First Fic - When Clark Met Chloe
So here's my first Smallville fic.
Pairing: Not quite paired but Clark/Chloe centric
PG Rated - very tame and probably very lame, but this is fanfic level equivalent of training wheels
Disclaimer: I don't own any of them. Wish I did....usual yadda yadda
Inspired by the following scene from Obscura:
Clark: You know, I remember the first time I met her. It was eighth grade. She'd just transferred from Metropolis and I was assigned to show her around. The first thing she wanted to know was where she could buy a copy of the Planet so she could keep in touch with civilization. When she found out I lived on a farm, she insisted I invite her over to experience it first hand. I think she thought I was Amish. When I brought her up here, she just kissed me, right out of the blue.
Lana: Why'd she do that?
Clark: She said "I know you've been thinking about that all day, so I figured we'd get it out of the way and be friends." That was my first kiss.
I often wondered what that day had been like.
When Clark Met Chloe
A boy and his best friend walked in comfortable silence along the side of the road. Pete Ross kicked at an empty soda can that landed off the tarmac into a ditch that lined the rows and rows of corn that grew on stalks nearly two meters high and swayed gently in the early morning breeze. It was a day like any other spring day in Smallville. Clark Kent and his best friend Pete found themselves walking to school after they both missed the bus. Clark held Pete’s voracious appetite for breakfast responsible for that though he could hardly blame him, Mrs Kent certainly knew how to cook up a breakfast. With Pete’s Mom usually out the door to work before him in the mornings Clark couldn’t find fault with Pete’s desire to make the most of the rare fully cooked breakfast when he stayed over at the Kents’ farm. Unfortunately as a result they’d just missed the school bus and now were walking, Clark would have normally fixed this with a touch of superspeed but that was not an option with Pete right beside him. He sighed inwardly for the millionth time at his need to keep his abilities secret from his best friend.
“Weight of the world eh Clark?”
Pete grinned at him as he ran down and kicked the can back up to the bitumen. Clark kicked it further along, watching as the can clattered across the road in front of him.
“We could’ve caught that bus you know Pete.”
“Hey man I am not running on a bellyful of waffles and bacon your Mom cooked up this morning….that would be bad….as in you’d be seeing the breakfast again.”
“Hmph” Clark grunted, acknowledging that he was right in that respect.
“So who’ve you got first this morning?” Clark asked Pete.
Both in 8th grade they still hadn’t learnt each others class schedules, too busy trying to remember their own. Pete frowned trying to recall what day it was.
“Oh yeah…I’ve got Wilson for English, how bout you?”
“Miss Cameron in Media.”
Clark paused mid step as the thought of Miss Cameron triggered another thought - the fact that he’d forgotten to do his homework assignment. A review of the movie Toy Story. Damn he knew he’d had too much free time last night before he went to bed. Pete looked back at him and grinned when he saw the frown on Clark’s face.
“Lemme guess - you forgot your movie review?”
Clark nodded and kept walking. Nothing for it now, he’d just have to face the music. It shouldn’t be too bad, he and Miss Cameron seemed to get along okay. He might just be able to use some of his Kent charm to avoid a Saturday detention.
They arrived at Smallville High just as the second bell went and they hustled quickly up the front stairs trying to avoid being picked up for lateness. Clark bid Pete goodbye telling him he’d see him in Gym for the class after next. Clark turned to go up the stairs to his Media class when, stomach sinking, he heard a distinctive Principal-like voice ring out,
“Mr Kent - a word please?”
Taking a deep breath he turned around to face Principal Kwan and was surprised to see that he was not alone. Clark couldn’t help but stare at the blonde bombshell standing beside him. The girl was several inches shorter than Kwan, barely even coming up to his shoulders, meaning that Clark pretty much towered over her as he was a good foot taller than Kwan already at 14 years old. She had short pale blonde cropped hair on a very attractive looking face that would have been instantly alluring had the distinct look of indifference with a vaguely disdainful expression not been marring her features. She was chewing gum and her left foot seemed to fidget restlessly as she looked around her.
“This is Chloe Sullivan, she’s just transferred here from Metropolis High and I need you to be her guide today. I’ve informed Miss Cameron that you will be otherwise occupied for this lesson however she did say you still need to hand in your assignment tomorrow.”
Clark’s grin at the thought of somehow dodging that undone homework bullet was hard to conceal but he hoped Kwan had just interpreted it as his eagerness to show the new student around. Which, if he was honest with himself, as he surreptitiously checked her profile out, he was definitely more than happy to do. He jumped slightly as his gaze moved back up to her face and discovered that she was very definitely checking him out, staring at his face with inscrutable eyes. He briefly wondered what her initial impressions were.
“Right then, Chloe I’ll leave you in Clark’s capable hands and make sure you swing by the administration office to pick up your new time table. I hope you’ll feel welcome here at Smallville High….oh and by the way, we don’t allow students to chew gum in the school building so…” Kwan gestured to the nearest bin and Chloe rolled her eyes to heaven, slouched over to the bin and with no sign of self consciousness, rather aggressively spat her gum into the bin. Clark was mildly impressed by her disregard for the importance of first impressions as Chloe gave Kwan a look that spoke volumes. Kwan hurried off, spotting some students at the end of the corridor still out of class.
Clark shifted his bag to his other shoulder and gave Chloe a tentative smile,
“So what would you like to see first?....The Gym? Or Science Labs? Library maybe?”
He was trying to be helpful and approachable, having some idea about how difficult it could be to fit in but Chloe merely looked at him with a definite element of condescension.
“Ah yeah, cos all those places are *so* high on my priority list Kent. No, never mind your primitive sweat halls and your crazy backwater experiments, what I want to know is where the hell can I buy a copy of the Planet so that I can keep up with the rest of civilisation. This place is called Smallville for a reason I’m sure has nothing to do with a small back water village at all.”
She stopped walking and turned to face Clark front on. Her hands on her hips she stood there almost glaring at him waiting for her answer. Clark almost let slip a small smile at how this girl still managed to look very attractive even when she was pissed, he thought better of it though.
“Uh The Planet huh?”
“Yeah the Planet - I guess you may not have heard of it here but it’s only the biggest Kansas paper that is number 4 in the country for circulation and keeps 2 million people in Metropolis up to date with everything going in the world. You know, insignificant stuff like that.”
Clark felt slightly annoyed that she assumed he hadn’t heard of The Planet. He had in fact heard of it, indeed he’d caught its headlines a couple of times as he’d seen it on his Mom’s kitchen counter from time to time. His Mom, being from Metropolis, still liked to catch the odd edition. He carried on striding down the hallway and smirked inwardly as Chloe had to almost trot to keep up with his long legged paces.
“Yeah I’ve heard of it, we do have all the mod cons out here you know - running water and newspapers funnily enough. So yes you can read the Daily Planet here.”
He turned the corner and went through two large double doors into the Library. Clark glanced around quickly and then went straight over to the newspaper section where the Library carried a number of newspapers, ranging from the Smallville Ledger, to The Inquisitor and to The Daily Planet. He gestured with his hands to the table covered in newspapers giving her a slightly smug grin.
“Is this suitable city girl?”
Chloe bristled at this lanky Kent boy’s audacity to call her anything informal given their current just-met-still-strangers-status however she was indeed happy to see her beloved Planet on the table.
