When Sara went to work after the road trip, she made sure to take her pack of
Virginia Slims with her. It had only been four days since she had smoked her
first cigarette, but she already had decided to smoke… at least until the
summer was over. She would have to be careful not to smoke around Claire
until Claire left for the Bahamas trip with her parents in another month.
Sometime in August, she would worry about quitting; maybe even convincing her
mother to quit as well. Until then, she would enjoy her new habit.
It had been a slow day at work, she was going home early. She was outside on
her third cigarette break when she was told she had a visitor. Sara figured
it was her mother stopping by to say hello, so she double pumped her Virginia
Slim, crushed out the cigarette, and quickly made her way inside as she
exhaled. As she rounded the corner still exhaling smoke, she saw the visitor
wasn’t her mother, it was Claire.
Sara’s heart skipped a beat. Had Claire seen her exhale the smoke? It was
hard to tell, but Claire seemed worried about something else…
“Hey, where have you been?” Claire asked with concern. “I tried calling you
and stopped by, but you and your mom weren’t home. I was really worried about
you.”
Sara was very conscious that her clothes probably reeked of smoke. It was one
thing for Claire’s clothes to smell like smoke since her parents both smoked
but it was another for Sara’s to smell. Sara hadn’t told Claire that her
mother smoked, much less that she had started. Surely Claire smelled the
smoke on Sara, but she didn’t say anything about it.
“Oh, me and my mom went on a three day road trip,” said Sara, “I’ll tell you
about it later.”
“When do you get a break?” asked Claire, “I’ll buy you lunch.”
“Actually,” said Sara, “I’m not taking a thirty today, but I’m getting off
early – in another two hour or so.”
“Why don’t I pick you up and we’ll have dinner together? It’s been a while
since we talked. We have a lot to talk about.”
Claire would surely talk about Sara’s smoking once she picked her up, Sara
thought, but then wondered if she was being paranoid. Maybe she hadn’t
noticed the exhaled smoke or the smell of smoke on Sara’s clothes…
A couple hours later, Claire picked up Sara and suggested they go to the
Greasy Spoon Diner down the road from the mall. Sara thought that was an odd
choice since it was small and decidedly blue collar. It didn’t even have a
non-smoking section, but the food was decent enough.
“So, what’s been going on in your life?” asked Claire after they had ordered
their food.
“Not much. Just the usual things; you know me and my Mom are still trying to
deal with the stuff with my Dad and all. How you been, Claire?” asked Sara,
hoping her friend wouldn’t mention the smoking.
“A lot going on in my life,” said Claire, who seemed a little nervous and
excited at the same time, “I have a new boyfriend. You’ll never guess who
I’m going out with.”
Sara made a few guesses, mentioning mostly guys from church who Claire had
expressed interest in who they bothknew . Finally, she gave up.
“You remember that guy who had a major crush on me when we were sophomores?
We went out on our first date last week, and we really hit it off.”
“James?” asked Sara, surprised at her friend’s choice of guys, “Wow that is a
surprise.”
“You don’t like James?”.
“Well,” said Sara, “I think he’s cute and all, but you know he’s kind of not
what I expected you’d go out with. I mean, he smokes cigarettes…”
Sara paused, realizing she had mentioned his smoking with contempt as if her
old anti-smoking self was emerging. Claire chuckled for a second before she
finally spoke up.
“You say that as if I didn’t catch you exhaling smoke a couple hours ago.”
Sara paused for a moment, trying to think of the right thing to say. It was
finally out in the open…
“You know what, Claire,” said Sara raising her voice a little, “I have
started smoking, but I’m having a lot of stress in my life. I don’t plan on
smoking forever, but it helps me cope with things right now.”
“Sara, I understand,” said Claire calmly.
Sara gauged her friend’s reaction and was convinced that Claire wasn’t making
a big deal of it.
After a few seconds, Claire asked Sara, “So what brand do you smoke?”
Sara thought it was a strange question coming from Claire, but Claire’s
parents had been smokers for a long time and she figured Claire would know
more about cigarette brands than Sara.
“Virginia Slims Light 120’s,” said Sara, pulling out her pack to show her
friend. “They’re not too strong, I guess. Don’t really know `cause I’ve
never really smoked any other brand.”
Claire pulled one out and sniffed it before she put it between her index and
middle finger as if she was holding a lit cigarette.
“It’s really long,” commented Claire as she continued posing with it, “mind
if I try one?”
Sara was surprised as she retrieved her lighter. She watched her friend
prepare to light up and figured it must be her first cigarette. Sara expected
her to cough just like she had when she had lit up for the first time. But
Claire lit up before double pumping and slowly exhaling a long stream of
smoke.
