English Accent

We were going to be late. We’ve had forty minutes to get to the airport. And we were going to be late. I was driving nearly 20 miles over the limit, trying to get my Giulietta to reach her maximum. But unless a miracle happened and she turned into a Batmobile, there was no way we were going to make it to the airport on time. "Come on, come on, come on... " Sierra rocked back and forward in her seat, her eyes focused on the road. "Shut up, Sierra. You're making me nervous." "Oh, I'm sorry. It's just a hundred dollars and my life at stake. No pressure." I rolled my eyes. "Maybe we would make it if you didn't run around the house three hundred times, grabbing all your stuff in a hurry." "Oh, shut up." her eyes narrowed. " I wonder how you would look like if you got to know you had to be on a different continent in two days, smiling and ready for one of your dozen cousin's wedding." I didn't say anything because I knew she was right. Two days ago Sierra got a call from her mom telling her one of her countless cousins was getting married and she had to come back home quickly. She said him and his fiancee got engaged last week and wanted to get married as quickly as possible. Turns out that if they didn't want to wait until next year, they had to do it next Sunday. And since Sierra was Spanish, she and her family took things like that very seriously. Well, maybe just her family. My best friend thought love was stupid and weddings were useless (just like I did), but even she didn't have enough balls to stand up to her mother. Esperanza Hayes wasn't the kind of woman you discussed with. And she sure as hell wasn't the kind of woman you pissed off if you wanted to keep your head on the right side of your body. So here we were, on our way to the airport, speeding as crazy but still late as f**k. Welcome to my life, an endless rollercoaster of unexpected events and stupid coincidences. I was just changing gears, trying to overtake some Smart, when I head Sierra's scream: "Watch out!" I instinctively slammed on the brakes, but something told me it was already too late. A terrible shudder rolled through the car and I gripped the stirring wheel so tight my fingers turned white. A second later I heard a loud c***k and I couldn't see what was happening because the safety pillow exploded in my face. "Si? Si! You alive?" I felt panic rising in my throat. "f**k!" Against everything, I felt the urge to grin. Oh yeah, she most definitely was alive and alright. The quick flash of good humour instantly passed, though, when I realized what has just happened. "Christ, damn, s**t, fuck..." Sierra was singing her usual litany and bursting out of the car before I could even unbuckle. Making sure I could move every part of my body, I unbuckled my seat belt and rolled outside. When I saw what was happening, I wanted to come back in the car, and never leave it again. There was a black SUV in front of my car. Or rather, on the front of my car, since half of the front mask was shattered and plastered to its bumper. Oh, no, no, no, no... Ignoring the cacophony of horns blasting out around me, I rounded the car and assessed the damage. Fuck. The entire front of my car was shattered. It looked as if it has survived a close encounter with a ripper. And then fell off a cliff. And then was run over by a tank. And then... "What the f**k have you done?" My head snapped up at the sound of the deep voice coming from somewhere above me. My eyes instantly locked with a pair of hazel ones, now more green than brown, probably tinted this colour with anger. I took in the furrowed brows, the deep frown to his lips and the tension in his body. Oh, boy, this was so not good... "I... I wasn't planning on it..." "You weren't planning on it?" he exploded, looking down at me. "Are you f*****g serious?" He averted his eyes and shook his head, thrusting his hand through his hair. Brown hair. I watched the storm of emotions appearing on his face, the hard set to the strong line of his jaw. He was angry. Furious, even. And I knew it was all directed at me. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, f**k, no!" Sierra's moans brought me back to reality. She appeared on our side of the car, with her fingers tangled in her hair and a plain desperation on her face. "I'm f****d, I'm literally fucked." She looked at the shattered front of my Giulietta and groaned. "That's it. After all that had happened, my mom is going to kill me over a stupid car crush. God bless me." Oh, s**t. I've forgotten. The airport. The flight. The lack of time. Must have been the shock. Either way, Sierra's mother was really going to kill her. All because of me. See? I wasn't joking when I said the faith hated me. My gaze darted to the giant SUV I've just hit. Its bumper was a little pressed in, but apart of it, it looked untouched. Suddenly, an idea appeared in my head. "You." I focused my gaze on the guy. "I..." I stopped, having no idea how to put it. There was no way in hell he was going to help me. Not after I'd hit his car with mine and destroyed his whole day. "I what?" he said in an impatient tone. I took a deep breath. He was probably going to think I was an i***t, but I had no choice. It was all my fault. If I had been more focused, none of it would have happened. I looked to my right, where Sierra was talking on her phone, arguing with someone, probably her mother, in Spanish. I closed my eyes and braced myself, knowing what I had to say next. I would to this. I owed it to Sierra. Raising my head, I stood as tall as I could and met his eyes. "I need your help." I said. There was a moment of silence in which my heart beat so fast and so loud I was sure he could hear it. He raised a brow, his gaze not once wavering from my face. I forced