Chapter 7
Chapter 6
Step Four: Sorry I Have Plans- Do not always be available for him. Show him that you have many other things going on in your life; he is not the center of your world. On the contrary, you have many friends to please and much work to do.
(Chloe POV)
Clark was sitting in front of my desk in the middle of a sentence when the phone rang. I ignored it. He stopped talking and glanced at it as it rang. He raised an eyebrow at me.
“Are you going to get that?”
I gave him a tight smile before speaking.
“Obviously if I’m not picking it up I’m not going to get it Clark. Go ahead. Continue with you’re story. I don’t mean to rush you, but I don’t have a lot of time today. I’m really busy.”
I saw the smile fade from his face, but he nodded. Right as he opened his mouth to continue the machine came on and I heard my voice float through the room.
You’ve reached the Isis Foundation, I’m either away from my desk or on another call. Leave a message and I will get back to you as soon as possible. If this is an emergency please hang up and call 678-555-2345. Have a great day…
The beep sounded. I saw Clark glance at the machine when he heard Oliver’s voice on the other end. Great…could the day get worse…
“Chloe…it’s Oliver. This is the third time I’m calling you this morning. I know you’re there. Please pick up…come on sidekick…we need to talk about what happened last night….ignoring it is not going to make the green elephant in the room disappear…”
I sighed and Clark looked at me with an odd expression on his face. He leaned back in his seat and I could hear the curiosity in his voice when he spoke.
“What happened with Oliver last night?”
I opened my mouth to say something when Oliver’s voice came over the machine again and I turned to the phone and growled.
“Dammit I just want to…”
I lifted up the phone and spoke calmly and Clark watched me closely.
“It’s pink elephant Oliver, not green and I’m with a client right now. I’ll call you later.”
I hung the phone up and looked back at Clark with a smile.
“Sorry about that. You were saying…”
I could see confusion on his face.
“Why did you just hang up with Oliver?”
“Because you’re sitting here talking to me and I’m trying to give you my full attention?”
He chuckled lightly and shook his head.
“Try again.”
I leaned back in my chair and fidgeted slightly. I can’t lie to Clark…some how he always knows I’m lying, but I can’t tell him the truth either…that would completely ruin any chance I have with him…I still can’t believe that I almost slept with Oliver…
That’s not the kind of person I am. I don’t just sleep with random guys…especially when I love someone else. God help me for saying it, but I think I’m attracted to Oliver, which makes this whole situation a hell of a lot worse.
Clark’s voice startled me out of my thoughts. He reached out and took my hand.
“Chloe, you know you can tell me anything.”
Yeah…you say that now…ugh why are things so difficult? Then again…Clark always used to come to me with his relationship issues…and I’ve spent a fair share of my time watching or hearing about him with other females.
I mean sure the only person he’s ever slept with was Lana, but he’s had flings with tons of girls…I mean there was that Jessie who came to town with her father when she was in the witness protection program…then Kyla…
Let’s not forget Lex’s first wife…the pheromone queen, Desiree Atkins, then again she was the one who hit on him…then of course there was Alicia and Simone…and let’s not forget about Lois when the whole Red-K thing happened…
Who am I kidding…Clark has way more experience in the make out with random people department then I do…besides if I expect any kind of relationship with him to work at any point, I can’t lie to him about this…he’ll have to know eventually…
I might as well just rip the band aid off…I sighed and looked up at him.
“Last night after you left the fundraiser…Oliver and I had a few more drinks…we went back to the clock tower because that’s where my car was. I…we…”
I trailed off and Clark gave me an encouraging look. I took a deep breath and spoke quickly.
“Oliver and I almost slept together last night, but we were interrupted…by the rest of the league.”
I watched as Clark’s eye’s got wide and a look of shock crossed his face. I watched several emotions cross his face before he shut his mouth and leaned back in his chair. The room was quiet and I wasn’t sure what to do. Great…he’s mad at me…he’s never going to speak to me again and now my plan is never going to work and I’ll be alone forever…
His voice brought me out of my thoughts.
“You and Oliver…you almost…”
He made a motion with his hand and I nodded.
“Wow.”
“Yeah…wow is definitely a word for it I guess.”
