He waved at her and came over; sitting on the table she had just cleaned. She narrowed her eyes at him and whacked him with her towel.
“And what do you think you are doing Mister? I just cleaned that table! People don’t want to eat on your butt germs.” Puck inhaled deeply and caught the whiff of his cologne. Damn he smelled good today! Looked good too. Okay, she just had to get her hormones under control!
Potter folded his arms and grinned, “Is that anyway to welcome your man?”
Puck grinned and shoved him off her table. She grabbed his hand and laced her small fingers with his strong fingers.
“Who says you’re my man?”
“The whole town, they see the way you chase after me.”
Puck raised an eyebrow skeptically and looked him up and down. “If anyone is chasing after someone- it’s you. All I have ever wanted is a play partner.”
“Ouch.”
“Well, it’s true.”
Potter rubbed his chest absently and put on his best abused face. “You sure are ornery today. What’s up?”
Puck frowned over at the Mayor. “I was just reminded that I have some unpaid parking tickets.” Puck stopped with her mouth open. Oops. She REALLY had not meant to tell Potter that. It was things like that that made him think she needed to be watched over.
She cursed herself for a fool, why oh why had she answered him honestly? She could have lied! All she had to say was that it was ‘that time of the month’ and he would have left it alone. But NO, she just had to open her big old mouth with out thinking and tell him what was really on her mind. How could she be so stupid?!
“Unpaid what?!”
“Umm…maybe you misheard me. Let’s not make a scene in the diner okay?” Puck asked hopefully. One look at Potter’s face let her know he wasn’t going to drop it.
“You know damn well I didn’t mishear you! How many unpaid parking tickets do you have? Do you realize your breaking the law? There could be a warrant out for your arrest!”
“Uh…just the one unpaid parking ticket. I’m paying it tomorrow.”
“You said unpaid parking TICKETS. Plural. How many do you have, Puck? And for God’s sake don’t lie to me!”
“Hey! I don’t recall asking your opinion! You have no right to yell at me!”
Potter wiped a hand over his eyes and visibly counted to ten. “Alright. I won’t yell. See? I’m talking in a perfectly normal voice. How many parking tickets do you have and why haven’t you paid them? Do you like the idea of going to prison and becoming some chick’s bit-
“Potter Sanders, that is enough! I don’t want to hear it okay? I’ll pay the dang tickets. I still don’t think I quite deserve them- I personally think the cop that gave them to me is racist, but I’ll pay them just to get you off my case. Now was there a reason why you came or did you just want to piss me off for the heck of it?”
Potter shook his head, trying to clear it of Puck’s nonsense. She was pulling the racist card? How?? Potter did his best to forget the entire conversation they’d had up to this point. Trying to understand her reasoning was giving him a headache. As it happened, he did have a reason for coming.
“A bunch of fellas are going to play volley ball at the park. We’re invited. So what time should I pick you up?”
Puck frowned at him. “There you go; forgetting how normal people ASK instead of assuming the answer is always yes. Maybe I have plans today.”
Potter rolled his eyes and asked, “Do you have plans today?”
“No.”
“Would you like to play volley ball?”
“Sure.”
Potter fought back a smile and asked Puck what time she would like to be picked up. They stood with their fingers entwined, haggling over what time to leave. Puck insisted that he pick her up after dinner and Potter insisted that he pick her up before dinner so they could have a bona-fied date.
“Hey, you two! Stop flirting and let Puck get back to work!” Sandy called from the counter.
Puck blushed and quickly stepped away from Potter. He grinned and tweaked her nose. “So I’ll pick you up at three? We’ll go eat and then play volley ball?”
Puck glanced at her watch. She’d be getting off at about 2:30, that wasn’t a lot of time to walk home and get dressed. Plus who wanted to leave a diner just to return to a restaurant a couple of minutes later? She really had meant it when she told Potter no.
“Sure whatever,” she said, still backing away. Her cheeks felt like they were on fire. She could feel the indulgent glances of all the diners focused on her. The whole stupid town seemed curious about her relationship with Potter. She did NOT want the town focused on her!
