Laughing Fate (17 page)

His Aunt sat on the bed and motioned for Potter to follow suit. She stared at Potter for a long minute before speaking. She’d noticed his distraction and sour moods all week, but had at first decided to let him handle it on his own. Instead of getting better, though, Potter seemed to be getting more desperate as time went by. She patted his knee and asked what had been bothering him.

"It’s just that I’ve been hanging out a lot with this girl. She kind of drives me crazy, but she’s a fun, energetic, loving girl. Last week I kissed her and it was great. She was digging me, and she felt so right in my arms. But we were moving way too fast for her, I knew it, so when my buddies appeared I broke off the kiss and apologized for it. I don’t know why she’s so mad, but she won’t talk to me, she threw the roses I got for her in the trash, and she won’t even look at me! I don’t know what to do... I miss her so much. All I want is to be around her, to get to know her better."

Potter knew he must sound desperate, like a love sick pup, but he was truly going crazy over not seeing Puck. Was it possible to go through withdrawals from not being near someone? Because that’s what this felt like to Potter. He was in hell, in agony, he was dying... he needed his Aunt’s help.

"Honey, do you love her?"

"No! God, NO! I... I just miss her."

"Ok. Well, I know why she’s mad at you. You NEVER apologize for a kiss! It makes the girl think that you regret it, which means that you don’t really like them. Get it? And you’re going about apologizing all wrong, you two aren’t dating so stop trying to make up with her as if you’re her boyfriend. Boyfriends send flowers, not friends. You need to prove to her that you miss her, that you want to spend time with her. If you do that then she’ll forgive you. Who is this girl, anyways? Do I know her?”

"She’s this girl...Puck. You probably don’t know her. I never used to hang out with her."

His Aunt Rose busted up laughing. She shook with her laughter and it took her quite a bit to calm down enough to say, “PUCK? The girl who set the school on fire? The one who chases customers away from the diner? The girl who made you afraid of seagulls?" 

This was the first Potter had heard of Puck having to do with his fear of Seagulls. He immediately pounced on that, and demanded that his aunt tell him everything that she knew.

"Well, when you were about five I took you down to the beach for a community get-together. Puck and her two older brothers were there and they were playing in the sand, so I left you with them so you could play with them. I was chatting with some of my friends when I heard you screaming bloody murder.

Puck and her brothers had told you a story of a killing seagull that ate little boys, from then on you were afraid of sea gulls. You never hung out with those Berri kids again, they were a wild bunch. Later that same day, those brothers of Puck decided to try to bury her in the sand! They dug a hole and stuffed her in there and were in the process of filling in the hole when her parents caught them. I decided right then and there that if you were around them they’d either kill you or get you in trouble."

Potter was stunned. He had always thought that his fear of sea gulls came from inside, but come to find out Puck caused his phobia. He grinned and hugged his aunt, squeezing her briefly before letting go. There would come a time when he was going to throw that little bit of info into Puck’s face, but first he had to get her to forgive him.

"Thanks, Aunt Rose. I’ll do what you said. I got to go; I’ll see you later, ok?"

His Aunt smiled lovingly as her nephew ran out of the room. The poor boy was in love with a heathen. Well, if ever there was a boy that could handle Puck, it was her nephew.

****

He ran into his cousin on the way out the door. She was eighteen, with blond hair and a trim figure from playing basketball. She was rounding up a team for some rugby in the front lawn when she saw Potter.

"Potter! Just who I was looking for! We are going to play rugby, you wanna join us?"

"Sorry cuz, but I have to go see a girl."

"Oh really? Who? Do I know her? Well can you at least get me your football before you run off?"

Potter was itching to leave and finally fix things with Puck, but he forced himself to calm down. A few seconds wouldn’t hurt any, so he opened the door and told Katie to follow him. She followed him out, excited about retrieving the football.

"So who is this mystery woman? Are you serious about her? You know our crazy great Aunt Lee tried to set me up with you. She started out by saying you were my cousin... how crazy is that?! I really think she’s lost some of her marbles if you know what I mean!"

