Green-Eyed Monster TOC Part 10Part 11Following Saturday EveningThe week went by in a blur. Clark had spent his day off – Labor Day – with Lois. He knew this great Danish pastry shop in Copenhagen and had procured more breakfast Danishes (Wienerbrød) for them. Then they had gone down to Centennial Park where a street market of food and crafts, complete with live music, was being held. They had wandered around looking at the different booths and then had sat down on a blanket and ate hotdogs – had Lois really eaten three? – while listening to music.
After a while, Lois had suggested returning to her place for a dip in the pool. Her exact words were something to the effect of
If we don’t get out of this heat and into our swimsuits, I’m going to just die.And he couldn’t let that happen. Clark grinned. He had practically fallen into the pool to cool off after she emerged from her apartment in that form-fitting and quite revealing maroon one piece. She had tried to convince him to take off his glasses – the minx never gave up – while he was in the pool. She had even jumped on his back and tried to dunk him. She hadn’t succeeded. Thank you, extra strength.
Clark chuckled as he thought back to that day. It had been one of his happiest and he kept thinking back on it all week.
Lois had fallen off his back, splashing into the water. She had popped back up in front of him and reached up to his face, his glasses specifically. So, he had pinned down her arms by wrapping his arms around her.
You should have kissed her!Clark sighed. Yes, he should have. She had stopped fighting him, gazing up into his eyes. She had actually looked willing. Clark even remembered having started to tilt his head toward her. Why hadn’t he gone through with it?
The kids.Oh, yeah. The kids. A whole group of them had descended upon them at that moment. Clark had wanted to kiss Lois and he had sensed that she had wanted him to as well, but the kiss that had pulsed through him at that moment had been anything but G-rated. He hadn’t wanted another audience for this new first kiss, either. So he had let her go and had stepped away.
He figured he would get another chance later, when they were alone. But Lois had forgotten to put on sunscreen and had ended up red and crispy by the time they went back inside her apartment. He could hardly hold her hand without a protest coming to her lips. Why did Lois have to keep reminding him how invulnerable she wasn’t? Clark had wanted to cool her hot skin with his breath, but that would have brought up other issues he wasn’t ready to discuss. He had offered to rub her all over with aloe and had even flown off and had returned to her with some, but Lois insisted upon doing it herself.
Clark admitted that rubbing her hot skin with his hands would have been a bit intimate.
Not as intimate as sucking her toes!He blushed, turning away from these thoughts. He still couldn’t get that image out of his mind. Why
had she said that? Did she desire him as much as he desired her? He shook his head.
Impossible! No one could be as full of desire as he was feeling – had been feeling for Lois since they had first eaten lunch together on that park bench – and that craving for her was turning into bone-headed jealousy.
Lois had come to work on Tuesday in a dress which could have easily been called translucent. It wasn’t her usual work attire and every single man within a five-mile radius had noticed. He was sure she had worn that dress because her sun-burnt skin was still too painful for clothes. Clark shook his head. No, she
had been wearing clothing. But that thin, white lacy number, made him think otherwise. He swallowed.
It had been painful for him to watch as numerous men had admired Lois. He did not know how long he had stood there and stared as man after man approached her. Some had asked for help, some had asked her advice, and one or two had blatantly asked her out. They had all flirted with her and she had responded to their kindness, flattery and gentle teasing. She had accepted their smiles, laughed at their jokes, but had always said ‘No’ for their requests for coffee or dinner. He hadn’t been able to help thinking each time a man approached her…
Was this the man who would take her away from me? Was this man her future husband?Clark knew he had no claim on Lois. He hadn’t had the guts to get past this fear of her future rejection of him. Which would be worse? he wondered. Never getting close to Lois or losing her to another man after having gotten close? He couldn’t decide which torture would hurt him less. His green-eyed monster was consuming him.
It hadn’t been until Lois had noticed him standing on the third floor, watching her, and she had smiled at him – the most genuinely happy smile he had seen on her lips the entire time he had been staring at her – that he had remembered he still had boxes to deliver. He had waved and she had returned his wave. Lois still liked him and only him.
He had started to have nightmares of shadowy figures taking Lois away from him.
