Laughing Fate (3 page)

"Sure you do buddy," replied pain- in- the rear Brad, and then he sent Potter another of those look.  Great! Now all his friends thought he had a crush on Puck Berri . . . the most insane girl in the world.

“Potter and Puck sitting on a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!” sang a very dead friend.

“
He loves her! He wants to marry her! He wants to make sweet sweet love to her!” said Brad in a sing song voice. Brad was eighteen, had long brown hair that fell past his shoulders and a long lanky body. He always had a smile on his face, and was constantly ribbing his friends.

James, a twenty-one year old dare devil with the kind of floppy blond hair that girls found attractive, laughed heartedly and began to croon a love song. “Love is in the air…” Everyone laughed and poked each other as they neared the cars.

"I don’t like Puck! Get that through your thick skulls! If she was the last girl on Earth I still wouldn’t want her! She’s a freak of nature!”
growled a frustrated Potter.

Uh oh. Puck had stopped whacking her jeep and had turned slowly around to glare at Potter, stick in hand. Her face was all pinched, her spine ram rod straight, and her eyes blazed. Holy Cow! She had a weapon! Had he spoken that loud? Had she (gulp) heard what he’d just said?  Potter prayed that she hadn’t heard, but knew there was no hope.  She had battle in her eyes and her fingers were white from her grip on the stick.

‘I’m a dead man’, Potter thought as he waited to see how Puck would react. He didn’t have to wait long; Puck wasn’t one to think before she acted.

Walking right up to him she waved her stick around and yelled, "Look Mr. Hot stuff! I am not interested in neurotic spaz freaks that are afraid of seagulls! And if you were the last man on Earth I would kill your lame butt and serve you up as an entree to all the wild animals! So stop talking about me because I’m not interested! And as for you!"

Puck glared collectively at everyone while brandishing her weapon and screamed, "Wipe those smiles off your face! It’s not funny! And if I hear one more word, OR SONG, from any of you then I’ll…I’ll kill you!”

Needless to say the men were stunned. They stared at her open mouthed and quickly took a step back when she stepped closer. Potter had never been more scared in his life, Puck looked angry enough to make good on her threat.  Her eyes were blazing, her chest was heaving, her whole body was shaking with anger, her chest was heaving, and her face was flushed. Did he mention her chest was heaving? Potter tore his gaze from her chest in disgust. Now was not the time.

Now everyone was looking like a deer caught in the headlights. Holding his hands out, Potter said, "Now look Puck," He cleared his throat noisily. Man, he was quivering like a little girl at a five- foot five- inch girl with a slender body and pretty blue eyes.

"No, you look! You . . . you . . . oh! Just leave me alone!" Puck cried. The devil, Puck shook her stick at him angrily and then . . . she slumped. It was just a slight difference in her stance, hard to notice if you weren’t paying attention.  Her shoulders slumped, her grip on the stick loosened, and the light of battle dimmed in her eyes as if the weight of the world were on her. She looked kind of sad, as if she’d had a bad day and had overheard something a jerk had said about her.

What had he said? That she was a freak of nature? Damn. If Potter could take back those words he would do so in a second.  Puck may be scary and slightly disturbed, but she didn’t deserve to be hurt like that.

Feeling something in the region of his heart soften toward this little warrior, Potter stepped forward, hands up in a surrender pose.

He wondered briefly if this was a trap, but no, the little warrior still slumped. Granted, she was still waving the stick and glaring defiantly at them, but damn…she looked lost, vulnerable. Poor little warrior.

"Ummm , Puck? What’s wrong with the jeep?" Potter asked hesitantly, hands still up in a classic surrender pose.

"If it’s something mechanical, I can try to fix it," added James. He worked part time as a mechanic at the shop.

“
Please don’t kill me,” chimed in Brad with a smile on his face. He was a fool who always said the wrong thing, but he was impossible to stay mad at.  He ignored all the glares and warning shakes of their heads and continued to smile at Puck.

