The timeshare was just half a mile away from the ocean. They could smell the
cool salt air and hear the endless drone of seagulls. It was still early,
just after three, and they decided to head out to beach.
There were a few cold beers left in the cooler and more in the fridge. Each
of them loaded three of the Molsons into their bags, grabbed towels, and
headed out.
Cellia noticed that Sabrina had put her Marlboro gear back on over her
bikini. Sensible, considering that she had the same sort of skin as most
redheads, which freckled and burned without tanning. But she could have worn
her own clothing instead of the smoker’s gear. Seeing that made Cellia glad
that she’d slipped a full but open box of cigarettes and her extra lighter in
Sabrina’s bag.
The section of beach they found themselves on was private, so Cellia had to
show the card her parents had given her. The old man sitting under the
umbrella checking beach permits looked at their deep bags and smiled as he\
heard a tell-tale clink. “You ladies keep a low profile on those bottles of
beer, you heah ?”
They nodded and proceeded to find a good place to spread out. Cellia and
Ophelia then head for the water, leaving the fully clothed Sabrina behind. It
was hot enough to want a beer right away, and as she pulled one out she saw
the pack of cigarettes and the lighter. She propped the bag up so that she
could stare at them.
As she twisted the cap off the bottle the sleeve of the shirt passed by her
nose. After being in the car for four hours- the trip had been five and an
half total, without stops- with two smokers and lighting numerous cigarettes
for Cellia, the shirt itself had picked up that smoky smell. It was not
unpleasant.
She lifted the fabric to her nose and drank in the sweet smell.
Soon, Ophelia and Cellia were lost from sight, swimming out into the ocean
to a point where the rolling waves made them invisible. Sabrina knew that she
could smoke a cigarette right now and neither of the would ever have to know.
If she didn’t like it she could bury the pack in the sand and when Cellia
asked about then, she could always say that they’d fallen out somewhere along
the way.
She had two advantages now. One, her family and her friends were all
smokers, so knowing how was not a problem. Two, she’d had enough practise
lighting Cellia’s cigarettes that she was sure she could do it easily.
Watching Ophelia smoke might just have been what was driving Sabrina over
the edge now. The librarian could have easily been mistaken for a senior. Her
looks were so smooth and graceful. When she smiled, which was basically
always, she revealed perfect white teeth. And Sabrina would have killed for
her long, flowing blonde hair. Where the wind tore her red locks into ragged
tatters, Ophelia’s hair seemed to drink the very breeze, flowing rather than
snagging.
When she brought a cigarette to her lips, it was a sensual event. Time
seemed to cease its flow as she pulled on the cigarette. She would pause in
mid-sentence, finish the inhale, and wait to speak until she was ready to
exhale, holding the smoke in her expanded lungs. Syllables expanded inside a
haze of sweet smoke and her voice took on an ethereal cast.
Sabrina imagined she’d turned more than a few heads at Oxford.
She took the pack of cigarettes and the lighter from her bag and lay them on
the sand so that she could stare at them. She studied the smooth lines of the
box. Reached out with her hand and felt the way the pack of was tight, still
full. They could all be hers, and all she had to do was talk down her ego,
which didn’t want to give in so easily to her friend.
Part of her thought that this moment should be shared with Cellia, but for
the most part she was determined to try this on her own. On the off chance
she didn’t like it, it would remain her secret that she’d given in to her
long-standing desire.
Of course, there were the pictures, some of which she’d posed for quite
gladly. Sarah would never believe that she hadn’t smoked the unlit cigarette
and Cellia was unlikely to tell the truth, given the chance to amuse herself
at her friend’s expense.
As she thought about cracking back the cover of the box, Sabrina was not the
least bit surprised to find herself becoming spectacularly aroused. Her
nipples grew hard and pressed tight against the bikini. She rolled onto her
elbow and saw the erect point jutting through the white fabric of the shirt.
Her free hand drifted up idly to the left nipple and stroked it casually
until it became painfully hard.
