scifichick774
19th April 2003, 18:14
Title: Amour Noire
Author: scifichick774
Rating: strong R
Category: Chloe/Lex UST/Angst/Romance
Spoilers: Set immediately after the season 1 finale
Summary: Chloe is hurting from Clark leaving her at the dance, and an interesting camaraderie with Lex begins
Disclaimer: Not mine, no infringement intended
Feedback: Usually I’d say if you feel like it, but fanfiction.net has turned on my craving for reviews, so please
Archival: Go ahead, just let me know where
Author’s Note: I’m sure there are a dozen other Chloe/Lex stories out there set after the season finale, but my muse wouldn’t let me get away with not writing one
~*~*~*~*~
It had only been a few days since the storm, since the dance, since decisions had been made. Chloe sat at a small corner table in The Beanery. Most people were still busy cleaning up the damage made in the storm’s wake, but one of the staples of her existence, despite the storm and Lana’s previous efforts to destroy it, was still standing, and actually open. She clasped her hands around the large mug of hot coffee in front of her, but stared blankly at it instead of drinking. Chloe barely heard the clearing of a throat behind her. It was louder the second time and she lifted her eyes, turning her head toward the sound. She immediately looked back to her table.
“Mr. Luthor,” she greeted in an emotionless voice. Lex walked to the other side of the table and pulled out a chair for himself, taking Chloe’s recognition of his presence as an invitation to sit down. She gave him an unreadable expression and he cocked his head slightly at her.
“Something wrong Miss Sullivan?” He took a sip of the hot coffee from his mug, licking the foam off his upper lip with his tongue. She stared at the action, but suddenly snapped out of her daze when she realized he had been saying something. She shook her head a little.
“What?” He met her eyes and smirked.
“I asked you if anything was wrong.” Her eyes drifted to the table again and she lifted up her coffee to drink. After placing her cup on the table again she shook her head slightly, but her emotions that she had been trying so hard to keep locked down finally bubbled up to the surface, and she answered him.
“You ever wonder why some people get everything they want?” She asked in a bitter and almost angry voice. Lex grinned in understanding.
“Ah. So am I to presume this has something to do with the illustrious Miss Lang?” Her eyes darted to his again and he could see the fire starting within them. She guffawed.
“Illustrious is the word. Okay, I get it, she’s perfect and everything, but…”
“No one’s perfect Chloe,” Lex interrupted. She rolled her eyes.
“Usually when I hear that phrase, people are using it to describe me.”
“People?”
“Yeah, you know, people. Bipeds, walk around all over the place, can’t miss ‘em,” she stated, the sarcasm beginning to creep into her speech as a defense mechanism. Lex ignored her tone.
“What people have used that phrase to describe you?” She looked at him in disbelief.
“Gee, I don’t know Lex. Everybody?” She said, the sarcasm dripping off her tongue. He cocked an eyebrow. He couldn’t help but smile when she called him Lex though. In his mind, it meant that she was letting her guard down a little. She sighed. “My dad, Pete, Clark,” she cringed a little after the last name, but quickly covered, and amended her statement. “Okay, in their favor, it’s usually when they’re trying to cheer me up, but it never works. I mean, how is that supposed to cheer someone up? Hey, no one’s perfect, and that means you.” Chloe grumbled and took another sip of her coffee. Lex fought back a chuckle. Chloe noticed and decided to change the topic. “So what are you even doing here? Don’t you own The Talon? Don’t you have some lives to destroy?” Lex ignored her icy comment and the corners of his lips curled upward.
“The Talon’s closed temporarily because of Lana’s injuries.” Chloe felt a brief pang of guilt. “That should answer the first two questions.” The guilt quickly disappeared with his second comment, which came off a bit snide. “And, as far as having lives to destroy, contrary to popular belief, I am not the devil incarnate.” He paused for a brief moment and grinned. “That’s my father.” He took another drink.
Chloe fell silent for a minute. ‘There’s that guilty feeling again,’ she thought to herself. “Yeah, I heard he was in the hospital. I’m sorry.” Lex studied her face and saw that she actually felt compassion for him, despite everything his father had put her and her father through, what he had put countless other families through, and only one comment came to mind.
“Why?” Chloe gave him a questioning look.
“Why what?”
“Why are you sorry that he’s in the hospital?” That question took Chloe aback. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open a little. She shook her head.
“Uh, I guess I’m not. Not really anyway. I was just saying it because I was trying to be sympathetic.” Lex smiled.
“Good. I thought you had taken leave of your senses for a minute there.” Chloe chuckled, showing the first smile she had in the last few days. She looked at Lex.
“How did we even get on this topic in the first place?”
“You steered the conversation away from talking about hostile feelings toward Lana.” The gleam in Chloe’s eyes dimmed.
“Right.” She glanced at her now empty mug. “I should get going.” Lex reached across and placed his hand on top of hers. She looked at him to explain the gesture.
“Do you want to talk about it?” He noticed the sad expression on her face and she shook her head.
“Not right now,” she answered. ‘Not ever,” she thought. Lex stood up as she did. He walked over to the door to hold it open for her. “Thanks,” she mumbled as she walked through the door, her thoughts now back on what was wreaking havoc with her emotional well being.
“Chloe,” he called after her, and jogged up to where she had turned around to face him on the sidewalk.
“Yeah?”
“Need a ride home?”
~*~*~
Ch. 2
~*~*~
Instead of playing his music loudly, Lex drove Chloe in silence for the first few minutes. He glanced over at her. She was staring out the window. ‘No doubt as to what she’s thinking about,’ Lex thought.
“So, Miss Sullivan,” he started. She arched an eyebrow. He had called her by her first name when he asked her if she needed a ride home, but she now assumed that was to get her attention.
“Mr. Luthor,” she emphasized that she could play this game too, although she wasn’t exactly sure what kind of game he was playing yet. He grinned, but didn’t look over at her.
“This new found hatred for Lana that you’ve acquired…”
“It’s not new found,” Chloe interrupted. Lex peeked at her through the corner of his eye.
“Anyway, I’m guessing that it has more to do with Clark than with Lana,” he said. She looked back out the window.
