Dating was an institution created by sadists, Lois thought as she arrived at the restaurant fifteen minutes late. Between doing her best to choose the perfect dress, getting her hair and makeup perfect, and listening to Lucy complain about how long she was taking, she’d been suffering as only the perpetually single could suffer.
Of course, being married wasn’t any better. Thinking about her parents’ lives together still made Lois shudder. Lois had long ago concluded that bringing children into the world was worse than irresponsible; it was nearly criminal. She’d never met a single person who didn’t come from some sort of dysfunctional family.
Glancing at Lucy, Lois said, “I really don’t need you to watch over me. I’ve got a brown belt in Tae Kwon Do, a bottle of mace in my purse, and I’ve been dealing with informants in dark alleys for the past three years. “
“I don’t mind,” Lucy said quietly. “I’ll just get a seat where I can see you. It’s better to be safe than sorry, after all.”
Lucy didn’t trust her not to renege on the date. Lois grimaced. “If the guy is a pig, I’ll give you a signal to page me.”
“Fine,” Lucy said. “But if I think you are just dumping a good guy...”
Lois shook her head impatiently. “I’ll give him a chance, don’t worry.”
“Just because the guy isn’t good looking isn’t enough reason to...”
“Do you really think I’m that shallow?” Lois snapped irritably. “If anything, you are the one more likely to go after the pretty boys.”
Lucy shrugged. “Just give it a chance.”
Nodding, Lois reached for the door of the restaurant. She’d give the man until dessert; she couldn’t be expected to go any further than that. She’d already formed a picture of him in her mind. He’d be a plain man; handsome men tended to be arrogant. He’d be a little shorter than the six feet he claimed to be, and likely a little overweight. Most likely, he’d have lived in a small town all his life, and he’d be opinionated in the way small town people who didn’t know any better usually were.
Antoinne’s was a little pricey for the Daily Planet employees. Lois had chosen it specifically for that reason. It wasn’t the sort of place she’d be seen with her blind date, and it would give her a chance to see if he was cheap.
She pulled the door open and stepped into the cool dimness of the interior. She was pleased to note that little had changed since the last time she’d been here with Claude. The interior walls were still painted in various hues of olive, taupe and cream and lovely Parisian scenes still adorned the walls. Live greenery hanged from a planter by the door. The tables beckoned with crystal and silver and spotless white tablecloths.
This early, and especially as it was the middle of the week, the small dining area was almost deserted. An older couple sat under the window enjoying their meal, as did a pair of professional looking businesswomen.
Only one figure sat alone, and as she looked, it was already rising. With her eyes trying to adjust to the dimness after emerging from the brightness of the sunlight outside, she couldn’t quite make the figure out.
A voice spoke beside her. “Would you like a table for two?”
“Actually, I believe she’s with me.”
Lois found herself gaping at the figure who’d approached. She’d assumed he was a plain man because of the way he’d answered the ad, but she could see now that he’d been purposefully modest.
He was good-looking; stunningly so. After Claude, Lois would have thought herself immune to the effects of a good-looking man’s smile, but apparently she wasn’t. Immediately, Lois was suspicious. A man as good looking as Clark Kent should have no need to respond to personal ads. Something had to be seriously wrong with him.
“Mr. Kent, I presume.” Lois fought to keep her suspicion out of her voice. Interrogations always worked best when the interrogated person didn’t realize they were being questioned.
Nodding slightly with a half smile, Clark Kent gestured toward his table. “Would you like to take a seat?”
Lois stepped forward quickly, carefully not looking back toward her sister. Lucy undoubtedly was gawking at Clark Kent like a schoolgirl, and Lois didn’t want to call attention to that fact. She stumbled slightly as she felt him move around behind her. It took her a moment to realize that he was pulling her chair out for her.
“A modern woman is fully capable of pulling her own chair out, Mr. Kent,” Lois murmured reprovingly. Undoubtedly he was old fashioned and chauvinistic, the sort of man her father had been. “We’ve made that much progress in the last hundred years.”
Clark Kent nodded as he found his own seat. “The modern woman can do anything she puts her mind to. That doesn’t mean the modern man shouldn’t be polite.”
