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The ABCs of Love	By : Alexandria-T-Hoang Category: Smallville > General Views: 2483 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Smallville the show and comic book as well as the recognized characters are not mine and I have made no money from these stories.

Chapter List
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Chapter J is for Jealousy

Chloe was already a sky grouch, but add to it the fact that she suffered from a horrible hang over and an equally moody Lex, the flight back home was more or less, a disaster. There was some turbulence that made her queasy and she couldn't finish her article because her computer crashed before she could save the last three carefully worded pages. Chloe was going to scream, she wanted to scream at Lex.

He'd become both distant and hovering, cold and terribly sensitive to her needs that it made her both grateful and spiteful. Chloe moped the first four hours of the flight, gritting her teeth to keep from saying hurtful things to him. The aspirin he'd given her had worked it's miniature miracle only on half of her brain, leaving the other one tight and throbbing. She'd napped and woken up with the same pain and groaned, pacing the aisle to keep herself from going stir crazy.

The last leg of the journey home, Lex was on the phone with Dieter, assuring him that Chloe was still somewhere in Berlin to stall him from flying out to America with them. Chloe listened carefully to the conversation until they spoke of margins and equity.

She was flattered that Dieter found her attractive. She'd had her share of guys interested in her but it was the guys that she found interest in that always broke her heart. Dieter was, of course, too old for her to even consider but that didn't stop him from considering her.

When Lex insisted that Chloe chew some gum as they landed, she complied and her ears just barely popped. But before she could thank him, he moved to get his things and throw his gum into the trash. Chloe wanted to stick her gum to his bald head she was so frustrated with his fluctuating moods.

Chloe didn't go back to Lex's place, she instructed the driver to take her to school and informed Lex that she'd missed enough. Chloe looked very tired and Lex was about to refuse but reconsidered. She was agitated and Lex didn't know whether or not it was because of last night or something else entirely. She didn't reveal anything about the night before, and Lex didn't know if she thought it was a dream or reality.

He was very upset and embarrassed that she'd fallen asleep when he'd whispered to her his need. It was a form of rejection and he knew that he could have taken advantage of her then, or woken her up to finish what she started, but he couldn't bring himself to do that. It was late and they had to go home the next day. Out of spite, he woke her up and packed her on the jet at the butt crack of dawn on purpose. They could have returned to Smallville anytime that day or the next but Lex just needed a little sweet revenge. And when he saw how she suffered on the flight home, he battled with himself to be kinder.

He'd let her go to school with the residual affects of alcohol in her system, reminded her to drink water, and drove off back to the mansion. He'd have someone pick her up after school in a few hours.

“Clark!” Chloe called out and regretted it. Her left brain still ached from sounds and lights. And there were a lot of sound and light in the middle of a busy hallway between class changes.

“Chloe? Hey!” The big farm boy exclaimed, pulling her into a half hug.

“Are you still sick? You don't look so great, need me to take you home?” Clark asked, taking a good look at her. He seemed peppier than usual and Chloe was very suspicious.

“I have to ask you something,” Chloe said, ignoring his questions.

“Okay...” Clark replied suspiciously. Chloe always asked hard questions.

“Will you come to my debut? I know you have a date for the Valentine's dance but this one is the day before and I just thought you could go with me to that one. No one in school will be there, I promise,” Chloe said in a rush.

“Um...” Clark replied with obvious discomfort.

“You can sleep on it, I'll send you an invitation, okay?” Chloe asked as the first bell rung to signify that everyone should be through the doors of their next class. He waved and turned away, thankful to escape the awkward situation.

Clark was making head way with Lana and the two of them were almost inseparable. He'd asked her to the dance and she'd agreed to go with him. Hoping to tell Chloe so that she'd finally back off, had proven difficult for the gentle giant. He'd hurt the blond many times before and though it was habitual, it made him guilty nonetheless. This time though, she seemed different, sick and sad. How could he say no to those eyes?

Chloe didn't stay long in any of her classes that day. Taking advantage of her hang over, she just dropped by to pick up and hand off work. Her teachers were so impressed by her effort that she knew she'd get good marks for participation even though she hadn't been there the last two days.

She spent the rest of her time in The Torch office finishing and editing her Berlin article. Then she stopped and stared at the pages. It was a confession that she'd been to Germany instead of being sick. It was an important article to her and she wanted to publish it but how the hell was she going to do that without admitting her guilt?

“Fuck,” Chloe spat out and leaned back in her chair. How was she going to come out with another article by Friday?

“What's the matter?” Chloe nearly jumped out of her seat. Lex was always so quiet without trying. It was the light footed method he used to get around his own home as a boy to avoid being caught sneaking out.

“Oh, Lex, you got me again. Oh nothing, I was just trying to figure out how to do a miracle before this Friday,” Chloe said. Then she checked the time and looked up at Lex. “Are you here to pick me up?” She asked.

“Mmhm,” Lex hummed, reading over her shoulder. It was a pet peeve of Chloe's but she bit her tongue and let him until he was satisfied.

“H A U P S T A D T,” Lex spelled out for her. “That's how you spell Haupstadt Zoo,” Lex added.

“It doesn't matter,” Chloe said. “It's not going to be published anyway,” but she made the corrections anyway.

“Because your school will know you went to Germany?” Lex inquired. Chloe nodded her confirmation and they were left with the hum of the computer to taunt her. Chloe sighed and leaned in her swivel chair.

“I'll let you interview me,” Lex offered.