He was quiet for another minute.
“How’d that happen?”
I shrugged.
“I’m not really sure. I mean Oliver and I…we get along. I consider him a close friend…before last night I’ve never considered doing anything like that with him…and then…I don’t know. He’s a good guy…the whole night was great and…well it felt like a real date.”
Clark frowned.
“Was it not a real date?”
Shit…I realized my mistake.
“I mean he asked me, but I assumed he asked me because then he wouldn’t have to worry about the tabloids picking on his fling of the week. I didn’t think of it as a ‘date date’…well until later on.”
I saw a slight wince cross his face before he nodded. He cleared his throat as he played with something on my desk that I couldn’t see.
“Do you…have feelings for him?”
I opened my mouth and then closed it. Do I have feelings for Oliver? If someone would have asked me that question yesterday morning the answer would have been a definite no. But now…I wasn’t so sure, but I think that’s the wrong question though…
The question shouldn’t be do I have feelings for Oliver…the question should be if I have feelings for Oliver are they strong enough to make me question my feelings for Clark, and the answer to that is no. I might care about Oliver…I might even like him…
And there’s a big possibility that I’m physically attracted to him too, but I’m not in love with him. However I am in love with Clark…
(Clark POV)
I sat there and watched her. I could see her eyebrows scrunched in concentration as she bit her lower lip. I smiled slightly. Chloe has a lot of different expressions, but this one…this one is my favorite. She must have felt my eyes on her because she looked up.
I could see confusion on her face, but then it was gone. She still hadn’t answered my question and I was getting nervous. She can’t really like Oliver can she? I mean technically she could, but…oh man…this really isn’t going the way I had hoped.
I can’t believe she almost slept with him…it’s taking everything in me not to go over to his office and toss his green leather wearing ass out the window. I took a deep breath to calm myself and I broke the silence so my thoughts wouldn’t take over.
“Earth to Chloe…”
She shook her head.
“Sorry Clark. There is a slight possibility that I like Oliver, but…it…I…”
She hesitated and then shrugged before her head fell into her hands.
“I’m sorry. You know what, don’t worry about all this Clark. I’ll figure it out. So do you want to finish telling me why you originally came here? You were saying something about Suicide Slums last night?”
Did she really think I could go back to talking about what happened when I helped the guys out with recon after everything she just told me? She is nuts.
“It’s not really that important. Hey you know, it’s almost lunch time. What do you say we grab a bite to eat?”
She opened her mouth and was about to say something when there was a knock on the door. Chloe called out and a man carrying a large bouquet of flowers walked into the office. He pulled out a piece of paper from his shirt pocket.
“Is there a Chloe Sullivan here?”
“That’s me.”
He nodded and handed her something to sign.
“Please sign here.”
She stood up, signed the form on the clip board, he put it away and handed her the vase of flowers. He smiled and saluted her.
“Have a nice day ma’am.”
He walked out and Chloe frowned at the bouquet of flowers. She placed it on her desk and took out the white card sitting at the top. I glanced curiously at the flowers. I’ve never seen flowers like these before…they’re exotic looking.
I looked up and x-rayed the card. What? I’m nosey…they were from Oliver…big shock…I watched her read over the card and her lip quirked at the corner slightly before she shook her head. She placed the card back on the flowers and sat back down.
“Lunch sounds great Clark, but I’m kinda swamped here today. Rain check?”
I swallowed and nodded.
“Sure.”
I tried to smile as I stood.
“Well I should probably get going. You’re busy and I just remembered there are a few things I have to take care of today too.”
“Okay, well give me a call and we’ll do something soon.”
I gave her a tight smile and made my way to the door. Before I walked out the door I turned around and glanced at her one last time. She was sitting in her desk writing furiously on some paper. She looked focused and slightly stressed.
I looked away and walked out of the office. I made my way outside and took a minute to enjoy the sun beating down on me and the light breeze. I looked down the street and smiled. Sometimes Chloe says more in her non-answers than in her answers.
She didn’t come right out and say she liked Oliver. Her non-answer said that she was swayed by outside influences. So I think it’s time I became a little more of an assertive influence for her to take notice of. I think it’s about time I paid Oliver a little visit.
