Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic The Boy in Black (20/?)

As always, a huge thank you to Carol!

From Chapter 19

“I was unaware we were dating,” Lois said with a sly smile.

“I was unaware that was even an option,” I countered. “I seem to recall something about you only being here for your journalism degree.”

Lois blushed. “I am, but if Paul were interested in me…”

I groaned. “You're hopeless,” I told her.

She shrugged. “Whatever. Just wait, Clark. I'll be dating him before the end of the semester. I just need to figure out how to impress him.”

“Have you tried stuffing your bra?” I asked her.

She smacked me. “Careful, or I'm going to have to replay this conversation for Maddie.”

“Hey, I haven't done anything wrong,” I said.

“You will have when I retell it,” Lois replied, an evil glint in her eye.

I laughed as I followed her into the classroom.


Chapter 20

I grimaced as I heard the sounds coming from my room. It sounded like Steve had taken my request that he not bring girls back to our room for a couple of weeks to mean that he shouldn't do it at night, but during the day was fine.

I guess it was, sort of. I just wished I had some warning. The books I needed for my math class were in there. When I got to the door of my room, though, there was no sock.

Thank goodness – it was some other poor sap whose roommate had turned their room into a brothel in the middle of the day. I grinned at the thought. It was a bit unfair. Given it wasn't Steve, it could actually be some guy with his girlfriend. While still unfair to the roommate, it probably meant the brothel comment was a bit out of line.

“Oh man!” I cried as I opened the door. It was only years of training on my parents' part that made those the words that came out of my mouth, since I was pretty sure most people would have used much stronger language. As it happened, I was the poor sap. Steve had forgotten the sock.

Worse yet, he had apparently also forgotten the way to his bed as he and the girl du jour were on my bed. While I glanced away as quickly as I could, I was pretty sure their activities meant I not only needed to change my sheets, but perhaps throw these away completely. And I should probably wander off campus with Maddie to a drug store or something to pick up a can of disinfectant after class.

“Hey, man. The sock!” Steve half yelled, half whined at me.

“What sock?” I said back, also speaking somewhat louder than necessary. On the other hand, I decided it was okay. This was not a time I felt it was particularly important to use my "indoor voice'.

“The one on the door,” Steve said, clearly agitated. I just wanted to get my textbook and leave, but I couldn't spot it. Of course, my unwillingness to look anywhere near my side of the room where the naked people lay was probably part of it.

“There was no sock on the door, Steve,” I said, turning away from him so I could see my desk without seeing any random body parts. There it was. I grabbed it before heading for the door.

“By the way, maybe next time you could take some care not to get lost on the way to your bed?” I shot out as I closed the door.

“Oh, Clark,” Steve called, suddenly sounding calm now that I was leaving.

“What?” I asked without opening the door further. I really didn't need to see anymore.

“Some guy called for you. Bill something or other from the Daily Planet.”

“Thanks,” I mumbled back. Great message. Very helpful. Not like the message was at all important or anything.

************************

“Wow!” Maddie said as I sat next to her in class. “What's gotten into you?”

“What?” I asked grumpily as I pulled my book out of my backpack.

“That,” she laughed lightly. “The grumpiness. What happened to Clark Kent?”

“Did you say Clark was grumpy?” Lois asked as she took the seat on my other side. “I didn't know Clark got grumpy.”

“Very funny,” I mumbled.

“So,” Maddie prodded again. “What's the deal?”

“It's just Steve,” I said, shaking my head in an effort to bring myself out of my foul mood.

“What did he do this time?” Lois asked. That nearly did it, and I fought a grin. What had Steve done to Lois? That should have been Maddie's line.

“Did he do something to you?” I asked her.

She shrugged. “No. Not really. But he's not exactly up for Outstanding Roommate of the Year, is he?”

Maddie gave a laugh on my other side. “Of course he is. As long as it's for the jerk category.”

This time I did laugh. “Okay, enough,” I said. “He's really not that bad.”

Maddie raised her eyebrows at me and I laughed again. “He could be worse,” I pointed out.

“Of course, he could,” Lois said. “I mean rather than just bring girls back to your room all the time, he could do something really nasty like sleep with them in your bed.”

I groaned.

“Don't want me to suggest that to him?” Lois asked with a laugh.

I didn't say anything for a moment, and Maddie caught on.

“What? He's done that?” she asked. “When? And please tell me you changed the sheets after that?”

“Just today as far as I know,” I said. “And I'm burning the sheets. And thinking of buying a new mattress as well.”

