Twilight Creek

Please note, all sexual activity is among characters who are clearly identified as being of legal age.

Mandy's parents had always forbidden her from going anywhere near Twilight Creek. But they had never told her why.

She couldn't recall a time when that pleasant sounding name hadn't brought on vague but firm denunciations from Mom and Dad and her brothers alike. "Heathens, the lot of them!" was about as specific as her father ever got on the matter. On another occasion it was, "Mandy, my darling, if I ever find out you've gone to Twilight Creek, I'll never even be able to look you in the eye again, do you understand that?"

As Mandy got older and more aware of her family's old fashioned worldviews, that came to sound less like a threat and more like a rather agreeable option all the time. But she had also learned to choose her battles very, very carefully. Things like convincing them to let her go to college were simply a lot more important than uncovering the mystery of Twilight Creek.

Their house had a big backyard that bordered on an even bigger forest preserve, with a nature trail that was just visible from Mandy's beloved swingset. For as long as she could remember, her brothers would routinely climb over the fence and turn left on the trail. Always left, for turning right would lead to Twilight Creek. Mandy and her best friend, Tara, finally worked up the courage to take to the trail when they were eleven or twelve. Also turning left, they found a winding walk through the woods, onto the ridge over the reservoir, and beyond that, the farthest reaches of the suburbs that were already threatening to take over their little town.

Mandy loved the new-looking houses with the neatly trimmed yards and winding streets. "Let's live here when we grow up!" she told Tara on that first trip up the trail.

"You want to live in the suburbs?" Tara sniffed. "No way! Don't you know those people are bringing city values out here? You don't want that!"

Even then, Mandy was beginning to think that was exactly what she wanted. But she also knew Tara's family was a lot like her own in that regard, and Tara did not feel the same sense of rebellion she did.

But once the ice was broken, they did both enjoy those long walks through the neatly-kept streets that looked nothing like their weatherbeaten little downtown. It was the perfect setting for talking about school, about their families, about how much they hated boys and, a bit later, which boys they now loved. But Mandy, remembering her parents' strict orders, always turned left on the trail, even when she went out on her own.

It was the last day of the summer before high school started when Mandy decided to throw caution to the wind. After all, as of tomorrow they weren't children anymore. Looking over her shoulder to make sure no one else was in the backyard, she said to Tara, "Let's turn right this time."

"Right!" Tara looked horrified. "That's Twilight Creek!"

"I know," Mandy said with a grin. "Aren't you curious about it?"

"I know all about it!" Tara shook her head so hard Mandy wondered if it hurt. "That's where all the freaks go!"

"Freaks?" Mandy had imagined all sorts of horrors that might take place at the other end of the trail. "What do you mean? Druggies? Murderers?"

"No, Mandy, they're..." Tara bit her lip as if she didn't want to have to say the next word. Finally she whispered it in Mandy's ear even though there was no one else around. "Homosexuals! You don't want to become lesbo, do you?"

"You don't become lesbian, Tara." Mandy was proud even then of having rejected her family's homophobia, though she wouldn't dare tell anyone but Tara.

Tara lost no time in making it clear, that exception was a mistake on Mandy's part. "Yeah, Mandy, you do. They recruit you for that. That's why we can't go to Twilight Creek!"

"Didn't you say you had a crush on Jimmy Walpole the other day?" Mandy demanded.

"Yeah, so?"

"So, you didn't choose to be attracted to him, did you? It just happened."

"That's because I haven't been brainwashed! And I don't want that to happen to you either, Mandy, all right? What would your family say?"

Mandy could only laugh at that. Lately she'd been so boy crazy she almost wished she could choose not to be attracted to boys. But it was no use in trying to explain that to Tara.

So they turned left, and enjoyed one last walk through the woods, past the reservoir and into the suburbs.

They didn't know at the time that it would be their last walk up the trail, of course. But high school kept them busy and summers found Tara sent off to bible camp while Mandy was at band camp, and though they remained friends, they began to run in different circles.

Junior year, Mandy became a charter member of their school's new gay-straight alliance, and Tara never spoke to her again. Mandy lived in fear for the first week or two that Tara might rat her out to her parents, but that never happened. Nor were they ever the wiser that Mandy's new best friend, Norman Becke, was the first openly gay person in their class. "I really hate that we have to keep it hidden, Norm," she told him after the first of dozens of times he joined her family for dinner. "I'm really sorry about that."

"It's not you who should be apologizing, Mandy," he reassured her with an arm around her back that had her desperately wishing Tara was right and he could choose after all. "I'm just glad you get it, okay?"

"Thank you." Mandy's eyes glistened with tears as she said it.

"That Norman is a delightful young man," her mother said over breakfast the next day. "You have our permission to date him if you want, honey."

"Your permission?" Mandy couldn't help herself.

"Yes, Amanda, our permission," Dad said in his don't-you-dare-cross-me tone. "Our house, our rules. But we like Norman - a lot better than any of the other boys you've shown any interest in."

Mandy could only hope Mom and Dad didn't understand why she had to stifle a laugh in response to that.

Though they told each other nearly everything, Mandy never asked Norman if he ever went to Twilight Creek. She was perpetually dying to know, and her guesses as to just what went on there grew ever wilder in her imagination. But she also knew it was none of her business. After all, she wouldn't appreciate it if he ever asked her what she was getting up to with his friend Kevin, who Norman revealed had a crush on her the summer before senior year.

"He's a really sweet guy, you know," Norman told her. "I've known him half my life, he was the first person I ever came out to, and he hasn't got a macho bone in his body."

"I know," Mandy said. "That's why I was sure he was gay too. Which would be fine, but..."

"But he isn't," Norman said. "He's an effeminate heterosexual."

Mandy wasn't sure if she'd go quite that far. But Kevin's quiet and gentle demeanor and his fondness for mellow music and romantic movies were a breath of fresh air compared to most straight guys, and so she decided to give him a chance. Three dates, and if she wasn't feeling anything after that, she'd let him down easy - at least she hoped she could do that.

