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Wrong Place, Wrong Time, Wrong Clark TOC can be found Here

Where we left off in Part 185…

When Lois had arrived, ready to be the dutiful daughter and keep an eye on her fragile mother, who couldn’t sleep without sedatives the previous night, she had found her having dinner with Lois’s father and laughing.

Another scoop of chocolate sundae disappeared into Lois’s mouth.

Then, Ellen had announced that Sam had volunteered to stay the night and watch over her in case she had trouble sleeping, and she had accepted.

Lois had been sent home!

Unneeded.

Unwanted.

It was as if her teenage years had been a nightmare, which had reared up to take over her life again in a horrible opposite fashion.

Lois lifted up another spoonful of chocolate goo to her mouth, only to sigh and set it back down. She didn’t really want to eat chocolate. What she wanted was Clark Kent, and he was halfway across the country.

She eyed the phone next to her bed, indecision plaguing her. Did she call Clark, again, and risk appearing weak to the man she loved? Could she talk to Clark without somehow letting him know that Luthor was still alive, she was freaking out about it, or making him feel guilty for taking care of himself for once?

On the other hand, should she tough it out, finish her half-gallon sundae, and lie awake for the rest of the night on a sugar high, wondering if Luthor or one of his minions would break down her door and chop her up with a chainsaw? She had told Clark she would call him in the morning.

Why hadn’t she just checked herself into a hotel? She was never going to be able to sleep here.

Lois stuck another spoonful of chocolate goo into her mouth as she weighed her options, once more.

***

Part 186

Clark and Jimmy, mostly Clark, had swum until sunset.

It was a crazy theory, Clark knew, but he figured if one… a human could sunburn more quickly in the water, the water intensified the sun’s rays. Therefore, in theory, swimming in the sun’s fading evening sky would increase its healing powers. He did feel better, but still not himself.

The phone rang as they were heading out to dinner.

Jimmy turned back to Clark and rolled his eyes. “I’ll be down at the nickel slots,” he told him with a point of his finger. “Don’t keep me waiting all night.”

Clark nodded and turned back into the room.

Apparently, they both suspected it was Lois. Clark more hoped than suspected. She had said that she wouldn’t call until the next day.

The more comfortable Clark was talking to her over the phone, the more relaxed he would be once they were back together in person. He picked up the telephone. “Hello?”

“Clark! Hi,” said Lois, all in a rush as if she hadn’t expected him to answer.

He sat down on his bed. “I hoped it was you.”

“It is,” she said. “So, how was your swim?”

“Wet,” Clark replied, not sure what exactly she wanted to hear. He wasn’t back to normal yet, so there wasn’t any news on that front. “How’s your mom?”

“Better. Let’s get back to swimming. What did you wear?” she asked.

“Oh?” he murmured, tensing.

“Oh, what?”

He hesitated a moment, and then went with the truth instead of evasion. “It’s one of those kind of calls,” he said, leaning against the headboard. He tried to say the words lightly, so she wouldn’t know how uncomfortable he was with the idea of a sexy phone call.

“Clark Kent, are you flirting with me?” she teased.

Was he? He hadn’t thought so. Well, it was better if she thought that than anything else, he supposed. “I bought a pair of orange trunks.”

“Orange?” He could hear her skepticism.

He coughed. “It was a choice between bright orange and bright green, and well…”

“Enough said. How are you feeling?”

“I’ve felt better. Most of my aches are gone. I was able to sleep some on the plane,” he said. “That helped.”

“Are you worried?”

“About?” he questioned.

“About sleeping with Jimmy?” she returned.

He pressed his lips together for a moment before speaking. “There are two beds in this room, Lois,” he said, trying to keep the exasperation out of his tone. “I’m not sleeping with anyone tonight.” He wished he hadn’t said ‘tonight’ as if sleeping with anyone would be an option in his near future. Well, sleeping was but not anything else. A flash of Luthor’s sex tape flashed across his mind. Crap. Why did he have to think of that? He was doing so well.

“That’s not what I… Oh, never mind.” She sighed. “Back to swimming…”

Clark couldn’t help but smile at Lois’s one-track mind. He decided to try flirting again; this time on purpose. He hated that it took effort to do something that once had been natural to him. “Lois, are you wondering what I look like wet?”

