“Hey!” Lois called out, irritated in spite of herself.
Clark Kent ignored her, hurrying across the expanse of pavement outside the school toward the row of bicycles locked into racks.
She wasn’t sure why she was angry. Kent was only doing what she would have asked him to do, if he’d only given her the choice. If she was smart, she wouldn’t ask any questions. She’d write up her story, submit it to the Daily Planet, and she’d have her internship after she returned from Ireland in the spring.
Racing after him, Lois was surprised at how quickly he’d unlocked his bike. By the time she reached him, he was already on it and was speeding away.
He didn’t look at her once.
Lois stood, staring after him. He’d seen her; she was sure of it, but he’d acted like she wasn’t there.
While she’d been the one who’d run out this morning, she’d at least had the excuse of trying not to look at him being naked.
It irritated her. Many people didn’t like Lois Lane, but nobody ignored her, at least no one outside her own family.
She stared after him, a speculative look on her face for a moment before frowning pensively.
It couldn’t be helped; she didn’t know Clark Kent and she didn’t want to know him. She’d have to hope that he kept silent, at least long enough for her to get her story submitted.
In the meantime, she had to retrieve the camera from its hiding place in the girls’ room. She wouldn’t be able to relax until she was at home and had a chance to get the pictures developed.
As she headed back into the school, Lois couldn’t help but wonder about Kent. He wasn’t acting like most of the boys she knew.
Most of them would have been bragging. They’d have exaggerated the encounter until people in school were saying that she’d been in the locker room naked waiting for the entire team to get back from practice.
She wished she could be grateful, but she couldn’t until she knew why.
**************
Getting film developed through CostMart was always a chore. Lois always felt like the pimply teenager behind the counter was ogling her photos looking for bikini pictures or anything racy. Today he’d been replaced by an older man, a manager and she felt more confident that she’d get quick service.
She’d have gone somewhere else, but she couldn’t exactly trust the guys in the photography club at school, or the staff of the school newspaper. At least with CostMart she could get next day service, which was more than could be said of the place down the street with the staff that always smelled like marijuana.
She slammed the door to her Volkswagen Rabbit. It was fifteen years old and as a diesel it left a cloud of black smoke behind her wherever she went, but her father had been deeply offended by the energy crisis. He’d had gotten her the one car that got fifty miles to the gallon even if it had a lawnmower engine.
A lot of her friends didn’t even have cars, but her father insisted that she be independent. Independent was code for not needing him to drive her anywhere, because he was busy in his work as a sports physician.
Of course, many of the times he’d claimed to be out working he’d returned with lipstick on his collar. That was the one thing that hadn’t changed since her parents had been together.
As a car flashed by, Lois bit back a curse. If she ever got a place of her own, the one thing she’d want was her own parking spot, instead of having to park out on the street. Her father had his own spot in the back, but there wasn’t room for Lois to park.
In a lot of ways, it felt like it represented her whole life. Sam had bought this place as a bachelor, and Lois had shoehorned her way in almost as an afterthought.
She climbed the wide, gray steps leading for her front door, even as she fumbled for her keys.
The sounds of the telephone ringing from inside made her curse; she struggled with the lock, which was sometimes stiff and a moment later she was inside.
She raced for the telephone against the wall.
“Lane residence,” she said as she dropped her purse onto the end table and her backpack on the floor.
“Lois?”
The sound of her mother’s voice made Lois freeze. Leaving her sister had been the hardest thing she’d ever done, but as long as she stayed she’d just been enabling Ellen. She’d hoped that the responsibility of raising a ten year old girl alone would have helped sober Ellen Lane up, but she wasn’t sure how it was going yet.
“Hello Mom,” Lois said. It was hard to keep the note of resignation out of her voice, knowing what was coming.
For the next thirty minutes Ellen was going to try to use guilt to bring her back home. The thirty minutes after that would be spent listing all the reasons Sam Lane was a terrible father and an even worse husband. Even though some of the things her mother would say Lois agreed with, it would just be rehashing the same arguments they’d had a thousand times before.
It was the last thirty minutes Lois always hated the worst, when Ellen got weepy and emotional and started promising to change.
Part of Lois always hoped; no matter how hard she tried to harden her heart she loved her mother. Yet every call always ended the same way, with a heated argument.
Lois glanced outside the window at the fading light and sighed. With all her schoolwork, she wouldn’t have time to work on her article, not if she had to listen to her mother.
It’d be easier if she didn’t still care for the woman. Sighing, she sank into the dark brown leather couch by the telephone. From long experience she knew that she’d better get comfortable.
**************
“This is a better school district,” Lois said tiredly. “Besides, all my friends are here. You and Lucy moved out of the district.”
