One Last Drag

This story was written for the 750 Word Project 2024, below this line are exactly 750 words:

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Friday night before final exams a couple dozen of us seniors cut school and ended the evening driving up to the highest peak in the area for one last get together at the 'flat spot.'

Michelle and I were making out in my classic mustang when she put the old song 'Free Bird" on the stereo and asked me to listen to the words carefully. I was stunned. She was breaking up with me. She got out and walked to another friend's car, told them what happened and arranged to ride back with someone else.

Elsa Svensson got out of another car, lit a cigarette and walked over as the others drove away. Elsa would soon be flying back to her wealthy metropolitan life in Stockholm. She was stylish and beautiful and had broken many hearts by rejecting all of the most popular guys in school. Rumors abounded she was a lesbian. What did she want with me?

She approached and leaned against the fender of my car. "Why so depressed? Does the world for you end now?"

Her accent had always melted me but I'd just been dumped. The last thing I wanted was to be teased by another girl I had a crush on, especially the aloof Swedish foreign exchange student.

"I...I don't know, yeah. It's the end." Tears were forming in my eyes. "Who else would be interested in a guy like me?"

"If I am to say, the loss is hers. You are most interesting and the smarter, why waste tears on her?" She brushed her straight blond hair behind an ear and drew on her cigarette.

"Over Michelle? She's the most popular girl in school. I'm a chess club geek. She only liked me because she has a thing for cross dressers."

Elsa puffed a few lazy smoke rings then blew a cloud into the night sky. "What's the big deal with cheerleaders anyway? It's not a skill for later in life. Anyway, you look better in a skirt than she does."

Her crooked grin eluded me but I welcomed the distraction.

I got out of my car and sat on the fender next to her. "Why do you want to ride back with me? Do you like pity parties?"

"Is this now a party? Besides, I always wanted a ride in your car." She took a metal tin from her pocket and offered me a cigarette.

I took it and waited for a light.

She said, "Fuck my fag?"

I nearly choked.

"Your cigarette. Light it from mine."

"Oh." I blushed. She brushed her hair behind her ear and held my face as the tips of our cigarettes met. I inhaled and mine began to glow. I wretched and coughed and felt sick. "These things will kill you!"

"We all die someday. I have oral needs. Everybody likes different things." She shrugged and looked away.

"Do you really like the way guys look in skirts?"

"Does it matter what someone else likes? You like it. Do you have a skirt to wear now?" She dropped her cigarette, crushed it under the toe of her sandal then took mine back from me. Her confidence was infectious.

"Uh, yeah." I had a bag of girl things in the trunk of my car.

"Put it on. I want to see. I will tell you then what I think."

Was she daring me? Thanks to Michelle I was already out and had nothing left to lose. I went to the back, opened the trunk and dug around in my special bag.

She came to the back, took another drag and crossed her arms. "Continue."

I found my kilt-style miniskirt and pulled down my shorts, exposing the colorful bikini bottoms Michelle had given me.

Elsa raised an eyebrow. "Okay..." She bit her lip, nodded and exhaled.

I stepped into the skirt, pulled it up and buckled the leather side fastenings. I took a few steps and turned around for her.

She nodded. "Okay, yes. I like this for you." She took one last drag, flicked away the second cigarette and took my hands in hers. She held me and led like we were dancing, swaying in the moonlight with our heads on each other's shoulders. She leaned back and looked at me with deep blue eyes.

"Nothing is more attractive than confidence." Her lips touched mine and we kissed. "And now for that ride... we can get in your back seat?"

"Absolutely! But no smoking in the car, okay?"