Chapter Twenty-Five: Near Miss
THEY stood on the curb, waiting for Dane and Shelly amongst a large, chattering group of club goers that had congregated on the corner. They were a noisy crowd, still enthusiastic and energetic despite the lateness of the hour. Most of them were probably at least partially drunk, many of them taking the opportunity to smoke. Nicolette was standing near the curb, having been driven across the sidewalk toward the street as the crowd shifted. She sighed in irritation as the chattering girl behind her nudged her for the umpteenth time, despite Nicolette’s repeated shifts to avoid her. Every time she shifted, the crowd seemed to shift with her, bringing the girl and her razor sharp elbows with her.
She stood next to Daniel, cold and damp from the chilly ocean breeze beneath the low lying foggy San Francisco sky. The somnolent mood of the late night cityscape settled over her like a dull grey cloak of misery. Their evening had started well enough, despite their initial awkward diffidence, but it had gone from bad to worse as the evening progressed. She wanted to be home so she could curl up under her blankets and nurse her self-pity until it was time to get up for work at Coffee Beach. She wasn’t looking forward to the early start, or the long double-shift on such short rest, but Saturday mornings were usually busy and the customers tipped well. She was looking forward to having something to focus on which was unrelated to this evening’s debacle -- the less room for her worries to take root, the better.
She shuffled another step toward the curb as the girl brayed with drunken laughter again, her elbow bumping into Nicolette’s back. The girl didn’t even bother to apologize. Nicolette glanced at Daniel as she surreptitiously rubbed her arms for warmth, missing his hand on her back. She wondered how long they would be waiting for Dane to finish his business. The uncertainty of Daniel's mood coupled with the wait reminded Nikki of her teenaged years, when she knew she had done something which would make Mother angry. The uncertainty always felt like a grinding weight on the back of her neck as she tried to anticipate what Mother was going to do when she got home.
Back before I’d left, I’d have known what to do, she thought, struggling with a sense of profound loss. I’d have been able to anticipate his thoughts and work to smooth things over, to fix things before they got too spun out. But now...
She glanced at Daniel, feeling his silence, intuitively sensing his seething emotions underneath his disciplined and calm exterior. She had no idea how to reach through his shell -- it was something had he found after she left. Even if she could get him to open up, she wondered what she was going to do, how she was going to set things right.
Everything I do just makes things worse, she thought despairingly. Even if I can fix this, will it be as good as it was back then?
She jumped slightly as Daniel cut into her reverie, “You okay?”
She frowned; the question sounded perfunctory, distracted...polite.
“Not really.”
He nodded, brows drawing together, his demeanor suggesting he’d anticipated her answer. She felt annoyance as she wondered whether any answer she gave could have drawn a different response.
How can he still read me so well, but be almost totally opaque to me?
The answer that rang back was almost as disconcerting as it was painful: Because he’s changed more than I have.
She struggled not to cry as she wondered whether the boy she had fallen in love with -- the boy she had come back to Half Moon Bay to win back, if she was being honest -- might be gone, irrevocably destroyed by time and circumstance, some of which she had inadvertently set into motion.
Why I do keep destroying everything I care about?, she wondered, blinking rapidly.
He stood, hands shoved deep into his pockets as he stared blindly out over the street, mulling several different replies. Taking a deep breath, he rejected most of the things he wanted to say -- things largely driven by his own confusion and disappointment...and anger...the anger was never far from the surface. He struggled to find something reassuring he could say, or failing that, something that was at least neutral that would give them time to find common ground again. Before he could settle on a reply, Nikki half turned, relief washing across her face as she caught sight of Dane and Shelly. Something had happened in the club, something he was struggling to grasp, like some rusty, misshapen truth lying just out of reach. He felt that truth coiling around his heart, his suspicions drawing that twisted wire tighter, his anger and pain adding ripping edges to it. He was being unfair, unfair to both of them; but that knowledge wasn’t enough to loosen the coils of that jagged truth tearing at him.
He tried to shake it off as they said their brief goodbyes, Shelly exchanging hugs with both of them and extracting promises that they’d visit Dane at the ‘Summer Cottage’, the home he’d purchased up in the hills overlooking Half Moon Bay. Nikki had never visited, but if she went strictly by their description, she would have guessed it was only slightly larger than her flat. Of course, knowing Dane was about to drive Shelly home in his Ferrari -- and she had the distinct impression that ‘The T’ wasn’t the only luxury sports car he owned -- she wasn’t sure what to expect. As she hugged Nikki, she whispered, “You have to come over and tell me what happened!” in Nikki’s ear, adding an extra squeeze for emphasis. The simple expression of support came as a surprise to Nikki, leaving her eyes prickling with unshed tears as they parted -- but adding a nodded promise that she would.
