Laughing Fate (20 page)

"So what’s this about a penguin on your butt?" Potter asked to change the subject. He really didn’t want to answer her question. It made him want to prove just how wrong she was by kissing the snot out of her. Unfortunately, kissing her last time had proven to be a huge mistake. They were just friends, friends did not kiss friends. Maybe if he told himself that enough, he’d actually believe it.

Puck had a feeling that Potter wanted to kiss her. His eyes had gone all dark and stormy, and were fixed on her mouth. Her body temperature sky rocketed at the idea of Potter kissing her. He kissed good, he smelled good, he felt good, why wasn’t she in his arms right now receiving the kiss of a god? Oh, right. Because she was a freak of nature and didn’t believe in love. But maybe just one kiss wouldn’t hurt? You didn’t have to love someone in order to kiss, and if she knew before hand that Potter would only hurt her, then surely it wouldn’t hurt as bad as if she didn’t know? And maybe she was going crazy with all these questions going round and round her brain. Last time they had kissed their friendship had almost died. Puck could not let Potter kiss her, even if he did kiss like a god.

"What tattoo?"

"The one my friends say they saw on your butt."

"Oooh...that one. Doesn’t exist."

"Is that so? Cause I’m pretty sure Brad took a picture of you on his cell phone."

"He didn’t!," Puck shrieked as she raced after the guys. She was going to kill that snot faced, stupid little boy!

She could hear Potter’s laughter fill the little meadow. Stupid, arrogant prick! He thought this whole thing was funny! She was going to kill him, right after she killed his stupid little friends.

****

"Pass the popcorn, Lady Godiva."

"Get your own, you stupid prick."

"Ow. Words hurt, you know."

"Don’t be such a cry baby."

"Shhh! We’re missing the good part! Dave, rewind the movie!"

After the brief massacre of 2011, a little known war that probably won’t end up in history books, Puck had come out victorious and had graciously accepted the boys’ apology. They had then met at Luke’s house for a movie and pizza. Puck was seated between Steve and Brad on the couch, Dave was sitting on a recliner with his wife, Shannon, on his lap, and all the rest of the guys were in the back trying to barbecue a pizza.

Puck grinned when she thought of Potter and Luke discussing the best way to heat up the frozen pizza. Luke’s oven didn’t work so it had come down to microwaving or barbecuing. Luke had demanded a barbecue, saying the other option was gay and would not be mentioned again. They had been in the back yard for at least half an hour, and still no pizza.

She threw popcorn at Brad and laughed when he screamed and threw a pillow at her. Dave was busy kissing his wife, who was a short brunette with big brown eyes, and a killer body. Puck continued warring with Brad, despite Steve’s best efforts to quiet them.

Steve tried to restore order, but quickly gave up. Steve had been friends with Brad for over ten years. You could not shut him up or get him to calm down for anything. He was not someone that you brought to a funeral; he’d end up embarrassing you and creating chaos within seconds of such a serious occasion, probably by humping the corpse. Brad was incorrigible, but he was a good friend, fun to be around, and hard to shake off.

Steve looked at Puck and smiled. He had known from Perri that Puck was nicer than she appeared, but he had never believed it. Puck walked around with a chip on her shoulder, she was always on the offensive, and she was loud. Today he had seen a different side of her, and no, he was not talking about her butt. Steve blushed slightly and pushed the image of Puck swimming naked out of his mind. The girl had a great body, but she was Potter’s.

For the first time he was seeing Puck the way Perri described her: warm, caring, fun to be around, and light hearted. She was relaxed and smiling, something Steve couldn’t remember ever seeing her do before. Seeing her like this, made him see why Potter had been obsessed with her lately.

An hour later, after they had thrown out the burnt pizza, they all had went out to the diner for dinner. Puck had sat at the table grinning from ear to ear as she listened to the guys retelling old memories. She was sitting between Brad and Potter, picking at her salad and listening avidly to the boys. It had been a long time since she had hung out with a group of friends, she had missed being around boys. She looked at Potter sideways and smiled a sweet little smile. Potter was a good man and his stupid gang of friends, well, they weren’t so stupid.

