Hop in the car
Go with me
You don't have to pack everything
Don't you wanna feel the breeze
And forget everything baby
Hop in the car
Go with me
You don't have to pack everything
Don't you wanna feel the breeze
And forget everything baby

"Eryn, can I talk to you for a second?"

Eryn blinked over the rim of her glasses at her boss before nodding. It was 10 minutes before the end of her shift, and she really wanted to finish her project before she was done. She worked at an understaffed, overstuffed, hole-in-the-wall stationary store, and had been given the task of filing eighty million cards in alphabetical and numerical order. Now that she was finally down to card number seventy-nine million nine hundred ninty-nine thousand nine hundred and ninty-five, she really didn't appreciate being distracted.

This woman, Sharon, wasn't really her boss anyway. Well, she was, but she wasn't. Sharon was the store owner, and owned two other hole-in-the-wall stores in the area. She wasn't ever really around, she was the manager at one of the other stores and was usually there, only stopping in here about once a week or so. The real boss was Susan, an older blonde woman, watching curiously from one of the card racks where she was completing her project for the day.

Eryn pushed her glasses farther up on her nose as she walked around the register to follow Sharon into the small, crowded back room. The shorter woman walked over to the board with the schedule on it, her arms folded nervously.

"Eryn, I just wanted to let you know that we've got to let you go," she said softly.

Eryn's face was completely blank, "What? Let me go? But I-."

"I know, you've worked here a long time. But business is slow, and we have to cut back. This is your two weeks notice. Can you work up till this date?"

Eryn watched numbly as the woman pointed to a date on the board. She nodded, hopefully seemingly unaffected by the whole ordeal.

"Thanks. And sorry about this. If anything opens up and you're not busy, I'll give you a call."

Sharon left without another word. Eryn stood there, staring at the board, trying to digest all the new found emotions rising within her. She'd been working here for years and years, ever since her Junior year of highschool. She worked overtime, double shifts, sometimes she didn't even clock in, whatever was needed for the store to survive. She'd haulted 80lbs boxes for them when they couldn't afford to hire anyone else to do it. She'd been bruised and cut by falling boxes and sharp edges on objects around the store. She'd come in when she was nearly on her damn deathbed, and she'd never called in sick. Not once. Her back and knees were always hurting, and she'd been cursed out by pissy customers more times than she could remember. Frankly, she'd worked her ass off for this place. And now, they were letting her go?

Sharon was long gone by the time Eryn re-emerged from the backroom.

"What'd she want you to do?" Susan smiled, folding up a long sheet of bubblewrap.

"She wanted to give me my two weeks notice," Eryn replied with a smile.

"What?!"

"Yeah, they're letting me go."

Eryn's face remained pleasant, she didn't want to let on to anyone the stress and anger she was already feeling. What the hell was she going to do without a job? Cards were all she knew, it'd be hell finding anything else. She didn't have any money saved up, she was living paycheck to paycheck as it was. She had about $3 in her pocket, thank God today was payday, even if it was only a meesily $600 dollars (and that was with her brand new $.50 raise). It may sound like a lot, but you try paying rent, garbage, insurance, and utilities on $600 every two weeks. It ain't easy.

"Why? She didn't give you a reason?" Susan asked.

She was the picture perfect image of stressed, and nothing had happened to her.

"She said business was slow."

"So--what-- I get to open the store by myself now?"

Eryn had been the one and only morning person for the past 3 years. Susan came in to do the money, Eryn vaccumed, restocked, straightened, and cleaned the store.

"I guess so," Eryn replied, returning to her place behind the register. She went back to her cards, taking long drawn out breaths to keep the tears from going to her eyes. She could feel them in her chest, but she would not cry. Especially infront of everyone.

One of her co-workers, Rose, was at the register next to her, working on her own stack of cards, completely oblivious to what was going on around her.

"So, they gave me my raise," Eryn began, "and then they gave me my two weeks notice."

Rose looked up sharply.

"No. You're kidding. You're kidding aren't you?"

"Nope. I'm being completely serious. This time two weeks from now, I won't be here." She still couldn't wipe the smirk off her face. It really was quite funny. They were getting rid of her.

Rose's jaw dropped and she stood there staring. The woman looked as if she were about to cry.

