Thanks for all the FDK guys
. Posting schedule in the FDK thread [and while you're there checking it out - you may as well leave FDK
]
Thanks - as always - to my wonderful BRs Alisha, Beth, Nancy, and CarolynK.
Last time:
Clark
I smiled again. "Then remind me never to get on your bad side."
"Don't ever get on my bad side," she muttered. "And get out of my way. I have to get ready."
"Yes, ma'am."
"And don't 'ma'am' me, Kent," she said as she moved towards her dresser.
"Yes, ma'am," I said with a grin.
I caught the shirt she threw my way easily. She was going to be fine.
Joe, on the other hand... Him I worried about.
*~*8*~*
~~~~~
Lois
~~~~~
"Joe, wait up." I called to him as he headed out of our last class before lunch. He was avoiding me and I knew it. And he knew I knew it.
He stopped and waited for me. "What's up, Lo?"
I glared at him. "Where'd you go last night?"
He shrugged. "I lost track of you, Gorgeous."
"So you decided a redhead could take my place?"
"Who told you that?"
"Clark. He said he saw you making out with a redhead." My arms were crossed in front of me, waiting for an answer.
"I was making out with someone..." he started but I interrupted him.
"Listen, we're not exclusive. We both know that. We go out when we both need something to do and you – apparently – want someone who knows how to kiss right."
He nodded and opened his mouth but I didn't let him speak.
"That does *not* mean you get to dump me while we're on a date. You meet someone you like while we're out together, you make plans with her for another night. And you don't make the plans while we're out together and you don't do it while you're trying to count her teeth with your tongue."
"Lois, take a breath. I didn't start kissing anyone else until I saw you going upstairs with some guy. I figured you'd found someone else you wanted to be with, so what was the big deal?" He shrugged as he said it.
Tears filled my eyes and I turned and stalked off. He ran after me.
"What?"
"You have no idea, do you?" I hissed.
"What?"
"If I'm not going to sleep with you, why would I go upstairs at some frat party?"
"I don't know."
"Clark found me. Some guy was with me and he took off as soon as Clark showed up. He had to *carry* me back to the dorms. I was drugged and my *date* - who has been my boyfriend off and on for two years and my friend a hell of a lot longer than that - didn't care enough to check up on me when he saw me doing something completely out of character." I looked at him with disdain. "I know we're not soul mates or anything, Joe, and that doesn't bother me in the slightest, but I would have thought I meant a little more to you than that. Even if it is only because I'm your back up."
I turned on my heel and stalked off again.
He grabbed my arm before I got too far. "Look, I'd had a couple of beers and wasn't really thinking clearly and then Jen started kissing me. I did go look for you, I swear, but it wasn't until probably twenty minutes or so after I saw you."
"That was too late, Joe. If Clark hadn't found me when he did, who knows what would have happened to me."
"I'm sorry, Lois. Really. I am."
I sighed. "I know you are." I knew he cared about me. A lot. Even if we weren't going to have happily ever after together. I allowed him to pull me into a hug and I rested my head against his shoulder. I felt safe with Joe. I knew he'd never push me and he knew I'd never let myself be pushed.
"Listen, let me take you to the bonfire Saturday night." He kissed my head. "I promise I won't leave your side all night."
I nodded. "I have to go to the Fall Fest in Bremerton, but if we get back in time, I'd love to."
"We?" he asked.
"Yeah. Paul's making me take Clark with me."
"Should I be jealous?" I could almost see his smile.
"Nah. Didn't you see the way he and Lana were all over each other?"
"True." He kissed my forehead. "Besides, you kiss much better than Jen."
I smiled. "Well, that's good to know." As much time as Joe and I had spent practicing over the last couple of years, it was good to know that at least I'd figured something out.
~~~~~
Clark
~~~~~
I glanced at my watch again, wondering where Lois was. As low men on the totem pole, we'd managed to grab the ever exciting story of the Fall Fest in Bremerton this weekend. How exciting. And Lana was thrilled that I was going to be spending eight hours in a car with the girl who'd slept in my bed two nights earlier. That I hadn't been in it was irrelevant. I loved her, I really did, but this possessive thing was getting a bit old. Of course, I would have been the same way if she had a male roommate, I reminded myself. Especially a good-looking one and the biggest problem she had with Lois being my roommate was that Lois was a very pretty girl. We both knew it, but that didn't matter. I loved Lana.
Now it was nearly six in the morning and Lois still hadn't shown up. After going to the toga party in shorts – a lot of people had even though it was a little on the cool side for that – winter had come in with a vengeance. Today, I even had on my ski coat. I couldn’t wait for Lois to get here with the paper's car so I could take it off. I didn't need it and I hated pretending that I did.
