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Summer Story part 4
Okay, I'm impatient now. I'm posting the next two sections becauseI have to know what happens next and this is the best wayvfor me to find out! *G*
Part 4-a
JUNE
Clark lay in bed and stared up at the ceiling, wondering if he should ask his folks if he could take on a part time job. They needed him, that was true, but it ‘d be great to have a little spending money of his own, to do with what he wanted. There were a bazillion farm stands and the like that would hire a fifteen year old. There was always a paper route too, and if he got a rural route, he could run the route and not even need a car; he could get the papers out early enough that no one would see him.
He tried to come up with some terrific reason his parent’s couldn’t argue with when he heard a chink against his window glass. For a moment his heart soared and he thought, Lex! And of course it wasn’t Lex, it had to be Pete, the only one of them that still spoke to him. He rolled over and got off the bed, glancing at the clock. It was eleven, and Clark was surprised that Pete wasn’t with his girlfriend.
That still made Clark grin; Pete’s girlfriend, Lana. Lana and Pete.
After a rocky start, the two were doing fine. Pete’s folks hadn’t been especially pleased at first, and Nell…that was an education in itself. Lana was a special person to over come all those – expectations Nell had placed on her. It was great to see the two of them so happy with each other. It made him feel good, and at times, little envious, but….
He opened the window and leaned out, ready to call down to Pete. And – he smacked his head hard on the raised sash, almost forgot to say ‘ow’, he was so surprised.
No. Shocked. Shocked was definitely the word to use. He spent half the summer break following Whit like a pathetic puppy and here he was in the yard. Damn. Maybe he was there to kick his butt for stalking him….
Whit stood in the darkness below, gesturing for Clark to come down. Clark nodded quickly, too surprised to speak, and hurriedly threw on a sweatshirt, before dashing barefoot down the stairs, afraid Whit might change his mind and leave again.
When he was out in the yard, he saw Whit was already moving to the barn, and Clark followed him up to the loft.
“Clark.” Whit greeted him like yesterday was the last time he’d spoken to him.
Clark’s chest burned with a dozen conflicting emotions: joy, and worry, and anger; here was the guy who’d let his friend be attacked and hung and helped it to happen, but logically he also knew he was the guy who’d called for help for him and – and …”Whit.”
“Clark….” He stopped, blew out a blast of air hard enough to lift his bangs, and started again. “I—I’m sorry, I’m sorry and I miss you, and I want us to be friends again, because anything could happen and –and. I. Don’t want to miss you forever, you know?”
Clark fought to not turn into a five year old, and start crying or hug Whit or anything embarrassing. “Okay, Whit, I feel the same way. If you want to be friends again, I’d like that.” Clark held his hand out to Whit and Whit took it gravely and shook Clark’s hand firmly.
“Good, Clark, great. Well. I’m glad we could talk, that’s good. I guess I’ll go now, speak to you tomorrow?”
He stared down in ferocious concentration as if the toes of his sneakers were completely fascinating, and swept his hand over his forehead and back in a gesture that reminded Clark of Lex.
“Yeah Whit, that’d be great.”
Clark didn’t move from the stairs, he was blocking the way and Whit stood in front of him, patiently waiting for him to move aside and suddenly Clark was in the loft, grabbing Whit and hugging him hard, lifting him off the floor and swinging him around and his breath burst out explosively against Whit’s shoulder,” Oh. God! I thought I was gonna die without you guys! I missed you so damn much!”
Whit’s eyes were squeezed shut and he hugged Clark back just as hard, and let himself be swung around, and just grinned and grinned.
Clark finally let Whit down, but kept his hands on his shoulders. A little part of him was afraid to let go, afraid that Whit might disappear, that he’d wake up and still be in his bed, and this was all a dream.
Whit just grinned back; he reached up and squeezed Clark’s hands. “It’s real.”
Clark laughed. “Whit, god. I missed you.”
He pushed Whit over to the couch, and got two juice bottles out of the mini fridge and tossed one to Whit.
Whit caught it without thought and cracked the seal, took a long drink, and launched into a long rambling tale of what had happened since the rift with Clark, ending with Lex and his problems before asking Clark, “What happened?”
Clark blushed a deep, deep red, and tried to pretend he didn’t understand Whit’s question. Damn. He’d almost forgotten that about Whit, his habit of cutting straight to the bone, not screwing around with the niceties.
