Laughing Fate Page 7

  Potter sure was serious about this, thought Puck. She smiled wickedly and slowly withdrew a chip from the bag. Before it was out all the way, Potter grabbed her wrist with one hand, and with the other grabbed for the bag of chips. Puck tried to get her wrist free, but he had freakish man strength, so despite all her struggles and dirty tricks, she couldn’t get free. The battle ended with Potter wrestling the bag of chips from her and she shrieked as he upended the bag over her head.

  Laughing, they wrestled in their chairs, trying to throw food on each other. Quite enjoying herself, Puck grabbed the can of soda.

  "Don’t you dare!" warned Potter eyeing the soda.

  Puck grinned and pretended to throw the soda. Potter roared a mock battle cry and tackled Puck out of her chair. They wrestled on the street, playing around, and having a good old time when light fell on them from a coming car.

  Giggling, Puck shoved Potter off of her and ran to grab the chairs while Potter grabbed the blankets and snacks. They stood on the side of the road and waved at the car as it passed.

  "That was so much fun! I like star gazing!" declared Puck with a wide smile. Potter smiled down at her and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. Puck’s smile slipped a little and she took a small step backwards. She really didn’t like that Potter’s touch felt so natural.

  Potter noticed her small step backward, but didn’t pay it much attention. Puck didn’t exactly like to be touched, although she didn’t seem to mind being tackled. Plus, Potter didn’t know what he was doing touching the girl, except that she had been smiling up at him with such a wide pretty smile that lit up her whole face.

  Potter thought she looked really cute in her uniform. She was wearing a tight black pencil skirt that hit her several inches above the knee and a tight white button down shirt. On her feet she wore black stiletto shoes that must have been hell to wear, but were dang sexy.

  "I rather like it too. Usually when I do it, it doesn’t involve wrestling or food fighting though."

  "Then you haven’t really ever been star gazing, cause that’s what it’s all about Mr." Puck said with a smirk on her face.

  Potter smiled and agreed with her. He could have argued the fact that only someone certifiably crazy would consider star gazing a contact sport, but hey why ruin the moment?

  "So where are you headed?" Potter asked as he sat back down on his lawn chair. He sipped his soda and stretched out on the chair, staring up at Puck.

  "Well, I was headed home. I just got off work. I had the funnest day, the licorice store almost got robbed and at the diner I kicked out three customers and threw away at least twenty cookies that Sandy was trying to give away for free. Oh and some guy was yelling insults at me from his table, so Sandy threw her coffee on him! It was great. So how was your day?"

  Potter took a moment to absorb all of that information. He had never been in the habit of eating at the Diner, but maybe he should start going there. Puck seemed to have the most action packed days. It was eerie, if there was any sort of chaos to be found; Puck had the knack for stumbling right into it. He had never met someone with such a disregard for her own safety.

  "You were almost robbed? Did they have a gun? What happened? And WHY are you walking alone in the dark? You shouldn’t be walking so far in the dark! Anything could happen to you! Why don’t you just drive? AND WHO YELLED AT YOU?"

  Puck glared at him and put a hand on her hip. "Right now, it’s you! I am twenty-two years old! If I want to go walking at night I will! I don’t need anyone to tell me what to do! I have two older brothers and parents and a meddling younger sister, not to mention cousins, all trying to tell me how to live my life! I don’t need my friends trying to tell me what to do also!"

  "Is that what I am? You’re friend?" Potter asked quietly when Puck had finished yelling. She had looked kind of cute like that. Kind of like an irate pixie. The important thing was that she hadn’t gone into seagull mode, she seemed more indignant than angry.

  Puck blushed lightly and looked away from his eyes. “Yeah, I guess you are. Not because I like you or anything. It’s an honorary title for running me over and then saving my life. I give it to everyone who almost kills me, so don’t go getting a fat head over it Mr. Macho."

  Potter smiled wide, showing all of his teeth and pulled Puck on to his lap. Puck screamed and tried to get off, but he held her there. Couldn’t Puck just be a girl for once, and let him touch her?

