He saw her from across the bar.
A broken Clark sat at his usual spot at the bar that he had been going to everyday for several months now; eight months to be exact. Even though it was late on a Sunday night, the bar was surprisingly the opposite from being empty. It was a small bar in the city of Metropolis, but usually stayed vacant throughout most of the week besides weekends. The bartender already knew his name and had a glass of Bourbon already sitting out for him before he even sat down, so that's another reason why he kept coming to this bar.
Usually he wouldn't bother to even glance in the direction of other customers inside the bar, but this young girl caught his attention particularly because he spotted a flash of red hair before he saw her, which for a brief second made his mind conjure up an imagine of Lois and her beautiful red locks. His blood instantly ran cold.
But it seemed everything now a days would remind him of Lois. A vivid picture of her would always cloud his thoughts, even after many months had passed since her death.
The girl with the red hair sat straight across the bar from him, clearly feeling the effects of the several drinks she's had as she converses and giggles with her other friend sitting down with her.
Honora Hollis briefly scrunched up her face as she finished her sixth tequila shot. She shook her head and coughed, wondering why she ever let her friend persuade her in having one quick drink at the bar on a late Sunday night, knowing damn well they never just have one drink whenever they're together and there's alcohol involved. But today was a special occasion.
"You know what, fuck him. You can find someone else so much better," her friend Serena took the empty glass shot and slid it along with the other ones for the bartender to pick up while signaling for another order. "And I think I see him right now." She slyly remarked.
Honora furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "Huh? What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about that gorgeous hunk with the dreamy eyes that's totally been eyeing you over there," Serena wiggled her eyebrows and nudged her head towards the other side of the bar.
Honora stifled a snort, moving her finger across the rim of the shot glass. "What hunk?" She decided to entertain her friend by rolling her eyes and glancing over towards the direction she was insinuating. As soon as her gaze met with a pair of ocean blue orbs, her breath suddenly got caught in her throat by temporarily getting mesmerized by his beauty.
Serena totally wasn't kidding when she meant gorgeous hunk.
As soon as their gazes met however, he slowly looked away and back down at his glass of Bourbon. As he took another swig of it she could swear she saw a tinge of sadness in his eyes. Maybe it could just be her imagination, but he looked like a damaged man fighting some serious demons. Perhaps it was just a broken heart or something more. But then again, as she took a better glance around the bar it seemed like there was every person going through some demons one way or another.
Much like she was, she thought as she pulled away her gaze from the man and thought about her piece of shit ex boyfriend again, which was the reason why she was drinking here in the first place.
A sound notification from a phone interrupted her grim thoughts. She pulled out her phone to check if it was hers but then forgot she had silenced it because she decided she didn't want to be be bothered by that said piece of shit ex boyfriend.
Serena pulled out her phone to check her text messages before the bartender arrived with the two extra tequila shots.
"Damn it, you've got to be kidding me." Serena exclaimed.
Honora reached over for another shot and drank it down before scrunching up her face again and sighing. "What is it?"
"I completely forgot about that last minute project I had with my study group. It's due first thing in the morning and we haven't got any of it done yet," Serena responded with a groan. She massaged her temples and reached for her wallet to set the money on the counter. "I'm really sorry Nor, I'm gonna have to bail on you. Think you can get home okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'll be fine." Honora smiled and waved her off. "I'll have your other shot since you're leaving then." Just as she was about to reach over for it, Serena immediately swiped it from out of her grasp and drank it down herself.
Honora gave out a dramatic gasp.
As soon as she was finished, Serena smirked and set it down next to her empty one. "No more drinking for you, young lady. Seriously, I don't want you getting wasted drunk by yourself and then ending up in some rapist or serial killer's house the next morning."
"Okay, mom."
"Jeez, you're already drunk aren't you?" Serena smirked with a raised eyebrow.
"No, I'm not. I promise I'm not drunk. I'll be fine, just go." Honora reassured.
"Okay, but text me when you get home then. I'll see you in class tomorrow!" Serena blew her a quick kiss.
"No I don't have class tomorrow because I have that internship remember?" Honora started to say, but it fell on deaf ears since Serena had already left the bar. "Oh my god never mind, I'm talking to myself."
She heard possibly the softest of chuckles from across the bar beside her, causing her to look over and notice the hot guy she was staring at earlier had the faintest smile plastered on his face, which was a change since he had seemed to only have a solemn frown what she had seen so far.
"You have a cute laugh."
Honora's eyes widened as soon as she realized she had said that out loud. Maybe she has had too much to drink.
His smile widened, but the second it grew it quickly as faded away back to a straight line as something else seemed to have occupy his thoughts. This caused Honora to immediately retreat her gaze back to her small purse and strap it over her shoulder. She cleared her throat and stepped off the bar stool to make a break for the restroom.
After making a quick trip to the toilet to pee after all those shots she'd consumed, she went to the sink to wash her hands and look at herself in the mirror to give her hair a quick fix and make sure her makeup was still in check. Once she left the restroom and started walking back to the bar, she suddenly felt her vision begin to spin and the seven shots of tequila she had were finally starting to actually kick in. She tried to just shake it off but her dreaded five inch high stiletto heels made it impossible to maintain balance and she soon found herself wobbling to the side until someone caught her by the arm.
"Don't worry, I got you sweetheart."
She turned to look at one of the drunken men from the bar holding onto her arm, flashing her a toothy grin.
"Say, why don't you and me get out of here. What do you think?" He pulled her closer towards his chest, making her turn her head away in revulsion from feeling his hot breath against her neck which reeked of alcohol.