“You’ve done that before,” said Sara, surprised that her friend seemed to be
a more accomplished smoker than her. Claire took another drag without
replying. Instead, she reached into her purse and pulled out her pack of
Newport 100’s.
“Want to try one of mine?” asked Claire, “they’re a lot stronger, though.”
“Sure,” said Sara, surprised at this recent turn of events. She reached into
Claire’s pack of cigarettes and took one out. She dangled for a few seconds
as she tasted the unlit menthol cigarette before lighting up.
“Oooh,” said Sara, “this tastes different.”
“I like my Newport’s,” said Claire, “Occasionally, I smoke one of James’
Marlboros, but it just doesn’t seem right.”
“They are very strong,” commented Sara, “I don’t know if I could get used to
them.”
The girls talked and chain smoked for a few hours in the smoky diner before
leaving.
“What are we going to tell the girls?” asked Sara, lighting one of Claire’s
Newport’s as they went home. Claire had already said she had told her
parents. Sara’s mother, of course, already knew about her smoking. It was
the bible study girls they both worried about.
“We’re not going to tell them,” said Claire, “they wouldn’t understand
because they’ve never tried it.”
***
Tonya sat in the living room talking to her cousin Alicia about Dave, the guy
she had met a week earlier. Tonya had seen him a few more times and knew she
was falling in love with him.
“Dave likes you a lot, but he doesn’t think it would work out between the two
of you. I mean you live so far away and all,” said Alicia, smoking one of her
Marlboro 100’s.
“Well, I know that, but the college I plan on going to is only an hour away
from here. I’ll have a car by then and we’ll be able to see each other.”
“Perhaps,” said Alicia, “But really he thinks you’re too goody-two-shoes for
him. I mean, the whole church thing and the way you dress is kind of a turn
off for him.”
Tonya was devastated by the plain truth from her cousin. She got an idea
though. Her cousin may only be fourteen, but she had a good sense of fashion.
“Wanna give me a make-over?” asked Tonya.
Alicia got really excited and told Tonya she would turn her into the hottest
girl Dave had ever seen… A couple hours later Alicia proudly took her
cousin to the mirror and showed her the new Tonya. Tonya had to admit that
Alicia had done a great job. The makeup, the hair, the clothing – everything
about Tonya screamed sexy.
“There’s only one thing missing,” said Alicia.
“What’s that?” asked Tonya.
“You ever seen the movie Grease?”
“A long time ago.”
Alicia told her about the transformation of Sandra Dee at the end of the
movie which was punctuated by one thing – the cigarette. At first Tonya
hesitated, but she knew Alicia was right. If she really wanted to impress
Dave with the new Tonya, she couldn’t go halfway. Tonya and Alicia decided
to go to the bowling alley the next night and Tonya would show Dave just how
much she had changed in twenty-four hours…
***
Kayla set the cigarette in the ashtray in the bathroom as she put on her
makeup. She was preparing for her first college party. She was excited about
the prospects of meeting men, not boys, at this party.
Over the past couple of weeks, Kayla’s smoking had increased to the point
that she was averaging around 5-10 cigarettes per day. Still, she seemed to
think she was in control of the situation.
Kayla grabbed her pack of Marlboro Light 100’s and headed for Kendra’s car.
Kayla smoked nervously on the way to the party. Tonight there would be a
number of firsts in her life. It would be the first time she would smoke in
public. She also planned on drinking alcohol for the first time in her life.
Little did she know there would be another first tonight…
Kayla was nervous about her smoking; did she look like someone who just
started smoking? Her sister Kendra assured her that she didn’t look like a
newbie.
“I taught you how to smoke, so you look like a pro,” said Kendra with pride.
The girls got to the party and Kayla quickly lit up. Kendra said that she was
probably going to get hammered that night so either they would have to spend
the night at the frat house or Kayla would have to drive home.
“That is, if you’re not drunk,” laughed Kendra.
“Oh,” said Kayla, “I only plan on having a few sips. I’m not going to get
drunk.”
Kayla hit it off with a frat brother named Brad whose fraternity nickname was
“Otter”, an allusion to the movie Animal House. Kayla may have been naïve
enough to believe that Brad was interested in her as a person, but everyone
else there knew otherwise. At first, Kendra tried to protect her sister.
“Be careful Kayla,” warned Kendra, “Brad only wants to get in your pants.”
“I think you’re wrong,” said Kayla, “He seems like a really nice guy.” After
an hour or so, Kendra was too drunk to help protect Kayla.
“So, what are you drinking?” asked Brad.
“I don’t really drink that much,” said Kayla, taking a drag off of her
Marlboro Light, “Give me something which isn’t that strong.”
“Everclear and cranberry juice okay?” asked Brad with a sly smile.