Finally, she was ready.
The other two women were far out of sight and earshot. There would never be
a better time. Sabrina took one final swig from the now-empty beer bottle,
wondering where it had gone, and pulled a single cigarette from the pack with
ease.
She brought the cigarette to her lips, held it there, and removed her
sunglasses. She put them in the sand with the lenses facing her so that she
could watch herself take this final step.
A faint moistness stained the lining of her bikini as she brought the flame
of the lighter to her first cigarette- really hers this time- and as she lit
it she experienced the first waking orgasm of her life.
It was pleasant, seeing the long white cigarette in her left hand between
first and second finger. She inhaled as the orgasm reached a driving
crescendo, really inhaled, pulling smoke into her lungs until she was faint
from the combination of effects. She knew that she would never forget this
moment.
The myth she’d expected to be true, that her first inhale would make her
cough and be sick as it had done to Sarah, died quickly. There was just an
added euphoria, washing away the final tendril of sexual excitement and
beginning it anew immediately. As she inhaled a second time, watching the way
her lips mated with the filter, she understood that she would orgasm again
and no one but her would ever know the pure ecstacy of this moment.
She exhaled a dense cloud of smoke which hung over her in the still, damp
air. Craning her neck, she was able to sample that smoke a second time with
her eager mouth. It was different somehow, sweeter, tingled with salt air and
beach smell, coconut sunscreen and the after taste of beer.
The second orgasm came, slower and less intense, encouraged by the sight of
inhale after inhale on the shrinking cigarette. She looked cool, she felt
cool, and yet-
It wouldn’t always be this special, but she would always remember it this
way. She was burning up at the same time that she felt a new inner peace. The
ridiculous behaviour she’d grown into the last three months faded away as
well, as she knew that as soon as Cellia made her way back here she would
treat her friend to a gigantic hug because she had her to thank for this.
By the time the two women made there way up the beach, Sabrina was smoking
her fourth cigarette and wondering how she could get more. She’d left the
other three sticking out of the sand so that Cellia would be able to see
instantly that this was no one-time event.
The smile on her friend’s face washed away all the bad feelings which had
grown between them. Just as she’d promised herself, as soon as Cellia made it
up the beach and toweled off, she gave her friend the tightest hug she’d ever
given another woman.
“You must be cold,” Cellia said, “because you nips are as hard as rocks.”
The two girls laughed and Ophelia smiled.
“I’m sorry, Cellia.”
“For what ? Taking longer than I did to realise what we were missing all
those years we thought chocolate was the best thing in the world ?”
Ophelia laughed at that.
They didn’t leave until the beer was gone.
Cellia was standing in the doorway to the living room, watching Sabrina and
Ophelia laughing and some joke which Ophelia had told. It was impossible to
imagine that the same serious scholar who’d helped them with their AP Social
Studies papers when the school library proved inadequate was the capering
jokester they’d gotten to know in the ride out to the cape. She had a flair
for Seinfeldish observation humour which had kept them laughing for
forty-five minutes straight at one point.
Cellia walked into the room and Ophelia brandished an empty bottle of beer.
“We’d better head out for dinner before we’re all too drunk to drive.”
All Cellia could do was laugh. “First of all, even I’m too drunk to drive-”
“But I looked in the fridge-it’s empty-”
“Second, you’ve obviously never been to the Cape. They’re ten restaurants in
walking distance and I know which one doesn’t charge tourist’s prices, unless
you have an aversion to cheap seafood- You two can still walk, can’t you ?”
Sabrina wavered slightly, feigning drunken imbalance. Then she turned
serious, touching Cellia’s arm. “Is there any chance that I can talk you into
letting me borrow that cool leather jacket of your mom’s ? Just for tonight
?”
Cellia considered, then nodded. “Well, you did finally see the light, so I
suppose. But just tonight. After that- well, as Mom says- you’ll just have to
smoke enough cigarettes to get your own.”
“One other thing. Can I make a long distance call ?”