Kevin was nearly as big a hit with her parents as Norman had been, and so the three dates were allowed to happen. Once the ice was broken, she discovered he wasn't so quiet after all. "It's not like I can throw a switch and become a chatterbox, you know?" he explained on the second date. "I wish I could, the teachers would've liked me a lot better then."

"I like you this way, Kevin," she assured him, even daring to touch his knee under the table. "You're not all noise like the other boys."

And the look he gave her in response to that made up her mind: she would not be letting him down after the third date, easy or otherwise.

For the next year, Mandy and Kevin and Norman and his first boyfriend, Chris, were a fixture everywhere. At dances, pep rallies, at the diner or the bowling alley on weekends, they could usually be found together in public. In private, of course, Mandy could only wonder what Norman and Chris got up to, and whether they went to Twilight Creek. But what they did on their own was don't-ask-don't-tell for both couples.

She did ask Kevin once, on the walk home from school shortly before Christmas. "Do you know if Norman goes to Twilight Creek?" she asked.

"If he hasn't told you, he wouldn't tell me," Kevin replied. "Besides, do you really want to know?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Mandy let go of his hand and gave him a stern look.

"Hey, I'm no homophobe!" Kevin reassured her. "Just that, first of all it's none of our business, and secondly... well, I mean, it doesn't appeal to me is all. I mean, does it to you?"

"Kind of." Mandy felt the usual stirring down below that thoughts of Twilight Creek had always inspired in her. "I mean, don't you get off on imagining two women together? Don't expect me to believe you don't!"

"Guilty as charged!" Kevin laughed. "Yeah, I do. I just didn't think it happened the other way around."

"Oh, it does." Mandy grinned and took his hand again. "I mean, you're right, Norman's our friend and all that. But... well, yeah, I've always wondered what Twilight Creek is like. Do they even allow women there?"

"Yeah, I've heard they do," Kevin said. "It's mostly men, but everyone's welcome. Not that I've been there!"

"Would you like to go?" Mandy asked with a coy grin.

"Mandy!" Kevin dissolved into uncontrollable laughter, the way he always did when Mandy pushed him too far on this sort of thing. She took the hint and didn't pursue the topic any farther; it was too cold to go to Twilight Creek right then anyhow.

It was still probably too cold when Mandy turned eighteen in March. But at least that took away Kevin's favorite objection to going all the way. For some time now, Mandy had been quite sure she was the only girl in America who couldn't convince her boyfriend to go to bed with her instead of the other way around. "It's not that I don't want to," he'd told her time and again. "It's just that we're so young, we could get in a lot of trouble for it."

On the big day, when she'd seen all her other friends off after the party and she and Kevin were off to the movies, she decided to try again. "We're not nearly so young anymore, are we?" she said, squeezing his hand. He'd turned eighteen over a month before.

He squeezed it back and grinned and said nothing at first, and Mandy's heart leapt. But once again she had to cool her jets. "Doesn't feel right that we're supposed to feel old enough just because someone else says we are, does it?"

"Oh, Kevin, who cares about what someone else says? We love each other, don't we?" She lay her head on his shoulder.

"I guess I just... I mean, Mandy, what would your father say?"

"It's none of his business. I'm a woman now."

"And a beautiful one at that." He gave her a shy look and chuckled.

"Thank you! Now, come on, don't you want to make love with me?"

"Desperately! But... Mandy, aren't you afraid I won't respect you afterwards?"

"Respect me? We love each other, don't we? Why would I be afraid of that?"

"I don't know," Kevin confessed. "It's just something you always hear girls warning about...'He won't respect you in the morning.' I would, of course, but..."

"Then there's no problem, is there?" She took his hand and kissed it, and rubbed it enticingly.

The following afternoon found Mandy enjoying a cool spring breeze in Kevin's bedroom, alone in the house while he ran down to the corner store to buy some condoms. She had imagined the big moment hundreds of times, starting well before she'd met Kevin - indeed, she couldn't even remember which boy she'd imagined it with first. What she did recall was, she'd never quite been able to determine just how she and the guy got undressed. It seemed they were always both naked already when she started thinking about it. Wouldn't it be more fun to tear each other's clothes off?

Probably, she decided. But knowing Kevin, he just might get cold feet before she could help him out of his clothes. But if she already had her clothes off, that ought to put a stop to his inhibitions! Besides, though she wanted to make love with him, she felt rather apprehensive about him seeing her body for the first time. Best to get him and herself over the shock quickly, she decided. With a defiant thought of her father's prudishness, she stepped back from the curtains to a spot where she judged she couldn't be seen from outside, and unbuttoned her jeans.

When she heard Kevin - at least she hoped it was him - coming in downstairs, Mandy was swathed in one of his dress shirts, unbuttoned, and feeling her heart pound as she fought to keep her nerve. She stood up and wrapped the shirt around her, just in case it was Kevin's mother, but she didn't button it.

Was it relief or anticipation she felt when the bedroom door opened and it was in fact Kevin? She was never sure, but she was very happy to see him carrying the little plastic bag in one hand. "This was so embarrassing," he said.

"Not as embarrassing as this." Mandy forced a smile as she tore away the shirt and stood stark naked before him. Though more than a little bit embarrassed, she smiled through it and forced herself to put her hands on her hips and give him a full view.

"Mandy!" Kevin gaped, then tore his gaze away, then turned uncertainly back towards her as he realized she obviously wanted him to see everything. "Are you crazy?"

"Crazy for you, maybe." She stepped up to him and put her arms around him. "I just wanted to show you it's nothing to be ashamed of."

"Surprised you feel that way, with your family."

"That's just it, you know how hard I've had to wrestle with myself to realize it's okay to feel..."

"To feel what?"

"Just what I'm sure you're feeling right now, with me standing here." She stepped back and touched the front of his jeans; sure enough, he was hard. "Now don't you want to let that out?"

"More than you can imagine!" He looked down with a goofy grin as she unzipped his jeans.

He was just as inexperienced as she was, and any hopes Mandy had ever harbored for fireworks were gone even before she had his clothes off. But the forbidden thrill of being naked together and the sensation of skin on skin were just as lovely as she'd imagined, and within a few minutes of tentative play she was feeling quite comfortable and ready for more.

