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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
- 7
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Chapter H is for Hospitality

Chloe was sure Lex didn't mean to call her a gold digger, but it stung nonetheless. But the fact that he would owe her again was too good an offer to refuse and so she agreed to play along.

The man they met at the bar was a man of great stature. He wasn't fat so much as stocky, tall and clean shaven. Chloe couldn't pin point his age, he looked anywhere between thirty to fifty, which was quite a leap between numbers. The only helpful hint was his voice, which crackled with age and a love of tobacco.

Lex greeted him first with one of those quick pump masculine hand shakes and a handsome smile. He'd call the man "Dieter" and Chloe assumed it was a first name because the man called Lex "Alexander" in return. Before Lex could introduce Chloe, she shot forward like a viper to take the man's hand.

"Hi, I'm Chloe Sullivan. I'm a journalist for the Daily Planet," Chloe half lied and hoped she looked far older than her age. The shocked look on the man's face was very revealing. He did not like reporters and did not know there would be one around, especially American ones that were so often vultures with their subjects.

Lex tried to save her but it looked as if his Client had made up his mind to leave. So Chloe reached out a pretty hand and placed it on the other man's arm to hold his attention.

"I'm here on vacation and bumped into Lex, so you don't have to worry. When I'm off duty, I'm off duty," Chloe promised with the sweetest smile Lex had ever seen. His client was certainly swayed but it wasn't the promise that did it. Chloe could have said she was an undercover cop and he'd still have a drink with her.

Lex was very impressed but not at all happy with her outburst nor her flirty attitude. This was not for pleasure, he was wining the man so that he could go back to the hotel and dine with Chloe. But here she was, arm in arm with Dieter Ruprecht, walking toward the far end of the bar where it was quietest.

"How has your stay been, Ms. Sullivan?" Dieter asked his youthful companion, so besotted that he forgot he'd only meant to have a drink and tell Lex that there wasn't going to be a deal after all.

"Oh, it's been a dream! It's my first time in Germany and though I have only been here for less than a day, I am honestly in love," Chloe replied with all the regal gestures she could remember Eveline and Alessia doing. Dieter laughed, amused by her straight forwardness and ordered her a Cherry Schnapps. Chloe knew she shouldn't refuse and so, before Lex could reach out to stop her, she took a ginger sip and licked her lips.

Lex tried a few timed to redirect the conversation to topics that would help him close the deal but found that Dieter was becoming more and more agitated with the interruptions. So, instead of change the topics, Lex carefully guided the conversation around Chloe and her involvement with LexCorp fertilizers.

Chloe, thankfully, played along. Going on and on about her next article on the raging success the fertilizer has been on the crops and the amazing health turn around because of it. Lex was surprised to find out that most of Chloe's gushing had been facts she up rooted all her own and wondered just how much she knew about his company.

Chloe was smart enough to nurse her Schnapps because Dieter had four times as many drinks and Lex was on his second. It was getting close to dinner time and when Lex brought that up, Dieter glowed with delight.

"Chloe, have you a dinner companion for tonight?" The older man asked. Chloe saw Lex's shocked expression but didn't know how to answer. She had to say yes, right? Lex was her dinner companion, he was her travel companion, and he was her friend. She was suppose to eat with him tonight, not Dieter. But Chloe also noticed that Dieter was not all that excited about LexCorp and didn't think he'd sign any paper work to tie their business together. Chloe thought she could do it, she could do anything.

"Why no, I don't think I do," Chloe replied with a smile. She ignored the dark look on Lex's face and said their fair wells to Lex as if he were only an acquaintance, and made their way out of the bar area toward the restaurant area where Chloe was a few hours earlier.

Chloe could feel Lex's eyes bore into the back of her head but couldn't afford to look back at him. And she could still feel those eyes when she had ordered her meal and ordered a glass of wine she very slowly nursed.

Dieter was obviously interested in Chloe but she knew she'd blow it if she'd reveal her real age. And so she stayed in character and tried her best to keep the dinner less like a date and more like a friendly supper. After all, Chloe was not in any position to lead anyone on and wanted to keep the dinner short so that she could head back to the hotel where, she was certain, Lex would not be.

"Are you Alexander's girlfriend?" Dieter asked finally after a fourth attempt to get Chloe to reveal more of herself. Obviously the woman wasn't a drinker and her wine was evaporating faster than she was drinking it. He had a sense the woman wasn't being very honest with him and Dieter wondered if it was, perhaps, an American thing. After all, he'd gotten the same dishonest vibe from both of the Luthors.

