“Take it. Go. Go do it.” Grandma pushed the keys and a thick envelope into Ella’s hands.

Ella’s head was swimming. Go. Do it. On her eighteenth birthday, she’d said she wanted to take a long, long trip. She never imagined she would actually do it. Sullivan and all 4,000 residents were her world. She had gone to St. Louis once on a school trip. Ella never thought she would ever travel that far again.

The car was a 1955 Bel Air. Grandma had bought it new. Now it was hers. Her parents were not happy, but Ella was an adult. Her father’s advice had been simple: Don’t pick up strangers.

oOo

Ella was at Smith’s grocery, buying snacks for her trip, a couple of gallons of water, a wool blanket, and other road-trip essentials. She was at Ed’s garage, where a second spare tire was being put in the trunk, along with 2 quarts of oil.

She leaned on the car, waiting while Ed mounted and filled the second spare; a slim figure with long brown hair ran up.

“Ella!” she was exuberant. “Are you really going to California?” she bubbled with excitement.

“Mary. Mary, uh…”

“Elizabeth. Our families sit near each other in church. California?”

“Eventually. Maybe. I don’t know for sure,” Ella replied.

“Please.” An edge came into her voice. “Please take me with you.”

“Why?”

“You are my chance to get away. If not now, it will never be.”

That resonated with Ella.

“Ella.”

She turned to see her father.  

Her dad talked to Ed, who disappeared. He turned to Ella.

“Sweetheart, I know I can’t stop you. Ed is putting a gas can on the car; it will take about 20 minutes if you want to say goodbye to your friend.”

He pushed 60 dollars into her hand. “I know your grandmother gave you a couple hundred, but it can get expensive out there.”

She hugged her father tightly. “I will call every day.”

He hurried off before she caught the tears rolling down his cheeks.

Ella turned to Liz. “You have 20 minutes to be ready. Oak and Third, right?” Liz sprinted off.

Mounting the gas can to the bumper, Ed showed her how to unlatch it and how to fill the tank. He also made sure she knew how to check the oil and how to wait if the car overheated before adding water. Then he handed Ella a pamphlet with the steps written on it. She hugged the grizzled mechanic and kissed his cheek.

“Thanks, Ed.”

“Thank me by coming back safe.”

Two minutes later, she was at the corner of Third and Oak. Liz was there with a bag.

“That all?" she asked as Elizabeth put the case on the back seat.

“Four days of clothes; we can find a laundromat.”

She offered 70 dollars to Ella.

“Hang on to it; we should both have money just in case.”

The sun was approaching zenith, and the shiny 55 left Sullivan town limits.

​oOo

The first day was short. Ella decided to see the city of Springfield, and as she moved through downtown, she noticed women her age wearing clothes that felt alien to her. She spotted a Woolworth’s and pulled into a parking spot. Ella pointed to the girls she had seen.

​ “Let’s get something like that.” They went in and agreed to limit it to ten dollars each.  ​

They picked a motel and settled in. Liz went into the bathroom. “Shoot!”

“What’s wrong?” Ella asked.

“I forgot my toothbrush.”

“I didn’t.”

“Did you pack shampoo?” Liz asked.

“Shoot.”

“Wasn’t there a Zellman’s Drugs back a way?”

Ella thought. “Yep, let’s go.”

Liz went into the store while Ella put coins in the payphone.

“Hi, Mom. We are fine.”

“Who are we?” her mom asked.

“Mary Elizabeth and I. She came with me.”

“Oh, thank God. Is she with you? Is she alright? The town is going wild trying to find her! You need to bring her home right now!”

“We’re fine, Mom. Got to go. Love you!”

She went back inside.

“You didn’t tell anyone you were coming?”

Elizabeth stared at the floor. “No.”

“They want us to go back.”

“NO!”

Elizabeth told her Bob Johnson was planning to ask her to marry him, and she didn’t want to.

“We are not going back,” Ella replied.

oOo

Ella woke and went to the bathroom. The clock said 5:45. She forgot about Liz when she flushed the toilet. When she came out, Liz was getting up.  

“Want to sleep in or get a start?” Liz asked as she took her turn in the bathroom.

“Start,” Ella said, loud enough for Liz to hear.  

Liz replied by turning on the shower.

Ella and Liz traded places, and when Ella came out, she stopped cold. Liz sat on the bed, a white blouse tucked into scandalous shorts.

“Liz, good lord! Your parents would have a fit!”

Liz stood and turned slowly.

“The boys will like them.”

They found a diner, and after breakfast, they were on the road. They stopped at a curio shop in Joplin for gas and at another curio shop in Galena, Kansas.

“You like spoons?” Liz asked.

“Just reminders of the trip.”

They crossed into Oklahoma, and just outside of Miami, Ella slowed.

“More spoons?”

Ella pointed. “REALLY cute guy.”

Ella parked the car. “I’ll be back.”

“What?” Liz saw Ella making straight for the boy. “Oh, well, Attagirl, Ella.”

“Hi. I’m Ella.” She introduced herself.

“Toby.”

