Bring Me to Life (Seven/?)
Prologue | One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven | Eight | Nine | Ten | Conclusion
Chapter Seven
Though the temptation of wearing Clark’s clothes to sleep in was very strong, she’d wound up borrowing a pair of flannel pajamas from her cousin and curling up in Lois’s bed for the night. According to her cell phone, Clark had tried to call her three times in the last hour.
A tiny part of her felt guilty for not answering because she knew he’d worry, but the rest of her just wanted to be left alone, to not deal with Clark Kent for a few more hours and attempt to get some sleep.
It had been a very long time since she’d felt this intensely bitter and upset by Clark’s choosing Lana over her--again, and she wasn’t sure why it was happening now. She’d long ago accepted that he was never going to love her the way she wanted, the way she loved him.
So why did she have the sudden urge to crawl under her cousin’s bedspread and hide out for the rest of her miserable life?
Chloe let out a breath, closing her eyes and trying to will away the hot tears that were stinging her eyelids. Realizing sleep was virtually unreachable, at least for the moment, she sat up and flipped on the lamp beside the bed. Gazing intently at the romance novel that was set on Lois’s dresser, she willed it to come to her.
And nothing happened.
Her eyebrows furrowing, she focused harder, imagining the book flying through the air and landing on the bedspread.
Still, nothing.
“Dammit,” she mumbled, now wanting to cry for a different reason. She wiped away a tear as it trailed down her cheek, sniffling.
Apparently the powers had been temporary.
Too depressed to get up, she didn’t even bother turning off the lamp before she laid down in the bed once more, staring up at the ceiling and suppressing the urge to start crying in earnest. She pressed a hand to her forehead, angry with herself for letting this get to her. She’d barely had the powers for a whole day, and she already missed them.
She should’ve been thanking her lucky stars she was even alive, because if it hadn’t been for an alien, she wouldn’t be.
Letting out a breath, she told herself she’d only cry this one last time over Clark, and over the loss of something she’d barely gotten to experience. And then she’d get off her pity party.
And she let the tears come.
* * *
Clark gazed intently at Lana. They’d had a long, long talk about his “new” abilities, and about the accident that he and Chloe had supposedly been in. She seemed to believe every word, looking concerned about both of them. At one point, she’d asked why he hadn’t told her about the accident when she’d called earlier, but he’d simply told her that he’d been too shaken up to discuss it right then.
And now as they stood face to face, he wondered why he had absolutely no desire to kiss her. She was his girlfriend, and she was beautiful and he was in love with her.
Wasn’t he?
Lana smiled sweetly and tilted her head back just a little, waiting for the kiss that he was supposed to give her.
And suddenly he was nearly bowled over by a wave of sorrow that came damn close to competing with the pain that Kryptonite caused him when he was near it. He staggered involuntarily, clutching onto the doorframe for support.
“Clark?” Lana said in alarm, her eyes wide.
When he looked at her, his eyes were filled with tears, and his throat tightened. Feeling like he was about to start bawling like a two year old, he covered his face with one hand, wrapping his arm around his stomach with the other.
What the hell was wrong with him?
“Should I call 911?” she asked, frightened.
He quickly shook his head, sucking in a breath that was choked and he barely managed to suppress a sob.
“What can I do?”
He had to get out of there. He had to get away from Lana, and find Chloe.
Chloe? Her name floated forward in his mind like a lifeline to a quickly sinking ship and he tried to understand why because right then it didn’t make any sense. Nothing made any sense.
But somewhere deep within, he knew he had to get to her immediately.
And without a word of goodbye to his girlfriend, he super-sped out of Metropolis and back home toward Smallville.
Toward Chloe.
* * *
Lois was curled up on her sofa watching some cheesy sci-fi movie just after Midnight. The knock on her door caused her to drop her bowl of popcorn, scattering it everywhere. “Great, that’s just great,” she said in annoyance, rising to her feet and heading toward the door cautiously. Who the hell would be knocking at that hour? She wondered.
She cautiously peeked out the peephole, then grimaced, even more annoyed. “Smallville, did anyone ever tell you that your timing sucks?”
“Is Chloe here?” His eyes were red and he looked drained.
“Maybe.” She folded her arms across her chest.
“I need to see her.”
“Well, she’s sleeping. That is what normal people do at this time of night.”
“Which explains why you’re not sleeping,” he shot back, moving past her without an invitation and heading toward her bedroom.
Lois glared after him, shaking her head. Men.
* * *
Chloe sat up quickly when the bedroom door swung open and she spotted Clark’s large frame standing there.
“What’s going on?” They said at the same time, then stared at one another.
“You first,” Chloe said, feeling her defenses rise.
Clark gazed at her for a moment, then moved over to the bedside and sat down on the edge of it. “Something happened earlier…when I was with Lana.”
“Ugh.” She couldn’t stop the noise of disgust from leaving her lips. “I don’t wanna hear anymore, Clark.”
“Not that!” He rolled his eyes.
Grimacing at the mental image, Chloe sat back against the headboard, waiting.
“We were talking and all of a sudden, I felt like something was really wrong. With you.” He searched her face and feeling self-conscious, she turned her head away a bit, hoping he didn’t see her red-rimmed eyes. “You’ve been crying.”
“I lost my powers.” That of course, was far from the sole reason she’d been so upset, but it wasn’t like she could tell him the rest.
“You…” Clark frowned. “You did?”
“Yeah, I tried teleporting and I tried to move that book, but…” She shook her head.
“Oh.” A look of relief passed his face. “I guess I thought…”
“What?”
“That something was…you know, really wrong.”
Her jaw tensed involuntarily and she looked away from him, trying to ignore the anger she was feeling.
All of a sudden, Clark let out a yelp and jumped to his feet and she quickly turned her head to see what his problem was. He was dripping wet, her glass of water that had been on the stand by the bed now floating in the air, empty.