Puck stared warily at the cup before her. They had been at the diner for an hour, when Brad had dared her to drink his nasty concoction. All throughout dinner, Brad had been adding condiments, scraps of food, and seasonings to his water.

"No problem." Puck winced as she heard herself agree to drink it. Wait, she had meant to say ‘No!’ why had she agreed? She glanced at the cup again and imagined it bubbling and steaming, the way a witch’s brew would. The thing couldn’t be sanitary to drink, could it? Now that it was a matter of pride, however, Puck guessed she would have to do it. It was a cross Puck had to bare, not being able to turn down dares.

"IF one of you drink it too, that is." Puck congratulated herself on not being a complete idiot. At least now she wouldn’t be the only one suffering. She watched the boys argue over who would drink it. Potter was wisely staying out of it, which spoke volumes for his IQ.

Puck wasn’t exactly proud that she still hadn’t graduated to adulthood, but dang it, she was going to drink that witch’s brew!

In the end, it had been Steve that had been volunteered. He had gamely chugged down his half of the concoction, and then had spit it out onto Shannon, Dave’s wife. Shannon hadn’t taken too kindly to the incident, and by the glare she had shot at the boys, she wasn’t going to forgive them for quite a while.

Shannon was a stunning woman, with long hair that was naturally curly, a heart shaped face that was skillfully done with make up, and a killer body. She was short, maybe 5'2", but her presence was very powerful. She was one of those women who spent hours getting ready, wore designer clothes, and was never untidy...Puck didn’t much like girls like that.

Puck was more of a roll with the punches type of girl, and she couldn’t help but think that Shannon had made a bigger scene than was warranted. Dave had apologized to his friends with a look that clearly said, ‘women, what can you do?’ Then he had hurried over to his wife’s side, and walked out of the diner. Once Dave and the antichrist, as Potter referred to her, had left the diner, the gang all went their separate ways. Puck waved good bye to all of her new friends and smiled up at Potter. Tonight had been great; she couldn’t wait to tell Perri all about it!

Chapter 7

You want me to put it where?

Puck let herself into her townhouse, smiling and humming a happy little tune. Who knew that a day that started with being caught skinny dipping by a bunch of macho men could turn out to be a truly great day? She called for Perri as she set all of her stuff down on the couch. Where was Perri? She looked around at the dark apartment and felt a little apprehension. No one slept at this hour in her house, Puck didn’t allow it. Perri was old enough to take care of herself, Puck knew that, but it was after midnight.

Puck ran up the stairs and opened Perri’s door a crack. Maybe she was just sleeping, Puck told herself. She peeked into Perri’s room, trying to see in the dark. Her room was very clean, everything in place. A slight breeze was moving her curtains; Perri must have left her window open. Her bed was made, very un-slept in, Perri was not home.

Puck went back downstairs and checked for a note, usually Perri was very responsible. She finally found a note, the one that was taped onto the television’s screen and was highlighted with four different colors, and written in thick magic marker, and smiled in relief when she read that her sister was spending the night at her friend’s house. She knew she didn’t have the right to tell Perri what she could or couldn’t do, but their parents had put her in charge of Perri while they went on their trip. It was her job and duty as an older sister to watch out for Perri and up until now Perri had made it an easy job to do.

Puck sighed and put down the note, not that Perri had actually been doing anything wrong. It just seemed that lately Perri was more distant and busy with her friends than usual. Puck needed to stop thinking of the things she had done when she was younger and the excuses she had told to get away with them, Perri was a good kid. She probably was at a friend’s house and not getting into any trouble at all.

Puck locked the door and walked up the stairs to go to bed. She smiled when she saw her room. It was a little chaotic, with two different decorating schemes dueling for center stage. She collected items that showed the surfer spirit, it was all very defiant and free and boyish looking, very devil may care and adventurous. She also collected Victorian items that were ultra girly and soft colors, lace and porcelain. She had candles everywhere and a bed that was big, soft, and covered in blankets and pillows. Right next to it was her one vice, a book case full of romance novels. She loved the way how love always prevailed, the happy endings that were in each and every one of those books.