Lois isn’t yours for someone to steal, Kent. Until you kiss her, until you come to some agreement with her, she is free to date and kiss whomever she pleases.Clark winced. He knew that and yet, he kept hesitating. After he had come back from a late night trip to Lois’s apartment on Wednesday to see the next installment of the globe’s message, his Mom had started to ask if he had kissed Lois and he had growled –
growled! – at his Mom. He had never done anything like that before. He knew his Mom only wished the best for him, but he was so frustrated with the lack of progress he had made with his relationship with Lois. And he knew he had no one to blame but himself.
The second message – a continuation of the first theme – had freaked Lois out again. He would have willingly taken the globe from her possession – as it did rightfully belong to him – but she had taken the globe out of his hand and locked it back in that wooden box. He didn’t know why she had such a love/hate relationship with the globe. Why did she want to continue to possess the sphere when it obviously gave her no pleasure and caused her nothing but dread? Could he start a relationship with someone who feared and hated everything that he was? Even if he loved and desired her more than anyone he had ever met? Was the concept of someone like him so horrible? Would he ever be able to change her mind? This was why – one of the reasons why – he stood in the back of his Dad’s truck watching from outside the Metropolis International Airport the unveiling of the new ‘super’ plane: the Colossus. He was compounding his misery by watching all those news reporters and journalists getting ready for a flight of a lifetime.
When Clark had been a boy, he used to ride the bus down here to the airport and watch the planes take off. He had wondered where they were headed and the different places they would land. He had wanted so desperately to fly in one of those planes – to travel the world, see and feel history and culture one-on-one. If his special skills hadn’t developed, he might have joined the Air Force, just to learn how to fly.
He hadn’t been out to Tealboro, to the Metropolis International Airport in particular, in years, not since his hearing made the loud roaring of the planes intolerable. Clark laughed to himself. Then – of course – he discovered
he didn’t need a plane to fly. It was the most freeing of experiences. He loved it, just as he knew he would. That was one of the happiest moments of his life. All these additional abilities were worth the bother, the secrecy, the extra care he had to take with everything, if it meant he could fly. It was like the fudge frosting on the birthday cake his Mom made him every year on his ‘birthday’ – not really necessary, but making the whole thing all the better.
Something was happening. The press conference outside the plane was breaking up and the reporters were being let inside. This plane was huge – titanic almost. Clark started at this description. He hoped his analogy had been a bad one. He glanced over his shoulder at the dark storm clouds rolling in from the sea. He knew a bad storm was brewing. It was the reason he had told Lois he would pick her up and take her home after work tonight, despite having only two hours between the end of her shift and the beginning of his security guard shift at the store.
Clark looked back out at the bay, not at the brewing storm this time, but at the water. He had understood without her clarifying that when Lois had told him she wanted to see the ocean, this wasn’t what she meant. Somehow, he just knew she was talking about the tactile experience of the sand and the heat of the sun on her skin that she wanted, combined with the water. Hob’s Bay, while technically being the ‘ocean’, lacked the beach part of the equation. The coast line around Metropolis was more rocky than sandy, except that one stretch by Senre Ville on St. Martin’s Island. Sure, Lois could easily hop on a bus or the metro train and go there. And, yes, she could see sand – if she paid the entrance fee and pried the people apart, she could see an inch or two of sand between them. He somehow knew that a beach to Lois was an empty stretch of sand and he couldn’t wait to share it with her. He had already picked one out in his mind.
Focusing his gaze back on the reporters, Clark recognized the Metropolis Star’s princess – the blonde and beautiful Linda King. She either was the luckiest reporter in the world or she made news occur just by being there. He had always been suspicious of how she always ‘happened’ to be at the right place at the right time. No one was that lucky. Clark sighed. Unfortunately, he wasn’t really in a position to investigate her further.
Clark leaned against the cab of his Dad’s truck and watched as the doors of the ‘super’ plane closed. How he wished he could be one of those lucky reporters. He still had never had a chance to fly in a plane. He doubted Lois had either. It wasn’t how he really wanted to fly with her, but it would be better than nothing.
He heard a crack of thunder and saw a flash of lightning as a spattering of rain started to fall. That storm seemed nasty. The ‘super’ plane was supposed to fly around Metropolis, then along the coast past Gotham City, circle around Boston and head back to Metropolis. A short three-hour tour. He felt another chill of danger creep down his spine as he hopped out of the back of the truck. He shook it off, blaming it on too much TV as an adolescent.
