Just a Birthday

by a campbell

Lana Lang/Lex Luthor, PG

Spoiler for Craving

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The filmy blue fabric of Lana’s party dress felt soft under her hands as she wrapped her arms around herself in the cool evening air. Japanese lanterns winked at her through the burning blur of tears threatening to spill over and down her cheeks.

There was no feeling in the world quite like being stood up. It was awful, however oddly inevitable the rejection might seem, because you always had this voice in your head and heart telling you it really shouldn’t bother you as much as it did. Tonight, the voice was lecturing her repeatedly that she should have expected it. After all, it was Clark Kent, and didn’t Clark have a history of not following through on promises made? It wasn’t as though the pattern hadn’t already been established. But when someone offered to be there to keep you company for an event you were mildly dreading, and you accepted, and then they didn’t show up, it left you feeling as though you had a hole the size of Crater Lake in your chest. As though you were being deliberately played for a fool. Cruel, really, though day-to-day Clark Kent seemed like the sweetest person ever. Made each one of those promises with what looked like complete sincerity and broke them every time. She couldn’t figure Clark out, but regardless, it didn’t make her feel any better.

The lyrics of one of those oldies they played on the Metropolis station late at night thrummed in her mind. A song she could remember her mom singing long ago as she washed supper dishes. It’s my party, and I’ll cry if I want to...You would cry too if it happened to you.

Always, she’d been able to relate to the singer of that song. Everyone expected her to be having fun at her sixteenth birthday party, and here she was, on the balcony alone and near tears.

Shouldn’t turning sweet sixteen by all rights be the best for every girl? Though Lana had tried to tell herself all along that no annual celebration could live up to the memories she cherished of that long-ago third birthday at the drive-in with Mom and Dad. And trying to convince herself beforehand that she didn’t really care this year should have hardened her, but still…

Now it hurt. Next time Clark offered to “escort” her anywhere, she knew what her answer would be. If Whitney couldn’t be there for her, she’d just plan to go it alone.

The balcony door opened behind her. She heard footsteps but didn’t turn around

“Sneaking out, huh? Isn’t this your shindig?”

Lex. Back early from Metropolis. And she really didn’t want company right now. Just wanted to be alone in her discontent.

Thanks for reminding me, she thought. Her second thought was, Does he think I’m a coward?

She told herself, not quite meaning it, that she didn’t really care if he did. What he thought.

What she said was quite different, and she didn’t know what to blame it on except that she didn’t have that much to lose tonight.

“You know, Lex, you were right when you said you didn’t make a great impression, that day at the penthouse pool.”

His brows lifted only slightly as he leaned against the balcony rail. “That doesn’t surprise me.”

“But since I’ve gotten to know you better, I think maybe I was wrong. I think we’re going to be good friends.”

Lex rarely tipped his hand, but he smiled at that. And Lana was surprised to realize that she meant what she said. He was understanding, sympathetic, funny. Had an effective way of grounding her when she got too serious. Though she still didn’t trust him completely, she was almost willing to give him a chance. And, now with his tales of hanging out in the coatroom barely out of toddlerhood, he almost made her smile and forget that Clark still hadn’t shown up.

Lana shrugged. “Still waiting for my reinforcements.” It hurt less thinking of Clark’s proposed function in military terms.

“We all have to do things we don’t want to do,” he was saying, “Sometimes you just have to rise to the challenge.” His voice had dropped to a low pitch, intimate and velvet-soft. “I’d have thought Lana Lang was brave enough for that.”

His tone sent a small thrill through her, a whispering promise of something dangerous and exciting, unlike anything she’d ever felt around Whitney or Clark. Lex stepped closer to her, looked down with a half smile, made a quiet sound under his breath. He lifted a hand and let a gentle fingertip trail down her cheek, then laid a gentle hand on her wrist to draw her closer.

She looked up, troubled, yet her gaze locked with his. She cuddled herself tighter in the cool evening air and waited.

With both hands, he loosened her grip and slid his own arms around her waist. He put his finger and thumb under her chin and tipped up her mouth, and her eyes seemed to drop closed of their own accord. In a moment she felt lips touch hers. Tensed, then let herself relax into the warmth of the kiss, which was practiced and smooth, and on a whole different level than one from Whitney. Lex tightened his embrace, and Lana melted against him when she felt the probe of his tongue in her mouth.

When he pulled away a moment later, she was almost disappointed. He brushed back her hair and, with a small smile, released her and stepped back. When he spoke, his voice was warm and soft.

“I know Clark.”

She shook her head, still half-dazed. “I didn’t ask him to be here. He offered.” She wasn’t sure why she felt bound to insist.

“I know. He’ll be here. If he can.”

And somehow, she believed him. The hurt, the anger, faded almost at once. She tried to still her breathing.

“But till he arrives, I’ll be your escort.” He crooked his arm and held it out. “We’ll see it through together.” He looked at the door and turned to her with a grin.

Lana hesitated for a moment, then smiled and nodded as she took his arm.

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