Those thoughts put some relief in my head, but it didn’t last long because a pair of headlights entered my rear-view mirror after a long turn – just as I pulled onto a long straightaway. I kept my eyes in the mirror and watched those headlights get closer and closer.

I started to slow. I was no longer bold about my lack of fear of law enforcement. I let the speedometer dip down to 50 miles per-hour.

A shot of relief pulsed through me when the lights in my rear-view got close enough to where I could see the vehicle was not a cop car. I don’t know if “relief” is the right word though, because the car kept getting closer and closer, until it was almost on my bumper despite me rolling at nearly 55 miles per-hour. At that point, I would have preferred a state trooper.

I figured the trailing car was just another drunk driver who was in a little bit more of a hurry. I let out a deep breath when they pulled out to the left in the other lane to make a move to pass. They would be out of my life, very soon.

I felt the other car line up with my field of vision on the left, but kept my eyes on the road. The last thing I wanted to do was make eye contact with some drunk weirdo on the highway and spark some kind of disturbing interaction.

Some more relief came when I saw the car start to pull ahead of me out of the corner of my eye. I would be alone again soon and was about 15 minutes away from home.