"You know, I really do think having a nice shade of red in the colour scheme isn't necessarily a bad thing. I also think you all need to be a little more open minded," Matthew insisted out of nowhere this particular afternoon, as Evelyn and Clark shot each other amused and incredibly knowing smiles. Lois groaned and slumped her head onto the bar surface before blindly chucking a napkin at her fiancé's head.
"Shake it off and get over it Matthew - it's not happening, nor will I even pretend to consider it," she muttered moodily. She and Matthew had decided to spend their lunch break in the cafe, with Lois coming straight off a reporting job up in North Metropolis and Matthew coming from the research lab. Clark always spent his lunch breaks with Evelyn, so him sitting at the bar wasn't really much change of a change for him - although today, he was slightly on edge.
He didn't even know why, but he just felt like there was this suffocating air of dread looming over him, as if his senses were warning him of something that was about to happen. Either way, the current conversation was enough for him to find a distraction in this moment. They were busy discussing all things wedding, as Lois had officially set the wedding date for about six months time, admittedly leaving them with very little time to do anything.
Luckily, it was only set to be quite a small wedding, as Matthew hated anything to do with fuss - so the planning would be quite minimal.
Meanwhile, Evelyn loved having her best friends and her boyfriend hanging out with her in her spare time, as it helped the working days go quicker. Plus, Martha always appreciated it, as their presence tended to make the cafe look busier than it was which, in turn, invited more people in. As long as Evelyn stayed working, which she always did, it didn't matter to Martha.
It was also beautiful for Martha to see Evelyn's relationship with Clark blossom into something so glorious. Martha had grown to genuinely love her, and she always knew that Evelyn and Clark would work well together - but seeing it grow in front of her very eyes was even more beautiful than she could've ever imagined.
"I don't know if red is really the colour you want at a wedding, buddy," Clark was murmuring to Matthew helpfully, unable to keep the little smirk off of his lips. "I mean, I haven't been to many weddings in my lifetime - but I don't recall any of them having red in the colour scheme."
"Yes Clark, that's because they weren't vampires," Lois acknowledged through gritted teeth, gaining a chuckle straight back from him again.
"Yeah but it's fun because it's unusual!" Matthew drawled obviously as he took a sip of his iced coffee. "Realistically, when have you guys ever known for me to be normal?"
"Yet when I said this on a regular basis, Lois said I wasn't being kind," Evelyn rolled her eyes back, gaining an amused glare from her best friend.
"Anyways, I think green works best - sage to be specific," Lois redirected the conversation again. "I'm a redhead, and that colour goes with me best."
"To be fair, you do look absolutely beautiful in sage," Evelyn acknowledged as she passed the table their toasted sandwiches as requested.
"Delicious! Thanks Evelyn," Matthew beamed excitedly, taking his napkin to place on his lap immediately.
"Thanks, babe - these look great," Clark hummed lowly, before leaning over the counter to give her a soft, appreciative kiss.
"You're most welcome my love," Evelyn hummed against his lips as she kissed him back, whilst Matthew made a playful little face to himself.
"Hey Ev, do you like this dress? I'm really hesitant about the bust…like seriously, would this dress look nice on me or am I shooting blanks here?" Lois suddenly turned the magazine to Evelyn worriedly, lifting it from the counter so that she could place her own lunch down. Evelyn's eyes rested on the dress and a dreamy smile crawled onto her face within seconds.
"Oh my god, it's beautiful," she whispered shakily, covering her mouth with her hands in genuine awe. "Lo we need to try that one on!"
"Really? Oh good, I'll book the fitting right away - apparently it's new in season so we gotta get there pretty fast," Lois smiled in relief, already typing away in her phone.
"Uhhhh…should…should I be booking fittings, too?" Matthew murmured to Clark out of the corner of his mouth. Clark simply chuckled again and took a short sip of his coffee, aware that his girlfriend was likely about to jump in before he could even help out his friend out.
And he was right.
"Yes you absolutely should be, Matt? Don't tell me you haven't yet?" Evelyn stated as if it were obvious, a look of pure horror etched onto her usually friendly face. Lois simply shook her head helplessly.