“This is great” she murmured as she poured over the top stories seeming to absorb them like a sponge. Clark could easily tell that she was deeply drawn by the paper and all its’ articles so he hazarded a question;
“So you…like just read newspapers for fun? Or are you looking for something specific?”
“Hmm…what?”
She gave him a distracted look as she glanced up from the paper. He realised she hadn’t even heard what he’d asked so he simply pointed at the paper.
“What gives? You looking for something specific or what?”
“Oh….” She looked down at the paper momentarily, “Well you know….all the fun stuff happens in Metropolis.”
Clark could have been offended by the insinuation that she was making about Smallville but instead took it as a challenge. Chloe Sullivan needed to be shown that Smallville did not equal Dullsville and that it had a certain charm that Clark, even as teenager, felt a quiet fierce pride of. There were good things about living in a rural town and Smallville had its fair share of those good things. For some reason, despite only knowing this girl about five seconds, Clark felt inexplicably determined to make sure Chloe was appreciative of all the positives about living in Smallville.
“Well then, now you know where to find your link to the rest of the world, how about I give you the grand tour of Smallville High, home of the Crows?”
Chloe tilted her head, considering his suggestion a moment, chewing the inside of her bottom lip briefly still looking at the paper. In the end she shrugged and stood up, figuring that she’d have to get to know her way around some way or the other and at least this Kent kid was easy on the eyes. There could be worse ways to spend your first day in a new school.
“Ok Kent…lead the way, show me all that is wondrous about this small town high.”
Clark didn’t respond to the sarcasm in her voice as he’d figured out already that this girl in front of him probably used her snarkiness to cover her real feelings about the transfer and new school. That was okay by him. Clark’s easy going and relaxed nature, borne out of a need to control any displays of emotion in particular anger, meant that he was a good buffer for people like Chloe and he was able to look beyond the surface layer presented. He smiled at Chloe, which he saw surprised her a little although she tried to hide it, and held his arm out holding the door to the library for her as she went through. He had a plan in mind and figured they should start in the Media section of the school. He had a hunch Chloe might be interested in the school newspaper.
*********************
By the time lunchtime rolled around Chloe and Clark were still together, Clark having showed her round just about every inch of the school and finishing with the cafeteria where they had just bought their lunch. Chloe was just telling Clark about the lack of good food choices at her old school when Pete walked up with his lunch tray.
He sat down opposite Clark, grabbed his chicken roll and looked at Clark, eyebrows raising as he glanced at the girl beside him.
“Uh…Chloe this is..”
Before Clark could finish Pete wiped his hand on his napkin and stuck it out towards Chloe,
“Pete….Pete Ross…but you can just call me Pete.”
Chloe smiled and glanced at Clark quickly before she shook his hand,
“Chloe Sullivan….formerly of Metropolis, now to be of Smallville it seems. Nice to meet you.”
Clark mused on the fact that she hadn’t told him that it was nice to meet him. He wondered if he should be offended by that. He watched as Pete grinned back at Chloe, another thought crossing his mind about whether Pete realised he was grinning like an idiot and that his best friend already seemed to be very interested in the girl that was Chloe Sullivan sitting next to him. He felt the need to break into the little staring/checking out interaction.
“So Pete and I have been best buddies since like we were 6 years old I think. What do you think Pete? 6 years old? Was that when we started to hang out together?”
Pete was not registering Clark’s question so Clark gave him a not too soft kick under the table.
“Ow..” he glared at Clark, reaching down to rub his knee, “What?....buddies….oh yeah.” He turned back to Chloe, the dopey grin on his face again,
“Yeah me and Clark go way back…I was teaching him how to dunk a basket since he was like 7….he still hasn’t got it.”
Clark glared at Pete who was basking in the smile Chloe was giving him. Chloe looked up at Clark giving him a quizzical grin, she kind of doubted that Pete would be teaching Clark, who was much taller, anything about basketball.
After spending the morning with him she had reassessed her initial suspicions of Clark being quite dull in a small rural town, sheltered life kind of way. On the contrary she had found his enthusiasm for various school based activities and his healthy, but very diplomatically expressed, dislike for certain subjects and teachers quite refreshing and in the end, very engaging. Within a short time of being in his company she had decided she liked him. Looking at him now as he argued with Pete about the relevancy of his slam dunk lessons, she realised she may even *like* like him that way. He was certainly an attractive looking teen, with thick dark brown slightly tousled hair that curled slightly into locks framing his face. His eyes matched hers colour wise and his strong, aquiline jaw implied a strength of masculinity that left her musing on what his torso might look like underneath that plaid shirt. His mouth was lined with full lips that stretched from ear to ear when he smiled and it was his easy way of smiling that certainly drew her to him initially. She found herself unable to stop herself from naturally grinning back at him when he’d let loose that smile and that was unusual as her snarky retorts nearly always got in before a smile did.
She pulled herself back from her contemplation of Clark and tried to catch up with the debate which had now moved onto who was the better swimmer. She rolled her eyes to heaven slightly as both boys confirmed her opinion on the male species’ ultimate need for competition. She broke in.
“And being the better swimmer in a place like Smallville which is miles and miles from any ocean is so important because….?”
She cocked her head, raising her eyebrows as she looked at the both of them. Clark and Pete stared at her and then glanced away at each other sheepishly realising there really was no point in trying to convince a girl of the benefits of being the *best* in anything.
“So Chloe have you settled in with your parents yet? All moved in?”
Pete tried to change the subject.
“Yeah actually. My Dad and I have pretty much got all the boxes in the right rooms we just have the tedious job of unpacking now.”
Chloe noted the thinly disguised curiosity about her use of ‘my dad and I’ as opposed to parents so she decided to get that tidbit of background info on her out the way already.
“Yeah…it’s just me and my Dad in case you were wondering. They separated when I was 5 and I’ve been with Dad ever since. But it’s cool,” she added, noticing Clark’s slight frown, “we get along just fine and I’ve not missed having a Mom at all….so you can stop worrying now.”
Chloe grinned at Clark’s concerned expression and gently patted that back of his hand on the table as she said this, pretending to allay his concerns. Then realising she’d actually just involuntarily touched him physically she quickly moved on.
“Actually we just moved into a house not too far from here, a couple of streets back off the main street of town. It’s a really nice house, white and blue and very old style with lots of room.”
Chloe stopped, realising she was babbling a bit now trying to cover up the potential awkwardness of her hand touch with Clark. Pete had not failed to notice her brief touch of Clark’s hand and inwardly sighed. Dammit why did the girls always head for Clark first - did they not realise what a complete dork and clutz Clark was around girls? Pete was forever saving the uncomfortable silence in conversations that Clark had with girls, conversations never initiated by Clark of course, but always seemingly finished by Pete. The girls who did start talking to Clark invariably moved on rapidly as it dawned on them that Clark had some serious confidence issues when it came to conversations with the opposite sex. Pete took solace in the fact that Clark would invariably come unstuck with Chloe and that Pete would end up being the centre of her attention due to the simple fact that girls and Clark never seemed to mix too well. At least not now as a gangly 14 year old who towered over every classmate in his year and not a small number in the years above.
Pete steered the conversation away from potential family discussions and onto what he wanted to do.
"So Chloe have you been shown around the main town area or have you not had a chance to get out yet?”
