Where we left off in Part 5
“Are you sure, Jo?” Clark replied, his voice uncertain. “I want to make sure you get what you really want.”
Some crazy, traitorous part of Lois wanted to call out ‘then take me in your arms and hold me tight.’ However, that would be rash, and anyway it was not at all what she really wanted. Not in the least.
So instead she took his hand in hers and squeezed it just a little. “You got me what I wanted, even if I didn’t know it until I got it. Thank you, Clark. I really appreciate it.”
Part 6
Clark wanted to keep holding hands with Jo, but he didn’t want to rush into anything. Plus, she was probably not thinking of this in the same way he was, and even bringing it up would be a bad choice.
“Jo,” he said, as he pulled his hand out of hers. “Why don’t we go see if we can meet up with your co-workers at the gate? Let’s go check the arrival screens to see if the other football recruits’ planes are in. Do you know where they’re coming from?”
“Actually, they’re on the same plane. It’s coming from Chicago,” Jo replied, as she started rummaging through her purse. “That was where they both had a layover. One is coming from the LA area; the other is coming from Seattle.” She pulled a paper out of her purse at this point. “Oh, here is my list of all seven of you guys and what flights you’re coming on.”
Clark couldn’t help looking over Jo’s shoulder to see what was on the list.
“Why isn’t Juquan Oakley’s flight listed?” Clark asked. “Oh wait; he’s the potential transfer from Bakerline Community College. That’s more or less on our way back to Met U campus. Are we picking him up on our way back?”
“Well no, but only for the same reason that there is no chance of Juquan not coming to Met U,” Jo said as she leaned forwards towards Clark.
Since they were now facing each other, this new angle gave Clark quite a view. Clark made sure to keep his eyes focused on Jo’s lovely deep brown ones, since when his eyes had accidentally wandered lower he realized he could see quite a bit of her assets. He stood up taller, and also pushed up his glasses, to make sure he did not accidentally see through any of her clothing. He had never looked through a person’s clothes deliberately, and was not about to do so now. He wondered if she realized how much cleavage she was showing while leaning in like that. Was this a deliberately act on her part, or was she clueless about such things?
“What do you mean that it’s a sure think that Oakley will come to Met U?” Clark asked, in a hoarse voice. He hoped Jo did not wonder about his change in pitch. “Why bring him on tour, if there is no chance he would go anywhere else? Isn’t that a waste of limited resources? Also, why would he be a sure thing already?”
“The first part of your question is easy to answer, the second, much more difficult,” Jo said. “The reason Juquan is guaranteed to Met U is primarily because his wife, Emily Oakley, is already a Met U student, and only a year from graduation. Therefore, his only other realistic choice, since he wants to continue living with his wife, would be to go to MUT.”
“So do they even live out in Bakerline at all?” Clark asked, “Or was my assumption he would even come from Bakerline false?”
“Actually, they live on campus in the married student housing. In fact, they live in the same apartment my parents were living in when I was born. Small World, huh? Anyway, back to what I was saying, where football is concerned no one would choose MUT over Met U. Well, also playing for MUT while married to a Met U student might not be looked on favorably by some at MUT,” Jo said.
"I think MUT would take whoever they can get for their football team," Clark said, giving Jo a smile as he said it.
“Probably," Lois said, smiling back. "But they can't make his tour so appealing to his own tastes, since here at Met U Juquan will have Emily as the hostess assigned to work with him. I didn’t realize this when we had our orientation meeting, and so when Emily said something about how Juquan would return with her to her on-campus apartment after the ball we’re having Saturday night, I was shocked she would admit to such plans. I asked her about it, as we were leaving the meeting, and initially she sort of played up the outrage factor as if I were accusing her of immoral acts to lure a candidate, but then she quite rudely pointed out to me she was wearing a wedding ring and Juquan was her husband. I didn’t like Emily’s implication that I was accusing her of prostituion, which was totally unfair. She should have been more clear about her relationship with Juquan to begin with. Although I really should have noticed the ring before she pointed it out. There are fairly few married students at Met U, especially among undergraduates, so I really did not expect to find a married student among them.”
Clark was glad that, while getting into this description, Jo had stood up straight again. This had nothing to do with the fact that he could now see a little more of her wonderful legs, and everything to do with him seeing much less of her upper body in his peripheral vision. Not that he didn’t like her upper body, but the more he saw of it the harder it was to concentrate on her words. He was also glad he had worn his glasses, since he was sure the excitement of meeting Jo would have caused his control over his eyesight to falter.
“Do you think Emily really thought you were accusing her of being immoral?” Clark asked.
“In the wake of Davis-gate, I thought it was a legitimate concern,” Jo replied. “I still think she should have been more upfront about her relationship. I really felt bad about making the assumptions I did. I apologized to Emily about it, and after a bit she told me to that it was okay, and that she probably should have been more clear in what she said. It taught me that … well, it showed me that I need to not make assumptions and observe more before speaking.”
