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Pride, Prejudice & Jimmy Choos
[-8-]
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A few days later, Clark realized that ‘half in awe’ had been added to that description.
It had become his practice to sneak around Rosco, the squawking gatekeeper, in order to listen to Lois’s mini-concert every afternoon. He’d become distracted with trying to figure her out.
She definitely wasn’t as aloof as when she first arrived to the farm, but she also wasn’t as distracted as she had been a few days ago. It was all added fodder for the mental notebook he’d been using to keep tabs on her behavior. As of yet, none of it added up. She still seemed to be in a hurry to finish work, but now that he knew why she wanted to rush off to do her own thing, so was he.
…Well, he was in a hurry to rush off to see her do her own thing, that is.
Clark had been trying to think of ways to approach the topic of singing in conversation but hadn’t been able to do so innocently. At one point, he had considered speaking about the fact that Lois could sing to his mother, but had stopped himself. For some reason, he wasn’t ready to share that hidden part of Lois’s personality with others until he’d gained more insight.
Did Chloe know that her cousin could sing?
Why wasn’t Lois on a record label like Chloe was?
How could he get the answers to these questions without revealing that he’d been spying?
It was thoughts like those ones mixed in with the desires to finish chores quickly that had led to an unfortunate incident with a manure sprayer. Sure, his quick reactions had gotten him out of the way in time that he wasn’t covered, but his involvement in the cleanup meant that he still smelled the part. So now, knowing that there was no way he could remain hidden for the concert when his odor preceded him like a visible person, he headed into the house for a quick shower.
Still mulling over thoughts of melodies, chords and unanswered questions, Clark didn’t realize that the bathroom door was closed…
…Until he walked in and saw Lois in the tub.
Two pairs of shock widened eyes met before Clark tilted his neck back to concentrate on the ceiling.
“Uh, sorry, I… didn’t know you were…” “Your mom said it would be okay…” Their words tripped over each other’s.
Closing his mouth, Clark nodded, indicating that she should go first.
“Your mom said it would be okay,” Lois repeated, “since there’s only a shower in the guest house.”
Clark nodded again, silently ruing the fact that his mom had gone into town that day. If she had been at home, she would have been able to tell him that Lois was in the bathroom, saving him from this *extremely* awkward moment. “No, no,” he said, clearing his throat. “Of course you should use the bathroom… could use the bathroom, I mean… it’s fine.” He nodded again and let out a breath.
A silent thirty seconds passed before Lois spoke again. “Clark?”
“Yeah?”
“You can leave now…”
“Oh! Right,” he answered, still looking up. “I was leaving. I am leaving.” He began walking backwards only to have his progress hindered when his shoulder hit the wall instead of open space. Taking a slight step to his right, he blindly reached for the door handle. “Still leaving.”
“Okay,” Lois replied.
Clark nodded again—had he even stopped nodding? “Okay.” And with that, he darted out of the room.
~\s/~
At dinner, Clark was feeling a little antsy. After the unexpected confrontation with Lois earlier that afternoon, he hadn’t dared to follow her out to the tree house. To her credit, Lois didn’t seem fazed by it and chatted with his mother as if nothing had happened. It reminded him of the way she’d acted when they’d first met. It was as if his intrusion on her privacy wasn’t a big deal.
Clark mentally sighed as he rubbed his jaw. Maybe it wasn’t a big deal after all.
“Aren’t you going to have dessert, Honey?” Martha asked when he pushed away from the table.
Pulled from his distraction, Clark blinked and turned to his mother. “What? Oh, uh, maybe later,” he replied, smiling at the apple pie she was slicing. “I’m just going to go close down the barn.”
“Okay…” his mother said, frowning.
Clark paused just as he reached the kitchen door and turned around. “Uh, Lois, would you like to go into town tonight?”
Apparently surprised by the invitation, Lois’s eyebrows arched on her forehead, “Into town?”