“Well,” said Chloe happy to take the focus off her embarrassing lapse of restraint, “I’ve not seen all of Smallville yet but I’ve probably done all the main attractions when I walked up the main street yesterday. Found a decent coffee shop at least, a place called the Beanery.”
Clark figured she’d be a coffee girl. He knew just by looking at her, that high energy level was definitely not without caffeine enhancement of some sort.
Chloe looked questioningly at the two of them,
“So do you guys live nearby or further out?”
Clark considered what Chloe would think when he told her he lived on a farm when Pete solved that question for him.
“Well I’m nearby - I live a few blocks away from the school, not quite on the outskirts but away from the noise of central town. Clark lives way out though, on a farm.”
"It’s not *way* out Pete, it’s just a few more miles than where you live,” interjected Clark, exasperated by his friend’s attempts to make Clark seem like some hick farm boy. Chloe, however, seemed to be totally intrigued by the idea, she gazed at Clark with a renewed interest that didn’t seem too far removed from her interest in the Planet’s front page stories.
“You live on a farm?”
She said farm like it was some kind of alien planet. Clark just nodded giving her a slightly bemused look.
“Like a real, proper farm though? Not those hobby ones with a couple of goats and a vegetable patch? I mean like a real farm business thing where you raise cows and grow corn and everything?”
Clark chuckled at her incredulity.
“Yes Chloe. A proper farm. It’s been in my family for three generations, my Dad’s a farmer through and through.”
“Wow.”
Typical, thought Pete, Clark lives on a farm and Chloe thinks that’s cool and why the hell a city girl would think living on a farm was cool was beyond his comprehension. Sometimes girls seemed like a completely foreign species to Pete.
“You have to show me.”
“What? The farm?” asked Clark, slightly startled.
“Of course the farm dimwit, what else would she want you to show her?”
Pete let his exasperation out on Clark and then quickly realised his sarcasm could be taken the wrong way.
“I mean….what I meant was, she doesn’t want to see anything but the farm of course…right Chloe?” Pete tried to recover by diverting attention back to Chloe. However Clark already had his full attention on Chloe.
“Well yeah…so when?” Chloe looked at Clark expectantly.
“Oh well….how bout today after school then? I mean, if you want to that is, I mean if you don’t have some place else you have to be…well”, Clark broke off realising he was babbling.
“Yeah Clark I’ve been in this school five minutes and made that many friends I’ve been fully booked after school for the next five days….sure.” Chloe gently teased him. “Of course I can come today, I can’t wait to see it. A real farm.”
Chloe stood up and grabbed her tray as the bell went for afternoon classes.
“I’ll see you Kent, out the front of the school at 3 o’clock. Don’t be late - I’ve got me a farm to check out.”
With a grin she walked off, dumping her tray on the collection trolley as she sauntered out the exit towards her Drama class. Pete looked at Clark as they too grabbed their bags and headed for the exit. Clark could feel the stare and tried to ignore it.
‘What?” He asked, failing.
“You have it bad Clarkie boy, real bad.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Oh you know Kent. I’m not spelling it out for you. I just hope you know what you’re getting into, cos that Chloe, man, she is full on.”
“Pete I honestly don’t know what you’re talking about. She wanted to see the farm, that’s all. I doubt she’s interested in more than that.”
“A HA!” Pete’s voice was triumphant in the knowledge he was right. “So you do like her! I knew it.”
Clark grinned before parting ways at the end of the corridor, raising one eyebrow,
“Yeah but be honest, what’s not to like Pete?”
Clark went off to class, quite sure his mind would be fairly distracted that afternoon and certainly not thinking about the periodic table of elements that was bound to come up in Mr Gibb’s Chemistry class.
********************************
Chloe was the one who was late to meet up with Clark after school that day. He was beginning to wonder if she’d perhaps found a better offer and was surprised at how glum he felt at that thought. He’d never really been that interested in girls, apart from his girl next door infatuation with Lana Lang. That was a very distant relationship though and it only really took place in his head as he was quite sure that Lana had no idea that Clark even existed. So he had pretty much avoided girls up till now finding a distinctly humiliating awkwardness come over him whenever any girls had tried to strike up a conversation with him. For some reason he just never felt relaxed around them and ended up making such forced and decidedly odd responses to their questions that they quickly made up an excuse to be somewhere else. He wasn’t sure why that was but had reflected that afternoon in Chemistry class that he’d not had that same reaction around Chloe. He took that as a positive sign and looked forward to seeing her again.
Clark sat on the sidewall of the stairs to the front of the school and looked around again. Finally he spotted her. Bag over her shoulder, moving with a purposeful stride down the path Clark appreciated the view of her shapely curves as she came towards him, a smile breaking across her face as she saw him in a way that made Clark’s own face light up in response. The girl had an infectiously gorgeous smile he had to admit. And on a face as attractive as hers with a slim but curvy body to match he decided that he did indeed find himself drawn to Chloe Sullivan.
“Hey Clark!...Sorry I’m late but I got talking to the editor of the Torch and she and I got to thinking about a possible story I could do…and….well…yeah so that’s why I’m late.”
“No problem, I only just got here myself. You ready to go now?”
Chloe nodded and Clark grabbed his bag and jumped down the steps to lead the way. They caught the school bus and it wasn’t long before it was trundling out along the road that led to the homes on the outskirts of Smallville. Pete said goodbye and couldn’t resist giving a Clark a loaded glance as he hopped off the bus and waved. Clark hoped Chloe hadn’t noticed anything. Eventually he indicated that it was his stop coming up and they made their way to the front of the bus. Clark thanked the driver and jumped out and Chloe thought it was sweet how he’d said thanks.
“Well here we are.” He pointed up at the wooden sign that arched across the light coloured gravel driveway, which was more like a small road that led up to the farmhouse.
“Kent Farm”, Chloe read out, looking up and then smiled at Clark. “This is amazing Clark….I’m about to see my first ever real rural farm. Do you have time to show me around though?”
She looked suddenly concerned.
“I mean what with all the work you have to do, like don’t you have to muster cattle or milk cows or harvest corn or something?”
Clark grinned, “It’s ok Chloe I can spare some time out of my heavy work schedule to show you around. But first you can meet my parents.”
He and Chloe walked down the road towards the farmhouse, Clark kicking a loose rock along the road and Chloe chattering away, firing questions at him non-stop about what it was like to live there. They eventually went up the steps of the porch into the kitchen Clark calling out to his Mom.
“Mom! I’m home…..”
Martha Kent came down the stairs a basket of dirty laundry in her arms and smiled when she saw her son and then looked surprised as she saw he had company. Chloe smiled shyly at her suddenly unsure of herself for some reason.
“Hi Clark...I see you’ve brought a friend home?”
“Yeah Mom, this is Chloe, she’s new in town and she wanted to see a ‘real’ farm” Clark couldn’t help smirking a little when he said ‘real’ and Chloe thumped him lightly on the arm as she stepped forward and offered her hand,
“Nice to meet you Mrs Kent”
“Please….call me Martha, any friend of Clark’s is most welcome around here and you are definitely invited to stay for dinner.”
“Oh well I wouldn’t want to impose…” Chloe replied a little non-plussed at Martha’s open friendliness, a characteristic not commonly found amongst her neighbours in Metropolis.
“Of course you wouldn’t be imposing, I insist.”