“I have no idea—“
“What happened to Red, what did you do to make him go nuts,” he held up a hand to cut off Clark’s protest,” I’m not here to accuse you or blame you, I’m not talking about the fire. It’s different, he’s so …hurt, and pissed--I just want you to help me with Red, and everything in his world revolves around you so…what happened?”
Clark’s mouth opened, shut, opened, and he said, “ Whit, I know you guys think I didn’t want to help Lex—it’s not true, I really, really-- I just couldn’t. I can’t explain. I wish I could. It happened and everyday I think about it, and everyday I curse myself.” He looked into Whit’s eyes and pleaded for him to see what was there. “I love Lex, I’d never let harm come to him if I could help it, believe me please.” He looked off to the side for a moment, an unhappy twist of a smile on his face. “Besides, I really don’t think Lex’s world revolves around me.”
Whit said nothing, he just nodded and Clark hoped it was enough for him. He could tell by the little frown on his face he’d noticed Clark hadn’t actually answered his question, but he was willing to go forward, thank god.
The two talked on for a while, and finally Clark made Whit call the Ross’ and tell them he was spending the night at Clark’s.
“Well judging by the screams of glee, I’d say it’s okay for me to stay over. And that was just Bill, I can’t imagine Abigail’s reaction—“ He dodged a pillow Clark tossed.
“Ah! Now you have to be nice to me or I’ll tell Abigail what you said!”
“Jesus, Clark, don’t even make a joke about it, “ he said, clutching his cheat. “She’d kill me. You know, one of these days we’re going to slip up and call them by their first names and she’s going to kick our asses.”’
“Yup,” Clark agreed fondly, a bit selfishly thinking that now he’d be able to spend time there again.
They stretched out, Clark on the couch and Whit dropping to the floor, shoving the pillow Clark had tossed at him behind his head.”Hey Clark, why did you follow me around like that? All that time?” Whit scooted around until he could throw his feet up on the couch.
Clark looked down and frowned. “I don’t know really, it just seemed… I had to see you guys. But Lex would have killed me, so it was you. I just needed to see you. I hoped that if you kept seeing me, you’d let me talk to you eventually. Maybe get Lex to talk to me…” he grinned and blushed.
Whit snorted. “Great. Once again, I’m second best to Red. Oh well. I’m almost used to it,” he laughed as Clark shoved his feet to the side.
Clark grinned at him, and then his expression changed, the bright smile dimmed a bit and his eyes looked a little less vibrantly green, and Whit thought here it comes, something’s bothering him--
Clark glanced at him quickly before looking away again. “I don’t like Wade.”
Whit waited for him to go on for a minute, and finally asked when Clark gave no sign of speaking, “Okay, kind of out of left field, but why?”
Clark was silent and then said, “ Because he doesn’t want you, he just wants to have you.”
****************
Whit tried to tease out the difference between wanting and wanting to have. He wondered what happened to Clark that made him think about people that way. Was it the fire?
Because, as much as he loved Clark and Clark loved them, he’d never been one to worry more than about the superficial things before. If his friends seemed happy it had always been good enough for Clark before and now--
He got up and wandered around the loft, touching things like a person long gone from home and surprised to be back. He was thinking hard about his response to Clark’s question and he could see from his face that Clark worried he’d overstepped the bounds of their fledgling truce.
“It’s okay Clark,” he sighed.” I’m not in love with Wade or anything—don’t worry about me and him.”
“I can’t help but worry. I see you throwing yourself down a hole with him for no good reason.” He got up and came around to where Whit was standing.
***********
Whit turned his head and Clark was standing next to him, looking at him with those big green eyes, the picture of concern and worry.
“You should have more. You should have a lot more; you’re a good person, Whit. You’ve always been a good person.”
He stared into Whit’s eyes, and Whit stepped back. Clark stepped forward, and Whit took another step back and closed his eyes. He felt queasy, and afraid, he felt like he was a little kid again, waiting for his dad to get home from work, not knowing who was going to walk through the door, dad, or monster dad. He felt something hit the back of his knees and stopped, closed his eyes. In the darkness he felt warm breath on his mouth and he knew the second before it happened Clark was going to kiss him, but not why…
TBC tonight! This morning? Whatevah!
Part 4-a
JUNE
Clark lay in bed and stared up at the ceiling, wondering if he should ask his folks if he could take on a part time job. They needed him, that was true, but it ‘d be great to have a little spending money of his own, to do with what he wanted. There were a bazillion farm stands and the like that would hire a fifteen year old. There was always a paper route too, and if he got a rural route, he could run the route and not even need a car; he could get the papers out early enough that no one would see him.