She got more, in the most unexpected of ways.

Mandy had, in spite of her parents, managed to see a few sex scenes in the movies. Since Hollywood never got anything quite right, she had always imagined the animalistic screams the women in those scenes always let out couldn't be real. Surely it was all for show. As much as she looked forward to losing her virginity, Mandy had always been quite sure she would never make such a noise.

When Kevin followed up his inexperienced but eager strokes on her breasts with a kiss on her left nipple, Mandy lost that resolve. She didn't even realize at first that she had made the guttural moan they both heard until Kevin let her nipple out from between his lips and looked up. "Are you okay?"

"I'm wonderful!" she reassured him. "That felt beautiful. More please!"

"Oh! Sorry." He went back to flicking his tongue delightfully about, and soon Mandy realized she was writhing with intense pleasure.

As he kissed her into a frenzy, Kevin touched Mandy all over her sides and legs. It took him a long time to work up the nerve to touch anywhere near her vagina. When he finally did, she spread her legs wide to reassure him, and whispered, "It's about time!" and kissed him passionately. She'd read enough books on the sly at the library to know men could never find the clitoris, and so was pleasantly surprised when Kevin did find hers quite quickly. "Ooooh!" she squealed, and let out a wry laugh. "You found it!"

"Don't you remember sex ed?" he quipped.

"My parents wouldn't let me take it, remember?"

"But you found it yourself?" With that he gave it another gentle stroke, bringing on Mandy's loudest moan yet.

"Hard to miss when you have one!" She laughed and reached over to the nightstand for the box of condoms. "Ready for this?"

"You don't even know!"

Mandy was quite sure she did in fact know, as she unwrapped the condom and helped him put it on. But there were no more words for the moment. Once it was on, she gazed on in quiet anticipation as he tried to find his way in. After two failed efforts, she took him in both hands and said, "Here."

The sensation wasn't quite what she had imagined. But she loved it just the same. "Feels so good!" she cooed, rubbing his hip.

"Me too!" He leaned down and kissed her, and began pushing in and out gently.

In the next few minutes, Mandy learned just how real those sounds she'd heard in the movies were after all. At one point she tried to stop making noise, only to find it terribly frustrating. From then on, she didn't even try to catch her breath.

She also made no effort to hold back as Kevin got closer to coming. When his flailing got so fast she could tell he was set to burst, she said, "Slow down!"

"You close?" He did slow down.

"I think so! Just like that! Please!" She closed her eyes and drank in the sensation and tried not to try too hard, nor to remember how many times she'd read a woman hardly ever came on her first time.

At least she wasn't surprised when Kevin came before she could. "Sorry!" he said, coming to a stop. "I held off as long as I could!"

"Could you still finish me off?" she asked.

Kevin's eyes opened wide. "You don't mean..."

"Don't expect me to believe you've never masturbated, Kevin! You think girls don't do it too?"

"They always say they don't."

"They say," she repeated with an incredulous grin. She kissed him and patted both of his hips as he pulled out. "Here, I'll show you how."

Kevin sat back against the headboard, and Mandy settled herself between his legs and took his right hand in hers. "Just like you were doing before, only a little faster," she said, guiding his fingers to her clit. "Oooh! Yes!" Once she had him rubbing just right, she let go and lay back against him.

It didn't take him long to bring her off. She had just enough time to realize her yelps could probably be heard outside as she came, but in that wonderful moment she didn't care. "Thank you!" she said as he stopped rubbing but left his hand where it was. She patted it affectionately.

"One question, Mandy," he said. "Growing up in your house, with your parents..."

"Made me realize they're full of it," she explained before he could finish. "If God wanted us to be ashamed of sex, He wouldn't have made it feel so good, you know? Getting to know Norman helped, too, seeing that love is never wrong, that they're not perverts like my parents always said."

"I like that." Kevin bear-hugged her, and they snuggled and chatted for over an hour before putting their clothes back on.

Well before graduation was upon them, Mandy was able to come before Kevin. She marked down every encounter in her journal, exulting in every detail she could recall once she got her clothes back on. They had to get ever more creative about just where and when to do it, for it appeared Kevin's mother was getting suspicious. The weekend before the prom, he told Mandy, "My mom even asked if I wanted her to buy me some condoms for Saturday!"

"What did you tell her?"

"I said we weren't doing it. But I don't think she believed me."

Mandy was quite sure her parents were never the wiser, but she would later come to suspect they simply didn't want to know. When Kevin dropped her off just after midnight on prom night, she played along with their obliviousness as she kissed them both goodnight. Her dress looked just as it had been when she'd left with Kevin, after all. They were never to know she hadn't even worn panties under it.

Through the long, hot summer, Mandy and Kevin's education about the facts of life continued. I never imagined we'd be so good at it!, she wrote in her journal in late July. My family's prudishness ends here. I'll miss Kevin after August, but I'll be ready for college boys!

Mandy had not quite left all her parents' traditionalism behind, however. When August arrived and her period didn't, she and Kevin had a lot to learn very quickly about hiding their dread. For two weeks, when Mandy wasn't praying it was a false alarm, she was practicing the speech she'd have to give her parents. Kevin, to his credit, had the good sense to keep his hands to himself through those long days. At least it was easy to pretend their apprehension was over going their separate ways in a few weeks.

There were only eight days left before they were both set to leave for college when Kevin's phone rang, just after his alarm clock had gone off. "Hello?" he said groggily.

"I got it."

"Oh, thank God!"

"I know! Listen, don't take this the wrong way, but I don't think we should do it again."

"Me neither! Definitely."

"Glad to hear it, Kevin. But listen, we've only got a week left, and you know I've always wanted to see Twilight Creek..."

"Really, Mandy? After what we've just been through?"

"Oh, think of it as a final hurrah."

"Are you breaking up with me?"

"Kevin, I love you, but I mean, after what we've both had to think about the past two weeks... well, are you ready to settle down? With anyone?"

