It was the night of the spring dance.
I was wearing a real pretty gown that I'd bought just for this occasion, and Tommy Allen was acting his usual goofy but sweet self, and we were having a good time.
He'd come by to pick me up from my house at six o'clock because we were going to go over to Center City for dinner first.
Now… I don't know why I wasn't worried about Johnny, but it had been over three weeks since I'd broken up with him, and he still hadn't given me any trouble over it.
Maybe I was just whistling in the dark, but I'd really started to think that he'd decided to just leave me alone.
We'd even passed each other in the halls at school once or twice, and he'd smiled and nodded his head and been real polite.
Now… I know what you are probably thinking.
What a fool… right? Well, I was hoping… and that's all I could do, because I was just too afraid of him going out of control.
The possibility was just too real.
Everyone who knew him and who knew anything about us knew that it was possible, and they'd all told me to be careful, but I wasn't going to let him ruin my evening.
Besides… it was already ruined.
You see… I was like a junky. There wasn't anything I could do about it. I knew he was bad for me… I knew that he might even kill me one of these days… but I couldn't do anything to stop the feelings that I had for him.
I was addicted to him just the same as anyone who ran smack into their veins.
I didn't let on to Tommy about this, of course, but there wasn't anything I could do about it.
I was just going to have to wait until he worked his way completely out of my system… and God only knew how long that might take.
But I never in my wildest moments thought…
But anyway… here's what happened.
We were driving back from Center City.
It was about nine-fifteen by now. We'd had a real nice dinner (Tommy's parents are real rich, and so he was able to take me to a fancy restaurant over there, one that was classy, one that was really elegant. It took reservations and everything) and I had to admit that I'd seen a side of life that Johnny Waddell would never be able to show me.
It was a side that never even had occurred to Johnny. He wasn't interested in anything that was elegant. He was only interested in things that he could break.
I was feeling a little warm and cozy by this time. Tommy, as usual, was friendly, and he made me laugh, and I really did like him… as a friend.
"You wouldn't be interested in something to drink, would you?"
"You have something?"
"Oh… maybe."
He opened the glove compartment to his car and said, "Well well… what have we here?"
And he pulled out a bottle of… are you ready for this… cognac.
"My God," I said. "I don't believe it. This is just fancy wine, isn't it?"
"Yeah… that's all. And diamonds are just fancy lumps of coal."
"Oh… like that, huh?"
"You guessed it."
"You guessed it. Take a sip."
I thought it was sissy booze, until I looked at the label.
"Eighty proof?!" I said. "I thought it was just wine."
"I said take a sip," he told me.
"Okay…" and I did. And it was wonderful. I'd never had anything quite like it before.
"Oh my…" I said, giggling. "That's right tasty."
"Yeah… I know."
I took another sip… and another and another… and before too much time had elapsed, I was feeling real warm and nice, and cozy… and starting to wonder what kind of cock Tommy had.
"You wouldn't want to take a little ride out to the woods, would you?" I said. "You know… just skip the dance altogether…?"
I put my arm around him, and lay my head on his shoulder. That's when I realized that for the past few minutes, I'd been taking sips of the cognac and he'd been saying nothing at all.
"I daresay, Mr. Allen, but I believe you've been trying to get me drunk, and being rather cagey about it."
He still didn't say anything.
That's when I saw him looking into the rear-view mirror.
I turned around. There was a pair of headlights about fifty feet behind us.
I looked at Tommy. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. Yet. But there might be."
"Why?"
I had a stab of fear that was tied to nothing rational. But I knew… I just KNEW that it was Johnny. I didn't even need to know what it was that had made Tommy suspicious.
"He's been about the same distance behind me ever since we left Center City. When I slow down so does he. When I speed up… the same story."
"Oh God…" I said, and I could hear the fear in my voice.
"It's Waddell, isn't it?"
"I don't know. I really don't."
"He doesn't have a van, does he?"
I turned back around but couldn't see anything that helped.
"Is that a van back there?"
"Yeah."
"T-Bird has one."
Tommy sighed. "Okay… if they want to play rough, we'll play rough."
I felt the car surge forward, and then suddenly it shifted into overdrive and it literally blasted away from them.
But it took only about forty-five seconds for them to catch up… and this time, they moved right up behind Tommy's car.
"Shit," he muttered. "We're still about five minutes from town too."
"But… he wouldn't do anything… would he?" I asked.
Tommy laughed. "You're asking me? Like you expect ME to know?"
"It is pretty stupid, isn't it?"
"Yeah."
That's when the first bullet whizzed past.
"Oh my God. He's shooting at us."
"NO! Johnny wouldn't do anything like that!"
"You tell me who else would be tailgating at this speed."
I couldn't argue with him… but it still didn't seem possible that he would be doing something like that.
Then, another bullet whizzed past, but this one hit the roof as it did so.
"He's just trying to scare us. Well… two can play that game."
Tommy looked at me and said, "Fasten your seat belt, Darling. We're in for some stormy weather."
I did as I was told. "You're not gonna hurt him, are you?"
"I'm going to try to save my life, if that's what you mean. Whatever that involves."
He then said, "Hold on tight."
And he hit his breaks.
There was a screeching of rubber, and then a sickening jolt as the van piled into us.
I screamed… and the car careened all over the highway.
But Tommy's main objective had been realized, and that was breaking the headlights.
They couldn't see where they were going… but now, we couldn't see where they were either.
"Oh God… what's going to happen," I asked.
"Fuck if I know."
He started to floor it again, but I heard him mutter, "I don't believe it."
I looked around behind him, and to my amazement, I saw the van gaining on us in the other lane.
He was moving fast enough now that I was convinced I was going to die… but he seemed to know what he was doing.
There were four maniacs in the van, however, who I was not so sure of.
I looked over at the van. There were dim shadowy forms inside, but I couldn't make out their faces.
Then, I saw the window rolling down, and I saw the glint of metal.
"They're gonna shoot!" I screamed.
Tommy hit his brakes hard.
At the same time, he turned the wheels toward the van.
As the brakes slowed the car, the van shot ahead of him, and as he turned into it, the front of his car rammed against the back of the van, throwing it off balance and causing it to go into a vicious skid.
But it wasn't enough to run it completely off the road.
They came to a stop, turned around, and were already driving back towards us as Tommy got his car turned around.
"Good fucking driving," he said, amazed.
That's when I heard the gun firing again.
"Shit!" yelled Tommy.
Then I felt the car starting to tilt, and I realized that they'd shot out the tires on the side facing them.
Scary shit!
"Fucking maniac," he said, but we were helpless, and we both knew it.