Laughing Fate (9 page)

"Hey, Puck! Care to join me?" asked Potter happily. Ah. That explained it...sort of. Potter was crazy enough to do that, she supposed. Puck grinned...of course who was she to complain of crazy?

"What are you doing out here?" Puck asked as she stepped closer. Potter was wearing a brown billabong t shirt and ripped blue jeans. His hair was mussed up and his face was relaxed and happy.

"There’s supposed to be a meteor shower. I can get another lawn chair if you want?" Potter was full of youthful enthusiasm. It was really cute to see, Puck thought.

"Sure, I haven’t sat down to watch one since I was ten years old, visiting my cousins. Go get me a chair, Mr. Macho!" she said laughing as he ran back to his house to grab one. He also grabbed a warm blanket, some chips, and two cans of soda. He had his arms full and a nice girl would have helped him, but Puck was hoping he’d trip and fall (not out of maliciousness,  but just to shake things up a bit. Chaos was always entertaining). So she decided to sit down in the chair he’d vacated and wait for him.

He dropped the blanket on her, and handed Puck the snacks. Then he placed the chair right next to hers and stretched out to watch the sky. They sat silent for a while, staring up at the sky. The stars were all out, winking happily down on them, but there were no shooting stars. Puck fidgeted in her chair as she stared up at the sky. Finally after minutes of sitting relatively still and staring at the boring heavens, Puck just had to speak.

"Where’s the shooting stars?” asked Puck quietly.

"Shhh...You’ll miss them!" Potter responded, with his eyes still on the heavens.

Puck stared up into the skies, trying to watch everywhere, not wanting to miss the shower. Nothing moved. Puck scanned the sky, stared up into the heavens until she was almost cross eyed, and still nothing moved. Maybe this was why she hadn’t been stargazing in years.

"I don’t see it."

"Keep looking."

"It’s NOT there," Puck said. She was growing bored with all the silence and star gazing. She looked around and smiled. This was fun in a geeky sort of way. She looked at Potter, who was intent on staring at the skies. Puck grabbed the bag of chips and threw a chip at him. When he didn’t notice, Puck threw another chip at him. Puck smiled mischievously when that one hit his head. Potter turned and frowned at her, so Puck quickly looked up at the sky as if she’d done nothing. She struggled to keep the smile off her face, as she made a big show of searching the skies. She felt Potter’s eyes on her for a second and then he went back to watching the skies.

Potter sure was serious about this, thought Puck. She smiled wickedly and slowly withdrew a chip from the bag. Before it was out all the way, Potter grabbed her wrist with one hand, and with the other grabbed for the bag of chips. Puck tried to get her wrist free, but he had freakish man strength, so despite all her struggles and dirty tricks, she couldn’t get free. The battle ended with Potter wrestling the bag of chips from her and she shrieked as he upended the bag over her head.

Laughing, they wrestled in their chairs, trying to throw food on each other. Quite enjoying herself, Puck grabbed the can of soda.

"Don’t you dare!" warned Potter eyeing the soda.

Puck grinned and pretended to throw the soda. Potter roared a mock battle cry and tackled Puck out of her chair. They wrestled on the street, playing around, and having a good old time when light fell on them from a coming car.

Giggling, Puck shoved Potter off of her and ran to grab the chairs while Potter grabbed the blankets and snacks. They stood on the side of the road and waved at the car as it passed.

"That was so much fun! I like star gazing!" declared Puck with a wide smile. Potter smiled down at her and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. Puck’s smile slipped a little and she took a small step backwards. She really didn’t like that Potter’s touch felt so natural.

Potter noticed her small step backward, but didn’t pay it much attention. Puck didn’t exactly like to be touched, although she didn’t seem to mind being tackled. Plus, Potter didn’t know what he was doing touching the girl, except that she had been smiling up at him with such a wide pretty smile that lit up her whole face.

Potter thought she looked really cute in her uniform. She was wearing a tight black pencil skirt that hit her several inches above the knee and a tight white button down shirt. On her feet she wore black stiletto shoes that must have been hell to wear, but were dang sexy.

