My college girlfriend Nicole had arrived at my house to visit for a few days during summer break, her pink Jansport backpack stuffed with enough clothes to last the weekend. She lived with her mother in a farmhouse in the next town over from where we both attended school, while I was home for the summer break, four hours away in the two-story, century-old house that was my childhood home. It had been almost six weeks since we had seen each other, and she was as beautiful as ever; her dark hair pulled into a high ponytail that swung when she moved, wearing a bright red t-shirt with the school logo and denim shorts that hugged the curve of her cute bubble butt that I missed so much.

She jumped into my arms with a squeal of delight, her petite body colliding against mine, her thighs wrapping around my waist as I caught her weight. I breathed in the familiar scent of her strawberry shampoo, my hands instinctively moving to squeeze her ass before I caught myself and just placed them at the small of her back. We held the embrace a beat too long before reluctantly pulling apart, acutely aware of my father clearing his throat and my mother’s thin lips pressing together in silent disapproval from the doorway.

My parents trapped us in the living room for their standard interrogation. Dad hunched forward in his recliner while Mom’s lips formed a smile that didn’t touch her eyes. “How is work going? Your mother doing well? Are you looking forward to getting back to classes?” The same types of questions they ask every time they see her. When they finally paused for breath, I jumped in and announced we had plans, just to get us out of the house.

We escaped to my dirty red Ford Escort, the faded paint chipped along the hood, and headed out of the small Iowa town where I grew up. The two-lane country road stretched before us, endless rows of knee-high field corn and soybeans swaying on either side in the summer breeze, the car’s AC struggling to cool the cabin.

I glanced over at Nicole, her pale skin catching the faint orange glow of the sun as it dipped below the horizon. “So, what would you like to do tonight?” I inquired, then started throwing out suggestions, “We could catch a movie or go bowling or...”

“Fuck,” she interrupted me mid-sentence with her simple, one-word answer.

My palms instantly went slick against the steering wheel, blood flowing to my groin. My mind started racing on how to make that happen. Going back to my overly religious parents’ house, where they frown upon us even kissing, was out of the question. I thought about a motel, then mentally tallied up the bills in my wallet: a ten, a five, and a few singles. Even if I counted the change in my pocket, it would be less than twenty bucks. My ATM card was essentially worthless, as I knew my account balance was in the low single digits after filling up the car with gas. Going over to one of my friends’ houses wasn’t going to work because their parents would be there, and what possible excuse could we give for needing to be alone in a bedroom?

As my brain was flashing through scenarios, I heard fabric rustling in the passenger seat and turned to see Nicole yanking her t-shirt over her head, her ponytail catching momentarily before springing free. She reached behind her back, her fingers deftly working at the clasp of her white bra, the one with tiny pink flowers.

“What are you doing?” I asked, dumbfounded, slightly swerving on the empty road.

“Kinda hard to fuck with clothes on,” she responded with a half-smile, her tone indicating that my question was beyond stupid. She slid the straps of her bra off her shoulders and tossed it into the back seat with her top, revealing her perfect, palm-sized, perky breasts with their small, round, light pink areola. Her nipples stiffened from excitement, transforming from soft buds to taut peaks that I just wanted to suck. She kicked off her scuffed sneakers, lifted her hips from the seat, and shimmied out of her shorts and white cotton panties, her movements causing the car to sway slightly. She threw her shorts and panties into the backseat along with her other clothes and sat there naked with a huge grin on her face.

A pulse of adrenaline shot through me, and for a moment, the car’s speedometer crept over the limit. The Escort’s shocks groaned as we hit a dip, Nicole’s breasts jiggling delightfully with the jostle.

My turn came next. Have you ever heard the expression, ‘where there’s a will, there’s a way’? Nicole and I engaged in a chaotic choreography of getting me out of my clothes while I white-knuckled the steering wheel, fighting to keep the car on the pavement. When I lifted my hips to let her tug my jeans down past my knees, the car swerved dangerously close to the gravel-lined ditch, tires kicking up dust that swirled in our wake. My faded blue t-shirt caught on my chin and ears, temporarily blinding me in cotton darkness, eliciting a string of panicked curses that dissolved into breathless, reckless laughter between us. Minutes later, we were both nude, racing down the lonely road, the cracked vinyl seats sticking to our skin.