Laughing Fate (39 page)

“
You’re a boy- use your superior strength.”

“
I seem to remember now why being your friend was so hard. You’re very mean Puck Berri,” he groused as he took off his leather jacket and studied the tree. It was a large tree with thick branches about a foot over his head. He grabbed the branch and pulled his stomach onto the branch. Puck’s laughter filled the air while he fought to keep his balance and swing his leg over the branch. When he was finally situated he looked up to see Puck climbing on top the next branch.

“
Come on, slow poke!” She called as she swung up on the branch- already reaching for another.

Kyle had forgotten what it was like to hang with her. She was always moving, searching for some kind of adventure. He felt a real smile spread across his face as she stood two branches above him doing a victory dance. He had missed Puck these past three years. In many ways she reminded him of his sister, they had been like two peas in a pod.

“You coming?” she asked from above him.

“
Yeah, yeah I’m coming. Don’t kill yourself!”

****

Potter couldn’t freaking believe it. First Puck walks through the room with Tony hanging all over her, and then she leaves with her ex boyfriend. The guy that Potter knew for a fact Puck had cared about deeply. God, she was such a whore! He gently pushed Betty out of his arms and took a step towards Puck without realizing it. He forced himself to stop though, and turned around to apologize to Betty.

“
I’m sorry; I thought I saw someone I knew.”

“
You know, I saw you that day at the beach too. You were sitting on the sand with Puck. I was going to ask you guys if there were any rips I should worry about- but you seemed so in love and so wrapped up in each other, that I didn’t want to bother you.”

“
What’s your point?” Potter asked, a slight edge to his voice. He didn’t want Betty talking about Puck.

“
My point is that I know you love Puck. If my guy ever walked out with another girl I would be out that door so quick,” She paused to look into his eyes before continuing. “It’s okay if you want to chase after her.”

“
She’s not my girl.”

“
Well she never will be if you don’t chase after her.”

Potter shook his head at her words. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. I did chase after her. I proposed to her and she turned me down.”

“Did she say why?” Betty asked a mixture of curiosity and concern in her voice. She cocked her head to the side and considered Potter. “I really could have sworn that she loved you. She was glowing that day at the beach-staring at you like you were some kind of god. And then at volleyball-she may have been mad, but she still had eyes only for you.”

Potter let out his breath in a loud hiss. How could this hurt this much? He shook his head again and said, “She said we had no future. Look, I really don’t want to talk about this.”

Potter left Betty and grabbed a beer from the kitchen. Today was the last day of November; all in all it had been a sucky month. Since Puck had dumped him, he’d been busy at the surf shop designing boards. 

Potter drained his beer and stared out at the crowd of people. He was getting too old for parties like this. He just wanted to be home, nursing a cold beer and have Puck curled up next to him. Potter cursed and threw his can in the trash. He had to stop thinking like that. Puck was out of his life now. He had to move on and forget about her.

He waved at his buddies and made his way out of the ranch. He couldn’t be here anymore. Not with Puck being nearby. He was walking towards his truck when he heard a voice up above him.

“
I think we should go to counseling.”

“
You do realize that you just popped Bubble Day?”

“
It had to end sometime. Everything ends- you know that Puck.”

“
Yeah…I know.”

Potter stopped walking and searched the area for Puck. She sounded so sad, her voice carried by the wind from a big tree about five feet away. Potter stepped into the shadows, hating himself for needing to hear her voice.

“It’s been three years Puck, but it still feels like just yesterday. I don’t think either one of us will heal until we deal with the past.”

“
Ha ha…that rhymes heal and deal…” Puck said weakly.

Potter could see Puck sitting high up in the tree, leaning against the trunk of the tree, her legs hanging off into space. Kyle was sitting on the other side of the tree with his arms wrapped around his legs.

“I’m serious Puck.  I…I didn’t have anyone to talk about it with either. My Parents blamed me for everything. That’s why I went to college- to get away from them all.”

“
I’m sorry.”

“
Stop saying sorry! It wasn’t your fault!” Kyle yelled.

“
Yes it was. I think you know it was my fault too- you’re just being nice. You always were nice Kyle. I remember when we were going out- you could always make me laugh. No matter what kind of day I was having you’d think up some hair brained stunt.”

“
It wasn’t your fault, Puck. I don’t blame you.”

“
I don’t want to talk about it.”

“
You can’t keep hiding from the past!”

“
YES I CAN! I do it quite easily!” Puck said flippantly.

“
Yeah? Then why’d you drag me out here, huh? You need to talk about it with someone.”

“
I needed a bubble day- not therapy.”

“
Did I ruin your life, Puck? That’s what haunts me. I’m afraid that I hurt you worse than Molly ever did. I think back on the month before that day and I’m ashamed. We would have broken up even if that night never happened, wouldn’t we?”

“
Yeah…”

Potter was stepping towards Puck with out realizing. He really had to stop doing that! It was a compulsion with him. Puck sounded so lost and so sad up there in that tree. He wished he could climb up there and rescue her, although he didn’t know what from.

“We were too young, Kyle. We made mistakes, both of us. I never forget our good times though. You and Molly were my best friends for so long. I never want to forget that.”

“
Think we’ll be friends when this bubble day is over?”

Potter wondered what the hell a bubble day was. They kept repeating that term. He saw Puck climbing off the tree- doing so with very little grace. She fell to the ground and dusted off her pants. She looked up at Kyle and the moon light captured her smile. Potter felt his guts twist. He wanted Puck staring at him like that- not Kyle.

