Puddle Adventures

By Bethy bethyem@yahoo.com

Rated G

Submitted May 2001

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This is just a little piece of fluff, inspired by all the rain (and, naturally, puddles) we got last spring and the...'adventures' ;-) I had with them. The characters don't belong to me, but the idea does, to the extent that an idea can belong to anyone... Never mind, I'm sure you got the point. <g> Thanks to everyone who gave comments on Zoom's boards and elsewhere. Comments and constructive criticism welcome at bethyem@yahoo.com.

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"Thanks, Clark. That triple chocolate cheesecake really hit the spot." Lois smiled up at Clark, her arm encircling his waist, his arm resting gently on her shoulders. They had just finished dinner and dessert. When the waiter had asked if they were interested in seeing the dessert menu Lois had replied, "Only if it's full of chocolate." As it was -- there was even a complete 'chocoholic' section -- they had splurged and pigged out.

"Oh," Lois groaned slightly. "Well, it hit the spot, but now the spot's hitting back!" Clark just grinned, knowing she would hear his unspoken, "I told you so!"

The rain that had pounded on the roof during dinner, adding to the cozy feel in the restaurant, was now finished and the night was cool, so the couple decided to walk home.

"You know, it was kinda nice to have a normal date. No work interrupting. No psychopaths trying to kidnap/kill/exact revenge upon us. No 'videos' for you to return. Yup, it was nice." Lois snuggled a little closer under Clark's arm, enjoying the peace she felt with him. A peace that remained relatively consistent lately -- except when he ran off, of course. She really was going to have to confront him about that again soon. But not tonight. Tonight things were just perfect, and she for one was not going to do anything to ruin that.

Clark felt Lois move closer and sighed with contentment. He, too, thought this night had been as close to perfect as they had experienced so far. He knew he was blessed not to have had an 'emergency.' He didn't know how long that would last, but was willing to take what he could get for the time being. He would tell her about his other job. . .later. Right now, he just wanted to enjoy being with Lois.

He felt a slight pressure against his side as Lois steered him over to avoid stepping straight into a large puddle. Seeing her careful evasion, as well as the glint of the water under the street lamp, Clark's face took on a mischievous expression. Lois didn't notice, busy as she was with her monologue. Clark looked ahead to see what lay in store on this path. Ahh, yes, perfect. He kept walking, nonchalantly steering Lois to the other side of him.

"I think I should get that recipe. I could make it, right? Clark? What do you think? Should I try and get it?"

"Wha--? Oh, yeah. Sure. And, you know, if you have trouble with it, I could always come over and give you a cooking lesson." Clark had trouble keeping his mind on what Lois was saying, but grinned at the thought of how a 'cooking lesson' would surely turn out.

"Oh, yeah, right. You know how those always work. I screw something up in the beginning and you have to kiss me to cheer me up. Or everything's going great and you kiss me in celebration. Then we forget about the food, and it burns, and the smoke alarm goes off. You fix it, and kiss me again to cheer me up." As Lois continued, she began to see the merits of this idea. "You know what? I think a cooking lesson is a *great* idea. Why don't we do it tomorrow, okay?"

"Tomorrow sounds great." They split apart for a moment to go on opposite sides of a large puddle in the middle of the sidewalk and Clark saw his perfect opportunity.

SPLASH!

All of sudden, his foot came up and then down, stomping directly in the deep puddle, spraying water up all over himself and Lois. Especially Lois.

"Wha--? Clark! Why--?" Lois spluttered in surprise. She wiped her now wet hair away from her face and turned to face Clark indignantly. At the sight of his wet clothing and the impish grin on his face, her attitude changed.

"Oh, so that's the way you want to play it. Okay, two can play at this game," she muttered under her breath, not realizing that his superhearing enabled him to hear every word she said.

They continued walking and Lois seemed to forget the whole incident. Clark was a bit disappointed -- he had hoped he would get more of a rise out of her than a single muttered threat. Then Lois saw her chance. Not about to be outdone, she took a flying leap and landed with both feet in the puddle right next to Clark. Water flew everywhere -- on him, on her, on the few passing cars. She shook her head and turned her own impish grin up towards Clark.

"Your turn," she said, her voice as sweet and innocent as she could muster under the circumstances -- when all she wanted to do was laugh. Clark's clothes were sodden and his glasses splattered with droplets.

Intently, Clark advanced. Abruptly, he stopped, drew his foot back and kicked at an invisible something directly under the water. Rainwater cascaded up around them, coming down with sequential splashes.

"So we're playing dirty now, are we?" Joy belying the harshness of her words, Lois spoke plenty loud enough for Clark to hear this time.

"You got it!" Laughing, he ran ahead towards the next puddle. Arriving ahead of Lois, he turned to catch her as she barreled towards him. He picked her up, swung her around, and set her down with a large 'sploosh' in the middle of the puddle.

"You look a bit damp, Lois. How did that happen?" he asked her with an expression of complete innocence.

"Oooh, you. . .you. . ." Lois's voice died as she broke out in laughter at the angelic picture she saw. Her boyfriend (boyfriend! How good it felt to finally acknowledge that!), standing in front of her, soaking wet, a bit bedraggled, but absolutely gorgeous. She slugged him lightly in the shoulder.

"Okay, you win. Truce?" He nodded and they set off again, their arms wrapped around each other once more. As they passed the next puddle, however, Lois couldn't resist a small sweep with her foot. . .

The End

Once again, comments welcome at bethyem@yahoo.com. Let me know what you thought! :-)

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