OOM: Small table in Milliways

[torched_reporter]

There is something to be said about the sort of place where you can wind up celebrating a holiday months before you otherwise would back home. Not that this day of 'omg love and romance' is Chloe's favorite holiday or anything like that. Far from it; all those Valentine's Days in the past had been, well, very sucky as she would watch Clark moon over Lana yet again.

But right now, Chloe Sullivan is optimistic. Optimistic that today is going to set forth a new trend, one filled of non-sucky Valentine's Days from here on out. So, she's dressed nicely today, wearing a pretty pink (even if she hates pink) blouse and a brown courdary skirt, putting in the extra effort to make her hair more wavy than normal today too.

No, really, she's not trying to impress him. Seriously! Come on, like she'd ever do a thing like that.

But right now, she is sitting at a small table, playing with an envelope in her hands as she waits for Riley to show up.

Hopefully, he'll show up soon.

Comments

[shortofcrazy]

Riley pauses with the card half-open. "So? We're paying for renting the room, not for utilities."

Beat.

"Wait, I was the last one up there, anyway."

[torch-reporter.livejournal.com]

Okay, bad move there, Sullivan. Mentally, Chloe berates herself; you'd think she'd know better. Coming up with last minute excuses was always one of her strong points. It had to be, what with all the times she's snuck unauthorized sections of the Smallville Medical Center or other places she wasn't exactly supposed to be at.

"It doesn't hurt to double check?" Chloe suggests with a weak smile.

[shortofcrazy]

Riley knows her. She's trying to escape, for some reason or another. He could argue this.

Or he could just shrink down in his seat and hook his sneaker under the crossbar of her chair, so she can't push it back from the table.

Guess which one he does!

Here's a hint: he smugly says nothing and flips the card open all the way.

[torch-reporter.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, I'll be right back," she says and tries to push her chair away from the table.

Only to find it stuck -- as he opens the card and






and she takes a deep breath, trying to keep her face as level as she can.

[shortofcrazy]

Riley is an excellent poker player.

He really doesn't have much of a poker face, though, and that becomes starkly apparent as he reads the note.

He grins at, I've probably come up with some lame excuse to go powder my nose instead. As he reads on, though, his smile slowly fades, to be replaced by concentration, and a sort of -- silent wonder.

By the time he gets to You've been worth the wait all those years I couldn't get back to Milliways, he wants to look at her but his eyes are glued; he can't stop reading.

And he's glad he doesn't.

And I think I love you.

He smooths his thumb over the card once, and he looks up. That wonder is still there--he's still stunned, sometimes, that she's with him--but it's accompanied by a smile.

This is not any sort of smile.

It is one that starts out small and honest and rapidly becomes an enormous ear-to-ear beaming smile.

"You--" he starts, but he has to stop and try again. "I don't know how I got so lucky, Chloe, but I did, and--" He reaches for her hand over the tabletop. "I know I love you."

[torch-reporter.livejournal.com]

"I know it's lame and--"

I know I love you.





At some point (to Chloe, it seems like eons after she had shut up at his words), she takes in a shaky breath and blinks back tears.

She...she couldn't have heard that correctly, right? After all, she's the sidekick - the best friend and no one...

I know I love you.

...no one's ever said those words to her like that before.

The beginnings of a smile appear on her face and she looks up at him, still hesitant and not even fully aware of his hand on hers.

"Really?"

[shortofcrazy]

"I've been in love with you for ages," he says, and there's no doubting his eyes, steady and warm and so blue behind his glasses.

Beat.

He tips his head to one side. "Since before it was entirely legal, but -- yeah." He smiles at her. "Really."

[torch-reporter.livejournal.com]

The hesitant grin becames a full grown beam and Chloe laughs and smiles even more.

He loves her.

It's silly and girlish and it's Valentine's Day, but he loves her.

Riley Poole loves her, Chloe Sullivan. Right now, in her eyes, he's as much of a superhero as Clark. Just cause of that.

"I guess it's my turn to try with the vocalizations, isn't it?" There's another glance down at the table before she looks back up at him, meeting his eyes. "You're probably - actually, you are one of the best things that ever happened to me. And I love you."

[shortofcrazy]

His smile is so bright as to be dangerously near dazzling, and he's silent, letting that wash over him.

"And I love you."

He lifts her hand and kisses it. It's clumsy and unpracticed, as he isn't typically given to random acts of gallantry, but the feeling is real.

