Chapter Seven:

"Tell me I'm overreacting."

"What?"

It had taken all of her courage to steer away from her aimless path, come here and then, finally, knock on the door.

Her tears welled up.  "Tell me, Clark, that I'm overreacting.  Because you and Pete are usually the ones I turn to. I turn to you guys all the time for everything, even my Torch ideas, damnit, and right now I really can't because I've somehow screwed things up with both of you and I can't take this anymore."

"Calm down, Chloe.  You're overreacting."

She breathed in deeply.  "Thank you."

"Do you want-"

"No.  Don't invite me in because I'm still not okay with what I saw or said or did yesterday and your house is too damn user-friendly for me."

He cleared his throat.  "I was just going to ask if you wanted a sip."  He hesitantly held up his can of Pepsi.  "That's all."

His face was still too innocent and she could tell he was lying.  She laughed and nodded.  "Thanks," she said taking a sip and then handed it back to him.

He was still leaning awkwardly against the doorframe, screendoor resting against his elbow.  "Well, since you hate the indoor option, care for a porch seat?  Or is that too Kent-ish for you?"

She looked away and just started towards the porch.  She sat and looked at him expectantly.  Clark, relieved, trotted over to sit beside her.  The seat was large enough for the both of them to sit on with space in between, but he chose to sit closer.  Their thighs pressed together, warm through their denim, and she wondered if she would ever be able to stand Clark's touch without thinking about how she couldn't have him.

They sat there breathing for a minute.

"Did you want to-"

"I'm sorry about the way I snapped at you yesterday, Clark.  And for telling you all that.  You didn't deserve to be subjected to my self-pity."

He looked like, for the life of him, all he wanted to do was put his arms around her and protect her from the evils of the world.  But he knew he couldn't.  Because this time the 'evil' was him.

"You did no such thing, Chloe.  Best friends are there for each other, no matter what."

She nodded.  "Thanks," she said and slumped into him.  Her way of telling him that it was okay.

He released a breath she hadn't realized he's been holding and tugged his arm from underneath her.  He wrapped it around her, pulling her close.  They just sat there looking at the stars.

"They remind me of you," she said.  "The stars.  I don’t know why, so don't ask.  They just do."

He nodded and another minute of silence passed before he spoke up.

"You're wearing the Chloe walking clothes."

"Yes, I am."  More silence.  "Am I interrupting anything?"

"Nope," he said.  "Just Geometry."

She laughed which was, she supposed, what he had intended.

She saw him look down at her with the corner of his eye and shivered.  He misread her reaction and pulled her closer, thinking her cold.  "I saw you brought Crunch, Munch and Watch material yesterday."

She breathed in deeply.  So he was licking the candy-coated Tootsie-Pop trying to get to the chewy center.

He deserves to talk about this.  After all it's not only about you and him.  It's about him and Lex.  And maybe he needs someone to talk to about it.  He couldn't really go anywhere before.  His father hates Lex, his mother's, well, his mother.  His best friends are 'The Horniest-Straight Guy in Town' and 'The Weird Torch Editor-Girl Who's Desperately in Love with Him'.

No wonder she felt like he was hiding something from her.  He was.  Something he probably didn't know how to handle.

She'd been quiet for a little bit too long.  "Yeah."

"Thanks," he said softly.

"It's like what you said, Clark."  She pushed on his chest.  He moved his arm and she sat up, crossing her legs on the seat and looking at him.  "Best friends are there for each other, no matter what."  She searched his eyes.  "I mean it."

She saw something there, in those dark green eyes of his that, at first, she couldn't comprehend.  Then it found her heart.

There was tremendous relief, love and happiness there and she'd had to do with it.  The fact that there was no disgust or condescension for his sexual preference, no 'I'll never forgive you for breaking my heart on the floor of your barn', and no selfish little 'I can be there for you when you need to talk about anything but Lex because it would hurt me too much'…

It all brought that happiness to his eyes.

He now had someone he loved and cared about with whom he could discuss his secret tryst.  And that was her.  She was, for once, helping Clark.

And that made everything better.

"You know that I didn't invite Lex over yesterday, right?"

She broke out of her brain-sloth.  "What do you mean?"

"I was talking to Lex yesterday and realized that it might have, well," he blushed.  "Looked like he was more important.  Like I would rather be around him than you."

He knew her so well and cared so much.

"I know he surprised you."

He frowned.  "How long were you there?"

She winced.  "Will you get mad?"

He shook his head.  Clark rarely ever got mad.

At least as long as his friends tell him the truth.  Shit.  He'd never lie to me.

She knew what file was being deleted off of her Torch headquarters computer the moment she got the chance.

Damn me and my blindness to thin lines and crossing them.

"How long was I there?"  Her wince was still in place.  "Do you really want to know?"

He smiled.  "Maybe not."

"Kay.  I can live with that."

They sat there, looking to the sky.  "So, I can talk to you about anything," he asked, glancing at her again from the corner of his eye.

"Yes," she said simply and knew that would be the end of that.  "And I you."

Statement, yet it had an answer requirement and Clark met it.

"Yup."

"So…"

"So…" he mimicked.  "What to go watch 'Killer Klowns from Outer Space'?"

She grinned.  "Do I ever!"  Later, they could talk about what to do about Pete.

Clark can fix it.  He can fix anything.

He helped her up.  "I saw you brought Pesto instead of humus.  I thought you hated that stuff."

She made a face.  "I do, but it was your CMW day, not mine."

"You made it?" he asked as he held open the screendoor for her.

SHe was almost insulted.  "Of course!  When have I not?"

He smiled.  "All is right with the world."

With Clark-smiles, Chloe-smiles and Killer Klowns?

"I'd say."
 

FIN