She swallowed. He didn’t have his extra hearing back and he actually heard her swallow over the phone line. Was that good or bad? He decided on good.

When Lois didn’t answer his question, he thought about it himself. What would she think he looked like wet? Bare chest, shorts clinging to his legs, his hair slicked back, no glasses… Oh!

“I wore swim goggles,” Clark said, shifting his position on the bed to try to get more comfortable. The bed squeaked with this movement.

“I wondered. I know how sensitive your eyes are,” she said.

It was a strange thing to say. Normally, his eyes weren’t sensitive. His brow furrowed. Was she worried someone, such as her mother, might overhear her? “And I need a haircut. My hair kept getting in my eyes while I swam,” he said. He had made sure his hair covered his forehead whenever he came up for air.

“Oh. You never told me how… It doesn’t matter. You can tell me later. Anything special planned for tonight?” she asked, changing the topic.

He briefly considered what it was that she hadn’t asked. “Jimmy wants to try to get food poisoning at the all-you-can-eat buffet, and then hit the nickel slots until he’s lost at least twenty dollars,” Clark said. “Nothing exciting.”

“Did you get sunburned?” she asked, returning to the topic of his health.

“No, but the sun was just going down as we went out.”

“Are you going to swim tomorrow?”

“Maybe. I thought I’d just sunbathe though to avoid the crowds,” he said. After wearing that full body suit under his clothes for the most part of the last two years, it felt strange going outside in just trunks.

“Swimming with others doesn’t have to be bad,” Lois said slowly, almost suggestively.

“Oh?” he said, wondering if she had meant it to sound suggestive. He felt his face warm as that gave him something new to think about.

“Are you going to ask Jimmy to rub suntan lotion on your back tomorrow?”

He blanched as that image replaced the one of him and Lois skinny-dipping. “I’d rather not.”

“And chance burning?” she teased.

“I’ve got tough skin,” he reminded her.

Lois laughed. “Tell that to your scratches and bruises.”

The scratch on his face had faded and the bruises on his back weren’t that noticeable with his olive complexion. While his shoulder was still stiff from what he assumed was a push down the wine cellar stairs, most of his pain was internal and thus invisible to the naked eye. He was about to explain how suntan lotion would reduce the amount of sunlight absorbed by his skin, when she spoke up again.

“You know Superman once told me he’d take me to Tahiti,” she said dreamily, changing the subject again.

The last time she had mentioned Tahiti was when she was royally ticked off at him – Clark him – on the flight to Smallville back in October of the previous year. He had hoped she already had moved on to his real self, but the truth was she had still been mourning the loss of her relationship with Superman. He had known it even though she never admitted to it and part of him had been in big-time denial. It hadn’t helped that she had just discovered that his history wasn’t exactly existent… Well, his history from this dimension’s Smallville.

Inwardly he groaned, as he was once more reminded that they needed to have ‘The Talk’: about his true past, the curse, and if she was still talking to him after that, how she had hurt him by shutting him out of her investigation of Luthor. She seemed to have cooled down from her anger over this trip and he hated to do anything to either make her temper flare or to put a wedge between them again, but they needed to have this conversation. They couldn’t put it off any longer.

He ground his teeth together in annoyance. Then, again, he wasn’t too happy about some things either. He decided that he should lead with the way she kept running over him as if he was her invulnerable doormat. His brow furrowed. He would have to come up with a better way to phrase that, even though it described their partnership fairly well. He would talk to her about these things face-to-face in Metropolis on Tuesday night when he returned, Clark decided. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with Lois, but only if she could treat him with respect and as her equal. He hadn’t moved to this dimension to find a replacement for Lana.

Lois hummed in that way she did when she was considering something, distracting him from these worrisome thoughts.

He pushed ‘The Talk’ from his mind as he tried to concentrate on the conversation at hand.

“I wonder if I should remind him,” she said. “I could use a beach vacation.”

Clark wondered why she was referring to Superman in third person. Maybe her mother was listening, so he asked, “Are you trying to make me jealous, Lois? Because I don’t think it’s going to work.”

“Why not? I have one of those red swimsuits the lifeguards wear on that Baywatch show. Don’t you think I could sweep Superman off his feet wearing that?” Lois countered.

