Chase's Story, Part 3

Chase's Story

Part 3

What the hell, Chase thought, as she grabbed another cigarette and lit
it. She had given no thought to how often she wanted to smoke, but
decided she would test her boundaries a bit.  Chase caught herself
smiling after every inhale.  She couldn't help it.  The sensation and
taste were so great that she couldn't believe some people didn't
smoke.  She polished off that cigarette, and it was 11 am.  Even with
the drive time, she would still have time to waste.  After using the
bathroom, she relaxed outside for a bit. The air was fresh, and she
never realized before how nice fresh air was. Smoking was able to put
all the simple things in perspective for her.  But then she got
curious and wondered what it would be like to smoke a cigarette
outside, fully exposed to the weather.  She grabbed a cigarette and
her lighter and lit up.  She instantly noticed that the taste was even
more pure, and then deeply inhaled the smoke into her lungs.  The
mixture of fresh air and smoke created an incredibly strong sensation
in her lungs.  Her exhale was also much thicker.  Her body seemed to
have mostly taken in the good air and allowed her to expel the smoke.
She knew she was still doing damage to her lungs, but she sensed it
wasn't as bad.  Still, during the winter it would get extremely cold
and she knew smoking outdoors would usually be out of the question.
It would be a seasonal treat for her during the spring and summer.

After only two drags of her cigarette, she saw a car pulling into the
rest stop - it was a police officer.  Her first instinct was to hide
the cigarette, but she realized that she was old enough to smoke and
the cop could not do anything.  The cop pulled in two spaces away from
her car.  It was a female officer.

"Are you having car problems, Ma'am?" the officer said.

"No officer, I just wanted to have a cigarette."  The lady smiled.

"You look a little young for that.  Can I see some ID?" Chase knew the
jig was up and pulled her license out of her pocket.  As she handed it
to the officer, she decided she would take her first drag with a
witness present.  She dragged heavily on the cigarette and then
inhaled.  She was able to exhale like she had been doing it for years,
blowing the smoke in a very consistent upward jet.

"Is today the 8th?" the officer asked.

"Yes, it's my birthday."

"Well, I guess I can't bust you then," the officer said with a wink as
she pulled out her own cigarette, a Marlboro Light 100, and lit up.
She was maybe 30, and Chase was amazed about how good at smoking she
was.  She decided to come clean.

"Well, you couldn't bust me yesterday, because I just smoking started
today."  The officer looked stunned.

"No way!" the lady said with a big smile.

"Yep" said Chase with a smile and a blush as she took another drag.
"About an hour ago in fact."  The officer could only get two drags in
before her radio went off and she had to go.

"Keep at it kid, you're doing great!" she said.  Well, that was
unexpected, Chase thought.

Chase finished the cigarette and decided it was time to return.
Besides, the ride home was long but easy and it would be the perfect
time to practice smoking and driving.  Chase got in the car and
quickly lit up again.  She was already smoking more than she thought
she would, but it was easy and she no longer felt the head rush she
did with her first few cigarettes. As she pulled out of the rest stop,
she tried to figure out how best to hold the cigarette in her fingers.
 She found that she needed to make no adjustments.  From then on, she
was busy dragging and exhaling as she made her way down the highway.

At around 1 pm, she was in town, and she decided to grab something to
eat.  She was still nervous about smoking in public and wanted to wait
until she got good at it.  It didn't matter, smoking was illegal
inside restaurants and bars in her state.  She snubbed out her ninth
cigarette as she entered the city limits, knowing she would not be
able to smoke again until much later in the day.  She did everything
she could to mask her breath as she spent a few hours in the city
grabbing a bite to eat and killing some time before she got to see her
house for the first time.

