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

[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."

[torch-reporter.livejournal.com]

"October. So there's still Thanksgiving and Christmas, cause...well, you are coming to Thanksgiving, right?"

Chloe finally takes a sip of the wine and looks at him hopefully.

"Mrs. Kent makes amazing pie."

[shortofcrazy]

Mrs. Kent. As in Tall Dark and Handsome Kent? Great.

But if Chloe wants him to go, he'll go and he'll probably even have a good time. "I am all about the pie. As long as you come back with me sometime and come to Maryland."

[torch-reporter.livejournal.com]

Clark is her best friend, after all. And the Kents are like family anyway.

"You can count on it," Chloe says, taking another sip of the wine. Then: "Hey, aren't you like, still in June or something?"

Oh Milliways.

[shortofcrazy]

"May," says Riley, wryly. "Apparently, it's been, like eight months here, and not even one for me."

[torch-reporter.livejournal.com]

"That," Chloe begins, shaking her head, "is stranger than anything I can think of back from Smallville. And that's saying a lot."

What's even stranger, she sort of thinks, is the fact that she's in love with someone not even from her own dimension or whatever it is you want to call it.

But somehow, it's sort of fitting too.

[shortofcrazy]

"Come on," Riley says, laughing, as the waitrat appears with their meals. He pulls his plate in front of him. "That can't possibly be weirder than mutant frogs and that -- what was it, Superboy or something? He caught the guy who stole your laptop?"

[torch-reporter.livejournal.com]

"Superboy. Yeah."

It's said weakly, mostly because Chloe realizes now that Eric had Clark's powers then. He had stolen them through a transfer of lightning and meteor rocks (Clark had tried to explain it once) and...


...and Riley's totally forgetting that she's considering this weirder than her best friend being an alien.

"He went crazy and wound up in Belle Reeve. Escaped a few years later, but eventually wound up back in there."

[shortofcrazy]

"I don't know what Belle Reeve is," Riley says, gesturing with a french fry before he pops it in his mouth. "Sucks for him, though."

[torch-reporter.livejournal.com]

"Mental institute," Chloe answers, taking another sip of her wine. "Usually the crazier meteor freaks wind up there after a while."

[shortofcrazy]

"Aren't they all kinda crazy?" he asks, carefully tucking his card away at the edge of the table, far from where food or drink could possibly land on it.

[torch-reporter.livejournal.com]

"Not all of them," Chloe says with a shrug. She takes a bite of her hamburger and chews slowly. "Okay, so most of them just want to stalk, kill, or do who knows what, but there's still a small percentage that are just your run of the mill mutants."