Laughing Fate (10 page)

"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 had 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.

She headed for the dessert isle and picked up a tray of gooey looking cinnamon rolls. She also picked up a pen, two greeting cards with funny little pictures, and a bouquet of spring flowers and a box of sugar free chocolates.  She hummed to herself happily as she walked to the check out.  She was a freakin’ genius!

She swiped her debit card, the only thing besides her IPod that she had on her, and walked out of the store carrying two bags and the bouquet of flowers.  She stopped at the little bench by the doors and wrote little notes in the two greeting cards, and then she separated her spoils into the coordinating bags.  She picked up the flowers and the bags and then went on her merry way.

The house in front of her was a little run down, which was understandable because the owner of the house was an elderly peanut person.  It probably wasn’t the most politically correct term for the sweet old lady that lived there, but for almost as long as Puck had known the peanut lady, that’s what she had privately called her.  It stemmed from the fact that the lady had had her arms and legs amputated years ago.

When Puck had been little, she had lived a few doors down from her and had grown up knowing the sweet old lady.  She had often snuck out to visit her, enjoying the lady’s stories and kind attention.  When Puck was thirteen, the lady had gotten her limbs amputated and for several years Puck had avoided her.  As an adult, Puck regretted that and felt guilt over her betrayal.  She truly believed in respecting her elders and hated that she had temporarily neglected a friend. 

She put a smile on and rang the door bell.  Pam, the lady’s nurse, let Puck in and soon she was hugging her old friend and putting the flowers in a vase.  She chatted a little, but left as soon as she could.  She felt good about paying the peanut lady a visit, but had felt awkward once inside.  She never knew what to say, and every time she saw her old friend she was shocked by just how old and fragile she looked.  She hated the thought that one day the peanut lady would be gone.

Not to mention, that although Puck loved giving gifts, she felt uncomfortable in the role of gift giver.  She didn’t want the attention that it usually she got, she would love it if someone would finally take the gift with a shrug and then let Puck go on her way.  There was something about receiving unexpected gifts that made people want to get all up into your personal space and hug you. Puck grimaced a little as she walked away from the run down house.  She really didn’t like to be hugged. 

She thought of Potter’s hug a few weeks ago, after their “star gazing” and smiled shyly.  His hug hadn’t been so bad; he had nice strong arms, a fit body, and smelled so darned good.  Puck mentally slapped herself for thinking that way about Potter.  If there was any hope of them being friends, she could not think of Potter in that way.  Besides, he had a girlfriend and he was WAY not her type.  She didn’t like macho men, she didn’t like men period because they were all dogs.

Puck next found herself at a cute little duplex where Sandy’s grandparents lived.  Puck didn’t knock; she just left the chocolates and the card at the door and walked away.  Her last stop was at Crazy Bob’s, an eccentric old man who met everyone at his door with a shotgun.  Puck really liked him, he had spunk. She knocked on his door, gave him his cinnamon rolls and card, argued with him over nothing in particular, and left with a huge smile on her face. 

By now it was early afternoon, she had walked who knows how many miles and was ready to head home.  She had left Crazy Bob’s about an hour ago, had wasted a little time in a nearby park, and then had continued her walk. She was walking on the side of a narrow road, singing along to her IPod (which she normally wouldn’t do in public, but she was on a road that was seldom used) when all of a sudden a loud honk came from her right. 

Puck hated loud noises; she blamed it on being traumatized by two older brothers.  It was kind of like shooting a gun around a shell shocked soldier; Puck always overreacted to loud noises, which had led to many embarrassing moments in public places. 

One time she was in a store and someone dropped a big container, making a loud bang, and Puck had used the old ‘duck and cover’ technique.  Maybe that’s why people thought she was odd? Or maybe it was because she had recovered her lost dignity by pushing the offender onto the ground and yelling at him to be more careful in the future? Whatever the case, Puck hated loud noises, they freaked her out.

Puck jumped and nearly fell into the ditch on the side of the road, but was able to regain her footing.  She turned around to glare at the rude driver, and was surprised to see Potter.  She looked down at herself and groaned.  She really was not looking that great, she was not a girl who sweated gracefully.  Her armpits had probably left sweat stains on her shirt; her nose had bubbles of sweat and her entire body felt flushed.  Why did she have to run into Potter now?

“
Hi, didn’t mean to scare you. You want a ride? You’re kind of far from home.”

“
Nah, I’m enjoying my walk. What are you doing way out here?”

“
I just got done dropping off a custom made surfboard at Bob Wilson’s.  Crazy old guy shot a warning shot at me before he recognized me.  By the way, he said that a sweet little girl with big boobs had dropped off some cinnamon rolls and a card.  That wouldn’t be you, would it?”

Puck looked down at her boobs, they weren’t small, but they weren’t what you would call huge.  They were a size C, which was just the right size in Puck’s opinion.  They were big enough to add a little shape to her body, otherwise she’d have no shape at all (she had no butt and no hips, so if it wasn’t for her boobs she’d look like a boy), but not so big that they got in the way of sports.

“He said WHAT?” Puck asked incredulously. She knew Crazy Bob was crazy, thus the nickname, but a perverted old man? She wouldn’t have guessed that of him, maybe she’d have to change his nickname…

“
He also said that if he was just a few years younger he’d marry you and that together you two could rule the world. So do you make it a habit of walking along bringing gifts to horny old men?” Potter was definitely amused by the old man’s comments.  He was grinning ear to ear and enjoying teasing her way too much.

“
I can’t believe he said that! I’m never bringing him desserts again! So Crazy Bob wants to surf? That’s weird.  How’s your day going, besides getting shot at?”