Free Kiss Me Hard Before You Go by Shannon McCrimmon

to put his underwear on the right way if he didn’t write the words front and back on them,” Doris said with a laugh. “Hey, Honey Lamb, you think you could give us a lift?” she asked Evie.
    “Sure. No problem,” Evie said.
    “We can catch a ride with someone else,” Finch argued.
    “You’re being a fool,” Doris said to him.
    Doris, Mouse, and Friedrich headed to the back of the truck and pulled the truck bed door down.
    “What are you doing?” Finch said.
    “You can ride in the front with Evie,” Doris said with a mischievous grin. “You spend so much time staring at her, you might as well sit up-close so you can get a better look.”
    “Forget it,” he replied emphatically.
    She waved her finger at him like a pendulum. “You’re just being silly,” she said.
    “I’ll sit back here, and one of you can ride up front with her,” he said. Even he could hear the childishness in his statement. Last time he thought a girl had the “cooties” he was seven years old. She was Julie Howell, and she’d chase him all over the carnival. When she’d finally catch up to him, she’d kiss him and tell him he was beautiful. Finch would wipe his lips and moan how gross it was that she kissed him, but within a year, Julie and her family made another carnival their home, and he missed her attention. He missed her giggle as she ran to catch him. He would slow down for her this time, just so he could hear her tell him he was beautiful. In her eyes, he was something more, something even better.
    “There’s no room,” Friedrich said and straightened his legs out. Doris stretched out her arms, taking up even more room. “See,” he said. “No more room.”
    Finch threw his hands up in the air and stormed off to the passenger door. He stood there for a minute, watching Evie chew on her fingernails and staring into space. He opened the door and sat down. His legs straddled the battery.
    She looked at him and rolled her eyes. “You couldn’t ride in the back?” She started up the truck and began driving down Main Street.
    “Nope,” he said. He scanned the inside of the truck. The green dashboard was cracked, and the seats were stained with dirt, grease, and years of farming.
    “You don’t believe in rear view mirrors up here?” he said, noticing the empty space where a mirror should have been.
    “It fell off, and anyways, I’ve managed to drive without it this long.”
    “Doesn’t mean it’s safe. Last time I checked, you actually need to see what’s in back of you when you drive,” he said.
    “I’m a good driver.”
    “I’m sure you are,” he said, mocking her. He touched the oscillating fan. “I’ve never seen a fan in a truck before.” He turned on the switch, and the fan rotated from one side of the truck to the other, moving air in whichever direction it was pointed. “Kind of a waste, don’t you think?”
    “How’s that?” she asked in a miffed tone.
    “It’s just blowing hot air. Is this what you farmers call air conditioning?”
    “No, it’s not what we call air conditioning,” she corrected him. “My dad installed it to help cool off the truck during the summer.”
    “Still kind of a waste,” he said. He placed his hand in front of it. “It’s hot air.”
    “You would know since that seems to be the only thing coming from your mouth.”
    He smiled and chuckled.
    She didn’t understand why she couldn’t make him angry. He’d just look at her, and she wanted to kick him. She knew the perfect place for her foot to land, too.
    She let out a long-winded sigh and focused everything she had in her on the road ahead. Finch rolled his window down and let the wind run through his hair. A hint of Pert Shampoo filled the car, and Evie had to acknowledge that for a guy who spent his nights in tents and lived in the elements, Finch had a pleasant scent about him.
    He leaned forward and fiddled with the volume to the radio. Music filled the truck.
    “Don’t mess with that,” she