Ethan, where in the world are you?” The driver grimaced, he had let the car phone ring for little more than half a second, and immediately regretted his hesitation. He also regretted picking up the phone, but one regret at a time. Ethan Prole, Dr. Ethan Prole, actually, was glad that he had not picked up his actual cellphone, because then he would have to deal with the awkward and inevitable video call. 

And his sister, Taylor, was already confused by a lack of transportation to the event. Well, less confused, and more furious. However, her infamous fury, on a scale of 1 to 10, was currently hovering at about a 2/2.5. 

Ethan had been well primed to pick her up the moment her flight landed. But then, when he began to approach, the brakes had inexplicably malfunctioned. Instead of, naturally, slowing down, the car suddenly accelerated until, well, the result was unconscious in the seat beside him, groaning softly in pain. 

“I ran into a complication,” he said, immediately wincing at the unfortunate choice of words, he passed his free left hand over his face and sighed. “You’re going to have to take a cab, Tay.” 

“A…cab?” Breathless from the audacious suggestion, Taylor sounded disgusted. Ethan could clearly picture the very specific way Taylor scrunched her face in displeasure. “Me? Ethan…” Taylor sounded less angry then and paused, suddenly listening intently. “Is there…someone there with you?” 

Great. Ethan had hoped she wouldn’t have heard anything over the phone. It was, after all, a piece of technology that often didn’t pick up on every little sound. But he had underestimated the risk he took by answering. 

“There is,” admitted Ethan, trying to sound nonchalant, “and there was an incident.” 

Taylor smiled so wide that Ethan could practically hear it over the speakers. “Oh? Little brother, you finally slipped up?” 

He refrained from rolling his eyes. If that were the case, he would never hear the end of it any time soon.  “No, this was more of a technical issue.” Ethan frowned slightly, still wondering just what had caused this.  “My brakes had a bit of a…glitch.” 

“A glitch?” Taylor said, scoffing and raising an eyebrow. With how reliable most technology was these days, it was highly unlikely. She had decided against also throwing in a snort, lest she sound too snobbish. 

Ethan shrugged, despite no one around being awake enough to see it. “When I went to pick you up, they went go, when they should have went stop.” 

Taylor couldn’t believe her own ears. “…and you’re still driving it?” 

Now… that was a fair point. The middle of his porcelain forehead crumpled together like mashed clay. “I hadn’t actually thought about it at the time,” admitted Ethan, feeling extremely chagrined. “But the car seems fine, now.” 

Indeed, it was driving perfectly well. The ride was so smooth and quiet that the strange malfunction in the past seemed like a distant dream from a faraway island.  

It took a little under 2 seconds for Taylor to connect the dots.

“Did you run someone over?!” Holding her phone in front of her, she shrieked this from the sidewalk. For a couple seconds, several people stared at the slender blonde woman wearing a sparkling silver gown, absolutely losing it at her phone.

He didn’t correct her. Technichally, he had hit someone with his car, not run them over.

Wincing at the sudden change in volume, Ethan blinked. “Tay, could you please bring it down a few decibels, ok? For the moment, she’s stable.” 

Although Taylor was trying to be quiet, the words were still cutting. Incredulous, she brought the phone closer and practically hissed into it “You hit a woman with your car?” 

“Obviously it wasn’t on purpose!” he snapped darkly, feeling even worse than when it had happened. “Geez, you are worse than mother!” 

Taylor composed herself and folded her arms. “Well at the very least, she’s alive.” She would have to lecture him later, but if she stood around all night doing so, Taylor would be late for the event. “You’re lucky she didn’t die in front of whoever was watching.” Taylor let out a short, huffy breath. “Let me guess, you’re taking her to Siobhan?” 

“Well, that part is obvious,” grumbled Ethan, already regretting whatever humiliating task was upcoming as payment. And with that, he hung up and continued to drive, trying not to think of the future. For now, the girl he had unfortunately collided with, was going to be alright as long as he made it there in time.