"No. You're right. I guess."

"Look, we had a great summer, and I think we kind of helped each other into adulthood, you know? But I don't want to slam the door on my childhood without the one thing I always wanted to do and never did."

"What if Norman's there?"

"That would be uncomfortable, wouldn't it? No, wait, I know he's not there today. He's spending the week with his grandparents, remember?"

"Oh, that's right." Kevin sighed and looked out the window, where the late summer morning looked a lot brighter. He couldn't deny his own curiosity either. "Fine," he said. "But I'm keeping my clothes on, thank you very much."

"Oh, I couldn't go naked if I wanted to today, could I?" Mandy reminded him. "And thank God I can't!"

Mandy wished she could at least wear a swimsuit on the walk; it just didn't feel right to be fully clothed. But tampons were against Mom's rules, so shorts and a t-shirt would have to do right then. Kevin arrived just after eleven o'clock, and with her mother off doing the shopping, the coast was clear to turn right on the path. "I can't even count how many times I've almost done this," she said as they set off hand in hand on the forbidden journey.

"Why didn't you ever go on your own?"

"Scared, I guess. I don't really see why anymore, but I was."

The woods didn't look any different than the ones she and Tara had known so well off in the other direction. Even as they heard the first hints of other people out and about, Mandy's biggest surprise was how utterly ordinary the scene really was. She had always imagined a ridge hiding the creek itself from the view of the trail. As they came to a bend in the trail with sounds of splashing and talking just beyond, she realized she was right. "Wow, I wonder if someone told me about that and I just forgot about it?" she said.

"Forgot about what?" Kevin asked.

"The ridge. It's just like I always imagined."

"Well, of course they'd have picked a secluded space."

There was no need for him to point out that it wasn't too secluded. The path climbed to the top of the ridge and, once they were over the peak, offered a sweeping view of the creek and the celebrants below. Sure enough, there were half a dozen or more people in and around the water. Mostly nude but she spotted one guy in trunks, mostly men but she spotted at least one woman, looking utterly comfortable and happy. Mandy envied her terribly, and for a moment she was almost angry over having never had the chance to come here and enjoy the company and eye candy. She did her best not to gawk at the men, but of course she couldn't resist completely. The view was magnificent, and she knew she'd be remembering it for years to come when she was getting busy with herself.

The path led to within about ten feet of the creek before curving away, around an old maple tree. As they drew close enough that the nudists couldn't pretend they weren't there, Mandy kept her face set in a shy smile. She made eye contact with only one of the men, who was just putting his clothes back on to leave, and did her best not to feel guilty that she was fully clothed. From the look on his face, she had little doubt he was imagining she was bare as well, and she welcomed the speculation.

She did not notice Norman's boyfriend, Chris, who was wading in the creek and had been chatting with a couple of other guys. But he noticed her, and wished he could make eye contact to let her know it was all right.

Having already dodged one bullet, neither of them even suggested they make love again in the week that remained. Mandy cried like a baby as she hugged Kevin goodbye the night before they both left, but her eyes were dry and her head held high when she arrived on campus late the next afternoon. As she shook hands with her roommates and set about unpacking, she was more sure by the minute that she and Kevin wouldn't even make it to Thanksgiving as a couple. But she had no regrets. Having first thrown off her family's puritanism in spirit, now she had also thrown it off in the most literal way she could have done. She had arrived on campus a knowing young woman, not a scared little girl, and she would always be grateful to Kevin for helping her along the way to that point.

"So, do you have a boyfriend?" her roommate Abby asked her at dinner that night.

"Not anymore." Mandy smiled as she said it.

She and Kevin did exchange emails regularly for a few weeks. Each was more sterile and formulaic than the last, and in late September she made the difficult but surprisingly comforting decision to stop responding. Kevin must have agreed with that decision, for he never emailed her again either.

Late September was also when the men's cross country team ran the Naked Mile, on a dirt road that cut between two farms a mile or so out of town. The women's coach always found an excuse for them to be out by the lake on the other side of town that day. While the others were grousing about the show they were missing, Mandy remembered that day at Twilight Creek and asked, "So when do we do the naked mile?"

Jessie, the captain, said, "We don't, Mandy. We're girls, remember?"

"So what?" Mandy retorted. "Don't expect me to believe you don't wonder how it feels!"

"Or that you wouldn't want the guys knowing we did it too!" added Lisa, another freshman.

"There's no rule saying we couldn't do it," admitted Tanya, the other captain, with a meaningful look at Jessie.

"Mandy, what's happened to you?" Jessie asked. "Aren't you the quiet, conservative one?"

"They're the ones who burn the hottest underneath, don't you know that?" asked Sandra, a junior who was just about as quiet and retiring as Mandy was.

A week later, the women's team had their inaugural Naked Mile. "It was such a kick!" Mandy told Abby that night. "I mean, my boobs jiggled more than I'd like, but I just felt like I was on fire the whole time!"

"Wait till the men hear it was your idea," Abby said with a grin.

"Oh, they already have." Ronnie, the smart aleck of the men's team, was already known to one and all for making everyone roar with laughter. At dinner after practice that night, he'd tried out his latest material on Mandy for the first time.

It seemed like all her friends were hooking up with one another in those heady days. But Mandy was in no mood for romance after the hot and heavy summer, and she was also mindful of how hard she'd had to work to convince her parents to send her to college in the first place. When she pulled a 3.6 for her first semester while some of her friends worried about flunking out (and one of them actually did), Mandy concluded she'd had the right idea, and never again felt sorry for herself for being single.

As is so often the case, love found her as soon as she'd made up her mind to stop looking. When spring track season arrived, Ronnie hadn't forgotten who'd convinced the women to run the Naked Mile. Mandy loved his giddy confidence, and he loved the way she looked in her shorts and singlet on the 5k, which she won at one away meet. On the bus back from that victory, he was serious for once as he complimented her on the win. Mandy saw her chance and asked him to dance at the team party that night. If anyone was surprised to see the team goof and the quiet and studious new champ dancing together, they kept it to themselves as there were wilder things going on elsewhere in the room.