They had caught her off guard, but she rallied quickly. He winced as he realized that inside his brain there was a flock of cheerleaders cheering for Puck. He even felt like snapping his fingers and saying, "You go girl!" Good lord, what was happening to him?

Puck let out a breath, lowered her log just a tiny bit and said tiredly, "It won’t start. I knew I shouldn’t have come here with the gas on empty, and especially since I knew I worked this morning, but I just never listen! Sandy warned me this would happen some day, Perri told me not to come, but did I listen? Do I ever listen? It was stupid! And now my car won’t start and I’m going to be late to work!”

“
Umm, Puck? What if I gave you a ride? It would be no problem.”

Puck glared at Potter. Ok…little warrior was still dangerous, good to know.

“Thank you Spaz, but no.” She said it so calmly as she set down her stick, it made it hard to believe she was turning down his offer, and called him a spaz to boot.

“
Why not?”

“
Jeez just take the ride!”

“
Hey, Potter, she called you a spaz!”

“
I’ll give you a ride if it’ll make you feel better.”

Puck glared at the men that had spoken up and they fell silent.  The men were truly shocked that she had tuned down a ride.  It was ten miles up a windy mountain road to get back to town.  It would be a long, hard hike that could be avoided if she’d just take the ride.

“None of your business!” yelled the warrior.  The men wisely took a step back.  They could see her hand itching toward the log.  She gave them one last glare and then turned away. She threw her gear in the jeep and then after locking it, began her long hike up the mountain.

****

She was aware that the men probably thought she was crazy.  She could feel their stares on her back as she walked up the dirt road. She was wet, cold, and tired, but she refused to let the men see that.  She swiped away a single tear and straightened her spine and walked at a sharp pace.  With each step Puck mentally cursed herself. How could she have said those things? Had she actually threatened them with death?

This was almost, but not quite, as bad as the time Jimmy, her brother, had shaved off all of her hair while she was sleeping.  She had saved face by saying she was tragically afflicted with cancer.  The sweet town had supported her and when she had ‘recovered’ a month later, the town had thrown her a party and named it Puck’s Day. It had turned out ok in the end, but when she had first seen her shaved head she had been so angry, so hurt, and so shocked that she had wanted to hide away for months.

“I am completely crazy,” she muttered to herself in a lost little voice. Why hadn’t she accepted Potter’s ride?

"Actually, I don’t think you should be so hard on your self," a man’s voice said, a
stupid
man’s voice. Puck turned around and glared at Mr. Macho himself.

"What are you doing?” she demanded in her prissiest voice.  She had hoped to see fear or even panic in his eyes, but instead Potter smiled down at her. Boy, did he have a great smile, like a wolf eyeing a flock of sheep.  Puck didn’t trust that smile, and hated that it made her stomach all flip floppy.

"Well, you can’t walk all by yourself. Don’t you know it’s dangerous for a pretty little girl to walk alone in the woods? So I thought to myself that you needed someone to protect you, so here I am."

Puck felt her mouth drop a little. She had so many feelings battling within her, anger or shock? Or maybe she should go with door number three: that stupid girly feeling she got when he had said she was pretty. Wait, door number three was usually a goat pulling a cart…maybe she should go with humor? The man who was scared of seagulls wanted to protect her. Yes, Humor definitely was winning the battle.

"You? You are going to keep me safe? HOW??" she asked skeptically.

Ouch. That was a blow to Potter’s pride.  He could protect her, he worked out damn it!

"Yes, me. Potter at your service ma’am." He tipped an imaginary hat in her direction.  He was trying really hard not to let her skepticism get on his nerves, he deserved this for what he’d said to her earlier.

That really got her laughing. "You?!?" she asked again, peals of laughter coming out of that dang mouth. That’s it the gloves were off.

"Yes, damn it! Me!" Now Potter was fairly angry. He could protect one lady. Hell, he could protect a thousand ladies! He paused a second to savor that image. Evil laughter pulled him out of his happy fantasy.

"You!! Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha," She cried in between peals of laughter. Her evil eyes were crinkling in the corners and she was pointing at him with one dang finger, laughing uncontrollably.