"This is why he's been in charge of the venue and the venue only," she hissed across to her as Evelyn wiped her hands on her apron with a giggle.
"Oh yeah! And how is that going by the way?" she asked Matthew intriguingly.
"Ah, don't you worry about it Evelyn, I have it sussed! There's a place down the road from my lab, this old museum that has a beautiful view of the stars, you can also see Orion's Belt on a good night and, if my calculations are right, we could have the ceremony at the exact moment," Matthew grinned giddily, his eyes sparkling with genuine excitement.
The table went slightly quiet then.
"…nerd," Evelyn was the first to break the silence with a little scoff.
"It's romantic, and nerdy. Which is my fiancé in a nutshell, so it perfectly works," Lois beamed, before squeezing Matthew's cheeks between her fingers and kissing him lightly.
"Wow. You two really are perfect for each other," Clark grinned with a risen brow. Matthew let out a laugh with flushed cheeks, just as there sounded an intrusive beeping from the device in his pocket. He slipped it out with a frown and flipped it open in wonder.
"Woah," he whispered hollowly, immediately gaining Lois' attention from beside him.
"What happened?" she frowned, her eyes immediately growing in wonder. "Is it a UFO sighting?!"
"Better," Matthew breathed in awe, before flipping it so that Lois could see for herself. "Look at that baby. Category A - a hostage situation! I haven't seen one of these in forever!"
There was yet another short silence amongst the group.
"…hooray?" Evelyn murmured out weakly, making Lois giggle and chuck the device back over to her fiancé again. "Genuinely, Matthew, why is innocent people being held hostage a good thing, sorry?"
"Because of who is missing!" Matthew stated as if it were obvious, his hands outstretched in a 'duh' like motion.
"…fill us in, honey," Lois stated simply, giving his arm a little squeeze of support.
"It's Senator Van Herdle's son - which means the Anti-Terrorism Unit are freaking out! And, for a State Senator's son to be in trouble, it means that a certain someone is likely to turn up as an act of goodwill - despite the circulating talks of them threatening to freakin' sue the guy," Matthew stated obviously, lowering his voice ever so slightly.
Clark's jaw tensed and his body went rigid.
"Here we go," Evelyn sighed under her breath before turning away to serve another newly arrived customer, much to Clark's immediate relief. But Lois grabbed Matthew's device again and squinted desperately at the screen, now far more interested in his theories than she was before.
"Oh god, you're right," she whispered excitedly, scanning through the information as speedily as her mind could take her.
Within seconds, her eyes darted up to face her fiancé's again.
"Matt, what if this is what we've been waiting for-"
"You guys really think he'd even turn up there, though?" came Clark's sudden amused question, although he could feel himself grow more and more uncomfortable by the passing second. He didn't need them being on site if he did choose to go, and he was becoming rather agitated that they even had access to his movements like that - although Matthew having that equipment was also proving to be extremely handy on a more selfish level.
"I mean it's a warmer lead than we've had all week, Clark," Lois scoffed as if it were obvious, before redirecting her attention back to booking her wedding dress appointments. "We'd be stupid not to at least try!"
"Plus, this little piece of metal hasn't let me down yet," Matthew smirked proudly. But Clark shot him a challenging little look, and Matthew immediately crumbled like a cheap supermarket cookie. "Okay, so this is kinda the first time it's ever really worked but still! The fact that we can rely on this kinda hope is great, and with a few tweaks this will be unstoppable! Superman will not be able to go anywhere without us knowing first." Before the overly stressed Clark could even answer, Evelyn had swept back over to the group again, having successfully sorted out the customer.
Admittedly, she was surprised to see the mixed expressions on all their faces. Matthew was clearly beside himself with excitement, Lois looked eager as anything whilst somewhat distracted and Clark just looked…incredibly uneasy.
"Woah, what's going on with you guys?" Evelyn laughed softly as her eyes darted between them all and back again. Clark was the only one who narrowly avoided her eye contact, suddenly desperate for this conversation to be over as soon as possible. "Supes sighting got your tongues?"