"Who me? No!" Chloe exclaimed and giggled prettily. "We're just good friends," Chloe added.

"Really? He doesn't seem much like a person who has friends, much less one as bright as you," Dieter replied, both a dig at Lex and a compliment for Chloe. Chloe smiled sharply, the way Lex smiled when he was only being polite.

"Well, I must say, Dieter, that Lex has been one of the best people I've ever had the privilege to call my friend. He's very honest to those who have the ability to grasp honesty and he's loyal to those that deserve it. And he's always been friendly to me," Chloe said in a huff. She took a sip of her wine and cringed, wondering if that was the final straw.

"A woman that knows what she wants," Dieter said after a moment of trying to interpret her face. He didn't understand Chloe and that made her all the more alluring. So what if she was interested in Lex, Dieter was confident that he could snatch her away. All he needed was time.

"I'm hoping to sign this deal with this Lex Corporation after all," Dieter announced as Chloe finished her dessert. The same kind she'd had earlier but never finished. "But I'd like to see these flourishing crops with my own eyes," Dieter added after he gaged Chloe's expression.

"Oh! That would be great! I'm sure Lex would love to show you around his plant," Chloe said, elated.

"No, I'd like for you to show me. You seem even more knowledgeable of the way his fertilizer works, and you are much more hospitable," Dieter replied. He saw Chloe think it over in her head, and like watching lightening in the sky, Chloe's green eyes sparked with what Dieter could only assume was approval. When she confirmed, Dieter smiled.

When Chloe returned to the hotel, via a lift from Dieter, Chloe was shocked at how far she'd walked without feeling fatigued. After all, she'd been on a plane all day long with only little bites of food. She was feeling the energy loss now but that was not unusual, it was night time and though she never finished either her schnapps or her wine, she did feel just a little light headed.

As she predicted, Lex was not in the suite. There were two rooms, two bathrooms, on large common room with a comfortable burgundy sofa and a fireplace with fresh flowers on the mantel. And though Chloe didn't notice the beauty of the room when she'd first come in, she saw it now but felt it lacking, empty without Lex.

She was trying to think of a way to make him forgive her when a knock on the door to the suite startled her.

"It's room service, Mrs Luthor," called out a youthful male voice. Chloe opened the door to a cart full of food and a bottle of Bizzl. Chloe's face drooped when she realized that Lex had prepared for the both of them a dinner for when he returned from his meeting. It only added to her guilt that she'd made Lex either eat alone or starve with the decision she'd made to dine with Dieter. She tipped the boy ten euros and stared at the food.

Chloe thought she heard another knock on the door and when she turned to open it, saw that it was Lex with his briefcase gutted on the floor. She bent to help him pick up his papers in silence, what could she say to him now? She felt as if he she'd ditched him and Chloe did a lot of things but never did she ditch. She knew from experience how much it'd hurt.

Lex tried to ignore her face. It was silly to feel so upset and jealous over the matter. She wasn't anything more to him than a friend. And if he wanted to dissect it further, she was Clark's friend. So, more a friend of a friend and a one time parter, and now he was her sponsor and she was apparently the key to getting Ruprecht to sign with him. Chloe was becoming too many things in Lex's life in so short a time.

"Have you eaten?" Chloe asked finally, looking behind her to a tray of food and the bottle of something fizzy. Lex had forgotten about the food he'd ordered before he left her.

"Not yet," Lex admitted and stood with Chloe, accepting the papers she handed him. They entered the room and stood on opposite sides of the table and sat.

"Dieter said he'd sign," Chloe said finally.

"I know," Lex replied.

"You were spying on me?" Chloe asked, without any rage in her voice. Just a curious musical lilt. For how long? she wondered. Did he hear her strong declaration of friendship?

"I just wanted to make sure you were safe," Lex replied easily. It was the truth, Chloe was too young to be dining clients for him and Lex regretted asking her to do such a thing. The fact that she was successful didn't make it okay and Lex also didn't like the way Dieter looked at her.

"Oh...I think Dieter wants to come to America...But you know that," Chloe said, rolling a grape between her fingers. She was full, she was just here to keep Lex company.

"Yes, I know," Lex replied, looking even more displeased.
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The ABCs of Love