  "Shhh....don’t scream, people will call the police! Just sit still and look up into the skies. I think I saw a meteor."

  Puck stopped struggling and stared up into the skies, her mouth opening a little in awe. Sure enough, one by one she saw the stars start to fall. She stared up in wonder as shooting stars shot across the heavens. The awkwardness of being held in his arms was replaced by comfort. She laid her head back against his chest and let him hold her. She breathed deep, trying to catch his smell and smiled when she caught the scent of surf wax. Puck relished being in her angel’s arms once again.

  They sat like that for the entire meteor shower. They were both quiet, and for once Puck wasn’t fidgeting or trying to stir chaos. She was relaxed and enjoying the show that the heavens had put on. Puck felt her eye lids grow heavy and soon she was lulled into sleep by the steady rhythm of the beat of his heart.

  ****

  Potter stared down at Puck, who was sleeping against his chest. It felt right to have her in his arms. He was surprised that she had stayed in them, at first she had looked ready to fight her way out of his arms, if necessary. She had settled down, though, and soon had completely relaxed in his arms, her head resting on his chest with his arms hugging her loosely.

  He found his thoughts wandering to when she’d called him her friend. It made his heart trip to hear it from her voice. He knew that just that little acknowledgment was a sign that she was starting to trust him. He smiled as he watched her shift to a more comfortable position and thought that he could get used to having her in his arms. He wondered what made her so standoffish to strangers. Holding her right now, it was hard to image that she could channel the fighting soul of a sea gull. She was more like a kitten, harmless and cute.

  He was reminded of that old picture; tonight Puck had resembled that smiling girl in the photo. He had to forcefully relax his arms, which had on reflex tightened around Puck. Tomorrow he was going to talk to Sandy about that Kyle. He disliked thinking that Puck had probably been nestled into his arms too, and probably much more, being that they went out for three years. Potter frowned as he thought of that punk dating Puck. If he was responsible for hurting Puck, then Potter would make him pay. It was the least any friend would do.

  Puck stirred from her sleep, feeling his arms tighten around her. She stared sleepily up into his face and asked, "Why are you frowning? Am I too heavy? I shouldn’t have fallen asleep, I’m sorry. I should be getting home, Perri is probably frantic."

  Potter blinked, letting go of thoughts of Kyle and what he’d like to do to him. He slowly smiled and said that no, she wasn’t too heavy and then with a little bit of reluctance, allowed her to get up. He loved the way she smelled. It was a strong perfume that smelled of flowers and wine, it clung to her skin and filled the room with it when she walked in. Why hadn’t he noticed that before?

  "What perfume are you wearing?" he asked as she tugged her skirt into place. She really did look cute, all rumpled up from her nap. Her hair was tied in a pony tail and her face was free of any make up. She looked tired, but happy. She was certainly the most relaxed he had ever seen her. She looked beautiful.

  "I’m not wearing any." Puck said as she stared at him as if he was an idiot. She sniffed her shirt and looked back at him. "Why, do I smell bad or something?"

  Potter grinned and stood up to hug her good bye. "You don’t smell bad, don’t worry. Do you want me to walk with you home? Not because you need protection, but because I’m your friend and I want to know you get home safely."

  Puck narrowed her eyes at him a
nd considered his offer. It held a slight note of machoism 101, that a guy had to protect a girl, but he looked so cute when he asked it that she couldn’t really say no. Besides she was being hugged by him at the time and she was slightly drugged by the scent of surf wax. God, he smelt good. So in the end she accepted his offer and let him walk her home. They chatted of this and that and soon they were at her door and they were saying good bye.

  ****

  The next morning, Potter knocked on Sandy’s door bright and early. She opened it up wearing plaid pajamas and holding a cup of coffee. She looked surprised to see him at her door, but she let him in.

  Potter thanked her and walked inside her house. It was decorated in a very homey sort of way. There were flowers and pillows and little figurines everywhere. Her couch looked comfortable and inviting as did the rest of her house. He stared at a picture of the beach on her wall and tried to think of the best way to broach the subject.