"YES!! Is that so hard to believe?" He bellowed. Still laughing, Puck continued walking, ignoring him completely and talking to herself.

"Mr. Tough guy who is scared of seagulls is gonna save me! HA! As if I even need protection! I survived two brothers! I can walk along a dirt road with out Spaz boy protecting me from wild flowers. Oh no! What’s that? A leaf is falling! Run!!!! Run for the hills! What’s that? A dandelion? Holy Crap! We are going to DIE! Save me from the dandelion of death, Mr. Macho!!! "

Enough was enough. She was mocking him! "Listen up Girl"- he started to say fairly assertively.

"Shut up, Mr. Macho," she interrupted him.

"My name is Potter!!!!" He bellowed.

"Whatever," she threw over her shoulder.

"But-

"You know if you could be a doll and turn around and head back to your car that would be great. Or are you afraid that you’ll come across a seagull? Man up and go away, unless you want ME to protect YOU?  I know how scared they make you," she said in the midst of laughter.

Potter glanced down just to make sure his balls were still there. Man, what a shrew!

"You know what?!" he demanded as he spun her around to face him.  Her eyes widened from shock and a trace amount of remorse was reflected in her eyes. "I’m tired of your crap! I’m trying to be nice here. I’m sorry about what I said earlier, I’m a jerk. Now do you want a ride or not? Cause either way I’m going with you."

For a brief moment her eyes were wide and vulnerable.  All the shields she usually put up were down and he could see straight to her soul. Then she lowered her head and stared at her feet.  Potter softened his grip on her shoulder and waited her reply.

He could smell her hair, it smelled of fruit and salt water.  She had pretty hair, naturally straight and looked like it would be silky.  He wondered how weird it would be if he sniffed it, he bet it would be pretty weird.  He had never noticed it before, but she had blond highlights that sparkled in the sun. He looked up at the sky and noticed a bird flying in the distance.  He let out a sigh of relief when he saw it was only a turkey buzzard.  He resumed his contemplation of her hair while he awaited her decision.  She really had pretty hair.

"I’m sorry." she mumbled to her feet, which were pretty dang cute, now that Potter took a second to notice.  She had her neatly trimmed toenails French tipped and her feet were show cased in a flirty pair of flip flops. Why was he noticing this now?

"What?"

"I’m sorry..." she said softly. Potter looked at her in surprise. Had he just won? Had he tamed the wild beast? Would it be inappropriate to do a discrete victory dance?? He stared into her face and once again saw the lost little warrior.

"I’m sorry," she said again. “I know I can be difficult, I just push and push until I drive people crazy.  I shouldn’t have made fun of your stupid fear of seagulls, and I shouldn’t have yelled at any of you. I especially shouldn’t have threatened to end their lives-Momma always said not to kill people.”  Puck grinned impishly at him and then continued, “You must think that I am horrible, but I’m really not! I’m just under a butt load of stress and I was taking it out on you and your friends, which was wrong of me.”  She glanced up at him thru watery eyes, which had gone all soft and appealing.

"Forgive me?" she asked in a soft voice as she stared up at him.

Potter tried to remind himself of that dang kitten that kept coming back to her at the sound of her sweet voice, only to be thrown at the dog again. He tried to resist, he really did, but who could say no to that? Her eyes had gone all soft and puppy eyed and stared up at him in such a sweet angelic fashion.

This new look was a million times more effective than her warrior look.  Dang, she had expressive blue eyes.  When she laughed they sparkled, when she was mad they flashed lightning, and when she was repentant, she was beautiful. He could have stared at her forever, but then the spell was broken by a matter of fact voice from hell.

"Don’t look at me like that, this doesn’t mean that I like you. I’m just sorry is all, so don’t go getting any ideas that I want to be ‘special’ friends with you," she said matter-of-factly. What the hey was that about? Her eyes which had once been so soft and sweet had narrowed and gotten hard.  She wasn’t angry, just serious.