Well, Wendy, you worked a miracle. <g> When I first saw Lois's "bedside manner" when approaching Clark, I had some concerns ... in short, I thought that, if I were Clark, I'd have told Lois to take a flying leap after she was so rude about his wardrobe. <g>
However, you actually managed to convince me -- little ole' TDASC me <g> -- that Clark was holding his own. It was this paragraph that did it:
On the other hand, she did have a point. He did sometimes feel out of place in his shabby old suits and mismatched jackets and trousers. And, while being at the cutting-edge of fashion didn’t interest him in the least, he’d occasionally thought that he really should smarten up his act. Some time soon. Once he had time to do some decent shopping - once he figured out what sort of thing he should be buying and how not to bankrupt himself in doing so.
Nicely done.
All in a few lines, you told me that even though Lois was incredibly rude, Clark gets something out of the deal besides being her doormat.
The fact that he sees the same problems that she does and has been self-conscious about it and wishing he knew someone who could help him definitely satisfied me. (And when he asked her opinion on his casual stuff in the next scene, that sold me even more.
)
“I’ve seen what you have,” she’d said dismissively. “We need to go shopping, Clark. And you might want to consider getting your credit limit raised.”
Ouch on the credit limit! LOL. Poor Clark's wallet will never be the same.
The T-shirt he’d chosen was pretty clingy in all the right places, and he’d selected that while remembering the way Lois had looked at his chest that day he’d opened the door to her while only wearing a towel.
Now this is my kind of Clark. <g> I don't necessarily agree with his comment in the earlier section about him not caring about how he looks, but this line definitely fits how I see him. Oh yeah, he knows *exactly* how good looking he is, and just like Lois with Winninger, he's not above playing that card ... at least, as long as it's with one person in particular.
Clark grinned, unable to resist such an obvious straight line. “Why, Lois, I never knew you cared! Should I strip first, or would you prefer to undress me yourself?”
LOL, now there's an early S1 Clark! Mr. "You like to be on top" himself.
Looking forward to part 3,
Kathy
