Don't Worry Darling || Clark Kent [1]

03| Opportunities

As she skimmed through her colleague's own stories Irene's mouth practically fell open at the sight of hers being placed in a prominent column of the paper, with one of Jimmy's pictures taking up its own generous space. A flicker of hope sparked within her, one that she knew she had to extinguish as it could really mean nothing and was only a result of the lack of stories for the day. But as she continued to read through her story she realized that it was published untouched, that Perry hadn't made any changes to her piece. Before Irene could think on the fact too deeply Cat Grant loudly took a seat a her desk, clearly wanting to make her arrival known.

"Good morning Irene." Cat greeted as she took her seat on the desk across from Irene's, she had the same bright and carefree smile on her face that she always did. It always seemed like Cat Grant never had a bad day in her life as she always went on in life without a care in the world. At least that's the way it seemed to Irene as she really didn't know much about Cat's personal life other than the fact that it seemed perfect.

"Good morning Cat." Irene replied retuning her smile before putting the paper down and changing her focus to her computer screen that was currently showing a long list of emails that needed her attention. She intended to answer some emails before their morning meeting, but she stole another glance at Cat who was adjusting some of the items on her desk getting ready to work. The two women had a routine of having friendly conversations during work hours and never going into anything that was too personal. It was a routine that Irene enjoyed as she didn't really feel comfortable sharing personal information with others but after years curiosity was getting the best of her. "I just have to ask. Why are you always late?"

"I had a long night." Cat stated suggestively as she raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow. Irene was very aware that Cat enjoyed her nights out in the company of various men, or at least Cat had told her as much multiple times before. Yet, there were some things that didn't make sense and there was simply no way the Cat went out every night. Not when she was as hard working as every reporter at the Planet.

"I highly doubt you're always late because of some long night." Irene countered immediately knowing that couldn't be the case at all. Perry was extremely strict with all his writers and one had to have a perfectly crafted excuse to really do anything that he hadn't ordered or assigned. Cat being late everyday had to come with an amazing excuse for Perry not even blink an eye when Cat was an hour late everyday. "You have to have some valid excuse for Perry not to question it."

"Typical Irene always looking for mystery where there isn't one." Cat said with a smile as she leaned forward on her desk. "I believe the real mystery here is where you ran off to in such a hurry yesterday. Have a hot date?"

This was a clear attempt to steer the conversation away from herself, and Irene knew when to drop her questioning no matter how persistent she tended to be. With a sigh she leaned back against her chair feeling a hint of irritation at the fact that she felt a need to explain herself. "No. I promised to help my brother with something."

"The mystery brother." The other reporter smiled as she leaned closer from across the two desk her interest clearly piqued. Cat never made any attempt to hide the fact that she wanted to learn more about Irene's private life which could be considered ironic as no one really knew much about Cat's. Except for what she wanted people to believe which Irene was now beginning to believe was all an act. "When will I get to meet him?"

"Hopefully never." Irene muttered as she turned back to her computer with the intention to end the conversation before Cat got any crazy ideas.