  Sandy stared at him as she sipped her coffee. She knew he must have a reason for calling on her, but he was certainly taking his sweet time with it. She watched him contemplate the painting of the seaside on her wall for all of five minutes. Finally she lost her patience and decided to prod him along. If left to his own devises, the stupid man might be in her home all day long. She guessed it had something to do with Puck, but she had no clue what it could be.

  "So what can I do for you?" Sandy asked to break the silence.

  Potter turned around and took a bracing breath. Maybe he could ease into the conversation. ‘Hi Sandy nice place, so tell me about that punk Kyle....’ There had to be some way to ease into it. After a moment of thought, Potter decided to stop thinking about it and just spit it out.

  "You are Puck’s best friend, so you must know all about Puck’s past, right?"

  Sandy took another sip of coffee and then answered him, "What do you want to know?"

  “Has she ever dated anyone? I was trying to think if she had, and I can’t remember her ever dating." There, that was smooth, Potter thought.

  Sandy frowned and replied, "Why would you want to know that? I don’t think that it really matters."

  "I’m not merely curious about her past. I want to be her friend, but she doesn’t exactly trust men, so I was thinking that maybe it was because she’d had a bad experience with an ex-boyfriend."

  Sandy considered him for several long minutes with her head tilted to one side trying to figure him out. It sounded like Potter cared about Puck and she knew that Puck was interested in him, somewhere deep down in her subconscious, because of the way she talked of her experiences with him the other day. She decided that it wouldn’t harm Puck any to tell Potter a little about her past. If he was interested in Puck then she was going to try to nurture that as much as possible. Her friend deserved to have a good man in her life, and Sandy knew that Potter was well liked and respected by everyone.

  "Ok Potter. Sit down, let’s talk about Puck." Sandy waited for Potter to sit down on the couch, and then sat down in a rocking chair near by. Potter looked eager to hear what she had to say, and being a bit of a gossip, Sandy was just as eager to share.

  "You wanted to know if she’s ever dated? Well not many know this, but when she was around fifteen she had a boyfriend. His name was Kyle and he didn’t live around here. Puck never told me much about him, but I saw a picture of him once and he seemed really cute! She was always disappearing on the weekends with him, going on one adventure after another. They dated for three or four years, but then when she was eighteen or nineteen she broke it off with him.

  She never seemed to want to talk about it though, and she never seemed too terribly sad. She was just kind of quiet for a while, but soon after, she was doing one stupid stunt after the next. She was the same old Puck, except she was more extreme. Her stunts got a little wilder, once she even dragged me along with her on a skydiving trip! I was so scared, but Puck just grinned the whole way down. That girl thrives on fear and adrenaline.

  Since then, she’s never had a boyfriend. She just doesn’t want one, says it would cramp her style. I wouldn’t worry about her, Puck is resilient, I doubt that boy affected her too much. She is invincible, she’s Puck for God’s sake! Do you know how many times she almost got us killed doing some hair brained stunt? Like a million! But we’ve never died, although there were times when we really should have. Puck can hold her own. If I was you, I would be concerned about myself, Puck does not like men."

  Potter was disappointed to hear that Sandy didn’t know a lot about Kyle. He took it as a good sign that Puck hadn’t seemed too sad about dumping the punk, but Sandy’s side of the story didn’t match the way Puck had looked when she’d seen the picture. She’d looked shaken and hurt. He guessed that Puck had hidden her feelings. She seemed to do that a lot, though Potter hadn’t a clue why she did it.

  Potter longed to ask Sandy more questions, but what was the proper etiquette in asking if Puck had slept with the punk? Not that it mattered if she did. In fact Potter didn’t care either way, it wasn’t as if he was interested in Puck in THAT way. He was just concerned, like a friend.

  Sandy seemed to assume that he was interested in her past because he harbored a secret crush on her, but come on! Puck Berri? Potter could have any woman he wanted; he wasn’t desperate enough to want a man hating adrenaline junky with about a million emotional hang ups. His type of girl was the kind that actually liked men.

