Laughing Fate (14 page)

"I’m sorry Kyle. It’s just that seeing you here after all these years, it surprised me. You know how I don’t like surprises."

Kyle laughed and his lips turned up a little at the corner. "Liar! You love surprises, remember when we all went up to the mountain, and you were blindfolded and we surprised you with the party around the bonfire? You were so happy you were jumping up and down and laughing?"

Puck laughed at the memory. They had shown up outside of her window and kidnapped her. In the car they had blind folded her and drove way up into the mountains. When they got there, Kyle had slowly removed the blindfold and kissed her softly on the lips. ‘Happy anniversary Puck, I love you,’ he had whispered against her lips and then he took a step back and allowed her to see what was before her. Drea had been off to the side grinning from ear to ear and behind Drea was a raging bonfire and a crowd of teenagers from their home town. They were good fun loving people that Puck had hung out with before. That night they had gotten drunk and sang campfire songs and acted like the stupid teenagers they were. Good times, but definitely in the past.

"Yeah, I remember Kyle. That was a real good day. I don’t much like surprises now though. I guess I’ve changed some. But look at you! You look the same as I remember, how’s life treating you?" He was wearing a leather jacket and his hair was spiked up a little. He looked good, healthy.

"Good, I’m going to college to become a teacher, can you believe it? I’m going to be a history teacher! Just don’t tell any of our old friends that, they’d think I was growing old on them!" Kyle smiled, but it didn’t really reach his eyes. He talked some about his life, he had a new girl friend named Kate and he explained why he decided on being a teacher.

His reasons didn’t really surprise Puck. Sure, he’d been a rebel as a kid, but he’d been smart and he really loved kids. He would make a great teacher, Puck was sure of it. She told him that too. She also told him about Perri and her parents living on boat. They talked of everything and nothing and then Puck said that she really did have to leave.

She was glad to say goodbye to him. Sure he had once been her friend and her boyfriend, but that was all in the past. That night three years ago, things had been said that couldn’t be forgotten. They’d both been so hurt and angry and had taken it out on each other. That night, neither one of them had wanted to see each other again. When she had left the hospital, she knew that she was leaving behind both of her friends. She had moved on, she had a life that had no room for an old memory.

She walked out of the store after spending four hundred dollars and quickly left the mall. She didn’t want to run into Kyle again. She never wanted to see him again to be truthful. She wished him the best life possible, as long as it was far away from hers. She got into her car and locked all the doors. No one had ever hurt her the way Kyle had, the memories of their last three months together were not what she wanted to think about right now. She was on a shopping spree; it was a carefree day darn it! Puck breathed in deeply, letting it out slowly, letting the peace flow back into her. Today was going to be a fun day.

She looked around her and didn’t see anyone coming. She stripped off her shirt and pulled on the too tight Roxy shirt. Then she shimmied out of the faded blue jeans and pulled on the sexy pair of jeans. It was a quirk Puck had. She always had to put on her new clothes right away, usually just in her car. There had been many a time where she frantically tried to pull on a shirt and had flashed people that had suddenly appeared. It always seemed that when you needed to put clothes on fast, that they resisted, but in situations like this when no one was around, they were easy to put on, very weird. She put the keys in the ignition and pulled out of the mall’s parking lot.

What to do now? It was only four in the afternoon. Still lots to do and lots of cash to blow. She drove around lost for a little bit but soon grew bored of that. She glanced at the clock again. Tonight Perri had mentioned that she was spending the night at Kelly’s house, some chick that Perri went to school with.

Puck had never met her, but she trusted Perri. Now if it had been anyone else mentioning that they were going to spend the night at a strange friend’s house, then she’d be worried. That is always code for ‘I’m going to go do something that you would not approve of’, heck Puck had used that a million times while growing up. But Perri was different; she was a good kid who would never think of doing anything wrong.