Clark watched from beside the truck as the ‘super’ plane taxied down the runway. It took off into the air over Metropolis as another flash of lightning lit up the evening sky near-by. The little boy inside him cheered as the plane passed overheard.
There is just something about planes I still love, he thought with a smile. Still the safest way to travel, so he heard.
He wore his new secret identity suit under his security guard uniform. Not that he was expecting someone to need his help, and he privately hoped that no one would tonight while he was locked in the store. Perry had made the pay so good that it seemed almost worth the sacrifice to his rescue duties to take that one night off. He knew he was going to have to leave Daily Books again soon, only he didn’t know how he and his folks and MJ’s Café would survive without the extra money.
He pushed these thoughts aside as he stretched. The extra layer of clothing, despite being skin tight, had made the uniform more snug. Clark would have to remember to ask Perry for one in a size larger.
The plane was circling over the downtown area of Metropolis now, giving those drooling reporters a bird’s eye glance at Luthor Towers. Clark spit out the bad taste that rose in his throat at Luthor’s name. The man was selfish, arrogant, pig-headed and most certainly up to no good. Clark didn’t trust the man. He again wished he was in a position and had the free time to investigate the man further.
There was another crack of lightning, this time over Metropolis, and very close to the plane. Too close in fact. If the plane got hit by lightning while over his city, more than the passengers’ lives would be in danger. The pilots must have realized the same thing and the plane rose higher into the air and started to head for Gotham City. Clark nodded.
Wise move.Clark got back into the truck and turned it around in the vacant lot. All the other gawkers had already left. He was the last one.
The plane turned and started to circle Metropolis again.
What were they doing? Then Clark nodded.
The powers-that-be hadn’t liked that the pilots had cut the tour short.He shook his head. Flash over safety. That was how innocent people got hurt.
The Fates must have read his mind. No sooner had the plane reached the Metropolis skyline again when a bolt of blue struck the left side of the plane, puncturing the wing and knocking one of the four engines on that side loose.
Clark stopped the truck and spun out of his security guard uniform – leaving it neatly folded in the cab of the truck – before flying into the air in less than six seconds.
He could hear the screaming passengers of the plane as it started spiraling above his city. Landing on the busy streets of Metropolis, Clark caught the falling engine with ease and set it gently on the sidewalk. Then he flew back up and took hold of the broken wing as he guided the plane back to the Metropolis International Airport. He glanced towards the passenger windows and saw Linda King staring at him, her jaw hanging open. There were several flashes of light from inside the plane and he realized that he was getting his photo taken.
Well, there was no more hiding in the shadows anymore now, Flyboy.Clark would be on the cover of the morning edition of at least the
Metropolis Star tomorrow and probably more papers than that. Hopefully nobody would recognize him. He set down the plane on the tarmac and flew into the air with a slight salute to the pilots. He disappeared into a blur of speed to go retrieve the engine before it got looted.
When he arrived back at the airport with the missing engine, he noticed the passenger door was now open and the emergency slide deployed. Linda King pushed past her fellow reporters and jumped out as he set down the engine.
“Linda King,
Metropolis Star,” she called in way of a greeting. “Who
are you?”
“A friend,” he replied, slowly lifting himself into the air.
“You owe me an interview.”
Clark raised a brow. “Do I?”
“How do I contact you?”
“I’ll be around,” he responded vaguely.
“You’re mine!” Linda screamed at him.
Clark chuckled, rising more into the air. Actually he belonged to Lois.
“
My exclusive!” he heard her yell at him as he disappeared into the sky once more.
He flew around the city then back to his Dad’s truck. It was almost time to go pick up Lois.
***
Lois didn’t know what to do about Clark. Every time she thought he was about to kiss her, he hadn’t. After her hot and heavy morning dream about him, all Lois wanted him to do was kiss her. Other than that one flaw, Clark was acting like the perfect boyfriend.
You mean ‘friend’, sighed her passionate side, who had been in a funk since that almost kiss in the pool.
He’s not officially yours until you can get him to admit he likes you, with a kiss.Lois was frustrated beyond belief. She knew that Clark liked her. He had spent his whole day off – the first he had had in a while – hanging out with her. Since then she had caught him staring at her several times at the bookstore. He had come right over late Wednesday night after she had called him about the globe having started glowing again.
