What is that light for?

I had an official blonde moment this weekend. Recently Stephen has been starting work at four, which worked out perfectly this weekend because I was in Utah by 3:45. He picked me up, and I dropped him off work with the hopes of getting some running around done. After I dropped him off at work I was trying to find this apartment Stephen found. I wanted to check it out, and talk to the landlord. Of course I didn't find it, but what concerned me more was that the car shook a little while I was driving. Later I noticed the brake light was on. I was a little nervous, but not too concerned. Later, when I was driving on the freeway the brake went out! I would press down and nothing happened! Luckily when I pressed down the second time the brake would work, but when that started happening I got really scared, and so I decided to head back to Stephen's apartment and skip the errands. He called me around eight and told me he was off work and that I should go pick him up. I was so scared to drive. I prayed the whole time that I would be safe, and every few minutes I would press on the brakes to make sure they were working. When I went and picked up Stephen he was looking at the car, trying to figure out what was wrong. He looked at the brake light on the dashboard and asked if it had been on the whole time. When I said yes he just started laughing. The reason the car was shaking and the brakes weren't working well was because the emergency brake was on the whole time. I don't think I ever felt so stupid in my whole life.