Ella bit her lip. “You are really handsome, Toby. I’d love to chat, but I don’t have a lot of time, if you know what I mean.”

Toby took her hand and walked her around the back of the building. An Airstream trailer was parked there. They went inside and started kissing. Toby took off his shirt, and Ella stripped. It was hurried and awkward. She sat on the bed, uncertain. Toby pushed her back, and she said, “Slow down, I haven’t done this.”

It was painful. Toby, inexperienced, was too rough for a first time. They were sweating in the warm trailer, and all too soon Toby moaned that he was going to cum.

His sperm felt like fire as it landed on her stomach. Sated, he dressed while Ella lay there, wondering what had just happened. It’s supposed to be romantic, certainly better, and not so fast.

Wiping the cum off her body with a towel that was on the bed, Ella dressed, distracted. She went to the car and got the sanitary napkins.

In a restroom, she washed as best she could and put the pad in place. She was already feeling the soreness in her pelvis.

She looked for Liz and found her admiring a turquoise bracelet.

“That’s pretty.”

Liz looked up, startled, then put the bracelet down. “Four fifty… Way too much.”

Ella gave Liz the keys. “Drive this time? Let me grab a spoon, and I’ll be right there.”

She found a spoon, got two bottles of soda, and bought the bracelet.

Ella got into the car. Once they were on the road, she handed Liz her soda, with the bracelet around it. Liz pulled over.

“Ella!”

“Welcome.”

Liz leaned over, hugged Ella, and kissed her on the cheek. “Thanks, it’s so pretty.”

She pulled back and stared at Ella.

“Where’s your bra?”

“I forgot to put it back on. Drive.”

Tears fell now as Ella wept.

“Did he hurt you?” Liz asked, concerned.

“No more than Bob did when he took you first. I assume he’s had you.”

It all fell into place for Liz.

“It wasn’t what you expected, was it? I think we all wish it were rainbows and music.”

The conversation became deep and personal. Finally, Ella just reached over and found music on the radio. It was getting warm, and Ella found herself staring at Elizabeth’s legs in those short shorts.

What Ella didn’t catch was Liz’s interest in how the wind molded the thin cotton of Ella’s blouse around her breasts.

The car leaving the road woke Ella.

“Gas,” Liz said as she pulled up to a pump. “We are not far from Tulsa,” she added.

Liz nudged Ella while the serviceman filled the tank and checked under the hood.

“Want to put a bra on before we get to the big city?”

Ella got out and, after digging around in the trunk, went to the ladies’ room. She put on a bra, changed the sanitary napkin, and found Liz inside, filling the pickle jar with ice and water.

By the time they reached Tulsa, the sun was beating down from high overhead.

Liz shifted, her skin sticking to the vinyl seat.  

“Is that a Sears?” They had to park a couple of blocks away, but both women were excited to see a real Sears.

They walked in.

Elizabeth pointed. “They have a restaurant.”

Ella looked where she was pointing. “In the store?”

“I’m hungry.”

After lunch, Ella stopped. “They have an upstairs.”

Liz sighed. “This might take a while.”

They hunted and found some bargains. They walked past a counter that smelled wonderful.

“Would you like to try?” the saleswoman asked.

They stopped, waiting expectantly. The woman’s eyes narrowed. She reached for a green bottle. The woman sprayed a bit on a paper, waved it, and handed it to Ella. She smelled it and handed it to Liz.

“Smells like our math teacher.”

The woman gave them another paper.

“Oh, I like that,” Liz said.

“Me too,” said Ella.

The saleswoman showed them how to dab just a little on their wrists.

“It smells different on you.” Ella said, then added, “It’s still pretty.”

Liz noticed a few men were staring.

“Those guys are staring at us.”

“Because you are two beautiful young women,” the saleswoman said.

The friends stared at her, then cracked up. “No. Not pretty,” Ella said.

The woman pointed with her chin.

“They think so.”

“Ella, it’s six dollars.”

Ella shrugged and handed the woman ten dollars.

“We will share it. It’s our first perfume.”

They walked back out, each with two new outfits, the perfume, and large towels for the car seats. They headed to the car. Liz pointed.

“Ella’s.”

“Huh?”

“You have a store. We have to go in.”

They wandered through, looking at the clothes.

“Look at that,” Liz hissed.

“Oh, my God. No, Liz.”

It was too late; Liz was fondling the fabric of a coral-colored bikini.

“Liz, it’s six fifty.”

“The blue one matches your eyes, Ella.”

Ella sighed, knowing the battle was as lost as Custer’s last stand.

They left Tulsa in the rearview mirror.

Liz fidgeted in the right seat.

“Ants in the pants?”

“I’m hot. I’m putting on my suit.”

“Liz, I’m driving!”

“So?” Liz asked as she slid her shorts and panties off.

She pulled the bikini briefs on and repeated the act, stripping off her blouse and bra, her breasts shining in the sun for a moment before she put the bikini top on.

“You just showed me everything,” Ella hissed.

“Anything you have not seen a hundred times after gym class?”

