Part Fourteen
Four hours ago Chloe Sullivan had bounced into The Talon, the image of the perfectly content High School Senior. She was young, beautiful, intelligent, she had got into College and had a full scholarship, things were going well at home and she had just finished an article that was going to give her career a kick start. She had her whole life ahead of her.
Now she was still sitting at her preferred table with her laptop open, but she couldn't seem to type anything. Well, that wasn't entirely true, she had spent the last four hours typing … and then deleting what she had typed. Well, that and drinking coffee. Writing the article itself had been nowhere near this hard. All she needed was a few simple lines that she could send to Lex and have done with him forever.
Once more she forced herself to concentrate and wrote, "Dear Lex", no he might misconstrue the dear. "Dear Mr Luthor", no, that sounded like she was being sarcastic, and she didn't want to call him dear whatever might follow it.
"Lex", yes that was an acceptable beginning.
"Please find attached a copy of the article I wrote about …" about what? Her investigation? She did not want to leave him out of it. Their mission? No, that might remind him of what they had done in the back of the car the night before. "What happened at your club?" That would do.
Now for the hard part, explaining why she was emailing him, she did not want to seem weak or as if she thought that the rich had the right to control everything.
"I have chosen to give you an advanced copy of my article as I do not wish what happened to adversely effect you in any manner", she typed. Yes, that would do nicely, but could be misunderstood. "If there is anything herein that seems like it could cause problems for any member of your security team please have your secretary inform me of the fact and I will consider reversing that part".
Now she just had to end it, "Chloe Sullivan", attach the document and press send. Once it was done she felt better. She had always intended to let Lex see the article before publishing just in case it could somehow compromise something else he was working on. She had felt that she owed him that much. He should have trusted her to do the right thing rather than just deleting her information, she had not been planning on putting Timmy's image in her piece, that was going to be for a separate piece when she found out his true identity, but had Lex asked her not to, then she would have backed off.
She drained the last of her coffee and was glad that she had had only one class first thing that day. She was not sure that she could have survived an entire day of classes when she had so much on her mind, at least tomorrow was the weekend. She could go shopping now that they were well off, she had a list as long as her arm of things that she coveted, starting with the bread maker she had wanted to get her father for his last birthday but hadn't been able to afford. She could go to the gold club if she wanted. She would do both, she decided, anything to keep her mind off Lex.
It was with a sigh that Chloe opened up her word document. She knew that she would have to transcribe the rest of the interview now that she had no more excuses to hide behind. It was always best to do these things when they were still fresh in the mind and she was damned if she was going to lose the only interview with Lex Luthor just because she now hated him and hadn't done her best work in the interview.
After Clark had separated them again – luckily not having heard Lex's last threat – they had had another crack at the interview, only to be interrupted by the breakfast that Lex had ordered before being brought in.
As Chloe had had her first coffee of the day, she promised herself that she would limit herself to the sugary sweet questions normally reserved for interviews. She would not let him get to her, or give him a chance to make good on his threat. Normally she would have felt up to dealing with Lex but with a sore ankle and tight skirt she was not sure how well she would do or how long it would take for Clark to realise what was going on and come to her rescue.
The recording continued.
"Now for the more standard questions, unless you don't feel up to another round?" Chloe crossed her legs in a business-like manner.
"I can last just as long as you can", Lex assured her.
"Not tiring at your advanced age?" She queried. She wished that she had a notepad with her, that way she would have an excuse to avoid looking at him.
"On the contrary, I find our verbal judo rather exhilarating", he looked smug. "What are your 'more standard' questions? What is my favourite breakfast cereal?"
"No, I already know that", Chloe answered, without thinking.
"Really? Do enlighten me", Lex looked highly amused.
Chloe could have kicked herself, why had she let him know that she had researched him so thoroughly? She took a breath, it would even more embarrassing to admit that and then to get the answer wrong. "It varies". That should suffice as a nice dodge.
"Go on".
Damn it!
"Your father always insisted that you ate porridge, so that is what you ate for breakfast all of your youth both at home and school. Porridge with raisins and semi-skimmed milk, to be more exact. I am not sure why he was so determined that you ate porridge, whether it was because of the Scottish ties or because oats are good for you", she started.
He nodded his head. "But that doesn't answer what my favourite is".
"Ever since you have come to Smallville you eat Jordan's nutty muesli. Still has all of the goodness of oats, but isn't what your father ordered you to eat".
"Close, but …"
"You didn't let me finish".
"My apologies".
"However during your college years you tried a variety of cereals, toasts, pop tarts etc. the ones with the least nutritional value were your favourites, in particular Captain Crunch".
"My goodness, you really did do your research. So you conclude that my favourite is …" He waited for her to fill in the blanks, and waited with glee to tell her that she was wrong.