Once she could have discount as a fluke. Maybe Lois had misunderstood what it had been saying. Two times was real. Tempus’s Superman could actually exist. If this globe did not belong to him, it belonged to another alien – and one alien on Earth was more than enough for her to wrap her mind around at the moment. Thank you very much. She admitted to herself that she had once again gone unhinged about the globe in Clark’s presence.
Maybe that’s why he hasn’t kissed you, Lois. You’re too hysterical.She had not been hysterical, Lois corrected herself. Okay, maybe she had cried uncontrollably once again at the thought that her life was being written by someone other than her. But she was over that now. She knew she would not cry again at the glowing globe, unless it told her something insane about Superman.
Like what?She had no idea.
What could be crazier than a man who flies?So far the information from the sphere had been more like a story and not scary at all. Actually, Lois had been a bit relieved. As far as she could tell from the globe’s pictures, this alien would look like an Earthling. Maybe this other dimensional
her wasn’t completely insane. And if what Tempus told her was true, though she was still trying to convince herself that everything he said was the rambling of a mad man, then this ‘Superman’ fellow was enough of a man to father children. Why did she keep thinking about this ‘super’ man of whom some crazy man had told her and with whom she would share true love? She had no idea.
Truthfully, Lois couldn’t think about liking anyone more than she liked Clark. She was beginning to wonder if there were something about herself that was making him pause.
You mean besides your wacky phobias?Clark had had a touch of melancholy all week as well. Lois couldn’t pinpoint what it was, but he wasn’t as talkative, as quick with his jokes or smiles, and she kept catching expressions of profound sadness on his face. It couldn’t have to do with her, could it? He couldn’t possibly be unsure of how she felt about him, could he? Hello, she had practically begged him to stay the night! They had held hands while watching the movie. She had fallen asleep in his arms. They had held hands at Centennial Park on Monday. How many times did a woman have to stand in front of a man looking up at him before he got it through his thick head, she wanted to be kissed?
Quite a few, I guess.Lois was ashamed at her behavior. She sighed. She was at the point of desperation. She did not like this feeling, so she had decided it was time to become pro-active.
She took the last stack of new magazines from her v-cart and put it on the rack, pulling the old issue.
You shouldn’t have called Martha.Yeah, probably not. Lois sighed, again.
What girl calls a boy’s mother to ask if he likes her?She had not asked Martha that, Lois defended herself.
Really? Sounded like it to me.Sure, Lois had asked Martha if Clark was okay.
Martha had been busy and had said that Clark had a lot on his mind at the moment.
Could she have been more vague?Then she had asked Martha if she had told her son about what that crazy man from the future had told Lois . Maybe that was what was bothering Clark.
Martha had laughed and had said, “Honey, you wouldn’t be calling me, if I had.”
Lois hadn’t quite been sure what Clark’s Mom had meant about that. She had been just about to ask her to explain when Martha had continued, “Lois, we’re starting to get slammed. I can’t talk now. If you get the opportunity, kiss Clark. If that doesn’t clear things up…”
“Excuse me, Martha. But did you just tell me to ‘kiss Clark’?” That couldn’t have been what his Mom said.
Martha had laughed. “
Ask Clark, Lois. Then if that doesn’t clear things up, come by the restaurant on your next day off and we’ll see if we can put Humpty Dumpty back together again.”
Oh, right. That made more sense.
I still think you were right the first time, she told you to ‘kiss Clark’. That’s what you should do.Lois wheeled her cart back to her receiving room. Kiss Clark? The answer seemed so simple. But what if she kissed him and she had been wrong and Clark didn’t like her as she liked him?
Then I guess he’d be kissing a fool, sang her inner side.
She couldn’t go on like this. Either Lois was going to have to take her and Clark’s relationship to the next level
or she should just give up on Clark and prepare herself to be wowed by this ‘Superman’ whenever he decided to make himself known.
Lois nodded. Clark it was then. At least she would know it was
her making the decisions in her life, not fate.
About an hour before the end of her shift, Lois and Jack noticed that the bookstore had almost cleared out.
“This is so strange for a Saturday night,” commented Jack, looking around at the empty store. “Saturday night is one of our most busiest nights of the week.”
“It could have something to do that huge colossal plane that was being revealed tonight. Even Clark said he was going to check it out. Or it could be the storm.”
Jack elbowed her lightly with a nudge, nudge, wink, wink. “Clark, huh?”