“Yeah, a couple of my friends from high school are back for spring break and I figured you might like to see what we do for fun around here.”
Lois grinned widely. “Fun? Are you going cow tipping?”
Fighting the urge to smirk, Clark just shook his head. “You’ll have to see for yourself.” It came out like a challenge.
Tilting her head, Lois narrowed her eyes. “Okay, Farm Boy. I’m down.”
“Good. We’ll leave at eight,” he announced before turning and walking out onto the porch.
He purposely avoided looking at his mother on the way out.
~\s/~
Lois chuckled as Clark parked the truck in a small parking lot next to a café. She couldn’t say that she’d ever partied at a coffee shop before, but she reminded herself that she was in a small town. When in Rome… drink macchiato.
Besides, she was still a little on edge around Mrs. Kent. It felt like the woman knew more than she was saying, but Lois didn’t know how to bring up the Lola connection without exposing herself… if she didn’t already know. All of the first and second guessing made her look forward to a night away from the paranoia.
She hopped out of the vehicle when Clark opened his door and waited for him to join her at the front. “Coffee?” she asked as he pulled open the door to let her in.
“Not exactly,” Clark answered.
She was immediately hit with the sounds of music and the flashing of strobe lights. Now fully laughing, she shook her head and continued inside. “Karaoke Night?” she read aloud from the chalkboard stand. “Seriously?”
Clark grimaced a little. “We kind of have to do things that are appropriate for all ages in Smallville,” he explained, referring to the abundance of high school aged patrons in the crowd. “Either that or we could saddle up at Custer’s Last Stand with the over fifties…” he offered.
“And discuss corn futures?” Lois cringed. “No thanks.”
Clark smirked. “Well, you complained about it being all work and no play here, and I thought this would be…” He shrugged.
“Fun?” Lois helpfully supplied, amused.
“Yeah.”
Lois took a moment to study his profile as he looked around the darkened room. She didn’t know if it was one of those clichéd “all in due time” things, but it appeared that his initial frosty attitude toward her had thawed. Then again, she thought with a mental shrug, she’d been on the farm for a little over three weeks now. Maybe he was like her and just trying to get through the ordeal without spilling blood.
She turned her attention to her surroundings, taking in the Egyptian themed décor that lay under the signs and streamers that were obviously only there for that night. The coffee shop—The Talon, she remembered from the awning outside—had been converted from some other type of business at some point, judging from the structure. She idly wondered what it was when she noticed Clark lifting his hand and waving to someone.
“Clark Kent!” a female voice called out, and Lois turned her head to seek out its owner. Before she could get a good look, though, a blur of pastel colors launched into Clark’s arms.
When the petite dark-haired young woman about their age pulled back, Lois got a good look at her shirt. Who knew plaid came in pink?
Clark turned to Lois, “This is…” he started.
“I’m Lana,” the girl replied, thrusting a hand out. “And you are Lois.”
Lois nodded, glanced quickly at Clark, and reached out to complete the handshake. “Yeah, I…”
“Are best friends with Lola Dakota,” Lana continued, once again jumping in. “Clark told me. That is amazing!” Lana turned to Clark, “Isn’t that amazing?” Then back to Lois, “Amazing!” Then she lowered her voice to a conspiratorial tone. “I absolutely love her music.” She grinned. “I’m sorry, I’m gushing, I know, but this is like the closest thing we’ve had to celebrity in this town… okay, well, not the closest, come to think of it. Chloe Sullivan is from here. Did you know that?”
Lois arched an eyebrow. “Well, actually…”
Lana slapped her arm playfully. “What am I saying? I’m sure you knew that already. She and Lola are on the same label after all. Anyway, Chloe’s from here but we didn’t really travel in the same circles before she left and made it big, so I don’t really *know* her, know her, you know what I mean?”
Lois nodded warily, not knowing if she should even attempt at getting out a full sentence around this girl.