“He didn't really do that?” Lois asked. “Did he? I mean even Steve has his limits.”

“I'm sure he does,” I replied. “But apparently having sex on my bed is within them.”

“You're really not kidding?” Maddie asked.

“Not at all. Want to take a walk after class? I need to go buy some disinfectant since I can't really afford a new mattress.”

“Not to burst your bubble,” Lois said, “but you don't really think Steve's the first person to do that on your mattress, do you?”

“Um, yes,” I pointed out. Maybe I shouldn't have been so obvious that Maddie and I hadn't, but I was pretty surprised by her question.

“That mattress was here when you got here,” Lois pointed out. “I mean, I assume they also disinfect it between semesters, but you don't really think they buy new ones every year, do you?”

“I hadn't considered it before now,” I said, giving her a dirty look. I hadn't wanted to consider it either.

“Yeah, thanks, Lois,” Maddie said, sounding as disturbed as I did at the thought.

“Sorry,” she shrugged. “I thought you both would have realized.”

“Hey,” I said, mainly to get her off of this topic. “Do you know someone named Bill at the Planet that might be calling me?”

“Someone from the Planet called you?” Lois asked.

I shrugged. “That was the extent of the information I got from Mr. Outstanding Jerk of a Roommate. He's a great message taker.”

“Bill?” Lois said. “No last name.”

“Well, it's hard to concentrate on last names when your conducting extra-curricular activities in your roommate's bed,” Maddie pointed out.

Lois smiled before bursting out, “Billy Norcross! I'm pretty sure that's his first name. It must be him. They must have news on your story. You have to call him back now, Clark.”

“I should have thought of that,” I said, remembering that Lois was right. His name was Billy. “But we can't leave now, we have class,” I pointed out, looking meaningfully at the people around us who were waiting for the professor to arrive.

“This is more important,” Lois said.

I looked at the clock. “I can call after class,” I said. “It will only be four thirty.”

“Later than that before we get to a phone,” Maddie said. “I think Lois is right. You need to call him back now. Come on, Clark. This is more important than one measly math lecture.”

“I'm not sure,” I said. “My parents are paying for me…”

“To get a job at the Daily Planet in four years,” Lois cut me off. “And calling back one of their star reporters has to be a more direct route to getting there than sitting in this meaningless class.” She reached out and grabbed my book. On my other side, Maddie took my backpack.

“We're leaving,” Maddie said. “And since we have your stuff, you can't take notes anyway.”

I laughed at the looks on their faces. “Fine,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Then let's get out of here before Professor Backley gets here and sees us sneaking out.”

“Let's go to my room,” Lois said. “It's the closest.”

“Except for mine,” I pointed out.

“Yours is currently otherwise occupied,” Maddie pointed out.

“Right,” I said, suddenly wondering what Billy Norcross would think if I called him back with the sound of Steve and that girl in the background. It probably wouldn't project the most professional image.

When we got to Lois' room, I looked up at the ceiling. “Have they moved?” Lois asked me.

“Have what moved?” Maddie asked.

“Last time he was here, Clark noticed that Star moves the glow in the dark stars around to match the current Metropolis sky,” Lois told her.

“Neat,” Maddie said, looking up. “How'd you know that?”

“Some of the constellations moved around,” I said. “It looks mostly the same now, but it doesn't look all that different outside either.”

“You know the constellations?” Maddie asked.

“He's a farm boy,” Lois said with a smile. “He can probably see them from his house.”

“That's a bad thing?” I asked.

“No,” Lois said.

“But it is weird,” Maddie added with a smile.

“You can't see the stars in San Diego?” I asked her.

Maddie shrugged. “Better than here, I guess. But not well.”

“Well, not to validate Lois' stereotypes or anything, but we can see the stars pretty well from the farm,” I said.

Lois rolled her eyes at me. “Just call the Planet,” she told me, pointing to the phone.

I picked up her phone, sorry now that I had agreed to this. I wasn't really sure I wanted an audience for this. What if I sounded like an idiot? It was one thing to do so in front of Billy Norcross. While it might not bode well for my chances at the internship, I never had to see him again. On the other hand, sounding like an idiot in front of Lois and Maddie was not the same thing. To have them witness my sounding like an idiot for such an important phone call, too…

I sighed. Neither of them wanted me to fail. They were both completely supportive. Although, I doubt Lois would be too heart broken if I did something that ruined my chances at the internship.