Lois raised a brow and had replied, “Yes, Clark.”
You want to make something of it?“I’m just joshing with you, Lois,” Jack chortled, not at all intimidated by her intimidating voice.
She liked that about Jack. He didn’t care one whit what anyone else thought about him. He liked himself and everyone else could accept him for who he was or they could just hang for all he cared.
Jack went behind the counter and straightened a display there. “I’m just saying, ‘good for him.’ Clark finally found someone he liked and went for it.”
Oooh. Talk to Jack. Maybe he knows what’s up with Clark.“We’re just friends,” Lois said, reorganizing a specials display as an excuse to stay at the counter.
Stop telling people that or one of you is going to start believing it. Although since Clark hasn’t kissed you…Jack scoffed, “Yeah. Right.”
Yea! Jack didn’t believe you!“I heard about that kiss in Receiving last week,” Jack continued. “If you’re ‘just friends’, you’re friends with benefits and I just can’t see Clark having one of those kinds of relationships. He’s not that type of guy.”
Lois had forgotten about that kiss in Receiving. Well, not
forgotten forgotten. She had forgotten that there had been witnesses. Lois smiled. Yes, Clark was a good guy. She would have to agree with that assessment. Maybe she should just give Clark more time.
Chicken! Kiss the man already! Then – at least – you would know where you stood with him.Lois stepped away from the counter as that slimeball Ralph ran in. He reminded her of Claude only not as subtle.
“Wait until you hear what just happened!” Ralph gasped.
She flipped up a hand. “I’m going to process my returns. Call me if we get any customers.” Knowing Ralph, his ‘big news’ was probably some woman’s boob falling out of her shirt.
“Gotcha, Lois,” Jack replied, leaning over the counter to hear Ralph’s ‘news’.
Lois shook her head. She had never seen more people into gossip in her life. And she was from Smallville!
Clark showed up just before eight o’clock, leaning against the door frame of her ‘jail cell.’ “Looking good,” he said with a relaxed smile.
Lois glanced back at him and returned his smile.
Kiss him! Just go up and kiss him like you’ve done it a thousand times before and you’re going to do it a thousand times more. It would be completely natural.She was at work and she didn’t want their second first kiss to be here. “It’s shaping up nicely, isn’t it? These shelves have made all the difference. I feel like I’m finally getting a handle on things.”
“I’m glad,” he had replied and he did look glad. He looked happier than he had all week. Perhaps he had finally resolved whatever issue had been bothering him. She hoped so. A more confident Clark Kent – she could get used to that.
Don’t you mean ‘live with’ that? And don’t tell me to ‘shut up’!Lois’s smiled grew with these thoughts. She had learned her lesson about telling her passionate side to shut up. Living with Clark, huh? It would be nice to have him around all the time. To wake up to that handsome face looking at her in the morning. But one thing at a time.
Oh, yeah, Baby!Clark’s brow furrowed. “What are you thinking about, Lois? You are positively glowing.”
You, handsome.“You,” Lois replied out loud.
Oh, my God! You listened to me?Lois walked up to Clark and set a hand on his chest. “You look different tonight.”
Subtle.“It’s the uniform…”
“No,” Lois corrected, still standing next to him, leaning into him. “It’s you. You must have had a good day.”
His face broke into a large grin. “The best.”
“I’m sorry I missed it. You’ll have to tell me all about it on our drive back to my apartment.”
Clark’s face faltered slightly at these words.
“Or not,” she rambled on. Her heart crumbling as she stepped away from him. “I completely understand if you can’t take me home tonight. You’ve got a long night ahead of you and…”
He took hold of her hand and with a slight tug brought her back next to him. “Why don’t you go clock out and get your things, Lois?”
Yippee! He’s still driving you home. He still likes you.Lois didn’t want to move away from him to go upstairs and get her things, but she forced her legs to move. She would much rather be away from the store with Clark anyway than be here with him. “What time do you have to be back?”
“Ten.”
“I really do appreciate this, Clark. I know this is really inconvenient and a bother…”
Clark smiled indulgently at her.
Smiled?“You are neither inconvenient nor a bother, Lois, and you know it. Now scoot.”
Lois beamed at his praise. Oh, she could quite easily fall for this more self-confident man.
Fall? Lois, you’re already splattered on the sidewalk for this man.*** End of Part 11 *** Part 12 Comments