“That sounds like a good set of lessons to learn,” Clark said. “It is what my editor at the Smallville Post is always telling me to do that. In fact, this sounds like his ‘never assume the scandal’ line. I think your assumptions made sense in the context of what Emily said, and what you really knew about the situation, which was not much. Don’t feel bad about jumping to conclusions Jo.”
Clark was trying really hard to avoid his mind going where it was tempted to go with the whole discussion of Emily and Juquan Oakley. He had so far managed not to consider what the Oakleys would be doing in their on-campus apartment, or how some part of him wished he could do the same with Jo. Not that any such things would happen until after they were married of course. Not that that was likely to ever happen with Jo. He was still in high school for crying out loud, too soon to think about marriage, although part of him really did like Jo an awful lot. However thinking of marrying Jo at this stage made no sense at all. Even asking her out on a date at this point would be way too forward, and since they would have to spend much of the next almost three days together, would just make things way too awkward. Anyway, he didn’t even know her last name yet. He considered asking her it, but then decided to wait. He was not thinking clearly right now and just had to avoid doing anything at all rash. He was afraid that if he learned her last name the part of him that wanted to say “how would like to change it to Kent?” would become powerful enough to vocalize its craziness.
“Thank you, Clark,” Jo said, smiling at him again. Good thing she didn’t know about his crazy thoughts, or she would probably just be running. The smile did get his mind to go away from thoughts of what might happen in married student apartment bedrooms. Not that such things always neccesarily … No, he was not going there at all. “I really appreciate your expressions of support.” Good, Jo was drawing him back again. Focus on Jo in the here and now, not the future.
They stood there facing each other and thinking for a bit. Well, at least Clark was thinking, and Jo was probably thinking more productive thoughts, but he could not know for sure. The surging crowds of Metropolis International Airport rushed by. Clark noticed a large group of women wearing Islamic headscarves, who from his limited understanding of Farsi he gathered were on their way back to Iran. A few feet from them he saw several bearded men wearing turbans and heard them complaining about the policies being pursued by the government of Mrs. Gandhi, and how they were adversely affecting the Sikhs.
Clark thought maybe he and Jo should sit down, but they had made a little progress towards the arrival gates, and were likely to move further, so this was just a temporary stopping place, no point in sitting down here. He motioned to start towards the gate, and they started moving again.
As they shuffled off, Clark dared to turn his mind back to what he and Jo had been discussing. He hoped he had driven off the thoughts of what could happen with her in the future. A small rebellious part of him said he should seek now and forget everything he believed in, but he pushed those thought the deep recesses of his mind where they needed to stay for years. Thoughts of doing those things with Jo after marriage, the thoughts of doing those things with Jo before marriage he strenuously tried to drive out of his mind entirely. Maybe he could follow Juquan’s example and get married before graduating from college, but it was far too soon to contemplate anything like that, in any sense. So he ran over the details of Juquan’s story in his mind.
“It’s still not adding up,” Clark said. He hoped to be out of college by the time he was Juquan’s age, and did not see how even a two year delay would leave the man with over two years to go. Since he would not transfer until next fall, he would probably be at Met U for two years from then.
“What?” Jo inquired, evidently a bit surprised by his statement. She halted and so did he.
“Even with two years off for a mission,” Clark responded, “Juquan’s age is not adding up. Why is Juquan twenty-three and still at a community college?”
“The simple answer to that is that like most community college students he has spent much of his time working and only taking classes part-time,” Jo replied. “He only joined their football team two years ago, well, actually just over a year ago. This fall was his second season with them. He is somewhat of a late bloomer in football, but is pretty good at it. Not as good as you though.” A big smile accompanied the last statement.
“That makes sense. Still, Jo, you’ve only answered one of my two questions,” Clark said, hoping to get to more a solid conversation again. “Let’s go sit down in those chairs over there before we talk more.” He could see that Jo was leaning forward a little again, and decided that sitting down was a better plan. Anyway, the rushing crowds did occasionally bump into them, causing then to bump into each other. This had just occurred, and though at some level Clark did like being pushed against Jo, he thought he would thing better if they had more stable distance between them.
They went and sat down, angling a little into each other. Clark added a little explanation to his last comment. “You didn’t answer why Met U is bringing Oakley to the recruiting event if people are so sure he will come to Met U.”
“Technically I don’t know the actual answer,” Jo said. “Athletic recruiting doesn’t explain to entry-level employees in campus hosting why they do what they do. In fact, they don’t explain much of anything. Professor Manheim had to act outside regular hosting and recruiting channels to prep me for this assignment in the way he thought I should be.”
“Wait, why is Professor Manheim involved with this at all?” Clark asked. He thought his tour had been arranged by athletic recruiting, and campus hosting, no one mentioned any involvement of the Journalism Department. He actually was glad to hear this, but still was a bit confused.