“I suppose,” Cellia said, pretending to be put off. Ophelia tossed Sabrina
the portable phone from the coffee table and the newest smoker among them
dialed home.
“Hi, Sarah. Put Mom on the other phone-”
“No, nothing’s wrong. I just want both of you to hear this-”
There was a long pause.
“Mom, Sarah. I’ve started smoking.”
Cellia swore she could hear the celebration in the background.
When Sabrina got off the phone, she was smiling. “Mom said to put dinner on
her credit card.”
The hostess was standing outside Scully’s Seafood Emporium, smoking a
Marlboro Medium 100. She smiled at the three women, all of whom had lit
cigarettes in their hands. “The smoking section is full, I’m afraid. If you’d
like, I can put you out on the terrace. As long as no one complains, you can
smoke out there.”
Since dinner was on her credit card, the other two waited for Sabrina to
okay this arrangement. As she walked by the hostess, the woman leaned over
and said “I love that jacket.”
The terrace turned out to be good choice at first. It had seemed to get
hotter as the day went on and even with the sun starting to wane on the
horizon, it was in the nineties, but none of them noticed, especially after
their waitress brought them a bottle of wine which Ophelia chose and three
glasses. She’d didn’t even pretend to care of the girls were old enough. The
view of the ocean and the clean salt air more than made up for the heat.
They were smoking their post-appetizer cigarettes when a family of three
walked in and sat down at the table next to them.
Sabrina looked over and right away she knew that the girl, who was probably
sixteen, was a smoker. It was something she’d felt she’d grown
preternaturally aware of during her three months as an anti, and it hadn’t
left her as all those silly childish ideas about being a non-smoker had. Come
to think of it, the parents were both smokers as well, but the three of them
looked tense and ill at ease.
Two or three furtive glances by the girl told Sabrina what she needed to
know, and she was not the least bit surprised when the father stood up and wal
ked over to their table, an anguished look on his face.
“Would you mind terribly putting those out ?” he asked, his voice a gentle
southern drawl but backed by an hardness of purpose.
The other two women were surprised when Sabrina spoke up. “Why ? All three
of you smoke.” Cellia and Ophelia looked at Sabrina, wondering how she knew.
Anger flashed across his face. “My daughter does not smoke. That’s the whole
point.” He lowered his voice and took a softer tone. “She’s been trying to
quit for three months now. I really would appreciate some co-operation.”
“Why ?” Sabrina pressed. “The three of you look miserable. Aren’t you on
vacation ?”
Now the other two looked just plain shocked.
“Yes. What’s you’re point, Marlboro Girl ?”
“You like the jacket ?” Sabrina said off-handedly.
“Yes, actually- look, am I asking too much ?” There was real hesitancy in
his voice now, as though he was no longer sure of what he was doing.
“Of yourself, I don’t know. But your wife and daughter both look miserable.
How old were you when you started smoking ?”
“I was 14- what’s that got to do with it ?”
“Your daughter is sixteen. Why isn’t that old enough ?”
“Because I said-”
“That’s not a very good reason,” Ophelia offered, each word carried on a
luscious plume of smoke. “I bet you smoke a pipe, don’t you ? You remind me
of a don I knew at Oxford-”
“Oxford ? That’s where I-”
“You’re not acting like it,” Ophelia said. “Where’s the open-mindedness of a
liberal education in all this ?” Suddenly she was the serious librarian
again.
The man was clearly wavering.
“Live a little,” Cellia said. “That’s what vacations are for.”
“You’re right,” he said, taking his pipe from his pocket. His wife looked at
him, astonished, and then wasted no time lighting a Virginia Slims. She
offered one to the daughter, who grimaced and shook her head. She stood up as
her father walked back to the table, already stuffing the bowl of his pipe.
Very politely, she asked Sabrina for one of her cigarettes, who handed over
the pack and told her to keep them with a wry smile on her face. In the space
of a few hours she’d gone from converted to converter, and she’d never felt
better.