"So have you got a boyfriend back home?"

"Nope. You?"

"A boyfriend?" He snickered.

"No! I mean-"

"It's okay, Mandy, you're not the first one to wonder about me like that."

"I didn't, though! My gaydar sucks, for one thing. My best friend in high school was, and..."

"And you had a crush on him?"

"Did I tell you about that before?"

"No, but I've seen it happen plenty of times before. Us straight guys, we can learn a lot from them, really, about how to treat women."

"Like acting like you don't care if we're attracted to you or not?"

"That does seem to be very effective!"

"Is that why you never acted like I caught your eye before we did the Naked Mile?" Mandy grinned, hoping to make him think she might be joking... might.

Three nights later, they made love for the first time. Ronnie was gentlemanly enough not to ask if he was her first, though she wondered if the fact that she came on the first try was clue enough that he was not. She felt no urge to compare him to Kevin, but she did learn what she had suspected all along: not all penises were created equal.

She also learned rumors traveled fast on their little campus. From the moment she stepped out in the hall to go to the bathroom and brush her teeth on their first night together, the secret was out. Remembering the way Tara used to look at the girls with bad reputations in high school, she was never sure if she was imagining people gave her that same look now. But after the initial shock wore off, she was pleased to realize she didn't care.

By the time summer arrived, Mandy was well and truly through with her family's puritanism. Unfortunately, halfway through July she got an email from Ronnie saying he was through with her. She was depressed enough to seek out a reunion with Kevin, who was working at a fast food joint for the summer. "It was a friend of his from high school," she told him over pretzels at the mall one night. "He always had a crush on her, and she finally snapped her fingers at him and that was that."

"Bastard," Kevin said. "He doesn't deserve you."

"Thanks." She gazed into his eyes and felt horribly guilty for having let him go. She had no doubt he'd be willing to sneak off somewhere with her and have a more intimate reunion. But it seemed best to leave the past in the past. And yet... "Say, Kevin?"

"Yes?"

"Do you think we were really in love? Or was it just kid stuff?"

"Yeah, I think we really were. You don't regret it, do you?"

She reached over and gave his hand a gentle squeeze. "Not a bit."

They met a few more times before the summer was over, but both remembered last year's scare and they kept their clothes on. Mandy's heart was on the mend when she returned to school, and she'd made up her mind to try for spending junior year abroad.

With an eye towards becoming a French teacher, Mandy spent junior year in Paris. It took less than a week for her to discover just how much young Frenchmen loved showing off their English skills. She'd been around the block enough times to know just why, and with Ronnie over a year in the rearview mirror, she was more than happy to indulge them.

Guillaume wasn't the best flirt among the lot, but he had a cute boyish demeanor and he didn't smoke or laugh at her French. And he had an appreciative gaze when she curled up in the armchair by the window wearing nothing but a smile. "You should pose for a painting, Mandy," he said from the bed, where he'd kept himself covered up in the sheets.

"I've thought about it," she said.

"Really!"

"I don't think you'd understand, Guillaume. I come from a really conservative family. Being comfortable with my body was kind of a rebellion. And there was this nudist colony near my town..."

"We have got to get you to the beach when it warms up! You would love it, not like the usual American prunes."

"That's prudes." Mindful of how he'd never laughed at her French, she returned the favor and said it as gently as she could. "But you're right, that's just what my parents were." She stood up and stretched, and welcomed his hungry gaze at her. "And yes, I think I'd like the beaches here."

"Let's go in spring, then." Guillaume kicked the sheets down, revealing what Mandy had already guessed: he was more than ready for another round. "For now, bring your cat over here."

"My cat?"

"Your..." He whispered the word as if afraid of it. "... vagina?"

"Oh, you mean my pussy!" Now she did laugh, and more than happily climbed onto him. Already aroused from the show she'd been putting on, she had him inside her in no time.

For the next several minutes, Mandy left no doubt at all that not all Americans were prudes. From the way he looked at her as she grunted out one deliciously filthy response after another, she had to wonder if French women were more artful about such things. But she didn't really care, not as long as Guillaume was so magical with his hands all over her body.

Shortly before Christmas, she discovered why he was so good with his hands. "Do you know," she wrote in a tearful email to Norman, "he actually had the nerve to tell me, well, we never said we were exclusive? I mean, it's true we never did, but... anyway, there's some girl back in his village he's been messing around with since forever and he didn't think I'd mind!"

Norman's reply - "I could've told you, European men think monogamy is only a suggestion" - didn't help, though she reluctantly had to agree with it. A Eurail pass and a sunny train ride through Spain and Portugal set her heart on the path to recovery, and when classes started again in January she was at least able to ignore Guillaume without regret.

She did not forget his suggestion about posing nude for a painting. When the university's art department put out a call for models in February, Mandy was among the first to offer her services. To her surprise, she did find herself feeling a little embarrassed as she took her spot at the head of the class and untied the sash of her bathrobe. But she thought of the woman she'd spotted at Twilight Creek and recalled how she had envied her, and imagined the students feeling the same about her, and her smile was genuine as she dropped her robe and lay back on the waiting couch.

"I really felt beautiful," she told Norman on their one and only transatlantic phone call. "The whole time I was thinking if only my parents knew - and you know, I almost wanted them to?"

"Why?"

"To show them I'm not ashamed of my body the way they seemed to think I ought to be!"

"I like that. And I'm sure you know, I always was impressed with the way you escaped their... um..."

"Bigotry?"

"I wasn't going to say it, but yes. My boyfriend, Jeff - did I tell you about him?"

"No!"

"Oh, yeah, we met skiing in January, and he's not even speaking to his parents because they're like yours. I don't know how you or he were able to work past that, but I'm proud of you both. I wish I could've told you that in high school, but it didn't seem right, you know?"

"I do, yeah. I had things I wanted to ask you back then, too, and never did for the same reason."

"What's that? Don't be afraid now, Mandy, we're all grown up, aren't we?"