So Puck would be alone in their house all night. This was her only day off for the week. Since she had to work so hard, she liked to play even harder. So far she was not accomplishing the goal today. She pulled back onto the freeway and headed back home. She really didn’t want to spend the rest of the day at home by herself. She glanced outside her window at the beach, the waves were picking up some. She even thought she saw a little bit of sunshine.

She debated whether or not to go to the beach. It definitely wasn’t sunny, but it wasn’t freezing outside and the waves were getting bigger. She could swing by Trinidad, a little town outside of Sunny cove, and buy a cute swimming suit there, that way she wouldn’t have to drive to her house. She would just need to drive straight to the sea. ‘Good plan’, Puck thought to herself as she increased her speed. The night was already beginning to look better. ‘A day at the beach is better than a thousand elsewhere’, Puck thought happily.

She pulled off at the Trinidad exit and drove to the little surf shack that stood at the dock. It was an awesome surf store that was about as big as a large shed. It had the cutest swimsuits though and great prices on everything from surf boards to beach towels. She walked straight to the swim suits. She instinctively grabbed a tankini that was black and would be modest. But then she put them back. She had a million pairs of swim suits like that at home.

This was a shopping spree, a wild and crazy day. She needed a swim suit that was wild and crazy too. So she walked over to the bikinis and looked at each one. There was a really cute one that she would never normally think to buy. It looked like it belonged in the Victoria Secret swimsuit catalog and it was dang cute.

She saw the surfboards and a wild and crazy idea formed in her head. She could learn how to surf! She had the money to buy everything she needed! She could really actually do it! She walked over to the clerk, a dorky looking boy with pimples and a bad hair cut, and smiled at him.

"Hi. I’m Puck and I want to learn how to surf. What do I need to buy?"

"Uh... well first off you don’t want to go out by yourself, the ocean can be dangerous."

"I know that surfer boy, I have grown up on the ocean and can do everything from swimming and body boarding to skim boarding and body surfing in the ocean. I just need to learn how to surf. I know that I need a surfboard, a leash, sex wax and all that; I just need to know what kind of surf board I need. Also I need to know the kind of sex wax for our waters and all of that. If you can’t help me then just shut up and I’ll find out for my self."

The sales clerk stared at Puck nervously and said a little bit shakily, "Umm...no I can help you... uh, you’ll need a used surf board because you’ll probably ding it up pretty bad. And it should be a long board. It makes it easy to catch small waves and it’s easier to get your balance on. As for sex wax the green label is for cold waters like ours and the board should come with a leash.

You should also get a wet suit because our waters are dang cold and you really should have someone help you learn to surf, but if you really don’t want that then I suggest this instructional book to help you learn the basics, but the true help is practice. You got to be determined to surf and practice a lot. Early morning before work is the best, say around five or six? The waves are awesome then."

He walked around the store as he talked, handing her the sex wax and the surf rack and everything else she’d need. She bought the yellow long board he recommended and the book, but refused the wet suit. She hated wetsuits; they felt all stiff and uncomfortable. She walked out of the store, her card maxed out once again, but she was oh so happy.

The clerk helped her put the board on the rack that he had set up on her car and away she went. She pulled off on a secluded part of the road and quickly changed into the bikini. The bikini had pink Hawaiian flowers and an adjustable halter top that fit snug on her chest and a double string bottom that frankly didn’t cover as much as Puck was used to.

She felt slightly uncomfortable. She had never shown off this much skin except for when she was skinny dipping, but that was completely different! She folded her new clothes on the seat next to her and drove towards the beach. Today was going to be fun. She was going to finally learn how to surf. Boo-Yah!

Puck pulled up at the cove and felt her earlier optimism fail her. She was wearing a freakin bikini for goodness sake! She was standing next to her parked car shivering in the ocean breeze. She tugged on the bikini top uncomfortably and glared at a group of young men that were watching her. They weren’t much intimidated, which didn’t surprise Puck. She gulped when she looked down at her body. She was showing so much flesh! Her belly ring and Mr. Penguin was out for the whole world to see if they so chose. She shivered again, more from emotional strain than the weather. Those jerks were still staring at her! Thank god she didn’t know them. She was Puck Berri, what was she doing in a bikini? She was definitely not that type of girl.