Grudgingly, Lois reached for her glass of water. He paid lip service to the idea of being a liberated man, but that didn’t mean he was one. “So you aren’t the sort of man who orders for your dates?”
“I don’t know you, Ms Lane, though I’d like to,” Clark said quietly. “I don’t know your likes, your dislikes, your favorite foods, or anything about you really. That’s the whole point of having first dates; getting to explore the life of someone new. I wouldn’t dream of ordering for you.”
Sipping her water, Lois regarded the man sitting across from her. He was an enigma. Handsome almost to the point of being pretty, he was dressed well. His charcoal gray suit set off his red tie quite nicely.
“You dress like a man who has a woman,” Lois said bluntly. “Your shoes match, your clothes are obviously hand tailored, and you dress like a GQ model. Most men don’t have the fashion sense to match their shirts with their pants, much less an entire ensemble.”
“Now who’s being the chauvinist? Like you said, we’ve come a long way.” Clark paused for a moment, then grinned sheepishly at Lois’s expression of polite disbelief. “I dated a woman in Italy for a time,” Clark finally admitted. “She saw me as a project, a fashion victim in need of a clue. The relationship didn’t last, but the wardrobe did. How about you?”
“How about me what?” Lois asked quickly. The man had been to Italy? Lois wouldn’t have expected a small town boy to have traveled much. Could he be bragging? Lois wasn’t sure.
“You’re a very attractive woman. You dress well, you look like a professional. It’s hard to believe you aren’t dating someone.”
“I date sometimes!” Lois protested. “I’m just a very busy person. Work keeps me swamped, and when I do get a minute of free time.... well, it’s not exactly easy to meet people in a town like this.”
Clark nodded, then said, “So what do you do?”
The man had asked the question, and Lois could hardly refuse to answer. As she opened her mouth to speak, she noticed that Lucy had found a seat at the table directly behind Clark. She was gesturing.
Lois had promised not to talk about work. She wasn’t sure how she’d be able to duck around it though. Perhaps honesty was the best policy.
“My sister pushed me into posting that personal ad. She thinks I work too hard, and that work is all there is to my life these days. She made me promise not to talk about my work at all.”
Clark grinned, and if his face had been handsome before, it was almost overwhelming now. Lois hoped she didn’t have a stunned expression on her face.
“That sounds fair. There’s a lot more to people than just what they do for a living, and not talking about the one thing will give us more time to explore the other.” He paused then said, “Just so you won’t be tempted, I won’t talk about my work either.”
They stared at each other for a long moment. Lois found herself at a loss for what to say. Normally, she’d attempt to fill the awkward silence with some sort of long, rambling stream of consciousness babble, but she didn’t really know this man well enough to come up with a topic of conversation.
The arrival of the waiter was almost a blessing. Lois took the proffered menu gratefully, quietly ordering the house wine in French. She was proud of her command of the language, though Claude had always told her she had a thick accent.
To her surprise, Clark Kent ordered a couple of heavy appetizers in flawless French.
“I thought you said you didn’t order for your dates, Mr. Kent,” Lois said tartly.
Clark glanced up from his menu and said, “I’ve got a healthy appetite. You can try the appetizers or pick something else if you’d like. I wasn’t ordering for you.”
Given the prices at Antoine’s, that was a generous offer. Clark didn’t seem concerned about the expense, and Lois couldn’t help but wonder what he did for a living. Either he was simply willing to splurge a great deal, was good at concealing the winces of pain caused to his wallet, or he was fairly wealthy.
“You’ve done some traveling,” Lois said quietly. It was a safe statement, given his story about Italy and his skill at French.
Clark nodded. “I’ve spent the past four years traveling through Europe and Asia. I’ve got a natural talent for languages, which comes in handy when it comes time to order breakfast and you are a thousand miles from the nearest American embassy.”
“I always wanted to travel,” Lois said. “I was an exchange student in Ireland when I was in High School, and I got to go across the channel to France a few times, but there never seemed to be enough time. Then once I got involved in work...”
Again Lucy glared at her from the table behind Clark. Lois sighed. “Let’s just say there was never enough time to do the traveling I wanted to do.”
