Future AU ~ Based off the line where LJ thinks about another time…"If only Peter and I had met when we were 27, that seems like a good age to fall in love."
Lara Jean is currently a working as a Publishers Assistant (because you know with those love letters how does she not grow up to be an author or something in that field)
Peter K has recently graduated from the police academy and is still a newbie on neighborhood patrol (this is based off the scene in the Netflix movie version of their characters where LJ almost crashes into Peter - the way he taps on her window seemed very police officer style…)
If she had left the office just 5 minutes earlier she would have been home by now and not stuck in the light rain that was just starting to come down. It was a late September night and her car dashboard read the time was 7.48 PM in bright scolding numbers.
She was late.
Which was terrible because she was never late! She was always the first one to help set up for special celebrations, especially when it came to celebrating her Father's birthday.
Kitty, her not-so-baby-sister, had already been texting her like crazy she had to mute her Iphone so the annoying text bings would not distract her from driving. Lara Jean had always been a cautious driver and drove 5 miles under the speed limit with seat belt always secure but when it came to running late or when the weather was bad - she was a complete mess. Now she was late AND it was raining - the combination was not looking good for her.
She blinked fast not wanting to take her eyes off the road and was pressing lightly on the brakes as the window wipers pounded loudly in the background. She was just a few feet away from the vehicle approaching the stop sign, just a turn or two and she was almost home. She was trying to figure out if she was on Cherry street yet or in their main street when the loud annoying beeping came in throwing her completely off.
"WHAT THE -" she shouted.
And before she could think about it - it happened. She let the breaks go for just a second but it was too late - she didn't realize how close she was until she heard the impact of her car.
CLACK!
In reality the moment only lasted about 3 seconds - it wasn't that bad to the driver ahead of her it was just a small graze. But to Lara Jean she felt like she was watching all of this go down in slow motion and when her brain finally snapped from it she had pressed the breaks a second too late. The damage was already done.
She hadn't even realized the tears were on her face until her hands flew up to her face mouthing OH-MY-GOD, and then she felt her face go red and damp in tears.
If she had to describe it into words it felt like someone had pressed pause in the middle of one of those loud action movies and then pressed play again during the exciting climax and action.
When she snapped back to it her eyes finally locked in on where the noise had originated - her panel in the center had come to life displaying a new text from Kitty: "Daddy, is here! WHERE ARE YOU?!"
When had her dad found the time to synch her Iphone to her car smart settings? She remembered having asked for this over a month ago thinking maybe she should just stick to the plain old GPS on her phone settings but he had promised her he would help her out with the bothersome task - but since she never saw her father poke his head to her car Lara Jean just assumed he had forgotten about it. Until now. He had accomplished this and with it had also synched her important text messages from family with it. Having muted her phone - Kitty must have figured she could reach her in her car.
Well it worked - terribly!
Her hands had by now moved to park the car - knowing now she was going to have to exchange the drivers insurance information. She had only been in one other accident before when she was in high school and she had vowed to never experience this again. Well too late for that now. Her fingers were now rubbing her tears away and when she finally looked up she had somehow missed the part where with the rain coming down the driver in front of her had put his hazard signal up, had stepped out of the car making his way to her window and when she looked closer there was a small flashing red light on the roof of his car.
Oh no! She gulped.
The tall man was now tapping on her window. She waited just a second before grabbing any of her courage left that night. Then pressed the button to lower the window down, rain coming in and all.
"Evening ma'am." His voice was soft but firm. No hint of anger - yet.
She paused as she took in the mans off duty clothes but the navy blue jacket with his name stitched in was still pretty clear. "Good Evening….Officer Kavinsky."
He had just gotten off a late shift and if he was being honest probably wouldn't have had to if he hadn't volunteered to make a last stop at a house party, it was a noise complaint call. It hadn't taken him long he had showed up, then in uniform, explaining to the homeowners and guests that they had to keep it down. Lucky for him it was two young ladies maybe in their early 20's that had answered the door - he flashed a smile and they were sold. They simply shock their heads and apologized.
"Yes, officer were so so sorry. Won't happen again."
With that he turned around and drove back to the station and clocked out for the night finally getting the chance to change into his civilian clothes. He drove a two seat black Kia but somewhere under all his spare dirty shirts and left over boxes from donut runs was an emergency siren when needing to switch back from Peter K to Officer Kavinsky.
He was still new to his role as officer and hadn't really thought he would need it anytime soon. And that's when the rain came tonight and before he knew it he heard the loud - CLACK too.
Secretly he was hoping to pull the bad boy out for something more dashing like a car pulling 60 miles an hour in a 25 mile speed zone. But never really thought he would need it for a simple fender bender. He pulled his car to a stop, parked it, and put the hazard lights on. He was tired, it was raining and that bump was going to cost him so he had to put his tough face on. Maybe he would be lenient - but he could already picture his mechanic giving him a harsh quote for the damage.