Ten minutes later I was standing in Oliver’s secretary’s office waiting for her to tell Oliver I was there. I was pacing back and forth when she opened his office door and smiled at me.
“Mr. Queen will see you now.”
“Thanks.”
I walked into the office and Oliver was sitting at his desk on the phone. He motioned for me to sit and after I did he held up a finger to signify me to wait a minute. I glanced around the office as I waited. A minute or so later I heard him return the phone to the cradle.
“Hey Clark, what can I do for you?”
I raised an eyebrow.
“Are we just going to pretend that you didn’t almost sleep with Chloe last night Oliver?”
I saw amusement on his face as he leaned forward in his chair.
“So, we’re not beating around the bush then huh?”
I shrugged.
“Is there really a need to?”
“I suppose not…”
He paused before continuing.
“So…did you come here to yell at me…threaten me maybe?”
I shook my head.
“No.”
I could see a mixture of confusion and intrigue on his face.
“Then why are you here?”
“I can’t visit a friend at work?”
Oliver chuckled.
“Wasn’t it you who told me we weren’t okay?”
I nodded.
“That was before I figured it out.”
He frowned.
“Figured what out?”
I stood up and walked around Oliver’s office until I was directly across from him. I turned so as to make direct eye contact with him.
“Oliver, you’re my friend, but I’m not giving up Chloe. You can take her out on dates…you can buy her flowers…you can almost sleep with her…”
I sent him a glare at that one.
“You can try to convince her that you’re better than me…but in the end none of that is going to matter, because there is no way that you love Chloe the way I do. And I’m going to make sure she knows that. You wanted healthy competition…you’ve got it.”
Oliver was watching me closely and he nodded.
“May the best man win.”
I grinned.
“I’ll see you at Friday’s meeting.”
He nodded again and I left. I know Chloe better than anyone…and I love her…now all I needed to do was prove to her that I could make her happier then Oliver…but how…
Chapter 6
Step Four: Sorry I Have Plans- Do not always be available for him. Show him that you have many other things going on in your life; he is not the center of your world. On the contrary, you have many friends to please and much work to do.
(Chloe POV)
Clark was sitting in front of my desk in the middle of a sentence when the phone rang. I ignored it. He stopped talking and glanced at it as it rang. He raised an eyebrow at me.
“Are you going to get that?”
I gave him a tight smile before speaking.
“Obviously if I’m not picking it up I’m not going to get it Clark. Go ahead. Continue with you’re story. I don’t mean to rush you, but I don’t have a lot of time today. I’m really busy.”
I saw the smile fade from his face, but he nodded. Right as he opened his mouth to continue the machine came on and I heard my voice float through the room.
You’ve reached the Isis Foundation, I’m either away from my desk or on another call. Leave a message and I will get back to you as soon as possible. If this is an emergency please hang up and call 678-555-2345. Have a great day…
The beep sounded. I saw Clark glance at the machine when he heard Oliver’s voice on the other end. Great…could the day get worse…
“Chloe…it’s Oliver. This is the third time I’m calling you this morning. I know you’re there. Please pick up…come on sidekick…we need to talk about what happened last night….ignoring it is not going to make the green elephant in the room disappear…”
I sighed and Clark looked at me with an odd expression on his face. He leaned back in his seat and I could hear the curiosity in his voice when he spoke.
“What happened with Oliver last night?”
I opened my mouth to say something when Oliver’s voice came over the machine again and I turned to the phone and growled.
“Dammit I just want to…”
I lifted up the phone and spoke calmly and Clark watched me closely.
“It’s pink elephant Oliver, not green and I’m with a client right now. I’ll call you later.”
I hung the phone up and looked back at Clark with a smile.
“Sorry about that. You were saying…”
I could see confusion on his face.
“Why did you just hang up with Oliver?”
“Because you’re sitting here talking to me and I’m trying to give you my full attention?”
He chuckled lightly and shook his head.
“Try again.”
I leaned back in my chair and fidgeted slightly. I can’t lie to Clark…some how he always knows I’m lying, but I can’t tell him the truth either…that would completely ruin any chance I have with him…I still can’t believe that I almost slept with Oliver…
That’s not the kind of person I am. I don’t just sleep with random guys…especially when I love someone else. God help me for saying it, but I think I’m attracted to Oliver, which makes this whole situation a hell of a lot worse.
