The Making of a Monster

Chapter Four

Chapter Four

Clark was waiting on her front porch when she got home that evening and he saw her demeanour become defensive as soon as she spotted him.

"What do you want?" she asked, her arms crossed defensively across her chest.

"To apologise."

"Is't that what the flowers were for?"

"No. The flowers were to wear your defences down enough so that you wouldn't storm out when I tried to do it in person."

"Well I'm sorry to say that your plan didn't work." She strode towards her front door but found Clark blocking her path. "Get out of my way," she sounded serious.

"You don't mean that," he said smugly, reaching out to brush her bangs off her face. "You still want to believe that, deep down, I'm a good person and right now you really want to hear what I have to say for myself. You're just scared that you might believe me."

"Why would that scare me?" she asked.

"Because you like me, and that frightens you. Being mad at me is easy but admitting the truth means you risk getting hurt."

"In your dreams," she scoffed.

"So what did you do with the flowers?" he asked.

"Pete and I dropped them off at the hospital."

"You didn't keep them?"

"No."

"None of them?"

"No," she stuck her chin out proudly.

Clark's smile widened and he got a wicked glint in his eyes.

"Then open your purse."

Chloe frowned. "What? No! I'm not going to show you anything."

She pushed past him and this time he let her. He didn't bother to turn around when he spoke.

"I know you kept a rose, and I know it's in your bag." He started down the steps. "Give me a call if you decide you want to hear that apology."

III

Chloe sat on her front porch talking on the phone. She still hadn't called Clark, though she had been sorely tempted to. Finally she had decided to bring in the big guns for help.

"So what do you think, Lana?"

"I think that I can't believe you're friends with Clark Luthor!" Lana told her friend.

"I know," Chloe agreed.

"Why didn't you tell me about this sooner?"

"The truth is... I still don't know what to make of it. Of him."

"In what way?"

"Well... Mostly he's the Clark that we all know and hate, he's chasing girls and picking fights and generally being an ass."

"But?" Lana knew Chloe well enough to know that her friend wasn't attracted to jerks.

"Well... sometimes he's really sweet and thoughtful. When we're together, we get on so well, there's never a lull in conversation and he's the only person besides you who can pull me out of one of my funks. When he joins me for a coffee in the Beanery, he doesn't even look at any others girls. Plus, he saved my life when I was infected with that parasite. And two weeks ago he helped me track down some meteor powered psycho's who robbed a LuthorCorp van. I think he might have saved my life again."

"You think?"

"I kinda got knocked out," she explained. "But that's another thing, he's sometimes really secretive."