Shelly favored Tommy with a solemn nod, consciously caricaturing Tommy and Daniel. Tommy, a hint of a smirk playing about his lips, returned the solemn nod, eliciting an amused giggle from Shelly. Suddenly Nikki was exhausted, wanting this crash and burn disaster of an evening to end. She glanced at Daniel, feeling a sudden upwelling of resentment and frustration at his guardedly neutral expression.
You don’t know as much as you think you do!, she thought, feeling her resentment begin to boil over.
Her thoughts were interrupted when the girl standing behind her fell off her heels, bumping Nicolette roughly on her shoulder. As Nicolette stumbled to catch her balance, she was shoved roughly from behind -- must have tripped, she thought.
She had one brief sinking instant of fear as her foot turned on the edge of the curb, her ankle rolling sharply. She heard the roar of an engine as her arms extended to catch herself. She was falling into traffic, bright headlights catching the corner of her eye. As she started to tumble, her head was violently jerked backward by her hair. She thought her neck was surely going to break. Her hand whipped out in front of her for balance as she was unceremoniously dragged backward. She felt callused fingers curl around the waistband of her jeans. A slashing pain tore through the palm of her right hand (The nail!) but she could only gasp in pained surprise.
Almost immediately her hair was released, leaving her stumbling as a beat-up, gold sedan roared past, inches from rolling through her knee. As she tumbled backward, she had the briefest moment of recognition, catching a hint of eye shine, grey barklike skin, an impossibly toothy grin as the driver ducked his head to make eye contact from the driver’s side of the car. She watched as the antenna whipped back up. The car roared past, little more than a gold blur as the driver gunned it, tires squealing as the car jumped back out of the gutter.
Her heels caught on the pavement as time seemed to resume its normal flow, suddenly coming at her too quickly. Her tailbone hit the pavement. She tried to tuck her chin, to use her arms to catch herself, to resist the fall with her core muscles, but when her head whacked the pavement an instant later, she saw a flash of white, smelled blood, then nothing.
She was probably only out for a few seconds, but the first thing she saw was a very frightened Shelly leaning over her. Nikki heard Daniel shouting, and was suddenly afraid the driver had circled back. She was filled with certainty that if the (monster) driver circled back, Daniel was in over his head, in dire need of help. The back of her head felt loose, as though her skull was threatening to fall away, sinuously threatening to pull her b
rains after it. She forced herself to stand, determined not to leave Daniel to face the driver alone.
“Nikki--“
Nicolette shook Shelly’s hands off as she came to her feet. She had a blurry memory of Daniel surging into the street in the wake of the hit and run driver.
Near miss and run, she corrected mentally, realizing that if she had been hit, she would most likely be crippled, probably dying.
The thought brought her up short; the sedan had almost killed her.
She had almost died.
Tommy was standing down the street, his back to her. He stood beside Daniel, who was shouting profanities in the wake of the driver, but she didn’t see the gold sedan anywhere. Nikki blinked rapidly, trying to jump start her thinking machinery. A crowd had gathered, was watching Daniel raging. Nicolette shook her head groggily, trying to get the ringing in her hears to clear. When sense returned to what she was hearing, it was as if muffling cotton had been abruptly pulled from her ear drums.
“...Fucking could have killed her, motherfucker! You think you can come into my home, hurt my people and just fucking drive away, you fucking coward?”
She watched as another car pulled up behind him -- a grey BMW. The irritated driver honked at the pedestrian standing in the middle of the street. Daniel immediately rounded on the car, eyes wide with rage, spittle on his lips as he began advancing on the other driver, teeth bared. Dane was at his side, trying to placate him, but Daniel was a runaway locomotive, tearing his biceps free, his raging shout drowning out whatever Dane was saying. Nikki half turned, seeing the gathering crowd, many of the people with cellphones out.
She felt a chill run from her hairline over her forehead all the way to the backs of her thighs, her face strangely numb as several thoughts ran through her mind:
People are calling the cops!
I’m an ex-con on parole!
If I get caught up in this, I could end up going back!
I’ve got to GO!
For one frozen instant of time, she considered leaving, just heading for the nearest BART subway train and leaving everyone to fend for themselves because THEY DIDN’T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT PRISON!
Immediately following that impulse, shame and self-loathing tore through her. She felt as though she was being pulled in half, starting with the base of her throat all the way down to her groin as the feelings reverberated through her.