“BFFL- Best Friends For Life, but I sure as heck won’t be going to any counseling with you. There’s someone that I had planned to tell…I suppose I won’t have a chance to now. But I don’t want to tell a stranger about that day, you know? I wanted to tell him. It’s stupid, I know it. I-Potter saw Puck wipe a tear off of her face and felt his heart melt for her.

“
I sent him out of my life because of that stupid day. How will talking to a stranger fix that? How will that make anything better? I don’t deserve to be happy.” Puck was hugging herself and staring at the dirt.

Potter couldn’t bare the sound of torture in her voice. There was a soft rustling of leaves and then Kyle was jumping to the ground and hugging Puck to him. Potter wanted to be the one holding her. He wanted to comfort her and tell her it was all okay. He stayed in the shadows though. Puck may be hurting, but it didn’t change the fact that she didn’t want him in her life.

“Hey now, don’t cry,” Kyle said against her hair. “We both deserve to be happy. Our past mistakes don’t have to torment us all our lives.”

Potter was burning with curiosity over that day. They never said exactly what it was, but he knew it haunted Puck down to this day. He looked at Kyle and thought that maybe it still haunted him too. Something very tragic must have happened in Puck’s past.

The door burst open and a large crowd of people came out. Some were drunk; others were just having a good time. He saw Betty leaving on Brad’s arm and smiled. They were probably perfect for each other. He looked back over at Puck, but she was already gone. He pondered on what he had heard. He didn’t know what this meant for him. Half of him wanted to go to Puck’s and force her to talk about that day. The other half of him was still bitter over her refusal and was glad she was hurting.

Potter walked to his truck and drove home- unsure of where to go from here.

****

"Puck, what the heck is wrong with you?", asked her concerned sister. It was the day after the party and Perri had just come back from her friend’s house. She had been humming until she saw Puck sitting on the couch with a container of Ben and Jerry. Her sister was still in her pajamas and had apparently decided not to shower. An empty bottle of whiskey was laying on it’s side next to her.

"Ugh," grunted Puck in reply. "Where the hell have you been?” Puck asked around a spoonful of ice cream. "I needed you and you weren’t here! Potter’s a jerk, a really hot jerk with toned abs and a mouth that tastes like heaven..." Puck dropped her spoon on the couch, her body going limp as she slumped against the cushions. "I miss him. But he’s not missing me! He had some bimbo in his arms last night! He used to be hot for me, did you know that? He wanted to sleep with me, would have had sex with me and it would have been great...but one of us has to stay unpregnant. Where the frick is my ice cream?"

Perri watched Puck in fascination as she fell off the couch and onto the floor.

"Are you drunk, Puck?"

"NO!" Puck said as she picked up the empty Jack Daniels bottle, peered inside and tossed it away. "I am not drunk! I don’t get drunk anymore, not after Molly. Not after that night..." Puck bowed her head and mumbled something under her breath. When she raised her head, there were tears in her eyes.

"Why did you make me go to that stupid party?"

"I’m sorry; I thought you’d have fun. Are you jealous Puck? Cause you swore up and down that you and Potter were over!”

"We are… we aren’t, we weren’t, we won’t... He said that he wanted forever with me, but all he really wants is sex. He couldn’t wait even a month before finding some floozy to seduce. He’s probably off banging a million girls right now, the bastard."

"Oh. Okay. Well Puck, you are smashed, maybe you should go to bed?"

"Bloody hell," Puck muttered when she stood up on her wobbly feet. "I’m not smashed, I’m a wee bit snuckered, but not drunk. You go to bed, you look pale. I’m going to sit and eat my ice cream." Puck found her ice cream and sank back on to the couch singing off key, " Dry your eyes," by the streets.

Perri frowned at her sister. She’d never seen her this upset before. Even right after she had broken up with Potter- she had just moped around the house. She heard a light ‘ping’ noise coming from her room, and rushed to the living room window. She frowned down at Joe.  Several months ago he’d come by her window nearly every night. He had stopped throwing rocks at her window as soon as he found out about the baby.

He had dirty brown hair just a tad too long, habitually wore leather jackets, and owned a Harley. Perri had thought that she loved him, but he’d shown his true colors the day he deserted her. The snake had said he wanted to marry her someday. Yeah right.

Perri glanced back at Puck, worried about her. Why did he have to decide to come over now? She opened the window and shooed him away. She glanced at Puck again, but she was engrossed in singing to her spoon. Perri’s phone started going off and Perri sighed. That was Joe’s ringtone. She picked up her phone and walked into the bathroom for privacy.

“What are you doing here? I thought you said you were too young to be a daddy?”

“
Perri don’t be mad! Anyone would have freaked out if they learned they were going to have a baby!”

“
Yes, but they wouldn’t have demanded I get an abortion you rat bastard!”

“
Look, I just want to talk. Come outside and we can go to my house.”

Perri peeked around the corner at Puck. She knew it was probably stupid, but if there was a chance that Joe wanted to get back together, she had to take it. Puck would fall asleep soon and wake up with nothing worse than a hang over. Perri closed her eyes and agreed with Joe before she could think better of it. She slipped past Puck and walked over to Joe who was waiting on his bike. He handed her a helmet and soon they were racing off towards his house.

Puck heard a motorcycle revving it’s engine and snorted in disgust. "Probably some bozo trying to impress his tramp," she said to her spoonful of ice cream before licking it clean. Seeing Potter with that tramp had been hard. She stuck her spoon in the carton of ice cream and got up slowly from the couch. She had to stop moping around. Not only that, but she had to stop drinking. She hadn’t drank since that last night with Molly...it was all her fault. Puck walked over to her wall calendar and stared morosely at the date. Today was Molly’s anniversary. Puck sighed and picked up the phone.