“Good guess,” she muttered underneath her breath, but he caught it. Then she swung her head around to face him. “Wait a second. How did you know that?” He briefly faced her and shrugged.
“I’m observant,” he said. The expression on her face told him that she didn’t buy that excuse. “And Clark told me that you had a crush on him after he found out about it.” She blushed and clenched her fists. “Don’t be embarrassed,” he stated, only noticing the rosy hue on her face.
“I’m not,” she spat. “I’m mortified and angry!” Lex turned to face her again as they pulled up to a stop sign. Normally, he wouldn’t have stopped, but with an irate Chloe in the car, he figured he’d better.
“What?” She shot an icy glare at him, and although it was certainly enough to make most men tremble, for some reason Lex found it endearing.
“Did he set this up? Send you after me to say ‘hey, Clark’s not such a bad guy, he didn’t mean to rip your heart out and stomp on it!’ Did he?! God! He’s been begging me for forgiveness ever since it happened, but he is not going to get it! Damn it! I can’t believe I didn’t see it since you’re his friend. Argh! I hate my life!”
“Chloe, calm down,” he began to reach a hand out to touch her arm, but she gave him a warning look and he pulled it back. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. What happened?” She looked at him angrily but settled a little when she saw that his expression seemed sincere. ‘Of course, he’s a Luthor so he probably has faking sincerity down pat,’ she thought.
“It doesn’t matter.” She leaned back in her seat and looked out the window again. A truck horn honked behind them, indicating that they had been waiting at the stop sign for too long. Lex started driving again, but kept glancing over at Chloe.
“Of course it matters,” he said in a comforting voice. She didn’t respond. “If for no other reason than I don’t like being left out on what’s going on.” He grinned and so did she.
“No. It doesn’t matter because pretty soon my dad and I are going to be moving back to Metropolis and I can put Clark Kent out of my mind forever,” Chloe said. Lex gave her a sympathetic grin.
“It doesn’t work that way and you know it. Why are you moving to Metropolis?” Chloe let out a stressed half laugh.
“Plant closing? Your dad’s the devil? Any of this ringing a bell?” Lex laughed and flashed her a full smile as he pulled into her driveway.
“Well, I can’t deny the second part, but the plant isn’t closing.” She seemed surprised by the news.
“Yes it is, we all heard the announcement.” Lex gave her a smirk, his mature way of saying ‘I know something you don’t know.’
“My father and I reached an agreement. The plant is staying open.” Chloe gave him a skeptical expression.
“I see. And when did you reach this agreement?” Her question surprised Lex. He knew she was smart, but he hadn’t been expecting her to ask that. The corners of his lips curled, and the second Chloe saw that, she knew she wasn’t going to get an answer to her question. Lex cleared his throat.
“A question for another time I’m afraid.” He motioned toward the front doorstep of her house where her dad was standing waiting for her. She grimaced.
“How long has he been standing there?” Lex sucked in a breath.
“About five minutes,” he answered coolly. She stared at him.
“And you were planning on telling me, when exactly?” Lex chuckled.
“Around the time you asked a question that I didn’t want to answer,” he replied. She narrowed her eyes and playfully slapped his arm. He laughed, but rubbed the spot with his other hand. “Would it make you feel better if I walked you to the door?” He asked in a sincere tone. She laughed.
“Only if you’re trying to get me grounded for life.”
“It would keep you from having to ever see Clark again.” Her face fell a little at the mention of Clark’s name, and Lex instantly regretted having made the comment. He gently reached over and stroked her cheek with his hand. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.” He was surprised when she leaned into his touch ever so slightly.
“It’s okay. Like you said, it doesn’t work that way.” She got out of the car and waved goodbye. As she got closer to where her dad stood, she saw the horrified look on his face. She meekly waved and walked up to give him a hug. “Hi Dad.”
“Chloe, honey,” he said in a strained voice. “Would you like to explain why Lex Luthor gave you a ride home?” Chloe’s mouth dropped open a little bit to start talking, but her dad cut her off before she could say anything. “And why you were sitting in his car with him for a good ten minutes? And why he was stroking your cheek?” His words got louder and louder with each question. Chloe shook her head.
“Dad, it’s not what you think. I just ran into him while getting my caffeine fix, then we talked about some stuff, and he offered me a ride home. By the way, did you know the plant’s not going to close?” She quickly added on the last part to distract her father’s line of thinking. His mouth dropped open and he stared at her.
“Please tell me you didn’t have anything to do with that.”
~*~*~
Ch. 3
~*~*~
This part takes place the next day.
~*~*~*~*~
‘God, Chloe is going to kill me for this,’ Lex thought as he knocked on the Kents’ front door. He couldn’t decide whether it was a good thing that Clark was the one who answered the door or not.
“Hey Lex,” Clark greeted, standing in the doorway. “Haven’t heard from you much lately. What’s going on?” He smiled and Lex let one corner of his mouth turn upward.
“I wanted to talk to you about Chloe.” A worried expression crossed Clark’s face.
“Is she okay?” Lex frowned.
“Depends on what you consider okay,” he answered. Clark stepped out of the doorway, closing the door behind him.
“I’ve been trying to talk to her, but she won’t let me,” Clark said in a sad voice, his face looking at the ground. Then something occurred to him. “Wait a minute,” his head shot up, “when did you see her?” Lex felt a pang of guilt, or almost guilt, at Clark’s expression, but made sure it didn’t show.
“I ran into her yesterday while getting coffee. She seemed upset, but she wouldn’t talk about it.”
“Well, she barely knows you Lex, it’s not like she’s going to open up to a total stranger,” he replied, trying to console his friend, but not really helping.
“I did get the impression that it had something to do with you and Lana.” Lex’s words were calm and dripped off his tongue, displaying none of the newfound animosity he felt because of Clark’s last comment. Clark didn’t respond, he just stood there silent and looked like he was plagued by guilt. “So you want to tell me what happened? I thought you had decided that you were going to go after Chloe.”
“I did,” Clark answered quickly. “And I do, I mean, things have gotten really mixed up.” Lex nodded.