Ella stared at Liz out of the corner of her eye.

“You are becoming a wild woman.”

“I’m finding freedom, El. Try it.”

They drove in silence for a few miles. “Liz, hold the wheel.”

Liz held them on a straight line as Ella removed her blouse, then her bra. The bra flew into the back seat, and Ella put the blouse back on, leaving it unbuttoned but still covering herself.

“Uh, Ella?”

“Hmm?”

“You didn’t button your blouse.”

Ella smiled, hands tight on the wheel, and stared down the road.

“Freedom.”

They were only a few miles from Stroud when they came upon a state trooper standing across the road, waving traffic to a stop.

Liz looked at Ella.

“What’s going on?”

Ella quickly buttoned her blouse. Liz did the same, and they climbed out of the Bel Air.

“Stay in the car, ladies,” the trooper called.

He walked toward them, then stopped and looked back toward the horizon.

“Get in the car.”

“Why?” Ella asked.

The trooper pointed down the road.

“Is that a tornado?” Liz asked.

The trooper looked at the dark funnel forming in the distance.

“Yes.”

He pointed back toward the road.

“Be ready to turn around. If it comes this way, I’m turning everybody around.”

Ella stared at it.

The clouds were dark and angry, but the setting sunlight caught the funnel’s edges, making it almost glow.

“Why is it pretty?”

The trooper looked at her for a moment.

“Because nature doesn’t care if it’s pretty.”

They watched, fascinated, as the tornado ran through fields and eventually dissipated. The clouds rolled on, and the sun reclaimed the sky. They continued, passing through Stroud, when they saw a sign.

Mercury Motel

Pool—Air Conditioning—Diner—Gas

​”Pool!” Liz cried out.

They stopped and got a room.

Liz tried not to look when Ella stripped and put on her bikini.

They grabbed towels and went to the pool.   Liz jumped in, making a splash, while Ella stepped in with more reserve, which vanished as soon as Liz splashed water at her.

Ella splashed back, and they both got soaked as a little boy cannonballed into the pool. His sister followed, and in the mayhem, Liz got the short end of the stick as the kids backed her into a corner.

“Ella! Help!”

“Are you crazy? They are mean!”

Liz was saved by the kid’s mom.

Liz swam past Ella on her way out of the pool. “Traitor.”

“No, just smart.”

They put on Coppertone and then lay on chairs, letting the sun dry them.

“Liz?”

Silence.

“I’m sorry.”

Silence.

“Are you mad?”

“She was right, you know,” Liz finally spoke.

“Who?”

“The perfume lady.” Ella realized Liz had called her pretty.

Ella rose. “Calling the folks.”

Liz watched her friend leave the pool.

Ella closed the door and leaned against it. Her body signaled something her brain couldn’t interpret. She stripped off the bikini and hung it over the shower rod.

She stared at herself in the mirror; her nipples were taut, her breasts high and proud. Not as big as Liz’s. The thought was unbidden.

Her hands moved lower. She bit her bottom lip as her finger slid through her pubic hair. She reached lower. Yes, there, that place right there, she rubbed her clit, each sensation making her knees weak. Her mind raced, Toby’s face as he drove his cock into her; she moaned as she relived her first experience. She thought about how his ass looked in those jeans, the T-shirt tight across his chest.

She rubbed her clit in small circles, the heat building. Ella was drawing closer. She thought about Liz, showing her body to her as she stripped in the car. Ella’s mind displayed perfect tits in the afternoon sun, and… and GOD! Ella came; she fell against the bathroom wall, shuddering.

What the hell? She thought.

Ella wiped up and was stepping into her panties when there was a knock at the door. She reached for her blouse and buttoned the bottom two buttons before she opened the door. Liz came in, wrapped in a towel. She stopped. Ella was flushed.

“Are you okay?”

“I, uh,” she dug coins out of her shorts. “Can you call home? I didn’t.”

“Sure.” Liz grabbed the room key and stepped out. Ella stripped again and jumped in the shower. She was brushing her hair when Liz returned.

“Better wash all that chlorine out of your hair,” Ella said.

Liz dropped the towel on a chair and untied the bikini top as she closed the door halfway. In the shower, she called out, “Not calling them again; they were screaming we had to go back.”

“Not till I see the ocean,” Ella called back.

Dinner was a quiet affair. As they returned to their room, thunder rolled across the prairie.

Ella stripped off her sandals and shorts and sat on her bed; she wore only an unbuttoned blouse and panties. Liz looked at the gown in her hand. “This feels wrong. I feel like it’s taking me backward.”

“Don’t wear it,” Ella said quietly.

Reluctantly, Liz slipped off her bra and panties and slid on the gown. She didn’t see the emotion in Ella’s eyes.

They sat on their beds when a flash and bang of lightning lit the room from the window. Ella leaped across the space between them and grabbed Liz.

“I’m not scared.”

“Of course not.” Liz soothed.

“Can I—?”

“Shh. Yes.” They turned off the light; Ella wrapped around Liz while the storm raged. As she drifted off, Liz thought she felt warm lips on her neck.