Chapter 13: Not in a kabillion years
A couple hours later Puck stood on the volleyball court glaring at Potter. They had gone out to eat at a little bar and grill, where Potter had lectured her about the dangers of parachuting, the big stupid dolt. She knew she shouldn’t have mentioned that!
The argument had ended with Puck telling Potter that she would never ever marry him in a kabillion years (not her most mature moment) because he was a boring stupid ape man. Needless to say the dinner had not gone well. Now Puck stood on hot sand watching Potter flirt with the skank from the beach.
The stupid man probably wouldn’t call it flirting. Puck narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms. Potter may not think he was flirting, but he totally was! He was kicking sand at her and high fiving her every time she hit the ball…it was disgusting.
Puck was busy glaring at the bimbo and wishing she could tackle her. She was so engrossed in glaring at them that she lost track of just where the ball was going. Luckily, her team was doing a pretty good job of picking up the slack.
“Puck! Rotate!”
Puck turned to see Dave pushing her towards the other corner. She thought briefly about kicking him, but she didn’t harm innocent people. Puck trudged to the other corner and tried to get her head back in the game. She would just ignore the stupid jerk and the hussy on the other team.
“Let’s go team! We’re two down, we’ve got to turn it on! Dave, is it on?” Brad, who was also on her team, was hopping up and down and hollering playfully at the team.
“It’s on!”
“Shannon? Is it on?”
When Shannon just looked at him funny, Brad kicked sand at her. “Turn it on!”
“Sure whatever, it’s on.”
“Puck? Is it on?”
“It’s on,” Puck grumbled. She had meant to say it playfully but the bimbo had just pulled off her white Nike shirt to reveal a pink sports bra and a tiny heart tattoo next to her belly button. Oh, Puck was so going to spike it on top of that skank’s head.
“Yeah! It’s ON! 10, 12 serving!” Brad threw the ball up and did his superman hit. The ball soared across the net and was bumped by the skank. Potter set it high into the air and the skank ran up to spike it. Brad tried to bump it to Dave (who was at the net) but accidently sent it to Shannon, who hit the ball with one hand, sending the ball flying wildly.
Puck would have known all of this if she hadn’t been so mad at Potter. When they had first arrived at volleyball, she hadn’t been talking to the big jerk. He had no right to ground her! She was not a little kid and if she wanted to go parachuting she darn well could! Needless to say, once she noticed the skank, she still didn’t know her name; the day had just gone down hill from there.
Potter had put on a huge smile for his friends, pretending like he hadn’t just given Puck the silence treatment for the past ten minutes, and had been flirting with the bimbo since then. It turns out that she was good at volleyball too. Dang good. So the two of them had partnered up, setting each other up for spikes and cheering each other on. Potter hadn’t even glanced at Puck since they’d gotten here. God she hated team players!
So it was all Potter’s fault that Puck failed to pay attention to the volley and failed to see the flash of the ball as it hit her on the head.
“Ooh! First head shot of
the day!”
“You okay, Puck? Walk it off!”
“Man! We lost the ball!”
“Sorry, Puck!”
Puck winced and rubbed her face. Ouch that hurt! She ignored her team’s shouts and picked up the ball. She threw it over the net and smiled when it hit the skank on the shoulder.
“Hey, you okay?” Potter asked the skank.
Puck frowned. What the heck? Potter hadn’t asked if SHE was okay! And she’d had a head shot, not a stupid shoulder! That was it. Puck was mad, not just mad, she was furious. She was livid! Puck angrily kicked the sand, to level it out and stood ready for the serve. She was going beat that ball to death and then she was going to kill that stupid man!
Dave watched Puck warily. When Puck and Potter had arrived they had seemed angry with each other. Potter had left Puck and crossed over the court to talk with the guys, leaving Puck standing by herself. She had been glaring at Potter ever since. When she wasn’t glaring at Betty, that was.