‘Yeah Chloe I’d take up the offer, my Mom’s chicken cacciatore is the best around.”
“Okay then, you’ve talked me into it. Thanks for the offer, I’ll have to ring my Dad and let him know though.”
“Sure, not a problem” replied Martha, now rustling around in the pantry.
“C’mon Chloe let me give you the big tour.”
Chloe nodded and followed Clark out the door. Clark spent the next hour and a half showing Chloe round the farm, from the paddock named the “back forty” to his Mom’s vegetable garden, to their corn fields, where they kept their couple of now retired work horses and finally the barn.
“Wow this place is huge” said Chloe as she and Clark entered the barn from the end closest to their grazing cows.
“Yep it was built by the first Kent on the farm and has been gradually added to as each son took over. You can’t run a farm without a decent barn and this one is one of the biggest I’ve seen.”
Chloe wandered over to the tool and machinery area, running her hands over the massive worn wooden workbench and touching some of the older style of tools still hanging up on the wall.
“It certainly feels like this stuff has been here a long time and really well cared for too.”
Clark nodded, a silent note of pride welling up in him at the thought of how much his Dad and his grandfather had achieved by making this farm what Chloe saw before her today. Sure there were days when he did wonder what it would be like not to have to work hard to ensure a roof over their heads or food on the table, or if he had been a city kid what sort of nice things he might have had. At the end of the day though Clark knew that the material things in life really didn’t mean much, but that sense of fierce pride he felt when his Dad got a really good price for a bull or a cow he’d bred or when they’d finished the day with a bumper harvest or even when he saw his Mom’s produce in town selling well, it was a sense of pride that he knew no money could ever replace. He was definitely a farm boy at heart.
Impulsively he walked up and grabbed Chloe by the hand,
“I wanna show you something else too. Something my Dad made for me.”
Chloe looked startled but didn’t pull her hand away, she gave him a slightly quizzical look as she went along with him. Clark led her up some wooden stairs into an area up the top part of the barn. It was like a loft she realised as he came to a stop with her beside him at the top of the stairs. Clark grinned down at Chloe, obviously proud of this loft and then he abruptly let go of her hand and moved across to the window overlooking the farm. It was as if he was unsure all of a sudden of the physical closeness he had initiated. Chloe felt a little bubble of disappointment at the sensation of his hand leaving hers and she wondered at it. Then as she gazed at Clark fiddling with his telescope she didn’t wonder at all. She knew. She found Clark to be incredibly attractive and she could no longer just classify it as a purely physical attraction. She liked the way Clark smiled, the way he spoke, the way he obviously felt fiercely proud of his family, the way he had been concerned for her after only just meeting her. The way he had been so open and welcome and friendly. The way he didn’t take himself too seriously and could enjoy a laugh or how he could handle her teasing and definitely give some back but always in a gentle manner. She sensed he had a strength about him, that underneath that farm boy façade he had a hunger and curiosity about the world. Whilst he was far more mature than most 14 year old males she had come across there was also an innocence about him as well. It was this aura of naiveté that held Chloe back, well that and the fairly well entrenched insecurity about how others may feel about her. She was quite sure the attraction did not go both ways. Clark stood up after adjusting the telescope, gesturing to the rest of the loft,
“This is my loft. Dad built it a couple of years ago when he and Mom figured that I may need a place to get away from it all. That and the fact that it’s a great place for the telescope. Dad calls it my fortress of solitude.”
Clark looked around at the comfy sofa, his desk and chair, his bookshelf and his hammock, thinking it really did look like a teenage boy’s domain.
“I guess I do come up here a lot and think about things. I like looking at the stars too, night time out here you can see a lot more than you would in the city.”
He gazed out at the slowly sinking sun. He wondered why he’d brought her up here all of a sudden. Clark was a distinctly private person, not only through necessity though. He figured he’d be that way even if he didn’t have his abilities to hide. He’d just met this girl and already he was showing her his inner sanctum so to speak. Perhaps he sensed something about her that gave him the assurance he needed. He looked back at her face, and was struck by how much he felt warmed by her presence there. She was watching him, as if she was trying to gauge something. It was as though she was working through a problem. Her face suddenly resolute she strode across the floor of the loft and stood in front of him. Standing up on the tip of her toes she suddenly but gently placed her hands on either side of his face, drew him down to her and was kissing him softly yet insistently on his lips. Clark, initially stunned, quickly responded lifting his hands onto her waist and holding her gently. He was just starting to melt against her lips when she withdrew, looking up at him. He looked confused.
Chloe smiled and Clark became even more confused as her smile became laced with just a tinge of regret. A small frown creased his looks.
"I know you've been thinking about that all day, so I figured we'd get it out of the way and be friends."
Chloe stepped back, out of the clasp of his hands on her waist. She took his hands as she stepped back and held them lightly. She looked down at them. They were massive hands compared to hers yet oddly, with all the work he must do on the farm, soft and smooth to the touch. And they felt warm, really warm. Without looking up she spoke.
“It’s ok Clark, I think I need a friend the most right now.”
Clark was still pulling his addled brains together after experiencing his first ever kiss with a girl who was not his Mom. Somehow he knew he’d missed something. It was like Chloe had somehow zipped along a narrative that he’d not even finished the prologue on. He tried to think. She’d walked up to him. She’d kissed him. She’d then said something about friends but that’s where he got fuzzy. Now it sounded like she was saying a friend was what she most wanted, no needed. It dawned on him that this could be the stuff his Dad was talking about when he was giving Clark ‘The Talk’ and he mentioned how women are not usually understood by men but that was okay because in the end a guy could still, if he were lucky, end up with a woman. He shook his head slightly and moved, pulling his hands from her clasp.
“Yeah….right. No problem…of course, you’ve just moved here, must be scary uprooting everything you’ve known for someplace new.”
He shuffled over to his desk, fiddling with the stuff on it and replacing some books back onto the shelf. He found himself hunting for words for the first time in Chloe’s presence. Something just felt slightly off. He was grateful when he heard his Mom’s voice.
“Clark! Dinner’s ready…”
Clark turned and looked at Chloe who was watching the sun as it finally set below the horizon. She looked a little lost perhaps she was homesick for the city he wondered. Then he realized perhaps she really did need a friend now, not a romantic prospect. Besides they were too young for anything serious like a boyfriend/girlfriend thing. The kiss had thrown him he had to admit. He’d definitely liked it he decided. But he pushed that aside as he went up to her.
Softly, as though not to break the spell of the sunset, he spoke.
“Chloe?...”
She looked at him, a question in her eyes.
“I think I understand…and I think…you and I will be great friends.”
He smiled gently as he said this and Chloe was instantly comforted by his expression. He put his arm round her shoulder, guiding her to the stairs.
“So, you ready to try my Mom’s chicken cacciatore then?”
Chloe laughed as her stomach rumbled at the thought of food.
“Absolutely Clark…”
Clark led the way down stairs and through the barn. They were both 14 years old. They had all the time in the world. Clark had the hope that one day Chloe would eventually come to want more than just friendship. But for now he was just happy to have an excuse to hang out with her everyday. Chloe Sullivan was the first girl he’d had a real conversation with, she was his first kiss, with any luck she might just be his first date someday. For now though Clark would be patient, already at the tender age of 14, he knew that some things in life were worth waiting for. A kiss like that, from Chloe, was definitely one of them.