Clark’s voice startled me out of my thoughts. He reached out and took my hand.
“Chloe, you know you can tell me anything.”
Yeah…you say that now…ugh why are things so difficult? Then again…Clark always used to come to me with his relationship issues…and I’ve spent a fair share of my time watching or hearing about him with other females.
I mean sure the only person he’s ever slept with was Lana, but he’s had flings with tons of girls…I mean there was that Jessie who came to town with her father when she was in the witness protection program…then Kyla…
Let’s not forget Lex’s first wife…the pheromone queen, Desiree Atkins, then again she was the one who hit on him…then of course there was Alicia and Simone…and let’s not forget about Lois when the whole Red-K thing happened…
Who am I kidding…Clark has way more experience in the make out with random people department then I do…besides if I expect any kind of relationship with him to work at any point, I can’t lie to him about this…he’ll have to know eventually…
I might as well just rip the band aid off…I sighed and looked up at him.
“Last night after you left the fundraiser…Oliver and I had a few more drinks…we went back to the clock tower because that’s where my car was. I…we…”
I trailed off and Clark gave me an encouraging look. I took a deep breath and spoke quickly.
“Oliver and I almost slept together last night, but we were interrupted…by the rest of the league.”
I watched as Clark’s eye’s got wide and a look of shock crossed his face. I watched several emotions cross his face before he shut his mouth and leaned back in his chair. The room was quiet and I wasn’t sure what to do. Great…he’s mad at me…he’s never going to speak to me again and now my plan is never going to work and I’ll be alone forever…
His voice brought me out of my thoughts.
“You and Oliver…you almost…”
He made a motion with his hand and I nodded.
“Wow.”
“Yeah…wow is definitely a word for it I guess.”
He was quiet for another minute.
“How’d that happen?”
I shrugged.
“I’m not really sure. I mean Oliver and I…we get along. I consider him a close friend…before last night I’ve never considered doing anything like that with him…and then…I don’t know. He’s a good guy…the whole night was great and…well it felt like a real date.”
Clark frowned.
“Was it not a real date?”
Shit…I realized my mistake.
“I mean he asked me, but I assumed he asked me because then he wouldn’t have to worry about the tabloids picking on his fling of the week. I didn’t think of it as a ‘date date’…well until later on.”
I saw a slight wince cross his face before he nodded. He cleared his throat as he played with something on my desk that I couldn’t see.
“Do you…have feelings for him?”
I opened my mouth and then closed it. Do I have feelings for Oliver? If someone would have asked me that question yesterday morning the answer would have been a definite no. But now…I wasn’t so sure, but I think that’s the wrong question though…
The question shouldn’t be do I have feelings for Oliver…the question should be if I have feelings for Oliver are they strong enough to make me question my feelings for Clark, and the answer to that is no. I might care about Oliver…I might even like him…
And there’s a big possibility that I’m physically attracted to him too, but I’m not in love with him. However I am in love with Clark…
(Clark POV)
I sat there and watched her. I could see her eyebrows scrunched in concentration as she bit her lower lip. I smiled slightly. Chloe has a lot of different expressions, but this one…this one is my favorite. She must have felt my eyes on her because she looked up.
I could see confusion on her face, but then it was gone. She still hadn’t answered my question and I was getting nervous. She can’t really like Oliver can she? I mean technically she could, but…oh man…this really isn’t going the way I had hoped.
I can’t believe she almost slept with him…it’s taking everything in me not to go over to his office and toss his green leather wearing ass out the window. I took a deep breath to calm myself and I broke the silence so my thoughts wouldn’t take over.
“Earth to Chloe…”
She shook her head.
“Sorry Clark. There is a slight possibility that I like Oliver, but…it…I…”
She hesitated and then shrugged before her head fell into her hands.
“I’m sorry. You know what, don’t worry about all this Clark. I’ll figure it out. So do you want to finish telling me why you originally came here? You were saying something about Suicide Slums last night?”