Definitely. “I’ve seen your karate moves, Lois. I don’t doubt it.”

She laughed. “Have you ever been to Tahiti?”

Clark had, but he was sure it would be different with Lois. “Not with you.”

“Did you take another woman to Tahiti, Chuck?” she asked in a playful tone, as if she suspected he hadn’t.

“There’s only you, Lois.”

“Nice save, but it didn’t answer my question.”

“Any reason I’m getting the third degree here?” he asked.

“Hmm. More aversion. Not a good sign,” she replied, avoiding his question as well.

He rolled his eyes. She knew he had been with Lana…well, his fiancée for… ever before he met her. “No, Lois, I’ve never gone to Tahiti with anyone else,” he said with a shake of his head. There had been no one else since he arrived in this dimension. “So, about the third degree…?”

She laughed quietly. “Chuck, I haven’t even begun to turn up the heat.”

He swallowed and kicked off his shoes. This conversation held promise.

***

Jimmy had plunked down three dollars’ worth of nickels into several machines without much of any return. He was sticking towards the edge of the aisles near the elevators so he could see CK when he came downstairs. He had finally won two dollars, but had nobody with whom to celebrate. It totally sucked. He glanced at his watch.

Where is CK? Jimmy wondered, but he already knew the answer.

He couldn’t believe what had happened to the man he had once called ‘King’. Everyone knew what had happened to CK. Lois Lane had happened. Ralph had stated outright that Mad Dog Lane must’ve castrated him. He rolled his eyes. Sure, CK had tried to tell Jimmy on numerous occasions that he and Cat had only ever been just friends and that he was no god of romance, but – come on – Jimmy wasn’t an idiot and he wasn’t blind. He had seen Cat Grant begging CK for months to hook up again after their tryst, but once CK had dated Lois, it was as if he had lost interest in all other women. It wasn’t natural.

Even after Lois had dumped CK over some story or argument he wouldn’t back down from last summer and would hardly talk to him for weeks, all the poor man could think about was her. Jimmy saw how other women looked at CK, even if he didn’t notice. At the pool this evening, despite swimming laps with those dorky swim goggles on and those hideous orange trunks, CK had more women drooling over him than he did. True, after spending months locked up, Jimmy looked sallow and sickly compared to CK’s naturally tanned bones, but still… when it came to women, CK was the King. He had just abdicated this throne.

Jimmy lifted up his hand to drop in another nickel in the slot. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw an elbow lean against his machine.

“Hey, handsome,” a feminine voice said. “You wanna buy a drink?”

“I’m just…” he started to say, turning to look at the woman, but his brain fizzled.

She was petite and had a long, thick, dirt-water blonde hair, which she had tied up loosely behind her head. Tendrils of her hair had fallen out of her clip and were brushing her neck, giving her the appearance of someone who had just rolled out of bed. Not in the bad way, but in the sexy way. He felt her beauty hit him in the center of his gut, knocking the air out of his lungs. She wasn’t model April Stephens gorgeous, but girl-next-door who stole your heart and wanted to give you hers in return stunning. She held a tray in her other hand and wore an apron. She was a waitress. That explained her question. Well, that was better than a hooker, right?

As she stared at him just as intently as he felt he was looking at her, Jimmy finally realized he hadn’t finished his response. For the life of him, he couldn’t remember what he was going to say. “Um… uh… waiting for someone,” he mumbled.

“Your date?”

“No, my buddy. He’s up in the room talking to his girlfriend back home. He’s…” Jimmy paused.

“Whipped?” she filled in, her lips curling up on the corner of her mouth.

He shook his head, and sighed. “Lucky.”

“Oh, she’s one of those,” the woman said, frowning.

Jimmy had no idea what she meant. “One of what?”

“Those women who flirt with a pair of best friends only to leave one of them high and dry. It’s usually the nice one, too,” she replied, giving him a sweet smile. Did she mean that she thought that Jimmy was nice? “My roommate is like that. I can’t tell you how many sets of best friends she has broken up. I keep hoping she’ll marry one of them and never come back. I mean, Vegas is the marriage capital of the world and everything. That’d be easier than telling her I want her to move out. You know what I mean?”

“No. No. I mean, yes, but no,” he said.

She looked at him quizzingly.