Potter laughed as he walked to the shed. His cousin Katie could always make him laugh; she always had a story or a joke to tell. He rummaged around until he found the football, which he threw at her.

"I really have to go, Katie. Next time, we’ll hang out and I’ll even let you win at b-ball."

"Oh yeah right! You know there isn’t any allowing happening when I win! I’m awesome at basketball; I can beat you any day of the week! I’ll see you later, cuz. Good luck with your girl!"

Potter waved good bye and jumped in his car. It was finally time to smooth things over with Puck.

****

Puck fumbled with her keys outside of her townhouse, trying to unlock the stupid door. She dropped the keys and cursed softly under her breath. The walk home from Potter’s house had been torture. Pictures of Potter kissing some bimbo kept filtering through her brain. He was such a man whore! He kissed her on the beach while he still had a girl friend and now he was making time with some other girl! Puck had started off furious, her steps long and swift, but it quickly turned to sadness. She was lonely and she missed the big stupid oaf.

By the time she had made it to her house, her eyes were filling up with tears. Then when she had tried to unlock her door, her stupid keys wouldn’t work! Puck bent and picked up her keys and jammed one in the lock. Wrong key. She blindly jammed another in and breathed a sigh of relief when it opened. She had to get off the streets now; she didn’t want anyone to see her cry.

She thanked the heavens that her sister wasn’t home. She was staying at her friend’s house again so Puck was all by herself. ‘Alone, like always,’ she sadly thought. She had tried unsuccessfully to forget about Potter and his damn kiss, but it had been three years since she had last been kissed, and it hadn’t been anything like that. Her body was hungry for a man’s touch, even if her mind knew better.

She couldn’t get involved with a guy like Potter, he would just break her heart. ‘But he kisses so darn good!’, whined her inner goddess, who was actively trying to influence Puck to chase after Potter, rip off her clothes and offer herself up to him.

"Not gonna happen, lady", Puck said out loud to add emphasis to it. For one, she wasn’t that kind of girl. She had never slept with anyone not even Kyle. She really believed in waiting until marriage, she wanted it to be special and believed it would cause a close bond with her husband. Not that she was ever going to marry.

Puck stripped out of her work uniform and sank down on her couch. She tried to stop the dang tears from rolling down her face. Why was she crying for Potter? They had only been friends, so what if he kissed like a god? He could hook up with any person he liked, be it male, female, or animal.

Puck smiled slightly at the picture of Potter making ‘come hither’ looks to a sea lion. She sighed and laid down on her back to stare up at the ceiling. She wondered how many quarters would fill her ceiling. She’d never been much good at math, so after about a minute of trying to figure out how to calculate it, she gave up. She had to distract herself or she was going to go crazy. Every time she closed her eyes she saw Potter’s smiling face. She had to stop thinking about him, he’d been fun, but it was time to let the little man whore go.

She closed her eyes and willed herself to sleep.

She woke up to a loud banging on her door. She fumbled for her cell phone and cursed loudly when she saw it was four in the morning. Her back hurt from her nap on her couch, and she had the mother of all headaches. Who could be at her door? She opened the door with out checking who it was, and blinked up at Potter.

"What are you doing here?"

Potter was staring at her openmouthed; confused Puck glanced down and swore when she saw what she was wearing. It was a warm night so when she had first got home she had quickly taken off her work uniform. She had just answered the door in her white lace bra and her little superman underwear. Great. She slammed the door in Potters face and ran to get a robe. She pulled on her favorite robe, it was warm and fuzzy and had cartoons of Rainbow Brite on it. Once she was modest and had double knotted her robe, Puck went back to the door and opened it for Potter who was still staring dumbly at her. What, had he never seen a girl in underwear before?

She stood back to let him in, hating herself for checking him out. He looked really hot today, his hair was wind blown, their was a slight blush to his cheeks, and he was dressed in a tight black O’Neil shirt with a pair of tight faded jeans. God, he was hot.

"Do you always open the door in the middle of the night in your underwear?" he asked as soon as he regained his wits.