Pairing: Not quite paired but Clark/Chloe centric
PG Rated - very tame and probably very lame, but this is fanfic level equivalent of training wheels
Disclaimer: I don't own any of them. Wish I did....usual yadda yadda
Inspired by the following scene from Obscura:
Clark: You know, I remember the first time I met her. It was eighth grade. She'd just transferred from Metropolis and I was assigned to show her around. The first thing she wanted to know was where she could buy a copy of the Planet so she could keep in touch with civilization. When she found out I lived on a farm, she insisted I invite her over to experience it first hand. I think she thought I was Amish. When I brought her up here, she just kissed me, right out of the blue.
Lana: Why'd she do that?
Clark: She said "I know you've been thinking about that all day, so I figured we'd get it out of the way and be friends." That was my first kiss.
I often wondered what that day had been like.
When Clark Met Chloe
A boy and his best friend walked in comfortable silence along the side of the road. Pete Ross kicked at an empty soda can that landed off the tarmac into a ditch that lined the rows and rows of corn that grew on stalks nearly two meters high and swayed gently in the early morning breeze. It was a day like any other spring day in Smallville. Clark Kent and his best friend Pete found themselves walking to school after they both missed the bus. Clark held Pete’s voracious appetite for breakfast responsible for that though he could hardly blame him, Mrs Kent certainly knew how to cook up a breakfast. With Pete’s Mom usually out the door to work before him in the mornings Clark couldn’t find fault with Pete’s desire to make the most of the rare fully cooked breakfast when he stayed over at the Kents’ farm. Unfortunately as a result they’d just missed the school bus and now were walking, Clark would have normally fixed this with a touch of superspeed but that was not an option with Pete right beside him. He sighed inwardly for the millionth time at his need to keep his abilities secret from his best friend.
“Weight of the world eh Clark?”
Pete grinned at him as he ran down and kicked the can back up to the bitumen. Clark kicked it further along, watching as the can clattered across the road in front of him.
“We could’ve caught that bus you know Pete.”
“Hey man I am not running on a bellyful of waffles and bacon your Mom cooked up this morning….that would be bad….as in you’d be seeing the breakfast again.”
“Hmph” Clark grunted, acknowledging that he was right in that respect.
“So who’ve you got first this morning?” Clark asked Pete.
Both in 8th grade they still hadn’t learnt each others class schedules, too busy trying to remember their own. Pete frowned trying to recall what day it was.
“Oh yeah…I’ve got Wilson for English, how bout you?”
“Miss Cameron in Media.”
Clark paused mid step as the thought of Miss Cameron triggered another thought - the fact that he’d forgotten to do his homework assignment. A review of the movie Toy Story. Damn he knew he’d had too much free time last night before he went to bed. Pete looked back at him and grinned when he saw the frown on Clark’s face.
“Lemme guess - you forgot your movie review?”
Clark nodded and kept walking. Nothing for it now, he’d just have to face the music. It shouldn’t be too bad, he and Miss Cameron seemed to get along okay. He might just be able to use some of his Kent charm to avoid a Saturday detention.
They arrived at Smallville High just as the second bell went and they hustled quickly up the front stairs trying to avoid being picked up for lateness. Clark bid Pete goodbye telling him he’d see him in Gym for the class after next. Clark turned to go up the stairs to his Media class when, stomach sinking, he heard a distinctive Principal-like voice ring out,
“Mr Kent - a word please?”
Taking a deep breath he turned around to face Principal Kwan and was surprised to see that he was not alone. Clark couldn’t help but stare at the blonde bombshell standing beside him. The girl was several inches shorter than Kwan, barely even coming up to his shoulders, meaning that Clark pretty much towered over her as he was a good foot taller than Kwan already at 14 years old. She had short pale blonde cropped hair on a very attractive looking face that would have been instantly alluring had the distinct look of indifference with a vaguely disdainful expression not been marring her features. She was chewing gum and her left foot seemed to fidget restlessly as she looked around her.
“This is Chloe Sullivan, she’s just transferred here from Metropolis High and I need you to be her guide today. I’ve informed Miss Cameron that you will be otherwise occupied for this lesson however she did say you still need to hand in your assignment tomorrow.”
Clark’s grin at the thought of somehow dodging that undone homework bullet was hard to conceal but he hoped Kwan had just interpreted it as his eagerness to show the new student around. Which, if he was honest with himself, as he surreptitiously checked her profile out, he was definitely more than happy to do. He jumped slightly as his gaze moved back up to her face and discovered that she was very definitely checking him out, staring at his face with inscrutable eyes. He briefly wondered what her initial impressions were.
“Right then, Chloe I’ll leave you in Clark’s capable hands and make sure you swing by the administration office to pick up your new time table. I hope you’ll feel welcome here at Smallville High….oh and by the way, we don’t allow students to chew gum in the school building so…” Kwan gestured to the nearest bin and Chloe rolled her eyes to heaven, slouched over to the bin and with no sign of self consciousness, rather aggressively spat her gum into the bin. Clark was mildly impressed by her disregard for the importance of first impressions as Chloe gave Kwan a look that spoke volumes. Kwan hurried off, spotting some students at the end of the corridor still out of class.
Clark shifted his bag to his other shoulder and gave Chloe a tentative smile,
“So what would you like to see first?....The Gym? Or Science Labs? Library maybe?”
He was trying to be helpful and approachable, having some idea about how difficult it could be to fit in but Chloe merely looked at him with a definite element of condescension.
“Ah yeah, cos all those places are *so* high on my priority list Kent. No, never mind your primitive sweat halls and your crazy backwater experiments, what I want to know is where the hell can I buy a copy of the Planet so that I can keep up with the rest of civilisation. This place is called Smallville for a reason I’m sure has nothing to do with a small back water village at all.”
She stopped walking and turned to face Clark front on. Her hands on her hips she stood there almost glaring at him waiting for her answer. Clark almost let slip a small smile at how this girl still managed to look very attractive even when she was pissed, he thought better of it though.
“Uh The Planet huh?”
“Yeah the Planet - I guess you may not have heard of it here but it’s only the biggest Kansas paper that is number 4 in the country for circulation and keeps 2 million people in Metropolis up to date with everything going in the world. You know, insignificant stuff like that.”
Clark felt slightly annoyed that she assumed he hadn’t heard of The Planet. He had in fact heard of it, indeed he’d caught its headlines a couple of times as he’d seen it on his Mom’s kitchen counter from time to time. His Mom, being from Metropolis, still liked to catch the odd edition. He carried on striding down the hallway and smirked inwardly as Chloe had to almost trot to keep up with his long legged paces.
“Yeah I’ve heard of it, we do have all the mod cons out here you know - running water and newspapers funnily enough. So yes you can read the Daily Planet here.”
He turned the corner and went through two large double doors into the Library. Clark glanced around quickly and then went straight over to the newspaper section where the Library carried a number of newspapers, ranging from the Smallville Ledger, to The Inquisitor and to The Daily Planet. He gestured with his hands to the table covered in newspapers giving her a slightly smug grin.
“Is this suitable city girl?”
Chloe bristled at this lanky Kent boy’s audacity to call her anything informal given their current just-met-still-strangers-status however she was indeed happy to see her beloved Planet on the table.
