Thank you so much everyone for the lovely reviews! Hope you enjoy this next part!
Clark just stood there, every single one of his senses in a daze. He was thankful Chloe hadn't decided to come in the kitchen door, or it would have been awkward, to say the least. Actually, it was a lot awkward in the vicinity of his zipper right now, and rather painful, too. With a grimace, he quickly adjusted himself just before Chloe came around the corner.
"Hey, I was just calling you. Didn't you hear me?" she said with an arch look.
Was it his imagination or had she placed a little too much emphasis on the word 'hear'? She'd been dropping all kinds of weird hints like that lately, and it was making him nervous. He stared at her dumbly, still half-lost in his memory of kissing Lois.
"Hel-LO! Earth to Kent!" Chloe said with a frown, as she wiggled her fingers a couple of times in his face. "What is wrong with you? And where's Lois, I thought you gave her a ride home?"
"Lois!" God, had his voice really squeaked like that? "She...I mean we...um...Lois and I...the thing is...we sorta had a...uh...confrontation..."
Chloe frowned. "Oh, Clark, she was pretty irritated about the whole showing up in a dress thing, wasn't she? I hope you didn't give her a hard time about it."
Not nearly as hard a time as I wanted to give her, Clark thought before he could stop himself. Once again, he tried to remember all the reasons he was supposed to dislike Lois Lane, and again, not a single one came to mind.
"Clark!" Chloe said with growing irritation.
"What?" he asked. He was getting fairly irritable himself.
"Did you do something to Lois?"
"What? What do you mean?" Clark asked, his eyes widening in panic. Way to be subtle there, Kent, he thought in disgust.
"Did you say something mean to her? Where is she anyway?"
"As if me saying something mean to Lois would matter, Chloe. In case you've never noticed, she's the one who always gives me a hard time." In more ways than one tonight…oh, God, I've got to get my mind out of the gutter! "And she, uh, went to bed already. She had a headache," he lied, hoping that would prevent Chloe from wanting to talk to her tonight. Who knew what Lois might have to say about what had just happened between the two of them?
"A headache? I saw the two of you leaving the dance and she seemed fine then."
"Well, I guess it was the, um, the whole Dawn thing. I think it, er, scrambled her brains a little bit."
Chloe gave him her 'You are the world's worst liar' look. "Dawn possessed both of us, too, Clark. Do you have a headache? I don't have a headache, although my cheek is a little sore from that super slap you laid on me."
Guilt washed over Clark in a crushing wave and he gave Chloe a horrified look. "I am SO sorry about that, Chlo! You know hurting you is the last thing I'd ever want to do."
"You already apologized, Clark, you don't have to do it again. But to get back to the point, why would Lois have a headache when neither of us do?"
"Dawn was in her body longer than she was in either of us. Maybe that had something to do with it."
"Maybe…" Chloe said, still showing him her most skeptical expression. "Are you sure you're all right? You're looking just a bit pale, almost shocky."
"Well, it's been kind of a shocky night, hasn't it?" Clark said, with a weak attempt at a smile. "And you know what, I'm really kind of tired myself, so would you mind if we talked about whatever you needed to talk about tomorrow?"
"That'd be okay, I guess. I only wanted to discuss the whole 'Dawn Stiles as a body-snatcher' scenario, try to start getting preliminaries for a Torch article."
"Damn, Chloe, that couldn't have waited until tomorrow?" Clark asked irritably, thinking that he could still be kissing Lois right now if she weren't so pushy. He immediately felt guilty for his sharp words and the unkindness of his internal attitude towards his best friend.
Chloe stiffened and looked at him with hurt in her eyes.
Clark stifled a groan and said, "Chloe, I-"
"I'm so sorry to have bothered you, Mr. Kent. Maybe you'd be willing to give the press a statement at a later date when you're feeling better," she said coldly, before spinning around to stride out of the room, slamming the front door behind her.
Clark winced at the noise, and thought that he was surely developing a headache now if he hadn't had one before. Great, now I have two apologies to make…
With one last hesitant look up the stairs where Lois was no doubt sleeping soundly, Clark decided that it would probably be a good idea to sleep in the Fortress tonight.
When Clark woke the next morning, he wondered for just a second what he was doing in the loft. Then he remembered the disastrous ending to the prom the night before. Somehow, he'd managed to get both Lois and Chloe angry at him, and if his luck continued the way it had been lately, Lana was probably not too happy with him either. Heck, for all he knew, his mom and dad were peeved at him for something or other. Sometimes it just didn't pay to be Clark Kent.
With a groan, he pulled the pillow from under his head and smushed it onto his face. He wondered if he'd be able to get away with hiding out here until everyone forgot his very existence.
"Clark!"
Apparently not today.
