Green-Eyed Monster TOC Part 16Part 17Sunday – Around 6:00pmWhat the…? Clark thought.
He stared at Lois as she stormed off and slammed her apartment door.
Lois likes you too much to ever see you again? Are you going to leave after such a pronouncement?No. Clark shook his head, jogging up to her apartment door. He was just about to knock when he heard her blood-curdling scream.
“Lois!” he shouted, placing a hand on her doorknob.
She opened the door and threw herself into his arms. Not in passion. Not in anger. In fear. Her heart raced and her blood pounded through her veins.
“Oh, Clark. I’m sorry. So sorry. Please tell me you’ll forgive me,” she pleaded.
Music to your ears.But Lois wasn’t talking about the words she, just a minute before, had hurled into his face. She was in anguish. For
what was she apologizing?
Then she pulled away so fast that even
he got dizzy. “Although you’re as much to blame as I am.”
“Me?” He had no idea what she was talking about.
Her eyes went into slits and she spat out the name, “Kal.”
“Oh.” Clark’s brow furrowed. “What did he do?”
Lois rolled her eyes and pressed her lips together and with a flick of her wrist, pushed her apartment door back open.
It took Clark less than a fraction of a second to see that her apartment had been ransacked. His arms tightened around her and he pulled her to his chest. “Wait here.”
“It’s
my apartment,” she rebuked.
“Let me just make sure whoever did this is gone. Please, Lois,” he beseeched.
Lois’s wide eyes stared at him as she gripped him tighter. Finally she nodded, letting him go.
As Clark walked inside, he noticed that not only had her apartment been ransacked, it had also been robbed. Her TV, VCR, and computer were all gone. Her futon mattress turned over and sliced with a knife. Whoever had done this had been searching for something. Money? Lois didn’t have any of that. Drugs? Lois? Never! Jewelry? She wasn’t the type.
He stepped over the contents of her bookshelves on the way to the bathroom; everything had just been dumped on the floor. He glanced into the bathroom. Same destruction – no one hiding. In the kitchen – luckily Lois wasn’t a hoarder when it came to food – he did a quick x-ray scan of the cabinets, no one hiding there either. As Clark returned to the main room he glanced in the empty closet. The door was open and her clothes dumped on the floor.
“OK, Lois. No one’s here,” he called to her.
Lois hesitantly entered and took another look around before joining him by the dining table and folding him into her arms. “I’m so sorry, Clark.”
Why does she keep apologizing to you? Unless… Clark’s heart stopped.
She stepped away from him and picked up the intricately carved wooden box she had kept the globe in. Her eyes were wide and full of pain. The box was cracked from where the lock had been broken. Of course, it was empty as well.
“The globe?” Clark’s dry mouth stammered as he felt as if his very soul had been stolen along with the sphere.
This was why Lois had apologized.
Lois knew how much it meant to you. How could she know that? Unless she knew…“I should have given it to you…” She sighed and then continued, “… to give to Kal… the other night. Only…” Her voice faded as her damp eyes met his. “I didn’t know then how very close you two are.” She punched him gently on the shoulder before pulling his numb body into her embrace again. “If you had only told me, Clark, how close you are…”
Lois is comforting you? Her whole apartment has been invaded, stolen or destroyed and she cares only for you and your loss? Kent, if you ever lose this woman, it will feel worse than losing that globe.Clark cupped Lois’s jaw in his palm and gently kissed her lips, not with the passion they could hardly control outside, but with all of his love. “Lois, I…”
Lois smiled weakly at him and placed her fingers over his lips. “I know.” She took a deep breath and exhaled it. She set her forehead against his. “Kal told me.”
“You don’t want to hear me say it?” he asked.
Didn’t every woman long to hear a man tell them that they loved her?Lois’s sad eyes didn’t match the smile brushing her lips. “No, Clark. I’m not ready to hear you say it yet,” she whispered. “I’m full of experiences for today. Let’s save that for another time when I’m better able to appreciate it.”
How come as soon as she told you not to tell her you love her, can you no longer think of anything else to say?Clark finally found some words. “I don’t deserve you.”
He felt Lois nod against his cheek and then she stepped away surveying her room with another sigh. “So true, Clark. So very true.”