“CK’s the greatest,” Jimmy explained. “That’s my buddy. You can’t meet a nicer guy. Stellar and smooth. And Lois… well…” He shook his head. “She’s scary. You know the really driven professional type. I respect her as a colleague and admire her as a friend, but I wouldn’t want to date her. Ever. Never been tempted. Yikes! I don’t have tough enough skin, anyway. But ‘yes’ I know what you mean by not wanting to hurt your friends’ feelings by telling ‘em something.”

“Ooooh… you don’t seem the dark, brooding type,” she said, and Jimmy could almost feel her gaze as she looked him over, once more. She must have heat vision, because he certainly felt warmer.

“I’m not,” he replied.

“Well, I’ve noticed that with guy friends, there’s one moody one and one nice one, and you said CK was the nice one, so…”

Jimmy chuckled. “No, CK is definitely more moody than me.”

“Nice and moody. That’s different. So, what are you?” she asked, blinking her big hazel eyes.

It felt as if time slowed down as he watched those lashes close and then open again. The air disappeared from his lungs again as she stared at him. What was he? He couldn’t even remember his name. “Sweet,” he croaked. Oh, God, why did I have to say that? I meant her, not me! He gulped. “And funny.”

She licked her lips and smiled. “I like funny.”

Jimmy suddenly knew how Superman must feel when he flew.

***

An hour later, the rest of Lois’s ice cream sundae was back in her freezer, preserved for another time, another crisis. She was snuggled under her covers, wearing the pajamas that Clark had bought her after Luthor had shot her.

They had laughed and teased each other by saying silly things that only couples say. Neither of them had brought up Luthor, the investigation, her parents, or anything more about Superman. She had wanted to keep the conversation light and fluffy, so that it wouldn’t bog either of them down.

Clark had seemed to relax some. She could still hear the sadness in his voice. It wasn’t as prevalent as it had been when he had first picked up the phone and hadn’t caught on to her flirting. He was starting to sound a bit more like himself. His answers were quicker, more natural, less forced. Sometimes, she would hear a catch to his voice as if he were in pain or his words would fade out as if he were reminded of something he didn’t want to think about, but couldn’t stop himself. As much as she wanted to call him on it, as was her habit, she knew it would only defeat the purpose of telephoning him in the first place.

No matter what Luthor had done to him, Clark was a survivor. He just needed to figure it out himself.

She might not be with him but she wasn’t going to let him deal with all this crap on his own either. She doubted Jimmy knew more than the mugging story, plus he was dealing with the culture shock of having been in jail for several months. She would make Clark realize that life after Luthor would be better than before him.

Lois stifled a yawn, and Clark called her on it.

“You sound tired,” he said softly.

“It is after midnight here,” she replied. He had made her feel better too, she had to admit.

“Is it? Have we been talking over an hour? Jimmy’s going to kill me,” Clark said, and she could hear the squeak of couch or bed springs. “You should go to bed.”

“I’m in bed,” she told him, unable to stop her voice speaking in a lower octave. “Just tell him you got lost. Those casinos are like mazes. He’ll believe you.”

“Have you been in Las Vegas before, Lois?” he asked.

“I once covered a convention there,” she answered, snuggling lower under her covers. “But I never made it into the pool. So, you must tell me all about it when you return.”

“Maybe I’ll show you instead,” he said.

“Nah. I’d rather have us alone in a pool for two.”

It was a minute before he spoke and his voice cracked, “That could be nice, too.”

Lois smiled and curled around her phone. “Thanks for helping me fall asleep, Clark,” she murmured, close to the edge of sleep. “I don’t think I could’ve without you.”

“Why are you having trouble sleeping, Lois?” he asked, ruining the moment.

She wished she could jump back into the past and stop herself from saying those words. Now, that he asked her directly, she couldn’t stop it all from bubbling back up and spewing out. “My mom’s forgiven my dad, and he’s there watching her and not me. ‘Go home and sleep, Princess. I’ll take care of your mom,’ he told me. ‘You’ve had a long week,’ my mom said. They didn’t want me there. They don’t need me.”

“Lois, are you at home by yourself?” he asked.

“Uh-huh,” she said, her voice hoarse. “And my apartment sounds funny. Quiet like. The city feels different.”