"Yeah, Dad, I'm up!" he hollered back after removing the pillow. Glancing at his watch, he grimaced when he saw that he'd overslept by almost an hour. Now he'd have to rush, even with super speed, to get his morning chores done.
"I know you were up late last night, Son, but you need to get a move on now. This is still a working farm, you know!"
"Yeah, yeah, I know. 'The cows won't feed themselves.' Unfortunately," Clark muttered under his breath. "I'm on it, Dad! I'll be down in a minute," he called loud enough for his father to hear him.
At least it was Saturday, which meant no school, which meant that he hopefully wouldn't have to face Chloe's wrath for two more days. Of course, that didn't mean he'd be lucky enough to be able to dodge Lois. She lived in the same house with him, after all. She was probably already hogging the shower and all the hot water.
Oh, bad idea to be thinking of Lois in the shower, he realized, especially since it made the memory of that amazing kiss slam into his brain like a runaway freight train. He wasn't altogether sure that he wanted to avoid Lois. The remembered feelings of their groping session went straight to his groin. He'd been infatuated with Lana for so long, he was a little surprised to have this intense reaction to someone else…and for it to be Lois, of all people! Still, no one could deny the girl was incredibly attractive. Clark realized he was going to have to take care of his problem before he even thought about chores.
He gave a quick scan around the farm to see where everyone was. Dad's behind the barn, working on the tractor; Mom's in the kitchen, hopefully making breakfast; and Lois…whoa, Lois is in the shower! His problem immediately became ten times worse and hard as a rock. Clark groaned and took one long look before his conscience kicked in and he switched back to normal vision.
Gritting his teeth, he lay back down on the couch that served for his bed. At least he'd stripped down to just his boxers before he laid down last night, so there wasn't a lot of clothing to push aside, which meant that he could get this taken care of as quickly as possible. Clark couldn't imagine anything more mortifying than being caught jerking off by his mom or dad. Now, if Lois should happen to wander in… And thoughts like that only helped as he brought himself to swift climax with a grunt.
He sighed as he collapsed into a relaxed heap, one hand still slowly stroking his softening cock. After giving it one final squeeze, he reached under the couch for the pack of baby wipes he had stashed there. He cleaned up his mess, and then incinerated the used wipe with his heat vision, just to get rid of all the evidence. Thankfully, he'd started keeping a couple changes of clothes in the loft, so he didn't have to worry about walking back to the house in his crumpled tuxedo, or worse, just his boxers. Hmm, wonder if Lois would like to see me in just my boxers? he mused as he got dressed.
Clark managed to avoid Lois as he inhaled a quick breakfast, because he wasn't sure he wanted to face her just yet. Thoughts of the Kent's infuriating, intriguing houseguest wandered through his mind all morning as he went about his chores.
Clark feared he was becoming a bit obsessed.
Even though the idea of facing Lois over the kiss they'd shared excited Clark, he chickened out and managed to avoid being alone with her the rest of the weekend. It wasn't really that difficult as she seemed to be avoiding him as well. They'd had to face each other during mealtimes, but studiously avoided meeting each other's eye for two whole days.
Clark worried that his mom, with her mother's ESP, would know immediately that something was up between the two of them, but other than some curious looks, she didn't say anything. He thanked goodness for the short reprieve, because come Monday morning, he knew he was going to get the third degree from Chloe. That is, if she didn't freeze him out entirely.
Clark really hated having to apologize to Chloe and it was something that he seemed to have to do far too often. He didn't have a clue what he should do about Chloe. He loved her dearly, but he knew it wasn't, nor was it ever going to be, the way that she wanted him to. Clark wasn't nearly as oblivious as everyone thought he was in regards to Chloe's feelings. He was just paralyzed with fear as to what to do about the situation.
Since Pete left Smallville, Chloe was his oldest friend. Sometimes it seemed as though she was the only one who really understood him, and that was without her knowing his secret. Although, with the odd comments she'd been making lately… Clark gave a sigh of frustration, wondering why everything in his life had to be so confusing.
There was Chloe, wanting him to feel things he didn't; Lois, stirring feelings in him that he wasn't sure he wanted to have; Lana, confounding him from one moment to the next with conflicting signals; his parents, whom he loved so much and feared disappointing yet again; and Lex…
Well, Lex was a whole chapter of Clark's life unto himself. He wanted so badly to trust the enigmatic billionaire whose life he'd saved, but something kept holding Clark back. He still cared about Lex, and treasured the friendship they'd forged, as unlikely as it had been.
Clark's disappointment upon seeing how fascinated Lex really was with his secrets was devastating. They'd made some small steps towards rebuilding the friendship, but Clark still caught Lex looking at him sometimes with that almost fanatical gleam in his eyes. He worried about Lex constantly, that he was truly becoming more like Lionel every day.