Finally, she pulled up in the older model Ford and I was suddenly glad that the snow wasn't supposed to start until very late that night or even early the next day. It didn't look like it would make it through a dusting much less the several inches we were supposed to get. One forecast I'd heard the day before said we could get as much as a foot, but no one really believed it. Most forecasters were calling for three to four inches.
I figured I'd drive – I always did with Lana even when we took her car – but Lois made no move to exit the car after she stopped so I climbed in the passenger side.
"Ready for a day of hilarious fun?" she asked.
"Something like that," I answered as I threw my coat into the back seat. "Any good music in this thing?"
She shrugged. "Here in Metropolis it's not too bad, but in about an hour we'll get about four country stations and that's it. And the CD player doesn't work." She took a big sip out of her Styrofoam cup of coffee. She motioned to another cup. "There's one for you – grand latte, full caf, whole milk, three sugars. I know you're still on that health food kick," she said with a large dose of sarcasm.
"Life's short, Lois. Order what you want." I took a big sip.
"Life is long, Clark. You are what you eat." She looked me up and down out of the corner of her eye and muttered, "Most of us anyway."
I smiled to myself. That was one benefit of coming from a defunct planet. I could eat whatever I wanted and I didn't have to worry about it. I pointed to her cup. "Let me guess." I closed my eyes for a minute. "Short non-fat mocha, decaf, no foam, no sugar, no whipped." That was her usual.
"Nope. Large, full caf with lots of sugar at this time of morning."
The stars still twinkled down at us. Or they would if we weren't still in the city. Maybe they'd still be out when we made it away from the city light.
Lois obviously knew where we were going and she quickly maneuvered us onto I-43 North towards Bremerton.
"So are you one of those early morning drive people who talks or is just grumpy until the sun's been up for a few hours?" she asked.
"Oh, I'm a chipper morning person." I grinned at her. "Lana hates it."
"So do I," she mumbled.
"Comes from growing up on a farm, I guess. There's always lots of chores to be done before school."
"And Lana didn't grow up on a farm?"
"Lana?" I asked her, incredulous.
"Yeah, you know the blond you're always hanging all over."
I was sure there was a wicked gleam in my eye. "You mean Cruella?"
"What?!" That earned me one of the worst Lois looks I'd gotten yet.
"The other night you mentioned that you called her Cruella sometimes."
"I can't be held accountable for something I said when I may or may not have been under the influence of mind altering drugs."
"That's good because right as you were dozing off you started to invite me to... what was it?" I pretended to ponder.
"What?"
"Your actual words were, 'if you ever want to drop that towel and come up...' and then you dozed off."
She turned eight shades of red. "I don't believe you."
I held up three fingers. "Scout's honor."
~~~~~
Lois
~~~~~
Stupid boy scout. And why did it make me want to cry?
Could I really have said that to him?
Of course I did. Clark wouldn't lie about something like that.
"You are annoyingly chipper in the morning," I finally said. "Lana's right about that. And, no, I've never called her Cruella." At least not to her face, I added mentally.
"That's not what you said the other night," Clark said with that annoying smile on his face.
I turned to glare at him, knowing I was on a straight stretch of highway with no traffic. "And how do I know you weren't the one to slip me something?"
Ouch. The look on his face told me I'd gone too far.
"Sorry," I mumbled. "That wasn't fair. I know you wouldn't do that." I picked up my coffee and took a long sip. "I'm still waking up."
"Are you sure you should be driving then?"
"I'm fine for driving, but conversation before about two cups of coffee is out. You should know that by now."
He nodded.
I decided that changing the subject might be a good plan. "So, Lana didn't grow up on a farm?"
He shook his head. "No, she grew up in Smallville. Her dad's the mayor and has been as long as I can remember. I think I was about three when he was first elected. He was a teacher at the high school before that. Big house on Main Street and all that."
"And you?" I asked quietly.
"Typical farm, I guess. Lots of corn, a few cows, couple horses sometimes, chickens, barn, couple of outbuildings, big tractor, couple of trucks, Mom's art work."
"Art work?" I raised an eyebrow his direction.
He grinned. "Yeah. Mom's an aspiring artist. She has a degree in Art from UMKC."
"UMKC?"
"University of Missouri at Kansas City. She got her degree in Art, came back to Smallville, got married, put her art on hold while she worked to raise me and help on the farm, and now that I've flown the coop, she's doing some of her art again. Dad sent me some pictures. She's done some welding sculptures over the years that have done pretty well at the county fair and one that one first prize at the Corn Festival."