“That still doesn’t answer my question.” Clark looked at him. Lex could see the confusion plastered across his face.
“I don’t know.” Clark shook his head. “I don’t know what I did wrong. Everything was going fine. Then, the day after the dance, I went over to her house and she wouldn’t see me.” Lex furrowed his brow.
“What happened after the dance?” Clark shrugged.
“Well, nothing. I mean, I don’t think anything happened. Like I said, she wouldn’t talk to me the next day.”
“You were there Clark, you should know what happened.” The guilt crossed Clark’s features again. “Clark?”
“Uh, well, we heard that Lana might be stuck in the storm so I ran out to where she was to see if I could help.” Lex’s eyes widened.
“You left Chloe at the dance, alone, so you could rescue Lana?” Lex asked in disbelief. “No offense Clark, but you’re an idiot.” Clark chuckled; obviously thinking it was a joke.
“Yeah, I guess. So, you think I still have a chance with her?”
“Depends on which her you’re speaking of.”
“Chloe.” Lex frowned. He had to be delicate about this. He shook his head.
“Honestly Clark, I think the best thing you do for Chloe right now is to be her friend, just her friend. Let her move on with somebody else in her social life.” Clark shook his head.
“From what Pete told me, she’s liked me for a long time, you don’t just stop liking someone because they leave you at a dance,” Clark reasoned. Lex gave him a ‘yeah, right’ look.
“But you didn’t just leave her at the dance. You left her at the dance to be with Lana, the girl you’ve been fawning over for years now, while Chloe was putting up with you.” Lex shook his head again. “I’m surprised she didn’t try to move on before now.”
“Uh, she did. But, he ended up being a bad guy, it’s kind of hard to explain.” Lex gave an unemotional response.
“Ah.”
“So, since you two actually had a conversation yesterday without killing each other, you think you could put in a good word for me?” Clark flashed a smile.
“Actually, I was planning on asking her what she ever saw in you in the first place and telling her to never talk to you again,” Lex said drolly. Clark chuckled, but Lex kept a straight face. “I’m running late. I’ll see you later Clark.” With that, Lex turned away and walked to his car. Clark went back inside, and almost ran into his mom.
“What did Lex want Clark?” Clark smiled.
“He just stopped by to say hi. And he’s going to talk to Chloe for me.” Martha frowned.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m not sure that’s the best idea son.”
“Mom, I know you don’t like Lex, but he’s my friend,” Clark said in defense.
“It’s not that Clark. I got a phone call from Gabe Sullivan last night and he had some rather disturbing things to say.”
“Like what?” Martha let out a breath.
“I couldn’t understand a lot of it, it seemed like he was just angry rambling, but I did catch something about Chloe and Lex in a car. From what I caught, it sounded like Lex might be interested in Chloe.” Clark grinned.
“Of course he’s interested in her mom, they’re both my friends and he wants to get to know her better.” His mom frowned again and shook her head.
“Not that kind of interested.”
~*~*~
Ch. 4
~*~*~
Chloe stood in the small line at The Beanery to order a large cup of coffee to go. Her dad had calmed down after he gave her the chance to explain what happened, but she didn’t want to take any chances on upsetting him again. She stepped forward to place her order and heard a voice she recognized behind her saying that he would take care of that. She swung around and bumped into Lex.
“Chloe,” he greeted, handing the cashier the money for both their orders. She arched an eyebrow and crossed her arms.
“Are you stalking me now?” She quipped. He grinned.
“Of course not,” he paused. “I have people to do that for me.” Despite herself, Chloe laughed and flashed an honest smile at Lex. “Glad you’re in a better mood today.” She rolled her eyes and grabbed her cup from the attendant. He went to hold the door open for her.
“You know, that’s the second time you’ve done that.” He furrowed his brow.
“Done what?”
“Opened a door for me,” she crinkled her face, “This precise door if you want to be specific.” He grinned.
“I’d think that you would be used to that.”
“Oh yeah, guys open the door for me all the time,” she said sarcastically. He looked confused. “Lex, you’re forgetting that my best friends are Pete and Clark, or it was Clark, I don’t really know what’s going to happen with that.” Lex noted that she didn’t seem as upset at the mention of his name as she had been the previous day, and he took that as a good sign.
“Ah, yes. From what I know of Pete, besides the fact that he hates my family, he does not seem prone to be the chivalrous type. And Clark,” he sipped his coffee. “Well, Clark is Clark. He’s a nice guy, but not always too bright.” Chloe arched an eyebrow at him and he shrugged. “I don’t know anyone else who would have left a beautiful woman alone at a dance to run out into the middle of a dangerous storm.” ‘I certainly wouldn’t have,’ he thought. Chloe’s mouth dropped open slightly and her eyes widened.
“How did you know about that?” She asked in an accusing tone. He took another drink of his coffee to hide the smirk that was beginning to cross his face.
“I ran into Clark earlier,” he answered, thinking that it wasn’t a complete lie.
“Uh huh. And by ‘ran into’ you mean purposely sought him out so you could find out what I didn’t tell you?” He smiled.
“You know Chloe, you’re entirely too smart for your own good sometimes.” She smiled.
“I’ll take that as a compliment.” He nodded.
“You should.”
“So what did he say?” She got her keys out and went over to the driver’s side of her dad’s car. Lex sighed.
“I don’t think he understands what he did was wrong,” Lex said bluntly. Chloe nodded.
“He never does. That’s why I warned him ahead of time, I thought it would help.”
“You warned him ahead of time?” Lex took Chloe’s cup from her so she could unlock the door.
“Yeah, I did. I told him if he did this, if he left me at the dance for Lana, that I would never forgive him.” She looked a little sad again, but not as angry as she had been. Lex handed her the cup as she sat down.
“Which means, on some level at least, that you must have been expecting it,” Lex observed. Her head hung a little.
“Maybe. But that doesn’t make it hurt any less.” Lex leaned on the car.
“No, of course it doesn’t. The only thing that’s going to help you get through this is if you acknowledge that Clark was only ever meant to be your friend. He’s not good enough to be your boyfriend.” She stared up at him and stifled a laugh.
