Superman: Dawnbreaker (DC Icons #4)(44)

“Okay.”

She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. A few seconds later, she tried again. “I shouldn’t have taken that tone with you last night. When I brought up Gloria. It probably sounded like I was mocking you. And that wasn’t cool. And it caused you to run away. Literally.”

“When we were leaving the diner?” Now Clark understood. “That wasn’t it, Lana. Honestly.” Clark paused, trying to figure out how to explain his hasty departure. He couldn’t exactly tell her the truth. “Watching Sheldon yell at our server like that…It messed me up, I think. I kept replaying it in my head the rest of the night, trying to figure out if I could’ve done more.”

Lana nodded. “I get it,” she said. “Still, I apologize. I didn’t mean it to come out that way. I was just surprised to hear about Gloria from Bryan and Lex. You usually tell me stuff first, and…Listen, if you like someone, it’s cool. Okay? And you can talk to me about her whenever you want. I won’t get upset or anything.”

“Thanks,” he said, shoving his hands into his pockets. It was awkward talking about how this kind of conversation shouldn’t be awkward. “Same goes for you, too.”

Lana grinned. “So are you going to ask her out or what?”

“Who, Gloria?”

“Yes, Gloria!” Lana play-punched him in the arm. “C’mon, Clark, don’t be so serious all the time. Look, we don’t have to talk about her if you’re not ready.”

He rubbed the back of his neck, feeling self-conscious. “No, we can.”

“I’m saying, though—we don’t have to.”

Clark shifted in his chair. It was true. Growing up, they’d confided in each other about everything from school bullies to cow tipping to dealing with the expectations of their parents. This was the first time they were actually agreeing to not talk about something. And he didn’t know how he felt about it.

“So, is everything okay, then?” he asked. “Between us, I mean?”

Lana chuckled. “I think things will always be okay between us, Clark. That’s what I’m beginning to realize. Until they’re not. Know what I mean? And even then they’ll probably still be okay.”

Clark shook his head, smiling. It was such a Lana thing to say.

He stood up and went to the window when he saw Montgomery Mankins and his associate heading back toward the fancy black car. “Check it out,” he whispered to Lana. A driver walked around toward the rear passenger door, preparing to open it. But before he got there, Montgomery slammed the hood of the car as hard as he could.

“Whoa, temper tantrum, anyone?” Lana said quietly.

“Weird,” Clark whispered. “He seemed okay about my folks not selling when they were all sitting at the dining room table.”

They watched Montgomery angrily clenching and unclenching his fist. He pointed at the driver and barked, “Open the goddamn door!”

The driver opened it, but before Montgomery climbed inside, he turned and looked out over the farm one last time. Then he got into the car, and the driver shut the door. His associate got in by himself on the other side. Alone, the driver wiped a hand down his face, then returned to the front.

As the car pulled out of the driveway and moved down the county road toward the highway, Clark turned to Lana. “What was that all about?”

She shrugged. “When we interviewed him in his office, he seemed like such a cool customer, like he couldn’t even get mad if he tried.”

“I guess now we see where Corey gets it from.”

“You mean my boyfriend?” Lana said.

Clark grinned. “Exactly.”

Lana looked out the window to where the car had pulled down the driveway, leaving a thin layer of dust hovering in the air. She turned to Clark and said, “Now that we got our little talk out of the way, it’s on to the next order of business. We just have to figure out what that is.”

Clark held up his phone for Lana to see. “I think it’s time for me to text Bryan about Dr. Wesley’s secret lab,” he said. “I’m going to take him up on that little behind-the-scenes tour he offered.”

Lana smiled. “I like how you think, Clark.”

He unlocked his phone and texted Bryan to see if they could visit the lab that night. It took Bryan less than a minute to hit him back:

Just finishing up a workout. Me and Lex can swing by at 8.

Clark wrote back Cool, then held up his phone so Lana could read the exchange.





Just after dark, Clark finally heard the distant honking sound he’d been waiting for. He grabbed his backpack and made for his bedroom door, only to be cut off by his mom. “Your new friends?” she asked.

Clark nodded. “We’re gonna hang out, maybe grab something to eat.”

“They can use the driveway, you know.”

“I think Lex is worried about his car getting dusty. You’ve seen what he drives, right?”

“Oh, we’ve all seen what he drives,” Martha said, unimpressed. “Clark, before you go…” She held up the tattered, shredded remains of his jacket from the night before. “I found this in the kitchen trash this morning. You’ve got to stop doing this, son.”

Clark cringed. There was nothing he hated more than disappointing his mom. “I know. I’m really sorry about that.”