"I hate fun," Clark grumbled, staring darkly into his coffee cup.
Lois shrugged and turned a page in her book. "Well, you're a Kansian. Must be new to you."
"I don't care if I ever have fun again."
"Uh-huh." Lois sighed. "What a shame. Fun sucks. Can I read now?"
"And if she thinks she can just have fun and then..."
"Clark," Lois snapped. "I came here to eat brownies and read trashy romance novels. Not to listen to you gripe about whatever Lana drama you have right now."
"It's not about L... Yeah. Fine." Let her think it was Lana. He almost wished it was. Lana wouldn't use him for fun. She'd never treat him like a piece of meat. With Lana, it had never been about that. It had been about... What had it been about? And what was it? "Lois, let's say I have this friend..."
"Okay. I know where this is going." Lois slapped her book on the table. "Let's say you have this ex-friend who's dating your ex-woman. Yeah. Shitty move. I agree."
"No. It's not that. My friend is..."
"A bald jerkwad. Yes." She took a deep breath. "I'm changing tables."
"But..."
"Clark, I understand." She stood, picking up her book and her brownie plate. "You've been a sad little sack all month and I feel for you. Really. But it's Sunday. Day of rest. I'm resting. Bye."
He watched her walk away to a table near the front. "Women in that family are all nuts," he muttered, going back to staring into his cup. Like Chloe. She could easily talk sexy to strangers and then get sexy with him and none of it meant anything. "Stupid women."
"Hi, Clark," a breathless voice said from above him.
He looked up. "Hi, Lana." He looked back into his coffee cup. The foam had gone away. That was the thing with foam. It went away. It was just airy milk. It was flimsy, didn't mean anything, like last night hadn't meant...
"Did you want to talk to me?"
He looked up again. "Huh?"
Lana bit her lip, her eyes huge and slightly misty. "I was just coming in to get some coffee, but Lois said you... She told me you needed to talk to me."
He stared back into his cup. "No. I'm fine." He suddenly looked up again. "But let's say I have this friend..."
"Hey, you two." Chloe stopped near the table, laptop bag over her shoulder, a wide smile on her face. It was almost too wide.
"Hi, Chloe," Lana said, swallowing hard.
"Yes. Hi, Chloe," Clark said loudly, lifting his chin, trying a smile. If she could smile, he could smile.
"Just going to get some work in with my coffee fix," she said brightly. "So... you two have a good one."
His eyes followed her away to a corner booth. He saw her glance over as she opened her bag.
"Clark, about Lex," Lana's voice was saying. "I... I wanted to tell you, but... It all happened so fast. Suddenly, I was just..."
Chloe was just starting her laptop up, plugging it into the wall, flipping through a notepad as if nothing had happened. Nope. Nothing had changed. They'd only had sex twice. No biggie. Meant nothing.
"...and he was there for me. And, maybe this is not how I wanted things to be, but I needed more from you than..."
"Can you believe her?"
"Uh... What?"
He turned away and stared up at Lana, then back at Chloe. "Look at her. She's typing. How can someone type at a time like this?"
"Clark, do you think this time is easy for me? You told me you didn't love me. How was I supposed to take that? I'm..."
"Now she's looking at the menu," he sneered. "How can she eat at a time like..."
"Clark, I... I made my decision."
He looked up at Lana. "Huh?"
"I..." She took a deep breath and searched the ceiling a moment. "I had to move on. And it hurts me as much as it hurts you. But you were the one who pushed me away." She sniffled. "And this time... it stuck," she finished, her lower lip trembling. She turned on her heel and strode out of the shop.
He stared after her, dumbfounded.
Apparently, Lana had just said... something extremely important and he'd hardly noticed. He wondered if he should go after her, ask her to repeat everything she'd just said. It must have been big if she was so worked up, but... For the first time ever, he couldn't dredge up the energy to care.
He didn't even have the energy to marvel at the fact that he didn't care. What energy he had was focused in one direction. And she was sitting there tapping away at her keyboard without a care in the world. He pushed his chair back and stood, taking his coffee with him.
He made his way to the booth and slid in across from her. She didn't even glance away from her screen. "Hey. Had a good talk?" she asked.
"Great," he lied, not remembering much of said talk. "How's the article."
"Great," she chirped.
"Great, then." He placed his cup on the table and leaned back.
"Pretty much done," she said. "Internet's wonky at the dorm, though."
"So you drove all the way here? What about The Planet's computers?"
"Well, I thought I'd come down your way for the rest of the day. Of course, you seemed busy."
"Me? I'm not busy." He leaned in. "What were you planning?" If it was sex, she was in for a rude awakening. There would be no fun. Not until she admitted that it meant something. Exactly what, he didn't know. But something.