“Recent events aside, Clark Kent is one of the most decent people I know.” Lex grinned.
“He’s very decent. I’ll even concede to good looking if you go for the whole hair thing.” Lex paused and smiled as Chloe did what was probably as close to a giggle for her as possible. “But, like I said, he’s not always that bright. And you always are. I must admit, that’s one of the reasons I was pushing him to go for Lana.” Chloe gave him a hurt and angry look. “She’s nice and she’s pretty, but she’s not smart, and she doesn’t have your fire. I knew that if Clark ended up going out with you that neither of you would be getting what you needed out of the relationship, because you would outgrow him so quickly. And since talking to you yesterday, I can only say that I think you already have.”
Chloe sat stunned in her seat. She wanted so desperately to be angry with Lex, but he had just given her a compliment that she never thought she would hear anyone tell her. The only thing she could think to do was to lighten the situation.
“So you don’t think I’m nice and pretty?” Lex laughed and leaned into the car, so that his face was close to her ear.
“I didn’t say that.” His raspy deep whisper made a shiver run through her body. He kissed her cheek and stood up straight. “Drive home safely.” He chuckled to himself and walked back to his car. Chloe sat in her dad’s car and placed a hand up to her cheek in astonishment.
~*~*~
Ch. 5
~*~*~
The entire drive home, Chloe was wishing she would have made some close friends other than Clark and Pete. Someone she could share what had just happened with. Pete would be angry, if anything, given the fact that he hated Lex, and the whole Nicodemus incident. The latter of which she was desperately trying to block out of her memory. And, obviously, Clark wouldn’t want to hear about it. What would she say to him anyway? ‘Hi Clark. I know that we just went through a weird part in our friendship, but there’s something I want to talk to you about. Did I mention that Lex kissed my cheek?’ She laughed out loud at the thought.
“I shouldn’t even tell him what section of my anatomy he kissed,” Chloe said to herself. Then she frowned. A part of her, a big part, was telling her that there was no way that Lex had meant the kiss to be interpreted that way. She reasoned that he probably thought she was Clark’s friend who was in need of comfort. When she reached a stop sign, she rested her head briefly on the steering wheel. ‘Fickle, thy name is Chloe Sullivan.’ She continued on to her house moments later, berating herself for even entertaining the notion of a possible relationship with Lex. But, her two conversations with him had certainly shed light on a recent situation. A paraphrased line from Sixteen Candles kept repeating itself in her head.
That’s why they call them crushes. If they were easy, they’d call them something else.
She had only thought she was in love with Clark, but she hadn’t been. A strong crush yes, but she was capable of getting on with her life, and maybe even becoming friends with him again. Despite her new outlook, her stomach sank when she saw the Kents’ truck in her driveway.
“Shit.” She gathered her things from the car and walked toward the front stoop where Clark was waiting for her. He met her half way, giving her a dimply smile that just a week ago would have made her melt, but now had relatively no effect on her.
“Hi Chlo, you need some help?” He asked, motioning to her full arms. She managed a small, forced grin, and shook her head.
“Nope, I got it. Thanks anyway.” She continued toward the front door and he followed her. She rearranged the items in her arms so she could open the door. A memory of Lex opening the door for her earlier came to mind and she sighed. Clark followed behind her into the house. She set her things down, and threw the now empty coffee cup away.
“Chloe,” he stopped her walking around by holding her upper arm gently. She looked up at him, but said nothing. “I, I wanted to say I’m sorry.” He paused and gazed down at her with puppy dog eyes. “I guess our more than friendship didn’t get off to the best start, huh?”
“That’s an understatement,” she agreed. He took her hands in his.
“Let me make it up to you.” She sighed and stared at the floor.
“You can’t.” He frowned and she looked up at him again, gathering the courage to say what she needed to. “I think this whole thing was just a big lesson for me from fate or destiny, or whatever.” He seemed confused and she took her hands out of his. “I think we were only ever meant to be friends Clark.” The frown on his face became more pronounced.
“What? Why? You’re just saying this because you’re angry with me, I…” Chloe shook her head and interrupted him.
“Clark, that’s not it. I was angry with you. I was completely pissed off at you and ready to never talk to you again. But I’m not anymore. Something happened today that made me realize that I don’t want to spend any more time chasing after someone who isn’t interested in me like that.”
“But I am…” Chloe shook her head again.
“You’re not. You never were. You only acknowledged that I existed as a female of the species after Pete told you that I liked you. I think if you really examine your feelings, you’ll see that you probably only felt obligated to like me back because you’re friends.” Chloe choked out. Clark’s expression was so sad and confused that Chloe thought she might start crying from just looking at him.
“What happened?”
“Well, you’re in love with Lana, and you left me at the dance for her after you said you promised you wouldn’t…” Chloe said, still not believing that he just didn’t get it. He shook his head.
“No. I mean, you said something happened today that made you only want to be friends with me. What happened?” Chloe’s eyes widened a little. ‘Oh. How am I supposed to explain this?’ She thought.
“Um,” she smiled a little and despite her best efforts not to blush, a pink hue covered her cheeks. “You know Clark, I’m not sure you’d believe me even if I told you.” He narrowed his eyes suspiciously at her.
“Try me.”
“My Dad’s going to be home soon,” she grabbed his arm to show him to the door. “You should go.” He stopped dead in his tracks and made her look at him.
“Chloe, this doesn’t have anything to do with Lex does it?” Chloe did her best surprised reaction.
“Why would you think that?” Clark shrugged.
“I didn’t get all the details, but your dad called my parents last night and was ranting about you two being in a car together.” Chloe laughed, but even she thought it sounded fake.
“He was totally overreacting. We ran into each other while getting coffee yesterday and he offered to give me a ride home. That’s all.” Clark appeared relieved.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to insinuate anything. It’s just, your dad said something about he thought Lex was going to kiss you if he hadn’t been standing there.” Clark chuckled, not seeing the now panicked expression on Chloe’s face. “Parents can be so weird.” Chloe nodded, and tried to hide what she was thinking. She held out her hand.
“So… friends?” Clark smiled broadly and shook her hand.
“Friends.”
