Katie's Smoking Epiphany, Part 10

Katie's Smoking Epiphany (Part 10)
by Dromedary Joe

Loosely based on a true story...

Katie woke up early the next morning. Was this really her room? As the sun
came through the east window, it illuminated the smoke which had accumulated
in her room from the night before. She picked up her pack of Marlboro 100's
and lit her first one of the day. It was a good feeling knowing she could
simply smoke one upon waking up without having to leave the house. She would
enjoy her new found freedom.

She took a shower, got dressed and the phone rang as she was about to head
downstairs to eat breakfast. 

It was Mike. He asked if he could pick her up for school.  Routinely, she
usually picked up someone on the way to school, either Rosa, the twins, or
Karen, but today, strangely, she had no such plans. She of course said yes. 

She got a ride to school with Mike and she naturally shared a few smokes with
him in the parking lot. After they smoked the second one, he crushed it out
in his ashtray and reached over and held her hand. They talked for a few
minutes before heading to class.

"Hey, I guess since you didn't drive your car to school, you'll need a ride
home, too, right?" Mike said.

"Hmm. I guess so. If the right guy asks me," she said and gave him a wink.

Mike gave her a ride home and then asked her out on their first date that
night. The special occasion when she would smoke the Virginia Slims in her
desk drawer was that night and she shared a few of the 120's with him as they
held hands. They went out to dinner and a movie, and then shared their first
kiss that night. Within a week, he gave her a promise ring.

Things were going good with everyone else. Rosa got a new boyfriend. The
twins got caught smoking again, in response to which their dad had said,
"Fine, smoke if you want to. But you'll have to buy your own. Your friends
Katie and Karen would be so disappointed in you both if they knew you
smoked." The twins, of course, laughed hard about that. Katie and Karen
smoked a lot more than they did and Chad and Karen "did it."

Katie hung out with the twins one night about a month after the first time
they smoked together. Before she left the house, her mom said she was going
shopping. Did she need anything?

"I'm out of smokes, Mom. I can pick up a pack at the Haitian Station after I
pick up the twins, but could you buy me a carton?"

Katie smoked the last one in her pack on the way to pick up the twins. It was
unusual for her to run that low since she almost always had two packs in her
purse. But she had been busy that day and hadn't had a chance to pick any up.

When the twins piled into her car, she asked them for a smoke. 

"Actually, we're out and our parents won't give us our allowance early." said
April.

"Probably because they know we'll spent it on cigarettes," finished her twin.

Damn, thought Katie, this is an emergency. She raced to the Haitian Station
at record pace.

"Good evening, Sunshine!" said her friend behind the counter. She smiled and
gave him a hug. It had been a while since her mom starting buying her
cartons, although she still came there from time to time for Dr. Pepper. It
was hard to believe she had been so hostile towards him before she started
smoking.

She got three sodas from the cooler, some gum, and headed back to the
counter. 

"You still have the three pack special?" asked Katie.

"No, three pack special ended last week," Turban man said, but then added,
"But for you, I always have three pack special!"

Katie was never sure if she could mix and match on the three pack special,
and tonight she didn't want to push the issue. She would buy three of the
same kind. Should she buy her usual Marlboro 100's or buy the twins' Newport
Kings? She didn't feel like hearing them whine, so she said, "Give me three
packs of Newport Kings in the box, please."

Turban Man turned around to get the cigarettes, but then Katie stopped him.

"Make that three packs of Newport 100's in the box," she said.

When she got to the car, she handed one each to the twins. "One for you, one
for you, *and* one for me." Katie said. 

"Ooh, Katie is joining the Newport Club!" April said to Amy.

"No, just wanted to try something different," said Katie as she packed her
cigarettes. Actually, Katie thought to herself, she did find herself smoking
Newports a lot when she was out with all her friends. Whenever she was in the
mood to try something different, she always seemed to ask the twins for one
of theirs rather than one of her other friends'. By then, Mike had switched
to Marlboro 100's because he enjoyed sharing longer cigarettes with her.  

As she drove the twins home, the twins said they liked the 100's better and
would probably start buying those instead from then on. What took them so
long? Katie thought to herself.  All their friends smoked 100's, not Kings. 

Katie dropped the twins off and lit another cigarette. She noticed it was the
last one in her pack. She must have really liked smoking the Newports, she
thought to herself. She breathed in a fresh breath of air and savored the
minty feeling in her mouth. She liked the sensation of menthol smoke, maybe
she could switch for a little while. But then she remembered her mom had gone
to the store and bought her a carton of Marlboro 100's that night. Maybe some
other time.