“Really?” Chloe responded with disbelief. She'd hounded him before but he never relented. And here he was, offering her an interview of a life time only to help her out of a sticky situation. Lex was such a helpful friend, he'd become more and more the best friend she'd always wanted.

Chloe's face twisted with the uncomfortable haze of a memory pushing itself into her mind. Lex, her best friend? That phase seemed familiar, as if she'd had that thought already before. Lex's nudge helped her back to reality on onto her feet. She took his hand into a professional and eager shake, ridding herself of the lingering memories with a willing wide smile.

“Thank you!” She said with a giddy voice, bouncy on her soles as a powerful ecstatic jolt rippled through her body. It was the same dance that Lex found so endearing, when good things happened to her. He was happy he had the power to make it come about.

They started their interview right away. Chloe asked Lex questions in the car, writing down notes and keeping her eyes on him to catch any facial ticks. She wanted to record it but Lex didn't want to wait for her to find her hand held device. He promised to repeat anything she wanted him to repeat.

“When did you know you were going to take over your father's business?” Chloe asked. She knew it was a sensitive topic and expected Lex to either bypass it.

“Take over? Commandeer, steal, these are the things that my father taught me how to do as soon as I was able to understand. I didn't have a choice, he bred me to be his successor. I don't think he expected me to do it so soon,” Lex replied. His face was calm, his voice almost bored.

“Did you ever want to be anything else?” Chloe asked then, not a question she'd planned on asking but asked only in response to his answer.

“I wanted to be a scientist,” Lex answered after only a second's hesitation as if he were searching for the answer in himself. “A biologist,” he specified with a quirk of his lips.

They arrived at the mansion with Lex suggesting that Chloe have more time to collect all the questions she wanted to ask him and they could continue the next day. For now, they still had to practice there dance with Alessia and Mirko who happened to be waiting for them outside.

“I hope you've been practicing!” Alessia said as they group went inside and on to the dance hall. Chloe was feeling a little peckish and took a detour to the kitchen for a snack, assuring everyone that she would be right behind them.

Michael gave her a cookie and some milk and shooed her out of the kitchen where the staff were busy prepping for dinner.

Then Chloe changed into her sports bra, tee shirt and tights, and ambled down to the dance hall to rejoin her group. She bumped into an angry Mirko storming off into the opposite direction. He mumbled his apologies but didn't even look at her. Deciding it was a personal matter, Chloe continued on her way to Lex, excited about dancing with him again. He was really and excellent dancer, a lot more polished than she was.

But as she reached the door, she heard giggling that stopped her from entering. She peered into the wide crack and saw Lex kissing Alessia's elegant hand and then swooping her into his arms and the first dramatic steps of the choreographed dance. She'd seen them dance together before, and though it had more flourish now, it also made her heart ache somehow. She was becoming increasingly upset and realized that her expression probably mirrored Mirko.

When he let her fall into a dip, she trusted him to keep her steady and practically swooned, lifting her foot up high and was pulled up and spun out with what looked like wild abandon. Chloe was jealous. She was jealous of Alessia and Lex's chemistry as well as the older woman's skills. She was also upset because Alessia more suited the kinds of women Lex became romantically involved in. Chloe felt like running into her room to cry and storming into the room to demand Alessia take her dirty fingers off of her... Her what? Her sponsor? That would be humiliating.

“I just go take a breath, and then come back to dance,” came Mirko's rich deep voice. Chloe jumped. It was the second time that he'd spoken to her without having her speak to him first. So he was jealous too, and he dealt with it by storming out and coming back, able to dance without letting too much of the pain come through. How long had he loved Alessia?

Chloe assumed that they were married but they weren't even dating, they were just dance partners. Platonic dance partners that seemed to brim with romantic possibilities. It must be torture, Chloe thought as he nudged her through the door with a hand on her lower back. His hand didn't move even as Lex cast a dark look to the new pair entering the room.

“Chloe, you have to keep practicing with Mirko, he will be good for you,” Alessia stated as she pulled Lex back into her arms, correcting his posture and aligning his gaze with her own.

They both fell into the music, Chloe stumbled into the dance at first but with Mirko's steady yet unrelenting pace and posture, she fell into an easy rhythm and by the end, made only one mistake.

“Eyes, Chloe!” Alessia scolded and Chloe snapped her head back up. But other than that correction, her feet were doing a good job of moving to and fro. She was even starting to smile at her progress.

“You're doing good, Chloe,” Mirko said after a time.

“You think so?” She asked, happy for the compliment. She honestly needed the praise, she was feeling a little sorry for herself that Lex and Alessia were, literally, dancing circles around them.

“You're getting better and better every day,” Mirko admitted.

Chloe let the practice go on for a few more minutes and then decided to take the power to call it for the night. The cookie she had before hadn't been enough and she wanted her dinner with the impatience of a starved teenager.

Lex was quick to agree even though Alessia disapproved and Chloe raced everyone out of the room, pushing back her after practice bath in lieu for food. She was also hoping to have more quality time alone with Lex. But to her dismay, the other couple stayed for dinner as well and sat down with her at the table that had only seated Lex and Chloe all those nights before. Alessia even took the seat that was the most intimately close to Lex!

Chloe was less than pleased. She was down right angry at the attractive instructor. Chloe was also very confused because just that morning, she'd asked Clark to her debut. He hadn't answered but Chloe had a feeling he wouldn't say no.

****
AN: A little feedback would be much appreciated!
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The ABCs of Love