"Sorry, I was expecting Keith. So what are you doing here?"

"Who’s Keith?!" demanded Potter, jealousy darkening his voice.

Puck smirked and said, "My other boyfriend from Crescent City, you wouldn’t know him. He’s really hot though, looks like Vin Diesel. So what are you doing here?"

Potter seemed to consider her statement before writing it off as a lie, which of course it was. "I brought you something. It’s a surf board that I shaped myself. If you’re going to surf then you have to have one of my boards, there the best."

"You...you brought me a surf board? But, why?"

"I told you, my surf boards are the best. All of the guys have them, so you should too if you’re serious about surfing. Here, come out side and I’ll show it to you."

Puck considered briefly sticking to her guns and refusing to forgive him, but the man was giving her a surf board for goodness sakes! Besides, his face was full of youthful eagerness, and she just couldn’t tell him no. So she followed him outside and gasped when she saw her board. It was beautiful. It was a long board with a mermaid surrounded by water in the center. It was beautiful.

"Did you paint this yourself?"

"Yeah, incase you didn’t notice, that mermaid is you," he said as he tugged on a little strand of her hair and smiled.

Puck peered closer and gasped again. He thought that she looked like that mermaid? Sure it had brown hair with highlights, but in the picture the mermaid’s hair was in wild abandon, her eyes were smoky, and her figure was far better than Puck’s ever would be. The mermaid was a sex kitten...is that how Potter thought she looked? She blushed and tried to tamp down all the feelings that were blossoming in her stomach. She wouldn’t give in that easily.

"Thank you, Potter. I love it, I really do. Noone’s ever given me anything so nice, but you know Tony would be jealous."

"Yeah," Potter said in a serious tone, although he was smiling. Normally, the mention of Tony would have raised his temper, but he couldn’t take Puck seriously right now, not when she had eyes only for him, and was blushing from pleasure that he had given her. Tony wasn’t anywhere in her thoughts right now, Potter just knew it.

"Tony would be real jealous if he saw what I was about to do." Potter leaned forward, so that he was almost kissing her. Puck instinctively raised her lips to meet his, but was disappointed when all she got was air.

She really had to stop almost kissing Potter! Their kiss on the beach couldn’t happen again either, it was unwise and foolhardy. Very bad to kiss Potter, couldn’t happen again. She was lost for about a second in the hazy world of passion as she remembered the kiss she had shared with Potter. He kissed like a god, why hadn’t he kissed her just now?

Potter smiled against her ear and whispered in an ultra sexy voice, "I’m going to teach you how to surf. Right now. So go get your gear and meet me out at my car.”

Puck had to blink several times to clear her brain. Had she wanted him to kiss her? That was off limits, why had she wanted it? And more importantly, why hadn’t he kissed her? He was a man whore! They are supposed to kiss any moving thing!

Potter saw her bemused expression, so he gave her a tiny push towards her room. "Hurry up, the waves are a wastin’ as we speak. Grab a suit and a towel, we’ll go in my car."

Puck walked towards her room in a daze. What was Potter up to? It was still the middle of the night, why were they going surfing? It was crazy! Puck smiled, coming out of her daze...she liked crazy. She heard Potter yell out to bring her bikini and laughed. Guys were so stupid! As if she’d wear her bikini after what happened LAST time! She paused, felt the ghost of Potter kissing her lips again, the heat and passion that it had filled her with, how delicious he had tasted...NO! That couldn’t happen again.

She put her arm down, which had instinctively reached for the forbidden suit, and backed away from the closet. She had to get a hold of herself! This was not a date, it was a play adventure.

She grabbed her favorite pair of shorts; they were faded blue jeans that hit her thigh at just the perfect length to make her legs look long and sexy. She pulled on a tight black tank top that left about an inch of skin visible above her shorts, and posed in front of the mirror. She looked good, nothing too spectacular, but definitely looked good. Puck pulled her hair back in a pony tail, but then thought of the mermaid. She pulled her hair out and let it fall free across her shoulders. She grabbed her Roxy sweat shirt and went outside to join Potter.