It was a hot summer day in Lexington, Kentucky. As being stuck in traffic was not one of Char’s favorite times of the day, her road rage was beginning to show.

“Move your damn cars!” she yelled to no one in particular. She continued to say to herself, “I am going to be late for class again! My teacher is going to throw a fit!” While Char was busy talking to herself she wasn’t paying any attention to her rear view mirror…

CRASH!!!!

Char’s body jerked forward into the steering wheel of her Mitsubishi Eclipse. It quickly registered in her brain what had just happened. She snapped her seatbelt undone and jumped out of her car. She immediately opened her mouth and began yelling.

“What the hell is your problem?! Could you not see all the traffic stopped ahead of you or did my car just seem like the perfect target?!” she yelled. She was pacing around the back side of her car, assessing the damage.

“I’m really, really sorry….” said a male voice.

Char looked up ready to spout off a round of profanity at this stranger and was confronted with a pair of bright blue eyes. They stopped her cold. No words would come to her mouth. She put a hand to the back of her neck. She felt dizzy.

“Oh no, did I hurt you?” asked the male voice, “I am so sorry. What can I do?” Seeing that she was feeling dizzy, the stranger led her to the curb and sat her down.

“Thanks” she said to him.

“I’ll call the cops” he told her.

She listened while he called the police to report the accident. “They’re on their way” he told her.

They were relatively quiet as they sat waiting for the police to arrive, except for the stranger making a call to someone to say he would be late, he was sorry, and that he would explain later. Char stole a glance at the stranger that hit her car while he was standing up making the call. He was fairly tall; at least over six feet. He had blond hair that occasionally fell into his bright, blue eyes. “Holy crap, he’s gorgeous!” Char said to herself. Quickly brought back to reality by the throbbing in her neck and head, Char pushed the thought aside. She looked up when she heard a car door shut. She noticed that his car was a Mercedes. The stranger was walking towards her and proceeded to sit down next to her.

“I figured I would go ahead and get all my insurance information ready” he told her, “ I take full responsibility for this accident.”

Char looked over at him and gave him a slight grin. “I’ll have to say that I agree with you on that.”

“My name is Nick”, he said, “Nick Carter.”

She gave a little laugh at this comment.

He laughed too. “I suppose that did sound very James Bond, didn’t it? Let’s try again. My name is Nick Carter.” He offered a hand to her.

She took his hand and shook it. “Hi. I’m Charlene Olson. Just call me Char.”

He began to speak to her again but was interrupted by the police car arriving.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Char watched the policeman walk back to his patrol car after giving Nick Carter a $200 ticket for reckless driving.

Nick turned to Char and spoke, “I want to tell you again how sorry I am for crashing into you.”

“Don’t worry about it”, Char told him, “The car can always be fixed.”

“But are you going to be okay?”, he asked.

“I’ll be fine”, Char told him.

“Promise that you’ll call me if you are in any pain at all? They say that it hurts worse the next day.”

“Okay”, Char said, “I’ll call you if I’m in any pain.”

With this, Char and Nick exchanged phone numbers and addresses for insurance purposes and to get a hold of each other if anything else came up.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Nick pulled into the driveway of his friend, Brian. He parked behind a few other cars, that he recognized to be those of the rest of his friends; Kevin, AJ, and Howie.

Nick walked up the path and through the front door. He turned into the living room to find Brian standing by the window.

“I was wondering when you were going to show up”, Brian said to Nick, “You called me two hours ago. I just looked out the window to see you pull up. What the hell did you do to your car?”

Chapter 2

Char awoke to the clock reading 3:00 am. She quickly realized what was waking her up.
The throbbing in her neck was getting worse by the minute.

Not being one to go see a doctor unless she was on her deathbed, Char headed to the bathroom to find some pain reliever. She swallowed it down and returned to bed for some more rest.

One hour later…..she was still awake.

“Great….now I can’t go back to sleep. Video games it is!” Char spent a couple of hours playing games until she was finally able to go back to sleep.