Just then, a deliveryman came to the door holding a large bouquet of flowers.
Author: scifichick774
Rating: strong R
Category: Chloe/Lex UST/Angst/Romance
Spoilers: Set immediately after the season 1 finale
Summary: Chloe is hurting from Clark leaving her at the dance, and an interesting camaraderie with Lex begins
Disclaimer: Not mine, no infringement intended
Feedback: Usually I’d say if you feel like it, but fanfiction.net has turned on my craving for reviews, so please
Archival: Go ahead, just let me know where
Author’s Note: I’m sure there are a dozen other Chloe/Lex stories out there set after the season finale, but my muse wouldn’t let me get away with not writing one
~*~*~*~*~
It had only been a few days since the storm, since the dance, since decisions had been made. Chloe sat at a small corner table in The Beanery. Most people were still busy cleaning up the damage made in the storm’s wake, but one of the staples of her existence, despite the storm and Lana’s previous efforts to destroy it, was still standing, and actually open. She clasped her hands around the large mug of hot coffee in front of her, but stared blankly at it instead of drinking. Chloe barely heard the clearing of a throat behind her. It was louder the second time and she lifted her eyes, turning her head toward the sound. She immediately looked back to her table.
“Mr. Luthor,” she greeted in an emotionless voice. Lex walked to the other side of the table and pulled out a chair for himself, taking Chloe’s recognition of his presence as an invitation to sit down. She gave him an unreadable expression and he cocked his head slightly at her.
“Something wrong Miss Sullivan?” He took a sip of the hot coffee from his mug, licking the foam off his upper lip with his tongue. She stared at the action, but suddenly snapped out of her daze when she realized he had been saying something. She shook her head a little.
“What?” He met her eyes and smirked.
“I asked you if anything was wrong.” Her eyes drifted to the table again and she lifted up her coffee to drink. After placing her cup on the table again she shook her head slightly, but her emotions that she had been trying so hard to keep locked down finally bubbled up to the surface, and she answered him.
“You ever wonder why some people get everything they want?” She asked in a bitter and almost angry voice. Lex grinned in understanding.
“Ah. So am I to presume this has something to do with the illustrious Miss Lang?” Her eyes darted to his again and he could see the fire starting within them. She guffawed.
“Illustrious is the word. Okay, I get it, she’s perfect and everything, but…”
“No one’s perfect Chloe,” Lex interrupted. She rolled her eyes.
“Usually when I hear that phrase, people are using it to describe me.”
“People?”
“Yeah, you know, people. Bipeds, walk around all over the place, can’t miss ‘em,” she stated, the sarcasm beginning to creep into her speech as a defense mechanism. Lex ignored her tone.
“What people have used that phrase to describe you?” She looked at him in disbelief.
“Gee, I don’t know Lex. Everybody?” She said, the sarcasm dripping off her tongue. He cocked an eyebrow. He couldn’t help but smile when she called him Lex though. In his mind, it meant that she was letting her guard down a little. She sighed. “My dad, Pete, Clark,” she cringed a little after the last name, but quickly covered, and amended her statement. “Okay, in their favor, it’s usually when they’re trying to cheer me up, but it never works. I mean, how is that supposed to cheer someone up? Hey, no one’s perfect, and that means you.” Chloe grumbled and took another sip of her coffee. Lex fought back a chuckle. Chloe noticed and decided to change the topic. “So what are you even doing here? Don’t you own The Talon? Don’t you have some lives to destroy?” Lex ignored her icy comment and the corners of his lips curled upward.
“The Talon’s closed temporarily because of Lana’s injuries.” Chloe felt a brief pang of guilt. “That should answer the first two questions.” The guilt quickly disappeared with his second comment, which came off a bit snide. “And, as far as having lives to destroy, contrary to popular belief, I am not the devil incarnate.” He paused for a brief moment and grinned. “That’s my father.” He took another drink.
Chloe fell silent for a minute. ‘There’s that guilty feeling again,’ she thought to herself. “Yeah, I heard he was in the hospital. I’m sorry.” Lex studied her face and saw that she actually felt compassion for him, despite everything his father had put her and her father through, what he had put countless other families through, and only one comment came to mind.
“Why?” Chloe gave him a questioning look.
“Why what?”
“Why are you sorry that he’s in the hospital?” That question took Chloe aback. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open a little. She shook her head.
“Uh, I guess I’m not. Not really anyway. I was just saying it because I was trying to be sympathetic.” Lex smiled.
“Good. I thought you had taken leave of your senses for a minute there.” Chloe chuckled, showing the first smile she had in the last few days. She looked at Lex.
“How did we even get on this topic in the first place?”
“You steered the conversation away from talking about hostile feelings toward Lana.” The gleam in Chloe’s eyes dimmed.
“Right.” She glanced at her now empty mug. “I should get going.” Lex reached across and placed his hand on top of hers. She looked at him to explain the gesture.
“Do you want to talk about it?” He noticed the sad expression on her face and she shook her head.
“Not right now,” she answered. ‘Not ever,” she thought. Lex stood up as she did. He walked over to the door to hold it open for her. “Thanks,” she mumbled as she walked through the door, her thoughts now back on what was wreaking havoc with her emotional well being.
“Chloe,” he called after her, and jogged up to where she had turned around to face him on the sidewalk.
“Yeah?”
“Need a ride home?”
~*~*~
Ch. 2
~*~*~
Instead of playing his music loudly, Lex drove Chloe in silence for the first few minutes. He glanced over at her. She was staring out the window. ‘No doubt as to what she’s thinking about,’ Lex thought.
“So, Miss Sullivan,” he started. She arched an eyebrow. He had called her by her first name when he asked her if she needed a ride home, but she now assumed that was to get her attention.
“Mr. Luthor,” she emphasized that she could play this game too, although she wasn’t exactly sure what kind of game he was playing yet. He grinned, but didn’t look over at her.
“This new found hatred for Lana that you’ve acquired…”
“It’s not new found,” Chloe interrupted. Lex peeked at her through the corner of his eye.
“Anyway, I’m guessing that it has more to do with Clark than with Lana,” he said. She looked back out the window.