Lana’s excitement seemed to only build. “You have to know that if I hadn’t just gotten into town yesterday, I would have so come out to the farm to ask you a million questions, because I have, like, a *million* questions. Like, how did you meet? Did you grow up together?” Still without giving time for an answer, she pressed on. “I don’t believe the stuff the tabloids say about her, but is any of it true? You don’t have to answer that… Unless you want to…”
Lois raised an eyebrow and Lana nodded, adding, “Yeah, maybe later.”
Clark took the opportunity to interrupt. “Lana, where’s Pete?”
“Pete!” Lana exclaimed, as if just remembering. “He got us a booth. Come on!” She grabbed Lois’s hand and began pulling her through the crowd.
Lois glanced over her shoulder to see Clark following behind them. Catching her eye, he shrugged sheepishly.
When they arrived at the booth, a stocky young man of average height stood to greet them. After exchanging a man-hug-thing with Clark, he shook Lois’s hand with a “Pete Ross” introduction and settled back down into his seat. Lois noted that he put his arm along the back of the seat when Lana slid in next to him.
“So, this is the love of Johnnie’s life,” Pete teased when Lois and Clark were seated across from him.
“What?” Clark asked.
Lois peered at him, “You mean Johnnie Walker?”
Pete laughed and nodded.
“Johnnie’s best friends with Pete’s kid brother, Jack,” Lana explained. “He’s going to be mad when he hears that he missed you.”
Lois smiled. “He’s a cutie.”
“I’ll make sure *not* to tell him you said that,” Pete answered, making them all laugh.
After a server came by the table and took their drink orders, Clark cleared his throat. “Lois, are you going to sing?”
Lois felt herself freeze and let out a nervous laugh in an attempt to cover it. “Oh no, Lois Lane does not sing.” She thought that she caught a confused expression on Clark’s face at her reply, but it was gone so quickly that she wasn’t sure. She chocked it up to the ‘third person speak’ that always irked Chloe, but didn’t make an attempt to correct it. She figured that if she didn’t draw any attention to it, neither would anyone else.
“Oh, come on, Lois,” Lana entered. “Hey, I know! You can sing a LoDa song!”
Lois shook her head. “Believe me; nothing good could come of that.”
“It’s Karaoke Night. You don’t even have to worry about sounding bad,” Pete offered.
Lois just continued to shake her head, pausing only to thank their server as the drinks arrived.
“Will you go up there if I do it first?” Clark asked.
Lois turned to see if indeed he had grown another head. “There is *no way* you would go up there,” she told him.
Without replying, Clark stood up and walked toward the crowd of people standing around the DJ booth.
“Oh, man, I’ve gotta see this,” Pete said, jumping up to follow.
Lois looked across the table where she saw that Lana was watching the two retreating figures but not speaking. According to Lois’s short acquaintance with the woman, that was uncharacteristic.
“Well… wow,” Lana finally uttered, turning her head to face Lois.
Lois frowned. “He won’t do it. That rod is planted too deeply…” she trailed off, remembering her company. “I mean…”
Lana chuckled, “No, I know exactly what you mean. It’s just, for a minute there, I was reminded of sophomore year Clark.”
“What was sophomore year?”
“That’s when we dated,” Lana answered nonchalantly.
Lois had to sit back at that announcement. She looked at the peppy and perky woman before her and tried to reconcile the mental image of a younger version of Lana dating Clark ‘The Stick’ Kent. “You two?” she asked with a confused squint. “Really?” It just didn’t compute.
Lana grinned. “Granted, it lasted for like five minutes, but yeah. He wasn’t so,” she made a vague gesture with her hands, “Clark-like then,” she finished. “Before his dad—you know about his dad, right?”
Lois nodded grimly. She had reconciled Martha’s words about her late husband with the headstone she’d seen in the cemetery.
“Clark and his dad were really close,” Lana continued. “After that, he just… shut down. His plans to be a lawyer, travel the world… He just,” she gave a one-shouldered shrug as she tapped the rim of her mug, “gave up.”