Chickening out, Puck ducked back into her car and pulled out her new hoody, she quickly pulled that on over her bikini and then tugged on her new pair of jeans. Standing outside again, Puck felt a million times better now that nobody could see Mr. Penguin- he was a shy guy. She undid the straps of her surf rack, like she was shown to do by the dork at the surf shack, and soon she was walking towards the shore with her brand new- used surf board and a pack of surf wax clutched in her other hand.

The surf board was heavier than she would have expected, so it took a little more effort and time than usual to hit the sand, but soon she was sitting over her surfboard, waxing it up and staring at the oncoming sets of waves. They sure had picked up since she had last seen them. Was she sure she wanted to do this?

She breathed deeply while she was waxing the board. The smell of surf wax was heavenly and it reminded her of Potter. She tried to fight off the memories of him, but she found herself thinking of his smile or the way it felt to be held in his arms. God, was she going to have to give up surf wax to win her campaign against falling in love? WO! Who mentioned the word love? She wasn’t in danger of falling in love! She didn’t believe in love! She forcibly stopped her dangerous thoughts and scrubbed harder with the wax.

****

Potter whistled as he drove towards the shore. He’d spent the whole day stuck in the back of the shop, repairing dings and scrapes on surf boards and shaping new boards. Now he was off the clock and free to surf. He had already called all of his buds and the only ones available were Dave and Brad. They were going to meet him at the cove in about an hour.

Potter swung into the parking lot and got out of his car. He noticed a bunch of young punks standing around their cars trying to look cool. They were wannabes, people who had watched some surf movie, probably Point Break, and decided that surfing was cool. They were the most annoying pest on the beach, because they gave surfers a bad name. He nodded to them as he walked on by and almost missed the jeep that was parked near by. His frown instantly cleared when he recognized Puck’s Jeep. He scanned the beach and recognized her form leaning over a surfboard.

He grinned and walked quicker to the shore. He had convinced himself that the brief attraction he’d felt for her was just a result of the stressful day they had shared.  It would never happen again so he wouldn’t let it ruin his friendship with her.

He had missed Puck since he had last seen her a couple days ago. He’d been busy with work and with his guys, and so he hadn’t been able to seek her out. He wondered if she would still smell like wine and flowers. God, he had missed her. He walked with a bounce to his steps as he made his way over to her. She looked real cute, what with a pair of butt hugging jeans and a black hoody. Wait a sec! Puck didn’t surf, did she? What was she doing with a surf board?

"Whatchya doing?"

Puck glanced over her shoulder to see Potter standing over her. He looked good with his hair windblown and his eyes smiling down at her. His bare toes were covered in sand. It was somewhat intimate seeing his bare feet, Puck thought. Puck forced her mind away from such thoughts. She had briefly wondered what it would be like to see the rest of him without clothes, but she completely rejected such thoughts. You do not wonder such things about your friends and that is all Potter was to her.

"Are you okay?" he asked when she still didn’t respond to his question. She was staring at his feet in horror. What? Did they stink? He watched her shake her head vehemently, sending her hair flying. Man, she was cute. She was blushing slightly, making Potter wonder what she had been thinking.

"Uh...yeah. I’m fine. Umm, how are you?"

"Fine. I didn’t know you surf."

"Oh, I don’t. Not yet anyways, you see I decided I wanted to learn how to surf today. How hard can it be?"

Potter started to laugh so hard that he was holding his belly. Puck was frowning up at him but he didn’t care. Surfing was not
easy
, it took skill and determination. He pictured Puck going out there and getting beat by the waves. His smile gradually grew grim. Kooks always got trounced their first time out, by their own boards and by the sea. Usually that was a funny picture, he had always laughed right along with his friends whenever a kook ventured out into the waters.