Crash Into You

With an annoyed sigh I clenched the steering wheel. Here we go again. The boy just wouldn’t shut the hell up. So he lost the football game and he was pissed off, I could understand that much. But why did he have to take his anger out on me? Surely it wasn’t my fault that his team had lost. Now I had an extremely irritated boyfriend sitting next to me in the car, criticizing my lack of support, my driving skills and whatnot.

“Jesus, watch that car!” He’d decided to cease his rant for a second to yell at me some more. “Did you even see that? If you don’t start paying more attention, you’ll end up crashing the damned car.” I sighed again and tried to not raise my voice at him – something my parents had always taught me to not do – but failed miserably.

“Paying attention would be a lot easier if you wouldn’t be yelling at me the entire time, Jonah!” I fumed back at him. What the hell was he thinking? I should’ve stood up for myself by kicking him out of my car, but of course I didn’t have the balls to do so.

“Oh, please, Julia, stop bitching,” he snorted, with no hint of humor to be found. “I’ve got bigger problems to deal with than you right now.” I couldn’t believe he just said that! I stared at him, mouth agape. I gave him a ride back home and this is what I got? So much for being a nice girlfriend.

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean? What is wrong with you, Jonah? I have nothing to do with you losing the game, so quit being a dick already. I’m being serious, if you don’t shut the hell up now, you can walk home.” We both knew that was an empty threat and it only caused Jonah to smirk.

“Right,” he scoffed, “as if you would have the guts to do that. Why don’t you just shut up already?” I felt my entire body tense at his words. That’s it, today wasn’t the first time for him to act like a total douche bag and I was done. It was about time somebody told him the truth.

“You have no right whatsoever to talk to me like that, or anyone for that matter! You always treat people like shit, even when they do you a fucking favor. When I drop you off at your house, please do make sure to delete my number from your phone. It doesn’t make sense to me how you just can –”

“WATCH OUT!” Jonah cut me off mid-sentence. He looked out of the window in fright. I followed his gaze, only to be shocked by the sight of what was in front of me. It all happened really fast. One moment I found myself driving towards a red traffic light at full speed, the next I felt the car collide with a black BMW that was parked right in front of me.

“SHIT!” I was the first one to say something, as we were both processing what had just happened. The airbags had gone off and dust was floating around everywhere. With a quick glance I checked if Jonah was okay and he most definitely was, but he wasn’t my biggest concern right now. From what I could tell from my position in the car, both my car and the unfortunate person’s car I had just crashed looked pretty damaged. My heart sank when I saw someone getting of the car. It was a black haired man, maybe in his early thirties, and he looked anything but amused. “Fuck,” I muttered.

The man had walked up to my car and tapped at my window angrily. With all the courage I had, I slowly opened my door and stepped out of the car, or what was left of it. Now being able to have a closer look at the man, I vaguely recognized him. I couldn’t quite place what from, though.

“I am SO sorry, mister,” I stammered. “Oh my God, what have I done?” At this point I was talking to myself rather than to the man standing in front of me.

“Yes, what have you done?! I don’t understand how a reckless driving teenage girl like yourself has managed to get her driver’s license!” he snarled at me. I flinched as he spoke and started apologizing yet again. “Keep your apologies. They won’t be able to repair my car, now will they?”

“I’m afraid not.” I was pretty sure I was pouting at this point. Pouting. I had just crashed not only my own, but somebody else’s car as well, and I was the one who was pouting. I really was sorry, though. But he was right, my apologies couldn’t repair his car.

I heard another door open and as I turned around, I saw Jonah getting out of the car at last. What had he been doing in there all this time?

“Congratulations on crashing your first car. I’d hang out a little longer at your celebration, but unfortunately I really have to go.” He was being nothing but sarcastic to the point where it actually hurt. “I called Tom. He’s picking me up. Unlike you, he’s actually willing to give me a safe ride home.”

I was appalled, to put it mildly. Was he just going to leave me here on my own? He, after all, sort of was the reason why we were in this situation at all. I was going to start yelling at him again, but suddenly I couldn’t care less. My clenched jaw relaxed and I shrugged at him. He wasn’t worth my time; I had another man to deal with first.

I turned back around and saw the man had crossed his arms over his chest and was looking at me impatiently. All at once it hit me. Billie Joe Armstrong, front man of the punk rock band Green Day. I had crashed Billie Joe Armstrong’s car. Just my luck.

The thing that confused me is that I noticed how I had to fight back some certain excitement as I spoke to him. “I’ll, eh, I’ll get the insurance papers out of my car,” I murmured somewhat nervously. He nodded and went to do the same.

The next twenty minutes were spent filling out the papers and Billie had taken the liberty to call a wrecker. Not much later I noticed a car pulling over on the road shoulder. Tom’s car, I thought to myself. Jonah must have noticed the car as well, because he swung his bag over his shoulder and crossed the road without a word or even a glance.

Jonah and I hadn’t spoken a word with each other since he had told me he’d called Tom. He’d just been leaning against my car, while I’d filled out all the papers. Imbecile.

I felt lost as I watched the car take off. This was not what I imagined today to be like. I thought Jonah and I could enjoy his football game, maybe grab a bite somewhere afterwards and then spend some time at one of our homes. Instead, we broke up and I crashed my car into the front man of Green Day’s.