“Do you need me to dial for you, honey?” Maddie asked, her voice saccharine sweet. I gave her a dirty look.

“Clark, Perry White thought your article was good. What could you possibly have to fear from Billy Norcross?” Lois asked.

I nodded my head before picking up the phone. I used one hand to dig through my backpack for the business card Mr. Norcross had given me when I was there. Pulling it out, I punched in the number on the card.

“May I please speak with Mr. Norcross?” I asked when the phone was answered.

“This is,” came back the somewhat curt reply. I wondered if I had called at a bad time. Maybe I should just call back later?

“Hi, Mr. Norcross. This is Clark Kent. If this is a bad time, I can call back…”

“Clark? Thanks for calling back. This is a great time actually. And didn't I tell you to call me Billy?”

“Um, yeah,” I mumbled back.

He chuckled. “Relax, Clark. Really. I promise not to go tell Perry White you're a screw-up.”

“Thanks,” I said, feeling myself start to relax.

“Besides, Serena and I were really impressed with all you managed to uncover. And the investigating we've done since then has only confirmed everything you found. We made a few changes to your story, but overall, it's remained intact.”

“Really?” I asked, surprised. They hadn't completely changed what I wrote?

Mr. Norcross chuckled again. “Really. In fact, Serena fought with Perry. We really thought you deserved the main byline on the article. When we showed Perry how little we had to change, he agreed.”

“I have the first byline?” I repeated, feeling completely stunned.

Lois tugged on my arm and I turned toward her. “Really?” she mouthed to me.

“You did most of the work,” Mr. Norcross said. “So, you deserve the first byline. Look for it in tomorrow's paper. Page 3.”

I nodded my head at Lois and I could see Maddie's smile behind her.

“Thank you, Mr… Billy,” I fumbled. “Really. Thank you so much.”

“We didn't do you any favors, Clark. You did good work. Serena and I expect to see you here in a few years even if you don't get the internship this summer,” he said.

“Thank you,” I said again.

He gave another small chuckle. “Have a good evening, Clark.”

“You, too. And thank Miss Judd for me, too,” I finally remembered.

I hung up the phone and paused. I had a byline in the Daily Planet. An actual byline.

“They gave you the lead byline?” Lois asked again.

“Uh huh,” I said, still too stunned to really speak.

“That's amazing, Clark,” Maddie said.

The door opened before I could respond and Star walked in. “Hello,” she said, looking stunned at the group of us hanging out in her room.

“Hey,” I said.

“We're on our way out to celebrate,” Lois announced. “Want to join us?”

“What are you celebrating?” Star asked.

“Clark just got a byline in the Daily Planet,” Lois said.

“And we never celebrated your being the first freshman to get on the Titan staff. Well, by honest means anyway,” I pointed out.

“We should go to EOW,” Star said.

“What's EOW?” Maddie asked.

“You've never taken her to EOW?” Lois asked me with a grin. “Bad boyfriend,” she shook her head at me.

“I'm with Maddie. What's EOW?” I said in reply.

“It's the sit down restaurant on campus,” Star said. “It's not exactly Metropolis' finest eatery, but…”

“It's the best you can do without leaving campus,” Lois said.

“Sounds good,” I said, closing up my book bag.

“So, where is it?” Maddie asked as we made our way out of the dorm.

“On the west edge of campus. Apparently, it's sort of a joke, but EOW stands for End of the World. Not a very funny joke,” Lois said.

A few minutes later, the four of us settled into a booth. “You can get an appetizer, drink, and entrée for one dining credit,” Star announced as we looked over the menus.

“Or you can skip the appetizer and get dessert. They make the best chocolate torte here,” Lois said.

I smiled. It only took a couple of weeks of being friends with Lois to know she was a huge chocolate fan.

“So,” Star said as we placed our menus down. “How are things with your cousin?” she asked Maddie.

I choked on the water I had been about to swallow. I didn't know Maddie really knew Star, let alone that they were close enough for her to tell Star about her cousin.

“Um, what?” Maddie asked, and I realized she hadn't told Star anything.

“I um… I had a vision or whatever that you were having some issues with a cousin of yours,” Star said.

I stared at her in shock. How had she known that?

“I… well, I was, but they're better now,” Maddie finally said, clearly as flustered as I was.

That was just weird.

It was only as I was falling asleep that night, that I recalled the conversation I'd had with Star the night we met.

"But at some point, I'm going to walk in on you barely dressed with my roommate.' Was there any chance she was right?

I pulled Maddie closer to me. Of course there wasn't.