Cathy's Club, Part 3

Cathy's Club
Part 3

The next day, she told the other members of the smoking club at work about
her new freedom as she lit up. They congratulated her on her courage and
Carolyn said, "Great! Always glad to have another recruit. We'll make a real
smoker out of you yet," she said, and Cathy wasn't sure at first if she was
joking or not. But her next comment erased any doubt. "You took a little
longer than Susie here did. We got to her in only a few weeks, and she was a
pack a day smoker after, what, 4 months?" Susie nodded affirmatively.
"That's the next step for you. How long do you think it will take?" =20

"You mean you did this on purpose?" Cathy exclaimed. "You make it sound like
I was some kind of experiment or something!" she said hotly.

"No, no, Cathy, you don't quite get it," Jan explained. "It's not that way
at all. But once you had a few cigarettes, some of us got to talking about
you. After what happened with Susie a couple of years ago, Carolyn figured
the same thing would happen to you. I didn't think so, so we made a bet.
Looks like I lost, but neither of us tried to influence you, did we?" Cathy
shook her head negatively. "Right, you did it on your own. I didn't think
you would, but she did. So, that's all she meant. She's just crowing a
little because she was right and she won the bet. I owe her a carton of
Marlboros."=20

Cathy accepted the explanation and apologized. "I guess I'm still a little
sensitive about my smoking," she explained, "so I'm sorry if I got a little
carried away. But don't make any bets about me smoking a pack a day or
whatever... I only intend to have a few a day," she protested. The others
gave her knowing looks and just smiled. Soon the conversation moved on to
other topics, and Cathy had a second cigarette with them after a few=
 minutes.

Over the next few weeks Cathy's smoking routine became more firmly
established. During the first few days as a smoker she still felt strange
when she smoked at home in front of Brett, and the guilty feelings persisted
for a while. But soon they were replaced by a new acceptance of herself as a
smoker and she found herself truly enjoying her new habit. She could now
count on having 6 a day at work, and soon added one each way during her
commute in the car every morning and evening. She would add 2 or 3 every
night after Christina went to bed, so with almost no effort at all she was
smoking better than half a pack a day. She soon got tired of having to buy
packs all the time, and bought her first carton after a couple of weeks.=20

There was one more obstacle that Cathy had yet to overcome. She had yet to
tell her mother that she was now a smoker, and the thought of doing so made
her very uncomfortable. Deep down inside she still had the childhood fear of
disapproval from her mom, and despite the fact that Cathy's mom Jeanne had
been a fairly heavy smoker herself for as long as Cathy could remember, she
was afraid of her reaction. She had decided not to tell her right away and
was able to successfully conceal her habit for a while. But a few months
after she had started smoking every day, Cathy spent the day at her parents
home when she volunteered to help repaint their kitchen one Saturday. After
a few hours of watching her mom smoke while they painted, the sight and
smell made Cathy desperate for a cigarette. When Jeanne lit up again after
their quick lunch, Cathy watched her take a puff and simply couldn't take it
any more.=20

She had never experienced a craving this strong before and was forced to
expose herself. "Mom...," she said and paused. "Do you think I could have
one of those?," she said breathlessly, pointing at her mom's pack of Kool
100s. Jeanne was slightly stunned for a moment, but concluded that it was
probably curiosity more than anything that provoked the request. She was
unaware that her daughter had become a smoker herself recently, and figured
that after all these years Cathy had finally decided to try one with her.
She smiled amusedly before saying, "Well, sure, I guess... here," shaking
some loose and extending them in Cathy's direction. Cathy slid one out and
her mom lit it for her. She took a huge drag right away and inhaled it as
deep as she could, then followed it up with another as she exhaled the first
through her nose. The Kools were much stronger than what she was used to but
that was exactly what she wanted just then. She sighed with relief almost
involuntarily as she exhaled, feeling some lightheadedness for the first
time since her early days as a smoker, then realized what she must look like
as she noticed her mom's stunned stare. She confessed her guilty pleasure to
her mom at that point, and Jeanne seemed to find her daughter's submission
to the habit almost funny after all these years. She and Cathy shared Kools
until they finished the kitchen that evening, and by that point smoking
along with her mom seemed as natural to Cathy as could be, making her feel
another source of attachment to her.=20

Brett's reaction to all of these developments was somewhat surprising to her
but not at all unwelcome. It seemed to her that if anything he was
encouraging her to smoke, always asking if she had enough cigarettes when
they were shopping, and often suggesting that she stop to take a cigarette
break when they were doing chores around the house. He even bought the
ashtray for the nightstand by their bed that he had mentioned before, and
now she did indeed enjoy smoking in bed after they made love. That in itself
added considerably to her habit, since it seemed that after she started
smoking habitually that Brett was almost always in the mood for sex. Just
about every night now he would make love to her, then help light her
cigarette afterwards. There was no chance of her falling asleep while doing
this and causing a tragedy, because he was extraordinarily attentive to her
on such occasions.=20

More than once he repeated his earlier performance while she was still
smoking, and if anything was even more aroused if she smoked during their
lovemaking. The first time it happened she was shocked, and wasn't quite
sure what to make of it or what to do with her cigarette. She was afraid of
burning him, or herself, but once she realized that it was part of what had
turned him on she relaxed and just enjoyed the results. She discovered that
smoking during sex enhanced her own orgasm also, and that inhaling a puff at
exactly the right moment would make her climax and give her an unbelieveable
rush of ecstacy, which would invariably make Brett instantly explode inside
her too. Cathy found herself playing her new advantage to the hilt, enjoying
this new aspect of their relationship just as much as Brett seemed to. Their
sex life had always been fine, she thought,  but now it was suddenly
spectacular and they both loved it.

