Or I suppose a little over.
A week since I promised you all a story that I have yet to tell.
Meaning: I suppose I should probably come clean now.
During my week away, I might have been in a teeny, tiny, itty, bitty, little fender bender.
Seriously – it was nothing.
I swear.
But… there was a moment where two cars went boom, and… I may not have been entirely innocent.
It was a Thursday night, and I had dragged myself to Pilates even as the excuses for not going had beckoned me towards staying home.
I went, I worked out, and I was glad I did.
Until… until I got in my car to drive home and wound up instead buying myself a whole heap of trouble.
You see, it’s that time of year. Everyone’s cars are filthy from the breakup, seeing out of back windows is next to impossible, and when the sun starts setting – the glare banks off of the remaining snow and filth and creates less than suitable driving conditions.
That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.
I sat down in my car and for the briefest of seconds and reached for my phone. I wanted to call Loo and talk to her about something (although, I can’t for the life of me remember what was so important now), but then I realized just how many people were exiting the class (and the small parking lot) at the same time. So I decided against it. I figured I could wait the 10 minutes until I got home to talk to her.
Which basically means that I made a good driving decision, and still got bit in the butt.
I was slowly backing out (I’m telling you – this lot is small and the sun was right in my eyes!) when someone walked directly behind my car. So I stopped for a second, waited for them to pass, and then proceeded to back out further.
Which is when it happened. The tell-tale sound of two cars meeting.
I immediately cursed under my breath. The car I had smacked was angled across the parking lot in the other direction. We had pretty much just hit corners. Her passenger’s side back bumper, and my driver’s side back bumper.
Basically – we had both been pulling out in opposite directions and had just barely nicked each other.
I pulled back into my spot and got out. I could see the damage to her car right away (the corner of the bumper dented in), but upon inspecting my car – there was no damage at all.
I immediately determined that my CR-V had won the fight.
Still… the damage to her car was definitely noticeable, and I absolutely felt bad.
At this point I was thinking we would both take blame for our part in the accident, and our insurance companies would sort it out. I knew that in Arizona the laws were such that the companies would each take responsibility for the damage to their driver’s car, and I just assumed that would be what would be what would happen here as well.
So the truth is that while I was annoyed that the whole thing had happened, and while I also felt bad for the other driver, I pretty much figured I was in the clear since I had no damage.
Meaning – I wasn’t that worked up about the whole thing.
The other driver was another story though. She was clearly flustered and upset, and wanted to immediately call the cops.
I tried to explain to her that because it was a parking lot (private property), they wouldn’t cite either of us or make any determinations at all (the knowledge I have from growing up in a family of police), but she was insistent that we call.
And then she said it “Do you agree to take full responsibility for this?”
That’s when I knew this was not going to be a pleasant experience.
I fully owned my part in the wreck. I had absolutely been moving when our cars had met, and I was more than willing to take responsibility for that. But… we had both been in the middle of the parking lot when we hit. Meaning: it wasn’t exactly like I had hit her parked car. So I looked at her, truly remorseful, and explained that.
She was not pleased.
There is one thing you should know about me – I don’t do well with people being mad at me. Or upset with me. Or just plain not liking me. It’s not something I’m built to handle. I’m used to being able to endear myself to pretty much anyone. It’s something I take pride in to be honest. I can make friends with just about everyone.
And this girl? This girl most certainly did not want to be my friend. In fact, I’m pretty sure she really really disliked me.
Which was when I realized that things at Pilates were about to become very uncomfortable for me if anyone there thought I was the kind of person who would hit someone else’s car and then try to skirt the blame.
I started to get nervous, and uncomfortable, and just plain upset. I didn’t want anyone else at Pilates thinking badly of me, and I didn’t want this girl hating me.
Which is why, for the briefest of seconds, I actually considered taking the full blame. I was trying to do the calculations in my head and determine if I should just pay for her damages out of pocket and call it a day (I figured she couldn’t have had much damage beyond what my deductable would have cost anyway – it was just a teeny tiny dent!) But then I remembered all that debt I’ve actually been trying to dig myself out of, and the fact that I really and truly did not believe this was entirely my fault.
I took a deep breath and attempted to stand my ground.
While still smiling, laughing, and trying my darndest to get this girl to like me.
Meanwhile – people were witnessing this entire exchange taking place. And right then, McDreamy walked out of the studio to see what was going on.
We locked eyes, and heat washed over me. I knew he recognized me as the girl who had just babbled his ear off only a few days before. And now this.
Right about then the police pulled up, and McDreamy went on his way – likely assuming that the situation was being handled.
And even more likely not wanting much more to do with the crazy lady who had plans of stealing babies with her imaginary husband.
I was pretty sure I would never be going to Pilates again.
The officer who arrived did pretty much exactly what I expected him to do. He wrote up a report, but didn’t assign blame to either party. The whole thing took another 30 minutes or so.
30 minutes in which I was standing outside in the flip flops I had worn to class. It was in the 30’s, so not freezing by any means, but… my toes were definitely starting to hurt.
Somehow during the course of all this though, I managed to start winning over the other driver. I’m not sure how, or why, but she started smiling back when I smiled. And laughing over how long the cop was taking and the state of my red toes. We exchanged information, and by the end of it – I’m pretty sure she no longer hated me. We agreed to let the insurance companies handle it, and parted ways amicably. We even exchanged a few pleasant e-mails the next day, and while we haven’t seen each other since – I think it will be fine when we do.
So you see? No harm, no foul.
OK, so I guess there was some harm, but in the grand scheme of things – not that big a deal.
And considering the fact that I haven’t been in an accident in almost 10 years (knock on wood), after living in California, driving to Alaska by myself, and managing my way through 3 winters here – I think my record is still pretty good.
Now, I just have to wait and see what the insurance company decides to do about this. And hope that the small amount of damage done doesn’t lead to an increase in my premiums.
And oh yeah – I have to go to my appointment with McDreamy on Monday and hope he doesn’t recall any of my otherwise embarrassing encounters with him.
Which is totally possible, right?