“Good guess,” she muttered underneath her breath, but he caught it. Then she swung her head around to face him. “Wait a second. How did you know that?” He briefly faced her and shrugged.
“I’m observant,” he said. The expression on her face told him that she didn’t buy that excuse. “And Clark told me that you had a crush on him after he found out about it.” She blushed and clenched her fists. “Don’t be embarrassed,” he stated, only noticing the rosy hue on her face.
“I’m not,” she spat. “I’m mortified and angry!” Lex turned to face her again as they pulled up to a stop sign. Normally, he wouldn’t have stopped, but with an irate Chloe in the car, he figured he’d better.
“What?” She shot an icy glare at him, and although it was certainly enough to make most men tremble, for some reason Lex found it endearing.
“Did he set this up? Send you after me to say ‘hey, Clark’s not such a bad guy, he didn’t mean to rip your heart out and stomp on it!’ Did he?! God! He’s been begging me for forgiveness ever since it happened, but he is not going to get it! Damn it! I can’t believe I didn’t see it since you’re his friend. Argh! I hate my life!”
“Chloe, calm down,” he began to reach a hand out to touch her arm, but she gave him a warning look and he pulled it back. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. What happened?” She looked at him angrily but settled a little when she saw that his expression seemed sincere. ‘Of course, he’s a Luthor so he probably has faking sincerity down pat,’ she thought.
“It doesn’t matter.” She leaned back in her seat and looked out the window again. A truck horn honked behind them, indicating that they had been waiting at the stop sign for too long. Lex started driving again, but kept glancing over at Chloe.
“Of course it matters,” he said in a comforting voice. She didn’t respond. “If for no other reason than I don’t like being left out on what’s going on.” He grinned and so did she.
“No. It doesn’t matter because pretty soon my dad and I are going to be moving back to Metropolis and I can put Clark Kent out of my mind forever,” Chloe said. Lex gave her a sympathetic grin.
“It doesn’t work that way and you know it. Why are you moving to Metropolis?” Chloe let out a stressed half laugh.
“Plant closing? Your dad’s the devil? Any of this ringing a bell?” Lex laughed and flashed her a full smile as he pulled into her driveway.
“Well, I can’t deny the second part, but the plant isn’t closing.” She seemed surprised by the news.
“Yes it is, we all heard the announcement.” Lex gave her a smirk, his mature way of saying ‘I know something you don’t know.’
“My father and I reached an agreement. The plant is staying open.” Chloe gave him a skeptical expression.
“I see. And when did you reach this agreement?” Her question surprised Lex. He knew she was smart, but he hadn’t been expecting her to ask that. The corners of his lips curled, and the second Chloe saw that, she knew she wasn’t going to get an answer to her question. Lex cleared his throat.
“A question for another time I’m afraid.” He motioned toward the front doorstep of her house where her dad was standing waiting for her. She grimaced.
“How long has he been standing there?” Lex sucked in a breath.
“About five minutes,” he answered coolly. She stared at him.
“And you were planning on telling me, when exactly?” Lex chuckled.
“Around the time you asked a question that I didn’t want to answer,” he replied. She narrowed her eyes and playfully slapped his arm. He laughed, but rubbed the spot with his other hand. “Would it make you feel better if I walked you to the door?” He asked in a sincere tone. She laughed.
“Only if you’re trying to get me grounded for life.”
“It would keep you from having to ever see Clark again.” Her face fell a little at the mention of Clark’s name, and Lex instantly regretted having made the comment. He gently reached over and stroked her cheek with his hand. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.” He was surprised when she leaned into his touch ever so slightly.
“It’s okay. Like you said, it doesn’t work that way.” She got out of the car and waved goodbye. As she got closer to where her dad stood, she saw the horrified look on his face. She meekly waved and walked up to give him a hug. “Hi Dad.”
“Chloe, honey,” he said in a strained voice. “Would you like to explain why Lex Luthor gave you a ride home?” Chloe’s mouth dropped open a little bit to start talking, but her dad cut her off before she could say anything. “And why you were sitting in his car with him for a good ten minutes? And why he was stroking your cheek?” His words got louder and louder with each question. Chloe shook her head.
“Dad, it’s not what you think. I just ran into him while getting my caffeine fix, then we talked about some stuff, and he offered me a ride home. By the way, did you know the plant’s not going to close?” She quickly added on the last part to distract her father’s line of thinking. His mouth dropped open and he stared at her.
“Please tell me you didn’t have anything to do with that.”
~*~*~
Ch. 3
~*~*~
This part takes place the next day.
~*~*~*~*~
‘God, Chloe is going to kill me for this,’ Lex thought as he knocked on the Kents’ front door. He couldn’t decide whether it was a good thing that Clark was the one who answered the door or not.
“Hey Lex,” Clark greeted, standing in the doorway. “Haven’t heard from you much lately. What’s going on?” He smiled and Lex let one corner of his mouth turn upward.
“I wanted to talk to you about Chloe.” A worried expression crossed Clark’s face.
“Is she okay?” Lex frowned.
“Depends on what you consider okay,” he answered. Clark stepped out of the doorway, closing the door behind him.
“I’ve been trying to talk to her, but she won’t let me,” Clark said in a sad voice, his face looking at the ground. Then something occurred to him. “Wait a minute,” his head shot up, “when did you see her?” Lex felt a pang of guilt, or almost guilt, at Clark’s expression, but made sure it didn’t show.
“I ran into her yesterday while getting coffee. She seemed upset, but she wouldn’t talk about it.”
“Well, she barely knows you Lex, it’s not like she’s going to open up to a total stranger,” he replied, trying to console his friend, but not really helping.
“I did get the impression that it had something to do with you and Lana.” Lex’s words were calm and dripped off his tongue, displaying none of the newfound animosity he felt because of Clark’s last comment. Clark didn’t respond, he just stood there silent and looked like he was plagued by guilt. “So you want to tell me what happened? I thought you had decided that you were going to go after Chloe.”
“I did,” Clark answered quickly. “And I do, I mean, things have gotten really mixed up.” Lex nodded.
“That still doesn’t answer my question.” Clark looked at him. Lex could see the confusion plastered across his face.