"You don't like to eat in the morning, you like black coffee and that is it. You only eat at that time because it is what you are supposed to do. First to please your father, then to anger him by your choices, then just because it was the healthiest thing to do. "
"Impressive, although I am not sure how you got all of this information", Lex regretted that he wasn't going to be able to tell her that she was wrong, but couldn't help being impressed.
"Source confidentiality", she replied cheekily.
"Anything else to add?"
"You only like to eat early in the morning after working out - which you do when you can in the mornings, but more normally after work. You can tell when you haven't managed to get in a good work in a couple of days because your mood worsens", Chloe explained as if it were the most normal thing in the world to know these things.
"You notice when my mood worsens?" Lex asked.
Chloe did not deign to answer that. "When you have had chance to work out in the morning then you like muesli followed by an egg white omelette and you adore toast, it doesn't matter what is on it".
"I do like toast", he admitted. "But what questions you could possibly have left to ask me, I am not sure. You seem to know everything about me".
"No, not everything. I know facts and I can build up a picture from that and even guess what your favourites etc. might be but I don't really know what is going on inside your head", Chloe said.
"Are you sure that you want to?"
"Yes". She was annoyed at how earnest that came out sounding. She had just meant to make her point, not reveal anything about herself whilst doing so.
"Very well. Next question". This was a mistake, he shouldn't be letting her see anything about him, he had built up these walls for a reason. They were reinforced, no one had ever managed to tear them down, but this was the first time that anyone had ever just asked to be let in. He wondered why she even wanted to know more about him, would it really make her interview that much more interesting?
"Favourite p" she coughed uncontrollably as some coffee went down the wrong way.
"Chloe", Lex was on his feet in a second pouring her some orange juice from the tray set out on the coffee table and passing it over to her. Clark was patting her on the back and took the drink for her, after a few sips her equanimity was restored.
"Are you alright?" Lex checked.
"Yes", Chloe gasped.
Once she seemed to be breathing normally again, he asked, "Chloe, did you ask me what my favourite position was?"
"No", Chloe turned red. "I asked what your favourite place was. You know: country, city, sea side etc. You travel so much and always for business so it is hard to tell".
"Right", Lex said smirking. It wasn't clear whether it was because he didn't believe that was what she had really said, or whether he knew what she had said and just enjoyed her discomfort. "Nice to see that your spies don't tell you everything. I liked the suburbs, near enough the city for the amenities but far enough to have some fresh air and quiet."
"Right", Chloe nodded.
"What about you?"
She looked up in confusion; his question had caught her off guard. This wasn't how interviews were supposed to work but then she decided to answer him, she could not see any real reason not to do so. "I'm not sure, I have only really been here and Metropolis. I was beyond distraught when I first came here, but it grew on me".
"I know the feeling".
The look he gave her took her breath away. She forgot what she had been planning to ask him next. So she went for the incredibly boring one that she always read in teen magazines, "What and who would you take if you were stranded on a desert island? And why?"
"I was", Lex reminded her. She must have been flustered if she had forgotten that. He felt quite proud that he could have such an effect on her.
"Well, yes of course you were. And no one plans to get stranded, but …"
"But this is the question that everyone always asks. I suppose that I should be happy that it isn't one of the questions you came up with, I have a feeling that yours would be far more astute", he winked.
"I didn't ask you what your favourite position was, I did say place", Chloe protested.
"Sure you didn't", seeing her colour heighten even more, he took pity on her and said, "I would take Warrior Angel because he could build a shelter and get us off the island and a really beautiful woman … well I am sure that I don't have to go into the why for that one".
"No, although aren't you afraid that she might prefer Warrior Angel?" Chloe cheeked him.
"Good point", he grinned, "I will take an extra girl for him, Wonder Woman perhaps".
"And what things would you take?"
"Beautiful woman, secluded island … do you really need to ask?" He raised an eyebrow.
"No, I can imagine"
"I am sure you can", he said reminding her that he had seen her box. She went even redder. "But seeing as Clark here doesn't appear to be able to, I will supply: a bed, condoms and a nutella".
"A bed? How conservative of you", Chloe scoffed causing Lex to raise his eye brows at her before taking a his pan au chocolat.
"Oh", he groaned, "this is good. You have got to try one, this could become my new favourite". He passed the plate to Chloe – Clark already had one.
Chloe tried to suppress her last memory of chocolate and him. "No, thank-you", she turned it down although it did look tempting.
Lex's brow furrowed, she clearly wanted it so why wouldn't she take it? Was this her reluctance to take things from him again?
"I won't answer another question until you answer try it", he insisted.
"Fine", Chloe said and took the pastry and bit into it. "Oh God", she whimpered, "this really is good". The effect of her words were clear on both Lex and Clark but she could not supress the moan of pleasure as she took her second bite and her eyes drifted closed.
"Sorry, I didn't quite catch that".
Shaking herself a little, Chloe tried to cover, "I asked, which do you prefer, pears or apples?"