“Sure,” said Kayla, double pumping her Marlboro.
“I’ll be right back,” said Brad…
Claire woke up in the middle of the night and decided to light up a Newport.
It was hard to believe that only a few hours before she had been a virgin.
She leaned over and kissed her boyfriend James, who was sleeping. She got out
of bed and sat at the table as she thought about her life and how much it had
changed over the course of the summer.
Did she regret the changes she had made in her life? She took another hit off
of the Newport and savored the smoke in her mouth as she thought about that
question. She decided she didn’t regret what had happened. She was happy
about her relationship with James. She wondered about what would happen after
this summer which had been magical so far.
Her best friend Sara had made some changes in her life as well. She had
confided in Claire the other day that she was dating her twenty-two year-old
boss. Claire knew Sara hadn’t had sex with him yet, but she knew that day
would be coming real soon. What would happen to their bible study friends? It
was likely that the other three girls would cut them off. They had all been
friends since elementary school and it was a shame that the other girls would
cast their friendship aside just because Claire and Sara had changed their
lifestyle.
Claire lit up another cigarette as she got back in bed. She tried to think
about what she would do if she were in the other girls’ shoes. What if Tonya
and Kayla had been the ones who had gone astray? Would Claire and Sara end
their friendship? She thought about that for a few minutes and tried to think
like the Claire of a few weeks back. She hoped she would have accepted them
the way they were regardless of the smoking and sex.
***
Tonya cradled the pack of Marlboro 100’s in her hand as she entered the
bowling alley. Sure, she could have put the pack in her purse, but holding
them in her hand made a statement. She was a smoker now. It was the final
thing which would convince Dave that she was the girl for him.
She spotted Dave hanging out with some of his friends and they whistled at
her. Tonya knew she was by far the hottest girl in the bowling alley. Dave
looked at the girl he had dismissed as a dork only yesterday. The girl he saw
before him tonight, though, was the hottest girl he’d ever seen in his life.
She sat down next to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He looked down at
the pack of cigarettes in her hand. Surely this couldn’t be the same girl who
his sister and her friends had made fun of since she got to town, preaching
about God.
“Gotta light?” asked Tonya.
Dave fumbled out his lighter as Tonya put the Marlboro 100 in her mouth and
dangled while Dave nervously lit her cigarette. She blew out the smoke and
quickly took another drag, French inhaling as Dave got a hard-on. It wasn’t
very long before Dave and Tonya were making out. They left the bowling alley
a couple hours later and Tonya invited Dave over for a sleepover. Tonya
didn’t have sex with him that night, although she did give him a smoky
blowjob. It would be another week before she would finally put out…
***
Kayla sat crying and chain smoking as she thought about the previous night.
She had gotten so drunk and ended up having sex with Brad. It was the night
she had lost her virginity, yet she barely remembered it. It was a far cry
from how she had always wanted to be deflowered – on her wedding night. She
knew she could never undo what happened.
Kendra tried to console her, but nothing could really help ease the pain.
After a couple of days, Kayla decided what she needed was to find a guy for
the rest of the summer who would make her forget about that jerk Brad. She
found a guy, Jerry, who became her boyfriend of sorts; although they both
knew it would end once the summer was over.
Kayla decided to dispense with the notion of being just a casual, social
smoker. By the end of the summer, she had a pack and a half a day habit. She
knew it would be rough quitting once she got back to school.
A week before school started she flew back home. At first she avoided all her
friends because she was simply smoking way too much. Eventually she saw Tonya
and talked about her summer. To her surprise, she found out that Tonya had
started smoking as well. They met in the smoking section of a restaurant in
the next town over so no one they knew would see them.
“What are going to do about the girls?” asked Kayla, smoking her Marlboro
Light 100.
“I don’t know,” said Tonya, grabbing her pack of Marlboro 100’s.
“Maybe we can live sort of a double life.”
“Maybe,” said Tonya, “I mean if it was Claire and Sara who had been us this
summer, don’t you think we would be in shock?”
“Yeah,” said Kayla, trying to sound like she was doing the other girls a
favor. “You know it would be terrible if they found out. We could even be a
bad influence on them.”
“Hey,” said Tonya, “Let’s go see a movie.”
Sara sat in the restaurant with her mother, chain smoking Virginia Slims as
they talked about the events of the summer.
“So, you going to quit smoking now that the summer is almost over?” asked her
mother.
“Only if you quit,” said Sara, laughing. That had been sort of part of the
plan to begin with, but it seemed so much different now.
“Do you want me to quit?”
“No,” said Sara, taking a drag off the Virginia Slim, “I hope you don’t
quit.”
“I can’t believe you and Claire have totally changed this summer. I mean,
Claire took her boyfriend to the Bahamas with her and you’re messing around
with your boss.”