"Hopefully," Matthew muttered, pinpointing a place on the map that the hostage situation was taking place in, so that Evelyn could see for herself. He couldn't help himself - Clark craned his neck to take a look too, trying to play off as cool and calm as possible. "See? They've taken her to the far point off the French coast, in a disused bunker-"
"A disused- Lo, please tell me you're not planning on going to this place in the hopes of spotting Superman!" Evelyn shook her head with a groan, tearing her eyes from the little screen again. "It's way too dangerous for a freakin' soundbite!"
"Yeah, it is kinda crazy, Lois. Plus, likelihood of you going and him even turning up is way too low compared to the risk!" Clark jumped in quickly on the tail of Evelyn's words, gaining a thankful smile from her in return.
Lois opened her mouth to answer, but was quickly distracted by a notification popping up on her own phone.
"Shoot! Ev, the only slot the wedding shop has to try on that dress is tonight - they literally don't have any other time available for a month and cos it's limited edition, that's equally as dangerous," she groaned, flipping her phone so Evelyn could see for herself. "And the only reason why they have one today because of a last minute cancellation! This sucks!"
"Ah. So you couldn't even go to France if you tried," Evelyn grimaced apologetically, reaching out to squeeze her hand empathetically. "I'm sorry. I know you were eager to get this Superman shot but…the wedding definitely comes first, Lo."
"Stupid wedding," Lois sniffed feebly.
"OUCH?" Matthew spluttered.
"Can't you go to France for her, Matt?" Evelyn attempted to suggest as she squeezed Lois' hand again for comfort.
"I can't - on a late shift at the lab tonight. And if they knew that I was out chasing what they think is unattainable win again, they may just fire me. Gotta be a nerd in secret these days - even in front of fellow nerds," Matthew grimaced playfully. Evelyn giggled and casually glanced over at her boyfriend - before quickly noticing how uneasy and, in a way, unwell he was starting to look.
"Clark? You okay?" she hummed in concern, her smile faltering ever so slightly. Clark snapped himself out of his daze and smiled reassuringly.
"I'm good, honey, all good. I…there's just something that I was meant to finish writing by midnight and I kinda haven't started yet - it's on my mind," he explained with a long sigh, already soft-launching his exit.
"Well that's terrible planning," Matthew frowned unhelpfully, gaining another whack in the bicep from his fiancé in return.
"Don't be stressed, baby. Hey, you wanna come over tonight and work on it at mine? You know that sometimes it's easier to get things done when you're not in your own space and you can just focus properly," Evelyn pointed out as a helpful suggestion, shooting him a helpful smile. Clark was just about to agree, but suddenly realised that making a promise when he'd realistically be doing this rescue in France simply wasn't wise.
"No it's okay Ev, I'll probably just find myself doing it somewhere weird…like in a random field or something. Perry's gonna freak out if I don't get this done and I kinda wanna keep this job, so it's better that I do it with no distractions and stuff," he hummed distractedly, standing up already.
It was odd. Evelyn frowned a little, clearly bothered that he seemingly didn't want to spend time with her, but bit down on her bottom lip and said nothing. She didn't want to be that sort of girlfriend, after all.
"Plus, you two have dress shopping to do right?" Clark added in, trying to sound all positive again.
"We do indeed!" Lois trilled excitedly, as Evelyn sent her a small, unenthusiastic smile.
But it was pretty clear that she was still a little uneasy with Clark's response. He had never really refused to spend time with her before today, so she never really had to worry about it.
But now here they were - and she didn't like the feeling.
It felt like rejection. She hated the feeling of rejection.
So she put on her big girl pants and attempted to talk to him before he headed back to the office, whilst Matthew and Lois were getting themselves ready to go a few paces away. Clark had come over to her to say goodbye, and so Evelyn decided to run it by him again.
"Hey, Clark, did…did I do something wrong?" she asked him worriedly, clasping her hands together in sheer anxiety.
Clark's brows narrowed into a baffled frown.
"When? What? What makes you think you've done something wrong?" he asked in genuine worry, holding her shoulders firmly in his hands.
"You…I dunno, I just feel like you're getting a bit…weird and avoidant around me," Evelyn explained nervously, now fiddling with her fingertips and dropping her gaze to her feet.
