so they moved to california. It was rushed, sort of on a whim. it had sort of been this thing that they’d just talk about, running away to somewhere far, getting out of this town that never had anything good to offer them aside from each other. steve knew billy was serious about leaving, but he didn’t know he was serious about wanting steve to come with him. that was until billy had come to him, serious as a heart attack, grabbing him by the shoulders and telling him they should just run away. they should do it now. they graduate in a couple of days and they can run off and never turn back.
and steve, maybe a little stupidly, maybe a little bit blinded by his love for billy, just said yes.
in one day steve had packed up his closet and scrounged up every last bit of cash he had. he also made an attempt to shake his parents down for a little bit more money. successfully got an extra $300 out of them.
in two days steve had told his friends. he told dustin and nancy and asked them to spread the word for him. he told billy he had to tell max, he told him how despite what she may say out loud “that girl loves you, and she’ll miss you.” however, hypocritically, steve had no intention of telling his parents until he was an easy 500 miles outside of indiana.
in three days, just the day before they’d pack up and haul ass, steve sold the beemer.
billy had offered to sell the camaro, saying it was worth more and that steve’s car was more practical. but steve saw the way he was clenching his teeth, and the way his eyes had turned sad, and he couldn’t let him give up the camaro. steve knew how much that car meant to him. he knew it was much more than a car to him. he knew it was special.
and for that reason, steve didn’t gripe much with giving up the beemer.
with the car sold, and all of their savings combined, they had enough money for an easy six months of bills, plenty of time to get themselves on their feet, and they didn’t much mind having to share a vehicle to do that.
so much so that, by the time they’d really found their footing, the two of them finding jobs that paid the bills and moreso, making enough money between the two of them that they could finally afford a second car, they didn’t jump on the opportunity.
steve didn’t have to commute to work, not with it being just four blocks away from their apartment, and steve would be lying if he were to say he didn’t love to drive the camaro.
steve never considered the possibility of something happening to the car. he never considered what would happen if it happened to be his fault.
it was a sunday afternoon. the church crowd had finally made their way back home and the roads were mostly clear, and the grocery aisle lines were short. they had run out of laundry detergent just the other day and they liked doing laundry together on sundays. it was the day they both had off, and they loved the quality time of just sitting in front of the tv, folding warm stacks of laundry, talking about their weeks.
billy was cleaning out the cupboards, annoyed by the way he found a two year expired can of tomato soup when making himself lunch the day before. he was on his hands and knees, checking the date on every single item, so steve had been the one to offer to make the trip to the grocery store for both the laundry detergent they needed, and some not-expired tomato soup.
it was a quick trip. the store was just under a mile down the road and he knew the route by heart, so well that he could do it with his eyes closed.
unfortunately, someone else had seemed to have the same idea as he had, clearly driving with their eyes closed with the way they flew through a red light just as steve was driving through his green.
steve swerved. he missed the car.
and then he hit the telephone pole. hard.
his whole body jerked forward and the air bags deployed and within seconds he was sporting a severely broken nose and a splitting headache and his whole body started to hurt.
but as he looked up out the shattered windshield, seeing the thick wooden pole that had split the camaro’s front end in two, seeing the smoke waft up from the hood and everything else…all he could think about was the fact that he destroyed the camaro. he destroyed something that was special to billy. and that hurt far more than any broken nose ever had.
the crash had happened only fifty feet from their apartment. which meant billy heard it. he had to have. he could probably see the state of the accident from the view of their window.
steve didn’t even try getting out of the car. he just sat there and cried, half hoping the car wouldn’t explode, half hoping it would.
it felt like a long time, but according the the clock that still somehow worked, it had only been a matter of two minutes before he heard sirens outside of the car, and flashes of red and blue refracted off the broken glass.
It took the same amount of time for them to show up as it took billy, who had run directly from the apartment to the driver’s door, pulling it open. he was out of breath, but he still managed to get the words out.
“steve!” he was crying, he could hear it in his voice. he wouldn’t look at him. he couldn’t face him. “hey, baby! hey! fuck are you okay?! please look at me baby!”
reluctantly, steve did, and he was terrified to see the sad look on his face. he was bracing himself for it. bracing himself for the sight of a completely shattered billy, looking just like the state of the camaro’s windshield.
steve sniffled, feeling the mixture of blood and snot drip down the back of his throat. “I’m sorry.” steve said, sobbing through the words.
“what?” billy asked, just shaking his head as he reached his arms inside the car and undid his seatbelt.
“I’m sorry,” steve said again, “I destroyed your car.”
billy’s eyes went wide and his hand retreated from where it was just on steve’s lap, reaching up to his face to wipe the tears from his eyes. “hey hey hey hey no.” he said, his hands coming back inside to car to gently cup steve’s bloody face. “It’s just a car. It’s just a car it doesn’t matter.”
steve could barely see billy past his own tears and the blurred vision as a result of the concussion, but he still could tell that billy was serious. “but it’s the camaro billy. It’s special to you.”
“you’re special to me!” billy cried, “I can replace a car! I can’t replace you!”
steve hadn’t had the chance to react to that, because just a second later the paramedics were pushing billy out of the way and helping him out of the car.
they wound up having a long conversation at the hospital. steve finally realizing he was being silly for once thinking that billy would be mad about the car. but steve coming to that realization didn’t stop billy from curling into that small little hospital bed with him and telling steve just how special he really was.