I must have been staring at the road for quite some time, because when I felt someone touch my arm lightly, I looked up with a start and found Billie Joe looking at me in concern.

“Are you alright?” he asked. I nervously shifted my weight and nodded. “Was that your boyfriend?” His question caused me to frown. What was it to him? Didn’t he just want to finish this shit and go home, far away from me?

“Yes, it was,” I emphasized. I suppose I was hoping it would make me feel better to know that Jonah and I were over at last, but nothing was farther from the truth. I felt miserable, to say the least.

“No offense, but your boyfriend, I mean ex, is kind of a dick.” I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at his statement. I guess I wanted to do both, if that made sense. Because of my mixture of feelings, the only thing I managed to do was nod once more. “Are you done filling out these?” he said, pointing at my papers. I nodded for a third time. Billie Joe chuckled at me. “You are allowed to say something, instead of nod all the time, y’know.”

“Eh, yeah, I know,” I murmured, as I felt I was starting to blush. Right at that moment the wrecker arrived. Saved by the wrecker, I guess you could say. It didn’t take that long for them to lift our cars on it. We then got in the truck ourselves.

On our way to the garage, I finally had time to call my mom, telling her about the accident and asking if she could please pick me up. She told me she would be there in half an hour.

It didn’t take long to get to the garage and since everything had been taken care of for now, all I could really do was wait for my mom to show up. Feeling really tired all of a sudden, I sat down on a bench. I was surprised to see Billie Joe take a seat next to me.

“I never really introduced myself, did I?” I stared at him and realized he was waiting for me to reply. I slowly shook my head. “I’m Billie,” he chuckled. Just Billie, huh?

“Yeah, I’ve heard of you. I’m Julia,” I replied. He nodded and pensively stared at the wall in front of us.

“What I do wonder, though, Julia, is how the hell you didn’t see the traffic light. I could see you speeding up to me through the rearview mirror. You must have crashed into my car with, what, nearly sixty fucking miles per hour?” His bright green eyes met mine.

“I think that’s about right,” I giggled nervously. I then sighed and shook my head, while softly groaning. “My ex and I were fighting. I just was too busy putting him in his place and the next thing I know is I crashed my car into yours.” I shifted in my seat. “Again, I’m really sorry,” I sighed.

“I know, it’s alright. I can afford a new one, y’know.” It was the first time I really saw him smile. Smiling didn’t even quite cover it. He grinned broadly at me, something that made me blush again. I even thought I felt something in my stomach. Like fluttering. I didn’t have time to really give it a moment’s thought, because Billie had decided to fire another question at me. “So your mom’s picking you up?”

“Yeah, she should be here any minute.” A short silence followed, until I decided to show some interest in him as well. Because, well, I was starting to get interested in him. “So is someone coming to pick you up?”

“Nah, I guess I’ll just call a cab or so.” I was rather surprised, maybe even shocked, by his answer. Did he mean he was sitting here and talking to me not because he was waiting for someone to pick him up, but because he wanted to?

“Oh.” It sounded more like a squeal than I wanted it to.

Then my mom came walking in. She looked more worried than she had sounded on the phone. She saw me right away and quickly ran up to me.

“Honey, are you okay?” she asked in concern. She placed her hands on my shoulders and had a good look at me, her eyes scanning my body from head to toe.

“Yes, mom, I’m fine. My car, on the other hand, isn’t.” I bit my lip nervously. I saw Billie getting up from the corner of my eye. My eyes followed him as he walked up to the pay phone down the hall.

“I don’t care about the car, sweetie. I’m just glad you’re okay.” She swung her arms around me and nearly suffocated me when she hugged me tightly. “Where is Jonah, though?”

“He left. For good, hopefully. I don’t really wanna talk about it,” I sighed. My mother shot me a concerned, but sympathetic look. It’s not like she didn’t expect this to happen any time soon. Our relationship had been on the rocks for months. It hadn’t always been this bad, though. When we started dating nearly eighteen months ago, we were known as the school’s biggest lovebirds. Those were the times I missed. That Jonah was the Jonah I missed.

“We should go home, your father’s worried sick,” my mother said. I quickly nodded in reply.
“You’re leaving?” I jumped a little when Billie suddenly showed up behind me. He must have noticed, because he chuckled ever so slightly.

“Yes, we are. It was nice meeting you, and once more, I’m sorry for all the trouble.” I nearly stumbled over my words because I was speaking so fast. I felt my cheeks flush again. What the hell? I never blushed!

“Well, goodbye, then,” he smiled. “See you around, maybe?” He seemed to genuinely mean it. Was he hoping to see me again? The man must have been at least ten years older than me, if not more!

“Eh, yeah, who knows,” I stammered. I quickly bid him goodbye and dragged my mom along with me as I nearly ran outside. My mom curiously cocked her eyebrow at me.

“What was that about?” she asked. I simply shrugged. My mom’s laughter made me turn around. I placed a hand on my hip and felt I was getting annoyed.

“What?” I snapped. My mom just shook her head, chuckling. She gazed at me for a moment before she started walking again, passing me by. She answered my question when she got to the car and found me still standing in the middle of the parking lot, staring at her. Her response made me choke on my own saliva.

“You have a crush on the guy whose car you’ve just crashed.”