"Because of tonight? Ev, it's one time out of a good chunk of months of us being together - you don't need to worry about it changing how I feel about you. I just need some time to work, that's all. I'm sorry if it's made you twitchy - I promise sweetheart, you haven't dine anything wrong," Clark stated with a guitlridden frown.
He felt awful. But he also had no time to coax her into feeling better.
So Evelyn simply nodded and forced a smile onto her face before pulling his face in for a sweet kiss, feeling his arms wrap around her waist tightly.
"I understand, baby. I hope you get your work done," was all she hummed once they broke apart, swiping her transferred gloss off his lips with her thumbs.
But Lord knows she didn't mean it.
…
For the rest of the day, the feelings didn't budge.
Evelyn didn't like the fact that her anxiety was beginning to eat her up as she was dress shopping with Lois. She was meant to focus all her positive attention on the fact that her best friend was finally getting married to the love of her life, and what a joyous occasion this was, but as Lois was picking dresses to try on, even she could tell that Evelyn's mind was elsewhere. "Earth to Ev? Do you like this dress or not?" Lois clicked for her attention, swiftly snapping Evelyn out of her little daze.
Her eyes shot up to look at her and her mouth went dry.
"Oh, I'm sorry Lo - um, no I don't like the lace on the arms. You could so do armless, don't let your insecurities get in the way!" she rushed to insist, taking the dress for herself and staring at each of the patterns properly.
Or trying to.
"I know, I just said that - Ev, did you not hear a word I was saying at all?" Lois sighed irritably, shoving the dress back onto the rack. Truthfully she was somewhat agitated at the lack of enthusiasm during such an important moment - before suddenly feeling genuinely concerned by the way her best friend's face had fallen in the space of a few seconds. "Oh god, are you gonna have a panic attack? Do we need to get out, Ev? I am so sorry, I should've asked, I know we're deep in the city and you don't do well with the city," she hissed, holding Evelyn's head in her hands and squinting worriedly at her face.
"No, I'm fine," Evelyn croaked out with wide eyes. "No panic attack, sorry. I…it's just that Clark kinda upset me earlier, but it's kinda dumb so I'm really trying not to think about it-"
"He did?! Did you to argue over the phone or something?" Lois gasped, her eyes darkening with protectiveness. "The asshole, honestly Ev if you want me to have words with him or get him fired, I-"
"No, we didn't argue at all, don't worry," Evelyn giggled slightly at Lois' hot defence. "I just got kinda upset that he didn't wanna see me tonight. He got really weird back at the cafe and then he just…left."
"What, you mean this lunchtime? Ev, he had that huge article to do!" Lois reminded Evelyn with a deeper frown.
"I know, but he could've worked on it with me, no?" Evelyn pointed out awkwardly, although she was already feeling way needier than she wanted to. "I just…we haven't spent time together one on one in what feels like forever, other than when he comes to the cafe for lunch. I just feel like it's getting kinda weird now." Lois turned her around to face her properly.
"Ev, I know you're feeling all insecure and stuff by the way this relationship is moving but trust me when I say that this job that we do, working at The Daily freaking Planet, is really not fun. It is a lot of pressure, and Perry can be a complete ass when it comes to deadlines," Lois insisted quietly. "I know the look Clark had on his face all too well. It was genuine panic, it was exhaustion, and it was stress. Him being desperate to get this done doesn't mean he loves you any less-"
"Loves me," Evelyn scoffed before she could even stop herself, tearing her eyes away from Lois' uncomfortably. "He's never said that either-"
"You've only been together a couple of months! No no, Evelyn, please look at me," Lois muttered, moving her head so that they were staring at each other once more, even though Evelyn's was in sheer defiance. "Do not self sabotage this. The guy is busy, you are unintentionally being clingy because you're so scared of losing him. But you won't, I promise. Trust me when I tell you that, from what I can tell, you can trust him."
Evelyn bit down on both her lips but nodded once, trying to agree and banking it in her mind.
"Fine. I…I'll try, okay?" she muttered calmly, letting out one last sniff before straightening herself up properly. "Now, what were you asking? This dress is an easy yikes, so let's get it gone," she pulled a face, snapping back to her old self and taking over as Lois giggled and allowed herself to be dragged away.
She was just pleased to have her old best friend back.