That'll Teach You to Listen to Nickelback

(Breaking Bad's Vince Gilligan lectured on storytelling last week. Click here to find out what I asked him on this week's Jared's Inkwell! -JMG)

Story Sent in by Lakeshia:

Rodney was riding in my car on our second date. We had just seen Skyfall and were on our way to a pub for some late-night appetizers and drinks.

I had a half dozen CDs sandwiched between the front seats. He pulled them out and flipped through them. "Put in anything you want," I told him.

As I drove along, he looked through the stack a few times. Then he placed them on his lap, opened his window, and threw them all out.

I nearly slammed on the brakes, but I yelled, "What did you do?" and pulled over. He sat there like nothing was wrong. I said, "Go and pick them up!" We hadn't been traveling fast and they were probably not far behind us off the side of the road.

"Uh... no," he said, "It's not my fault your taste in music sucks. You should thank me."

I screamed, "Pick them up or get the hell out of my car!"

"No."

I turned the car off. We were a few miles from anywhere he wanted to be. And I had all night. After a few moments, he sighed heavily and said, "Can we go and pick them up together?"

I said, "I didn't throw them out of my car. You threw them, you pick them up."

"It's dark out. I don't even know where they are."

I didn't say anything, choosing to sit in silence until he took the hint. He left the car for a minute, paced back and forth, and pretended to look. In all honesty, I hadn't expected him to find anything, as the side of the road was full of trees and (as he said) dark. Despite that, I expected him to at least take me seriously, instead of just pacing around and looking up at the trees.

He tried the car door. I had locked it. He said, "I couldn't find them. Let me in."

I yelled, "You didn't even try! Look again!"

He tried the door once more. "This is b.s.! Let me in!" He kicked at my door.

I drove away and left him there, alone in the dark with my bad music. In the moment it felt like the right thing to do, but I've felt guilty about it since. I didn't hear from him ever again, so I assume he was just fine. I was ultimately able to replace my music and he's not in my life, so I guess things worked out well.