Screen Names.

6

tw: car accident mentions and slight details, mention of nicotine, Evan just being a goddamn mess

"It's not that far away from here," Evan assured me while we walked. A little bit before, he told me the same thing in the same frantic tone. Except, he said it was a third of the way there. I guessed we're about half way there now.

I nodded slightly and kicked a rock across the street. Kicked it like a soccer ball to the side. It reached the yellow line, from where we were in the dirt rut. Not my best. I used to kick rocks all the time. When I was a young kid, I kicked a rocked to the other side of the road and a bit farther. Granted, I was focused on that. I wasn't focused much on the kicking rock anymore. "Do you have your license or are you waiting until you're eighteen?" I asked, a bit mindlessly. I wanted the silence to be filled.

"Oh..." he mumbled. I glanced up from my boots to him and his nervous fidgeting. "I have my license. I went through drivers' ed and everything, passed both my tests and that stuff. I don't have a car... and I don't think I want a car." I raised my eyebrow at him, which he saw. He started to get weirdly defensive of himself. It was nice to see an expression that wasn't anxious on his face. "Have you seen the news about all these car crashes and accidents? That shit's scary. All they show in drivers' ed are videos of cars crashing and flipping over and people going through windshields. Through their windshields! And car recalls? They sell cars that don't work sometimes. What if I got a faulty car and it stopped on the highway, especially if there was a truck behind me! Not pick up, no like a huuuuuge truck. I'd be flatter than a pancake."

I chuckled slightly. Just like an exhale of a chuckle. The type that doesn't need a smile to it. Those, you know those? I hope you do, because that's what I did.

"And I see so many skid marks on roads, that shit's intense. Imagine what happened to the car."

"Wanna know something about skid marks?" My mouth moved on its own.

Truth be told, I had a weird fixation on that sort of stuff. Car accidents, police reports, the news and crime logs— maybe it was because Cynthia always watched stuff like Law and Order and NCIS when I was growing up. It was one of the few memories that really took in my mind. I had a weird interest. That was trying to figure out what was in minds during stuff like that, the cause and the result, what people blame, how people react, who was victim and who was criminal. Especially if they mix those two up.

"What?" He looked over curiously. That was the first time we made eye contact. And we held it.

"If the car was braking," I used hand motions of sorts to help my thoughts go through to my mouth, "the marks would start out light and get darker." He knitted his eyebrows and looked at me with a weird mixture of curiousity and probably worry. "If it starts dark and gets lighter or is dark all the way through, that means the driver put the pedal to the metal sort of deal."

"Oh?" He raised an eyebrow. That eye contact was still lasting.

I nodded. "Most times they're straight. You're talking about the curved ones, yeah? The ones that look like someone didn't have a good day behind the wheel?"

I thought for a moment, that I might've caught a glimpse of a tiny smile from him. It might've been my eyes being funky. "Yeah, like the ones off the road or into the other lanes and all."

"If it's all wiggly and curves and shit like that," I explained with some interest, actually, "then the car probably hit something then kept going. The darkest points would be the ones with the most braking. From car or something it could hit. Or those really long curves? Those are from like, hella speed yaws."

He looked a bit surprised. "How do you know so much about it? It's... cool hearing about it, in a weird way I guess...? That's probably weird, sorry about that."

"Well, it's kinda weird I like this stuff, so no sorries are needed," I exhaled a slight chuckle again. "I used to watch Law and Order a lot. And Live PD. I still watch Live PD. And Live Rescue. Those two are my favorite shows honestly."

"I... Wow, I actually really like watching Live Rescue," Evan admitted with a sheepish chuckle and a scratch at the back of his neck. He sort of smiled— an embarrassed and shy smile, but a smile. "It scares the living ssshhhhit outta me most times, but it's pretty cool to watch. Especially when I watch it with my mom." He smiled like he did before, but this time it seemed... sad. "She's not home too often, but she's a nurse. She explains what the doctors need to do with the different patients."

I paused slightly and felt a weird churn in my stomach. "Interrupting question for a quick moment. Do you mind if I smoke?"

Evan glanced at me and told me, "I have problems handling second hand smoke. My eyes get all itchy and once I get coughing it doesn't stop. That's weird, I know, sorry."

"It's no sweat." I dug in my pocket and popped a strip of nicotine gum in my mouth. I hoped it would ease my stomach. "Okay, back to topic. Your mom's a nurse?" Evan nodded and hummed in confirmation. "What's her name?"

He looked up at me with a confused and slightly worried look. "Heidi Hansen, why?"

My head was circling and spinning. Car accidents were trapped in my mind after our conversation about driving, and now with nurses stuck up there too, it gave me a headache. Her name felt familiar. "Oh, I was just curious. My friend's been in the hospital a few times, I was wondering if he ever had her, if she spends a lot of shifts there. The local one over here."

"Oh, makes sense." He nodded. "What happened to him?"

"Car accident, actually." I chuckled awkwardly and scratched my hand.

"Oh," he mumbled under his breath. "Oh! This is my street." He perked up and smiled slightly. "I'll uh, maybe see you later?"

I nodded to him with a pursed lip smile and put my hands in my pockets. "Sounds good." Damn, I really needed a cigarette.

-

Interactions. Love those.

This was actually pretty fun to write, this chapter. Kinda hints, kinda might be foreshadowing but you don't know that yet and sometimes I don't know that yet either sooooo

If you guys read the book, you probably have a tiny advantage in knowing some references but don't like, shout them out or things like that.

Wanna disclaim this now, a lot of Connors inner monologues/what he's narrating in here jumps a couple times. He comes back to different thoughts in chapters, you might've seen it with the first chapter vs this one with the whole car accident thing, it's probably gonna come back later as well. Just telling y'all now

Vote and comment cuz I'm a whore