He tried to come up with some terrific reason his parent’s couldn’t argue with when he heard a chink against his window glass. For a moment his heart soared and he thought, Lex! And of course it wasn’t Lex, it had to be Pete, the only one of them that still spoke to him. He rolled over and got off the bed, glancing at the clock. It was eleven, and Clark was surprised that Pete wasn’t with his girlfriend.
That still made Clark grin; Pete’s girlfriend, Lana. Lana and Pete.
After a rocky start, the two were doing fine. Pete’s folks hadn’t been especially pleased at first, and Nell…that was an education in itself. Lana was a special person to over come all those – expectations Nell had placed on her. It was great to see the two of them so happy with each other. It made him feel good, and at times, little envious, but….
He opened the window and leaned out, ready to call down to Pete. And – he smacked his head hard on the raised sash, almost forgot to say ‘ow’, he was so surprised.
No. Shocked. Shocked was definitely the word to use. He spent half the summer break following Whit like a pathetic puppy and here he was in the yard. Damn. Maybe he was there to kick his butt for stalking him….
Whit stood in the darkness below, gesturing for Clark to come down. Clark nodded quickly, too surprised to speak, and hurriedly threw on a sweatshirt, before dashing barefoot down the stairs, afraid Whit might change his mind and leave again.
When he was out in the yard, he saw Whit was already moving to the barn, and Clark followed him up to the loft.
“Clark.” Whit greeted him like yesterday was the last time he’d spoken to him.
Clark’s chest burned with a dozen conflicting emotions: joy, and worry, and anger; here was the guy who’d let his friend be attacked and hung and helped it to happen, but logically he also knew he was the guy who’d called for help for him and – and …”Whit.”
“Clark….” He stopped, blew out a blast of air hard enough to lift his bangs, and started again. “I—I’m sorry, I’m sorry and I miss you, and I want us to be friends again, because anything could happen and –and. I. Don’t want to miss you forever, you know?”
Clark fought to not turn into a five year old, and start crying or hug Whit or anything embarrassing. “Okay, Whit, I feel the same way. If you want to be friends again, I’d like that.” Clark held his hand out to Whit and Whit took it gravely and shook Clark’s hand firmly.
“Good, Clark, great. Well. I’m glad we could talk, that’s good. I guess I’ll go now, speak to you tomorrow?”
He stared down in ferocious concentration as if the toes of his sneakers were completely fascinating, and swept his hand over his forehead and back in a gesture that reminded Clark of Lex.
“Yeah Whit, that’d be great.”
Clark didn’t move from the stairs, he was blocking the way and Whit stood in front of him, patiently waiting for him to move aside and suddenly Clark was in the loft, grabbing Whit and hugging him hard, lifting him off the floor and swinging him around and his breath burst out explosively against Whit’s shoulder,” Oh. God! I thought I was gonna die without you guys! I missed you so damn much!”
Whit’s eyes were squeezed shut and he hugged Clark back just as hard, and let himself be swung around, and just grinned and grinned.
Clark finally let Whit down, but kept his hands on his shoulders. A little part of him was afraid to let go, afraid that Whit might disappear, that he’d wake up and still be in his bed, and this was all a dream.
Whit just grinned back; he reached up and squeezed Clark’s hands. “It’s real.”
Clark laughed. “Whit, god. I missed you.”
He pushed Whit over to the couch, and got two juice bottles out of the mini fridge and tossed one to Whit.
Whit caught it without thought and cracked the seal, took a long drink, and launched into a long rambling tale of what had happened since the rift with Clark, ending with Lex and his problems before asking Clark, “What happened?”
Clark blushed a deep, deep red, and tried to pretend he didn’t understand Whit’s question. Damn. He’d almost forgotten that about Whit, his habit of cutting straight to the bone, not screwing around with the niceties.
“I have no idea—“
“What happened to Red, what did you do to make him go nuts,” he held up a hand to cut off Clark’s protest,” I’m not here to accuse you or blame you, I’m not talking about the fire. It’s different, he’s so …hurt, and pissed--I just want you to help me with Red, and everything in his world revolves around you so…what happened?”
