DISCLAIMER:Once again: Smallville or Buffy are so not mine.
“Mom, Dad, you’re out working, I know, I’ll call around bedtime okay? 10 o’clock. Love you!”
Clark ended the phone call and dialed his friend Pete; he was surprised when the line wasn’t busy. One of the boy’s older brothers answered.
“House of way-too-many-people, how can I direct your call?”
“Can I speak to Pete please? It’s Clark.”
“Yo Petey! Phone. Hurry up!”
“Hey.”
“Hey it’s me.”
“Hey man, what’s up?”
“I’m doing okay Pete, what about you?”
“I file, I fax, I fetch coffee, I take notes. This just might be the most uneventful summer in the history of me.”
“That sucks.”
“I’m not getting paid.”
“Ouch!”
“Yeah, I get an allowance, but it’s like 10 dollars more than I get during the school year. So what are you doing over there?”
“Working construction.”
“How’s that?”
“I really like it.”
“And I bet they’re paying you and everything…”
“Yeah, they are.”
“How much? Come on, tell me so I can tell my mother.”
“13 dollars an hour.”
“Oh, ow. My heart.”
“Sorry.”
“You have all the luck.”
“So, how’s everyone else?”
“If by everyone you mean Lana and Lex, they’re both fine.”
“Pete-“
“Here’s all I know, Lana’s being seen around town again but she’s not running the Talon. I see Lex driving and talking on his cell phone, I don’t know why the man is still here after what he did, but he is. That’s all I know and now it’s out of the way.”
“Pete-“ Clark warned. He didn’t want to go there. He needed to change the subject.
“Ask me about my love life.”
“What about your love life?”
“It might just be heating up very soon. There’s this intern at the courthouse, and mama mia, is she the finest thing I have ever seen. She smiles at me a lot, walks past my desk… She even held the elevator door for me once.” He said the last part conspiratorily.
“What’s her name?”
“Sara, I think. She digs me, I can tell.”
“Sara; you think.”
“Ah, yeah. Could be love. So, what about you? Sexy California girl caught your eye yet? I mean, if you can’t get together with Chloe, and the girl you’ve been obsessed with forever doesn’t do it for you anymore, that means you’re free right?”
“There are these three girls…”
“I hate you.”
“No, no, I mean they’re good looking and all, but we just hang out.”
“When can I visit?”
“Any long weekend.”
“I’ll beg my mom. Were the bus tickets expensive?”
“I would say they’re reasonably priced, but I’ve been on that ride and I don’t know why anyone would knowingly put themselves through that.”
“I’ll see what I can do. Look Clark, there’s a line forming behind me to use the phone, and since I want to live to see you again, I got to hang up.”
“Okay. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Bye.”
There was one more phone call to make, one he both wanted, and dreaded to make. He was going to call Chloe Sullivan. He thought he had left things well between them, but he wasn’t 100% sure. He had deserted her at the prom to go after Lana, and although he had gotten back to her eventually, she had been deeply hurt.
It had taken him 5 days to make it up to her. Dinners, pick-nicks, movies, mix tapes, long walks and long talks. Still, she was leaving, very possibly for good, and there was so much left unsaid between them. There were moments when he could swear she knew, and was going to say something. There were moments when he wanted to confess more than anything. They had parted ways with a kiss and a promise to keep in touch. Nothing more, nothing less.
The receptionist at the Daily Planet startled Clark out of his reverie.
“Yes? Yes. I mean… Can I please speak to Chloe Sullivan?”
“I apologize, to whom do you wish to speak?”
“Chloe Sullivan, she’s interning this summer.”
“I will page her, hold please.”
Clark hummed along with the classic song while waiting for Chloe to pick up. It took 2 minutes; she sounded out of breath, and very much giddy.
“Hello, this is Chloe Sullivan.”
“Chlo! It’s me, Clark.”
“Clark, oh my God, thanks for calling! I got my very first page. It was so cool! My name was blasted over the intercom so loud the people next door could have heard it.”
“Were you running?”
“Yeah, everyone was using their phone, it took me forever to find one!”
“You don’t have a phone?”
“I don’t have a desk, or a phone, or a first name here, actually.”
“And that’s a good thing?”
“It’s a great thing Clark! I run around, meet everyone, I can learn about their jobs. Best of all, every time they send me to get coffee, I can get one for myself.”
“That sounds like you.”
“Oh, you have to get tomorrow’s edition if you can okay? I’m going to be listed in four different places. I know no one reads the credits but it is so exciting!”
“Wow Chloe. That is so great!”
“I’ll be listed under ‘intern’ of course, then in two ‘additional research by’ columns and get this one: I designed a new layout for the Arts and Leisure front page, and they liked it.”
“You’re amazing!”
“I don’t know about that, but I really love it here.”
“I’m so glad.”
“Perry White said I was spunky, and not in an annoying way!”
“That’s good?”
“Yeah, he’s a no-nonsense kind of guy, doesn’t give out compliments, complains a lot; I love him! So, planning on visiting Metropolis?”
“Um. I hadn’t thought of that… Yeah, I could try to make it… maybe in early August I’ll-“ He was glad she cut him off because he was about to think aloud that he might be able to rent a hotel room and he didn’t want her getting the wrong idea. Not that the idea would be so wrong, it’s just that he loved Chloe, and didn’t want to hurt her mentally, or physically.
“Oh, yes of course this is your desk. I was just hanging up… Urgent call you know. They paged me.” Clark could practically hear her smiling through the phone. She was one tough cookie. She had gone through so much in her young life, and managed to cope quite well.
“Bye Chlo.”