"Maybe we should go bowling. Apparently, friends bowl."
He leaned back. "So it's bowling now, is it?"
"You mentioned bowling before," she said, not looking up still. "Something wrong with bowling?"
"Nope. Bowling's such good, clean fun. Isn't it? You like fun."
She pressed a button and he heard a soft ding as the laptop shut down. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were pouting about something. Did you and Lana have a fight?"
"Lana?"
"I saw her storm off." She was still staring at the screen. He knew the laptop was off. What was her game? "Any reason why?"
So that was the game. Change the subject. Well, he wasn't playing. He shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe she wasn't having any fun."
She slammed her laptop shut and leaned in. "I'm going to level with you, Clark. If you're not over it, then I'm over you. If last night was just some rebound thing, then I'm out."
"You have a lot of nerve, getting angry at me. You're the one who said it was only for fun and meant nothing."
"I never said that," she hissed. "I said it didn't have to mean anything."
"Same thing."
She glared at him, then unplugged her laptop, shoving it into her bag. "If I'm just some tool for you to get revenge on Lana, then yes. I guess it meant nothing." She stood and slung the bag over her shoulder. "And it sure as hell wasn't fun." She started away.
"Wait a sec," he growled, moving after her. "How come you get to be the injured party?"
"I'm not injured," she threw over her shoulder. "I'm just finished."
"Oh, so you admit it" he said, stepping in front of her at the entrance. "You're finished. You were just using me for sex."
He distantly heard a crashing noise. Besides that, it was suddenly quiet. He looked around. Every eye in the place was on them, including Lois at the table right next to them, a piece of brownie falling from her gaping mouth.
Chloe stared at him in horror, her mouth working soundlessly before she pushed past him and ran outside.
He stared dumbly ahead at the gaping coffee drinkers. He couldn't even bring himself to look at Lois again. "We're... in a play. We're, uh, method actors," he mumbled before darting away.
He spotted her car on the other side of the street, but she wasn't in it. She was... He looked up and down the street, zooming in, gazing ahead. Where was she?
Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God... It was her. He heard her as if she was right next to him. It was coming from the alleyway. He approached cautiously and turned the corner. She was leaning against the wall, covering her face. Her laptop bag on the ground beside her.
"Chloe..."
She uncovered her eyes and glared at him. "You!" She crossed her arms. "I have never been so humiliated in my life!"
He strode over. "I wasn't trying to humiliate you. I was trying to make a point."
"I have a point, too. You used me."
"You used me," he said, surprised to hear her utter the same words. "What do you mean by that?"
"Let's not change the subject," she said lowly.
"You're the one who changed the subject," he insisted. "You made this about Lana."
"Wasn't it?" she demanded. "Was that why she got so mad? Did you tell her about our little misstep?"
"So it's a misstep now? You... Wait. Why would you think I told her?"
"She got mad and ran off," Chloe snapped. "Bet you couldn't wait to tell her, just rub it in. Make me into some blow-up doll of revenge so you could..."
"That's not why she got mad."
"Then why?"
"She was mad because she... I... I think... I don't know. Okay? I wasn't listening. How could I listen when you were typing so loud?"
"What?"
"You're trying to turn the tables and it won't work, Chloe. You're the user, here."
"That's ridiculous."
"Is it?" He lifted his chin. "You said..."
"I explained what I said. I was trying to do you a favor, Clark."
"And how's that?"
"I was trying not to push you into something. What we did doesn't have to mean we're shackled together. I'm not expecting you to jump into a relationship. That was what I meant."
"Then you could have said that. What you said was..."
"Irrelevant. Spilled milk. Past tense. Take your pick." She picked up her bag and stood straight. "You're acting like an overgrown child."
He had one urge to tell her he was rubber and she was glue and pull on her pigtail, if she only had one. There was another urge to throw her over his shoulder and race home, show her what a grown-up he was.
"Now about Lana..."
"Lana has nothing to do with this." He gestured between them.
"Then what were you two talking about?"
"I... I think she wanted to explain about Lex and..." He sighed. "I don't know. I wasn't listening."
She pursed her lips. "You weren't listening?"
He nodded, eyes on those lips.
"To Lana?" they asked.
He brought his eyes back up to hers. "Is your article all done?"
"Yes, but..."
"So you're free for the rest of the day." He glanced down. She was wearing a dress. He hadn't even noticed. But he noticed now. It was a definite nod to the spring weather. White with red cherries and spaghetti straps. It was flimsy, too. Her nipples were clearly visible and that was without x-ray.
"Free as a bird," she said, her voice low.
He reached for her laptop bag and slung it over one shoulder. Then he gave in to that other urge, tossing her over the other.
"You caveman," she said against his back.
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Chapter Seven
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