Looking back, I should have known Joshua was gay. There were a million signs, the least of which was him telling me he had a crush on me that day in his bedroom. I was too stupid to acknowledge it. When he finally came out in college, there was Mr. Perfect, Liam, waiting with open arms to welcome him. It made sense. They made sense. They were both perfect.

Joshua had grown to be six feet two inches and given his preferred sport of rowing, he was muscularly built and of course, well liked, as every extrovert seems to be. Even coming out didn’t slow his popularity down.

Liam was even taller around six feet four inches and was some swim team captain. I’m pretty sure he lived in the gym and in the pool. His smile alone was enough to melt, break, and mend hearts.

When they met one another, it was like watching the clouds part and sunshine beaming a perfect spotlight just for them. I’m sure if you listened closely, you could have heard angels singing.

After college graduation, I went on to Graduate school and the two of them took off together into the sunset. We drifted apart not long after.

That was nearly ten years ago. Our ten-year college reunion is coming up and I can’t decide whether I want to attend or not. I didn’t bother with the high school reunion. I didn’t have many friends back then anyway. I did form a few decent friendships in college. It was the one place where being smart wasn’t such a bad thing; even for socially reclusive dorks like me. I work with one of those friends now.

I’m a financial analyst for the corporate headquarters of ABC hotels in Atlanta, Georgia. I live in Lawrenceville because it’s not far from the interstate but a hell of a lot more tolerable and affordable than being in the Atlanta Perimeter. The commute isn’t too bad, but there is usually some stop and go traffic which grants me time to think; perhaps too much time on days like today.

It’s overcast which puts me in a crud mood. If not for having an electric car, I wouldn’t be paying the apartment complex’s high fee for rights to park in a garage. It’s detached so it doesn’t offer any kind of service to keeping me dry. I made the bad judgement call of making a run for it this morning which resulted in the water now dripping from my forehead onto my cheek.

I give my head a shake. A little rain never hurt anyone. It could be worse I suppose. Decidedly, I choose to perk up. It may be Monday, but there’s hardly a reason to get down just because the weather isn’t casting rays of sunshine upon me.

Just as I work up a smile, the traffic stars moving again.

See, positivity breeds positive outcomes.

No sooner does the thought reach my subconscious when a car slams into the side of the vehicle in front of me. All I see is a flash of red as the blue sedan is wiped off the road with an echoing bang and loud screech.

Oh my God! Are they alright?!

The blue car that was in front of me moments before is now wrapped around a telephone pole on the opposite side of the road.

My whole body is shaking, but I manage to pull to the side into a gas station where I leap from the vehicle to see if there’s anything I can do to help. By some miracle, the rain seems to let up.

There’s no way the driver is walking out of that uninjured.

What was once a red truck has morphed around the blue sedan, creating a new front end from the navy pieces of metal hugging around its shape.

Traffic has stopped and there are car parts strewn around the intersection. It’s not hard to carefully cross the street to the scene.

A bloody headed teenager fumbles his way out of the truck, glancing around like he has no concept of what’s around him. He must be in shock.

Of course it’s a teenager. His father probably bought him the truck and he was likely texting and driving when he side swiped the other vehicle.

How fast must he have been going to have caused such damage?

“Can you hear me? Are you alright? Was there anyone else in the truck?”

I’m not normally good with people, but I have a knack for handling emergency situations well. I almost wish I could be that competent all the time.

The guy stumbles away several feet before slumping down onto the curve. He glances down and nearly panics as he recognizes that two of his fingers are now disjointed to point in directions that aren’t natural by any stretch of the imagination.

“Ahhh, fuck. I have a midterm today. How am I gonna write?”

What a fucking moron.

Giving up on the obvious waste of human brain cells, I chance looking into the blue car. I hadn’t noticed if there was more than one passenger.

Think, Thad. He was sitting in front of you. Was it just him?

“Hello? Can you hear me?”

Glass crunches beneath my feet.

Another man and a woman are standing nearby. The woman is wearing what looks like pajamas, but calls out.

“I’ve called the police. They’re on their way!”

The other man joins me at my side. He’s in the familiar Best Buy uniform, but pays his clothes no heed as he pulls out a flashlight from his keychain and leans down to assess the wreckage.

“Here. Can you see him?”

I accept the light and shine it into the busted window across a man that by some miracle seems to be intact. The telephone pole is inside the center of his vehicle, just behind his seat. The entire back end is smashed together like a paper lantern after the festivities. Even the passenger side is crumpled into the invading truck. Only divine intervention could have spared the driver’s seat to be nearly unaltered in such a way.

“Can you hear me? Are you alone in the vehicle?”

I wave my hand at him in hopes of getting his attention, just in case he wasn’t alone. I don’t want him glancing around to see what would have become of any passenger in his company.

“I … it’s just me.”

Thank God for that.

“Alright. We’re going to get you out of there. Can you move?”

He’s taking in his claustrophobic surroundings and regaining a sense of what happened.

“Um, yeah … I can move.”

He tests his ability for it and finds himself stuck to the seat. He’s able to fumble around and press the seatbelt release.

His door is crushed.

“You’ll have to come through the window. We can help you.”

Best Buy and I reach in to grip under his arms, pulling him from the vehicle.

I don’t know anything about the likelihood of a vehicle to blow up after an accident like they show in the movies, but I don’t take any chances.

“We should clear some distance from the vehicles, just in case, right?”

Best Buy affirms, “Yeah. In case there are any fumes or anything.”

The man makes it to the curb and breaks down into tears. I don’t blame him. I almost panicked watching it play out. I can only imagine what a shock to the system it must be for him.

I return the flashlight to Best Buy and he lets out a long sigh. “Whew. Can you believe that? What are the chances that he would have been spared like that? I mean, fate has unbelievable powers over life. If it’s not your time then it’s just not your time. Kind of humbling, ain’t it?”

“Yeah, humbling.”

With the adrenaline settling down, I’m returning to my normal demeanor which is one of observation and introversion.

Police sirens whirl around us as they arrive on scene. I slowly make my way back towards my car when an officer hunts me down.

“Excuse me, sir. The gentleman says you helped pull him out of the car. Would you mind taking the time to provide a statement?”

“Oh, uh, yeah. Sure.”

I spend the next five minutes giving my account of the situation and he confirms that other than the boy’s broken fingers, both of them seem no less wear for the tear, but they’d both be taken to the hospital for evaluation. He says it’s common for there to be other injuries that aren’t present due to them being in shock.

Before everything is cleared away, I take a photo as evidence to my boss that I didn’t just sleep in today.

I shrug at the oddness of my taking such a picture. It seems indecent in some way.

“It’s uh, for my supervisor. You know, for being late today.”

“I can do you one better by providing a copy of the police report if you’d like.”

Oh, well that’s more appropriate no doubt.

“Thanks. That would be helpful.”

He hands me a piece of paper and his card. I let myself gaze over him as he does it. He’s a handsome guy, but of course a lot of guys are in uniform.

“If you think of anything else you’d like to add or …whatnot, just give me a call.”

I swallow down the lump in my throat, dumb enough to even imagine that it’s him flirting with me.

“Of course. Thank you, officer.”

“John. You can call me John.”

“Thanks, John.”

I smile at him like an idiot. Who smiles at a police scene?

Wait? Did he just smile back?

No. I must have imagined it. He’s turned away and darting across the street while I second guess myself.

Geez, I’m stupid! Why would I think for even a moment that a guy like that would be interested in me? He probably has a wife and two kids with a white picket fence. All the good ones do.