“This is great” she murmured as she poured over the top stories seeming to absorb them like a sponge. Clark could easily tell that she was deeply drawn by the paper and all its’ articles so he hazarded a question;
“So you…like just read newspapers for fun? Or are you looking for something specific?”
“Hmm…what?”
She gave him a distracted look as she glanced up from the paper. He realised she hadn’t even heard what he’d asked so he simply pointed at the paper.
“What gives? You looking for something specific or what?”
“Oh….” She looked down at the paper momentarily, “Well you know….all the fun stuff happens in Metropolis.”
Clark could have been offended by the insinuation that she was making about Smallville but instead took it as a challenge. Chloe Sullivan needed to be shown that Smallville did not equal Dullsville and that it had a certain charm that Clark, even as teenager, felt a quiet fierce pride of. There were good things about living in a rural town and Smallville had its fair share of those good things. For some reason, despite only knowing this girl about five seconds, Clark felt inexplicably determined to make sure Chloe was appreciative of all the positives about living in Smallville.
“Well then, now you know where to find your link to the rest of the world, how about I give you the grand tour of Smallville High, home of the Crows?”
Chloe tilted her head, considering his suggestion a moment, chewing the inside of her bottom lip briefly still looking at the paper. In the end she shrugged and stood up, figuring that she’d have to get to know her way around some way or the other and at least this Kent kid was easy on the eyes. There could be worse ways to spend your first day in a new school.
“Ok Kent…lead the way, show me all that is wondrous about this small town high.”
Clark didn’t respond to the sarcasm in her voice as he’d figured out already that this girl in front of him probably used her snarkiness to cover her real feelings about the transfer and new school. That was okay by him. Clark’s easy going and relaxed nature, borne out of a need to control any displays of emotion in particular anger, meant that he was a good buffer for people like Chloe and he was able to look beyond the surface layer presented. He smiled at Chloe, which he saw surprised her a little although she tried to hide it, and held his arm out holding the door to the library for her as she went through. He had a plan in mind and figured they should start in the Media section of the school. He had a hunch Chloe might be interested in the school newspaper.
*********************
By the time lunchtime rolled around Chloe and Clark were still together, Clark having showed her round just about every inch of the school and finishing with the cafeteria where they had just bought their lunch. Chloe was just telling Clark about the lack of good food choices at her old school when Pete walked up with his lunch tray.
He sat down opposite Clark, grabbed his chicken roll and looked at Clark, eyebrows raising as he glanced at the girl beside him.
“Uh…Chloe this is..”
Before Clark could finish Pete wiped his hand on his napkin and stuck it out towards Chloe,
“Pete….Pete Ross…but you can just call me Pete.”
Chloe smiled and glanced at Clark quickly before she shook his hand,
“Chloe Sullivan….formerly of Metropolis, now to be of Smallville it seems. Nice to meet you.”
Clark mused on the fact that she hadn’t told him that it was nice to meet him. He wondered if he should be offended by that. He watched as Pete grinned back at Chloe, another thought crossing his mind about whether Pete realised he was grinning like an idiot and that his best friend already seemed to be very interested in the girl that was Chloe Sullivan sitting next to him. He felt the need to break into the little staring/checking out interaction.
“So Pete and I have been best buddies since like we were 6 years old I think. What do you think Pete? 6 years old? Was that when we started to hang out together?”
Pete was not registering Clark’s question so Clark gave him a not too soft kick under the table.
“Ow..” he glared at Clark, reaching down to rub his knee, “What?....buddies….oh yeah.” He turned back to Chloe, the dopey grin on his face again,
“Yeah me and Clark go way back…I was teaching him how to dunk a basket since he was like 7….he still hasn’t got it.”
Clark glared at Pete who was basking in the smile Chloe was giving him. Chloe looked up at Clark giving him a quizzical grin, she kind of doubted that Pete would be teaching Clark, who was much taller, anything about basketball.
After spending the morning with him she had reassessed her initial suspicions of Clark being quite dull in a small rural town, sheltered life kind of way. On the contrary she had found his enthusiasm for various school based activities and his healthy, but very diplomatically expressed, dislike for certain subjects and teachers quite refreshing and in the end, very engaging. Within a short time of being in his company she had decided she liked him. Looking at him now as he argued with Pete about the relevancy of his slam dunk lessons, she realised she may even *like* like him that way. He was certainly an attractive looking teen, with thick dark brown slightly tousled hair that curled slightly into locks framing his face. His eyes matched hers colour wise and his strong, aquiline jaw implied a strength of masculinity that left her musing on what his torso might look like underneath that plaid shirt. His mouth was lined with full lips that stretched from ear to ear when he smiled and it was his easy way of smiling that certainly drew her to him initially. She found herself unable to stop herself from naturally grinning back at him when he’d let loose that smile and that was unusual as her snarky retorts nearly always got in before a smile did.
She pulled herself back from her contemplation of Clark and tried to catch up with the debate which had now moved onto who was the better swimmer. She rolled her eyes to heaven slightly as both boys confirmed her opinion on the male species’ ultimate need for competition. She broke in.
“And being the better swimmer in a place like Smallville which is miles and miles from any ocean is so important because….?”
She cocked her head, raising her eyebrows as she looked at the both of them. Clark and Pete stared at her and then glanced away at each other sheepishly realising there really was no point in trying to convince a girl of the benefits of being the *best* in anything.
“So Chloe have you settled in with your parents yet? All moved in?”
Pete tried to change the subject.
“Yeah actually. My Dad and I have pretty much got all the boxes in the right rooms we just have the tedious job of unpacking now.”
Chloe noted the thinly disguised curiosity about her use of ‘my dad and I’ as opposed to parents so she decided to get that tidbit of background info on her out the way already.
“Yeah…it’s just me and my Dad in case you were wondering. They separated when I was 5 and I’ve been with Dad ever since. But it’s cool,” she added, noticing Clark’s slight frown, “we get along just fine and I’ve not missed having a Mom at all….so you can stop worrying now.”
Chloe grinned at Clark’s concerned expression and gently patted that back of his hand on the table as she said this, pretending to allay his concerns. Then realising she’d actually just involuntarily touched him physically she quickly moved on.
“Actually we just moved into a house not too far from here, a couple of streets back off the main street of town. It’s a really nice house, white and blue and very old style with lots of room.”
Chloe stopped, realising she was babbling a bit now trying to cover up the potential awkwardness of her hand touch with Clark. Pete had not failed to notice her brief touch of Clark’s hand and inwardly sighed. Dammit why did the girls always head for Clark first - did they not realise what a complete dork and clutz Clark was around girls? Pete was forever saving the uncomfortable silence in conversations that Clark had with girls, conversations never initiated by Clark of course, but always seemingly finished by Pete. The girls who did start talking to Clark invariably moved on rapidly as it dawned on them that Clark had some serious confidence issues when it came to conversations with the opposite sex. Pete took solace in the fact that Clark would invariably come unstuck with Chloe and that Pete would end up being the centre of her attention due to the simple fact that girls and Clark never seemed to mix too well. At least not now as a gangly 14 year old who towered over every classmate in his year and not a small number in the years above.
Pete steered the conversation away from potential family discussions and onto what he wanted to do.
"So Chloe have you been shown around the main town area or have you not had a chance to get out yet?”