*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Nick laid in bed trying to remember why he was lying in a bed in one of Brian’s guest rooms. He soon remembered that him and the guys had been there much later than planned and had just crashed at Brian’s place for the night.

He slowly climbed out of bed and threw on some sweats and a t shirt. Making his way to the kitchen, he headed right past the rest of the guys sitting at the table, and went right for the coffee machine.

“Well, well, well…”, he heard AJ’s voice behind him, “the king of crashes has arrived.”

Nick rolled his eyes, “Shut up man. I was dreaming about that damn crash all night.”

“Reliving the moment, eh?”, Brian joked.

Nick flipped him off and grinned. “No. I can’t believe I didn’t hit my brakes in time. The girl looked a little rough when we were waiting for the cops. I was afraid she was gonna pass out!”

“Didn’t she get checked out by a doctor?”, Howie asked him.

“I don’t think so”, Nick replied, “She was pretty adamant in saying that she was fine.”

“Well, I’m sure she’s ok then”, AJ assured him.

“Yeah”, Nick said, “I’m sure you’re right.”

The guys carried on with their morning and finished their coffee with breakfast.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Nick stood in the driveway as AJ, Howie, and Kevin drove away in their cars. He was staying behind to challenge Brian to a game of early morning basketball.

Brian laughed at Nick as they ran up and down the driveway, “Dude, what the hell is your problem today? You haven’t sunk one shot this whole time!”

Nick stopped to catch his breath, “Sorry man, I’ve just had that damn accident on my mind. I can’t help feeling that I should have insisted that the girl see a doctor or something. If anything, just to satisfy me in knowing that I didn’t hurt her along with smashing in the back of her gorgeous car!”

Brian stopped to take a breather as well, and flopped down in the cool grass. “It’s too bad you can’t give her all call to check on her or something.”

“Yeah”, Nick replied, “that would be nice. I told her that they say it usually hurts the most the next day.”

“Hey!” Brian exclaimed, “Didn’t you get her number and stuff for insurance purposes? Why don’t you call and check on her?”

“Isn’t the contact number specifically for those insurance things?”

“I don’t think it would hurt to call and check if she is ok”, Brian told him, “At least do it for your own piece of mind.”

“Good idea”, Nick said, “I’ll definitely give it a shot.”


*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Char rolled out of bed when she heard the phone ring. “Hello?”

“Hi….um..is this Char?”, she heard a male voice say on the other end of the line.

“Yep. This is she. Can I ask who’s calling?”

“It’s Nick. Nick Carter.”
“Oh yeah….the James Bond that hit me yesterday!” , she laughed a little.

“I just did the Bond thing again didn’t I?”, he laughed in return, “I really need to start thinking about what I say before I say it.”

They both laughed before Char continued the conversation, “So Mr. Carter, what do I owe the pleasure of your call?”

“I was curious as to how you were feeling today?”, he replied, “I was worried that I hurt you more than you were letting on yesterday.”

“I was feeling fine yesterday. Just a little dizzy.”

“Was I right about the ‘hurting worse the next day’ thing?”

“Oh yeah. My neck woke me up at 3 this morning”, she told him.

Nick sighed, “I am so sorry. I knew I should have insisted you see a doctor.”

“There is no way you would have convinced me to see a doctor. I don’t do hospitals.”

“Are you sure you don’t need to see one?”, he asked.

“Positive.”

“Ok then. If you’re sure. I’ll stop bugging you.”

“Thanks for calling to check on me Mr. Carter. It was very sweet of you.”

“Please, call me Nick.”

“Alright Nick…Nick Carter,” she laughed.

He laughed with her. “I’ll let you go then. I hope you feel better and get your car fixed soon.”

“Oh, that reminds me”, Char said, “let me know if you have any problems with my insurance and your insurance. I’ve heard my insurance company has been screwing some people over lately. Hopefully they don’t give us any trouble.”

“Thanks for the heads up”, he said.