The whole ordeal with the stones was just a mess. Clark didn't know what he was supposed to do about the fact that he had only one of the three. He had no idea where to look for the other two, which was probably why he tried to think about it as little as possible. Not to mention the fact that his dad had told him not to get involved with the stones at all. Of course, his other father was pushing him to get very involved and find the stones immediately.
All of this weighed heavily on his mind as he stalled Monday morning to be sure that he'd miss the bus, just in case Chloe didn't drive her car for some reason. He was going to put off facing her until the last possible moment that he had to. If that made him a coward, well, call him a coward then. Sometimes he really wished he could go back to the time before his parents had told him that he was an alien. At least then he could pretend to be somewhat normal.
He made it until lunch break and then he knew he couldn't put Chloe off any longer. Lana had cornered him right after their English class and apologized prettily for running out on him on the dance floor. Clark was surprised to find himself more annoyed than upset with her. He wasn't sure if she could tell what he was thinking or not, but she did give him a quizzical look before he managed to escape.
His feet felt like they were slogging through cement as he made his way towards the Torch office. A quick x-ray of the room confirmed that she was there and alone. He was grateful for that, as Clark really didn't relish having to beg for forgiveness in front of an audience.
He poked his head around the door and watched for a moment as she sat typing away at her computer, her face frowning in concentration. Once again, he wished that he could feel for her what she felt for him. That would make one tiny part of his life easier, at least. Taking a deep breath to fortify himself, he stepped into the room.
"Hi, Chloe," he said, with a weak little wave and what he hoped was a bright smile, though he feared it was probably closer to a grimace.
She glanced up at him and simply stared. "Clark," she said, her tone as frosty as her gaze.
Oh, yeah, Clark had some major kissing up to do here.
"I, uh, I just want to say I'm sorry for being short with you the night of the prom, Chlo. I was really tired and I know that's no excuse, but you know as well as I do, that being possessed by Dawn Stiles would be enough to wear anyone down, and are you feeling okay? No, er, lasting effects or anything?"
Okay, as apologies went, that was probably wasn't one of his better ones, but he hoped he'd at least got the message across. She didn't say anything for what seemed like an eternity to him.
"I'm fine, thanks. Yet somehow, I still managed to be polite even though I was quite tired at the time, too," she said, testily.
"I know, I know. I'm really sorry. But to, ah, make it up to you, I already typed up an article on what happened at the prom. I figure you've probably already got something, but maybe you can use what I wrote in your article, which is no doubt way better than what I wrote," he said.
He tried the bright smile again and held out a folder with the story he'd written late Sunday night. Nothing like a little bribery – and flattery - to get yourself back in your editor's good graces.
She gave him an exasperated look, but a tiny smile curled up the corner of her mouth.
"Now you're just sounding pathetic, Clark."
"I am, I really am. But you know you want to read it anyway, if only to correct all my horrible grammar, right?"
And now he pulled out the big guns, the one thing that Chloe could never resist. The Kent puppy-dog eyes. He'd practiced this in the mirror in the boys bathroom before he came in the room, so he hoped it would work.
She melted and gave him a big Chloe grin before she reached out to snatch the folder from him, whacking his hand with it before she brought it to the desk in front of her to open it. Clark breathed a quiet sigh of relief as he realized that meant he was forgiven. He really couldn't stand to have Chloe mad at him for too long. Sometimes it seemed like she was the only real friend he had left.
Clark just sat there smiling quietly as she corrected his article, brutally ripping apart his overuse of commas, but giving him a little nudge to the ego by telling him that the overall thing wasn't too bad. The rest of the school day flew by in comparison to how the pre-apology time had crept along. Before he knew it, he was zipping towards the loft at home to do a bit of homework before getting started on his afternoon chores.
Of course, he still had Lois to face. Clark thought maybe one apology a day was enough and decided he'd put Lois off for a little bit longer. He hadn't counted on Lois herself though. Normally she would have continued to avoid him like the plague, but to his surprise, she was waiting on him in the loft. Clark took a moment to be grateful that he'd cut off the super speed at the end of the driveway.
"Ah, Lois…I, um, hadn't expected to see you here. Didn't you have the afternoon shift at the Talon today?" he stammered, his body already reacting to seeing her. He shifted as unobtrusively as he could, hoping she wouldn't notice.
She seemed to be concentrating fiercely on whatever it was she wanted to say, because she barely looked at him before she began talking.
"Look, Smallville, we need to talk about Friday night," she said, her tone deadly serious.
"Do we have to?" Clark blurted out.
She turned a disgusted glare in his direction briefly before whipping her head back around to begin what was looking to be a lecture. From LOIS, of all people! Incredibly, Clark saw that right before she'd turned her gaze away from him, her eyes had quickly flickered down his body to his crotch! She had been thinking about what happened that night just as much as he had.
Clark smirked as he listened to her blather on for a few minutes about how sometimes people read things into kisses that weren't there, how sometimes people got caught up in a moment and it didn't mean anything, not really. He thought it sounded a bit like she was more trying to convince herself than she was him.
