I was out on a night out with some friends and I was, as usual, the designated driver. I don't drink much so to me it was no big deal, the rest of the group though was merry if not getting on towards being a little drunk. This has little bearing on the story though which only becomes interesting at the end of the night when at around 1 a.m. I was dropping off the last two of the group, Chris and Helen. Chris was a good friend and we always hung around and looked out for each other except when it came to girls. Chris could be a real arrogant sod and he thought that his money could buy anyone and would frequently try it on with anyone just to try and prove it. Helen was his latest toy, a girl we had picked up along with her friend at a club a few weeks earlier. I had hooked up with the friend but it just wasn't right for us so we didn't take it any further. They were both good fun though so we all hung out and got along well. The story really develops though when I dropped Chris off at his house which was on the way home.
"There is no way you are dropping me off first." Chris said from the back of the car.
"Look," I said, "you live on the road out of town I would have to drive by my house and Helen's to drop her off first then double back to come all the way out here. You are talking about an extra 40 miles for me and at this time in the morning you can get stuffed."
"I don't trust you" Chris replied, "fucking badger."
"Well I am sure Helen is delighted in your opinion of her as well." I replied turning around to see them.
"Just go," Helen said "I will be fine and I will call you tomorrow"
We drove away without a word from either of us for a couple of miles until I saw Helen start to mess with the radio and move around in her seat.
"Sorry about that back there." I said staring straight ahead.
"What was all that about with you and Chris?" She asked turning towards me.
"Chris thinks everyone will be after his girl because of ...stuff" I said still looking ahead.
"Why did he call you that name then?" She asked with a smile.
"It's supposed to mean 'goes down any hole'," I said looking ahead, "It is bullshit though, really that's not me at all."
"So you don't go after his girlfriends then?" she asked edging forward.
"No I don't," I said looking straight at her, "but he goes after other peoples so he expects the same in return."
"I kind of figured he was a bit slimy." Helen said turning away and looking out of the window.
"So why are you seeing him then?" I asked
"Look do you fancy going somewhere for a chat?" She asked, "I am not that tired and I wanted to speak to you about things with Chris."
"Uh, okay I guess," I said, "I can park in this factory complex up ahead I suppose."
I parked the car at the end of a dead end on a road surrounded on three sides by fields and grass. To the left around 50 yards away was a factory unit behind a security fence, ahead was around 200 yards of grass before another fence which led to the runway of the local airport and to the right there was a gap of around 75 feet then there was a hedge and behind the hedge was the main road into town. . The main road nearby had little traffic at that time and although you could see the lights from all the cars through the hedge you were unable to actually see anything of the cars themselves. The spot was not going to get any passing traffic but not quite out in the middle of nowhere and besides she wanted to chat.
We stopped and I undid my belt an turned to face Helen as she did likewise from the other side of the car. We chatted about everything and nothing really for about 30 minutes. It was really good just to spend time with someone and to have both people just able to laugh and share stories about anything. After about 30 minutes though, Helen put her head back against the window and looked at me.
"You know when you make a choice with people and then you find out it was the wrong choice sometimes?" she said looking right at me.
"Sure," I said starting to feel a bit of tension rising in me.
"Well sometimes I wish you could make a different choice."