"I rather like it too. Usually when I do it, it doesn’t involve wrestling or food fighting though."

"Then you haven’t really ever been star gazing, cause that’s what it’s all about Mr." Puck said with a smirk on her face.

Potter smiled and agreed with her. He could have argued the fact that only someone certifiably crazy would consider star gazing a contact sport, but hey why ruin the moment?

"So where are you headed?" Potter asked as he sat back down on his lawn chair. He sipped his soda and stretched out on the chair, staring up at Puck.

"Well, I was headed home. I just got off work. I had the funnest day, the licorice store almost got robbed and at the diner I kicked out three customers and threw away at least twenty cookies that Sandy was trying to give away for free. Oh and some guy was yelling insults at me from his table, so Sandy threw her coffee on him! It was great. So how was your day?"

Potter took a moment to absorb all of that information.  He had never been in the habit of eating at the Diner, but maybe he should start going there. Puck seemed to have the most action packed days. It was eerie, if there was any sort of chaos to be found; Puck had the knack for stumbling right into it. He had never met someone with such a disregard for her own safety.

"You were almost robbed? Did they have a gun? What happened? And WHY are you walking alone in the dark? You shouldn’t be walking so far in the dark! Anything could happen to you! Why don’t you just drive? AND WHO YELLED AT YOU?"

Puck glared at him and put a hand on her hip. "Right now, it’s you! I am twenty-two years old! If I want to go walking at night I will! I don’t need anyone to tell me what to do! I have two older brothers and parents and a meddling younger sister, not to mention cousins, all trying to tell me how to live my life! I don’t need my friends trying to tell me what to do also!"

"Is that what I am? You’re friend?" Potter asked quietly when Puck had finished yelling. She had looked kind of cute like that. Kind of like an irate pixie. The important thing was that she hadn’t gone into seagull mode, she seemed more indignant than angry.

Puck blushed lightly and looked away from his eyes. “Yeah, I guess you are. Not because I like you or anything. It’s an honorary title for running me over and then saving my life. I give it to everyone who almost kills me, so don’t go getting a fat head over it Mr. Macho."

Potter smiled wide, showing all of his teeth and pulled Puck on to his lap. Puck screamed and tried to get off, but he held her there. Couldn’t Puck just be a girl for once, and let him touch her?

"Shhh....don’t scream, people will call the police! Just sit still and look up into the skies. I think I saw a meteor."

Puck stopped struggling and stared up into the skies, her mouth opening a little in awe. Sure enough, one by one she saw the stars start to fall. She stared up in wonder as shooting stars shot across the heavens. The awkwardness of being held in his arms was replaced by comfort. She laid her head back against his chest and let him hold her. She breathed deep, trying to catch his smell and smiled when she caught the scent of surf wax. Puck relished being in her angel’s arms once again.

They sat like that for the entire meteor shower. They were both quiet, and for once Puck wasn’t fidgeting or trying to stir chaos. She was relaxed and enjoying the show that the heavens had put on. Puck felt her eye lids grow heavy and soon she was lulled into sleep by the steady rhythm of the beat of his heart.

****

Potter stared down at Puck, who was sleeping against his chest. It felt right to have her in his arms. He was surprised that she had stayed in them, at first she had looked ready to fight her way out of his arms, if necessary. She had settled down, though, and soon had completely relaxed in his arms, her head resting on his chest with his arms hugging her loosely.

He found his thoughts wandering to when she’d called him her friend. It made his heart trip to hear it from her voice. He knew that just that little acknowledgment was a sign that she was starting to trust him. He smiled as he watched her shift to a more comfortable position and thought that he could get used to having her in his arms. He wondered what made her so standoffish to strangers. Holding her right now, it was hard to image that she could channel the fighting soul of a sea gull. She was more like a kitten, harmless and cute.