"It's fine though. I'm fine. I didn't plan on being here that much longer anyway. It's fine," Eryn was trying to convince herself more than anyone else. Her eyes moved over to the clock on the register and saw that she should have left several minutes before. Then she looked at the cards infront of her and continued filing.

"What the hell am I doing?" she asked out loud, "Why am I still here? My shifts over. I'm going home." She dropped the card in her hand and walked away from the small stack, picking up her purse and heading for the backdoor.

Got laid off at your job today
You've been working at this place for years
Though you were underpaid
Mami that place isn't worth your tears
I know that life is hard on you
And you can't seem to find out why
I'll explain
Just grab your coat girl
And just join me on this ride

It was a short walk to her car, an old beat up Toyota parked to the side. She looked around to see who was watching before pushing her fingers through the thin crack above the driver's side window and pushing the glass down. She then stuck her hand in and unlocked the door. The window was broken, so it didn't stay up, and the door lock was broken so if she put her key in and turned it, nothing would happen. It was somewhat embarassing having to basically break into your own car everyday, but then again there were lots of people out there walking.

Eryn pulled off her purple apron and tossed her purse in before she sat down on the riped leather and put her key in the ignition. The car made a loud clanking noise, before everything went silent.

"Oh no."

Eryn turned the key again and absolutely nothing happened.

"No. no no no no no," she whinned, turning the key over and over. All remained silent under the hood. Her fist slammed against the steering wheel. Her car often died, but today was not the day. It just was not the day. Her slender fingers pulled her glasses off before squeezing the bridge of her nose. Her head rolled to the side before she let out a sigh and picked up her cellphone, quickly dialing the number etched into her brain. It skipped the ringing and went right to voicemail.

"Hey what's up this is J-." She ended the call and tossed the phone back into her purse. It would figure his phone was off on today of all days and right now at all times.

She sighed again before climbing out of the car. She locked the door and headed towards the street, luckily she didn't live far from the store. A meer hour long walk or so. She'd made it several times before, when she was young, before she had a license or a car. It was only about three in the afternoon, but the sun was hidden behind deep gray clouds, casting a shadow over everything. Eryn was paranoid, by past experences, about being out after dark. It made everything seem eery, cars, people, buildings. Suddenly, at night, everything became dangerous. The cars whizzing past her, staring at her as they did, didn't help her already overwhelmed, on-alert brain. The gravel under her feet didn't help. Her boyfriend's cellphone being turned off didn't help. And the teenage boys standing on the streetcorners yelling things at her didn't help. Why did they think saying, "Hey mami, come shake your ass over here for me. Yeah, that's the way I like it," was appealing to women?

Let's take a ride on the countryside
Let's just get away
We could spend the night
Till the morning light
Let's just get away

She was still a few blocks away from her apartment building when, if possibe, the sun seemed to pull farther away and everything got a little darker. Her head tilted back to look up and something fell onto her glasses. Her eyes crossed, focusing in, on a raindrop.

"Great."

It sprinkled softly the rest of the way, and she folded her arms infront of her chest, scurrying quickly the few blocks left between she and home. When she entered the parking lot infront of her apartment complex, she spotted her boyfriends car parked to the side. It was the only nice, shiny, new one. It was always parked there, in all it's expensive glory. It was a wonder it didn't get keyed. Her boyfriend was always there. He had a place of his own, and rightfully, alot better than hers. He was one of the few who managed to do really well for themselves early on in life. However, he lived with a roommate, his bestfriend, who had a revolving collection of women around. She didn't know why he hung around her place so much, but he did. So much to the point where she just got him his own set of keys.

She was just entering the stairwell to the secondfloor when someone grabbed her arm, halting her forward motion, "Ma'am, ma'am, ma'am, could you spare a little change?" An old man stood in the doorway of an empty apartment. He was dirty, and didn't exactly smell like Dove soap.

"Please. Help an old man get something to eat."

Eryn looked him over, taking in the holes in his clothes. She'd seen him before. He was always hanging around, asking people for spare change, spare food, spare clothes, spare anything. Against the logical protests of her brain, she reached into her wallet and handed the old man three dollar bills.

"It's all I got," she said.

"God bless you child."

Her eyes rolled as she turned her back, making the long climb up the flight of stairs.