"I sure don't feel like it, but I guess so." Even with the ocean between them, she felt oddly shy about finally breaking the taboo. But there was no going back now. "Here goes, Norman... did you ever go to Twilight Creek?"

"You were afraid to ask me that?!" Norman laughed, but he was the only person in the world whom Mandy didn't mind laughing at her. "Yeah, Chris and I went there plenty of times, and we always wished you and Kevin could've joined us, too. But we didn't think you'd want to."

"You were right about Kevin, but I'd have loved to. Maybe... maybe not with you, then I mean. I wouldn't mind going with you now."

"Why would you have minded then?"

"Don't you remember I had a crush on you? How would you like seeing your crush naked and being able to look but not touch?"

"You're right, that would be brutal. But if you're over your crush on me now?"

"I do reserve the right to gaze lustily at you, Norman."

"Understood!"

From that night on, Mandy had no qualms about imagining Norman and herself at Twilight Creek when she masturbated. Through her mercifully brief sojourn back home after she got back from France - during which she finally got the chance to walk by Twilight Creek in a swimsuit, enjoying the view as she did and feeling rather less guilty about it - and her senior year at college and the whirlwind romance with a fellow senior that ended with commencement, she never tired of imagining the platonic yet sizzling experience that could theoretically come to pass one day. The imaginary encounter seemed to grow more erotic every time she envisioned it, as did her bemusement that Norman and Chris had been going to Twilight Creek all the time back in the day.

And to think she could have joined them! But there was no use in pining for that.

Though she wasn't at all sure she wanted to stay in school for another five years, Mandy let an overly supportive professor convince her to apply for a PhD in French literature. As she hadn't yet earned her teaching credentials and had no desire to move back in with her parents, she was more than happy to accept the admission offer that arrived in March of her senior year. Now that she knew it would only be for the summer, spending it back in her hometown didn't seem so intimidating. Indeed, Mandy welcomed the opportunity to show her parents she was her own woman now. And it did offer the chance to catch up with Norman and maybe even Kevin, whom she hadn't heard from in two years.

Kevin, alas, had taken off straight for the West Coast with some friends after graduation. But Norman was also grad-school bound in the fall and also back home for the summer. The first time they met up, at a coffeehouse that hadn't been there when they were in high school, felt almost like a blind date. Norman was there first, and Mandy wasn't at all surprised to find him as attractive as ever in a tight black shirt and even tighter white pants.

He was reading a book and didn't see her until she stepped up behind him and patted his back. "Looking delicious as ever, my friend," she teased.

"You and me both!" Norman gave her a welcome once-over in her multicolored sundress, and leapt up to hug her. "Look at us, huh? All grown up and doing stuff!"

"Or doing stuff, anyway," she said, taking a seat across the table from him.

"You want a coffee or anything?"

"Already ordered one."

"Sorry, I was so wrapped up in this book I didn't notice anything." Norman flipped through the pages of his paperback, which Mandy saw was a gay romance - if only her parents could see that!

"Oh, I'm used to noticing you but not being noticed!" Mandy couldn't resist, and she laughed a bit too hard out of fear he might take her seriously.

Fortunately, he didn't. "Guilty as charged. I'm so sorry about that, Mandy."

"Don't be, it couldn't be helped. Speaking of which, how's Jeff?"

"Jeff?" Norman looked confused. "Oh! My ex."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"You can stop apologizing anytime, Mandy, really. No, it's fine. We wanted different things. How about you, anyone special?"

Mandy nodded her thanks as the barista delivered her drink, and then turned back to Norman. "No. I don't see how anyone can juggle a relationship with senior year. I was flat out all the time."

"Just as well, if you're still up for Twilight Creek!" He whispered the last two words, and Mandy felt a joyous stirring within as he did.

"I was hoping you'd remember that!" She laughed with relief as she said it. "If it's not too weird for you, I mean."

"Weird? Yeah, I've seen that video too, and I'm not like those guys. It'd be fine, as long as you're comfortable with it."

"What video?"

"Oh, maybe you haven't seen it." Norman set his drink down and leaned in to whisper in her ear. "There's a video on Youtube, 'Gay Men See Their First Vagina', and the guys in it act like it's something from another planet, you know? I promise I won't act like that with yours if you let me see it, my friend."

Mandy laughed again. "I haven't seen that." She opted to pass over in silence that he'd have been welcome to see her vagina years ago if he had so desired. "I guess as a woman in a place like that, you're going to get some odd looks..."

"Odd but respectful, I assure you," Norman said. "Anyone who treats anyone else inappropriately isn't welcome back. But yeah, you'll probably get your share of curious looks."

"Sounds wonderful."

"Does it? I wish I'd known about this side of you way back when!"

"It's mostly because of you that I've got this side, Norman, really."

"Now I guess it's my turn to apologize?"

"No! Thank you! I'm so grateful someone got me off the path my parents were sending me down, to thinking it was wrong to have those urges, and that was only the beginning with them!"

"That's sweet, Mandy. Thanks. In any case, if you do still want to go, you know, Nude Day is coming up."

"Nude Day?"

"It's a real thing! The fourteenth of July. It's a Monday this year, so it probably won't be as crowded as usual. Just a bunch of unemployed misfits or academics between terms like us."

"A meadow full of naked nerds..." Mandy grinned. "Sounds like a dream come true."

"We'll just have to think of an excuse for you to give your parents."

"They're off on a church cruise. I've got the house to myself."

"So we can openly turn right on the path!" Norman laughed, and Mandy joined in.

The idea came to Mandy out of nowhere. "We can also get together at my place first, if you want a sneak preview." Left unsaid was that she desperately wanted one of her own, and she suspected Norman understood as much as he smiled and nodded but didn't say anything.

Since she was on her own at home, it did occur to Mandy that she could go to Twilight Creek on her own anytime she liked. But the anticipation of sharing it with her old friend was part of the fun, and she savored it rather than giving in. Though she was no longer in love with Norman, she had no doubt seeing him in his full glory at last would be a moment to remember, and as the fourteenth approached, she gave in to imagining it more and more often. On the morning of the big day, she didn't even put any clothes on, spending the morning in her bathrobe with nothing underneath it.