Lex snorted, that wasn't even a believable cover and they both knew it … but he would allow it. "Pears", there were some on the tray so he took one and bit into its soft flesh slowly and licked the juice from his fingers and lips.
"Figures that you would opt for the more pliant, sweet fruit", Chloe said under her breath trying to take her eyes off his movements.
"What about you?"
"I prefer apples, I like the bite and resistance", Chloe took a piece of fruit herself and bit into it. She was pleased with the muffled groan she heard, even if it was from the wrong man.
"Resistance?" Lex chuckled, "We are back to favourite positions".
"We were never on favourite positions, that was just in your filthy excuse for a mind", Chloe protested.
"Something tells me that you could probably match me".
"Lex, I could out do you in every aspect".
Lex's eyebrows shot up passed where his hairline should have been. But before he could come up with a comeback, Chloe remembered what her next question was meant to have been. "You have been accused of being a pompous ass who was promoted above himself just because of whose son you are".
"Glad to see that we are keeping things civil", he didn't look particularly offended.
"So, if you hadn't had your future decided for you what would you have done?" She asked, hoping that he would answer this one. He had promised to answer any direct question after all, and that was direct.
"Well that is a question that I have never been asked before", he was touched that she cared. "I loved science so if I had had the choice I would have liked to have studied that further but I am not sure what career that would have led to. Satisfied?" He couldn't resist asking. Why was it that every time he might be about to make some progress, he had to sabotage it?
"I suppose so".
"Shall we take a break before the breakfast gets cold?" Lex asked, thinking that he could use a break if he was going to go another few rounds with Chloe. Or to be more precise, if he was going to go through another few rounds that wouldn't end up with passionate sex on the coffee table.
Chloe looked over at Clark.
"Sounds good to me".
Food seemed to be the trick to keeping everyone civil, as the interview went quite well after that until it was time to go.
"And I have one last question", Chloe said, checking her watch; they still had some time before they had to get to school. "What's your favourite book?"
Lex pondered the question for a few seconds, he supposed that he should say something like The Art of War or The Prince but couldn't actually think that of the last book that he had read for pleasure rather than for instruction, until it came to him.
"I can't remember the name and I didn't read of it but it was set in 19th century England and it focuses on …."
"Oh dear, we seem to be out of time", Chloe cut him off.
"I hope that I have answered all of your questions", Lex said politely, but smiled evilly.
"Yeah, the only one left was 'What's your favourite colour?'" She stood to leave and Clark nodded to say that he was going to go on ahead and bring his car around to the front door. He felt awkward, how was he supposed to take his leave of Lex?
"Blonde", came Lex's response without hesitation, the second that the door had closed after Clark. She looked shocked and then annoyed, how dare he play with her again after what he had done? She was about to storm out. Lex should just let her go, let her be but he couldn't. "You didn't answer my question though".
"What question would that have been?" Chloe asked as she bent to pick up her phone.
Dare he ask it? It was likely to get him slapped but at least that would be some form of physical contact.
"Whether or not you have been spanked".
A range of emotions played across Chloe's features before she seemed to settle on one. She took two steps over to him so she was standing in between his legs. She allowed his eyes to travel up her body before she leant over him, one hand on each of his shoulders, she was so close now that she could smell his aftershave and was sure that he could feel her breath on his neck.
"If you have to ask that, then you didn't get as far through my box as I thought".
It had been a reasonable parting shot and Chloe should have felt pleased with herself, but she didn't, she just felt empty.
She had been attracted to Lex from the first moment that she had laid eyes on him, but had always just dismissed it as a school girl crush - something that she would get over, given time. She had eagerly listened to Clark's conversation, waiting for a mention of his best friend, she had had to school her features every time she had seen the billionaire. She would have died of embarrassment if he had ever known how she felt about him, she was just the annoying friend of his best friend.
It was only last summer that she had dared to dream, not that he would ever return her feelings but that he might see her if not as a friend then at least as someone who could be useful to him. The way that he had treated her since her return had told her that she had been wrong about that but she had still not been heartbroken because she had never known what she was missing but last night she had been in his arms, she had kissed him and he had revealed that he cared about her. For a few wonderful hours she had believed that maybe he felt some fraction of what she felt for him, for her, but he hadn't.
He didn't see her as a woman, he saw her as a little girl who didn't know what she was doing. He had only said that he was worried about her to comfort her as one would a child. If he trusted her then he wouldn't have deleted the pictures.
Everything that he had said to her in the last two days had been a lie, every time that he had made her feel special had just been manipulation. Or had it? She couldn't help it; even now she couldn't keep her emotions straight. Sometimes she thought that he might really care, but then she had to force herself to remember the photo.
No, Lex didn't care but what was worse, he knew that she cared about him and had used that against her. She had been a fool and she hated him for making her feel like that.