All three women felt better still when the pipe-smoking gentleman sent
another bottle of wine over to their table.
“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” Sabrina said to Cellia as she shuffled
the cards again. “Where the hell did Ophelia go ?”
It was still hot, seemingly hotter than it had been all day.
To their dismay, the three women had discovered that the air conditioning
was not working. The heat and the wine had given them a rather strange idea.
Ophelia finally wandered back into the living room, carrying a box of some
sort. She sat down on the floor and opened the humidor. It was full of
cigars.
“What are those for ?” Sabrina asked, noticing the way her speech was
slightly slurred. Twenty four hours ago, that would have disgusted her, but
now it only made her giggle slightly.
“Well, if we’re playing poker, I’m going to smoke cigars. It’s tradition.”
Even Cellia wrinkled her nose at that, but as soon as Ophelia had the cigar
lit, she was forced to change her mind. The smell was pleasant. Heavy, but
not overwhelming, not like the disgusting shoe leather cheapies grandad
always seemed to be sucking down. Then again, he bought his cigars in the
grocery store.
“Where’d you get those ?” Sabrina asked.
“They were supposed to be for that shit Bryan.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to talk about that ?” Cellia said just before
blowing a smoke ring which Sabrina tried but failed to imitate. She settled
for a nose exhale instead and watched Ophelia working the cigar with the same
skill which she applied to her cigarettes. She did not clench the cigar
between her teeth but smoked it properly, holding it with the same perfectly
angled wrist. Somehow the long brown cylinder did not look fat between her
slender fingers. When she inhaled, the tip flared orange but did not
smoulder. She seemed to be inhaling the smoke to some degree, and Sabrina
found herself marvelling at the woman’s lungs. She knew she could never hope
to equal the librarian’s display.
“No. I want to play strip poker like we agreed on. House rules- nothing
wild, and anything which went on in pairs- pants, socks-” she eyed Cellia’s
long white dress gloves sourly- “gloves, comes off in pairs.”
Those gloves were amasing. Even though Cellia was wearing her Marlboro
t-shirt and a ratty old Red Sox cap, the gloves lent her a certain elegance
which was only enhanced by her strong, impassioned smoking.
Sabrina’s cheek grew hot when she realised that she’d forgotten to put her
bra back on after taking off her bikini.
“Usually, winner would keep all the clothes-”
“Take the jacket off,” Cellia said to Sabrina.
“But we’ll wave that. That’s only fun if you gather in someone’s dorm room.
There’s nothing quite like watching a comp science major running across the
dewy grass in nothing but his sneakers and a pair of coke-bottle glasses.”
Cards were dealt.
Ophelia won the first three hands. Sabrina shed the jacket, her sneakers,
and her socks. Cellia forfeited her sandals, socks, and gloves.
Then Sabrina drew a pair of straights. Cellia gave up her belt- there was a
short argument about whether it really qualified, and her baseball cap.
Ophelia ditched her shoes, regretting the decision not to wear socks, and her
wrist watch, which after the belt, was allowed without question.
At this point, Cellia and Sabrina paused to light cigarettes, and that was
when the phone rang. Cellia answered and looked surprised when it for
Sabrina.
“Yes, Mom. It was wasn’t a prank call. Listen.”
She held the phone down by her cigarette and inhaled deeply, making the tip
hiss audibly.
“I came to my senses. That’s what happened. Look, I’m sorry I’d been giving
you an hard time. Yes, I know I owe Dad an apology. Look, mom, I kind of
busy.”
That didn’t keep her mom from talking for another fifteen minutes.
“What’s up ?” Cellia asked.
“Mom was calling to say thank you. She had a bet with Dad that I’d start on
the trip. He has to take her to New York for shopping.”
“You’re Dad is going to be pissed.”
“Nah. He told her it was worth it if I really finally came around. I’ve been
nagging them terribly about letting Sarah smoke-”
“You ?” Cellia mocked.
“I said I was sorry.”
