Title: Not Just a River in Egypt
Fandom: Smallville
Pairing/Characters: Oliver/Lois, Clark
Rating: G
Word Count: 718
Spoilers: 7.11 'Siren'
Disclaimer: all characters belong to the CW/DC Comics
Summary: Lois wasn’t jealous, or at least that’s what she told herself.
A/N: For my
50ficlets table, prompt: "denial"
Lois Lane wasn’t jealous. At least that’s what she told herself as she watched some scantily clad blonde flirt with Oliver.
They were at a Queen Industries banquet, to which Lois had somehow gotten an invitation. She had dragged Clark along as her ‘plus one’, because there was no way she was showing up alone. The only reason she was going was to see if she could snag an interview or two. Maybe overhear something that would spark a great story. It wasn’t as if she was going to see Oliver. Nope, not at all.
“Why don’t you just go talk to him?” Clark suggested, gaining her attention.
Lois glared at him. “Talk to who?”
“Oliver,” Clark sighed. “Come on, Lois … you obviously still want him.”
“I’ll have you know that I dumped him,” Lois hissed. “And I don’t regret that at all.”
“Sure you don’t,” Clark noted amicably. “That’s why you were turning as green as your dress when other people flirted with him.”
“Those hussies?” Lois scoffed. “Yeah, right. If he’s stupid enough to fall for their act, he deserves what’s coming to him.”
“Oh, yeah, not jealous at all,” Clark joked. “Speaking of your dress, I’m assuming that didn’t have anything to do with Oliver either?”
“No, it doesn’t,” she insisted, “I just … like green.” Plus, she looked good, the gown hugging her body in all the right places. Not that Oliver had noticed. He had greeted them when they had entered and after that, Clark and Lois hadn’t seen him all night.
Not that it mattered or anything.
“You need to take your mind off this,” Clark told her. “Dance with me?”
As much as she hated to admit it, Clark was right. “All right,” she agreed, after a moment. “You better not step on my toes though!”
Clark just laughed and led her to the dance floor. It turned out that he wasn’t a bad dancer.
After the song ended, a new voice said, “Mind if I cut in?”
Clark and Lois turned toward the sound, and she was stunned to see none other than Oliver smiling at them.
“Of course,” Clark agreed, before Lois could say anything. The two men seemed to be having a conversation without words. Lois didn’t even bother to try and figure out what was gong on. Then, with a nod of his head, Clark disappeared and Ollie took his place.
As another song played, Lois put her arms around Oliver’s neck, as his settled on her hips, drawing her closer. Lois certainly wasn’t thinking about how right it felt to be in his arms or how perfectly they fit together.
“I hope you didn’t mind,” Oliver said, “I mean, Clark did seem to answer for you.”
“Doesn’t matter,” she said, trying to sound casual, “I suppose I could put up with you for a dance.”
Ollie grinned. “That’s good to hear.” He paused and continued, “So I see that I was right about you and Clark. Finally admit that you want each other?”
“Hardly,” Lois remarked, rolling her eyes. “I just dragged him here to keep me company.” This seemed to surprise Oliver.
“Oh, good,” Oliver said. If Lois didn’t know better, she’d swear that she heard relief in the tone of his voice. After a moment, he admitted, “I’ve been trying to get courage to do this all night.”
“Ask me to dance?” Lois said, smirking. “I didn’t realize you were lacking in confidence, Queen.”
“When it comes to you, yeah,” Oliver responded, a bit of vulnerability in his expression. “You know what I felt when I saw you in that dress?”
“What?” she asked curiously.
“Hope,” Oliver said, eyeing her warily. “Tell me … am I crazy to still have any?”
Lois was amazed … she had rejected him and here he was, putting his heart on the line for her … again. Maybe it was time for her to reciprocate.
“No,” she finally confessed. “You aren’t.”
They exchanged smiles and Lois rested her head on his shoulder. The song ended, but they didn’t separate.
A bunch of women were staring at her, envy written all over their face. Some even tried to get Ollie’s attention.
But Lois wasn’t worried and she definitely wasn’t jealous.
After all, she had no reason to be.