Did she really think I could go back to talking about what happened when I helped the guys out with recon after everything she just told me? She is nuts.
“It’s not really that important. Hey you know, it’s almost lunch time. What do you say we grab a bite to eat?”
She opened her mouth and was about to say something when there was a knock on the door. Chloe called out and a man carrying a large bouquet of flowers walked into the office. He pulled out a piece of paper from his shirt pocket.
“Is there a Chloe Sullivan here?”
“That’s me.”
He nodded and handed her something to sign.
“Please sign here.”
She stood up, signed the form on the clip board, he put it away and handed her the vase of flowers. He smiled and saluted her.
“Have a nice day ma’am.”
He walked out and Chloe frowned at the bouquet of flowers. She placed it on her desk and took out the white card sitting at the top. I glanced curiously at the flowers. I’ve never seen flowers like these before…they’re exotic looking.
I looked up and x-rayed the card. What? I’m nosey…they were from Oliver…big shock…I watched her read over the card and her lip quirked at the corner slightly before she shook her head. She placed the card back on the flowers and sat back down.
“Lunch sounds great Clark, but I’m kinda swamped here today. Rain check?”
I swallowed and nodded.
“Sure.”
I tried to smile as I stood.
“Well I should probably get going. You’re busy and I just remembered there are a few things I have to take care of today too.”
“Okay, well give me a call and we’ll do something soon.”
I gave her a tight smile and made my way to the door. Before I walked out the door I turned around and glanced at her one last time. She was sitting in her desk writing furiously on some paper. She looked focused and slightly stressed.
I looked away and walked out of the office. I made my way outside and took a minute to enjoy the sun beating down on me and the light breeze. I looked down the street and smiled. Sometimes Chloe says more in her non-answers than in her answers.
She didn’t come right out and say she liked Oliver. Her non-answer said that she was swayed by outside influences. So I think it’s time I became a little more of an assertive influence for her to take notice of. I think it’s about time I paid Oliver a little visit.
Ten minutes later I was standing in Oliver’s secretary’s office waiting for her to tell Oliver I was there. I was pacing back and forth when she opened his office door and smiled at me.
“Mr. Queen will see you now.”
“Thanks.”
I walked into the office and Oliver was sitting at his desk on the phone. He motioned for me to sit and after I did he held up a finger to signify me to wait a minute. I glanced around the office as I waited. A minute or so later I heard him return the phone to the cradle.
“Hey Clark, what can I do for you?”
I raised an eyebrow.
“Are we just going to pretend that you didn’t almost sleep with Chloe last night Oliver?”
I saw amusement on his face as he leaned forward in his chair.
“So, we’re not beating around the bush then huh?”
I shrugged.
“Is there really a need to?”
“I suppose not…”
He paused before continuing.
“So…did you come here to yell at me…threaten me maybe?”
I shook my head.
“No.”
I could see a mixture of confusion and intrigue on his face.
“Then why are you here?”
“I can’t visit a friend at work?”
Oliver chuckled.
“Wasn’t it you who told me we weren’t okay?”
I nodded.
“That was before I figured it out.”
He frowned.
“Figured what out?”
I stood up and walked around Oliver’s office until I was directly across from him. I turned so as to make direct eye contact with him.
“Oliver, you’re my friend, but I’m not giving up Chloe. You can take her out on dates…you can buy her flowers…you can almost sleep with her…”
I sent him a glare at that one.
“You can try to convince her that you’re better than me…but in the end none of that is going to matter, because there is no way that you love Chloe the way I do. And I’m going to make sure she knows that. You wanted healthy competition…you’ve got it.”
Oliver was watching me closely and he nodded.
“May the best man win.”
I grinned.
“I’ll see you at Friday’s meeting.”
He nodded again and I left. I know Chloe better than anyone…and I love her…now all I needed to do was prove to her that I could make her happier then Oliver…but how…
Ohhh! brign it on the fight! finally the BDA woke up. He can be really slow for his own good.
ReplyDeletefierce update Corina :-D
Ana
So far so good story. I love the way you write form POV's I doing that on my latest Smallville fic myself. I love how you stated that Chloe did not state her feelings right out. Can't wait to read more.
ReplyDelete