Smii7y+ and Gang, but it's just Puffer
[[Shapes]] -- In Process
This book features Puffer and his adventures in the Poly universe. He meets Sadie Rayne at a bar. They get to talking and eventually she mentiones her boyfriend Charlie. Puffer decides he shouldn't be talking to some other guy's girl, especially at a bar. He leaves. Sadie offers to at least be friends. Puffer agrees. The book follows their journey of becoming friends, then eventually adding Puffer to their polycule. At the end of the book, they meet a waitress named Megan.
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Gaining a bit of bravery, he offered the girl a small smile when they made eye contact.
The girl smiled back, elbowed her friend, and began to make her way over.
It was fine. Puffer could simply explain that he wasn’t interested, he was just… being polite. Puffer took the time to scan her as she walked over. She had dark roots, but most of her hair was an evenly toned blonde. Her bangs were clearly kept up more than the rest of her hair. They were completely purple, even the roots. She wore a pair of sunglasses on her head on top of a dark headband. The flashing lights made the colours hard to decipher. She wore a simple pink babydoll dress and high heeled black boots.
“Hi,” the girl said. She flipped her bangs out of her face. She smiled confidently.
“Hi,” Puffer returned.
“I’m Sadie,” she flapped her lashes a few times.
He kept eye contact.
She took a breath. “I noticed that you’re alone tonight.”
“I’m the driver.”
“Ah, well,” she paused, “you’re still alone, then. I assume your friends are… around.”
“Mhmm.” And, wait, wasn’t he supposed to politely dismiss her?
“Anywho, I just thought you were cute. And I noticed that you saw me watching you. I didn’t want to seem creepy, so I thought I’d introduce myself.” She patted the stool beside Puffer. “Can I sit here?”
Puffer shrugged.
“You don’t talk much,” she said as she spun into the bar.
“I talk. I just don’t want to talk to someone drunk, someone who might regret meeting me.”
“Well, I’ll have you know, I’m not drunk. My tolerance is pretty high and I’ve only had a few watered down margaritas.”
“Great. What kind?”
“Peach. What about you?”
Puffer snorted, clinking his half empty glass against the bartop. “Water. Ice water.”
She laughed softly. “I mean, if you weren’t driving. What would you have?”
“I like beer. Probably beer.”
“No shots?”
“Nah. I’m a boring guy. I like beer.”
“No one likes beer.” She rolled her eyes. “People pretend to like beer because it’s easier than dealing with their problems.”
“Sure.”
“What are your problems, then?”
“I don’t have any problems right now.”
She smiled. “I guess that’s why you’re not drinking, then.”
“I guess. What’s your name?”
“Sadie Rayne.”
“Nice to meet you Sadie. I’m Chris.”
She offered her hand for him to shake. He accepted it. She didn’t release his hand. Instead, she turned it in hers, drawing her fingers over his calluses and tracing along his knuckles.
Puffer watched her for a few seconds before asking, "What are you doing?”
“I can tell a lot about a person based on their hands.”
“Really?” He sounded disbelieving. “What can you tell about me?”
“You use your hands a lot,” she started. “The tips of your fingers are rough. You do a lot of typing for your job. Or you play guitar. I’m going to go with keyboard, though, because you don’t have any scars on your thumbs.”
Puffer hummed in surprise. “I do type a lot, yeah.”
“There’s a callus here.” She pressed on a hard spot on his palm between his thumb and pointer finger. “You probably play video games. This is where the controller sits in your hand. Depending on how you hold it, there will be- yep! There’s dry skin here-” she thumbed along the inside of his middle fingers “-where your fingers rub on the plastic.”
“Wow. You’re good. Are you a psychologist?”
“No, I’m just a people person.”
“What do you do for work, then?”
“I’m a cosmetologist. Well, that’s what I majored in. I specialise in hair care and styling. Basically, I cut hair.”
“You dye it, too?”
“Yeah. That’s part of it. I do mine when I’m bored, as you can see. My boyfriend lets me do his with semi-permanent sometimes.”
“Boyfriend?”
“Oh, yeah, Charlie, my boyfriend. Don’t worry, he won’t-”
“I think I should go.” Puffer stood up, riffling through his wallet and pulling out a twenty. He set it on the bar. “Get a drink for you and your boyfriend. Sorry.”
“Ah, wait!” She caught his wrist as he passed her. “Chris, listen.”
He pulled his arm away, but stuck around.
“Look, I don’t want to lie to you because you seem really cool. Me and Charlie are in an open relationship.”
729/4523 Words
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[[No Working Title]] -- In Notes
When Puffer was thirteen, he dated a 16-year-old girl because he thought it made him cool. Instead, she pressured him into some things and she ended up pregnant. She carried the pregnancy to term, dropped the twins off at Puffer's parents' place, and disappeared. Puffer's raised them with help from his parents for 15 years. Instead of staying with their grandparents, twins ask to come to WildCats 4th of July get-together. It's a 5+1 type story about Puffer's friends realising these are his kids and not his gross sugar babies.