Clark’s mouth opened, shut, opened, and he said, “ Whit, I know you guys think I didn’t want to help Lex—it’s not true, I really, really-- I just couldn’t. I can’t explain. I wish I could. It happened and everyday I think about it, and everyday I curse myself.” He looked into Whit’s eyes and pleaded for him to see what was there. “I love Lex, I’d never let harm come to him if I could help it, believe me please.” He looked off to the side for a moment, an unhappy twist of a smile on his face. “Besides, I really don’t think Lex’s world revolves around me.”
Whit said nothing, he just nodded and Clark hoped it was enough for him. He could tell by the little frown on his face he’d noticed Clark hadn’t actually answered his question, but he was willing to go forward, thank god.
The two talked on for a while, and finally Clark made Whit call the Ross’ and tell them he was spending the night at Clark’s.
“Well judging by the screams of glee, I’d say it’s okay for me to stay over. And that was just Bill, I can’t imagine Abigail’s reaction—“ He dodged a pillow Clark tossed.
“Ah! Now you have to be nice to me or I’ll tell Abigail what you said!”
“Jesus, Clark, don’t even make a joke about it, “ he said, clutching his cheat. “She’d kill me. You know, one of these days we’re going to slip up and call them by their first names and she’s going to kick our asses.”’
“Yup,” Clark agreed fondly, a bit selfishly thinking that now he’d be able to spend time there again.
They stretched out, Clark on the couch and Whit dropping to the floor, shoving the pillow Clark had tossed at him behind his head.”Hey Clark, why did you follow me around like that? All that time?” Whit scooted around until he could throw his feet up on the couch.
Clark looked down and frowned. “I don’t know really, it just seemed… I had to see you guys. But Lex would have killed me, so it was you. I just needed to see you. I hoped that if you kept seeing me, you’d let me talk to you eventually. Maybe get Lex to talk to me…” he grinned and blushed.
Whit snorted. “Great. Once again, I’m second best to Red. Oh well. I’m almost used to it,” he laughed as Clark shoved his feet to the side.
Clark grinned at him, and then his expression changed, the bright smile dimmed a bit and his eyes looked a little less vibrantly green, and Whit thought here it comes, something’s bothering him--
Clark glanced at him quickly before looking away again. “I don’t like Wade.”
Whit waited for him to go on for a minute, and finally asked when Clark gave no sign of speaking, “Okay, kind of out of left field, but why?”
Clark was silent and then said, “ Because he doesn’t want you, he just wants to have you.”
****************
Whit tried to tease out the difference between wanting and wanting to have. He wondered what happened to Clark that made him think about people that way. Was it the fire?
Because, as much as he loved Clark and Clark loved them, he’d never been one to worry more than about the superficial things before. If his friends seemed happy it had always been good enough for Clark before and now--
He got up and wandered around the loft, touching things like a person long gone from home and surprised to be back. He was thinking hard about his response to Clark’s question and he could see from his face that Clark worried he’d overstepped the bounds of their fledgling truce.
“It’s okay Clark,” he sighed.” I’m not in love with Wade or anything—don’t worry about me and him.”
“I can’t help but worry. I see you throwing yourself down a hole with him for no good reason.” He got up and came around to where Whit was standing.
***********
Whit turned his head and Clark was standing next to him, looking at him with those big green eyes, the picture of concern and worry.
“You should have more. You should have a lot more; you’re a good person, Whit. You’ve always been a good person.”
He stared into Whit’s eyes, and Whit stepped back. Clark stepped forward, and Whit took another step back and closed his eyes. He felt queasy, and afraid, he felt like he was a little kid again, waiting for his dad to get home from work, not knowing who was going to walk through the door, dad, or monster dad. He felt something hit the back of his knees and stopped, closed his eyes. In the darkness he felt warm breath on his mouth and he knew the second before it happened Clark was going to kiss him, but not why…
TBC tonight! This morning? Whatevah!
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This is great, so sweet.
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*Smacks him!* You don't let someone think they are second best after Lex, then tell them their current fuck isn't good enough fo them and kiss them! Hello!! Whit already has self-worth issues!
Come here, Whit! *cuddles*
You aren't second to anybody!
*kicks Clark again*
Also, I'm confused about what's going on with Wade. Didn't Lex say in the last section that Wade had left? Why is Clark concerned about him if he's gone?
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Err... because I screwed that up? Yes, because I didn't make that clear, because I knew what was going on, of course everyone else must know...Thanks. I'll take care of that in the final! *hugs*