Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Sunset, Chapter 4

Clark/Chloe
Season 5, expansion/sequel to "Hypnotic"
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: These characters belong to the WB and DC comics, not me

Chloe stood there looking up at me for a long minute, then turned toward the stairs. I grabbed her wrist before she could get away.

“Hey,” I said. “Wait.”

She looked over her shoulder at me, and even in the starlight I could see tears streaking her face. That made me feel like more of a jerk than ever. This had to be some sort of a record, I thought. I’d managed to reduce two girls to tears in one night.

But for whatever reason, Chloe’s tears hit me a lot harder than Lana’s had.

“I need to get going,” she said in a hoarse whisper. “It’s a long drive back to Metropolis, and I have an early class tomorrow.”

She’d driven all the way out here to console me, and I’d rewarded her by making her feel like crap. Yeah, I was a great friend, all right.

I shoved my self-recriminations to the back of my mind and spoke. “I’m really sorry I upset you, Chloe.”

“I’m not upset.”

“Uh-huh. You always cry when you’re happy, right?”

She sniffled. “I’m not crying, damn it.”

I really hated to see her so distressed, and something twisted painfully in my chest. I took a step toward her, wrapped my arms around her waist, and yanked her against me hard. Her body was warm and soft, and she fit perfectly under my chin. I pressed my face into her hair.

I’d like to say that she wrapped her arms around me and melted against me, because I’m such an irresistibly sexy stud that women melt when I touch them. Unfortunately, that’s probably stretching the truth a bit.

Okay, a lot. Because the cold hard reality is that she, uh, kind of stomped on my foot. Really, really hard.

If I’d been human, I think she would have broken my toe, although the work boots I was wearing might have saved me from any serious harm. But maybe not, because she was pretty damn brutal about it. Fortunately, as a Kryptonian, I’m pretty durable, so I just jumped and let go of her, startled. “Hey! What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong,” she snarled, continuing to stomp on me, “is that…” Stomp! “You’re a big…” Stomp! “Stupid…” Stomp! “Jerk!”

“I’m not stupid,” I protested (I was willing to concede the jerk part, all things considered).

Stomp! “You’re as bright as a black hole!”

“Okay,” I said, wincing more from the words than from the feel of her tennis shoes slamming repeatedly onto my toes. “So I’m a little dense.”

“A little dense!” Stomp! “You’re a complete…” Stomp! “And total…” Stomp! “Idiot!”

I started to fear for the continued wellbeing of my work boots, so I picked her up by both arms and lifted her into the air. Her feet kept on flailing angrily, and one of her toes clobbered me in a place that wouldn’t have done a human male any good at all, although I hardly noticed it. She yelped in pain.

“Damn it! I think you broke my toe!”

“What did you expect?” I demanded, holding her a little further away. “You know you can’t hurt me, Chlo. Knock it off.”

“I’m going to knock something off you, all right!”

Her other foot struck me in the kneecap, and she yowled in pain again. Worried she was going to seriously hurt herself, I put her down on the floor and backed away.

“Chloe,” I said cautiously, “I’m getting the impression that you’re slightly upset.”

Slightly!”

“Okay. Somewhat more than slightly.”

“I am… seriously… pissed!”

“Because I hugged you?”

Some of the fury went out of her, and she abruptly sagged. “Never mind,” she said softly. “It’s kind of hard to explain.”

“You don't need to explain.” I went toward her (very carefully) and stopped about a foot away, looking down at her. “I get it, Chlo. I was stupid and tactless. I didn’t mean to suggest I didn’t see you as a girl, honest.”

"I don't know why it made me so mad." She sighed. “I know perfectly well you don’t think of me as a girl, Clark.”

I noticed she’d moved into a shaft of moonlight. The silver light made her hair shimmer, made her skin glow. She looked flawlessly, stunningly beautiful.

Well, except for the dark streaks of mascara running down her cheeks. But even that was kind of cute, somehow.

“You’re wrong,” I told her. “I do see you as a girl. Definitely. Which is the reason I hugged you." I paused for a second, then blurted out the words in a rush.

"And I'd like to do it again."

Read Chapter 5 here.

2 comments:

blackheart_me said...

:D AHh the twist of the lines. I felt rlly sad for her in the beginning but i couldn't help but crack a smile when she used the same lines he did at the beginning: "I'm not crying damn it." WOOT!! I had to cheer for her stomping on his foot. Sorry Elly but I'm cheering! and i love the way u wrote it up too :D. XDXD oh god instead of hurting him she hurt herself. Poor Chloe. She needs to get herself designer shoes with laced kryptonite that won't make him weak but when she kicks him, it'll hurt :D aww the end melted me :)

Anonymous said...

LMAO!!!!!! Chloe totally pissed off and stomping Clark's feet and then she kicked him in the.... OUCH!!! Lucky for him, he's invulnerable, but that was too funny how brutal she was getting! LOL!!!!! I love the way you wrote that! Okay, on to the next chapter....