He felt like laughing at her words, but there was truth behind them and thinly veiled resentment. Lois didn’t believe he deserved her. Was that why she didn’t want to hear his professions of love?
To coin a phrase from Lois, ya think?Lois picked up her red telephone off the floor, put it back on her desk and then lifted up the receiver again. “I’m calling the police. We need to find whoever did this. We need to get that globe back. In the wrong hands… Hello? Metro P.D.?… Yes, I’d like to report a burglary… Yes, I’ll hold.”
Clark shivered from another chill dancing down his spine.
Yes, in the wrong hands the globe could undo all the good Superman wants to accomplish in this world. It could put his parents and Lois in danger.Who knew what other secrets the sphere might hold? Other secrets he wouldn’t want revealed.
***
Finally a policeman – Officer Henderson – showed up. He was tall and thin with graying dark hair and a wry smile.
“Where are the people to dust for fingerprints?” Lois snapped after the man had looked around and handed her a form to fill out.
“There have been lots of smash-and-grabs in this neighborhood lately.” The policeman shrugged. “If we dusted for prints at every crime scene we wouldn’t have anyone on the streets to help stop crimes in progress.”
“Except Superman,” Lois mumbled.
“I recommend you fill out that inventory sheet I gave you and keep your door locked from now on,” Henderson suggested.
“Well, how in the hell was I supposed to know that Superman was going to swoop in and take me off to Costa Rica?” Lois practically hollered at the man. She lowered her voice when she saw Clark wince. She had tried hard not to blame him.
Even though it was his fault, agreed her inner voice.
Clark was suffering enough at the loss of his precious heirloom.
Henderson coughed, incredulously, disbelief infused in his thinly disguised chuckle. “You were off with Superman?”
“I was interviewing him, if you must know,” Lois explained.
Clark covered his face in embarrassment.
The excuse sounded weak to her ears as well.
Well, it’s true… if we write up that article… oh, yeah. The computer was stolen.The officer’s eyebrow shot up as his lips pressed together to stop himself from laughing out loud as he glanced over his shoulder to Clark who only shrugged.
Thanks. Thanks a lot, Clark.Clark joined Lois and shook the policeman’s hand. “Thank you, Officer Henderson. We appreciate you coming.”
Just like men to bond over the humiliation of a woman.“You’re welcome,” responded an almost shocked Henderson. He appeared as if he rarely heard gratitude.
Like your appreciation for his assistance is bouncing off the walls there, Lois.She sighed and also reluctantly thanked the policeman. “When do you think I’ll get my stuff back?”
Henderson glanced at Clark with a ‘you’re kidding me’ expression.
“Lois has lots of respect and confidence in the Metropolis P.D,” Clark clarified. “She also recently moved here from Smallville, Kansas.”
Henderson’s eyes darted between them and then couldn’t resist the bait. “Well, Ms. Lane, you aren’t in Kansas anymore. Your stuff is gone.”
Lois gripped Clark.
The globe? No!Clark grimaced at this harsh delivery of news as well.
“Let me take some photos for my report while you fill out your form,” Henderson pulled out a single use camera from his pocket. “Oops. This one has been used. Let me go get a fresh one from my squad car.” He let himself out.
Lois leaned against Clark, guilt overwhelming her. “Oh, Clark. The globe!”
He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead. “Stop apologizing, Lois. I’m sure… Superman feels as much – or more – to blame. At least you weren’t at home alone when it happened.” He pulled her tighter against him. “You’re coming home with me tonight.”
Yippee!“Am I?” Lois asked. “No. I’ll stay here.”
“Lois, your bed… and…” Clark looked around at the damage that surrounded them. “You aren’t safe here by yourself. Come home with me. You can sleep in my bed…”
Was that an offer? Blunt much?Clark swallowed. “And I can sleep on the couch.”
Oh.Lois shook her head, pulling out of his arms. He was too good of a man. The more time she spent with him, the more her resolve turned to pudding. She could not allow herself to fall for this man.
Well, Clark has been and still is lying to you.Yes! She wished she could hug her inner voice. Thank you. Lois could not in good conscience marry… She shook her head. … Love… She winced this time…. Date? Yes. She could not date a man who kept lying to her. Lois sighed. Why did this thought bring her heart so much torment? No, she couldn’t break up with Clark tonight while he was grieving the loss of the globe. Even she wasn’t that cruel.