“Well,” said Chloe happy to take the focus off her embarrassing lapse of restraint, “I’ve not seen all of Smallville yet but I’ve probably done all the main attractions when I walked up the main street yesterday. Found a decent coffee shop at least, a place called the Beanery.”
Clark figured she’d be a coffee girl. He knew just by looking at her, that high energy level was definitely not without caffeine enhancement of some sort.
Chloe looked questioningly at the two of them,
“So do you guys live nearby or further out?”
Clark considered what Chloe would think when he told her he lived on a farm when Pete solved that question for him.
“Well I’m nearby - I live a few blocks away from the school, not quite on the outskirts but away from the noise of central town. Clark lives way out though, on a farm.”
"It’s not *way* out Pete, it’s just a few more miles than where you live,” interjected Clark, exasperated by his friend’s attempts to make Clark seem like some hick farm boy. Chloe, however, seemed to be totally intrigued by the idea, she gazed at Clark with a renewed interest that didn’t seem too far removed from her interest in the Planet’s front page stories.
“You live on a farm?”
She said farm like it was some kind of alien planet. Clark just nodded giving her a slightly bemused look.
“Like a real, proper farm though? Not those hobby ones with a couple of goats and a vegetable patch? I mean like a real farm business thing where you raise cows and grow corn and everything?”
Clark chuckled at her incredulity.
“Yes Chloe. A proper farm. It’s been in my family for three generations, my Dad’s a farmer through and through.”
“Wow.”
Typical, thought Pete, Clark lives on a farm and Chloe thinks that’s cool and why the hell a city girl would think living on a farm was cool was beyond his comprehension. Sometimes girls seemed like a completely foreign species to Pete.
“You have to show me.”
“What? The farm?” asked Clark, slightly startled.
“Of course the farm dimwit, what else would she want you to show her?”
Pete let his exasperation out on Clark and then quickly realised his sarcasm could be taken the wrong way.
“I mean….what I meant was, she doesn’t want to see anything but the farm of course…right Chloe?” Pete tried to recover by diverting attention back to Chloe. However Clark already had his full attention on Chloe.
“Well yeah…so when?” Chloe looked at Clark expectantly.
“Oh well….how bout today after school then? I mean, if you want to that is, I mean if you don’t have some place else you have to be…well”, Clark broke off realising he was babbling.
“Yeah Clark I’ve been in this school five minutes and made that many friends I’ve been fully booked after school for the next five days….sure.” Chloe gently teased him. “Of course I can come today, I can’t wait to see it. A real farm.”
Chloe stood up and grabbed her tray as the bell went for afternoon classes.
“I’ll see you Kent, out the front of the school at 3 o’clock. Don’t be late - I’ve got me a farm to check out.”
With a grin she walked off, dumping her tray on the collection trolley as she sauntered out the exit towards her Drama class. Pete looked at Clark as they too grabbed their bags and headed for the exit. Clark could feel the stare and tried to ignore it.
‘What?” He asked, failing.
“You have it bad Clarkie boy, real bad.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Oh you know Kent. I’m not spelling it out for you. I just hope you know what you’re getting into, cos that Chloe, man, she is full on.”
“Pete I honestly don’t know what you’re talking about. She wanted to see the farm, that’s all. I doubt she’s interested in more than that.”
“A HA!” Pete’s voice was triumphant in the knowledge he was right. “So you do like her! I knew it.”
Clark grinned before parting ways at the end of the corridor, raising one eyebrow,
“Yeah but be honest, what’s not to like Pete?”
Clark went off to class, quite sure his mind would be fairly distracted that afternoon and certainly not thinking about the periodic table of elements that was bound to come up in Mr Gibb’s Chemistry class.
********************************
Chloe was the one who was late to meet up with Clark after school that day. He was beginning to wonder if she’d perhaps found a better offer and was surprised at how glum he felt at that thought. He’d never really been that interested in girls, apart from his girl next door infatuation with Lana Lang. That was a very distant relationship though and it only really took place in his head as he was quite sure that Lana had no idea that Clark even existed. So he had pretty much avoided girls up till now finding a distinctly humiliating awkwardness come over him whenever any girls had tried to strike up a conversation with him. For some reason he just never felt relaxed around them and ended up making such forced and decidedly odd responses to their questions that they quickly made up an excuse to be somewhere else. He wasn’t sure why that was but had reflected that afternoon in Chemistry class that he’d not had that same reaction around Chloe. He took that as a positive sign and looked forward to seeing her again.
Clark sat on the sidewall of the stairs to the front of the school and looked around again. Finally he spotted her. Bag over her shoulder, moving with a purposeful stride down the path Clark appreciated the view of her shapely curves as she came towards him, a smile breaking across her face as she saw him in a way that made Clark’s own face light up in response. The girl had an infectiously gorgeous smile he had to admit. And on a face as attractive as hers with a slim but curvy body to match he decided that he did indeed find himself drawn to Chloe Sullivan.
“Hey Clark!...Sorry I’m late but I got talking to the editor of the Torch and she and I got to thinking about a possible story I could do…and….well…yeah so that’s why I’m late.”
“No problem, I only just got here myself. You ready to go now?”
Chloe nodded and Clark grabbed his bag and jumped down the steps to lead the way. They caught the school bus and it wasn’t long before it was trundling out along the road that led to the homes on the outskirts of Smallville. Pete said goodbye and couldn’t resist giving a Clark a loaded glance as he hopped off the bus and waved. Clark hoped Chloe hadn’t noticed anything. Eventually he indicated that it was his stop coming up and they made their way to the front of the bus. Clark thanked the driver and jumped out and Chloe thought it was sweet how he’d said thanks.
“Well here we are.” He pointed up at the wooden sign that arched across the light coloured gravel driveway, which was more like a small road that led up to the farmhouse.
“Kent Farm”, Chloe read out, looking up and then smiled at Clark. “This is amazing Clark….I’m about to see my first ever real rural farm. Do you have time to show me around though?”
She looked suddenly concerned.
“I mean what with all the work you have to do, like don’t you have to muster cattle or milk cows or harvest corn or something?”
Clark grinned, “It’s ok Chloe I can spare some time out of my heavy work schedule to show you around. But first you can meet my parents.”
He and Chloe walked down the road towards the farmhouse, Clark kicking a loose rock along the road and Chloe chattering away, firing questions at him non-stop about what it was like to live there. They eventually went up the steps of the porch into the kitchen Clark calling out to his Mom.
“Mom! I’m home…..”
Martha Kent came down the stairs a basket of dirty laundry in her arms and smiled when she saw her son and then looked surprised as she saw he had company. Chloe smiled shyly at her suddenly unsure of herself for some reason.
“Hi Clark...I see you’ve brought a friend home?”
“Yeah Mom, this is Chloe, she’s new in town and she wanted to see a ‘real’ farm” Clark couldn’t help smirking a little when he said ‘real’ and Chloe thumped him lightly on the arm as she stepped forward and offered her hand,
“Nice to meet you Mrs Kent”
“Please….call me Martha, any friend of Clark’s is most welcome around here and you are definitely invited to stay for dinner.”
“Oh well I wouldn’t want to impose…” Chloe replied a little non-plussed at Martha’s open friendliness, a characteristic not commonly found amongst her neighbours in Metropolis.
“Of course you wouldn’t be imposing, I insist.”