  “Don’t worry about me. Besides, Puck only hates some men. She thinks of me as a friend." It was true, too. Puck was beginning to trust him, the honor of that made Potter swell with pride. He thought of Puck sleeping in his arms last night and grinned. To think of the mighty warrior, Puck, sleeping in his arms, looking like a cute little kitten. He wasn’t even all that scared of her anymore. Surely Puck wouldn’t kill a friend of hers...would she?

  "Just out of curiosity, has Puck ever killed a friend of hers?" Potter asked Sandy, his smile fading.

  Sandy stared at him quizzically and said, "No... If she had, she’d be in jail. God, she was right when she said you were a total spaz."

  Potter no longer felt like smiling. In fact he could feel every last trace of a smile disappear from his face. Puck had talked to Sandy about him? That was kind of nice, except she’d called him a spaz? He wasn’t a spaz! He was a man’s man, macho surfer, conqueror of evils. He was a man! Not a spaz! He didn’t quite feel anger, and it wasn’t hurt...he didn’t know what he felt. He just knew that he didn’t want Puck thinking of him like that.

  "Ummm...what else did she say?"

  "Everything that happened that night you ran her over. She also said that you almost kissed her with your girl friend right outside the car. She tells me everything, so don’t look so surprised! She also called you her friend and that she was looking forward to future adventures with you. She seems to think you’ll be fun. So cheer up and don’t be such a spaz. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to get ready for work. Oh! And if you get a chance, ask Puck about Mr. Penguin! That will be an interesting conversation to be sure!"

  Potter left the house grinning. He didn’t like the fact that Puck thought he was a spaz, or that she told Sandy everything. However, the fact that Puck thought that he was fun and adventurous more than made up for being called a spaz. In the world of Puck being fun and adventurous was the highest of praise. It would be like a normal girl calling a man tall, dark and handsome. Potter walked away from Sandy’s house with a swagger in his step and a tune on his lips.

  Chapter four- Enter Tony

  Puck searched through her house for her earphones. Where had she put them? She turned her house upside down, tossing aside unpaid bills and throwing random objects off her desk, getting more annoyed as the stupid thing didn’t show up. Seriously, where were the bloody earphones?

  Puck had woken up with the need to go on a walk; her feet were practically itching with the need for exercise. But in order to walk, she needed her stupid earphones for her IPod! She tried to remember where she ha
d last put them, but in all honesty they could be anywhere. Puck was always misplacing and loosing everything, it was the bane of her existence.

  “Perri! Where are my earphones? Have you seen them? Perri!” Puck looked around her apartment and frowned when Perri didn’t answer.

  “PERRI!” she yelled a little louder, where was her sister? She gave up the hunt for earphones and ran upstairs to bang on Perri’s door. It was early in the morning, so she should be home. When no one answered, Puck marched into her room and was surprised to see that Perri was gone.

  She wandered back into the living room and instead of allowing herself to worry about Perri, continued hunting for the earphones. Perri was too old to have to ask permission to leave, but still it would be nice to know where she was. Puck shoved all worries out of mind, as she resumed throwing objects aside.

  She gave a tiny shout of triumph when she found her earphones, happy to be able to go on her walk. She put on her sketchers and walked out the door humming to the music, with a bounce to her step. It was such a pretty day, the air was still cool, but the sky was very promising. She smiled happily, breathing in the morning air, and reveling in the powerful feeling she always got when she exercised. She was a conqueror, strong and powerful.

  She saw the market and an idea popped in her head, so she jogged across the street (narrowly missing a car that had never heard of stopping for pedestrians) and walked into the Sentry Grocery store. She could feel the sweat dripping down her face; she’d been walking for at least an hour at a brisk pace, and suddenly began to feel a little self conscious. Puck was wearing a sports bra that turned her boobs into a one big squashed boob, an old white t-shirt and black Nike shorts. Her hair was pulled back in a messy pony tail, her skin was flushed, and she was sweaty…she hoped she didn’t run into any one she knew.