She winced into the telephone and said, “It doesn’t matter whose fault it was that you had to move to a cheaper place. The schools in Midvale really aren’t as good.”
It worried her that Lucy was stuck where she was. Her mother’s alcoholism was as much at fault for her current economic situation as was Sam lane’s stinginess, but Lois knew better than to bring that up. The last time she had, her mother hadn’t spoken to her in two days.
Listening to the receiver in her hear, she closed her eyes. “You don’t have to cry. I still love you; I just can’t live with you right now.”
The sound of the doorbell was like a sudden reprieve.
“There’s somebody at the door,” Lois said. It was disheartening how relieved she felt. “I’ve got to go.”
The doorbell rang again.
“No, really. I’ve got homework anyway. Maybe you should talk to Lucy.”
Lois felt guilty for throwing her sister under the bus, but it couldn’t be helped. “I’ll talk to you in a couple of days. I’ve got a project I have to work on tomorrow.”
The bell rang again, this time more insistently as someone held the button down.
Hanging up the telephone, Lois raced to the door. She hadn’t locked it, and she winced as she thought about what her father would have said.
Opening the door, she stared. Standing outside was Clark Kent, holding a package.
*************
“Look, you’re on the list,” he said. “If you’ll just sign here, I’ll give you Sam Lane’s package and you can go.”
“I’m not signing until you come inside and talk to me,” Lois said.
Her father used bicycle couriers on a regular basis and she was accustomed to signing for his packages. They were able to get through traffic jams even when the city was at its most congested. Kent was younger than the usual couriers she dealt with, most of who were in their early twenties.
The fact that he was trusted with valuable documents made her think a little better of him. It wasn’t easy getting a job in Metropolis as a teenager that didn’t involve fast food.
“There’s nothing to talk about,” he said. He held the clipboard out.
“I say there is,” she said.
He stared at her for a moment than said, “I’ll list this package as refused.”
“You won’t get your commission,” Lois said. “And I’ll tell the company you didn’t show up with the package.”
Losing a good job was nothing to sneeze at, although Lois felt a little guilty about the threat.
His expression hardened. He looked back toward the street, where his bicycle was locked onto the ornate iron fence. Stepping inside, he didn’t look around. He simply looked at her for a long moment.
In a flat tone, Clark asked “What do you want?”
“You haven’t told anyone about…” Lois began.
“There’s nothing to tell,” he said, impatiently. He extended the clipboard in her direction.
Lois stared at him for a moment. She believed him when he said he hadn’t told anyone, but she still didn’t know why.
“You don’t want to know why I was there?” she asked, knowing even as she spoke that she was making a mistake. Yet somehow it was like a sore tooth that she had to keep poking and prodding.
“I really don’t,” he said.
Lois stared at him, irritated by the low undertone of hostility in his voice. “What’s your problem with me?”
“I don’t…” he began, but she cut him off.
“Don’t say you don’t have a problem,” she said. “I can hear it in your voice.”
He was silent for a long moment. “You really don’t want to know.”
“Try me,” Lois said.
“You threaten my job, you try to push me around, you yank my towel off and then I’m the one who has a problem?”
Lois stared at him. “You dropped me on my butt.”
“You wanted me to drop the towel instead?” he asked. “Next thing you know you’d be complaining to your boyfriend, and then I’d be forced to…”
“Forced to what?”
He shook his head. “You’re obviously trouble. Whatever kind of prank you were pulling, I want no part of it.”
“Right….a prank,” she said slowly. Lois felt a sudden surge of relief.
Of course he’d thought she was involved in a prank! Who in their right mind would think that she was doing what she’d been doing. In his mind she’d obviously been involved in some kind of juvenile hijinks. She’d had nothing to worry about this whole time.
Obviously Kent was the kind that wanted to keep his head down. He was obviously a hard worker, if he worked for the courier company her father used.
Maybe she’d misjudged him. Now that he wasn’t a threat, Lois could see him as looking almost cute, although his hair and his oversized clothes would need a lot of work to be presentable. What she’d seen in the morning had shown that he had nothing to be ashamed of physically.
She smiled broadly at him, and he stared at her, looking thunderstruck. There was a sudden look of awareness in his eyes once she smiled where she’d only seen irritation before.
“I’m sorry to have bothered you,” she said. She grabbed the clipboard and quickly scrawled her name.
He took the clipboard and handed her the package, still looking confused. Maybe it was her sudden change in mood, or maybe it was something else.
He stepped out the door, brushing by her and Lois couldn’t help herself. Impulsively, she murmured, “By the way, I don’t have a boyfriend.”
She smirked as he stumbled a little. He turned but she closed the door before he could say anything. She felt relieved and a little vindicated.
Nobody ignored Lois Lane, not even Clark Kent.
Now nothing could stop her. The Daily Planet internship was as good as hers.
