Scrivenings of the King-Beyond-The-Wall

Travel Marvel #4

"It's totally fine, I'll just get an Uber."

"Why though? I'm happy to take you."

"Seriously, it's not a big deal. I don't want you to have to go out of your way."

"I insist."

"Well, if you insist... then thank you. That would be nice to not have to spend the money."

"Happy to do it, man. I'll pick you up at 5pm."

That was the way the conversation started. And the first of many mistakes that were made that day. The second was the fact that my friend didn't actually pick me up until 5:30pm. But, hey, I'm a person who likes to get to the airport extra early so that there's no chance of missing my flight, so this was just cutting into the amount of time that I'd be sitting around the terminal waiting for my flight to board. It was a little inconvenient, but nothing that my anxiety and my anti-anxiety meds couldn't handle.

But then my friend had to stop for gas because, of course, he didn't have time to fill up the tank before picking me up (on account of running late). So another ten minutes shaved off the ample buffer I had given myself. Still not a problem; as long as the bag drop didn't take too long and the TSA agents at the security checkpoint were efficient, this was barely a bump in the road.

The actual, literal bump in the road was another story. As my friend took a pothole at speed, we both heard an uncomfortable *crack* as something on the car broke. My friend tried to valiantly wrestle the car down the road for another several hundred feet, but it was clear something was catastrophically wrong with the car. He barely made it over to the side of the road before the car shut down completely.

Climbing out of the car and checking under the hood, it seemed that nothing was out of the ordinary. Then again, neither of us were mechanics so what did we know? Looking under the car, however, revealed that something was hanging loose; it appeared to be some kind of a joint or axle or connector that joined the wheel to the undercarriage of the car. It was pretty apparent that one of the wheels wouldn't be turning anytime soon while, based on my rudimentary understanding of automotive science probably meant that the car wouldn't be drivable anytime soon.

“I’m really sorry, bro,” my friend said. “I just have the worst luck with these things.”

“It’s fine,” I said, mentally calculating how much time it would take me to call an Uber and have them get me to the airport from here. “These things happen.”

“At least let me pay for your Uber,” my friend said, pulling out his phone.

I shrugged, not wanting to waste the time arguing over it.

“Okay, I just need to download the app..”

“You know what, on second thought,” I said. “Don’t worry about it.”

“No, no, I insist,” my friend said, waving me off while still focusing on his phone.

“Okay, download complete. Now I just need to create a username and password...”

My eye twitched, anxiety starting to get the better of me.

“And then I just need to connect it to a payment method... be right back, I think my wallet’s in the car...”

At this point I debated whether I could make it to the airport faster by just jogging there with my suitcase in tow. But my friend was just such an earnest, well-intentioned guy that I didn’t have the heart to tell him he was making things more difficult for me. Even if I was getting to the point where I was actually in danger of missing my flight. Horrors flashed through my mind; a potential missed flight, the tedious conversation with the ticket agent about the next available flight I could get on, the debate between waiting at the terminal for that next flight or whether there was enough time to go home. Was I breaking out in a rash? My skin was suddenly clammy and itchy; it felt like I might be breaking out in a rash. I was just about to explode when—

“Uber is on its way!” my friend cried triumphantly as he showed me the confirmation on his phone.

“Thanks,” I said, managing to pull my sanity back together, thread by thread. “But what are you going to do about your car?”

“Leave it here and call a tow truck to come get it later, I guess.” He said, shrugging. My friend had an absolutely incredible talent for not letting even the most stress-inducing circumstances get to him. I wish I had even half of his laid-backness and his ability to go with the flow.

“Well, I appreciate everything you did today. Even if it didn’t, you know, work out like we were all hoping it would.”

“Hey, I got to spend time with you today,” he said. “That’s worth it no matter what happens. Good or bad!”

And suddenly I was reminded of why he was such a good friend. It’s easy to get frustrated at his clumsiness or his forgetfulness or the fact that he always waits to do everything until the last minute. But, at the end of the day, he’s just an all-around good guy who you can’t help but love, even when it makes you almost miss your flight at the airport thanks to the best of intentions gone awry.

“You know, I think I still have some time before my flight,” I said. “Since your car isn’t going anywhere anyway, do you want to catch a ride with me in the Uber to the airport and get some lunch while we wait?”

“You’re not worried about missing your flight?”

It was my turn to shrug it off.

“And what if I do? It’ll have been worth it to spend some more time with you.”

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(1,000 words)


Prompt: Write a story where someone insists on giving your main character a ride to the airport, only for their car to break down.