She got home and asked her mom for her carton.

"Shit!" her mom said, "I'm sorry I forgot all about it. I'll run to the store
and get you some. The usual?"

Katie started to nod her head, but then said, "No, mom. I think I'll change
up for a little bit. Get me a carton of Newport 100's, box"

About halfway through the carton, she realized this was her brand. Sure she
would occasionally smoke Marlboro 100's when she was sharing one with Mike,
but she was a Newport girl now.

It was getting close to Christmas and Katie was starting to get in the
holiday spirit. Sure, she didn't go to church anymore. She smoked, drank, and
cursed, and she would probably lose her virginity to Mike really soon, but
she cherished Christmas as a time of love and giving. She had been thinking
about something for a long time. Or at least since she had started smoking.
Karen was her best friend forever, but it hadn't always been that way. There
had once been Carla...

Carla had been Katie's best friend since kindergarten. They lived in the same
neighborhood and they had done everything together from church, to camp, to
being in the same activities and sports after school. Carla had given her
comfort when she spent the night at Katie's house the night her father had
died in an automobile accident. Katie remembered that night as if it were
yesterday. She would not have made it through without Carla's support. 

A few months after the tragedy it was summer and Carla and Katie, both 12 at
the time, had been swimming in Carla's pool. The pool seemed like it had had
too much chlorine in it, and both Katie and Carla decided to take a shower
afterwards. 

"Let's take one together," said Katie.

"How 'bout we take a bath?" asked Carla. 

"Okay," said Katie. They both started giggling and got in the bathtub naked
together. They had, of course, seen each other naked before, but this seemed
like a new experience. They sat in the tub splashing each other and cutting
up when Katie noticed Carla's breasts. They both were going through puberty
and developing into women really fast.

"Look at those big tits of yours!" said Katie and before she could think, she
had grabbed one of Carla's breasts. 

"Well, look at your tits!" said Carla as she returned the favor.

It was a novelty touching and been touched and the girls sort of fondled each
other for a few minutes before Katie took her tongue and put it in Carla's
mouth. They started making out, but when they heard Carla's dad's car pull
into the driveway, they quickly got out of the bathtub, got dressed, and that
was the end of that. Katie had always wondered what would have happened had
Carla's parents not come home. It hadn't really been a sexual experience, but
she knew it would have ended up that way.

The next day, Katie went over to Carla's house and Carla said she had a big
secret to tell Katie.

"What kind of secret?" asked Katie.

"A really big secret! Promise not to tell?" asked Carla.

"Promise," said Katie and Carla made her pinky swear to it.

Carla went into the bedroom and came out holding a pack of her dad's Camel
cigarettes.

She sat down next to Katie and lit one up.

"You smoke!" said Katie as she got an irritated look on her face. "That's
gross!"

"Katie, why don't you try it ?" asked Carla.

"No way, it's bad enough my mom has started smoking again. I don't want to
have a best friend who smokes."

Katie  ran home. She never went over Carla's house after that, although Carla
would knock on her door and Katie would tell her mom to tell Carla that she
wasn't home or was busy doing homework. Katie's mom asked her why she was
being like that, but Katie never told her mom. Even though Carla wasn't her
friend anymore she still honored the pinky swear. Katie hated smoking and
swore to herself she would never start smoking. 

Through the years, she had seen Carla a lot. They were in classes together
and they crossed paths in the hallways of school. But their worlds had
drifted further apart. Katie started being more active in church and made
friends with Karen, a girl at the church she had started attending. Carla had
started hanging out with the rough crowd and there were always rumors about
her. Carla's self-proclaimed bisexuality was a well known fact to all on
campus. Katie had always wondered if the incident in the bathtub had turned
her gay. Had Katie turned her gay? After all, Katie had touched her first and
kissed her first. Katie even wondered if maybe Carla thought of her when she
was with another girl. Carla had turned into a beautiful young woman with a
nice body, albeit a very streetwise girl, unlike Katie's friends who were
more preppy, perky, pretty types, with the exception of perhaps Rosa. 

One day before Christmas break her senior year, Katie passed Carla in the
hallway. Usually, Carla would glare at Katie without saying a word. The
contempt she felt for Katie was always obvious, even to those who didn't know
they had once, long ago, been best friends. They looked each other in the eye
and Katie saw the hate like she always did. But for a brief instant, she saw
something else. She saw hurt. She had hurt Carla really bad. She looked away
and started crying. She headed for the restroom, went into one of the stalls,
and for one of the few times her senior year, smoked a cigarette in the
girl's room. 