"I don't think that's a good idea," she muttered.
"Aw come on, don't be like that." The man smirked, only tightening his grip on her arm until she quickly pulled out of his grasp and took a few steps back. "Let go of me," she furrowed her eyebrows in anger.
The man was about to approach her again until Clark stood up from the bar and intervened between the two. He stood in front of Honora and placed a hand on the man's shoulder, as if to give him a warning.
"That's enough," He gritted his teeth.
Seeing Clark's troubled yet potentially dangerous gaze, the man decided to quickly back off. "Whatever, bitch. Your loss." He waved his hand and scoffed under his breath before retreating back to the bar to lurk on other potential young women that happened to be nearby.
"Goodbye asshole," Honora giggled, briefly leaning against the wall so that she could fix her shoe.
Clark glared at the retreating man before pulling out some cash out of his wallet to leave on the bar counter. "I'm heading out for the night. Thank you, George." He called out to the older middle-aged bartender who was currently cleaning up some glasses. He responded with a brief nod and tip of the head. "See you again soon, Clark."
He normally wouldn't do things like this anymore but he couldn't let the girl walk back home by herself. Especially since she clearly currently seemed to be intoxicated.
"I'm going to take you back home, is that alright?" Clark began to say, but once he turned his gaze over to her she wasn't there anymore. He scanned around the room for any sign of her until he heard the front door close and spotted her through the window walking outside.
Honora folded her arms across her chest to shield from the cold breeze of air outside, wishing now she had wore a thicker jacket. She kept her gaze on the floor and carefully watched where she stepped to make sure she wouldn't trip and fall, but more and more her ankles began to wobble with each step she took.
"Stupid stilettos," she muttered.
She heard the sound of a door opening behind her along with approaching footsteps but she continued to ignore it until she felt someone place a hand on her shoulder. Thinking it was just another pervert, she turned around and pulled out a can of pepper spray from her purse, fully prepared use it on the man's face until her gaze was met with the same pair of dreamy blue eyes that belonged to the hunk who had saved her a few seconds ago.
"Oh, it's just you." She chuckled and put away her pepper spray. "I thought you were some other pervert, sorry."
He offered her a questionable look at the can of spray, but felt relieved she didn't have a chance to use it or else he might've accidentally released his lasers on her.
"Sorry if I scared you, I just wanted to help you get home safe."
Honora raised an eyebrow, holding her bag closer to her waist in case she actually did need the pepper spray again. "Why should I trust you? Just because you're hot - shit, I mean, you're just a stranger, is what I mean." She mumbled.
Clark smiled at her and glanced at the floor as he kept on walking beside her. "You're absolutely right. Where are my manners, I'm Clark. Clark Kent," He stopped walking and met gazes with her once again as he exchanged his hand towards her.
She stopped walking and slowly took his offered hand to give it a small handshake. Once his large hand clasped around her small one, she was surprised by how strong a grip he had."I'm Honora. Honora Hollis, it's nice to meet you Clark Kent."
"Likewise," Clark pulled his hand away and hid them in his pockets as he continued to walk beside her, making sure to keep close to catch her if she lost her footing again but still remaining a safe distance out of her personal bubble to avoid putting her on edge. "So, how long have you lived in Metropolis?" He asked, trying to make small talk which he hadn't had much experience with for a while now, so he mentally kicked himself at how blunt the question may have sounded.
"Um, for about three years now. I just came here for college-" She started to say as she fumbled with her purse in search of her apartment keys after she suddenly remembered something.
"Shoot! My keys!"
"What is it? Did you leave them back at the bar?" Clark inquired.
"No," Honora groaned. "I left them in my friend's purse." She pulled her phone out of her bag which was currently below five percent on battery. She gave herself a small mental note to never leave anything in a friend's purse, especially something as important as house keys. That or get a bigger purse, because as far as she was concerned the only thing that could fit in there was her phone and her wallet. She hummed and stopped to lean against a pole street light once they waited at the end of the street for the walk sign to turn on, as she dialed Serena's number. It rang several times before sending her to voicemail.
"Damn it, Serena." She grumbled, touching her forehead for a brief second. What she needed right now was an Advil or something...maybe if she went to the nearest cvs pharmacy. Without thinking, she stepped out into the street but was suddenly pulled back by Clark once a car zoomed past them with a furious honk.
She giggled, mumbling a quick "sorry" as she fell back against the street light pole.
Clark sighed and muttered a curse under his breath. The only option he could think of right now was to just take her back to his apartment, grant it, they only just met and it was a rather far walk from here. He only wished he could just pick up the intoxicated girl and fly to his apartment, it would make this situation a whole lot easier.
But nothing was ever easy, for him at least.
As he began to space out like he usually did, Honora tilted her head in confusion before slowly approaching him.
"Hey, are you okay? You look all gloomy again."
Once the walk light finally turned green, Clark brushed away his thoughts to snap out of it. He forced a small smile at the girl. "I'm fine."
A lie he constantly repeated to not only himself, but everyone around him.
As they crossed the street and headed further out into the city, he softly held onto her arm to keep her balanced while she walked beside him. In the meantime he continued to ask her more questions about her life, to which of course she happily spilled out with every detail since that's what intoxicated people do.
Clark found himself feeling content. Just listening to someone talk to him as cars zoomed past the streets and as they walked through the liveliness of the city.
For once, he found a temporary escape from his tormented mind. Even though it was only for a short amount of time.