At 3 pm she returned home.  As expected, everyone was gone except her
sister Joan, who was left at home so she could keep Chase company.
Chase avoided her and was able to shed her clothes.  She packed them
quickly into a box, knowing that nobody would go through them and
notice the smell on them before she moved.  She hopped in the shower
and worked hard to remove all traces of smoke from her body. After
getting dried off and dressed, plus brushing her teeth, she decided to
hang around Joan a bit to see if all traces had been removed.  She
even got in close and gave her a hug.  No reaction.  "I did it!" she
thought. She wasn't sure how long she would have to keep up this
routine.  She wasn't even sure she would ever tell her parents she
smoked.  Chase's parents arrived at 3:50.  Everyone took off in
different directions to change clothes and get ready for this
non-party party at her new house. Everyone seemed really smiley, so
she knew something was up. Chase was already dressed, so she logged
onto her computer.  She turned on her instant messenger and noticed
Sammy was online.  Time to break the good news.

"I'm a smoker," is all Chase typed to Sammy.

"I know you are," she typed back.  Chase quickly described how awesome
it was and thanked Sammy for all her help.  "I'm so happy to help you.
 Girl, you're going to love it, and I'll be there to help."  Chase's
mom yelled for the kids to assemble so they could go to her new house.

Chase hadn't seen her house yet.  Although she had taken up smoking
only hours later, she was suddenly struck with a desire to smoke a
cigarette.  Knowing it wasn't possible for her to be chemically
addicted yet, Chase smiled, realizing that all the years of wanting to
smoke were worth it.  Her sister asked why she was smiling.

"I'm just excited about seeing my first house."  They arrived at the
house and it was amazing - much bigger then Chase expected, with lots
of space between her property and the next house over, plus trees all
around the property line.  "Nice," Chase thought, "I can smoke
anywhere here and nobody will be able to see." It was even nicer
indoors, and she would have plenty of space.  To her surprise, the
place was already furnished, including a new TV with a dish already
hooked up and activated, a nice desk for her computer with the
internet already wired and ready to go.  It became clear to Chase that
the house was ready to be moved into right away, and the big surprise
was here.

"So, you guys want to get rid of me this bad, huh?" Chase only half
joked.  Although she didn't fight with her parents, she didn't relate
to them.  She even secretly had a blood test done once because she
suspected they weren't her real parents.  They were, which actually
surprised Chase.

Her family loved her but understood that Chase wanted space.  She had
never been a bad kid, just very rogue-like.  She kept to herself.
Chase knew that her family knew this about her, and suspected they
would not visit her at her house often, possibly never, except Joan
who would likely want to hang out with her from time to time.  This
meant Chase would be free to smoke in her house as much as she wanted.
 After returning to her parents' house so she could grab her stuff
(which she could take to her house in one trip), she bid farewell to
her childhood life.

Her parents offered to help her unpack but Chase said she felt it was
important to do it on her own.  The truth was her parents wouldn't
have left otherwise, and she was actually looking forward to having
her first cigarette in eight hours.  "My god, if this is how tough
it's going to be to smoke a cigarette, I'm not going to make it when
I'm addicted," she thought.  Besides, she couldn't allow her mom to
unpack her clothes and discover the smell of smoke on what she was
wearing earlier  Her parents might just cut her off or something.
Chase pleaded with them that it was time to go, because she had to go
meet Kelly.  Her mom gave her a hug and a kiss and her father patted
Chase on the back, then she finally left.  As soon as their car was
out of the driveway, Chase raced to her glove box, pulled out a
cigarette, and began smoking it on her front porch.  "My god, this is
so amazing," she said as she exhaled.

Remembering that it was time to meet Kelly, Chase put out the
cigarette. Instead of changing clothes again, she decided that she
would just meet Kelly with the smell on her.  Kelly was her best
friend, and Chase had planned to make her the first person that she
told.  Chase drove to Kelly's house only to find that she had been
fighting with her parents again and was really in no mood to talk.  If
Chase smelled like smoke, Kelly didn't seem to notice.  After
exchanging goodbyes, Chase left.  She wouldn't see Kelly for four
months.  Kelly's parents were sending her to Europe to 'learn the
world' but in truth both Chase and Kelly knew they just wanted to get
rid of her for a third of a year.

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