mask of fascination as he continued to watch the performance. Lois leapt off the bed and began to 'duckwalk' across the floor like Angus Young, air guitaring her hairbrush with abandon as the song was now in full flow following the chorus. He couldn't recall ever seeing Lois so happily carefree. It was a very pleasant experience.

Just then, again in keeping with the words, Lois gripped her knees and started head banging, her hair flailing about in all directions but drawing even more attention to her scantily-clad ass since she still had her back to the door. She was still completely unaware that she was not alone. Clark was now leaning against the open doorway, mouth agape.

# "I was shaking at the knees
Could I come again please" #

Just as he heard those lines being screeched out, Clark's own knees began to feel a little wobbly. He also found himself wanting to see Lois do this again. Once it was over, he was sure he'd find the whole thing amusing and he was even more certain that she would freak out and yell a range of expletives aimed solely at him but right now, it was jaw-dropping and if he were being honest, highly arousing.

It took him a second to realise that Lois had bounced back onto the bed and was now facing the door. Any moment now, she would spot him surely? No, she still had her eyes firmly closed, completely caught up in the moment. The guitar solo in the middle of the song began, prompting another flurry of intense air guitaring. She was thrusting her hips just like a stadium rocker. Before long, the screeching vocals were back as Brian and Lois closed out the song.

# "Yeah it's alright, we're doin' fine
Yeah it's alright, we're doin' fine, fine, fine
Thunderstruck, yeah, yeah, yeah
(Thunderstruck, Thunderstruck)
Thunderstruck, baby, baby
Thunderstruck, you've been Thunderstruck
(Thunderstruck, Thunderstruck)
You've been Thunderstrrrruuuuuuckkk." #

As the guitar riff slowed to a crawl, Lois was laying on the bed still air guitaring and arching her back as her hips thrust upwards, giving Clark an inadvertent peek at the valley down her tank. Her chest was rising and falling as she breathed in and out from her exertions. His brain was telling him to look away - anywhere else - but his eyes remained firmly fixed on the lithe form of the girl rocking out on her bed. She rolled over onto her knees as the song finally finished, leaning back and strumming her 'guitar' in huge sweeping arcs, then dropping the hairbrush like a singer dropping the mic. The movement of her chest was even more pronounced now and her face was a picture of absolute bliss. Lois' eyes remained shut and the smile across her face got wider and wider with a definite redness to her complexion. He didn't want to say it, much less think it, but she looked like she'd achieved complete satisfaction after the throes of passion. That was the Boy Scout way of putting it at least.

The next song was about to begin but in the momentary lull, Clark's mouth ran away from him and he broke the silence.

"Do you take requests?"

Lois' eyes shot open as the familiar voice became the familiar face standing in the doorway in front of her, clad in the familiar blue plaid shirt and jeans. His expression remained largely neutral, belying the faintest hint of a smirk.

"CLAAAAAARRRKK!" Lois gasped and screamed, tumbling backwards off the bed with a yelp to an undignified heap on the floor. Scrambling to get back up, hair flying everywhere, she dived for her CD player to cut off the opening bars of 'Fire Your Guns'.

Her face, already a light shade of rouge before, grew even redder through a combination of exhaustion, fury and humiliation. All of a sudden, the silence in the room was deafening.

"How did you get in here?!" she shouted.

Clark was no longer bothered about containing his smirk as he closed the door. Lois stared at him furiously as she reached for her hairbrush once more.

"I take it you've not checked your phone then?" he asked, causing her to look over to her phone on the bedside table. She grabbed it and flipped it open. Sure enough, there were three missed calls from one Clark Kent. One of the girls must have let him in after getting the puppy dog eyes no doubt.

"How long have you been standing there?" she grumbled as the colour in her cheeks slowly returned to normal. She was still breathing a little heavily.

Clark smiled wide. "Long enough to catch the whole performance, Lois."

Lois glared at him menacingly, obviously requesting an answer as to the reason for his presence in her room. He took the hint and began to explain.

"I was shopping for Chloe's birthday gift and since I was in town, I wanted to know what you were getting her."

Lois steadied her breathing and coached her features into something altogether friendlier and less worked up.

"So far, just a card. I don't have the budget to go all out but I wanna treat Chloe to a night out in Metropolis. Why, what did you buy?"

"A typewriter."

Lois staggered back in an exaggerated manner, wanting to mock Clark for choosing such an old-fashioned and frankly inappropriate birthday gift. Her demeanour now made it obvious to him that she was going to crank up the jibes.

"A typewriter?" she laughed. "You know these days they use this thing called a computer, right?"

Clark narrowed his eyes. "It's a typewriter just like the one used by her hero Nellie Bly."

That stopped Lois in her tracks. She was surprised at how thoughtful Clark's gift actually was. It must have been pretty expensive if it was as old as something Nellie Bly had once used. Lois knew a little bit about Nellie Bly herself so the significance of the typewriter was not lost on her. Her own gift idea now seemed more than a little bit lame. Maybe she could muscle in on Clark's gift and make it a joint affair?

"Uh…OK. You must have had to crack open that piggy bank to afford it right?"

Clark put his hands in his pockets as he stepped into the room properly. The risk of full-scale warfare by the General's daughter had now dissipated.

"I haggled with the guy at the store and got it down to a hundred and twenty bucks."

Lois' eyes went wide. "One twenty? Wow, looks like you went all out." Then fidgeting on her feet, she made her offer. "If I give you forty bucks, care to make it a joint gift?"

It was Clark's turn to look surprised. Lois actually wanted to share Chloe's present with him? He watched her continue to shuffle nervously, looking at him with a hint of hope in her eyes as she began to brush her hair once more. He raised his eyebrows, wordlessly challenging her for an explanation. She sighed and bit.

"My idea sucks, and I know she would love the typewriter. So how about it, Smallville?"

Clark thought about it and realised it made a lot of sense. He knew Chloe thought the world of both him and Lois so she would be chuffed if they got together to give her one great present. He had already gone over budget with his purchase and Lois' contribution meant he wouldn't have to find the extra $20. Nodding his head, he agreed to Lois' offer.

"Great!" she exclaimed.

He sensed there was a caveat to her offer, and it brought to mind their late-night conversation about a party in the barn. He had to cut her off at the pass before she jumped in and seized the opportunity to arrange a party.

"I'm picking it up tomorrow afternoon, so I can swing by if you want to come along," he started, making his way back out of the room. Turning round, he insisted, "Oh, and no party in the barn. I don't wanna give the wrong impression to the guy from Princeton."

As he left, they both knew she would try to put the party on anyway despite his constant protests and her constant badgering. She would resort to guilt-tripping if necessary.