Betty was a friend of Luke’s who had recently moved here. She was a good looking blond who loved sports. Shannon had quickly made friends with her, as did everyone here with the exception of Puck.
Puck hadn’t paid attention to the game at all, her entire focus on Potter and Betty. Dave wondered what was going on. It was obvious that Puck was jealous, so why was Potter purposefully ignoring Puck and paying attention to Betty?
He hadn’t been truly concerned until after Puck got hit in the head. She’d pretended like it hadn’t hurt and had thrown the ball back to the other side. When Potter made a show of asking Betty if she was ok after getting hit in the shoulder, Puck got that look in her eyes. The one that used to freak Potter out. Dave, who had never been afraid of Puck before, was afraid now. Puck looked dangerous.
Luke served the ball straight to Shannon, who bumped it to Puck. Instead of setting it for the spike, Puck hit the ball with all her might. It flew over the net and was hit by Luke. Steve, who wasn’t the best player, hit the ball with his fist, sending it flying out of bounds.
“Got it!” Potter yelled and dove to hit the ball. At the same time Betty also dove for the ball. They landed in a tangled heap on the sand. Uh oh. Dave glanced at Puck and winced. If she had been scary before she psychotic right now. Her hands were fisted and her eyes were locked on Potter helping Betty up. This wasn’t good.
“Hey, nice dive!” His team cheered them. Potter wiped the sand of his face and grinned. He helped Betty stand and wiped the sand off her nose. She grinned back and ran back to her position.
Potter glanced over at Puck and frowned. She’d been acting rude since they got here. He had needed some time to cool off after Puck’s little temper tantrum back at the bar and grill. All he’d said was that parachuting was dangerous. She had blown up and called him an ape man! The drive to the volleyball courts had been long and silent, what with Puck fuming in her seat and glaring at him the whole entire way, so Potter had been happy to leave Puck with the girls and hang with the guys a bit.
Puck had chatted a little bit with Shannon, but had pointedly ignored Betty. Potter knew that she was jealous of Betty, but there was no reason for it! He had been slightly ashamed of Puck for snubbing Betty, and so had tried to make up for it by being extra friendly.
It hadn’t taken long though to realize that she was a talented volleyball player and that she was easy going and laid back. As team captain he had chosen her and Luke right off. With the three of them playing they would win for sure. Of course, knowing that it annoyed Puck was just icing on the cake.
He noticed that the look was back in her eye. The old warrior look that used to scare him half to death. Thank God she no longer scared him or he’d be really freaked out right now.
He watched Puck as she fairly glowed with the force of her rage. She looked like she about to combust. What was her problem? She was taking this jealousy thing way to far! Besides, what did she expect to happen if she kept refusing his proposals? One of these days he may just stop asking.
Betty turned and smiled at him right before the ball was served. Potter glanced at Puck again and frowned. Why couldn’t Puck just smile at him? And why wouldn’t she accept his proposals? Sure they hadn’t been all that romantic, he understood that now, but if she loved him that wouldn’t matter would it?
Potter saw Puck shove Dave out of the way and spike the ball. She hit the ball with such intensity that when it hit Potter it knocked him on his back. Puck smirked and went back to her position. Potter sat rubbing his head and glared at Puck. The little brat had done that on purpose!
For the rest of the game Puck shoved, spiked, kicked and dove for the ball. Her team learned quickly to run out of the way and to keep their mouths shut. She looked lethal as she attacked the ball, her anger pouring out of her in waves. The game was mercifully short, Puck’s team won, and then everyone was taking refuge under the trees and staring warily at Puck.
“Dude, what happened? What did you do to Puck?” Brad asked, rubbing his jaw where Puck had hit him.
“Nothing! I did nothing!” Potter yelled as he took a swig of his water bottle.
“Well, go talk to her Dude, she’s a little scary right now!”
At the moment Puck was walking laps angrily around the park. She oozed anger. If Potter was still afraid of her, he’d have already ran from her. Potter shook his head. No way was he going to go over there and talk to her. This was her problem, not his. He hadn’t done a single thing wrong!