Girl your the best
You could be
An angel amoungst society
But you get crushed
By what you see
You try hard to help and that's enough for me
Try to change what you can
And except all the things you can not (Don't stress yourself baby)
I know you wanna fly away from the world
But for now with the time we've got

Upon reaching her door, she could hear the radio from inside, playing something by 50 Cent. Clearly, her boyfriend was inside, probably sitting on the sofa watching TV. Her thoughts were confirmed when the door swung open and revealed him, planted in the middle of the sofa, head bobbing to the beat as he watched a completely different video on MTV. He didn't even notice her, or atleast he didn't seem to, as she crossed the room to her stereo and turned it off.

"What are you doing?" she asked as he quickly swivled his neck to look at her.

"Chillin', like a villian," he turned his body on the brown sofa to face her. She allowed herself to chuckle, even though it did little to discipate her anger. Her furniture was in good condition. Not old, just lived on, having been taken from relatives houses. It fit her small worn apartment with it's slightly stained carpet and sunlight faded paint.

"How you feelin? Feelin better?" he asked inreference to her cold. She'd gotten it from him. She made the mistake of being a good girlfriend and nursing him back to health when he had claimed to be dying from some rare disease he saw on TV. Now here he was back to his normal bouncing happy self and she was sneezing herself into oblivian.

"Better. I took like fifteen friggin' Tylenol and a teaspoon of Dayquil before work," she dropped her purse on the floor and slowly began shuffling towards the bedroom.

"Are you trying to overdose girl? You know, you look hot."

Her head turned and she raised an eyebrow at him.

"I meant that you looked hot as in temperture, not like,hot hot. You know you always look hot to me baby," he smiled with his best Austin Powers impersonation and Eryn gave him that look. Her 'We both know you're stupid so I don't really have to say it' look.

"Justin...." she sighed.

He smirked before actually focusing in on her frame and making an observation,"You're all wet. How far away did you park?"

"I didn't. My car wouldn't start again." The bedroom door was closed, but the walls were paper thin.

"What'd you do?"

"I walked."

"You walked? From there? In the rain? With your cold? Baby, why didn't you call me? I would have come get you."

"I tried. Your phone was off."

"Damn," he reached down to his waist and flipped open the silver device, "Must've forgot to turn it back on after that meeting."

Eryn re-emerged from the bedroom wearing black sweatpants and a white UC Berkeley teeshirt. It was her dream college, where she was hoping to eventually graduate from, but at the moment she was stuck in community college hell trying to keep up. She had to work so much to pay the bills, she barely had the time to do the homework. Sometimes she didn't have any time.

"What are you watching?" she squinted at the TV when she saw local news achorman Dennis Richmond's face.

"News. Ey, can you break a twenty? I ordered pizza."

"I'm strapped for cash."

His eyes narrowed on her, "You gave all your money to the homeless guy downstairs again, didn't you?"

Eryn shrugged, "He said he was hungry."

"Eryn," his sounded strangly like her mother.

"He was hungry, and he's an old man," she defended, "What would you have me do Justin?"

"You have to stop giving him cash. He's making a killing getting money from people around here. Next time tell him to get a job."

"For all we know he could have one. Alot of homeless people have jobs Justin, but working at McDonalds isn't going to be enough to get everything you need."

She would know. She was barely making more than the people at McDonald's and she was barely keeping her head above water. In a few more days her head wouldn't even be above water, it'd just be her nose sticking up in the air.

"Not everyone is as lucky to make the kind of money you-."

"Yeah yeah yeah I know. I'm rich, got it," he waved her off before turning back to the TV. He had the 'You're lucky to have money, no one else around here does, so enjoy it while you can you spoiled butthead' speech memorized.

Eryn plopped down on the sofa next to him and they focused in on the 'Update from Iraq' news story for a moment before Justin began flicking channels, eventually ending up back on MTV.

"Hey, I was watching that."

"I've seen that already. It was on at noon. You can only see this Iraq stuff so many times, ya know?"

Eryn leaned her chin in her palm thoughtfully for a moment before looking over at him.

"Know what I don't get?"

"What's that babydoll?" He leaned over to give her a peck on the lips before returning his attention to the TV. Sometimes she swore he loved that thing more than her.