"So, you see what I'm talking about here, Kent? This little lapse of good sense doesn't have to affect our friendship at all, as long as you realize that nothing like that is ever going to happen again, and keep your lips as far away from my lips as possible."
With that, she crossed her arms over her chest and gave a decisive nod, as though that ended the whole conversation as far as she was concerned. Well, that didn't suit Clark at all. He'd been thinking about that kiss all weekend, damn it, and he decided he wasn't going to just let it go. He was tired of all the females in his life walking all over him. It was time he stood up for himself.
"No, Lois, I don't think I see what you're talking about at all," he said calmly, and took a step towards her.
Lois was leaning back against the rail at the top of the stairs. At his response, her mouth dropped open and her arms fell slackly to her sides. That must not have been what she was expecting. Clark decided that he liked being unpredictable for once, and took another couple steps forward until he was standing right in front of her.
She leaned back a little, gaping at him in astonishment, and he leaned forward, bracing his hands on the rail on either side of her, so that she was trapped between his arms.
"Clark," she said, her voice flat. "What the hell are you doing?"
Clark's courage quailed a little, but he bolstered it back up quickly. He really had no idea where this fortitude was coming from, and briefly wondered if Lois was wearing Red K somewhere on her body, but he mentally shook himself and soldiered on.
"I think I'd like to discuss it a little bit more," he said quietly. "And by discuss, I mean I'd like to kiss you again." He gave her a lazy smile and was pleased to hear her heart rate jump.
"I don't, um, think that's a good idea," she mumbled.
"Well, I think you're wrong," he murmured, right before he leaned all the way forward and kissed her again. His mouth found hers as though there were a homing device attached to it, and Clark thought that no other kiss in the world could be as perfect as this one was.
Lois was frozen in shock for a long moment before she moaned softly and pitched towards him, wrapping both arms around his neck and yanking him closer. Clark was lost in the blissful world of Lois's kiss, his arms instinctively enfolding her and pressing her body tightly against his. It was just as good as the kiss on the kitchen stairs had been and Clark wished that it would never end.
Clark could tell the exact moment that Lois came to her senses. She stiffened in his arms and her mouth pulled away from his. Her horrified gaze held his slightly dazed one for a second and then her body shifted. It took Clark about half a second to realize that she was trying to do a judo flip on him. He decided he'd better go with it before Lois broke her hip on his unmoving body.
Clark allowed himself to be slammed flat on his back onto the wooden floor of the loft, and then lay there as Lois planted one foot on his chest and glared down at him. He just gave her a goofy grin, which seemed to infuriate her even more.
"Listen up, Kent, and listen good! There will be no more kissage between you and me. None whatsoever. I don't even want a chaste little mistletoe cheek kiss at Christmas from you, got it?"
"Why, Lois, are you trying to say that you didn't enjoy that, not even one little bit?" Clark teased. Really, he had no idea where he was digging up this sudden courage, but he decided that he definitely liked having Lois Lane off balance.
"No, I did not, Smallville! And like I said, it'd better not happen again, or I will be forced to drill you a few new holes where you didn't have any before," she growled.
"I think you're lying, Lois," Clark smirked up at her.
Her foot pressed a little harder against his chest, and if he'd been human, Clark was sure that high heel on her boot would have been pretty painful by now. Luckily, she seemed too incensed over his taunt to notice, but Clark winced a little just in case.
"And just how would you know that, Clarkie," she asked, stressing the nickname she knew he hated the most.
His grin turned decidedly evil as he leered at her chest. "Your nipples are hard, Lois. How'd that happen if you weren't enjoying yourself?"
Lois gasped in indignation, and finally removed her boot from his chest. She took a stumbling step backwards, wrapping one arm protectively around the nipples in question, not that it stopped him from seeing anything. Of course, she didn't realize that, but Clark was feeling very Kal-like right now…so he kept on looking.
"Clark Kent, you…you…stop looking at me like that!" she said, extremely flustered.
Clark's grin became wider as he realized that Lois had probably never been so disconcerted in the entire time he'd known her. He switched back to normal vision just in time to see her aim a kick at his side with those pointy-toed boots and he jerked away to prevent her from breaking her toe. He was laughing at the angry look on her face when she evidently decided that it was better to retreat.
She whirled around in a marvelous display of pique and stomped down the loft stairs. Just to be really annoying, Clark called out to her as she did so.
"Bye, Lois! It was nice talking to you!"
A muffled shriek of outrage drifted back up to him as she continued out the barn doors. Clark remained where he was for several minutes, remembering the kiss, and grinning like a loon. Maybe there was something to be said for letting his Kal side out every now and then. He had the feeling that something very special had begun between him and Lois and he couldn't wait for the next round.
TBC