She was there for me when I needed someone most, when my father died, more
than anyone else had been there for me and I stopped being her friend. And
why? Because of this, she said, looking at the cigarette between her fingers.

She made up her mind that moment to do whatever it took to become Carla's
friend again. Even if it meant...

It took her a week to finally do it. She had been at Mike's all afternoon
when she told him she had to go somewhere. 

"Where you going, baby?" asked Mike.

"To visit an old friend," Katie said. 

Katie got into her car and lit up another Newport. She had smoked a lot that
day because she knew what she was going to do. She crushed out the cigarette
right before she got to Carla's house, which was in her neighborhood. She put
on some perfume, grabbed her purse and headed for the door. Carla's car was
there, she noticed, so there was no chickening out. She rang the doorbell. It
seemed like an eternity before Carla answered the door. 

"Can I help you with something?" Carla asked with a sarcastic tone. 

"Hey, Carla," started Katie, "it's been a long time. You want to talk?"

"Sure, why not?" said Carla, " I always invite former best friends who
stopped speaking to me years ago in for a talk. Come on in!" and gestured to
the couch.

Katie slowly made her way inside, not sure what to expect. It suddenly
occurred to Katie that Carla might be interested in whipping her ass. That
only added to the anxiety she was feeling right then. 

"Before we begin our chat, do you mind if I light up a cigarette?" asked
Carla. She was playing with her, of course. Katie looked over and noticed
there was a pack of More 120's Menthol laying on the coffee table. She had
seen people smoke those brown cigarettes, but had never tried one.

"No, of course not," Katie replied. Katie needed a cigarette too, but just
remembered that she had left hers in the car. In her nervousness, she had
forgotten to put them in her purse.

"So what brings you to this neck of the woods, Katie?" said Carla, "I mean,
we haven't spoken for what, five years?" It was obvious that Carla had
thought that one day she might have this conversation. She might have the
chance to give Katie a piece of her mind.

Katie was at a loss for words. She started to say something and it came out
awkwardly, "I just wanted to see how you were doing and to, you know,
apologize for everything and to, you know, say I'm sorry.?

Carla saw the hesitation on Katie's part and took a moment to take a drag off
her More, deliberately blowing the smoke in Katie's face.

"Oh, I'm sorry, is the smoke bothering you, Katie? I know Jesus doesn't like
it when I smoke."

"Actually," said Katie, "I was wondering if I could have a drag?"

"You?" said Carla, caught off guard for the first time since Katie got there.

She held out her cigarette and Katie took it out of her hand. Katie was
really craving a smoke right then and she took a huge double pump off the
More. 

"Wow," said Carla, "looks like that's not your first smoke."

"No, I actually started smoking at the beginning of the school year," Katie
told her.

Katie took another drag off the More and thought they actually were pretty
good. She continued, "It's hard to believe I started smoking. I never thought
I would ever smoke, But I really enjoy it. It's hard to believe that a long
time ago I stopped being friends with someone I really cared about, someone I
really loved, someone who meant more to me than anything else, just because
they smoked. How could I have been so stupid?" 

Katie started crying and she noticed she was crying so hard that tears were
streaming down her face.

Carla thought for a moment. If she wanted her one time friend to feel the
pain she had once felt, still felt, now was the time to lower the boom. But
something in Carla broke, and she too started crying. She gave Katie a big
hug. They smoked the rest of the More 120's Menthol together and then Katie
asked if she could have another one.

"You really like these?" asked Carla.

"Yeah, they're pretty good," said Katie.

"I used to switch a lot, but now I almost always smoke these. They grow on
you after a while," said Carla. "If I couldn't smoke these, I would probably
smoke Newports. Probably the 100's."

"That`s my brand" said Katie.

"You smoke Newports?" asked Carla, "Wow, I'd have figured you'd smoke
Marlboro Lights like all the rest of the preppy kids."

They both laughed.

"Hey, you  mind if I run to my car and grab my cigarettes?" asked Katie.

"Sure, I haven't smoked a Newport in a while," said Carla.

Katie ran out there quickly, came back in, and lit up a Newport.

"For you," she said as she handed it to Carla. They talked for a while about
the old days. It seemed like every other sentence started with: "Remember
when we ..."

 "Remember `Onion'?" said Carla.

Katie laughed. Of course she remembered `Onion'. It was a game they played
when they were around seven or eight years old. One of them would close their
eyes. The other would grab something out of the refrigerator, usually
something gross like onions, garlic, or hot sauce and eat it and then blow
their breath into the blindfolded person's mouth. The person with the
blindfold would have to guess what it was, but it wasn't an easy game - if
you had the blindfold on, you had to take it until you guessed what the other
person had just ate.

