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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.

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Chapter C is for Cotillion

Chloe didn't go over to Lex's mansion that night. She didn't want to wait for him all by herself in his study, being waited on by people of whom she did not know the names of. Instead, she spent her time thinking about an article she was suppose to have finished yesterday.

Her house was quite and cozy, it smelled like laundry and coffee, and she knew where the remote for the television was. She also had a fridge full of food she liked and a bedroom with all of her favorite posters on the walls. This was her room and she felt like Chloe Sullivan in it.

When her phone rang at nine thirty that night, Chloe knew it would be Lex. His voice, without the context of his body, was strangely tantalizing. When Chloe realized she wasn't really listening to his words, she apologized and lied.

“I was just finishing up my homework. Can you repeat that?” Chloe asked.

“Your ball will be the day before Valentine's day,” Lex repeated, not at all annoyed. He did seem tired however.

“Um, isn't that only three weeks away?” Chloe asked. She looked at her digital clock then as if it would reveal to her the seconds she had before her big debut.

“I've gotten married in less time, Chloe,” Lex said as if that were a good example of how efficient Lex was with his time management.

“I'll look up some things I need to know right now,” Chloe said as she reached for her laptop, always within reach when she was at home. She meant to look it up earlier but with homework, the article and television, she was thoroughly distracted.

“No, you should get some sleep. I'll give you a hard copy of your schedule tomorrow and I'll email it to you later tonight,” Lex said. He should go to bed too and Chloe said so only to hear a soft sexy chuckle. It made her squirm in her bed but she settled when Lex cleared his throat.

“Okay, good night, Lex” Chloe said finally.

“Good night,” Lex echoed before he shut the phone off. Chloe was glad he didn't linger like she did. She always found it hard to say goodbye and walk away. Maybe that was why she was always left behind.

In the morning, Chloe woke up earlier than usual which gave her enough time to take a nice shower. She had plenty of time to put on her favorite tight purple tee shirt and an old pair loose gray cargo pants. There was even time to make coffee and fill her favorite cup instead of dumping most of it in a thermos, her hands, and the sink.

Chloe ate a healthy breakfast, fussed with her hair, and brushed her teeth. There was even enough time to check her email. Lex was true to his word and there was a digital itinerary. Her schedule was marked off with color coded blocks. School took up a lot of her time in blue, time with Lex was marked a purple, yellow for exercise, there was a pink for dance lessons, and a green for seamstress appointments. The colors were in pastels to appear nonthreatening, but Chloe saw through it and felt overwhelmed.

On her leisurely ride to school in her new car, Chloe thought of how to make Clark like her. She was always truthful to Clark about her feelings for him and though he shied away from them, he never discouraged her affections. Most of the time, Chloe assumed it was because he just didn't notice them when Lana Lang was around, smiling her pixie smile at him. She was hard to compete with not only because she was very beautiful but because she was just so incredibly nice.

When she couldn't get Clark alone that morning, she felt as if it was purposeful. He was avoiding her, she could tell by those strange nervous glances her threw her way when he saw her coming. After the third try, Chloe decided to give it a rest for a little while. The boy was scared of her, that much was apparent, she did want to scare him further by chasing him around the school.

Chloe checked her email again during a free period in the Torch office. There was a new email from Lex telling her to come over to his place again. She took the time to finish her new article and to edit the article she wrote three days ago, she even managed to finish some calculus and a history worksheet.

Her schedule for today overlapped time with Lex with dance lessons and she could only imagine awkwardly holding on to Lex as they painfully shuffled across his study. It was not a good vision, and it was also not accurate.

When Chloe arrived at the Luthor mansion, she was tired and hungry. Secretly, she hoped for more brownies. When she smelled none upon entering, she was sorely disappointed. However, there was a little snack for her on the dining table that consisted of a platter of fruit and cheeses. Chloe picked out a few of the Brie slices and the Pepper Jack cubes and went to find Lex. She was pointed in the direction of the dance hall by a familiar face named Michael. He looked pleasantly surprised to have her ask him his name and it made her feel better about being so tenderly cared for when she was there.

There was already music in the hall, a gentle piano playing a repeated melody. When she entered, the music stopped suddenly and all eyes turned to her. There were three pairs of eyes, three bodies rising up from their seats. Chloe didn't want to dance in front of other people.

Lex was dressed as he usually was, in a crisp dress shirt and a pair of dark slacks. There was another man in the room, sitting at one of the many grand pianos idly playing a melody with one hand. He was dressed similarly to Lex except he wore a jade colored tie. He didn't play now. There was a woman in a chair across from Lex. She wore her dark brown hair up in an elegant french twist and soft nude lips made her look warm even as her jade dress gave her a colder countenance.