He was reminded of that old picture; tonight Puck had resembled that smiling girl in the photo. He had to forcefully relax his arms, which had on reflex tightened around Puck. Tomorrow he was going to talk to Sandy about that Kyle. He disliked thinking that Puck had probably been nestled into his arms too, and probably much more, being that they went out for three years. Potter frowned as he thought of that punk dating Puck. If he was responsible for hurting Puck, then Potter would make him pay. It was the least any friend would do.

Puck stirred from her sleep, feeling his arms tighten around her. She stared sleepily up into his face and asked, "Why are you frowning? Am I too heavy? I shouldn’t have fallen asleep, I’m sorry. I should be getting home, Perri is probably frantic."

Potter blinked, letting go of thoughts of Kyle and what he’d like to do to him. He slowly smiled and said that no, she wasn’t too heavy and then with a little bit of reluctance, allowed her to get up. He loved the way she smelled. It was a strong perfume that smelled of flowers and wine, it clung to her skin and filled the room with it when she walked in. Why hadn’t he noticed that before?

"What perfume are you wearing?" he asked as she tugged her skirt into place. She really did look cute, all rumpled up from her nap. Her hair was tied in a pony tail and her face was free of any make up. She looked tired, but happy. She was certainly the most relaxed he had ever seen her. She looked beautiful.

"I’m not wearing any." Puck said as she stared at him as if he was an idiot. She sniffed her shirt and looked back at him. "Why, do I smell bad or something?"

Potter grinned and stood up to hug her good bye. "You don’t smell bad, don’t worry. Do you want me to walk with you home? Not because you need protection, but because I’m your friend and I want to know you get home safely."

Puck narrowed her eyes at him and considered his offer. It held a slight note of machoism 101, that a guy had to protect a girl, but he looked so cute when he asked it that she couldn’t really say no. Besides she was being hugged by him at the time and she was slightly drugged by the scent of surf wax. God, he smelt good. So in the end she accepted his offer and let him walk her home. They chatted of this and that and soon they were at her door and they were saying good bye.

****

The next morning, Potter knocked on Sandy’s door bright and early. She opened it up wearing plaid pajamas and holding a cup of coffee. She looked surprised to see him at her door, but she let him in.

Potter thanked her and walked inside her house. It was decorated in a very homey sort of way. There were flowers and pillows and little figurines everywhere. Her couch looked comfortable and inviting as did the rest of her house. He stared at a picture of the beach on her wall and tried to think of the best way to broach the subject.

Sandy stared at him as she sipped her coffee. She knew he must have a reason for calling on her, but he was certainly taking his sweet time with it. She watched him contemplate the painting of the seaside on her wall for all of five minutes. Finally she lost her patience and decided to prod him along. If left to his own devises, the stupid man might be in her home all day long. She guessed it had something to do with Puck, but she had no clue what it could be.

"So what can I do for you?" Sandy asked to break the silence.

Potter turned around and took a bracing breath. Maybe he could ease into the conversation. ‘Hi Sandy nice place, so tell me about that punk Kyle....’ There had to be some way to ease into it. After a moment of thought, Potter decided to stop thinking about it and just spit it out.

"You are Puck’s best friend, so you must know all about Puck’s past, right?"

Sandy took another sip of coffee and then answered him, "What do you want to know?"

“
Has she ever dated anyone? I was trying to think if she had, and I can’t remember her ever dating." There, that was smooth, Potter thought.

Sandy frowned and replied, "Why would you want to know that? I don’t think that it really matters."

"I’m not merely curious about her past. I want to be her friend, but she doesn’t exactly trust men, so I was thinking that maybe it was because she’d had a bad experience with an ex-boyfriend."

Sandy considered him for several long minutes with her head tilted to one side trying to figure him out. It sounded like Potter cared about Puck and she knew that Puck was interested in him, somewhere deep down in her subconscious, because of the way she talked of her experiences with him the other day. She decided that it wouldn’t harm Puck any to tell Potter a little about her past. If he was interested in Puck then she was going to try to nurture that as much as possible. Her friend deserved to have a good man in her life, and Sandy knew that Potter was well liked and respected by everyone.