“It was more like a rapid 180-degree turn, not a complete spin,” Rebel said, “which is probably a good thing, or we’d have probably flipped over.”
Something in the tone of his voice gave me pause, and I set my pizza down so I could run my fingers up the back of his t-shirt.
“All I could think about was us clipping someone and them getting hurt,” Rebel admitted. “I wasn’t even scared for us. Just didn’t want to see another innocent bystander get hurt.”
“You do know that you and Johnny were innocent bystanders too,” I reminded him. “I know what the press was like before the truth came out and all the questions that were being fired at you, but in the end, you guys weren’t responsible for that accident.”
“But it was my fault we were on the road,” he muttered.
“What do you think would have happened if you'd left alone?” I asked.
“I knew I was too drunk to drive,” he replied. “So, I’d have walked until I found a motel to crash at until morning. There were a couple nearby; I should have just done that and gone back for my car in the morning.”
“But you didn’t. Dwelling on the facts won’t change them,” I told him. “What happened today would have rattled me too. I’ve been in my share of rollovers. They aren’t something you just get used to.”
“I’ve been in one,” Rebel said. “But I was a kid and buckled up in the back. My aunt passed out at the wheel; it wasn’t her fault; her blood pressure crashed, and then so did we. The EMTs got there in time to save her, and she’s still giving my uncle hell.”
“Were you hurt?” Kit asked.
“Cut up some from flying glass; otherwise, I was fine. My booster seat was buckled in the middle, so I wasn’t close to the doors when the car rolled. It turned over three times before it stopped at the bottom of this hill. It was probably a good thing we went off the road when it happened instead of swerving the other way into traffic. I remember yellingweeat first because we were suddenly going really fast, then it wasn’t fun anymore.”
“Damn. How old were you?” I asked.
“Seven. One more year and I wouldn’t have been in the booster seat and probably would have gotten more cut up than I did.”
“Good thing you were still in it,” Kit said. “I’d have taken anykind of protection I could get when I had my wrecks.”
“Did you flip too?” Rebel asked.
“Both times, neither of which I was driving. I just happened to be an unfortunate passenger in two bouts of epic stupidity.”
Rebel snickered and snagged another slice of pizza. “Didn’t learn the first time, huh?”
“Apparently not,” Kit replied. “In all fairness, I was a bit of an asshole at that point in time, and my friends were assholes too, so I brought it on myself.”
“Don’t we all at some point?” I asked.
“So how many rollovers have you been in?” Kit asked. “Something tells me it’s more than two.”
“Five.”
“Shit. That’s…. I don’t think I’d want to ride in anything on wheels ever again.”
“If they’d happened on the highway, I’d agree,” I replied. “But that wasn’t the case with any of them. With that chapter of my life closed now, I hope the universe doesn’t have any more rollovers planned for me.”
“One can only hope,” Rebel mumbled around the pizza he chewed. “You know what we need?”
“What?” Kit asked.
“A Wii,” Rebel said. “For when we stay in hotels. With three controllers, so we can playMario Kart. That way you get to watch rollovers without having to be in the damned things.”
“In that case we’ve got to getNeed for Speed, too,” Kit said. “AndSonic Racing.”
“Wait, Sonic has a racing game?” Rebel said. “How did I not know that?”
“Shocks the hell out of me too,” Kit said. “You missed a good one.”
“Not for long,” Rebel declared. “We’ll get all three and any others we can find. That way we can have private game nights, just the three of us.”