Ophelia dealt the next set of cards. She picked up one hand, then Sabrina
rolled off three straight. Cellia went on a winning streak after that, and
finally, down to panties, a bra and a t-shirt, Ophelia rallied, just as she
finished her cigar. They broke for beer, during which time Cellia caught the
next store neighbour’s ten year old boy peeping into the living room. For all
of about ten seconds, she was mortified. In that time she managed to get all
the blinds drawn, after which she began to laugh hysterically.
Although she’d sworn she wouldn’t, as soon as Sabrina and Ophelia came back
from the kitchen she told them exactly what had happened.
All three of them ended up rolling on the floor, laughing.
When the tears dried, the girls lit cigarettes and Ophelia stoked up another
cigar.
“Do you really like those things ?” Sabrina asked.
The deep pull she took on the cigar was answer enough. “I highly recommend
them. Any chance either of you will try one ?”
Laughing, Sabrina said “Not on my first day. Maybe tomorrow.”
“I gave up cigars for Lent,” Cellia joked.
Ophelia dealt the cards. If she’d had any sleeves, the girls would have
suspected her for cheating. As it was, there was no arguing with the four
aces which she laid down.
Cellia debated between shirt and panties. She gave up the shirt, leaving
herself wearing nothing but a tight black bra and pink panties.
“Match much ?” Sabrina teased.
“What are you going to take off ?” Cellia asked tersely. She still had three
choices. Her own sky blue panties, her borrowed shirt, or the scrunchy. The
scrunchy was the logical choice, but she’d grown very fond of it because she
remembered the positive sound of Ophelia’s voice when she’d said ‘I didn’t
know you smoked’, as though it was the most marvelous revelation in the
world.
She shed the panties because the shirt hung halfway to her knees.
It was her turn to deal, and she held the dealer’s luck. Cellia gave up her
panties with no real protest and Ophelia shed her shirt.
“Anybody ready to give up yet ?” Ophelia asked rakishly, blowing thick but
pleasant smelling cigar smoke into the circle of friends. The girls breathed
the smoke in deeply and both of them found themselves wondering what it was
like to experience that first hand.
Cellia’s nose exhale turned into a derisive snort. “Not while I still have a
bra.”
“Not me,” Sabrina said. “I still have my scrunchy.”
Cellia dealt, and for a third straight hand, the dealer held, this time with
three sixes.
Ophelia flaunted convention, shedding her bra first.
Both women stared at Sabrina. It was a no brainer that she’d ditch the
scrunchy, keeping her shirt and her dignity- especially since it was obvious
she wasn’t wearing a bra.
She held her cigarette out to Cellia to hold (there was no room for it in
the ashtray) and pulled the shirt over her head. The cooler air hardened her
nipples instantly, but she found she didn’t care. She still had the scrunchy,
and that was all that mattered. The three women looked at each other. This
was it. Someone would win this round. Taking the cards, Ophelia dealt five to
each of them.
Sabrina studied hers. She’d actually gotten good at holding the cards with
one hand while smoking with the other. Clumsy mistakes had cost her two hands
earlier on, depriving her of a bracelet and her sunglasses. She had a two of
clubs, a four of spades, a five of clubs, a nine of spades, and a seven of
diamonds.
She took four cards to the surprise of her opponents.
They would have really be shocked had they realised she kept the two on a
hunch.
The other women played out. Sabrina was supposed to lay her cards down
first, but she shook her head and frowned as if expecting to lose.
Cellia drew deeply on her cigarette and laid out a full house, nines over
sevens.
Ophelia beat it with a straight, seven through queen.
“You two are going to look good naked,” Sabrina said, showing four twos.
The two women removed their last piece of clothing obediently, and
remarkably neither looked the least bit embarrassed.
“What now ?” Cellia asked, but Sabrina had already made up her mind even as
Ophelia said “Well, we should look for three eligible men to share this
with.”
When they saw the camera, both women blanched, especially Ophelia.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. I like my job,” she said.
“Just an head shot,” Sabrina coaxed, and they agreed.