“Nah.”
“What do you mean, Nah?” demanded Dave, who had been listening.
“I mean Nah. This is her mess, let her fix it.”
“Is she your girl friend?” Betty asked from his right. She was spraying on sun block, oblivious to all the guy’s stares. Well, all the guys except Potter.
Potter looked over at her, but quickly looked away. Betty was wearing a pink sports bra that showed off quite a bit of cleavage and a pair of hip hugging cut off shorts that show cased her legs. He couldn’t help but notice her heart tattoo before he looked away.
Potter smiled and wiped the water off his chin. That tattoo reminded him of the penguin tattoo on Puck’s butt. He shook his head to clear the image and replied, “Yeah. She’s a little mad at me right now.”
“Why?”Everyone asked at once.
Potter sighed and admitted, “I grounded her.”
“What?” Betty asked in confusion. “Why would you ground her? That’s kind of weird.”
“She wanted to go parachuting! And then a small argument over whether that was safe or not turned into she would never marry me in a million years.”
His friends took the chance to voice their opinions on the matter, none of them really helping things.
“Dude that was just plain dumb.”
“Yeah, no wonder she’s so mad!”
“I don’t think that’s it, I think she’s jealous.”
“Yeah, Potter you’re kind of a moron.”
“Dumb.”
“Yeah, dude! You’re dumb.”
Potter glared at his helpful friends and rubbed his jaw. He glanced at Puck, who was still walking madly, and winced. Dumb or not, there was no way he was going over there to talk to her. She’d probably knock him out. Not that he was scared of her or anything.
“She’s jealous? Of what?” Potter didn’t have the heart to tell Betty that it was her. She may be a very attractive lady, but she seemed oblivious to her beauty. She wouldn’t consider that she might be the reason. Besides, there was nothing between the two of them! Puck had no right to be jealous.
“It doesn’t matter. She needs to grow up! She’s an adult for crying out loud! She shouldn’t be throwing temper tantrums or murdering her own team just because she’s angry!”
Puck was storming towards them so the conversation died then, thankfully before one of his helpful friends could point out that Puck was jealous of Betty. Today was awkward enough without Betty finding out about that. Although, if Puck kept scowling at Betty, it mi
ght not be long before she figured it out.
“I’m walking home. I’ll see you later,” Puck said to the group at large, ignoring Potter completely.
She paused in front of Dave and Brad and winced. “I’m sorry if I got too aggressive during volleyball. I…well I’m a little mad right now.”
“You don’t say?” Brad asked incredulously and winced when Dave jabbed him.
“It’s no problem, Puck. Do you need a ride home?”
“You aren’t going to walk home.”
Puck turned to Potter and glared. So the big stupid dolt chose right now to notice her? What did the bimbo put her shirt back on? Puck looked at her just to find out, but nope- she was still shirtless. Maybe Potter just got bored with the view.
Puck put her hands on her hips and glared at Potter. “I’ll do whatever the heck I like!”
“I drove you here, I’ll take you home,” Potter growled.
“No, you won’t!”
“Yes I will!”
They were standing nose to nose glaring at each other. The face off went on for several moments, but when it became apparent that Potter wouldn’t back down, Puck growled in frustration. Fine! The stupid man could take her home! She hoped he ran out of gas on the way back!
“Fine!”
“Okay!”
“Okay, then!”
“Fine!”
Puck glared at Potter one last time and stormed towards his car. He was such a pig headed stupid man!
They were on their way towards her home before Potter spoke. “What the hell was with you today?”
“What was with ME? What was with YOU?”
“Me? I didn’t do anything wrong!”
“Ha! That’s a laugh! I saw the way you looked at-
Puck stopped with her mouth open. She closed her mouth and crossed her arms. No way was she going to let Potter know that she cared if he was with some other chick! Because she didn’t! Not once during any of his proposals had he said he loved her. Not once! And now he was sitting there drooling all over some skank. Well, Puck had had enough.
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