"You know the rules, Katie." 

Katie of course knew the rules and closed her eyes.  She knew what was coming
and opened her mouth. After a few seconds she could feel it rushing into her
mouth and she knew Carla had just blown a big exhale from her More into her
mouth. 

"More," said Katie.

"You want more, you say," said Carla. She blew some more More smoke into
Katie's mouth, this time putting her hand up to her cheek for effect. Katie
was starting to get really horny.

"Okay, your turn, Carla," said Katie as she opened her eyes. Carla closed her
eyes and Katie took a huge double pump off of her Newport, she held it in for
a split second, realizing this wasn't for her, it was for Carla. She blew it
into Carla's mouth, returning the favor by touching Carla's cheek with her
hand.

"One more time," Katie said as she saw her mouth inching closer to Carla's
mouth. Katie took a couple drags off of her Newport and one off of Carla's
More sitting in the ashtray and then slowly moved closer to Carla, putting
her arms around her waist and kissed her on the lips as residual smoke was
coming out of her mouth.

From there, the rules of `Onion' were clearly broken as both girls kept their
eyes open. After about five minutes of smoky kisses, they paused to light up
again.

"I can't believe we're doing this, Katie," Carla told her as Katie blew some
smoke into her mouth and stuck her tongue in her mouth.

Katie paused for a moment. She took Carla's hand and said, "You know, I know
a good place where we can finish this."

It had been five years since Katie had been in Carla's house, but she still
remembered where the bathroom was as she held Carla's hand and led her there.

They were going into the bathtub. Carla had dreamed of this day for a long
time.

They undressed each other, fondling each other on the breasts and elsewhere.

They got into the bathtub, turned on the water, and facing each other,
started giggling.

"I dare you to touch my cootchie," said Carla.

"Well, I'll double dare you to touch mine," Katie snapped back. 

They played with each other's pussies with one hand while giving each other
smoky kisses for what seemed like forever. Even if Carla's parents had come
home, nothing would have stopped this display of passion. Nothing short of a
nuclear blast would stop this. After they were both too worn out to do it
anymore, even too exhausted to smoke a cigarette, they stopped and gave each
other a hug.

Carla knew Katie wasn't a lesbian. She'd seen her with Mike a few times. This
was a one shot deal. But she knew that their friendship was back.

"So," Katie finally said once they had both caught their breath, "friends?"

Carla paused for a few seconds so she could enjoy the moment. She lit up a
More for the both of them to enjoy and said, "You'll always be my Kate-Kate."
Hearing that name made Katie tear up; it had been a long time since she'd
been called "Kate-Kate." She gave Carla a quick kiss and they got out of the
bathtub.

They got dressed and Carla gave her a hug goodbye and said, "Here, take
these," and handed a nearly full pack of More 120's Menthol to Katie. Katie
took one out of the pack, lit it up and said goodbye. She went into a
temporary More phase for a couple of days, but then went back to smoking
Newports full time, or at least most of the time. Along with the two packs of
Newports she always seemed to have in her purse, she also kept a pack of More
120's Menthol. She told Mike it was for those times when she was in the mood
for one. He later found out what being in the mood for a More meant. It meant
she was horny. 

Christmas was right around the corner and things were looking great for
everyone. Carla joined Katie's smoky circle of friends and had found a
boyfriend who was a friend of Mike's. Katie and Carla had never told anyone
about the bathroom incident, they had after all pinky swore never to tell
anyone else. The twins got boyfriends and their parents had decided to let
them smoke in the house and even started buying them cigarettes. Rosa was
getting serious with her boyfriend and Chad and Karen kept on "doing it."
Katie's mom found a boyfriend and cut back on the partying. The only bad
thing was Turban Man's Haitian Station got busted by the police and the INS
deported him. All the girls were sad, especially Katie, but by then they all
had no problems getting cigarettes. 

New Year's Eve was the night, Katie said to herself. Mike's parents had gone
out of town on a business trip and her mother had let her spend the night at
his house When she arrived, Mike confessed what she knew all along, that she
really, really turned him on when she smoked. 

"Well, looks like you're with the right girl then, huh?" she said as she lit
up yet another Newport. She blew the smoke in his mouth and it wasn't long
before they were in bed naked after making love for the first time. Katie
remembered the first time she had masturbated and purposely grabbed one of
his Marlboro's instead of her usual Newports. She lit it up, sucked on it,
held it in and blew Mike a smoky kiss. She handed the cigarette to him and he
did the same to her as they heard the firecrackers going off outside,
signaling a new year...

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