Clark hesitated. “I’d like to lie to you and say that traveling is overrated. If all you do is take the tourist packages, it is.” His eyes took a far off look. “Still...meeting the Dalai Lama, dancing with a Nigerian Princess, hiking across the Andes mountains in Chile...there’s nothing like the experiences you can find if you look hard enough.”
“You traveled in South America too?” Lois asked quietly, her voice carefully neutral.
Clark nodded. “I didn’t really spend nearly as much time there as I did in Europe and Asia though. The Indian tribes there have some fascinating herbal remedies...”
“I’m sure,” Lois murmured. She wondered if Clark Kent really thought she’d believe his stories of being a world traveler. Bragging about the places he’d been wasn’t an attractive quality.
“Still,” Clark continued, “While travel has its place, I think there’s value in finding a place to call your own. I haven’t had that in a very long time.”
“Surely there were your parents,” Lois said. “It’s never the same once you leave, but still...”
Clark coughed. “I lost both my parents when I was ten. I bounced around in the system until I managed to get a football scholarship to Midwestern University. The rest is history.”
Lois froze. “You’re the Clark Kent who played for Midwestern University?”
Sipping his water, Clark nodded.
“My father had a great deal to say about you. He always thought you’d go pro.”
“He followed the game?” Clark asked.
Staring at Clark, Lois said, “My father is Sam Lane, and he said you sent more people to surgery than any other player in collegiate sports.”
Clark Kent stared at her for a moment, his face slowly flushing a dull shade of red.
***********************
“That was only in my first year,” Clark said defensively. It had taken him that long to strike a balance between aggressiveness and the safety of the people he was playing against. “And while I might have caused a few twisted knees, I never really hurt anyone badly.”
Given his power, that said great deal. Although he still wasn’t sure about the real limits of his power, he did know that killing someone could have happened in the blink of an eye if he hadn’t always been careful. An instant’s distraction could have meant a lifetime of guilt. As it was, he’d had trouble balancing his competitive spirit with the safety of his fellow players during the first year.
He’d wondered occasionally whether he’d have had the same drive to win if his parents had survived. While winning the games themselves had been completely hollow, considering that he could have covered every position on both teams without breaking a sweat, he’d enjoyed the approbation and acclaim that came with victory. His lifetime of drifting from home to home without any sense of stability had left a huge gaping hole in his soul, a need for acceptance and love that he still struggled with at times.
Lois’s voice was quiet. “My father didn’t get called in for sprained knees.”
Sighing, Clark said, “I didn’t know what I was doing at first, and people got hurt.” He was silent for several moments. “I still feel sick every time I think about it.”
“My father did say that none of the injuries looked deliberate.” Lois looked at him carefully. “He watched the game footage carefully. Still...”
Taking a sip of water, Lois said, “You seem to have solved the problem by your second year. Why didn’t you turn pro?”
Shrugging, Clark said, “Football was never my real interest. I always wanted to be a writer, and... “
“You’ve done some writing?” Lois asked quickly. “I...” She stopped after a quick glance over his shoulder. Undoubtedly she was looking at her sister, who Clark had recognized immediately.
“I wrote a couple of travel books,” Clark said. “It doesn’t have anything to do with what I’m doing now, so I suppose it’s a safe enough topic.”
Lois’s face brightened, as though the chance to talk about work without breaking her promise to her sister was a real treat. “I’ve wanted to do some writing. Does it pay well?”
“Nonfiction pays better than fiction,” Clark said. “I’ve toyed with the idea of writing a novel, but I can’t ever seem to really get started.”
He’d been stalled on the first chapter for the past two years.
“I’ve been working on a novel too!” Lois said. “It’s a romantic thriller, about a female reporter who gets involved with an organized conspiracy to kill a prominent senator.”
For a moment, Clark was tempted to talk about his own reporting. Getting the job at the Daily Planet was a dream he’d had for as long as he could remember. The Daily Planet had been the paper his father had read every morning before heading out for yet another backbreaking day on the farm.
Instead, he simply said, “So have you gotten very far with it?”
Lois sighed. “It stalled out after the first three chapters. I keep trying to go back to it, but it really isn’t going anywhere fast.”
“The truth may be stranger than fiction,” Clark said, “But it’s a heck of a lot easier to write.”