Puck turned off all the lights, and curled up into bed. She was not going to worry about Perri. Really, who was Puck to have anything to say about bad behavior? She had been a constant thorn in her parents’ side all of her life. She had always been in trouble growing up, had done nearly every bad thing there was to do, so who was she to tell Perri not to do anything? Besides, Perri wasn’t a liar, if she said she was at a friend’s house then that was where she was. Puck steadfastly ignored the voice in her head that insisted on listing everything that sentence could really mean.

Things like Perri was at
a party at
a friend’s house, or Perri was
spending the night with a boy
at a friend’s house, or Perri was
doing drugs at a party where she would also be spending the night with a boy
at a friend’s house. Puck threw her pillow in disgust and did her best imitation of a growl. She was not going to listen to that voice! Perri would never do any of those things.
‘But you did all of those things at a younger age than Perri, why couldn’t Perri be doing them?
’ Sometimes Puck really hated the voices in her head. Puck got out of bed to fetch her pillow, which had hit her cat in the head, and climbed back into bed.

The next morning Puck sat drinking a cup of coffee at their dining room table. She was wearing her fuzzy robe over her skimpier nightgown, to fight the cold. Now that summer was over the mornings were getting colder. Puck tucked a stray hair behind her ear and calmly sipped her coffee. Perri had come home last night around 4am, tip toeing so as not to wake Puck. Unfortunately for Perri, Puck hadn’t been able to sleep last night, and had heard Perri’s crying through their thin walls.

Puck had wanted to march into Perri’s room and confront her, but had decided to wait for Perri to come to her.  Puck knew better than anyone else that some things were just too painful to share. So she had listened to her sister’s crying, wondering what could have caused her sister’s tears. Puck was bewildered, angry, and beyond curious about what had happened, but instead of forcing Perri to share, Puck was drinking her morning coffee somewhat calmly.

She had finished her third cup when Perri came down, her eyes swollen, hair in disarray, and wearing a t-shirt that came down to her knees. Perri was avoiding Puck’s eyes, acting sheepish and withdrawn.  Puck drained her cup and got up to get her fourth cup. She sat down across from Perri, kicked back her chair and rested her feet on the table.

“That’s disgusting, Puck.” Perri said softly as she sipped her coffee.

Puck leaned her chair back farther, stretching her arms over her head and yawning. She wiggled her toes as she stretched and smirked at Perri. “What’s disgusting?” she asked as she inched her toes towards Perri’s coffee cup.

Perri glared at Puck and smacked her feet away. “Stop it, Puck! You’re such a jerk!”

Puck let her chair drop and sat up straight in her chair, surprise written on her face. “I’m a jerk? You’re the one who kept me up all last night! What’s going on with you, Perri?”

“Nothing is going on with me! Stop trying to mother me, Puck! God, you’re such a bitch! Would you just stop yelling at me and let me finish my coffee?”

Puck felt her jaw drop, but quickly closed it.  It wasn’t like Perri to cuss at her or yell at her like that. Puck mentally cursed herself for not being tactful in mentioning last night; she really had meant to let Perri confide in her when she was ready.  Puck had to restrain herself from screaming back at Perri. SHE was the one who worked two jobs trying to provide for them, the least Perri could do was give her some respect!

Puck remembered the sound of Perri’s cries last night and lost the urge to retaliate. Her sister was obviously hurting, Puck would just let that last remark pass. Puck felt the anger slowly drain out of her; she would not fight with Perri today, not when she’d been crying the night before. Puck stood up, dumped her coffee and leaned against the counter. She considered Perri for a long moment before walking out of the kitchen.

Puck left that morning for work, still not talking to Perri. She was at the liquor store, stocking shelves, lost in her own little world and trying to decide what to do about Perri. Puck’s instinct was to tie Perri down and force her to tell her what was wrong, but Puck knew that her instincts weren’t exactly reliable. Obviously, Perri was dealing with something; otherwise she wouldn’t have blown up at Puck over such a minor thing.