“I’ll come back tomorrow,” he announced.

“No!” She bolted upright in bed. Oh, crap! She couldn’t believe she had undone all her hard work by opening her big mouth. “No, Clark. Enjoy yourself. Go swimming. Get a tan. Learn the joy of junk food. Do something that isn’t constructive for a change. You deserve it.”

“And why do I deserve it so much?”

Lois winced. She didn’t want to let Clark know that she knew what Luthor had done to him. She couldn’t speak those words. She didn’t want him to think about it. She didn’t want to either.

“When we talked this morning, I realized that I was being unfair. You haven’t done anything for yourself the whole time I’ve known you. I’ve worked you to the bone, not a moment off,” she said, hoping he bought this BS argument that didn’t have any basis in reality. “When’s the last time you did something you really wanted to do?”

“The last time we kissed,” he replied.

“Well, I…I…” Don’t have a response to that, she thought. “I love you, too, Clark, and I’ll be here waiting for you when you get home. Okay? Inasmuch as I want you here, you need to be there right now.” More so than she was willing to admit. “By the time you can reschedule your ticket, and fly against the timeline, it’ll be evening and you’ll have wasted another whole day.”

“You need me,” he said.

“Yes. I mean, no, Clark, I want you to be here with me, but I don’t need you to be. Do you understand?” she said. “I can do this on my own. All right?”

He didn’t respond, and Lois worried she would have to express herself more clearly. She tried to think of a better way to make him understand. She was an independent woman who could take care of herself. She didn’t need a bodyguard.

“I need to feel needed, too, minha,” he finally said.

Lois’s heart cracked open. “Oh, Clark, no! That’s not what I meant. Of course, I need you. Oh, please, don’t think that’s what I meant.” Tears welled up in her eyes. How could she have wounded him so? Of course, Superman needed to feel needed. He lived for helping others. “If only we hadn’t gotten onto this stupid topic of conversation. I had almost been asleep. You had done that.”

“I bored you to sleep?” he said dryly.

Lois screamed in frustration. “No! You relaxed me. You made me feel happy and secure, and a part of something, and loved. You made me feel safe,” she yelled.

“Why don’t you feel safe, Lois?” he asked.

Damn his reporter’s instincts. “Don’t put words into my mouth, Kent.”

“You said it, not me.”

She frowned, not wanting to give an inch. “You know why.”

He was quiet a moment, before whispering, “Because Superman wasn’t there for you yesterday?”

“No!” she snapped. Self-centered egotist! “Because I haven’t had a moment of privacy in months!” Except when I was with you, she thought. She wiped the tears from her cheeks and lowered her voice, “You’ve been my sanctuary, Clark. I have only been able to be myself with you. You are…” She searched for the right word or phrase to express what Clark had meant to her during these last few months. “Home to me, Clark. You are my home.”

As soon as she said the words, Lois knew exactly how true they were. He was her anchor. He kept her grounded. Without him, she felt adrift.

She heard him sniffle. “Do… Do you really feel that way about me, too?”

Too?

Lois knew his history. He had told her that he had lost his parents at an early age and drifted from foster family to foster family until he had found… that woman who had used and abused him and taken advantage of his kindness, warmth, and giving nature. Finally, he had broken himself away from her and shot himself across the galaxy – or was it universe? – in search of a new place where he could be accepted and loved for the man who he was, even if he were different from everyone else. He had found Earth and her. She could hear in that slight shake to his voice that he still felt lost and alone.

“Yes, Clark. I’m home.”

She heard him take a deep shaking breath and then another. He cleared his throat, but his voice still sounded rough as he stammered, “I… I can’t… Oh, Lois, I… You are… Minha… Words fail to…”

As Lois tucked her knees up to her chest, she wiped her damp cheeks and smiled. “I feel the same way.”

***

Clark wandered around the casino floor for a good ten minutes before he found Jimmy.

He could tell Lois had been hiding something from him. He had suspected it had something to do with the investigation, not her parents. Then, she admitted that she felt uncomfortable in her own home. He wished he had his powers back so he could fly to her in an instant. Unfortunately, he couldn’t even hear the people in the next room or x-ray into the bathroom. He had never felt so useless.

Lois had then started to yell at him, and he knew he had hit a nerve and was getting closer to the truth.

