Torn (2/?)
Torn (Part Two)
Clark hesitated in the doorway of the Talon. From where he stood, he could see both Pete and Lana at the counter. Lana was working and Pete was doing homework.
He idly wondered where Chloe was. He knew that Pete was taking a summer chemistry class, but as far as he knew, Chloe had the summer off. Maybe she’d gotten another internship at the Daily Planet, he thought.
Realizing he was just prolonging the inevitable, Clark sucked in a breath and stepped into the mildly crowded café.
“Is that Clark Kent?” he heard a girl whisper in the corner. When he looked at her, she ducked her head, pretending like she hadn’t noticed him.
When he looked up he saw that Pete and Lana had both turned to see him, surprise on their features. So much for making a quiet entrance, he thought wryly. Smiling a bit nervously, he made the short trek to the counter, locking eyes with Pete first, then Lana.
Pete slid off the stool, his eyes full of warmth. “Welcome back, CK.”
Clark’s face broke into a grin and he quickly hugged his lifelong friend. “Thanks, Pete.”
Lana’s smile was much more hesitant than Pete’s had been. “Welcome home, stranger.” Her last word took on a slightly heavier meaning than the seemingly innocent word.
He swallowed hard, knowing that patching things up with her wouldn’t be nearly as easy as they’d been with Pete and his parents, though from her greeting he knew it’d be easier than patching things up with Chloe. One step a time, he thought, taking a deep breath.
“Thanks, Lana,” he said softly.
She forced a small smile, then went back to making the cappuccino she’d been fixing when he came in.
“Where you been, man?” Pete shook his head a little.
“Metropolis,” he admitted, not quite meeting his friends eyes.
“What made you decide to come back?” Lana asked, not looking at him as she stirred the drink. Her posture was stiff, tense.
Clark swallowed hard. “Oh, uh…Chloe…found me.”
Pete gave him a questioning look, but remained silent.
Lana smiled, but it was tight-lipped. “I’m sure your parents were really glad to see you. They’ve been worried.”
“We all have been,” Pete said quickly, glancing from his friend to Lana, then back again. “I’ve been telling everybody you just needed some time to think, with your mom’s miscarriage and Lex’s untimely demise.”
Clark flinched a little. “Yeah,” he murmured, dropping his gaze to the floor. “That pretty much sums it up.” He was lucky to have such a good friend to cover for him.
Lana’s eyes softened a little at the admission. “Are you back for good now?” she asked quietly, finally looking at him.
He quickly raised his eyes to her face. “Yeah. I’m not goin’ anywhere.”
A faint smile, this time a real one, touched her lips. “Good.”
He smiled a bit and watched as she headed off to deliver the cappuccino and take orders from the newest customers that had walked in.
Pete let out a breath, looking at him. “Chloe found you?”
“Yeah.” He hesitated. “Is she around?”
“Haven’t seen her for a couple days, actually. She’s been kinda distant.” He shrugged. “I figured it was just more moping over your AWOL butt.” Pete flashed Clark a grin. “So she snapped you out of your funk?”
“In a manner of speaking,” he replied, swallowing hard as his mind flashed back to the intense kisses from the day before. “Listen, Pete, I need to talk to you…and my parents. Alone.”
He lowered his voice. “Official Krypton business?”
Clark nodded a bit. “Yeah. There’s some stuff you guys need to know.”
“That doesn’t sound good.” He looked worried.
He let out a breath. “Let’s just say my parents aren’t going to be very happy.”
* * *
Jonathan Kent sat at the kitchen table, staring down at his mug of coffee as he sat across from Clark and Pete while Martha sat beside him.
“So how much does Chloe know?” Pete asked carefully, breaking the tense silence that had befallen.
“Pretty much everything,” Clark admitted. “She doesn’t know about the green Kryptonite. But the rest of it…” His voice trailed off.
“And she was mad at you when she brought you back?” Jonathan asked.
“I don’t think ‘mad’ really covers it, Dad. She was…furious.”
Jonathan looked worriedly at his wife, who was a bit paler than she had been awhile ago, but didn’t look as worried as he felt.
“I don’t think she’ll say anything,” Martha spoke up quietly.
Everyone looked at her.
She met Clark’s gaze. “Chloe’s always had very deep feelings for you. I don’t think she’d want to see you hurt in anyway, regardless of how angry she might be.”
“Mrs. Kent’s right,” Pete agreed, nodding. “She’s crazy about you.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not so sure.” Clark looked at him, shaking his head. “I didn’t really leave on good terms and then after…”
“Son, what exactly happened yesterday?”
He swallowed hard, shifting uncomfortably. “I don’t really wanna get into it, but…I was out of line and…I definitely made things worse between us.”
Pete’s eyes widened a little, but he quickly ducked his head and stared down at the table as he contemplated what that could mean.
“I think you should go and talk to Chloe,” Martha said quietly.
“Mom, I really don’t think she’s going to wanna see me right now.”
“Probably not. But the longer you wait, the harder this is going to be. On both of you,” she said meaningfully.
Clark swallowed hard and met her eyes. Why did his mother always have to be right about everything?
* * *
Chloe sat curled up in her computer chair, staring unseeing at the blank computer screen. Her next Daily Planet column was due in less than six hours and she hadn’t written a word. Not a single word. Closing her eyes in frustration, she rested her head on her knees.
This had to be the weirdest week of her entire life.
Clark Kent was an alien.
An alien!
Talk about missing the obvious facts in front of your face. She’d always known that there was something different, something special about Clark Kent. Even the first time she met him, she’d known immediately he wasn’t like other guys. She should have suspected something when she’d fallen for him practically on sight, because she was not the type to even believe in love at first sight, let alone experience it herself.
Maybe he had some hypnotic alien-power that made girls fall in love with him. Or maybe it was just her and Lana Lang that it affected.
The knock on her window startled her and she jerked her head up and turned to look. Her eyes narrowed when she saw him standing outside, his eyes pleading.
Her jaw clenching involuntarily, she stood and moved to the window, reluctantly opening it. “Go away, Clark,” she said flatly.
“I would, but…I can’t,” he said softly.
Chloe let out a slow breath, not responding.
“Chloe, we need to talk. Please.”