Her train of thought lasted for perhaps 2 seconds, just long enough for the driver of the BMW to reach for the door handle. The streetlights glimmered off of the steel of the steering wheel lock he was dragging with him. She lunged into action, tearing free of Shelly’s grip on her left biceps -- much as Daniel had just done with Dane. She ignored the fibrous pain throughout her head and the sharp surge of pain in her neck. Each step sent a jolt of pain through her head, the back of her skull threatening to peel away as she stepped off the curb. Dane saw her, his eyes widening as he stretched out a hand belatedly in her direction, intending to halt her movement, but an instant too slow. The driver was getting out of his car with a steel anti-theft device clutched in his hand, her naked back turned toward him. She put her faith in her friends to keep him from clobbering her as her sense of urgency impelled her to action.
Daniel saw an armed enemy advancing on his position, his life-or-death survival instincts kicking in. He didn’t see Nikki in his path and clearly wasn’t hearing anything Dane was saying. Seeing his wild-eyed rage, bared teeth, and unvarnished hatred, Nikki realized that whatever he was reacting to, it had become divorced from their current situation. She thought he was going to bowl her over, as if she was little more than foliage to be pushed out of the way; an obstacle between him and his intended objective.
She braced herself as he tried to push her aside, throwing her weight against his chest. For one instant, she was perfectly poised on the edge of being thrown onto her back, his momentum briefly checked. She ignored his shouted obscenities and threats, feeling spittle land on her cheek and forehead as she resisted. Instinctively knowing that she urgently needed to ground him, she reached up, putting her hands on either side of his face, forcibly pulling his face down as she murmured, “Dan. I’m fine. Dan. Look -- I’m not hurt.”
She continued speaking soothingly, refusing to let his anger touch her, only increasing the pressure of her hands on his face. When the end of the storm came, it was sudden -- he blinked and finally saw her, registered the pressure of her hands on his face. Behind her, she heard voices, but didn’t feel as though she could spare the attention.
“That car almost killed you,” he growled, still poised on the edge of raging.
She nodded but continued speaking calmly, fighting to project every bit of calm she could muster into Daniel, “But I’m fine. You saved me.”
He stared down at her, confused, his rage beginning to drain away, “No -- that was Tommy. I didn’t even see the car until it was on top of you. For a second, I thought it had killed you.”
Relief flooded through her as she breathlessly replied, “You weren’t the only one.”
She finally spared a look over her shoulder and was surprised to see the BMW’s driver sitting in the driver’s seat, his feet firmly planted on the pavement. Tommy was leaning over him, one arm casually on top of the car door, the other stretched out over the roof of the car. The driver was leaning away from him; she couldn’t see where the anti-theft device had gone. Dane was standing right next to her, almost stepping on her feet, a tearful Shelly behind him pleading, “M-maybe we should get out of the street.”
Nikki turned back to Daniel, surprised to see a trickle of blood run down his cheek. The stinging pain returned to her hand, along with the memory of the car antenna slashing her palm as it passed; she realized it was her blood. She looked into Daniel's eyes, reassuring herself that he was back to himself. Seeing the implicit question in her eyes, he reached up and covered her hands with his, drawing out the contact, reassuring her.
He reluctantly broke the contact with a nod, “Shelly’s right -- let’s get out of the street.”
Nikki stepped back to the curb, suddenly feeling all of her injuries; her bruised tailbone, the pounding ache in the back of her head, the stinging pain in her right hand, the sharp jagged pain in her neck, the dull ache in her scalp. As she stepped back up onto the curb, she became aware that her ankle was trying to join the chorus, clearly not pleased with the tumble she’d taken.
Heels and car-dodging do not make a comfortable combination, she reflected ruefully
A moment later, Tommy joined them, looking troubled as the BMW shifted gears and hurriedly pulled away. Nikki was reminded of the crowd surrounding them; she and Daniel were the center of attention. She heard sirens in the distance and felt a resurgence of fear at the thought of fielding questions from the police, especially if they checked her out and saw her criminal record. Maybe they were headed toward the club, maybe they weren’t, but either way she didn’t want to be around when they arrived.
Apologetically, she spoke into the stunned silence, “I need to get out of here.”
Daniel hesitated, then reluctantly nodded, “I don’t think it’s such a good idea for me to stick around, either.”
Shelly, looking troubled, still a little teary, stared at them in surprise, “But...that guy almost killed Nikki! We can’t just let him go! He might hurt someone else!”
Nikki shook her head urgently, “Someone else is going to have step up. I can explain later, but right now I really need to go.”
Dane stepped forward, hugging Nikki briefly, then added simply, “Go -- it’s cool.”
As he stepped back, Shelly -- still clearly unconvinced, stepped forward and hugged Nikki then Daniel, “Call us later!”
Nikki nodded, then crossed the street with Daniel only a step behind...but not before double checking that the street was clear.
As she replayed the encounter over and over, she had the disconcerting certainty that the push sending her into the street hadn’t
been an accident -- especially when she thought about the (monster) person driving the gold sedan.
With growing fear, she realized someone had just tried to kill her.