“Home.”

Clark had searched for a word to describe how important Lois was to him, and once more, she had stumbled upon it first.

Home.

He felt stronger just thinking about it. He hadn’t had a home since his folks had died. He was her home, just as she was his. He couldn’t believe how simple a word it had been. Right in front of him the whole time.

When Lois had said that she thought of herself as his home, he felt like floating off the bed. He couldn’t, but he sure felt as if he had.

It had taken a while after Lois hung up before he felt in control of his emotions enough to head down to the casino floor. He felt better about his relationship with Lois than he had in days, but he had once again become a lousy friend.

Jimmy sat at a table in an otherwise empty lounge where a woman was singing something soft and sultry from a bygone era. His friend’s hands were wrapped around a mug of beer.

“I’m sorry,” Clark started, before Jimmy waved him off.

“It’s okay, CK. You did what you needed to do,” Jimmy said quietly, staring into his beer.

“I shouldn’t have taken so long. I lost track of time,” Clark admitted, all true.

“Think nothing of it,” Jimmy replied. He sounded weird, almost as if his mind wasn’t present in the conversation. “It’s late.”

“Shall we eat?” Clark suggested with a clap of his hands.

“Nah, I’m not really hungry. You can go on without me.”

Clark sat down. “Look, I’m really sorry, Jimmy. I came here with you and I’ve spent the whole time thinking of Lois.”

“Don’t worry about it, CK.”

“It hasn’t been fair to you.”

Jimmy lifted his gaze and stared at him. “Do you know that I happen to think you and Lois are perfect for each other?”

Clark didn’t know how to respond to that confirmation of his feelings. She was Clark’s home.

“I’ve never met two more stubborn people,” Jimmy continued. “Although, it does explain why you two are always arguing.”

Clark blushed. “I’m…”

Jimmy raised a finger in warning. “Don’t. I said I’m fine, so just drop it!”

Clark shut his mouth. Jimbo had thought something was up with Jimmy, and after this little outburst, Clark could see that something had happened to his friend since he went to jail. He had more of an edge of confidence to him that hadn’t been there before. Jimmy had said that he wanted to talk to Clark about something. Clark needed to remember to listen.

“Beautiful,” Jimmy murmured, gazing over Clark’s shoulder.

The singer might be called a handsome woman, but even at his most polite, Clark wouldn’t have called her ‘beautiful.’ Jimmy must have been speaking about the music, which he had to admit was too good for an empty casino lounge on a Sunday night. Everyone had to start somewhere, he guessed.

Clark saw a waitress over by the bar and waved her over. She came to their table and gave them friendly smile. “So, is this your buddy?”

“That’s him,” Jimmy replied.

“I was beginning to think he was imaginary,” the waitress said, and her smile grew larger at being proved wrong.

Jimmy shrugged. “See, I’m not crazy.”

She laughed, nudging Jimmy’s shoulder. “I never thought you were, Jimmy. What can I get you, CK?”

How long had he been upstairs, Clark wondered. “Uh…” He glanced between Jimmy and the waitress. “Food?”

The waitress glanced at her watch. “It’s not yet ten, so all the restaurants are still open in the hotel. Elite closes at eleven, but you probably need a reservation.” She leaned closer to them. “Between you and me, they have space on Sunday nights; they’re just snooty about everyone needing reservations.” She stood back up and raised her voice back to what had been before her whispered confession. She pointed in another direction. “The Grand is your basic meat and potatoes diner, open all night.” In yet a third direction she pointed with her thumb. “Kung-Pow! specializes in spicy Asian cuisine, but it’ll be closing at ten.” She shook her head as if suggesting for them not to even try it. “We also have a Fudge Castle if you’re in the mood for chocolate dipped in chocolate rolled in chocolate with chocolate sauce. They’re open until midnight.”

Jimmy shook his head. “CK doesn’t like chocolate.” He elbowed Clark. “You might want to pick up something for Lois there though.”

Clark’s brow furrowed. “There’s a Fudge Castle in Metropolis.”

The waitress laughed. “Jimmy, you might want to explain to your buddy about it being a sin to return empty handed to his girlfriend.”

“Lois doesn’t expect me to bring her anything,” Clark said. Lois only wanted him, and he was planning on giving her that. Well, within reason, of course.