“Well, officially Professor Manheim is not involved much.” Jo said, “However, he really appreciates your work, so he took it upon himself to contact me outside of official channels.”
“That’s good to hear, at least how he appreciates my work. Even if it is shocking.” Clark said. “Although, right now, I want to know if you appreciate my work Jo. Although, I am probably nuts to think you have read any of it.”
“Probably,” said Jo, but with a smile. “I had never even heard of Smallville, let alone the Smallville Post until I was assigned to be your hostess; although, I had heard some mention of Clark Kent as one of the best quarterbacks in high school, but only a very small amount. I have to admit I am not the biggest football fan alive.”
“I would never have guessed that, I guess I just assumed people in your position would all be major fans of football,” Clark said. “However, I just play football because it opens doors. I don’t love it nearly as much as journalism.”
“Interesting,” was what Jo said. However, Clark had seen her get a big smile at the last line. Then her face clouded with what looked like skepticism. “Or are you just saying that, because you think I’m a journalism major.”
“Actually, It’s true, I love journalism, everything about it. Researching stories, writing them, even editing copy. Professor Manheim is one of my heroes. Well, also Mr. Harris, my editor back in Smallville, he is another hero. A third person I really admire in journalism is Lois Lane, but I am not sure I would yet call her one of my heroes. She gives me hope of being able to make an impact sooner than others do though.”
Jo gave him a strained expression when he mentioned Lois Lane. Maybe she was a bit fearful he might have romantic feelings towards Lois. That would be crazy, since it would require Jo to have romantic feelings towards him. He had to think more clearly about this. Give here a clear response that did not avoid the truth, but did not say too much.
“My feelings towards Lois are entirely professional, not at all personal.” Clark added. He hoped this avoided Jo getting the wrong idea without showing how he felt towards her too much.
“What about your feelings towards Manheim and Harris?” Jo said, in a joking voice.
“Well, if I didn’t already have a father, I would accept Harris as mine,” Clark said. “I think of his daughter Rachel as the little sister I don’t have. On the issue of Manheim, I guess I have a question. Will we get to meet Professor Manheim?” He had not wanted his excitement to show in his voice, but as soon as he spoke, he realized that it had.
“Do you want me to answer that, or your question about Oakley?” Jo asked, a teasing glint in her eye. She had taken off her jacket while Clark was fumbling through his mention of Lois Lane.
Clark also noticed he was getting warmer, but it wasn’t the result of the temperature in the room because that had little to no effect on him. Clark also took off his jacket. He refrained from rolling up his sleeves to show off his muscles to Jo, bit part of him really wanted to. He noticed that her left arm was pressed against his. With her arm now bare from her earlier removal of her suit jacket he could feel her arm a lot, and he was enjoying the sensations it was giving him. He hoped he could keep focused on the topic at hand. He noticed that Jo had set her jacket on the bench beside her, where it was likely to get dirty.
“First, why don’t I put your jacket over here on top of my things, so it doesn’t get dirty. My luggage is a lot cleaner than the benches here,” he said, motioning towards his bags he had set on the other side from her, “I don’t want you to get too warm, and even with it beside you, it will probably still increase your heat.” Jo was the hottest woman he had ever seen, so he just knew he would blush if he said that word. Although he probably was blushing anyway.
Jo picked up her jacket and handed it to him. In the process of receiving it, their hands touched. He lingered on the touching for longer than was needed. He was surely blushing by now.
“So which question do you want me to answer?” Jo asked, as she probably unconsciously rubbed her other hand, the one that had not just been holding her jacket, along his arm.
“Whichever you want, Jo. I don’t want to be a bother,” Clark said. He wondered if he should scoot over to give Jo more space, but didn’t want to send her the message he wanted to get away from her either.
“You aren’t a bother,” Jo said, as she smiled at him.
Clark gave up and figured he couldn’t resisting liking Jo with that smile. He was probably going to have his heart shattered eventually, but he would enjoy the dream while it lasted. Well, maybe there were some female college students who would be willing to start a relationship with a high school senior, but he had never known of any. “Then, answer whichever questions you feel like,” he said. “However you feel. Are you sure you wouldn’t like something to eat from the snack bar? They have some good looking chocolate covered raisins.”
“I guess that would be okay,” Jo said, in a tone that told Clark she really wanted them a lot, no matter what she said. “I’ll come with you, so I can answer your questions as you get the snack.”
As they stood up to head over to the snack bar, Jo hooked her elbow around Clark’s arm. “To answer your questions in reverse order,” Jo continued as they began to walk. “We have an appointment to see Professor Manheim at eight tomorrow morning. We’ll have breakfast at 7:15, so don’t worry about missing a meal. I know getting enough food is important to football players.”
