Obsession – Thirty-Fifth Chapter
Rory sighed as she, Clark and Chloe followed the other students towards the elevator.
"What do you say we make a break for the fire escape?" Chloe asked, her tone managing to convey boredom, anger and sarcasm all in the one go. Rory admired her for that.
"I could crawl down all 39 stories if this field trip didn't count towards our final grade," Clark agreed.
They finally reached the elevator. Chloe stepped inside, taking up the last bit of room in that elevator.
"What do you say we split up this jaded fan club?" Mrs. Alice, their teacher, said happily. "Mr Kent, Miss Kent, next car."
Rory rolled her eyes and waved to Chloe, who waved back disappointedly as the elevator doors slid shut.
Clark pushed the button to call the next elevator as a blonde girl who'd also been left behind came to stand with them.
Rory stared at the door impatiently. "Elevators," she muttered to Clark in a disgusted tone.
"Elevators," Clark agreed.
The elevator bell dinged and the doors opened. Rory stepped in, Clark following, and the blonde girl followed him. Alicia, Rory remembered. That was her name.
Rory pushed the button for their destination. Nothing happened and Rory glanced at Clark, wary.
A loud alarm went off, shocking her. Clark reached over and jabbed the button again, almost too hard, just before the elevator fell.
Rory flew up for a moment with the force before hitting the ground again.
Clark! Do something! she yelled.
Get rid of the camera!
She looked up; the camera was right over her head. She concentrated for a moment and fire burst from it as it exploded.
Dimly Rory could hear Alicia screaming, but she ignored it, watching Clark.
He turned to the wall behind him and punched through it. Smoke and sparks flew from his hands because of the friction as he grabbed something. He tightened his grip and the elevator finally slowed.
"Rory," he grunted. "A little help here would be nice, thanks."
"Sorry," she replied, laying her hands on the floor. A field slowly blew out from her hands, covering the floor. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Alicia lean away from the blue forcefield.
Rory closed her eyes and shoved the forcefield through the floor until it was underneath the elevator.
"Done," she said, opening her eyes.
"What did you just do?" Alicia asked. She was standing, and as Rory looked up at her.
"Please," she said, almost begging, no idea what she would say next.
"Don't tell anyone about this," Clark finished for her, pleading. This was terrible.
We really need masks, or costumes, or something that will conceal our identities, Rory thought to Clark. She could feel her panic mirrored in his mind.
"Hello? Is someone in there?"
Somebody outside was trying to pry open the door to get them out.
"This is LuthorCorp security…" the stranger's voice continued to say things, but Rory's panic was filling her ears with a roaring noise that overrode any other noises.
"Clark, let go," Rory ordered.
"But-"
"Now!" she roared.
Clark let go of whatever he was holding on to and the elevator slipped. Rory winced as the weight of the whole elevator, as well as the three people inside it, rested on her flimsy forcefield.
"Clark, Alicia," she said, her voice strained, "get out of here, I'll follow."
Clark scrambled over to her and said in a low voice, "I refuse to leave you."
"Clark-" Rory started to say. She was interrupted when Alicia came over to them and crouched next to them also.
"Hold on," she said. She put one hand on Rory and the other on Clark. There was a strange, pulling sensation and the three of them were crouching on the ground outside the elevator on the ground floor.
Rory stood up. Inside the elevator shaft, the elevator crashed, hitting the ground hard.
Clark stood up next to her, twisting her to face him. "Are you okay?" he asked in concern.
"Yeah. You?" she asked.
He just laughed. They both turned to Alicia who was looking nervous.
"What did you just do?" Rory asked her.
"You didn't want to get caught," Alicia said, afraid, "and I wanted to help, so…"
"Thank you," Clark said meaningfully. "I mean that. You saved her life."
"Clark," Rory muttered warningly, hitting him. They were interrupted by the rest of the class, headed by the teacher, running towards them down the stairs.
"Listen," Alicia drew their attention back to her. She looked even more afraid now as she said quickly, "Now you both know my secret too. You can't tell anybody."
"You don't say anything, we don't say anything," Rory muttered. The class was much closer now.
"Are you three all right?" Mrs. Alice asked, worried. Rory knew that she was only worried about her job and couldn't help but wrinkle her nose. The woman was odious.
"Yeah," Clark said reassuringly.
"Yeah, we're all fine," Rory added.
"What happened?" the teacher asked.
"Well, we, uh, got out of the elevator," Rory began, stalling.
"And then it crashed," Clark finished. "I think-"
"-the cable broke." Rory grinned at him.
Mrs. Alice's thoughts were so loud they broke down the barrier Rory had kept in place for the majority of two years.
That finishing-each-others-sentences thing is so annoying.
Rory glared at the woman. Then her own thoughts made her smile; if she only knew…
"Are you guys all right?" Chloe asked in concern.
"Yeah, we're fine," Rory answered for them both.
She looked up at Clark, expecting him to be looking down at her with the smile she considered 'her' smile, and then she would smile back with 'his' smile, and everything would be fine.
Instead, she saw him looking over her head at Alicia. She looked over at the other girl too; saw her mouthing 'Thank you' just for Clark, and realised with a start that she was very pretty.
Lex's mansion, several days later
Rory pulled the second last box of vegetables out of the truck and set it down next to the door. She wore one of Clark's old plaid shirts which was far too big for her and an old pair of jeans. Her hair was pulled back in a simple ponytail.