The waitress shook her head as if Clark was clueless, and leaned closer to him. “Is that any reason not to bring her a gift?”

She had a point. A good one, in fact.

Jimmy indicated the waitress with a bob of his head and smile that read ‘she’s something else, isn’t she?’

The waitress set her hand on Jimmy’s arm. “Your stuffed potato skins will be up in the moment, Jimmy.” She looked at Clark. “Would you like a beer?”

Clark recalled his throbbing head from that morning. “Just water for me.”

“Oh,” the waitress said, jotting that down on her pad. “Hangover, huh? Hydration is the key. You’d be surprised at how many people who get heat stroke here just because they forget to drink water all day long before they drink beer all night long.” She smiled at them both and then wandered to the bar to get Clark’s drink order.

Clark lowered his voice. “Not hungry, huh?”

“This section of the casino is empty, CK,” Jimmy murmured back. “I’m like her only customer. I can’t abandon her.”

“Uh-huh,” Clark said.

Jimmy blushed into his beer. “She’s friendly, that’s all.”

Uh-huh.

“So you think you’ll have a better return for your buck here in the lounge than on the slot machines,” Clark asked.

“CK!” Jimmy replied aghast. “Anyway, Jenny isn’t interested in me. She probably has guys hitting on her all day long.”

Jimmy and Jenny? Eeek.

Jenny returned with a bottle of water for Clark and Jimmy’s snack. “That’ll be two dollars, CK. Twelve for you, Jimmy.”

Clark reached into his wallet and handed her a twenty. “Thank you.”

“CK, you didn’t need to…” Jimmy said, turning bright red. “I can pay for…”

“My treat, Jimmy. Anyway, I owe you for the shoes.”

“I’ll be right back with your change,” Jenny said.

“That’s not necessary,” Clark said, only to receive a kick to his shin from the other side of the table.

“Thanks, Jenny,” Jimmy said, giving her a big smile.

“I hope to be seeing you around, Jimmy,” she said and walked off.

“Now look what you’ve done, CK. She doesn’t have another reason to come back here,” Jimmy hissed, and then stuffed a potato skin in his mouth. “Want one?”

Clark politely refused. He opened his bottle of water.

“Do you believe in love at first sight?” Jimmy asked.

“Yes,” Clark said with no hesitation, taking a sip of his drink.

“No, literally. Zap, zowie, you’re gone and you’re gone for good,” Jimmy said, taking another bite of his food.

“Yes.”

Jimmy gazed at his friend, before chuckling. “Well, that explains a lot.”

“Lois is a wonderful woman,” Clark said, feeling a need to defend her. Lois was his home. He would defend her with his life.

“Sure. Sure, she is, CK. No denying that,” Jimmy replied, still chuckling. “It takes the lightning out of my sails though, to know I’m not the only one.”

“Wind. Lightning would tear your sails. And I’m sure it doesn’t,” Clark said, taking a drink of his water. “Jenny seems nice.”

“She is,” Jimmy said, and sighed. “I’d give anything to have what you have.”

This was new. Clark raised a brow. “Whip marks?”

Jimmy blushed. “No,” he murmured. “I want someone with whom I can share my life.”

Clark couldn’t resist returning the jab Jimmy had been giving him all day. “You have Jimbo,” he teased.

His friend shot him a ‘get real’ look. “Jimbo wants to have fun. His life is about parties, going on adventures, doing stupid things, and dating as many girls as possible.” Jimmy shook his head. “That just doesn’t interest me much anymore.” He took a sip of his beer.

“You’re only twenty-one,” Clark reminded him. “You have time.”

“Twenty-two, as of last month,” Jimmy murmured. “I’ve been thinking about this a while, since the night those terrorists took over the Planet. If I died, who would be around to notice?”

“We’d miss you, Jimmy,” Clark said.

“Thanks, man,” Jimmy replied with a half-smile. “I appreciate it.”

But Clark knew that wasn’t going to be enough.

Jimmy looked up as Jenny headed back into the casino to walk the floor, looking for customers. “There has to be more to life.”

***End of Part 186***

Part 187

Hmmmm. I wonder what Clark's going to buy Lois as a 'I went out of town and left you behind' gift. Comments