Not liking the depressed atmosphere that had descended upon them—but tucking the information away in her mind for later—Lois redirected the subject a bit. “Why only five minutes?” she asked, smirking.
Lana’s eyes twinkled as she met Lois’s. “He was the star quarterback, I was a cheerleader,” she explained wryly, noting the obvious cliché, “but Clark never did anything over five minutes.”
Lois’s eyebrows rose.
“Meaning,” Lana said, catching the look, “he didn’t do serious. Clark was just the guy that was everyone’s friend. He’d hang out, he’d date, but usually that was it.”
Lois laughed. “Are you saying that he was a player?”
Lana’s expression turned thoughtful. “He was a *football* player, Lois,” she deadpanned. Then she started laughing at Lois’s expression. “No, nothing like that. He just was really carefree. I miss that about him.”
Pete returned to the table at the moment. “You are not going to believe this,” he started. “The waiting list was already long so Clark bribed a girl to let him have her spot. He’s up next.”
Both Lois and Lana exchanged surprised glances. “He’s really going to do it?” Lana asked.
Pete shook his head; in wonder at the situation himself. “Apparently.”
They all shifted in their seats and faced the stage when the DJ announced the next singer.
When the music began, Lois’s jaw dropped. “No. Way.”
Lana just dropped her head onto Pete’s shoulder and started laughing.
On stage, Clark lifted the microphone and his voice came out in a high pitched squeak, “I’ll tell you what I want, what I really, really want…”
Lois grimaced. “That is horrible,” she said covering her eyes in empathetic embarrassment. “And I don’t mean the song.”
“Yeah, well, the song was already cued, so when Clark bribed the girl for her spot, he had to take her choice too,” Pete added with a bark of laughter. “And the song is the part I didn’t think you would believe.”
After his song, Clark accepted the jeers and cheers of people he passed in the crowd as he made his way back to their table. He smiled at the laughing couple that awaited him but frowned when he took in the way Lois was looking at him studiously. “What?”
Her brow creased even more as her eyes narrowed. “What do you think, Lana?” she asked, ignoring his question. “Pepper? Basil?”
“Alfalfa?” Lana offered.
Lois turned and pointed at her. “Alfalfa! I like that!”
Clark turned a confused expression to Pete. “Huh?”
Lois answered, “I’m just trying to figure out what your Spice Girl name is. Alfalfa Spice, welcome to the band.”
Clark glared as they all broke into laughter again. “Alfalfa is not a spice,” he said, looking down at them as he remained standing next to the booth.
Lois shrugged. “But it is a Little Rascal. Hey, Baby and Sporty aren’t spices either, but they made it.”
He shook his head and changed the subject. “Your turn, Lois. I held up my part of the deal.”
Lois scoffed. “I never agreed to that.”
“But the deal was if I went up…”
Lois shook her head and interrupted. “Nooo, I said you wouldn’t do it, *after* I said that *I* wouldn’t do it. You went up and committed that atrocity on your own merit, kid.”
“That’s not true,” Clark countered. He turned to Pete for backup. “Pete?” When his friend just lifted his hands and pursed his lips, Clark tried again. “Lana?”
Flicking a quick glance to Lois, Lana bit her lip and pushed Pete’s shoulder. “Come on, babe, let’s go look at the song list.”
Frowning as his friends bailed on him, he turned back to Lois. “I never took you as one to back down from a challenge,” he accused.
Lois was unfazed. “It’s not called backing down if there was never a challenge in the first place.”
Clark let out a frustrated breath and gestured over his shoulder. “Did you see what I just did?!”
“Saw it, heard it… laughed at it. Heartily.”
Clark narrowed his eyes, sensing defeat. She didn’t want to sing—though for the life of him he didn’t see why not—and she wasn’t going to give in to his attempts to get her up there. He obviously needed to take a different approach. “Okay, I’m making it a challenge now. Dance with me.”