Lois seemed to have something to say, but their waiter arrived with Clark’s appetizers. Clark grinned. Lois seemed surprised at the size of his appetizers.
“Are you sure you wouldn’t like any?” Clark watched Lois carefully as she shook her head slightly.
“Isn’t Vichyssoise usually the main part of a meal?” Lois asked.
“Cold potato soup isn’t really my idea of hearty eating,” Clark said, grinning. “But I think it goes great with a salad.”
Lois looked wistful. “It must be nice to have a man’s metabolism.”
“I’ve got an iron stomach,” Clark said. “Considering some of the things I’ve eaten, it’s a good thing, too.”
If it hadn’t been for his alien immune system, Clark had no doubt that he would have had food poisoning at least once during his travels, as well as a host of intestinal parasites. Luckily, he seemed to be able to eat anything without any problems.
“I know a man with an iron stomach,” Lois said. “Maybe you and Bobby Bigmouth should get together and...”
She froze again, undoubtedly at another signal from her sister.
After a moment, Lois said, “Excuse me, I need to go wash my hands before dinner.”
Clark stood up as Lois rose from the table, and he smiled at her. From the corner of his eye, he could see Lucy heading for the ladies room. Undoubtedly they had a great deal to talk about.
The temptation to listen in was almost irresistible.
******************
“I’m going home.” Lucy spoke quietly as Lois stepped into the ladies room.
Lois protested. “I haven’t talked about work, not once.”
“You’ve been good,” Lucy said. “But I can see I’m not needed here.” She nodded in the direction of the mirror.
Lois stepped forward to the mirror over the sink. Examining her reflection, she could see something that she’d only seen in the middle of big stories. Her face was flushed, alive with interest, and she almost glowed.
Clark Kent seemed to fit the qualities she’d asked for in her ad, almost suspiciously well. He was college educated, spoke flawless French, and was undoubtedly athletic, given his earlier football career. He didn’t look as though he’d put any weight on since college either, as so many ex-athletes had.
He was tall and good-looking, and so far, he didn’t seem intimidated by her. Clark Kent had the appearance of a young professional, and his travel books had to have made him financially secure, given the amount of money he was spending on dinner. Antoinnes wasn’t cheap.
The only other requirements that she could recall having made were that he be honest and single, and those were the most important. Clark didn’t have the pale patch of skin around his ring finger that might show that he was married, but that didn’t necessarily mean anything.
She had doubts about his bragging about his travels, but something within her suggested that he might be telling the truth.
“You didn’t hire an actor to play this guy, did you?” Lois asked. It would have been just like her sister to hire an actor to play the part of her dream date.
Lucy snorted. “Where would I get that kind of money? I’m the one leaving after getting appetizers, remember?"”
Looking at Lois’s refection in the mirror, Lucy said, “Besides, I want you to find someone to have a relationship with, not some short term fling.”
A relationship wasn’t something that Lois was ready for at the moment. She was busy with her career, was at the top of her game, and she didn’t really have the time to be Lois Lane, Clark Kent’s girlfriend.
The idea of a short-term fling though, that almost seemed to have merit. Lois hadn’t been with anyone since Claude; she hadn’t been interested in anyone. It shocked her to realize that she was interested in Clark Kent, interested in a deep, visceral way, one that made her toes tingle.
Lucy grinned at the expression on Lois’s face. “I won’t be coming home tonight. Joe wants to take me to a rave later.”
Frowning, Lois turned to Lucy. “I really wish you wouldn’t spend so much time with him. He’s nothing but trouble.”
Although she couldn’t be sure, Lois suspected that Joe Johnson was a involved in criminal activities. She didn’t have any proof yet, but she still hated it every time Lucy left with him.
“Besides, why would you run the risk of getting arrested at a rave?”
“I’m an adult, and I can make my own decisions.” Lucy grabbed her purse and said, “Just like you. Why don’t you go out there and show Mr. Kent a good time?”
With that, Lucy stepped out of the room.
Glancing one last time at the mirror, Lois sighed and headed out the door. She wouldn’t be able to enjoy her meal for worrying about Lucy.
Of course, Clark Kent was already showing a disconcerting habit of proving her wrong.