She was thusly attired when Norman rang the doorbell in late morning. "Well good morning," he said, eyeing her up and down. "Getting an early start on going bare, are we?"

"Well, I am wearing this, aren't I?" She flicked playfully at her robe, almost as if to pull it away.

"Don't you want to wear something on the walk over there?"

"I was planning on wearing this. But now that you mention it, Norman, chances are everyone we see will be on the way to or from Twilight Creek too."

Norman laughed... and then went silent. "I hadn't thought of that, but I guess so," he said. "But they'll have clothes on."

"I've been there with clothes on," she reminded him. "Fair's fair."

Norman looked amazed with his old friend. "You're serious, aren't you?"

Mandy stepped back to give him a fuller view of her, and took the sash of her robe in her hands. "It's probably best that you and I get used to being naked together anyway."

For all the times she'd imagined Norman undressing her back in the day, Mandy had never imagined stripping for him while he was still fully clothed. But to her mild surprise, she enjoyed the thrill of dropping her robe and standing bare before him. That they were in her parents' living room, where normally Mom and Dad would be praying or watching some vanilla show on TV, only added to the delicious tickle within. Mandy did her best to stand still as if she were posing for a painting again, but soon she was shaking with laughter.

Norman joined in on the laughter, and welcomed the view of his old friend's body. "You're beautiful, Mandy," he said. "I'm still gay, but you're beautiful."

"Thank you!"

"Fair's fair." Norman unbuckled his jeans and kicked his shoes off. Mandy was neither surprised nor disappointed that he wasn't hard, and was content to at long last see the first penis she had ever wanted inside her. "Like what you see?" he asked her from behind the cloth of his shirt as he pulled it over his head.

"Love it!" she replied. As soon as he had the shirt off, she helped herself to a hug, which he returned. "How do you feel?" she asked.

"Comfortable. And you?"

"The same!"

As Mandy hung the spare house key around her neck and put on her sandals and nothing else, she reassured him once again that she was fine with him putting his clothes back on for the walk if he wanted. But Norman declined. "I'd feel like a freak walking beside you if I did. Besides, the more I think about your idea, the more I like it."

"Good for you." She took his hand and they stepped out onto the back deck. Mandy was very much aware that a neighbor looking out an upstairs window could easily spot them now, and that word would undoubtedly get back to her parents if they did. But to her delight, she found she didn't even care a little bit. "So liberating," she said.

She didn't realize she'd said it out loud until Norman replied. "You're a step or two ahead of me, then."

Though she had just locked the door, Mandy said, "Sorry, do you want to go back in and put something on after all?"

"Didn't say that," he said with a grin. "If I'm not as comfortable as you yet, that just means I've got some catching up to do, and I plan to."

Once the shock was over, Mandy felt perfectly comfortable strolling across the backyard. She didn't even care when she heard a car drive past in the street - the driver should have their eyes on the road anyway, she thought. It was only as they stepped over the dilapidated fence that marked the end of the yard that she felt any embarrassment. "Strange to feel different just because I'm not on my parents' property anymore," she said to Norman. "But I do."

"I get it. Don't you remember how you and Tara used to think only freaks turned right, and here you are turning right and..."

"And dressed like a freak?"

"Right." They shared a nervous laugh and turned right.

"If only Tara could see us now," Mandy mused out loud. "Not that she ever would have turned right."

"Maybe a visit to the Creek was just what an ice cube like her needed!" Norman chuckled. "I think I'd pay good money to see how she'd have reacted to the sight of all those guys."

Mandy was still laughing at that idea when a couple appeared around the bend just ahead of them. By the time she was fully aware, it was much too late to cover up. All she could do was grin nervously and do her best to act like she would if she weren't naked.

"Well hello," said the woman.

"You guys are brave!" declared the young man. "I admire you!"

"Thank you!" Mandy was surprised at how easy it was to say so, once the shock was past.

"Don't get any ideas," was the last thing they heard the woman say to her boyfriend as they continued around the bend. At that, Mandy and Norman burst into giggles.

"Poor girl doesn't know what she's missing," Norman said.

"Maybe someday she will," Mandy rejoined.

The noise from below the ridge made itself known even before they reached the last bend. Mandy took no offense when Norman let go of her hand; of course he didn't want any cute guys thinking he was straight, after all. As the creek came into view, they made their entrance as discreetly as two already-naked people could hope to, which of course really wasn't very. "How far'd you walk like that?" asked a middle-aged man Mandy didn't recognize.

"From my backyard," Mandy said. "I've never felt so free, either."

"Welcome," said the man, who then turned his attention back to the book he'd been reading. He was hard, and Mandy wondered whether it was for her or Norman. But she didn't dwell on that for long. Instinctively she looked around to see if there were any other women among the fifteen or twenty men. She spotted three others before she remembered her manners and stopped looking too hard.

Mandy and Norman had just enough time to nod hello to the other revelers and take a dip in the creek before they heard a voice from the other bank. "Norman! Mandy!"

Mandy didn't recognize the handsome young man right away, but Norman did. "Chris!" He waded through the water and embraced his ex like the old friend he now was.

As Mandy took her turn hugging him, he said, "You finally decided to participate, huh?"

"Participate?" asked Norman.

"I... saw her here once before, years ago," Chris said. "Right after we graduated. But she kept her clothes on."

He looked a bit nervous as he said it, so Mandy set him at ease with an affectionate squeeze on his arm. "You saw me that day, did you? Sorry I didn't spot you, I'd have said hi."

"That might have been awkward if he was nude and you weren't," Norman quipped.

"That was awkward for me," Mandy recalled. "I wanted so badly to join in."

"Did you?" Chris looked surprised. "I mean, that's great, but I didn't have you pegged as the type."

"I'll have you know I walked all the way here like this," Mandy declared, striking a flirtatious pose with one hand on her hip.

"You're kidding, really?" said the man Chris had been chatting with, who had stepped up to join them in the shallow water.

"Sorry!" Chris exclaimed. "Where are my manners? Mandy, Norman, this is Scott, and it's his first time here too."