"Everyone was all upset about Iraq and how Saddam gased his people back in like, the 80's. Everyone wanted to go in and people were saying how that wasn't right and everything--which I completely agree with--," she added quickly, "But right now in Sudan, millions of people are being killed and no one is saying a word. They're commiting genocide over there. Ten-thousand people die a month, dozens of women are raped and kids are orphaned, and no one's saying a word. The US won't send troops, the UN won't send troops, the Brit's won't send troops. People are pissed about something that happened 20 years ago, but something 5 times that big is happening right now, as we speak, and no one gives a damn."

"It's not that they don't give a damn, it's just there's not alot to go around."

"Well maybe if we pick and choose our battles more carefully-."

"Baby, do you mind if we try to save the world tomorrow? I'm kinda beat for today."

Let's take a ride on the countryside
Let's just get away
We could spend the night
Till the morning light
Let's just get away
Let's take a ride on the countryside
Let's just get away (Let's just get away)
We could spend the night
Till the morning light
Let's just get away (Let's just get away)

She made a noise, dismissing the conversation before looking down at her hands. They were covered with the fading scars from old cuts from cards, boxes, and scissors while opening and unpacking things.

"I lost my job today."

"Wha?" Instantly concerned blue eyes roamed over her face.

"They laid me off. I get one more week and half and that's it."

"Baby, I'm sorry." His hand moved to her back and started rubbing in slow, soft, comforting cirlces.

"It's alright though."

"It's cause you were making too much money, huh?"

"I don't know."

"It was," he nodded.

It was completely possible that that was the main reason. She'd had to fight with them tooth and nail to get that stupid raise. She was making more than any of the other sales associates there, not that that was saying a whole lot. Most of the other associates had one or two other jobs to make ends meet. Maybe it had only been a matter of time before they put her paycheck to a halt.

Eryn raised her hands and slide them under her glasses, pressing against her eyes for a moment before dropping them. Justin reached up and straightened her glasses for her, mainly because she looked to cute with them sitting crooked on her nose like that and she socked him good if he laughed right now.

"Well, on the bright side, now you can do all that other stuff you were talking about. Focus on school more, look for something a little less demanding, less hurtful," He picked up one of her hands and ran his thumb over the back of it, "One where I don't have to take you to the hospital on a weekly basis."

"Yeah. I was gonna get a better job anyway. One that pays more. I had other things planned right? This is fine." She looked at him for reassurance and instead broke down.

His arms incircled her instantly and she was surrounded by his musky scent. Sweet dreams threatened to outshine the worries clouding her mind as he held her. Here she was warm and protected. In his arms, his presence, was where she allowed herself to become the most vulnerable. He had never hurt her, and had never allowed anyone to hurt her.

"What am I going to do?" she asked quietly into his shoulder, "I still have books to buy, and my phone bill is due next week. My car is going to cost a fortune, I can feel it-."

"You'll be fine. You always land on your feet." He pulled back to look at her face. Her eyes were all red and she was sniffling worse than when she walked in the door.

Life was hard on his girl, that's for damn sure. He had enough money to take care of her, and she knew she was more than welcome. But she didn't want it. Ofcourse she wanted it, she loved his house, and the fast cars, but she wanted to get it alone. It was hard for her to ask for help, and she rarely excepted it when offered. She had a strong need to prove that she could take care of herself, and her pride wouldn't let her relent in the slightest. She'd rather live in a cardboard box, than take his money.

That was one of the reasons he was attracted to her in the first place. People often wondered, being that she wasn't exactly in his social class. Eryn wasn't the kind of girl he met on a daily basis, which was a positive. She didn't care about the money, or the reputation, or anything else, because if she didn't earn it she didn't want it. If you thought about it, it all made perfectly good sense. She knew him, his character, his spiritual being, and that was the him she loved and excepted. That was the him she cured up with every night, not the Justin Timberlake him.

However, he wasn't going to let her get to the 'living in a box' point. Whether she wanted it or not, he was going to atleast help float her until she found a job again. She'd worked day out and day in up until then, yet there had never been a time where he wanted her company and she hadn't been there. She was always there when he felt down, and always had his back no matter the obsticale. The least he could do was help her out in this frustrating situation.

"You're smart, intelligent, talented, articulate. It'll be no time before you land another job. One that appreciates you," he said gently,"and you and me'll figure something out till then."

Eryn nodded.

"Right?"

"Right," she sniffled.

"So if you know you're gonna be alright, whatchu crying for? Be happy. You got me."