“I don’t know.” Clark shook his head. “I don’t know what I did wrong. Everything was going fine. Then, the day after the dance, I went over to her house and she wouldn’t see me.” Lex furrowed his brow.
“What happened after the dance?” Clark shrugged.
“Well, nothing. I mean, I don’t think anything happened. Like I said, she wouldn’t talk to me the next day.”
“You were there Clark, you should know what happened.” The guilt crossed Clark’s features again. “Clark?”
“Uh, well, we heard that Lana might be stuck in the storm so I ran out to where she was to see if I could help.” Lex’s eyes widened.
“You left Chloe at the dance, alone, so you could rescue Lana?” Lex asked in disbelief. “No offense Clark, but you’re an idiot.” Clark chuckled; obviously thinking it was a joke.
“Yeah, I guess. So, you think I still have a chance with her?”
“Depends on which her you’re speaking of.”
“Chloe.” Lex frowned. He had to be delicate about this. He shook his head.
“Honestly Clark, I think the best thing you do for Chloe right now is to be her friend, just her friend. Let her move on with somebody else in her social life.” Clark shook his head.
“From what Pete told me, she’s liked me for a long time, you don’t just stop liking someone because they leave you at a dance,” Clark reasoned. Lex gave him a ‘yeah, right’ look.
“But you didn’t just leave her at the dance. You left her at the dance to be with Lana, the girl you’ve been fawning over for years now, while Chloe was putting up with you.” Lex shook his head again. “I’m surprised she didn’t try to move on before now.”
“Uh, she did. But, he ended up being a bad guy, it’s kind of hard to explain.” Lex gave an unemotional response.
“Ah.”
“So, since you two actually had a conversation yesterday without killing each other, you think you could put in a good word for me?” Clark flashed a smile.
“Actually, I was planning on asking her what she ever saw in you in the first place and telling her to never talk to you again,” Lex said drolly. Clark chuckled, but Lex kept a straight face. “I’m running late. I’ll see you later Clark.” With that, Lex turned away and walked to his car. Clark went back inside, and almost ran into his mom.
“What did Lex want Clark?” Clark smiled.
“He just stopped by to say hi. And he’s going to talk to Chloe for me.” Martha frowned.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m not sure that’s the best idea son.”
“Mom, I know you don’t like Lex, but he’s my friend,” Clark said in defense.
“It’s not that Clark. I got a phone call from Gabe Sullivan last night and he had some rather disturbing things to say.”
“Like what?” Martha let out a breath.
“I couldn’t understand a lot of it, it seemed like he was just angry rambling, but I did catch something about Chloe and Lex in a car. From what I caught, it sounded like Lex might be interested in Chloe.” Clark grinned.
“Of course he’s interested in her mom, they’re both my friends and he wants to get to know her better.” His mom frowned again and shook her head.
“Not that kind of interested.”
~*~*~
Ch. 4
~*~*~
Chloe stood in the small line at The Beanery to order a large cup of coffee to go. Her dad had calmed down after he gave her the chance to explain what happened, but she didn’t want to take any chances on upsetting him again. She stepped forward to place her order and heard a voice she recognized behind her saying that he would take care of that. She swung around and bumped into Lex.
“Chloe,” he greeted, handing the cashier the money for both their orders. She arched an eyebrow and crossed her arms.
“Are you stalking me now?” She quipped. He grinned.
“Of course not,” he paused. “I have people to do that for me.” Despite herself, Chloe laughed and flashed an honest smile at Lex. “Glad you’re in a better mood today.” She rolled her eyes and grabbed her cup from the attendant. He went to hold the door open for her.
“You know, that’s the second time you’ve done that.” He furrowed his brow.
“Done what?”
“Opened a door for me,” she crinkled her face, “This precise door if you want to be specific.” He grinned.
“I’d think that you would be used to that.”
“Oh yeah, guys open the door for me all the time,” she said sarcastically. He looked confused. “Lex, you’re forgetting that my best friends are Pete and Clark, or it was Clark, I don’t really know what’s going to happen with that.” Lex noted that she didn’t seem as upset at the mention of his name as she had been the previous day, and he took that as a good sign.
“Ah, yes. From what I know of Pete, besides the fact that he hates my family, he does not seem prone to be the chivalrous type. And Clark,” he sipped his coffee. “Well, Clark is Clark. He’s a nice guy, but not always too bright.” Chloe arched an eyebrow at him and he shrugged. “I don’t know anyone else who would have left a beautiful woman alone at a dance to run out into the middle of a dangerous storm.” ‘I certainly wouldn’t have,’ he thought. Chloe’s mouth dropped open slightly and her eyes widened.
“How did you know about that?” She asked in an accusing tone. He took another drink of his coffee to hide the smirk that was beginning to cross his face.
“I ran into Clark earlier,” he answered, thinking that it wasn’t a complete lie.
“Uh huh. And by ‘ran into’ you mean purposely sought him out so you could find out what I didn’t tell you?” He smiled.
“You know Chloe, you’re entirely too smart for your own good sometimes.” She smiled.
“I’ll take that as a compliment.” He nodded.
“You should.”
“So what did he say?” She got her keys out and went over to the driver’s side of her dad’s car. Lex sighed.
“I don’t think he understands what he did was wrong,” Lex said bluntly. Chloe nodded.
“He never does. That’s why I warned him ahead of time, I thought it would help.”
“You warned him ahead of time?” Lex took Chloe’s cup from her so she could unlock the door.
“Yeah, I did. I told him if he did this, if he left me at the dance for Lana, that I would never forgive him.” She looked a little sad again, but not as angry as she had been. Lex handed her the cup as she sat down.
“Which means, on some level at least, that you must have been expecting it,” Lex observed. Her head hung a little.
“Maybe. But that doesn’t make it hurt any less.” Lex leaned on the car.
“No, of course it doesn’t. The only thing that’s going to help you get through this is if you acknowledge that Clark was only ever meant to be your friend. He’s not good enough to be your boyfriend.” She stared up at him and stifled a laugh.
“Recent events aside, Clark Kent is one of the most decent people I know.” Lex grinned.