‘Yeah Chloe I’d take up the offer, my Mom’s chicken cacciatore is the best around.”
“Okay then, you’ve talked me into it. Thanks for the offer, I’ll have to ring my Dad and let him know though.”
“Sure, not a problem” replied Martha, now rustling around in the pantry.
“C’mon Chloe let me give you the big tour.”
Chloe nodded and followed Clark out the door. Clark spent the next hour and a half showing Chloe round the farm, from the paddock named the “back forty” to his Mom’s vegetable garden, to their corn fields, where they kept their couple of now retired work horses and finally the barn.
“Wow this place is huge” said Chloe as she and Clark entered the barn from the end closest to their grazing cows.
“Yep it was built by the first Kent on the farm and has been gradually added to as each son took over. You can’t run a farm without a decent barn and this one is one of the biggest I’ve seen.”
Chloe wandered over to the tool and machinery area, running her hands over the massive worn wooden workbench and touching some of the older style of tools still hanging up on the wall.
“It certainly feels like this stuff has been here a long time and really well cared for too.”
Clark nodded, a silent note of pride welling up in him at the thought of how much his Dad and his grandfather had achieved by making this farm what Chloe saw before her today. Sure there were days when he did wonder what it would be like not to have to work hard to ensure a roof over their heads or food on the table, or if he had been a city kid what sort of nice things he might have had. At the end of the day though Clark knew that the material things in life really didn’t mean much, but that sense of fierce pride he felt when his Dad got a really good price for a bull or a cow he’d bred or when they’d finished the day with a bumper harvest or even when he saw his Mom’s produce in town selling well, it was a sense of pride that he knew no money could ever replace. He was definitely a farm boy at heart.
Impulsively he walked up and grabbed Chloe by the hand,
“I wanna show you something else too. Something my Dad made for me.”
Chloe looked startled but didn’t pull her hand away, she gave him a slightly quizzical look as she went along with him. Clark led her up some wooden stairs into an area up the top part of the barn. It was like a loft she realised as he came to a stop with her beside him at the top of the stairs. Clark grinned down at Chloe, obviously proud of this loft and then he abruptly let go of her hand and moved across to the window overlooking the farm. It was as if he was unsure all of a sudden of the physical closeness he had initiated. Chloe felt a little bubble of disappointment at the sensation of his hand leaving hers and she wondered at it. Then as she gazed at Clark fiddling with his telescope she didn’t wonder at all. She knew. She found Clark to be incredibly attractive and she could no longer just classify it as a purely physical attraction. She liked the way Clark smiled, the way he spoke, the way he obviously felt fiercely proud of his family, the way he had been concerned for her after only just meeting her. The way he had been so open and welcome and friendly. The way he didn’t take himself too seriously and could enjoy a laugh or how he could handle her teasing and definitely give some back but always in a gentle manner. She sensed he had a strength about him, that underneath that farm boy façade he had a hunger and curiosity about the world. Whilst he was far more mature than most 14 year old males she had come across there was also an innocence about him as well. It was this aura of naiveté that held Chloe back, well that and the fairly well entrenched insecurity about how others may feel about her. She was quite sure the attraction did not go both ways. Clark stood up after adjusting the telescope, gesturing to the rest of the loft,
“This is my loft. Dad built it a couple of years ago when he and Mom figured that I may need a place to get away from it all. That and the fact that it’s a great place for the telescope. Dad calls it my fortress of solitude.”
Clark looked around at the comfy sofa, his desk and chair, his bookshelf and his hammock, thinking it really did look like a teenage boy’s domain.
“I guess I do come up here a lot and think about things. I like looking at the stars too, night time out here you can see a lot more than you would in the city.”
He gazed out at the slowly sinking sun. He wondered why he’d brought her up here all of a sudden. Clark was a distinctly private person, not only through necessity though. He figured he’d be that way even if he didn’t have his abilities to hide. He’d just met this girl and already he was showing her his inner sanctum so to speak. Perhaps he sensed something about her that gave him the assurance he needed. He looked back at her face, and was struck by how much he felt warmed by her presence there. She was watching him, as if she was trying to gauge something. It was as though she was working through a problem. Her face suddenly resolute she strode across the floor of the loft and stood in front of him. Standing up on the tip of her toes she suddenly but gently placed her hands on either side of his face, drew him down to her and was kissing him softly yet insistently on his lips. Clark, initially stunned, quickly responded lifting his hands onto her waist and holding her gently. He was just starting to melt against her lips when she withdrew, looking up at him. He looked confused.
Chloe smiled and Clark became even more confused as her smile became laced with just a tinge of regret. A small frown creased his looks.
"I know you've been thinking about that all day, so I figured we'd get it out of the way and be friends."
Chloe stepped back, out of the clasp of his hands on her waist. She took his hands as she stepped back and held them lightly. She looked down at them. They were massive hands compared to hers yet oddly, with all the work he must do on the farm, soft and smooth to the touch. And they felt warm, really warm. Without looking up she spoke.
“It’s ok Clark, I think I need a friend the most right now.”
Clark was still pulling his addled brains together after experiencing his first ever kiss with a girl who was not his Mom. Somehow he knew he’d missed something. It was like Chloe had somehow zipped along a narrative that he’d not even finished the prologue on. He tried to think. She’d walked up to him. She’d kissed him. She’d then said something about friends but that’s where he got fuzzy. Now it sounded like she was saying a friend was what she most wanted, no needed. It dawned on him that this could be the stuff his Dad was talking about when he was giving Clark ‘The Talk’ and he mentioned how women are not usually understood by men but that was okay because in the end a guy could still, if he were lucky, end up with a woman. He shook his head slightly and moved, pulling his hands from her clasp.
“Yeah….right. No problem…of course, you’ve just moved here, must be scary uprooting everything you’ve known for someplace new.”
He shuffled over to his desk, fiddling with the stuff on it and replacing some books back onto the shelf. He found himself hunting for words for the first time in Chloe’s presence. Something just felt slightly off. He was grateful when he heard his Mom’s voice.
“Clark! Dinner’s ready…”
Clark turned and looked at Chloe who was watching the sun as it finally set below the horizon. She looked a little lost perhaps she was homesick for the city he wondered. Then he realized perhaps she really did need a friend now, not a romantic prospect. Besides they were too young for anything serious like a boyfriend/girlfriend thing. The kiss had thrown him he had to admit. He’d definitely liked it he decided. But he pushed that aside as he went up to her.
Softly, as though not to break the spell of the sunset, he spoke.
“Chloe?...”
She looked at him, a question in her eyes.
“I think I understand…and I think…you and I will be great friends.”
He smiled gently as he said this and Chloe was instantly comforted by his expression. He put his arm round her shoulder, guiding her to the stairs.
“So, you ready to try my Mom’s chicken cacciatore then?”
Chloe laughed as her stomach rumbled at the thought of food.
“Absolutely Clark…”
Clark led the way down stairs and through the barn. They were both 14 years old. They had all the time in the world. Clark had the hope that one day Chloe would eventually come to want more than just friendship. But for now he was just happy to have an excuse to hang out with her everyday. Chloe Sullivan was the first girl he’d had a real conversation with, she was his first kiss, with any luck she might just be his first date someday. For now though Clark would be patient, already at the tender age of 14, he knew that some things in life were worth waiting for. A kiss like that, from Chloe, was definitely one of them.