 When Smallville first began , Lana was in a romantic relationship with Whitney Fordman , the star quarterback of the football team . Kreuk believes that Lana truly was in love with Whitney when they first started dating , but by the time the audience first sees her in the pilot she is no longer in that same state of mind . Kreuk believes that by the time of the pilot Lana had grown “ comfortable ” with Whitney , and that was where their relationship ended . Though Lana had growing feelings for Clark , Kreuk feels that the producers rushed the coupling of Clark and Lana at the end of the second season . She believes that with everything that had happened throughout the season between the two characters , it seemed a bit of a stretch for Lana to just quickly fall into Clark 's arms . The next season began to develop more of the relationship between Lex and Lana . Kreuk believes that Lana cares for Lex as a friend , and that she recognizes the " undertones " that Lex may be placing on their relationship , but that Lana tends to ignore them . Kreuk recognizes that Lex is a big part of Lana 's life , and that Lana tries to pay more attention to the good that Lex does and focus less on the darker aspects of his life . 