“Stay in touch Kent, I mean it!”
Well, everyone in his life seemed busy. Now all he had to figure out was what in the world people wore to clubs…
“Dawn, you’re so not widdling!”
“Am too.”
“No you’re not, you’ve had the same stake for half an hour.” Buffy chastised.
The two Summers were alone in the Magic Box, light music playing in the background.
“My hands hurt.”
“Than work faster. I want to get this done so we don’t have to do this again until Christmas.”
“It’s not fair, I’m here blistering and cramping and Willow and Xander didn’t have to stay!”
“That’s because Willow wanted to rest and Xander wanted to change into something less sweaty for later.”
“Why? What’s going on later, are we all patrolling?”
“No. We’re going out.”
“Oh,” she said sadly.
“So… Anya didn’t show up this morning.”
“Nope. I did okay though, I am pretty good at this retail stuff.”
“Better than me I’m sure. It’s just I noticed you were alone with Willow until I got here. Are you okay with that?”
“Look, I don’t want to talk about it, Buffy. I can deal. I miss Tara, I miss Mom, I even miss Spike and Dad and Angel sometimes. Yes, I was so scared for a minute there, you know I was, but I don’t want to miss Willow too. I’ve looked into her eyes Buffy, she’s going to be okay. I know she is.”
“I believe that too.”
Anya appeared out of thin air and walked over to her register.
“Don’t mind me girls, I’m just here for the inventory.”
“I put a list of the items we sold with your mail. There’s also a copy of every receipt. We did well today, with Midsummer coming up and all.” Dawn smiled at the approval in Anya’s eyes.
“You know, you haven’t been a complete failure with money, Dawnie. I’m not going to fire you this week,” replied the blonde, looking over the figures.
“Thanks Anya.”
Buffy and Dawn continued widdling stakes and tossing them in the weapon’s chest behind them.
Anya started washing down the counter and talking to herself… pretty darn loudly.
“You know I come in here, I’ve practically been invisible for weeks, I complement Dawn and I don’t even get a ‘how’ve you been Anya?’; ‘how was work Anya?’; ‘that top matches your shoes beautifully Anya; ‘tell us about the latest demon gossip… I work and work and work to integrate myself, to-“
Buffy and Dawn looked at each other and tiredly repeated word for word:
“How’ve you been Anya? How was work Anya? That top matches you’re shoes beautifully Anya! Tell us about the latest demon gossip.”
“I’m glad you asked!” The vengeance demon perked up. She pulled up a chair between them and took a seat. “I’ve been holding up. Going back to my job has really been hard on me. Xander was brave enough to save the World, but not brave enough to marry me… No one understands! I share my hurt but I believe only fellow women can truly grasp the throbbing, never-ending pain I am in.”
Dawn took her hand while she shed a few tears.
“I have Advil.” Buffy offered. She liked Anya, but she was Xander’s friend. She felt horrible for her, but Buffy had her own stuff to deal with. Anya just kept on talking…
“I’ve been working non stop, and it’s been really therapeutic. That and catching up on what’s going on with what. The other day, I actually heard someone say there was another ensouled vampire running around. Isn’t that funny? The things people will say! And you will never guess who has been promoted to Power!”
“How can we guess Anya, we don’t know anybody?” Asked the younger sister.
“But you know her. It’s Cordelia.”
“WHAT!?!?!?!?!” Both Buffy and Dawn yelled in surprise.
“Yes. See The Powers that Be had been hoping to fill a few voids for years now but every time they tested someone, the person would fail.”
“So they lowered their standards?” Quipped the slayer.
“No. It was done way faster than usual but she past all her tests.”
“Are you serious?”
“As a heart attack. They offered her a way out of her life and into the life she always wanted, she didn’t take it. They made her a demon. They gave her more power than a Hellgod and it didn’t faze her at all, used it only for good. Isn’t that wild? That must mean miracles do happen, don’t’cha think? Means there’s hope for all of us?”
“I guess so.” Dawn whispered.
“I will have heard everything,” said Buffy; jaw still hanging open.
“Oh yeah, it’s a very big deal, everyone’s talking about it. She’s definitely not the same girl who wished you’d never come to town.”
“What?” Dawn interrupted.
“The wish that started all this with me. My power source got crushed and I turned human. I thought my life was over.”
“What happened if Buffy never made it here?”
“Bad things, very bad and nasty things.” Anya shuddered, glad that when her power source was broken she didn’t remain in that Wish-verse.
“Last I saw her she was working for Angel,” Buffy said confused, still thinking of the former cheerleading May-Queen with the big mouth.
“Oh! Buffy? This girl left a message; her name is Fred. She said she works with Angel and that we should call if we ever hear from him or Cordelia.”
“Not going to hear from Cordelia, that’s for sure.”
Buffy finished the last stake and she and Dawn cleaned up.
“Anya, we’re going to the Bronze with Xander and his friend-“
“He has a friend? He has a FRIEND??” Exclaimed the distressed woman.
“No, not that kind of friend, a boy friend.”
“A BOYFRIEND?” She shrieked and changed into her demon face.
“We mean a guy from work, Anya. You can come too,” Buffy placated.
“Wouldn’t dream of intruding.” They saw the hurt in her eyes and didn’t talk her out of it. She turned away from them and disappeared.
“You can’t go out like that Dawn, we’re going to have to stop home after our first sweep.”
“Shut. Up.”
“What did I do?”
“I can go?”
“Yes, we’re all going.”
“I can go to the Bronze when I’m not the prisoner of a leather face demon who wants to make me his queen?”
“Yes.”
“YES!”
Here's my e-mail address; again.