myself to maintain eye contact and I had to admit it was probably the hardest thing I had to do in my life. And I'd beaten anorexia. Go figure. "What did you say?" he asked after what seemed like eternity. "I need your help." I repeated, knowing that every second we spent there talking, was the time we could never get back. "You see, my friend here... Her name is Sierra. I was driving her to the airport where she has to be in twenty minutes, or she's going to miss a very important flight. And if she does miss it, she is going to get in real trouble and I'm never going to forgive myself. That's why I need your help." "Okay." he dragged out the vowels. "But I don't see how I fit into the story." Now or never. "I need you to drive her to the airport." I fired. He looked at me as if I'd gone crazy and let out a laugh. "What?" I sighed. "Please. My car is in no state to go anywhere right now. I can't take her. And she really can't miss that flight. And since your car is untouched, and I'm sure it's ten times faster than mine..." "No." he cut me off in a firm voice. "No way." "Please." I repeated, running desperate. Time was running. "I will do everything you want, I will pay for every damage, I will fulfil your every wish for the rest of your life... Just please, help her." His dark brow arched higher and I saw a flash in his eyes. "My every wish?" he asked in a low voice. Suddenly, despite all that was happening, I felt a wave of anger rush over me. He was laughing at me. Seriously? Out of all the people I could drive into, I had to strike an arrogant p*****t? Who the hell wrote my life scenario? "Every decent wish." I corrected myself. "But yes. Apart from killing and sleeping with someone, I have no limits." He continued to stare at me, but I couldn't read anything from his face. How could this guy maintain such a stoic expression? I fully admired and envied this ability, since I knew the look on my face was probably screaming panic and terror right now. I was that good at hiding my emotions. "What could I possibly want from you?" he asked, holding my gaze. I shrugged. "Hell if I know. But everyone wants something. I'm sure you're no exception." Suddenly, his eyes darkened and he looked away. "Nothing you could possibly give me." he said in a low voice. Holy Mary and baby Jesus help me... "God, where you never in need?" I asked, irritated. He glanced back at me. " I was. No one helped me. Things like that happen, you know." Hell if I didn't. But it won't make me give up. "Okay, that's sad." I admitted. "But don't you at least have a conscience?" He arched a brow. "A what?" I pressed my lips into a thin line. He was insufferable. I mean, I knew that I was the one who drove into his tail, but what the hell. Couldn't he bring himself to this one simple act of humanity even if I paid him? Was he even human? I was just opening my mouth to say something that was not going to make or situation better in any way when I heard a voice to my right. "Mierda!" Oh, man, if Sierra had switched into Spanish, it meant that s**t was going to go downhill very fast... "I think my mother just disowned me." she stated. My heart jumped in my chest. I looked back at the guy and mouthed a wordless: "Please." Jaw clenching, he looked away. I could see the muscle pulsing in his jaw, while he thought about it. I knew my chances were almost non-existent, since he didn't look like the charity type of guy. Or any guy who liked helping people, for the matter. But I had hope, a little bit of hope, a teeny-tiny, little spark... "No." Aaand just like that, the tiny spark was destroyed by a sudden wave of darkness. I narrowed my eyes. "You know what? f**k you." I pointed at his chest. "f**k you and your stupid, big black car." With that, I turned my back to him and started telling Sierra how sorry I was. It wasn't much, but at least it was true. I felt horrible for doing this for her. And I knew I probably had no right to yell at the guy, since I was the one who was responsible for us being in here in first place, but what the hell. I was angry and he was going to hear about it. "Wait." I stiffened when I heard his voice behind my back. Slowly, I turned around and saw that he was still standing in the same spot, watching us. "Okay." He said. My eyes widened. "Okay, what?" Sierra asked, coming to stand beside me. "Okay, I'll take you to the airport." he said, glancing at her. "What?" She exclaimed, staring at him. "Why?" His eyes shifted to mine briefly. "You can consider yourself a lucky case." he simply said. Sierra turned her head sharply to me and mouthed: "What?" There was no way I was going to tell her what I'd done. She would never go with him if she knew. I shrugged. " I don't know. But you don't have much choice. You either go with him or stay." She thought about it. "You do realize that we have barely ten minutes left?" she asked him. "Yeah, and we aren't getting anywhere standing here and chatting, so I suggest we'd better hit the road." he pointed to his car. Sierra sent me a doubtful look. "Are you sure you can stay here alone?" "Yes! Yes, no problem!" I pushed her in the car's direction. "Now stop talking and take your stuff, or your mom is going to kill both of us!" The guy walked over to the driver's side and looked at me over his shoulder when he was opening the door. "We will talk later." he mouthed to me. I swallowed. Yeah, I didn't doubt we would. Not even two minutes later, I was waving Sierra goodbye while she disappeared with some random dude driving her to the airport. I didn't even make sure if he wasn't some serial killer first. Yeah, I was a shitty friend. Yet the only thing I could think about while I watched the black SUV disappear in the line of cars was: What the hell have I just gotten myself into?