She looked through the lens. Ophelia was taking a stolid pull on the cigar
and Cellia was holding the cigarette between her lips, her arms wrapped
around Ophelia in a seductive pose which forced Sabrina to widen the focus.
She snapped off the picture, noticing there was only one left.
“I should have got the four meg upgrade,” Cellia said, taking the camera.
Sabrina posed, pulling her pony tail over her shoulder so that the scrunchy
would show clearly. She put the cigarette to her lips and said “Wait until I
exhale.”
The three women were still naked, lying together curled up in the giant down
comforter Sabrina had found on her bed. Cellia had opened the pictures on her
Powerbook 3400 in Photoshop, and even Ophelia admitted that Sabrina had been
right to widen her shot of them. There was something incredibly artsy,
entirely erotic, and utterly pleasing, about the shot she’d taken.
They were watching Highlander, the three of them sharing single cigarettes
one after another. Finally, it ended, and they talked about what to do next.
“Well, usually this is about the time of night three gorgeous but unlucky
women share their darkest secrets.”
Ophelia nudged Cellia and then handed the communal cigarette to Sabrina, who
took it gladly and inhaled deeply. “It’s just our first night. You’re the one
who knows her way around. It’s up to you to see we get lucky.”
“She’s right,” Sabrina nodded, handing the half-spent cigarette to Cellia.
She drained the last of her beer, hoping it would give her the courage to
tell her secret, the one she’d being living very happily with all day.
The truth was, just thinking about it made it a possibility again.
“I won poker, so I go last,” she added.
Cellia looked at Ophelia, who nodded as if to say this was indeed one of the
unwritten rules.
Ophelia then spoke up. “I knew Bryan was going to dump me. He doesn’t think
I’m feminine enough.”
Sabrina looked at Ophelia, shocked. Her graceful way of moving and that
faint british accent- she though that would be enough for any man. She was
slender, blonde, soft featured- everything which was supposed to be feminine.
“I could say it’s because he found out the hard way I can hit a softball
farther than he can- his buddies haven’t let him live that down since the day
I joined their co-ed team, but that’s not it.”
“He caught you smoking a cigar, didn’t he ?” Cellia asked.
“I was taking a late night bath. He’d been called in on some sort of
emergency- he’s a computer systems network analyst. He told me it was an all
night job- and we’d just had his idea of sex- a whole lot of me lying there-
well, let’s just say I needed a bath to relax. I lit a cigar and opened a
beer and settled in under the bubbles. He came home about fifteen minutes
later. It was a false alarm, they caught him on his cell phone and he came
back- you’d have thought he found me drowning kittens in the goddamn tub.
That was a month ago and it hasn’t been the same since.”
“You just didn’t think that he’d leave you at a rest area, right ?” Cellia
asked.
“Exactly.”
Sabrina lit another cigarette, took a puff, blew out a wavy stream of creamy
smoke, and handed it to Ophelia.
“Your turn, Cellia,” the librarian said, her words, as always, accompanied
by very feminine smoke.
“Well, it’s no secret Bryan’s crazy to have dumped you.”
“Thanks. But as you said-”
Cellia looked at Sabrina. “I thought I was going to lose you as a friend,
Sabrina. Because-”
“It was all my fault,” Sabrina said, tears filling both their eyes. Ophelia
leaned back and let the two girls hug as she smoked peacefully. Naked breasts
rubbed up against one another, an embrace both with and without sexuality
which left both girls feeling better and closer than they ever had about one
another.
“I had an orgasm when I smoked my first cigarette,” Sabrina blurted out. The
two women were so taken by this statement that she sheepishly added, “two-
orgasms, that is.”
Ophelia looked shocked, but not for the reason that Sabrina expected. “I
thought I was the only one,” Ophelia said as she handed the cigarette to
Cellia. They looked at her as she performed a stunning nose exhale.
“All right. That makes three of us.”
The three women hugged, hardly knowing this was just the beginning.