And then he was making his way over to the vehicle behind him and knocking on the window tinted glass - he was only able to see the silhouette of the driver so he couldn't tell if they were male or female until the window finally rolled all the way down.
She was leaning towards the younger side, late twenties if he was being exact, actually toward his age so 28 if he had to take a wild guess. Asian decent - but he probably would never guess what part unless he asked. Long black hair tied in a tight ponytail. But her eyes it was kinda hard to tell what color because he noticed right away that she had been tearing up - she was embarrassed it seemed, but sometimes that feature could be mistaken between being tipsy is what he had been taught.
He wasn't really sure if to address her as a Miss, so he always went for Ma'am it seemed pretty neutral ground.
"Evening ma'am."
Her eyes blinked quickly as her eyes locked into his. "Good Evening….Officer Kavinsky." Her voice seemed so innocent and definitely not drunk - more hurt.
His reaction was confusion at first. Did she know him from somewhere?
"I'm sorry - have we met before?"
She blinked again. She was silent.
"No - but I mean your jacket…?"
"Oh right," he looked down noticing his embroidered name, "thought I grabbed my other jacket before leaving the station."
That seemed to change her expression from embarrassed to alert. This reaction was normal, came with the title. Then he realized she was waiting for him to continue.
"Right - so...I might be in civilian clothes but as you can see we've got a situation here."
What? When he heard himself say the last words out loud he wanted to smack himself. She already addressed you as 'Officer' - why are you making this weird?
Yet she was following along. She nodded. "Yes...I understand."
Ok great now focus Kavinsky - get to the point.
By now he was finally pulling out his official badge and displaying his identification as Officer Kavinsky. "I'm going to need to ask for your license, registration and insurance information - if I may."
She just nodded quietly tears now drying up in her face. And then she quickly pulled out her wallet and handed everything he had requested.
He grabbed all the information with a stern smile. And his eyes quickly scanned everything over.
Lara Jean Song Covey. Covey...Why did he recognize that name?
Age: 27 - he had been close.
When he got to her address he had the street name memorized - her neighborhood was actually one of his frequent areas he patrolled.
He took in her picture last - everyone's license picture never did justice because DMV agents always captured people at the moments when their least ready to snap the picture. But this Covey girl looked like had been pretty ready for the picture and had a warm smile on her face, as if she were glowing. Not at all like the young lady who had bumped into her now. He knew he couldn't say it out loud but she was very cute. Not sexy per say - but definitely cute.
He was looking over everything so carefully that he was almost surprised when she spoke.
"You're wet."
"Wait, what?"
Ok yea - she had really caught him off guard. Yes he found her attractive - but it felt like she was reading his thoughts.
"You're getting soaked! Do you want my umbrella? I'm very sorry about all this and now I'm causing you to get wet."
Well yes he was wet - but not that way. Get it together, Kavinsky - what's going on?
"I uh it's fine don't worry Miss Song, I -"
"It's just Covey," their eyes locked, "Officer Kavinsky, right?"
The way she said his name, it just felt right. Now he was the one that felt embarrassed, what kinda charm did this girl have?
He cleared his throat. "I'm sorry for keeping you - I'm off duty for the night now but I've still got to report this unfortunately. If it's alright I'll take a picture of your identification and could you provide me with your best contact information?"
He needed to focus.
She nodded following along and provided him with all the information. He snapped the picture of her things and saved her number. Then handed her back her things once he was done.
"You haven't been drinking have you?"
"No - something just startled me. I'm so so sorry."
He nodded. "I believe you."
She nodded again waiting, as if he was going to continue.
Her next words were barely a mumble but he caught them. "Ok, Officer - now what?"
He gave her a small chuckle.
"Don't worry Miss Covey I'm not going to arrest you or anything. It's just a fender bender - but I will be in touch so that means you can't avoid me. I know where to find you."
Her face almost made him laugh - but he couldn't. It was a mixture between relief, worry and literally 'oh shit'.
"Ok, I understand."
"Ms. Covey?"
She was lost in thought and suddenly met his eyes again.
"Yes, Officer?"
"You may go now. But please - I beg of you drive safely."
She finally gave him a quiet smile - not like her ID picture but almost there. Her car quickly came back to life and he motioned for her to continue ahead of him.
He watched as she cautiously stopped at the stop sign, put up her right turn signal and drove off.
Officer Kavinsky then ran back to his car, shut off the hazard lights and the bright light he had set on his roof and headed back to his house in the opposite direction. With his interaction from Ms. Covey still glowing in his thoughts.