Clark gazed at her with a heartfelt smile.
How can you break this man’s heart, Lois? How?Lois swallowed and then realized Clark was speaking. “Huh?” she answered.
“Let me go run off and get us some dinner. You’ll be safe while Officer Henderson is here. I should be back before he leaves, but if I’m not, I want you to lock up. You still have your keys, don’t you?”
Keys?Lois glanced around but didn’t see her keys or her purse anywhere. She closed her eyes, remembering. She had come home and dropped her keys and the Superman newspapers and purse on the coffee table. She opened her eyes. No purse. No keys. And even no newspapers.
She gasped covering her mouth. “They stole my newspapers! Who would steal newspapers?”
Clark’s brow furrowed. “What newspapers, Lois?”
Lois pressed her lips together. She couldn’t tell him that she had spent some of her precious money…
Egad! No money!… to buy one of each of the newspapers which had Superman articles prominently displayed on their covers.
Yeah, Lois, he might think you have a crush on Superman or something.Lois had to tell Clark something. He was staring at her, waiting for her to answer. “The newspapers I hit you with this morning. I told you I was going to buy them,” she replied in a rush as she felt her cheeks get warm from the lie.
Distract him!“I had dumped them on the coffee table with my keys and purse.”
As Clark bent down and looked around the coffee table, she wanted to yell at him, ‘You
do have x-ray vision, don’t you?’ but she resisted. She didn’t feel up to
that argument tonight.
Then he gazed Lois in the eyes again. “You are coming home with me, Lois. I refuse to leave you here when someone has the keys to your apartment.”
“I’m
not going home with you, Clark,” she corrected. Then she held out her hands. “Anyway, I have nothing else to steal.”
Clark pulled her into his arms. “You have the most precious thing in the world. Yourself.”
Lois gulped.
Who would want to steal you?“I’ll call my landlord and have him change the locks,” she stubbornly informed him.
Clark stepped back and stared at her.
She turned away under his scrutiny.
“You once said you never felt safer than in my arms,” he whispered. “Has that changed?”
I don’t remember an offer of sleeping in your arms, Buster.Guilt stabbed her. She didn’t want to hurt Clark. But she could not let someone other than herself choose her future.
So you’re still planning on breaking up with him? Exactly how are you going to do that without hurting him?Lois had no idea how to answer that question, so she answered Clark’s inquiry instead. “No, Clark, of course not.” She smiled at him, honestly. “I’ve just had a long day. I need some time alone to think.” She couldn’t tell from his reaction if he believed her or not.
Clark sighed. “I’ll pick up a new deadbolt and doorknob when I go out. Pizza okay?”
She nodded. Clark kissed her cheek and went outside just as Henderson came back in with a new single-use camera.
As she watched him go, Lois realized that Clark was too good. Too kind. Too wonderful.
Too sexy. Too loveable. Too yummy. Too kissable. Too generous. Too helpful. Too caring… Too perfect for you.Lois sighed. Exactly. Too perfect for her to trust. Too scared to trust her. Too much of a liar for her to be involved with. She shook her head and went to see what else there could possibly be missing from her life.
A while later, Lois gave her completed form to Henderson as she led him to her front door. “If you hear anything, anything at all about my stuff…” She looked at him with wide hopeful eyes. He just shook his head.
As Officer Henderson opened the door, Lois saw Clark standing on the deck of the pool talking to an unnatural blonde in a conservative swimsuit with a towel tossed casually over her shoulder. “Did you lose something that was irreplaceable?” Henderson asked her, looking down at her form.
Lois stared as Clark laughed at something the blonde said and her tongue coasted over her front teeth. “That remains to be seen.” She walked out with Henderson and stopped next to Clark, offering the duo a friendly smile she did not feel. “Hi.”
Clark glanced over at her. “Lois! Lois, this is Mayson Drake. We went to high school together. She lives upstairs from you,” he explained, pointing above her basement apartment. “Mayson, this is…” As he paused to look at Lois, clearly trying to find a word to describe their relationship, Lois easily slipped her arm around his waist and smiled warmly at him. The movement caused him to falter even longer to place a pleased smile on his face. “My girlfriend, Lois Lane.”
