Drabble 10 | Morning After

[sanalayla]

Lois typed feverishly on her computer, glancing up every now and then to read the text on the screen. As usual, there were squiggly red lines indicating all the typos and spelling errors in her article. She noticed there seemed to be more today than typical. She sighed, blaming her lack of focus on the events the previous evening. Or, rather, lack of events.

Suddenly, a bouquet of flowers appeared in front of her, blocking the view of her screen. She glanced up and saw Clark holding the flowers and wearing a sheepish grin.

“What are those for?” Lois asked, keeping her face devoid of any emotion.

“Do I need a reason to get my girlfriend flowers?” Clark asked in a teasing voice.

Lois didn’t respond, but one brow rose expectantly.

Clark’s smile faded. “I’m sorry. The flowers are to show you how sorry I am for standing you up last night.”

Lois considered him for a moment and then nodded. She took the flowers from his hand and set them aside on her desk. “Thanks, they’re pretty.” With that she turned her attention back to the computer and continued where she’d left off.

She could feel Clark looking down at her and heard him sigh. Not surprisingly, he refused to leave and, instead, leaned back against her desk, facing her. “Lois.”

Lois stopped typing and focused on him. “Clark.”

“I wish I could explain…” he began, clearly having rehearsed a speech.

“You don’t have to,” Lois interrupted. “I know what’s going on.”

“You do?” Clark asked, in surprise, his eyes wary and full of concern.

“Yes, I figured it out. I mean, I had my suspicions, but last night really sealed the deal for me.” Lois pushed her chair back, grabbed her empty coffee mug and made her way over to the coffee machine.

Clark followed her. “It did?”

She poured coffee into her mug and explained, “Clearly, you’re suffering from fear of commitment. Classic case of the Peter Pan syndrome.” She glanced back at him over her shoulder. “I read all about in Cosmo last year.” She replaced the coffee carafe and turned around to face him, taking a sip of her coffee. “It’s OK, I get it.”

Clark was speechless for a moment. He blinked at her in confusion. “Um… what does that mean, exactly?”

“Well,” Lois cast her eyes upwards as though trying to recall the details of the article. “Basically, you want to take things slow.” She shook her head slightly and took another sip of her coffee. “Honestly, Clark, I’m cool with that.” She eyed him over the rim of her mug thoughtfully. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and I agree. We’ve been going too fast and we need to slow things down. You’re totally right.”

“But I never said I wanted to slow things down,” Clark protested, feeling – as usual – that Lois was two steps ahead. It never failed to amaze him that he had super-speed, but she was always quicker than him.

Lois smiled slowly. “You don’t have to – actions speak louder than words, Smallville.” She emphasized the Smallville with a punch to his arm.

Clark glanced down at his arm and frowned. He tried to figure out how to explain to Lois that she was completely wrong without telling her the real reason he’d been disappearing. While he was grappling with that problem, a box of donuts materialized between them.

“Ms. Lane, I saved you the last donut.” Jeff, the intern, held out the open box to Lois, his crush on her clearly being transmitted by the way he gazed at her, wide eyed.

Lois glanced down at the box and then at Jeff. “Thanks, Jeff! Ohh… cherry filled. My favorite.” She reached into the box and took out the powdered confection, giving him a wide grin.

Jeff blushed a bit and gulped. “I know. You mentioned it once.”

Lois’s brows rose in surprise. “Well, thanks, Jeff. I’ll be sure to mention my favorite Chinese food around you next time. Maybe I’ll score lunch out of it,” she teased.

That earned her another blush. “Of course, Ms. Lane,” he stammered.

Clark watched this whole exchange with a mixture of annoyance and amusement. Lois had no clue the affect she had on half the men in the bullpen. On more than one occasion, he’d caught guys ogling her when she knelt down to pick up something in her tight skirt. They were lucky he had his heat vision under control, or there would have been a lot of desks and computers with holes in them.

“Jeff,” he interrupted. “Don’t you have that photo-copying job I gave you yesterday? Is it done?”

Jeff turned to him, as though he had just realized Clark was standing there. “Oh, right, Mr. Kent. I’ll get right on that.”

Clark watched him walk away, shaking his head a bit. Like that poor kid could ever handle Lois. He turned back to face her and saw that she’d already bitten into the donut and had her eyes closed while she chewed, clearly relishing the flavor.

“Hhhmm…” Lois opened her eyes. “This is so good, Smallville. You wanna bite?” She held it out to him.

Mutely, he shook his head.

“Oh right, you don’t like cherry donuts.”

Lois reached out to catch a drop of the filling that threatened to fall to the floor. She raised her finger to her lips, sucking the red sauce, closing her eyes again as she enjoyed the taste.

Clark’s mouth went dry and his body went still as he stared at her.

“But it’s so good,” Lois teased, her eyes opening and she moved closer to him. She stood on tip-toe to brush a kiss against his lips. “You’re missing out, Smallvile.”

With that, she turned to walk back towards her desk, her hips swaying in her tight, gray, skirt and her pony-tail swinging in the air. Clark watching her go, helplessly, licking his lips a bit; tasting the cherry and powdered sugar she’d left behind.

And, for the first time in his life, Clark found himself wishing a cold shower could actually affect him.