"On the road again…" Poe's off-key rendition of the iconic Willie Nelson song was endearing the first time, cute the second, and infuriating by the eighth.
It was spring break, and Poe, Finn, Rey, and Ben were hitting the highway on their way to Poe's parent's beach house, which they had oh-so-graciously lent to the four roommates for the week.
They sat in their regular seats in their friend's 1965 Mustang, Finn riding shotgun with Rey and Ben in the back. Their duffle bags heaped in towers around them, all wedged precariously in place. Wrappers from fast food joints littered the floor of the car. Finn had had the good sense to wear headphones and pick his own music, whereas his two friends were stuck listening to Poe's terrible singing.
Rey had her nose buried in a dog-eared copy of The Da Vinci Code, lying sideways on the cab seat, her head resting on Ben's lap. Her knees were curled into her chest, and she sipped from a travel mug filled with earl grey as she read.
"When do you think we'll get there?" he whispered, glancing down at her, fiddling with a piece of string in his hand as he tried to perfect his cat's cradle.
"Hopefully before our ears start bleeding," she replied, a smile playing at her lips. "I mean, I love him to death, but I'm going to kill him."
Ben turned back to his project, shrugging. "If you don't, I will."
They rode in relative silence for nearly another hour and a half, before a loud POP sounded and Poe veered wildly to the left. Rey lurched forward, almost falling to the floor. Ben swore, and hooked an arm under her elbow to haul her up.
"What happened?" Finn exclaimed, yanking his earbuds out, staring at the driver in disbelief as they pulled onto the shoulder of the road and slowed to a stop.
"I think we blew a flat," Poe muttered through gritted teeth, his cheeks flushed an angry crimson. "These tires had t a freakin' two-year, 20,000 mile guarantee."
"Does that cover shrapnel as well?" Ben inquired, peering out the window at the road behind them. "Because it looks like there's a bunch of glass and metal pieces back there. We must have gone right over them."
Poe's griping could scarcely be heard over the howling wind of the highway as he shoved his door open and stomped toward the rear of the car. He threw the hatch open and tossed the bags and pillows from the trunk onto the pavement. Rey and Ben squinted at him, irritated at his lack of consideration, and clambered out to help him. Together, they peeled back the carpet at the bottom and Rey lifted out the jack and lug wrench while Poe and Ben grabbed the tire.
"Freaking piece of freaking sh—" the whine of a car engine as it passed by drowned out the rest of his words.
The two boys hobbled over to the front of the car, the weight of the tire awkwardly distributed between them. They leaned it up against the passenger side door, and then glanced at each uneasily.
"What?" Rey asked as she knelt, popping the hubcaps off and beginning to loosen the lugnuts. She paused as she sensed their discomfort. "Guys, what's wrong?"
"Well…" Ben shifted from foot to foot, opting to look at the passing cars rather than meet Rey's eyes. "We've never exactly, uh, you know, changed a tire before."
Her jaw dropped, and she snapped it shut as the wind blew dust into her mouth. "You're kidding." She stared at them incredulously. "Wait, actually? You've never changed a—not even you, Poe?" as he shook his head and avoided her gaze, she scoffed and went back to her work, shaking her head. "You guys are twenty-two, nearly finished with college, and you seriously don't know how to do it." She sighed in resignation. "Please tell me you at least have your flashers on right now." She added, sliding the jack under the car and cranking the handle to raise the tire off the ground.
Poe ducked away sheepishly and returned to his seat in the car. A moment later, his hazard lights blinked to life.
"Unbelievable." She mumbled, rolling her eyes. After raising the front edge of the car about seven inches off the ground, she finished removing the lugnuts and eased the flat tire off of the bolts, setting it on its side on the ground beside her. Ben crouched next to her, watching intently as she spoke. "So basically, after you've removed the hubcaps, you loosen the nuts, and then jack it up off the ground. And then you take the tire off, put the good one on, tighten the lugnuts a little, lower the jack a bit, finish screwing in the bolts, and then put the car all the way back down." She worked as she talked, and upon completion, she turned to him with a triumphant smile. "See? Easy as pie."
He huffed and helped her return the flat and the jack into their slot in the trunk. "This is why you're the mechanical engineer, and I am not." He threw the suitcases and bedding back into the car, and then slammed the trunk closed.
She reached up and patted his cheek with a grin. "You done good. Or at least, better than Poe. You stayed out here with me."
"Yeah, that's about all I'm good for," he added, rolling his eyes, the tips of his nose and ears blushing pink.
Rey received high-fives from her other roommates as they returned to the car. As they peeled off to join the rest of traffic, Poe called over his shoulder, "Hey, thanks for that. I owe you one."
"Yeah, well," she said airily, a smirk crossing her features. "I'll keep that in mind when we're at the boardwalk with a thousand and one different food trucks."
Poe gulped loudly, and visibly paled. He turned to look at Finn, who wore a pitying smile. "I've made a mistake, haven't I?"
"Hell yeah," his roommates chorused in unison.
A/N: depression's a BITCH, I say, as someone who has had it for years and is completely used to its effects. Yeah so hopefully that was a good ol' chapter to tide y'all over for a bit love you lots and honestly guys thank you so much for being patient and sticking with this fic because if I'm being real, if I were a reader I'd have ditched this story months ago
Anyway I rlly appreciate the reads and reviews and you guys are just the best okay gotta go bye :D