With stories I am particularly enjoying, I often spend my time between posts imagining what the next part might bring. Here, it seemed natural to me that Lois would not let the conversation end as it did. What would she do? I imagined her tracking him down at his apartment to talk with him there. I imagined him flying off to Smallville, and Lois calling to give him what-for on the phone. I imagined Lois searching for him, but not finding him - getting angrier the longer she searched. But I have to admit, I never imagined her just reaching up and grabbing his ankle to prevent him getting away in the first place. Well played, Lois.
Some of my favorite lines, phrases and passages:
The visual of Lois, tugging on his pants leg "until he accommodated her and dropped downward."
Clark stubbornly keeping the soles of his feet an inch off the ground, "unwilling to concede defeat so easily."
"A sense of urgency overtook him--because she was thinking this through right now" - and Clark knowing he that if he wants to protect what's left of his heart he needs leave before she finally accepts the truth (and lashes out at him)
Clark feeling the entire world pausing on the "threshold between his truth and her reaction"
Lois stepping up into this arms and when he doesn't move, raising her eyebrows impatiently, so that "and under the weight of her expectation, he found himself lifting up into the air"
Clarkâs heart sinking "even deeper into his chest cavity, carving out a black hole that threatened to turn everything inside him into a vacuum"
Clark's "golden fantasy" of Lois one day knowing the truth turning into "dross"
Anger flooding Clark "like outreaching waves from that ocean of emotion within him" because Lois had never looked past his facade the way he'd seen past hers.
OK, enough. I could go on and on, but you get the point. I love the way you write.
Looking forward to reading the next part...