"Hey, Rory," came Lex's familiar voice.
She pulled out the last box and grinned at her friend. "Hey, Lex."
She set the box on the ground next to the others and said to him, "Well, that's that last one."
"Can we talk?" he asked.
"Sure," Rory replied. "You're my last delivery."
She followed him through the mansion in silence until they reached his study.
"Why isn't Clark helping you?" Lex asked, walking to his desk and pouring a drink of water. He offered it to her and she took it.
"He's spending time with Alicia," Rory said, biting her bottom lip.
"Alicia?" Lex asked.
Rory knew he already knew the answer, but she humoured him. "Alicia is Clark's new girlfriend."
"Oh." Lex nodded. "What does she look like?"
The question confused her. "Um, she's blonde, about my height, brown eyes, pretty?"
"I thought he went more for the dark-skinned, mysterious, dark-haired type," Lex pointed out.
"Is this what you wanted to talk to me about?" Rory asked, still puzzled. "Clark's love life?"
"Kind of," Lex shrugged. He came over to sit next to her and paused for a moment, before asking, "How do you feel about their relationship?"
Rory blinked in surprise before saying slowly, "Well, she makes him happy, and he likes her, and she likes him. So I'm fine with it."
"No you're not," Lex stated.
"What?" Rory asked, now so confused she wasn't exactly sure which way was up.
"You don't have any reason not to be fine with it," Lex explained, "so you're telling everybody and yourself that you're fine with it."
"Oh really," Rory said, incensed. "What exactly makes you think that?"
"Because I know you, Rory," he said, standing in front of her. "And I know that when you bite your bottom lip, it means you're about to talk about something you don't want to talk about. And you bit your bottom lip when you said Alicia's name."
"Well maybe I just wanted to think that you wanted to talk to me about something other than my brother's love life," Rory said, hints of anger in her voice.
"Rory," Lex said calmingly. "I just wanted to remind you that Clark loves you more then anyone."
"And I love him more then anyone," Rory responded. "What does this have to do with anything?"
"If Alicia upset you, at all, if you didn't like her, Clark would break up with her rather then jeopardise his relationship with you," Lex clarified.
Rory stared at him.
"It's okay to be –"
"I'm not jealous!" Rory insisted, anticipating his words.
Lex looked at her and raised one eyebrow.
"Fine, maybe I am a little bit jealous," Rory sighed, wandering away from him. "But the main reason for that is not the reason you're thinking of."
"So your main reason for jealousy is not that you feel like his relationship with someone you're not too fond of is going to prevent you spending time together?" Lex asked.
"No," Rory replied. "Because I know that Clark will spend time with me. The main reason I'm jealous is because…" she looked down at her hands, which she were currently twisting together nervously.
"Yes?" Lex prodded. He walked towards her.
"It's just, I'm not jealous of Alicia, per se," Rory said slowly, trying to figure out the best way to say it. "I'm jealous of… that kind of relationship."
"Please clarify," Lex invited. He stopped, standing close to her.
"I haven't talked to Jared at all since Whitney died," she said, changing topics. "Did you know that?"
"No, I didn't."
"I guess I just miss having that kind of relationship that nobody else can offer me," Rory finally managed.
"Are you saying that you don't think you can ever be with anybody except Jared?" Lex asked, a small crooked smile opening on his face.
"No," Rory said crossly. "I'm saying that nobody can offer it to me unless I want them to."
She suddenly realised just how close Lex was to her, how she could feel his breath on her face. They were the same height, so his breath was hitting her lips, drifting to her nose…
She saw Lex swallow as he leaned fractionally closer to her. "Is there anybody you'd like to offer that to you?"
"It depends," she whispered, "on whether they're willing to offer it."
He leaned in and kissed her, pressing his lips to hers softly. She kissed him back, her lips tingling, as one of his arms wrapped around her waist and the other hand sat firmly on her hip.
Rory wound her arms up, holding on to his upper arm tightly with one and touching his face and neck lightly with the other.
The kiss was long and gentle, soft and sweet. Rory lost herself in it, not thinking of anything at all, forgetting everything.
They broke away suddenly, still wrapped in each other's embrace. They stared at each other for a long moment.
If anyone had been in the room with them, they would have noted the contrast between them; one, bald, dressed in designer clothing that looked as if it had been made just for him and probably had.
The other, fair hair spilling a short way down her back, dressed in old clothing that had come straight from a second hand store.
"You need to get home," Lex said softly, breaking the silence.
"Yes I do," Rory replied faintly.
They finally let one another go and Rory backed away, not in a scared way, but in a way that conveyed that she didn't want to turn around.
"We do have to talk about this," Lex said to her, louder now.
Rory smiled sweetly. "Don't avoid me," she said, a pretty smile spreading over her face, and Lex thought she was the most beautiful person he had ever seen.
They stared at each other from across the room. Rory ran across it and, before she had time to think, kissed Lex briefly one last time before turning and running out.
Lex stood very still, raising his hand and brushing it lightly over his lips.
A/N And the plot thickens! Not really, just the love triangle. I never really thought of it like that until recently, but it is one. Very much so. :o)
Question:
What do you picture Jared as looking like? If you picture who would play him in-canon, who do you picture?
(Jared being Rory's boyfriend from season 1, who I never actually gave an appearance for. That means no wrong answers.)
Merry Christmas!