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 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."

[shortofcrazy]

Riley laughs. "What, no X-Men came out of it or anything?"

[torch-reporter.livejournal.com]

"What?" It takes Chloe a minute to realize what he's talking about and think of the best way to protect Clark's identity. "Maybe. I mean, it's Smallville. You never know."

[shortofcrazy]

He grins; says a cheerful, "Right," and pushes his glasses back up his nose, digging into his dinner. Chewing: "That'd be pretty cool, though."

[torch-reporter.livejournal.com]

"Thanksgiving. I promise, I'll talk you on a tour of all the meteor freak hotspots."

It's said so cheerfully and so normally.

[shortofcrazy]

Riley smiles and gives her a thumbs up, french fry and all. "I'm looking forward to it."

So very normal, they are.

Normal enough to spend the next couple of hours over their meal, talking and laughing (and occasionally kicking under the table, though that's more one of them than the other), and to hold hands afterward, swinging their arms, as they head upstairs.

This is, Riley thinks, pretty much the best Valentine's Day he's ever had.