I felt my eyebrows shoot up. "Corn Festival? Ritual crop worship?"
He laughed. Way too chipper for this time of morning. "Something like that. It was started in the 1800s as a way to celebrate the end of the harvest. There's about 947 different kinds of corn – creamed corn, corn on the cob, just about any kind of corn you can think of. There's carnival games like the softball toss and stuff and contests like the husk off and corn-o-rama and the Corn-o-poly tournament and the Scarecrow Decorating Contest for the kids, things like that. And, of course, there's the dance one night."
"Let me guess. Two step and tush push?" I asked.
"Yep. You know how to line dance?"
"Sure do. A friend of mine last year convinced me it was a good way to meet guys."
"Was it?"
"Define guys," I said wryly. "So, crop worship. Tell me more. It's an interesting religious topic. Maybe I'll go for my religions class."
"Well, you missed it this year. It's the first year I've missed since I was born." He sounded a little bit sad. "But if you ever make it, I promise to tush push with you."
"What'll Lana think?"
He shrugged. "It's one dance. She gets pretty much all the rest of them."
"Who else gets a dance with all around good guy Clark Kent?"
"Oh, my mom for one."
"Of course." Boy Scout.
"Rachel."
"Who?"
"Sheriff's daughter. She graduated with me and Lana last year. She's going into law enforcement herself. We went to prom together because Lana was grounded."
"Why was Lana grounded?"
It was his turn to turn eight shades of red. "Um, her dad caught us making out one night."
"She got grounded for making out?"
"Not exactly. She was supposed to be home by ten – and she was – but I snuck inside and we were on the couch in the living room. I wasn't late for curfew or anything like that and they hadn't actually said that I couldn't come in or anything. Mom and Dad weren't happy about it, but technically I hadn't done anything wrong so I got lectured about controlling my hormones, but didn't get grounded. Rachel was supposed to go to prom with Pete, but he had mono and couldn’t go so we ended up going together."
"Okay, so your mom and Rachel – who else?"
"Well, Grandma Davis if she's there and her arthritis isn't acting up. Nana. Granny Kent. My aunts. Just depends on who's around."
"Doesn't sound like there's much time for Lana," I said.
"Well, the dance is like four hours long and it's not like I'm going to dance slow dances with any of them. Well, maybe my grandmas, but that's different. They can't tush push anymore. Granny Kent can if she really wants to but she doesn't always. Depends on the day."
"Well, if I ever make it to the Smallville Corn Festival, save a tush push for me." I was sure it would be a cold day in... the Sahara before I made it to the Corn Festival.
"Will do."
"Tell me more about small town life." I couldn't believe I was actually interested, but I was.
"What do you want to know?"
"What's the most unusual thing to happen in Smallville since you were born?"
He laid his head back on the head rest. "Well, last year's senior prank was the best in a long time."
"What did you do?"
"Um, *someone* put a cow on the top floor of the school."
"Someone?" I asked with a raised brow. "And why is that a big deal?"
"Well, cows won't go down stairs."
"Who knew?"
"Anyone with cows," he said with a twinkle in his eye. "That's why they have ramps into trailers and stuff."
"That's the biggest thing that's happened in Smallville in nineteen years?" I asked with a raised brow.
~~~~~
Clark
~~~~~
I took a deep breath. "There was a meteor shower the night I was found."
"What? Did the stork drop you off?"
She had no idea how close she was. "No. I'm a foundling," I said quietly.
"Oh," she said in equally quiet tones. "I didn't know."
I shrugged. "It's okay. I was found by a couple of wonderful people and I wouldn't trade my life for anything."
"That's good."
I stared out the window as we turned off I-43 and onto US-80. A few minutes later, we drove through the small town of Alberton. A few miles past that I noticed Lois staring at one particular turnoff onto a narrow strip of asphalt. The sign said 'Lane Lane'. I wondered what that was about, but I didn't ask and she didn't volunteer.
"Listen, I need another cup of coffee," she said. "We'll be in Johnsonville in a few minutes. It's a one horse town, but they do have a restaurant that makes a mean cup of coffee and decent pancakes."
I nodded. "Sounds good to me."
"It's about an hour from there to Bremerton and then we can have all kinds of Fall Fest fun." Her voice dripped with sarcasm again.
"Hey, it could be fun," I told her.
"I'm sure it could."
About an hour and fifteen minutes after we stopped for coffee and breakfast in Johnsonville, we pulled into the Fall Fest in Bremerton.
"Well, Farmboy," she said. "Let's go have some fun."
It sounded like she believed the next few hours would be anything but.
*****
TBC