There we go, big guy. Was that so hard?Lois held out her hand to shake Mayson’s. The blonde’s smile faded a brief moment then she shook Lois’s hand.
That’s right, deary, Clark’s not available.“I was just telling Clark here I recently started working at the D.A.’s office. I’m sorry to hear about your break-in.”
Lois’s eyes trailed up her building before returning to Mayson’s. “You didn’t happen to hear or see anyone suspicious about, between four and six this afternoon, did you?”
Mayson matched her eye contact, eye-to-eye. “Just a man in tights and a cape with whom you seemed quite friendly.”
Oh, no, she didn’t!Lois did not feel the friendship in the smile she gave as she replied, “Close family friend.” She gave Clark’s waist a brief squeeze.
“Very close,” she heard Mayson mumble under her breath.
Lois’s tongue went over her teeth.
You want to fight nasty, Blondie – if that is your natural hair color – I can fight nasty.“What do you do, Lois?” Mayson inquired.
“Clark and I work together at Daily Books,” Lois replied innocently.
5, 4, 3, 2, 1…Mayson’s eyes dashed from Lois over to Clark and back. Lois’s smile deepened into a natural one.
Oh, I’ve got your number now.“Clark,” Lois said turning to him. “If you were going to get that stuff, you’d better go before the stores close. Sunday night and all.”
Clark nodded. “Oh, right. Nice to see you again, Mayson. Hey, I’m going to grab a pizza. Would you like to join us?”
Lois turned and stared at him.
He didn’t just do that, did he?Clark glanced at Lois nervously, realizing his error only after the words were spoken.
Lois smiled warmly at him as if he had done nothing wrong. “Yes, Mayson, join us. It will help us get our minds off of the break-in.”
Friend, close. Enemies, closer. Got it!Clark released a held breath and went to kiss Lois’s cheek. She turned her head at the last moment and made the kiss on the mouth. Clark smiled gleefully at the change and then waved at them as he jogged off to the parking garage. Once he was out of sight, Lois started in on her reconnaissance. “So, you know Clark from way back. What was he like as a teenager?”
“Funny. Sweet. Helpful. Honest. Busy. I had the hugest crush on him,” Mayson admitted. “With Clark what you see is what you get.”
Lois licked her lips. “Yes, he is a hotty.”
“Clark works at the bookstore?” Mayson asked almost dismayed. “Doing what?”
“Security guard,” Lois replied, watching Mayson closely.
Yep, there was that nervous tic again.“Actually, that’s only one of his jobs…” Lois began.
“Jobs?” Mayson swallowed.
Lois sighed with high respect for Clark. “He also delivers boxes – packages for MDS.”
“A deliveryman?” Mayson repeated.
“And he does something for his parents’ restaurant.” Lois shrugged. “Prep cook, I think.” Made sense with his abilities.
Mayson pressed her lips together.
“Oh, and he just got a fourth job…”
And as if to announce what it was, Superman flew by overhead.
Hi, handsome!Lois smiled. “Speaking of hotties, what do you think of Metropolis’s newest citizen?”
Mayson shivered. “Oh, I can’t be around anyone in tights. Don’t even try to get me near an ice rink, a gym or a dance studio. I was in Gotham City a few years back and saw some trapeze artists – a whole family of them – fall to their deaths in front of me.” She shivered again. “Ever since then people in costumes like that, especially with capes, make me sick to my stomach.” She coughed. “If
that man plans on staying in my town on my turf, one of us will have to leave.”
Can I place my vote now?Lois raised a brow. Interesting development. “Superman is here to help. Why would you want him to leave?”
“Help? Ha!” Mayson scoffed. “Take this afternoon for example. He stopped a mugger by heating up the guy’s gun, thus burning off any fingerprint evidence. Plus, the mugger probably wouldn’t have shot his gun if ‘Superman’ hadn’t shown up. Sure, he caught all the bullets this time, but next time someone could get hurt. Just because he’s bulletproof, doesn’t mean the rest of us are. Then he flew off without leaving a statement.”
Mayson was apparently anti-Superman. Lois liked this woman less and less.
Oh, too good. Lois, 2 points. Mayson, 0.“You two seemed close though,” Mayson looked at Lois square in the eye.
“Me and Superman or me and Clark?”
“You and the Flying Man.”