The members of the club seldom asked Cathy about her smoking much any more,
but they had noticed the changes in her habit. She took long, aggressive
puffs now, and her inhales were deep and extended, challenging her lungs to
absorb most of what the smoke had to give. Her style had become more refined
also as she had picked up the best style aspects of  the other club members'
habits. Cathy was now experiencing increasingly strong cravings whenever she
had to go too long without a cigarette, and she slowly accepted the fact
that she was becoming addicted. When she and Jan were involved in an
afternoon-long meeting one day with Ellie Williams, who was a non-smoker,
they both rushed outside the second it was over for a quick cigarette or
two. Jan noticed the way that Cathy was puffing hard, almost desperately,
and concluded she had become a confirmed smoker just like the rest of them.
She decided to ask her how it was going over at home.

"Well... believe it or not, the hardest part was letting my mom know. Even
after all these years it was like I was still a kid. I was _so_
embarrassed... even though she smokes herself. But once I actually got up
the nerve to have one with her, it was OK.  She seemed to be amused by it,
probably because of all the grief I gave her years ago over her own smoking.
But we smoke together now all the time, and it's sort of neat. As for Brett,
he doesn't seem to mind. Actually, to tell you the truth, I think he would
like me to smoke even more," she confessed with a trace of a blush. "He
seems to like it when I smoke. Says it makes me look like a bad girl or some
such nonsense. I can't really understand it. But I'm not complaining," she
said with a wink. She tapped ash from her B&H before taking another long=
 drag.=20

Jan laughed at her confession. "Well, there are lots of guys who find it
sexy. I know Chuck does. That was one of the reasons I started, to be
honest. He mentioned it one night not long after we first started going out
and he had a few too many drinks. I hardly smoked at all back then. Now he
loves it when I show off my smoking," she admitted, taking a sexy,
theatrical drag. Cathy was a little surprised, but filed the information
away for future reference.=20

Over the next couple of months Cathy gradually let herself become
susceptible to Brett's subtle encouragement. She would allow him to light
her up whenever he made the suggestion, and took the initiative herself when
she felt in a playful mood. The way he looked at her when she indulged left
no doubt as to the enjoyment he took from her performance, and she worked on
improving her style, letting him see the smoke filling her mouth for an
instant before she breathed it all in, and making sure to hold her B&H in a
ladylike yet sexy style. Cathy eventually began smoking even more on her own
as her habit strengthened, adding a second cigarette to each leg of her
commute every day and smoking more or less all day long on the weekends as
she felt the urge now more than ever. Any thoughts about it being bad for
her, or wanting to keep it reigned in just in case she needed to quit if she
became pregnant again, all vanished as her desire to smoke turned into a
need. She had become a consistent pack a day smoker, and casually mentioned
the fact to the group one day at break. She didn't announce that she had
also begun to worry that she would never be able to quit smoking. She knew
that she just loved it too much - the act of smoking itself, her physical
need for nicotine, and the effect it had on her husband - to even consider
that possibility right now.

"I win!," exclaimed Jan in response to Cathy's comment, with a gleeful
clapping of her hands.=20

"Don't tell me you made another bet," Cathy said, laughing now herself.

"Yeah... sorry, but we couldn't resist," Jan explained with a grin. "I said
it would take you at least 6 months to get up to a pack a day. Carolyn said
it would be less. This time she owes _me_ a carton of Marlboros... Light
100s, and don't forget, I like the ones in the crush-proof box, Carolyn,"
Jan teased. Carolyn playfully stuck her tongue out at Jan as the others
laughed heartily.


EPILOGUE

Seven Years Later

"Have a happy retirement, Carolyn," Cathy said as she hugged her friend
while Brett stood alongside. At 55, Carolyn decided she had enough of the
travel business and wanted to enjoy life with her husband now that her
daughters had grown up and moved away from home. The retirement party was a
smoking affair of course, and Cathy had finally got to meet Marti and
Laurie. It was easy to spot them, since they were both young-looking
versions of their mother, and their constant heavy smoking during the
evening was a final giveaway. Cathy noticed that Marti had switched to More
Menthols, and thought they nicely complemented the tall, slim young lady's
long, curly dark brown hair. Laurie meanwhile had remained faithful to her
ML 100s. Cathy made a mental note to try the Mores sometime herself.