“Chloe, welcome back,” Lex said to her as she closed the door behind her. She smiled cautiously and peered over to the two strangers. The abrupt stop in the music made the atmosphere instantly off kilter.

“Hi,” She said, staying by the door.

“This is Mirko and Alessia, They're world champions in professional ballroom dance. I've hired them to help you choreograph a quadrille for your cotillion along with a few other dances should you prove to have a knack,” Lex went on without checking to see if she was obtaining any of the information.

“Um, okay,” Chloe responded. She looked to Lex for a way to better immerse herself into this atmosphere. She felt under dressed and overly tired. With the way they all looked at her expectantly, she assumed they wanted to watch her perform on command.

“Come have a seat there,” Lex pointed to the chair that Alessia had been sitting. Alessia had moved to stand by Mirko in the mean time. Chloe was glad to have some direction. In her current state of mind, she would have stood by the door a lot longer than she had.

Lex left her alone in the chair facing the wide empty space. He sought out the company of the piano instead and seated himself with as much pride and grace as a professional pianist. Mirko and Alessia snapped into position as Mirko led Alessia out onto the floor. What followed was an elegant gliding, flowing, twirling adventure and Chloe was dizzy from trying to keep up. The music, played by Lex's deft fingers, cushioned her between the boundaries of fantasy and reality. When it was over, she felt breathless from exhaustion.

“Wow, um...That was really beautiful,” Chloe said, standing up and turning toward Lex. “I hope I don't mess this up,” she added.

“That was the slow waltz,” Alessia said with a smile. “You and a partner will be learning that particular choreography as well as the quadrille.” Her voice was rich and foreign, it wasn't until she spoke again to Mirko that she learned the woman, as well as her partner, was Italian.

Chloe looked to Lex and wondered if he was good at dancing or if he was just as nervous as she was about the whole thing. Or maybe he wouldn't really be her partner. Was she suppose to have a date for this cotillion? Was she suppose to find a boyfriend there? Lex did refer to her as his debutante, and that he was her sponsor, maybe it meant that he was automatically her date. These were all questions that needed clarification, the sooner the better.

As it turned out, Chloe didn't dance with Lex at all that night, but he did dance. Alessia and Mirko were good teachers, and the language barrier wasn't too bad at all since a lot of waltz phrases were French and Lex was capable of interpreting for her. Also, if that failed, the simple show and tell method worked just as well as explaining.

The basics were taught that night but not mastered. Chloe was still very far away from that lovely waltz Alessia and Mirko did. She didn't look over at Lex too frequently but when she did, she saw that he too sometime struggled with some of the steps. But he did have more practice than she did, Chloe was sure. After all, he'd probably been to his share of cotillions.

Alessia did not break one little sweat. Her nose wasn't even shiny and Chloe found that to be ridiculous. She hadn't touched the woman yet, but she began to wonder if the woman was real. Mirko wasn't sweating either, but he didn't do a lot of moving around during the lesson. He just corrected their postures now and then. Chloe found some comfort that Lex glistened just the slightest bit.

They ended the lessons for dinner. Chloe was drenched and disgusting and so glad she didn't have to touch anyone during practice that night. They had imaginary partners to learn box steps and bone straight posture. Chloe looked at her feet too much and was aptly scolded. It was going to be a hard habit to break.

After they bid their instructors a polite farewell, Chloe sighed with relief. It was going to be like this everyday until the cotillion, she just knew it. Lex handed her a bottle of water and suggested that they both freshen up before dinner.

Of course, Chloe did have a change of clothes. They'd washed her school clothes the first night she'd slept here and there they were, fresh and folded on her bed. She was glad to see those plain jeans and teeshirt instead of some magazine outfit she couldn't afford.

Dinner was eaten in the same dining room she had breakfast in. Lex was already there, all put together and dry. Chloe, however, not wanting to be late for dinner, towel dried her hair and did a sixty second blow dry. Needless to say, her hair was still pretty damp.

“Hey, Lex?” Chloe ventured after a long moment of silence.

“Yes?” Lex replied.

“Am I suppose to go to the cotillion or ball or whatever with a date? Or with you?” She asked casually even though the question made her a little embarrassed.

“Both,” Lex replied and continued eating as if the question had meant nothing. In truth, it probably didn't mean anything to Lex. He expected to escort her there and show her off. He was the fishing pole and Chloe was the tantalizing bait. She'd get plenty of dates after and maybe even a well-to-do boyfriend so why not have her now while he could.

“Oh, okay,” Chloe said. She assumed Lex meant that he would simply be her date. It was a relief to know, she wouldn't have to ask anyone to go with her. She'd ask Clark, of course, but she didn't want to bring him into those dance lessons and let him watch her fail. It was better that Lex and all of his friends see her crumble under pressure. That way, when she went back to school, no one would know.

TBC
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The ABCs of Love