“He’s very decent. I’ll even concede to good looking if you go for the whole hair thing.” Lex paused and smiled as Chloe did what was probably as close to a giggle for her as possible. “But, like I said, he’s not always that bright. And you always are. I must admit, that’s one of the reasons I was pushing him to go for Lana.” Chloe gave him a hurt and angry look. “She’s nice and she’s pretty, but she’s not smart, and she doesn’t have your fire. I knew that if Clark ended up going out with you that neither of you would be getting what you needed out of the relationship, because you would outgrow him so quickly. And since talking to you yesterday, I can only say that I think you already have.”
Chloe sat stunned in her seat. She wanted so desperately to be angry with Lex, but he had just given her a compliment that she never thought she would hear anyone tell her. The only thing she could think to do was to lighten the situation.
“So you don’t think I’m nice and pretty?” Lex laughed and leaned into the car, so that his face was close to her ear.
“I didn’t say that.” His raspy deep whisper made a shiver run through her body. He kissed her cheek and stood up straight. “Drive home safely.” He chuckled to himself and walked back to his car. Chloe sat in her dad’s car and placed a hand up to her cheek in astonishment.
~*~*~
Ch. 5
~*~*~
The entire drive home, Chloe was wishing she would have made some close friends other than Clark and Pete. Someone she could share what had just happened with. Pete would be angry, if anything, given the fact that he hated Lex, and the whole Nicodemus incident. The latter of which she was desperately trying to block out of her memory. And, obviously, Clark wouldn’t want to hear about it. What would she say to him anyway? ‘Hi Clark. I know that we just went through a weird part in our friendship, but there’s something I want to talk to you about. Did I mention that Lex kissed my cheek?’ She laughed out loud at the thought.
“I shouldn’t even tell him what section of my anatomy he kissed,” Chloe said to herself. Then she frowned. A part of her, a big part, was telling her that there was no way that Lex had meant the kiss to be interpreted that way. She reasoned that he probably thought she was Clark’s friend who was in need of comfort. When she reached a stop sign, she rested her head briefly on the steering wheel. ‘Fickle, thy name is Chloe Sullivan.’ She continued on to her house moments later, berating herself for even entertaining the notion of a possible relationship with Lex. But, her two conversations with him had certainly shed light on a recent situation. A paraphrased line from Sixteen Candles kept repeating itself in her head.
That’s why they call them crushes. If they were easy, they’d call them something else.
She had only thought she was in love with Clark, but she hadn’t been. A strong crush yes, but she was capable of getting on with her life, and maybe even becoming friends with him again. Despite her new outlook, her stomach sank when she saw the Kents’ truck in her driveway.
“Shit.” She gathered her things from the car and walked toward the front stoop where Clark was waiting for her. He met her half way, giving her a dimply smile that just a week ago would have made her melt, but now had relatively no effect on her.
“Hi Chlo, you need some help?” He asked, motioning to her full arms. She managed a small, forced grin, and shook her head.
“Nope, I got it. Thanks anyway.” She continued toward the front door and he followed her. She rearranged the items in her arms so she could open the door. A memory of Lex opening the door for her earlier came to mind and she sighed. Clark followed behind her into the house. She set her things down, and threw the now empty coffee cup away.
“Chloe,” he stopped her walking around by holding her upper arm gently. She looked up at him, but said nothing. “I, I wanted to say I’m sorry.” He paused and gazed down at her with puppy dog eyes. “I guess our more than friendship didn’t get off to the best start, huh?”
“That’s an understatement,” she agreed. He took her hands in his.
“Let me make it up to you.” She sighed and stared at the floor.
“You can’t.” He frowned and she looked up at him again, gathering the courage to say what she needed to. “I think this whole thing was just a big lesson for me from fate or destiny, or whatever.” He seemed confused and she took her hands out of his. “I think we were only ever meant to be friends Clark.” The frown on his face became more pronounced.
“What? Why? You’re just saying this because you’re angry with me, I…” Chloe shook her head and interrupted him.
“Clark, that’s not it. I was angry with you. I was completely pissed off at you and ready to never talk to you again. But I’m not anymore. Something happened today that made me realize that I don’t want to spend any more time chasing after someone who isn’t interested in me like that.”
“But I am…” Chloe shook her head again.
“You’re not. You never were. You only acknowledged that I existed as a female of the species after Pete told you that I liked you. I think if you really examine your feelings, you’ll see that you probably only felt obligated to like me back because you’re friends.” Chloe choked out. Clark’s expression was so sad and confused that Chloe thought she might start crying from just looking at him.
“What happened?”
“Well, you’re in love with Lana, and you left me at the dance for her after you said you promised you wouldn’t…” Chloe said, still not believing that he just didn’t get it. He shook his head.
“No. I mean, you said something happened today that made you only want to be friends with me. What happened?” Chloe’s eyes widened a little. ‘Oh. How am I supposed to explain this?’ She thought.
“Um,” she smiled a little and despite her best efforts not to blush, a pink hue covered her cheeks. “You know Clark, I’m not sure you’d believe me even if I told you.” He narrowed his eyes suspiciously at her.
“Try me.”
“My Dad’s going to be home soon,” she grabbed his arm to show him to the door. “You should go.” He stopped dead in his tracks and made her look at him.
“Chloe, this doesn’t have anything to do with Lex does it?” Chloe did her best surprised reaction.
“Why would you think that?” Clark shrugged.
“I didn’t get all the details, but your dad called my parents last night and was ranting about you two being in a car together.” Chloe laughed, but even she thought it sounded fake.
“He was totally overreacting. We ran into each other while getting coffee yesterday and he offered to give me a ride home. That’s all.” Clark appeared relieved.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to insinuate anything. It’s just, your dad said something about he thought Lex was going to kiss you if he hadn’t been standing there.” Clark chuckled, not seeing the now panicked expression on Chloe’s face. “Parents can be so weird.” Chloe nodded, and tried to hide what she was thinking. She held out her hand.
“So… friends?” Clark smiled broadly and shook her hand.
“Friends.”
Just then, a deliveryman came to the door holding a large bouquet of flowers.