“Well,” said Sara, “I really don’t have any regrets.”
“How about your other friends?”
“I don’t know,” replied Sara, “I don’t know if they will still want to be my
friends.”
“Have you talked to them?”
“I’ve talked to Tonya and Kayla a few times on the phone this summer. They
started with the religious shit so I played along and pretended I was still
into it all.”
“What about Rachel?”
“I don’t know. She went on some religious mission to Guatemala. I’m almost
afraid to see what her reaction is going to be. I’ve gone to her father’s
church since I was in elementary school.”
“Perhaps you and Claire should come clean.”
“Perhaps,” said Sara, trying to change the subject, “What movie are we going
to see tonight?”
***
Sara sat in the theatre with her mother and prayed the movie would end soon.
It was the kind of movie with a complex plot that older adults would
appreciate, but which the average teenaged girl found boring. Sara wanted a
cigarette, but more than that; she needed one. This movie is longer than the
Godfather, thought Sara, as she whispered to her mother that she was going
outside for a smoke.
“Hurry up,” said her mother, “The good part is coming up.”
“Sure,” said Sara, who had lost interest in this epic film an hour earlier.
Sara went into the foyer of the movie theatre and opened her purse as she
made her way to the exit. She spotted a girl who seemed familiar and looked
again. It was Tonya.
“Oh my God,” said Sara, looking at her friend who had recently been made
over. Sara always thought Tonya was somewhat of a dork, but this was a much
sexier Tonya.
Sara didn’t take the initiative to give her friend a hug because she was
conscious of the smell of smoke on her clothes. Strangely, Tonya didn’t
really make a move to give her a hug either. Normally, the girls would have
given each other a hug after not seeing each other for a few days. They
hadn’t seen each other in almost three months; yet they both seemed very
standoffish towards each other. Perhaps Tonya had already heard that Sara had
changed that summer.
“Just went outside to get some fresh air,” said Tonya.
“Me too,” said Sara and then feeling the need to clarify added, “It can smell
so popcorny in the movie theatre.”
“Yeah.”
The girls stood there awkwardly for a moment.
“Hey, Tonya,” said a voice behind them, “I left my cigarettes in my car. Can
I get one of yours?”
Sara turned around and saw it was Kayla.
“Oh shit,” mouthed Kayla without actually saying the words out loud.
The three girls looked at each other and Sara wasn’t sure how to react now
that Kayla and Tonya appeared to be smokers. Finally she opened her purse,
looked inside, and said, “Well, if you’re going to let Kayla have one, you
might as well let me bum one off you `cause I left mine in the car.”
Tonya slowly opened her purse and pulled out her pack of Marlboro 100’s. She
extended the pack to Sara and then to Kayla before retrieving one for
herself. She got her lighter out to light everyone up, but saw that Sara and
Kayla already had lighters in their purses, so she just lit herself up.The
girls stood smoking in silence for a bit before they all busted out laughing.
“Claire know you smoke?” asked Kayla.
“Oh my God,” said Sara, “Claire smokes a lot more than me. She’s like a
fuckin’ chimney.”
“Did you just say `fucking’?” asked Kayla, “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you
say `fuck’ before.”
“Don’t think I’ve ever heard any of us say `fuck’ before,” said Tonya.
“Yeah, it’s fuckin’ weird,” said Kayla as everyone laughed.
“Well,” said Sara as she took a drag off the Marlboro 100, “Since we’re all
saying the word `fuck’, I should let you both know I am fucking my boss.”
Tonya and Kayla looked at each other.
“We’ve both lost our virginity this summer,” confided Tonya.
“Wow,” said Sara, shocked that her friends Tonya and Kayla seem to have
matched Claire and her in the “bad girl” department.
“Claire?” asked Tonya curiously.
Sara double pumped the Marlboro 100 and said, “Well, she’s got a new
boyfriend. You remember that guy James who had a major crush on her our
sophomore year? Claire is probably riding his pony as we speak.”
Tonya and Kayla laughed at their friend’s colorful speech.
“Has anyone talked to Rachel this summer?” asked Kayla.
Sara took a last drag off her Marlboro before replying as she exhaled, “No,
she went on that mission to Guatemala or some shit like that. Can’t get in
touch with her.”
“We’re all supposed to have Bible study in two days,” reminded Tonya. They
had all agreed when to resume their Bible studies when they had gone their
separate ways at the beginning of the summer.
“Yeah, I know,” said Sara, “we should meet before then and talk about things.
I’ll tell Claire.”
“Let’s meet in our usual place tomorrow night,” said Kayla, “without Rachel,
of course.”
The girls finished their cigarettes and gave each other hugs before going
inside to finish watching the movie.