Steve was tired. He was always tired after working in London. And he hated it. He hated the 5:30am alarm. He hated the delays on the train, and the stupid excuses First Great Western came up for explaining them. He hated the way so many people were squashed into such a small space on the tube. He hated that he always had to go on a Friday. But most of all he hated Head Office, or rather the people that worked there. They were so arrogant and treated him almost like they would a small child, as though working at Head Office made them superior. No matter that it was people like Steve who got the company all of the business.
Still, that was all behind him this week now. It was a beautiful evening, and he was enjoying his drive home through the Cotswolds from the station to his house. He belonged in the country and especially liked the English countryside in which he lived. He put up with trips to London every week because he could come back to this - the scenery, the rolling hills and stone walls. And the quiet.
He wouldn't admit it, but he was pretty well off, even after the divorce from Claire a couple of years ago. He had a big house, miles from anywhere else with a few acres of land too, he particularly liked the fact that he was hidden with his long driveway. It was his world, separated from the busyness and hassle of reality. He didn't enjoy work too much, but he made the most of the lifestyle it afforded him and the things, like his house, that he could enjoy. At 33, he was doing pretty well.
But his car was probably what he enjoyed most. He drove a silver BMW 7-series. He would have preferred an Aston of course, but his job wasn't quite that good. Today he was probably driving too fast, but he enjoyed the thrill, thought that he should be making the most of the 4.4L engine and knew the roads pretty well anyway. Motorway driving and town driving were dull, just following the car in front all the time. But out here the roads were quiet and he felt free. Music up loud, windows wound down, this is what driving is about.
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Lucy was tired. She was always tired on a Friday night after a long week. Her nursing course meant that she had to do a number of shifts at the hospital on top of the lectures she attended, while her friends were able to sleep off their hangovers and stumble into the few hours of lectures they had on their courses without consequence. She didn't mind though. She enjoyed her work. She liked the busyness of the wards and she enjoyed making a difference. She also knew that she would be able to walk into a job in two years time when she was done whereas the others would probably struggle.
She lived at home with her parents, her twin sister, Christina, and her younger brother Mike. It meant that she missed out on some of the socialising - all of her friends lived in Bristol - but she liked it at home. She was very close to Christina - they did most things together. She was also close to her parents, and had her dad wrapped around her little finger. He would do almost anything for his two little girls. Now 20 they were grown up, but to him they'd always be his little girls. Which is why when she discovered he was working from home today, Lucy managed to borrow his Mercedes E-Class without trying too hard. It was much nicer to drive than her Clio, and the other students were envious when she turned up that morning at lectures.
As she drove back, she wondered what she was going to do that weekend. The weather was meant to be good, so probably some walking with Christina. That was her favourite pastime - she just liked being outside.
The roads were particularly windy and narrow as she got closer to home. But she knew them pretty well and could handle them at speed, which she liked to do often. She told herself that she didn't take silly risks, just calculated ones.
But she didn't calculate too well today. As she came up to a T-junction, she didn't notice the BMW approaching and pulled out. The two cars collided with a loud crash, the BMW span around a couple of times skidding, ending up on the other side of the road about thirty yards away, while she went straight into a tree in the hedgerow.
She couldn't believe what had just happened - it happened so quickly. She seemed ok though, a few bumps and bruises, and her head hurt. But she could have been a whole lot worse. As she looked up, she saw a guy get out of the other car and come towards her. Phew, she thought, he seems to have come out of this okay too.
"Are you okay?" he asked as she opened the door.
"Yeah, I'm fine, I think. That was stupid, I'm so sorry" she replied as she stepped out of the car. She was fine, a little shaken perhaps, but pretty good all things considered.
"These things happen" Steve replied "but as long as we're both ok, which we seem to be, that's the main thing." He was relieved that they both seemed to be unharmed for the most part. Usually with crashes in these situations there are serious injuries, maybe even deaths. They had got away with it.
Once he had concluded the girl was ok, he couldn't help but notice what had happened to the car. "Now, there may be no damage to you, but your car is in a right state."
The guy was right - the front of Lucy's Dad's car was a mess. There was no way she was driving that thing home tonight. The bonnet looked about half as deep as it should have been. The right hand side had gone where it had been knocked by the BMW and the left hand side even worse by the tree. She wondered whether it was a write-off. And then she thought about her Dad. He was going to be mad! She had promised that she was going to drive especially carefully today and make sure nothing happened to the car. But she couldn't have predicted this.
And then she remembered - this car wasn't even on her policy. She was only third party on her Dad's insurance policy, which meant that if the accident was her fault they wouldn't pay out. She froze as she slowly thought through the consequences of this.
"Erm, are you insured, fully comp?" she asked tentatively.
"Yes, I am, but let's not worry about that now. Let's just exchange details and let the insurance companies figure it all out."
"But you don't understand." As she further thought through the implications, she started to get upset and tried her best to stop herself crying, only partially managing. "This is my Dad's car and I'm only covered third party. He is going to be mad at me anyway, but if the insurance company don't pay out he's going to kill me."
"Hmmm. Look, I'm really sorry, but we just need to let them sort it out." Steve had friends with bad experiences trying to mess insurance companies out and knew it was best to just tell them the truth.
"But it's my fault, isn't it? I should have stopped and not pulled out. I can't believe this has happened." It was harder to stop herself from crying, and a tear fell from her eye. How did this happen? Why did it happen? Why not when she was in her own car, at least?
"Let's see what the insurers say. I'm sure it'll be ok."