Lois did a double take. “What? Dance with you? It’s karaoke, Kent. People don’t *dance* to karaoke.” She gestured around at the non-dancing patrons to emphasize her point.
Clark shrugged. “My challenge, my rules. Either you dance or you sing. Choose your poison.” He smirked as he waited for her to answer, confident that he had her cornered.
She looked at him silently while her working her jaw. Finally, she tilted her head and matched his smirk. “Fine,” she said, scooting toward the end of the booth. “Help me up.”
Nodding, Clark held out his had to comply, but as he started to guide her in the direction of the stage, she pulled him the other way.
“We’re dancing,” she announced smarmily when he turned to question her.
At the announcement his eyes widened. That wasn’t the choice he was counting on. His body and fast music always seemed at odds… and looking at Lois’s expression, she appeared to be expecting that. Just as he was trying to come up with an excuse, the music changed to something slow and he sighed in relief.
Lois looked disappointed, but turned and placed her other hand on his shoulder anyway.
When her expression changed, Clark ducked his head to catch her eye. “What?”
She blinked and tilted her head to look up at him. “The song,” she said. “It’s one of… Chloe’s.”
Clark smiled. “Yeah, well, you’ll probably hear at least one full CD of hers tonight. She’s somewhat of a hometown hero.” He listened for a minute. “This is one of my favorites…” Just then the person singing hit a sour note and they both winced. “Was one of my favorites,” he amended.
They looked at each other and laughed.
Lois shook her head. “So, you and Cheery Spice dated?”
Clark shrugged, knowing that she was referring to Lana. “High school,” he said, as if that explained it all.
“I need a time machine or something, because that just doesn’t fit.”
He frowned. “What do you mean?”
Lois’s face scrunched. “She’s just so friendly, and you’re… not.”
Clark stopped swaying and protested, “I’m friendly.”
Lois arched an eyebrow. “You threw my bags in the dirt.”
“They’re *suitcases* and I just set them down. You make it sound like I dropped them from a helicopter.”
Lois kinked her jaw to the side. “And it was nice to meet you too.”
He shrugged. “Maybe I didn’t care too much for that Lois.”
“That Lois?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he answered, starting to move to the music again, “the one who wore bedazzled jeans to milk cows.”
She narrowed her eyes, and challenged, “As opposed to this Lois who…”
Clark opened his mouth to reply but hesitated when he realized that he couldn’t say what he wanted to. “As opposed to the one who doesn’t wear bedazzled jeans to milk cows?” he sheepishly offered instead.
“Whatever.”
“Hey, I could have let your whole Smallville experience be chores,” he countered. “That was friendly.” At her look, he continued. “And you met Lana. I thought you’d be happy to finally meet someone who shares your taste in popstars and… stuff.”
“You’re trying to be nice?” Lois then stepped away from him and put her hands on her hips. “Why are you trying to be nice?”
Clark couldn’t help but look away.
“Are you flirting with me, Kent?” She smiled and stepped to the side so she was back in his line of view. “You are! You are totally small town flirting with me!” Her expression turned thoughtful. “It’s because you saw me naked, isn’t it?”
Clark’s eyes popped. “What? No! I didn’t see… anything!”
Lois nodded sagely. “Yep. You saw the bod and *now* you want to be ‘friendly.’ That totally explains why you went from cold shoulder to best buds in one afternoon,” she teased.
He pulled at his collar, knowing that he couldn’t really tell her that it wasn’t just one afternoon that had turned his mind around. “All I saw were suds,” he countered. “Mounds and moun…”
“Mounds?” Lois questioned, interrupting him.
“I mean lots,” he corrected. “Lots and lots of suds. That’s all.”
Lois smirked and looked up at him with obviously false pique. “Don’t fall for me, Kent. I am *way* out of your league.”
~\s/~
tbc...