“Just because I play football does not mean I obsess about food,” Clark replied.
“Oh, It seemed like almost half your questions were about food,” Jo replied, but with a glint in her eyes that told Clark she was not too serious.
“My concern is to make sure you are well taken care of,” Clark said. Then he realized he should make this less personal. “I want to have a guide who can focus her whole mind on giving the tour, and not worry about her stomach.”
“You are the nicest athlete I have given a tour to, yet,” Jo said. Then she broke out laughing. “Actually, you are my first one.” Clark was relieved by this. At least she had not been arm and arm with another prospective recruit.
“So,” he gave her a big smile to let her know he didn’t mind being the first. “I am also the most difficult one you have ever hosted.”
“No, you’re not difficult. Just don’t expect me to get everything right,” Jo said. She squeezed his elbow with her arm, evidently to try to reassure him even more of what she was saying. “You have been nothing but kind and cooperative so far, I have nothing to complain about.”
Clark decided to get back to their earlier discussion of their upcoming itinerary. “Are you coming to the meeting with Manheim as well? Don’t you have any classes on Friday that you need to go to, or will you be giving me a tour the whole day?”
Nothing could be better than having an all-day tour of Met U with Jo he decided. Especially if the all-day meant all… no his mind was not going to go there. Back to the subject of the tour, he had to admit that he did not yet know how much Jo knew of the campus, so maybe it would not be good. How would he know? She must know a lot about this campus to have gotten the job in the first place, unless they just hired the hostesses for their looks. Jo had the looks to have been hired just for them, but she seemed smart as well. Another part of his mind was telling him it was not the information gained that would be the most enjoyable part of the tour with Jo. He was trying to block that part out of his mind.
By this time, they had come to the line for the snack counter. Clark was surprised that Jo didn’t withdraw her arm from around his elbow, since the need not to be torn apart by the large crowds at Metropolis International no longer existed. He decided not to point this out to Jo, because he enjoyed her arm around his far too much to do anything to end this contact prematurely.
“Well, I have been excused from my classes for tomorrow,” Jo said, bringing his mind back to his last question. “And I will take you around to the various buildings in the Mary Hatch Bailey School, which is where Professor Manheim hopes you will spend a good portion of your time when you come to Met U.”
“How about your hopes, Jo?” Clark asked, “Where do you want me to spend most of my time.”
“In my…” Jo began, but then paused as a blush went over her checks. “In my school uniform, or course.” Clark suspected that was not what she initially meant to say, otherwise why start over. Although he had no clue what she might have been initially going to say. “However, I’m just a hostess, don’t worry what I think.”
“But I do care what you think,” Clark put in. Maybe he should not show how much he felt for Jo. He would stop pressing with that comment he decided.
“Well, that is not the point right now,” Jo said. “The point is that Professor Manheim is the one who really knows journalism. He is the one who took special note of your recent most article in the Smallville Post. He seems to have read just about everything you have written there. Manheim is a major supporter of the Smallville Post, mainly because he was so impressed with the work that got them a Pulitzer back in the 1960s. I on the other hand, as I mentioned before, had not even heard of Smallville, let alone that paper, until less than a week ago, so don’t expect me to be giving you grand guidance yet.”
“So I can expect grand guidance when you have had time to form a clearer opinion on the matter,” Clark said, with a smile, hoping to move away from being too serious. If their talk got too serious Jo might decide to take her arm away from being wrapped around his.
“Maybe I will at some point. It will still only matter if you care about what I think,” Jo said.
“I care about what you think though,” Clark said.
“That’s sweet to say, Clark,” Jo said, patting him on the right arm, with her right hand, the hand she was not using to hold his left arm already. “However what matters is the thoughts of the people who control the program, like Professor Manheim. He thinks you have great potential. Getting back to the itinerary for tomorrow, after visiting Manheim we will also visit the library, and at least touch on a bunch of other buildings, such as the buildings used for a lot of general education classes and some of the various Med School buildings, on our way over to the football stadium. We’ll visit the General Education buildings because you will attend classes there. The Med School ones because the way to the football field is to cut through the Med School. Why this is, I am not sure. It may be so that injured players know they can get good treatment quickly. Whatever the reason, I might as well explain the buildings we actually pass, because tours without explanation are boring.”
Clark could think of interesting things to do with Jo on tour that did not involve her talking, yet still involved her mouth, but he was trying to drive thoughts of them out of his mind. On the other hand, the mention of Med School buildings made him wonder if they would have a chance to learn anything about the Samuel Lane Sports Medicine Building. He was still interested in discovering more about Lois Lane, and he figured that might be a place to start. There might be a place that at least listed, or made mention of, the names of Dr. Lane’s two daughters. Actually, Jo might know the answer already, depending on how much she knew about the people for whom the Met U buildings were named. Now, how should he go about figuring out how much she did know?