She snorted, but the joke didn't lift her out of her spirits. He knew, in her mind, she was mentally tallying every bill. Trying to see how long she could last if she didn't do absolutely anything other than eat and sleep. He could see the hurt written all over her stressed and exhausted face. She went to that card store everyday because she loved it. She loved the customers, she loved the people, she loved the job. No one else would put up with it for so long if they didn't. He'd watched her fall in love with that job, and watched her love it more and more everyday. It had to hurt that they could so readily dismiss you when you'd given up alot for them.

Maybe if you consider
Us just riding
For once you feel like a winner
No more crying
Baby I know just what you need
To let your hair down
So that you feel free
It hurts me to watch you sing the blues
Girl you're so confused
And I know what to do

"Justin, if my car-." She dropped her head into her hands and he interupted her.

"Come here," he stood.

"Huh?"

"Come on," he offered his hand.

"Come on what?"

He reached down and grabbed her hand, "Come somewhere with me."

"Where?"

"Don't worry about it."

"Right now?"

"Yeah."

"I'm not dressed."

"Doesn't matter," he was busy picking up his keys and wallet from the coffeetable and stuffing them back into his baggy jeans.

"What about the pizza?"

"The delivery kid can have it."

"Justin I'm not really in the mood for this right now. I need to sit down and like, figure all this shit out, and I need to call a tow-truck or something for my dumb car-," her voice was muffled because of the hands covering her face.

Justin reached up and snatched them away.

"All that will be there later. Right now you just need to come with me. Now come on."

Eryn managed to slip her feet into the flip flops by the front door and Justin practically dragged her out and down the stairs to his car. The rain had stopped, leaving the pavement dark and glossy and the air crisp and fresh.

"Where are we going?" Eryn asked, strapping herself to the perfect gray leather of her passanger seat.

"Nowhere."

She stared at him blankly.

"Just trust me."

Let's take a ride on the countryside
Let's just get away (Let's just get away)
We could spend the night
Till the morning light
Let's just get away
Let's take a ride on the countryside
Let's just get away (Let's just get away)
We could spend the night
Till the morning light
Let's just get away (Let's just get away)

The Mercedes rolled through the empty streets, out of town. They went down a sideroad, which lead out to nothing in particular. There were a few farms and million dollar houses, but mostly just grass and hillside for miles and miles. Everytime they passed a farm, with lazy, grazing cows out front, one of them would say,"We've got cows," quoting the movie Twister. The sun was setting, making the sky several different shades of orange and purple, and Eryn found herself mezmorized by it. With nothing to do but lean back against the comfortable leather and stare at the passing scenery, she found her mind wandering, strangely, to nothing in particular.

Justin watched her from the corner of his eye as she slowly settled into the seat and let out a sigh, releasing with it, all of her tension. He reached down to take her hand, watching her eyes become heavy lidded with drowsiness. She didn't need to be sitting at the table with a calculator, figuring out where every penny was going to go. She didn't need half the stress she put on herself most of the time. She needed to slow down, and for two minutes atleast, let him take care of things.

The cars speed decreased drastically when he took his foot of the petal and allowed the car to coast along. They were miles out of town, the likelyhood of someone speeding up behind them was minimal. Eryn leaned her head back on the headrest as she looked at him with a soft smile, and his hand smoothed down the side of her face.

"You know I'm gonna take care of you right? I got you."

Her face kind of scrunched up for a second, as if she were considering protesting that statement, but then she smirked at him.

"I know."

"Okay," he tapped her nose with his finger before putting both hands back on the steering wheel and stepping lightly on the gas again, "Go to sleep."

Thirty seconds into a BeeGee's song and she was out like a light. Justin hoped she was dreaming of a not so complicated world. One where she didn't have to struggle for everything all the time, one where she wasn't carrying the weight of the world on her fragile shoulders. It had been a long time since he had last taken her out to nowhere in particular, and he knew it had been a long time since she'd slept peacefully, and it would be a long time until she did again. So he drove and drove, letting her continue on in slumber until they reached the end of the road and had to turn back, until his car was nearly out of gas, until she had finally let herself be free.

Hop in the car
Go with me
You don't have to pack everything
Don't you wanna feel the breeze
And forget everything baby
Let's take a ride
Hop in the car
Go with me
You don't have to pack everything
Don't you wanna feel the breeze
And forget everything baby