Then I Crashed Into You

Brooks Laich sat in his Eclipse Spyder, mentally calculating how much longer it would take before he would make it back to his apartment. There was quite a bit of traffic, but he didn’t expect it to take longer than twenty minutes, which was a good thing, since he had a date with some hot girl he met at a bar a few nights ago.

He stopped at a red light, tapping his fingers along the top of the steering wheel, waiting for it to turn green. Soon enough, the light changed colors, and he pressed on the gas pedal, only to have someone coming from the other direction not stop and run right into the side of his red Spyder. “What the fuck!” he yelled, as the two cars collided and spun around, finally stopping a few feet away from the intersection.

The cars that had been behind Brooks continued around the accident site, obviously having someplace better to be, and Brooks continued cursing as he looked down at himself to see that he was miraculously unscathed. He tried the door handle, but the door wouldn’t budge, and Brooks groaned as he realized how much damage the other driver had caused.

He climbed over the center console to the passenger’s seat, trying that door instead to find it open up. He got out of the car and glanced over at the other vehicle, an old, beat-up Honda. He saw a petite woman step out, visibly shaking, as she pulled her long dirty blonde hair back, letting it fall all over her shoulders.

“Are you blind?” Brooks yelled at her, seeing the damage on his beloved Spyder. “Do you not know what a red light means?” he screamed at her.

The young woman took a step backwards, afraid of Brooks. “I—I’m—I’m sorry,” she stuttered, looking back and forth between her car and his, both obviously totaled. “I’ll—I’ll pay for it.”

Brooks looked down at the woman, who was wearing a pair of jeans and a simple blue t-shirt that looked like they had been purchased at Walmart. “And where exactly do you expect to come up with that kind of money? Do you even have a job?” he questioned rudely.

The girl had tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry,” she repeated, looking at his car and then up at him. “I really am. I was—I was just in a hurry. And—and I wasn’t paying attention to the light. I’m sorry.”

“Let’s just exchange information while we wait for the cops,” Brooks told her, heading to his car to grab a pen and a pad of paper he kept in the glove compartment. He scribbled down his name and information and handed it, along with the pen and paper, to the girl. When she handed it back to him, he glanced down to see her name. Elaine Eberley.

“I really am sorry,” she said, tears streaming down her face. Brooks couldn’t help but feel his heart breaking just a bit at the girl. She really did seem sorry, and he felt bad for her. But, at the same time, she had just totaled his Spyder. “I’ll find a way to pay for it. I promise,” she said as the sounds of police sirens filled the air, and Brooks looked over the top of Elaine’s head to see the lights.

Nearly two hours later, Brooks finally arrived back at his house, after having to give his statement to two different police officers and then wait forty-five minutes for a tow truck to arrive. He glanced at his phone to check the time and saw that he was already thirty minutes late to pick up his date. He groaned loudly as he saw he had a voice mail message, and he hit the button to hear it.

”Hey Brooks, it’s Kay. Obviously you’re not coming, so I’m just going to go home with the first hot guy I see and have hot sex with him all night long. Your loss,” he heard his date say over the phone, and he put a hand over his face, obviously angry that he wasn’t going to be the one that she was going to have hot sex with all night long.

“Damn you, Elaine,” he cursed the girl that had caused him to be late and therefore miss the hot times with Kay tonight. But, as he said her name, the image of her came into his mind, and once again, he felt a little bad for her. She looked so disheveled, and yet, if you would have put some different clothes on her, Brooks would have had to admit that he would have gone out with her. Or at least taken her home for a night of fun.

He heard his cell phone ring, and he wondered if it was Kay changing her mind about the night. He glanced at the caller id, but it showed up as an unknown number. He was about to throw his phone on the couch, figuring it was just some random person who had gotten a professional hockey player’s number and wanted to joke around, but at the last moment he changed his mind. “Hello?” he asked into the phone.

“Umm…Brooks?” he heard a feminine voice say, and he immediately knew it was Elaine from the way she was stuttering her words.

“Yeah, it’s Brooks,” he replied.