"You're the best, Chloe Sullivan."

[torch-reporter.livejournal.com]

She doesn't care about the clumsy kiss because it's a kiss from him (her lover because that word just finally seems right to use) and she's happy.

Happier than she's ever been in a long time and it shows -- the typically eloquent (or at least boisterous) reporter is at a lack of words.

So, Chloe smiles and laughs once more before the waitrat comes over with their wine.

[shortofcrazy]

"Thank you, my man," says Riley, taking one glass for himself and another for Chloe. He looks to her, hand still holding hers. "You want to get something to eat?"

[torch-reporter.livejournal.com]

Good, a reason to use words again. Chloe needs that (because she is just content to sit there all night staring at him) and she nods, giving Riley's hand a squeeze.

To Riley, "Okay, I'm totally going to go ahead and clash with tonight's theme of romance now and not go with anything fancy."

Hope you don't mind.

To the waitrat, "Cheeseburger and fries?"

[shortofcrazy]

Ohthankgod. "Make that two," says Riley, and the rat chitters and goes skittering off. He looks back to Chloe. "Okay, so -- I have something for you." He has the grace to look sheepish. "I feel kind of lame now, though, because yours was so awesome."

[torch-reporter.livejournal.com]

She's so not blushing agian. She's so not blushing again. She's so not -- okay, so she's blushing again.

"Riley, you didn't have to get me anything."

[shortofcrazy]

"What kind of guy do you think I am?" he says. "Only idiots and assholes don't get their girlfriend something on Valentine's Day." He shifts, turns around to make sure whatever it is that he has is still on the chair. It is, and still looking sheepish, he pulls it out from behind him and holds it out to Chloe.

"Happy Valentine's Day."

It's a white stuffed bear, impossibly soft and plushy. There is a red ribbon (tied painstakingly into a bow) around its neck, and it holds a plush heart between its paws.

In a very, very careful hand (which says a lot, considering just how messy a certain someone's handwriting is), on the heart, someone has painted,

'010010000110000101110000011100000111100100100000010101100110000101101100011001010110111001110100011010010110111001100101001001110111001100100000010001000110000101111001.'

[torch-reporter.livejournal.com]

"The best kind?" Chloe quickly gets in before looking at the bear and grinning.

She's never been one for stuffed animals (except for Binky, the stuffed horse Clark and Pete won her at the state fair years ago) but this one's adorable.

Especially that heart.

With a giggle, Chloe takes the bear from Riley and looks him over, eyeing the binary code in particular. "Okay, so I know you've taught me a lot about hacking and everything, but I don't know how to read this."

[shortofcrazy]

He grins. A giggle; that can't be bad, right? "I didn't expect you to have ASCII memorized." Though Riley does. "It says 'Happy Valentine's Day.'" He shrugs with a half-smile. "Seemed to be the most appropriate."

[torch-reporter.livejournal.com]

"You're such a geek, Riley Poole. I love it," she answers before placing the bear on an empty seat and leaning over the table to kiss him properly.

Because after the last few minutes, he definately deserves a proper kiss.

[shortofcrazy]

Riley grins and--mindful of the wine glasses--meets her halfway, returning the kiss with a hand cradling the back of her head.

[torch-reporter.livejournal.com]

Okay, kissing a guy who's actually admiting to loving you? Is probably the best thing ever.

But as much as she's enjoying it, a part of Chloe is wary of the wine glasses on the table and breaks it off before getting too caught up in it.

"Wow. Talk about your wonderboys."

[shortofcrazy]

Riley grins and his ears have just a tinge of red. He picks up his glass. "To wonderboys and wondergirls," he says, and then he smiles. "And to you."

[torch-reporter.livejournal.com]

Chloe holds up her glass and clinks it gently against his.

"And you," she adds in softly. "And hopefully many more of these non-sucky Valentine's Days to come."

[shortofcrazy]

He'll remember that you're supposed to actually drink the wine, in a minute or two. Maybe.

Riley's smile softens. "To non-sucky Valentine's Days with you."

[torch-reporter.livejournal.com]

"From here on it. A new tradition and all that," Chloe chimes in, still grinning at him.

"I can't wait for Valentine's Day back home now."

[shortofcrazy]

"Yeah," he says, grinning back. "What month is it in Smallville, anyway? I mean, if we do things like that, there'll be, like, three a year."