Cool – Ninth Chapter
Just outside the Beanery
Lex walked out of the Beanery and saw Clark standing outside the window. He walked up to him and saw that he was staring at Lana. Lex smiled. "You know, she's free tomorrow night. Hey, Clark." Clark turned to look at him. Lex continued, "This is the perfect time to ask her out. And..." Lex grinned at him. "I happen to know for a fact that her best friend likes you much better than she likes Lana's current boyfriend."

Clark half-smiled at him and said dryly, "See, that's the thing Lex. She has a boyfriend."

Lex exhaled loudly and said, "A high school boyfriend isn't a husband Clark. He's an obstacle. You know, I bet if you ask Lana to go with you to the Radiohead concert in Metropolis tomorrow, she'll say yes."

Clark looked at Lex suspiciously. "And if she says yes... what then?"

"I'll give you the tickets."

Clark frowned in confusion. "Why are you doing this?"

"You're like the younger brother I never had. I figure someone should benefit from my experience."

Clark grinned hugely. "You do realize, that if I'm your brother, that makes Rory your sister?" Lex glared at him. Clark continued, "Seriously Lex, you're all over me for not asking Lana out, but you've never said anything to Rory!"

Lex glared daggers at Clark (as opposed to just normal glaring.) "That, my young padawan, is because Rory has A) a nice boyfriend who she seems to like a lot and B) an extremely overprotective father and brother!"

"I would be perfectly happy if you went out with Rory. And besides, Lana likes Whitney a lot too."

"Yeah, but Whitney's not nice."

"Returning to the original topic..." Clark gazed longingly through the glass at Lana. "I can't just ask her out."

"The hardest thing in the world is telling the girl you love that you like her." Lex watched as Clark bit his lip, unable to decide. "I'll raise the bet. You ask her in the next sixty second, you get the tickets, and I'll throw in a round-trip limo ride, starting now."

Clark scowled at him. "Hypocrite." Lex dangled the tickets in front of Clark's face. Clark looked at him, then grabbed the tickets and walked inside.

Lex grinned happily.

Clark walked into the Beanery and saw Lana sitting on one of the couches, reading a book. He walked over to her and said hesitantly, "Hey, Lana. Are you busy?"

When she first heard his voice she looked up and smiled at him; a genuine smile. "Completely swamped. That's why I'm sitting in a coffee shop attempting to wade through a Russian classic," she said, a little sarcastic.

Clark wasn't sure how to respond. "Oh."

Lana almost laughed when she saw his expression and told him, "That was a joke, Clark."

Clark looked relieved. "Good. Cause there's this thing tomorrow night."

"Define 'thing'."

"It's a concert – Radiohead, to be exact – and I got a couple tickets."

"Why not take your sister?"

Clark paused. "Well, I've been with Rory since before I was born – literally. One night away won't hurt."

"Oh. Okay. So where'd you get the tickets?"

Clark looked down at the tickets in his hand for a second, then back at Lana. "A friend. Something came up at the last minute, and I was wondering if you'd like to go, you know, with me."

Lana didn't know what to say. Clark was her friend, and her best friend's brother. But he was also really, really cute, and that would probably make Whitney jealous. She hesitated. "I'd-"

Clark saw the look in her eye and quickly reassured her, "Just as friends."

Lana hesitated again, then, making her decision she said firmly, "I'd love to."

A grin broke out across Clark's face, and Lana smiled back at him.

The next day, Kent Farm

Clark practically bounced down the stairs into the kitchen where his mom and dad were arguing about something and Rory was watching with an amused look. "Hello citizens," he said happily, clapping Jonathan on the shoulder and hugging Martha.

Martha looked at Jonathan, astonished, and Rory laughed. "I'm not familiar with this child," Martha said jokingly. Turning to look at Clark, she asked sarcastically, "Where's the moody one? Lives upstairs, runs real fast?"

Rory laughed again and said, "Not as fast as me, Mom."

Clark glared at her, then answered his mother's question casually. "Oh, he's going on a date tonight." Seeing the looks on their faces, he quickly assured them (and himself), "Not a date-date, but a concert."

Rory grinned happily. "I bet I know who this not-a-date-date is with!"

Clark looked at her, amused and said, "Lana Lang. Lex hooked me up with a couple of serious tickets and his limo."

Jonathan looked at Martha and said grumpily, "Well, it looks like Lex Luthor has worked out all our evenings tonight."

"Not mine," chimed Rory.

Oh, I'm sure Lex would be happy to work something out, Clark thought to himself. He was interrupted by Martha asking him, "Clark? Isn't Lana going out with Whitney?"

Before Clark could answer, Rory said to her, "She's not married, Mom."

That afternoon, before the Big Date
Chloe said to Clark, "Okay, listen. Your online horoscope says that you try not to flaunt your excitement –"

"-which we know will be hard, seeing as you've been waiting for this date since you were like, five," Rory giggled.

Clark rolled his eyes at them and said in frustration, "I'll say it one more time¸ and then I'll print up bumper stickers: THIS IS NOT A DATE!"

"All right, well, just check Lana's outfit." Chloe said. Clark stared at her, fearing she had finally gone insane from too much caffeine.

Rory sighed and explained, "If a girl wears something new to hang out with you, you know that she considers it to be a date." Rory looked at the wall and remarked, "Wow, this is so weird." Seeing Chloe's look she said, "My brother is going on a date with my best friend."

Clark was ready to scream in frustration. "Do I have enough time to print up bumper stickers?" he asked and they both laughed. "You!" he accused Chloe. "I thought you came over for fashion advice! And you!" he said, this time to his sister. "I thought…" He stopped. "Actually, what are you doing here?"

"I live here, Clark."

"No! Here-here, not in-this-house-here."

Rory thought for a second. "I'm here to make sure you don't wear anything that hasn't been washed in a couple of days."

Clark shook his head and held up a shirt for the girls to see. "Ew," was Rory's response.

Chloe said matter-of-factly, "Burn that. What else you got?"

Clark sighed. "I'll go see my closet."

He started to walk out as his sister yelled after him, "I can't believe I let you keep that shirt!" Rory stopped as a thought struck her and demanded, "What do you mean, you'll check your closet?"

A/N I don't know if anyone will get that last bit! But anyway, the chapter is just a filler cause I wanted to do Clark's not-a-date-date with Lana, but that kinda ended badly so I just did the preparation for the not-a-date-date. Sorry it took me so long! I had exams and we just went to the Coast so yeah!
Review! Reviews rock! They're even better than pie!
Xx.maddy-sparx.xX