Carolyn cleared her throat as best she could. It was an emotional evening
for her and she had been choked-up all night. "Thanks, sweetie," she replied
in her rough-edged smoker's voice which Cathy had recently begun to emulate
herself, at least first thing each morning. "I'll miss you guys so much.
It'll seem strange not to have a chance to shoot the breeze with you guys
every morning. But at least I won't go crazy having to wait to smoke for
hours at a time," she chuckled.

"Yes, I'll envy you that," Cathy said. Over the last few years she had
become almost as heavy a smoker as Carolyn. Now at age 31, she habitually
smoked over 2 packs a day on the weekends and was doing at least a pack and
a half each weekday. Four years ago when Brett had accidentally gotten her
pregnant with Adrienne she half-heartedly tried to give it up but discovered
that she couldn't, and ended up lying to her doctor about it rather than
take all the grief. She felt the guilt over what she had done to herself and
what she might be doing to her unborn child by continuing to smoke while she
was pregnant but was unable to stop smoking entirely. She managed to cut
down some, but still needed a steady daily diet of cigarettes to take the
edge off. She even got back into cigars for a while during the pregnancy,
thinking that they might let her give up inhaling and reduce smoking's
harmful effects. They really didn't help in that way, since it only made her
miss inhaling even more, just like Nancy had told her years before. Brett
seemed to enjoy watching her smoke her way through her pregnancy, especially
when she would have a cigar during the last month or two she was huge. She
rationalized that it probably made giving birth a little easier since the
baby was slightly smaller than would have been the case had she quit.=20

Her habit quickly returned to its previous level after Adrienne's birth as
she once more was able to fully satisfy her desire to smoke, and she finally
accepted reality -- that she had turned into someone who was going to smoke
for the rest of her life. She still enjoyed cigars, but inhaling mentholated
smoke was her real passion and that meant she was primarily a cigarette
smoker now. She had been able to maintain some semblance of restraint until
about 2 years ago when her and Brett went away on a second honeymoon for a
week just by themselves, leaving the children in the care of their
grandparents. The resort invited sheer decadence and they indulged
themselves in ways they would never dream of normally - elegant dining,
sightseeing, sunbathing, drinking all day, frequent lovemaking, and for
Cathy, nearly continuous smoking. She found it very easy to let herself
smoke much more under those circumstances, and she was shocked to discover
at the end of the first day that she had consumed nearly 3 packs for the
first time in her life. But her inhibitions were left at home, and it just
seemed so effortless and natural. The tightness in her chest the next
morning was unusual, but it disappeared after she inhaled her customary
pre-breakfast cigarette, replaced by a familiar yet somehow more intense
sense of comfort. She repeated her performance that day, feeling only
slightly guilty. The next day she felt no guilt at all and instead began to
enjoy it. By the end of the week she had finished the 2 cartons Brett had
insisted she bring with her, and found it incredibly difficult to get down
to even 1=BD  packs once she returned home. Now she had developed an eternal
desire that only cigarettes could satisfy, at least momentarily, and
understood exactly what Carolyn was saying. The otherwise perfect mother of
2 had in only a short time let the "few a day" she had vowed not to exceed 7
years ago turn into something she could not do without. People who met her
for the first time were almost always surprised to find she smoked because
she still retained the sweet sort of look like she always had, but a smoker
she was indeed. She smoked from the moment she awoke until the time she fell
asleep and during most everything she did in between. Despite the gamble she
knew she was taking with her health and the discrimination she now faced
every day by being such a heavy smoker, she still loved it.=20

"I just hope that the new girl, Wendy, doesn't mind our smoking when we go
to break," Cathy chuckled. She coughed lightly, a futile but increasingly
frequent protest on the part of her ever more challenged lungs, before
clearing her throat. "You think Ellie would know enough not to hire
nonsmokers to work with us. But I think we can change that...oh, and by the
way, I'll take you up on that bet," she said with a knowing grin. Talking
about the subject of smoking had made her feel yet another intense craving,
and Cathy reached into her cigarette case for her 32nd B&H of the day as
Brett snapped to attention, preparing to light her up once more. She licked
her lips both in anticipation and to ensure more efficient suction, inserted
the filter between them and bent forward to accept the light, attracted to
the offered flame like a moth to a lamp. Her cheeks collapsed as she took a
long, hard puff before she opened her mouth to expose the smoke ball for an
instant before it vanished just as quickly as she instinctively inhaled.
Cathy revelled in the feel of the cool smoke as it hit the back of her
throat before she felt it filling the deepest recesses of her lungs. Even
with her heavy intake she could still enjoy the cool sensation inside her as
she breathed it all in and sensed the nicotine supply in her bloodstream
being replenished. She held the smoke in her chest until the breathing
reflex kicked in and forced her to reluctantly release her smoky bounty.
"Under six months, right?," she smiled as she exhaled smoke luxuriously. "I
think we can do it. After all," said its new leader, " we always could use a
few more members of the smoking club."=20

THE END

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