“Hi, this is Elaine Eberley,” she said. “I was just calling about the accident,” she told him.

Brooks sat down on his couch, grabbing the remote control for his television and turning it on. “What about?” he asked, turning his attention to tv.

“Um, my insurance is going to pay for part of the costs, but I have to come up with the rest. As I’m sure you could tell, I’m not exactly swimming in cash right now, so I was wondering if we could set up a payment plan or something?” she asked, and he knew it was taking every single ounce of courage the woman possessed to get through this conversation. “I mean, I’ll try to pay as much as I can right now, but I know it’s not going to cover it all. But, maybe if I could pay you so much every month until the debt’s gone?” she suggested.

Brooks thought about telling her no, telling her that she should have thought about all of this before she crashed her car into his Spyder. But, he decided against it, having a feeling that if he did say those things to her, the girl would break down in tears. “Sure,” he said, figuring he had plenty of money to buy a new Spyder right now. He didn’t exactly need her money. “On second thought,” he began, and he could hear her sigh. “I’ve got a better idea,” he said.

“And, what would that be?” she asked, a little scared for the answer she was about to receive.

***

Brooks heard his doorbell ring, and he made his way over to the door, opening it wide, seeing Elaine standing on the other side, nervousness plastered all over her face. “Come on in,” he told her.

Elaine did as requested and began looking at the walls of the living room before her gaze finally landed back on Brooks. “You know, if you expect me to have sex with you, that’s not going to happen. I’m not a prostitute,” she spoke clearly, and Brooks’ eyes widened at her comment. He was expecting the soft-spoken, nervous girl he had met during the car accident, not this outspoken one in front of him.

Elaine’s words replayed in his head, and he started laughing at them, earning a look from Elaine, who couldn’t figure out what on Earth was so funny. “Don’t worry, I’m not looking for sex. I get enough of that as it is,” he commented, and Elaine’s eyes widened a bit.

“Then what am I here for?” she asked, her nervous nature once again taking over.

“You want to repay me, right? For destroying my car?” he asked, and Elaine nodded her head, looking at the ground, still embarrassed from the car crash. “Well, this is how you’re going to repay me,” he said, holding his hands out. Elaine gave him a confused look, still not understanding what exactly she was going to do. “I want you to help me out around the house. You know, do some laundry, do a little cleaning. I haven’t had much time to do it with my hockey schedule,” he explained.

“Wait a second,” Elaine said, and Brooks thought she was going to make a comment about how he was a professional hockey player. “You want me to repay you by doing chores?” she questioned. “What, am I going to get a weekly allowance that I’ll turn into you until I’ve paid off my debt? That’s going to take years! Can’t I just set up a monthly payment?” she asked.

“What do you do for a living, Elaine?” he asked, and she tilted her head to the side, not knowing where this question was coming from. “Come on, where do you work? Don’t worry, I’m not going to stalk you or anything. I’m just curious.”

“I work at a hotel. As a maid,” she added quietly, almost as if she were ashamed of her employment.

“Do you really get paid enough that you can pay me back?” he asked her, knowing the answer was going to be no.

“I’ll figure out a way to pay you back,” she promised him.

“Listen, I don’t need the money,” he told her, and she looked at him curiously, obviously not believing him. “I don’t,” he insisted. “Look, I play for the Washington Capitals. I make a couple million every year. I have more than enough money to pay for a new car and still have money to give to charity. I don’t need your money,” he explained.

“But,” Elaine began before she stopped, not knowing exactly what to say.

“Just do a little bit for me around my house, and we’ll call it even,” he told her.

Elaine stared at him for a few minutes before she spoke. “How long?” she asked, and now it was Brooks’ turn to stare at her, not understanding her question. “How long will I be doing work around your house?” she asked.

“Two weeks,” Brooks answered, having no idea where the amount of time had come from.

“And, then we’re even?” she asked, wondering if this was all some sort of trick or scam.

“Then we’re even,” he agreed.

“Fine,” she sighed, knowing this wasn’t going to be good. “I’ll do it.”