“What are you implying?” Lois asked, her lips pursed.
“I heard you break up with Clark. You were quite loud,” the blonde replied.
Lois 2, Mayson 1. Damn, back in the game.Lois raised a brow.
“And I noticed that Clark didn’t know if the two of you were still together, hence his pause while introducing you. So don’t you go on pretending he isn’t up for the grabbing should I want him.”
Double damn! Lois 2, Mayson 2.Lois wasn’t going to lose Clark to this bottle blonde, so she laughed. “Oh, that!” She laughed harder as she thought of a response. “Things aren’t always as they appear. As a lawyer, you should know that. Take Clark working four jobs and still living with his folks…” Lois paused as Mayson’s eyes widened.
Lois 3, Mayson 2.“Sure, it could mean something bad, like an unhealthy attachment to his mother. Now while they’re close – so close that Clark took me to have Sunday dinner with his folks on our first date…”
Lois watched as Mayson gulped.
Lois 4, Mayson 2.“I happen to know it’s because he’s trying to pay down some big debt.” Lois hoped she was in the ballpark with this guess.
Double gulp.
Lois 5, Mayson 2.Lois’s brow furrowed as she continued, “True, I haven’t asked Clark how he got in debt, I know it isn’t school loans, because he never went to college…”
Mayson’s eyes were so wide they were almost crossed-eyed.
Lois 6, Mayson 2.“Maybe it’s credit card debt or alimony or even child support, but I happen to know Clark is a good man and if he has a debt he’ll work hard until it is repaid. Even if he has to forgo things like rent on an apartment of his own, or a car payment on his own car, or even a night out with me.”
Mayson’s thumb somehow made its way to her mouth and she started to chew on it.
Lois 7, Mayson 2.Then Lois smiled grandly, and nailed the final nails in the coffin of Mayson’s interest in Lois’s man. “I happen to know – for a fact – that someday, not today or tomorrow or maybe even next week, but someday Clark and I will marry and live happily together forever. He told me himself this very afternoon that he loves me and wishes to spend the rest of his life with me proving he deserves my love.”
All true and now for the little white lie to put you over the top.“For you see, Mayson, what you thought you overheard and what was actually meant are two very different things entirely. What Clark and I were arguing about was whether or not to announce our engagement now or later, which is why he hesitated while introducing me as his girlfriend. I told him it was much too soon to let everyone know we were engaged. So you see, things aren’t always as they appear.”
Mayson’s jaw was hanging wide open now. She snapped it closed and her eyes formed slits as her arms crossed her chest. “Engaged, huh? Where’s the ring, Lois? Was it stolen during the break-in?”
She’s still trying to score points?Lois chuckled indulgently at her. “Clark doesn’t have money to buy me an engagement ring, Mayson. Nor does he need to. Some of us don’t need a man to buy us jewelry to prove his love.”
Check mate!“But should you wish to join us for pizza when you finish your swim, feel free,” continued Lois cheerfully, knowing full well that Clark was safe from the clutches of the blonde.
“No, that’s okay. I just remembered I have an early briefing and deposition in the morning,” stammered Mayson backing away not only from Lois but from the pool as well and towards the stairwell leading to her apartment.
“Oh, well. Some other time then, Mayson. Nice to have met you,” Lois said with a shrug returning to her basement apartment.
That’ll teach her to try and steal your man!Lois closed her apartment door and leaned against it for the second time that day. She exhaled and tried to calm her racing heart.
You do realize that you just told Mayson that you and Clark are engaged, don’t you?Lois had no idea what had come over her. When she had seen Clark and Mayson laughing, something inside of Lois had just snapped and out crawled this lying, sneaky, ferocious monster. Clark was hers and until she knew what exactly she was going to do with him, hers Clark would remain. She sighed. Then an evil grin appeared on her lips. It had sure felt good to tell Mayson off, though.
Oh, yeah!Lois checked her watch. Clark hadn’t been gone quite ten minutes. He had to go to the hardware store and the pizzeria. Perhaps she would have time for a phone call before Mr. Super Ears was back in range.
Lois went over to her desk, picked up the phone book off the floor, searched until she found the number. It rang three times before a sweet voice answered, “Good evening, MJ’s Café, Martha speaking.”
*** End of Part 17 *** Part 18 Comments