"It's a kick, isn't it?" Mandy eyed Scott up and down, hoping he was straight, for his body was gorgeous - slim and toned like a runner. She couldn't resist a glance between his legs, which suggested he was indeed straight, for he was visibly hard.

"Sorry about that," Scott said when he realized where Mandy was looking. "I know we're not supposed to draw attention to..."

"Oh, don't be absurd," Chris said. "I mean, technically you're right, but we all know there's going to be some checking out going on!"

"It's fine," Mandy said with a welcoming smile. "I'm flattered, and if we're going to overshare, the feeling is mutual." She let out a girlish giggle - what would Tara think now?

Scott laughed and looked like he wanted to throw his arms around her. He didn't, yet, but Mandy felt utterly beautiful in his gaze all the same. "So this is your first time?" he asked. "Hard to believe if you're this comfortable."

"Well, it's my first time going nude here, but..."

"I'll have you know our old friend has posed for nude paintings in Paris!" Norman told him

Chris looked surprised, but didn't say anything. Scott chuckled and said, "All right, you've convinced me, she's a real free spirit!"

"I guess I am," Mandy admitted. She suspected Scott didn't believe Norman about Paris, but he didn't ask and she didn't tell.

"Listen," Norman said. "Why don't the two of you get to know one another a little better, while Chris and I catch up?"

"I'd love that," Scott said.

"Me too!" Mandy grinned at Scott and took him by the hand, and they strolled away from the creek and into the tall grass.

"So they used to be..." Scott asked.

"All through high school," Mandy confirmed. "I had a crush on Norman myself before I knew... you know."

"And you were comfortable joining him here? That's impressive."

"Well, it has been several years now. Really it was kind of bittersweet. But I have always wanted to come here and this might be my last chance."

"Why's that?"

"My parents live just over there, on the other side of the woods, and they're really old fashioned. I'm done with living under their thumb - as I guess you can see!" She squealed with laughter. "I guess this is kind of a kiss-off to my oppressed youth, you know?"

"I love it!"

"And I guess you love what you see?" Mandy looked shamelessly at Scott's hardness, and her hands itched to play with it.

"I'm afraid I do."

"Afraid? Scott, stop apologizing! You think I came here to think pure thoughts?"

"Good point." Scott looked at the ground and laughed.

"And I think we can guess what Norman and Chris are up to with their reunion, and more power to them!"

"Well," Scott said with a look over his shoulder. "I happen to know there is a nice patch of moss just over there... but I can't promise we won't be spotted."

"I can take it if you can." Just to prove her point, Mandy helped herself to give his hardness a playful stroke and squeeze, to his delight.

"Ooohh! Mandy, yes. Let's go!"

The promised patch of moss was in the shade of a willow tree, but there was nothing blocking the view from the creek. Indeed, Mandy even saw a few guys splashing around in the water as she took Scott in her arms and he leaned in for a kiss. Just before she closed her eyes, she did see the men were polite enough to avert their eyes. As she felt his lips on hers and his hands stroking her breasts and sides, the very awareness that they knew what she and Scott were up to only made her feel even more wound up.

She welcomed that, nearly as much as she welcomed his two fingers inside her a moment later. "Unhhhh!" she shrieked, grabbing onto Scott's shoulder for balance as she felt herself melt at his gentle touch. As he stroked her gently into a beautiful loss of control, the warm breeze and the sun filtering through the leaves offered a sensation she'd never experienced indoors. Though she was deep in the sensation of her passion, Mandy was still aware that her moans and squeals could be heard by the others. But in the heat of the moment, she didn't care... indeed, she was even vaguely aware of others making noises that could only mean one thing... was that Norman? And Chris?

Mandy hoped so. But her thoughts of anything but Scott's lovely touch in her vagina were fleeting. As the sensation grew more intense, she kissed him hard on the mouth and wriggled up close against him to bring him along for the ride as she came. When she did, the noise was muffled because her mouth was locked on his, but it left no room for doubt with Scott himself.

"Well, that was beautiful," Scott said when she finally pulled back from him and he drew his fingers out.

"Was?" Mandy said in a mock-stern tone. Pointing down at the moss, she ordered, "Get on your back!"

The moss was utterly velvety beneath her knees, as soft as any mattress. The breeze was soft. The sunlight filtering through the leaves of the willow was soft. Scott was hard, and she was more than ready as she guided him inside her. "Ohhhhhhh," she sighed, closing her eyes to savor the sensation.

"Never thought I'd be feeling this in broad daylight!" Scott said.

"Always thought one day I would!" Mandy grunted as she set into humping him, fast and hard. Scott was left to wonder just what she meant by that, for there were no more coherent words from her for the moment. Only the most joyful of moans as she rode him, and welcomed his playful hands on her breasts as they swayed about to the rhythm. Her responses rang loud and clear and mingled with those of others in other corners of the woods, and she felt no shame.

Scott enjoyed every bit of the ride, mostly with his eyes open. He was only a bit surprised when she opened hers and ordered, "Come with me!"

"I..." The words, "can't come on the bottom" died in his throat, as Mandy seemed to have anticipated them and set into bobbing up and down on him, as fast as she dared. Scott felt his last bit of reservation - and control - slipping away, and he opened his mouth wide and came with a yelp. It was beautiful, but Mandy had no chance to say so as she was lost in the throes of her own orgasm at that moment. She closed her eyes again and saw every color of the rainbow flash before her. If the view was fleeting, the feeling was still very much there as she opened her eyes and gazed down at him, still clamping him tightly within.

"That was amazing!" Scott tickled her hips a bit and then rubbed them, still looking her up and down.

"Can't believe I was ever afraid to come here," Mandy said. "But I'm sure glad I did today!"

"Will I see you again?"

"Not here, Scott. But I'm in town for the summer if you'd like to get together elsewhere."

"Yes please! But why not here?"

Mandy wiggled her legs playfully and gave his chest a fleeting rub. "Because I came here to let go of my last lingering bit of the repression I grew up with. And with your help, it's gone!"