Fear Of Flying, Part 9

Fear of Flying
by kalithanatos
CHAPTER NINE

For the next five days, Janet continued to smoke as frequently as her workday
allowed. She would smoke four in her car to and from work and finally came
out to her workmates as a smoker on her first break on Monday morning.
Michelle, Janet and Sarah stopped going to the alley to smoke, instead using
the designated area that all the companies in her building used. This enabled
Janet to make many new friends and she now found herself part of a small
community of committed smokers. At home, with David's encouragement, Janet
found herself smoking one or two cigarettes an hour. Maria, for her part,
never commented on Janet's smoking, and a couple of times Janet caught Maria
staring at her with an almost wistful look in her eyes. Janet did actually
offer Maria a cigarette on a few occasions when Maria looked particularly
stressed about her exams, but Maria politely turned her down and eventually
Janet stopped asking. Saturday rolled around and it was time for the big
dinner party, which Janet had been preparing for and looking forward to all
week.

The guests started arriving at around 5 pm. First, Stacy and Gwen, followed
by Michelle and Sarah, then Fiona and finally, arriving fashionably late like
all models should, Beth. By then, the house was filled with smoke, and as
each guest arrived, they commented on Janet's newfound smoking status. Of
course, with the stress of organising a dinner party, Janet was rarely seen
without a cigarette the whole evening, but even she was eclipsed in her
consumption by Beth, Gwen and Stacy, who seemed to be having some sort of
competition to see who could smoke the most. In particular, Janet was
surprised to see how much Stacy had taken to the habit. For someone who had
just recently started smoking, she seemed to be trying to make up for lost
time, all with her mother's encouragement. Maria was the only lady in the
house not smoking, although bizarrely Gwen and Stacy kept offering her
cigarettes.

The dinner itself went well, and thankfully everyone got on with each other.
New friendships were formed and a great deal of wine and cigarettes were
consumed. Before long, stories were being told, and everyone seemed
particularly fascinated by Beth and her modelling career. Beth, of course,
revelled in the attention she was being given and told tales of the far-flung
places she had visited.

After a while, the conversations drifted to other topics as the fifth bottle
of wine was opened. Yet again, Janet noticed Gwen offering a cigarette to
Maria, this time going as far as putting one down right in front of her.
Maria looked a little flummoxed, and finally Janet called Gwen on it.

"Why do you keep offering cigarettes to Maria, Gwen?" she asked. "You know
she doesn't smoke!"

"Really? You could have fooled me!" Gwen replied, winking at Stacy.

Janet noticed Maria squirming as she asked, "What do you mean?"

"Why don't you ask her?" Gwen asked, gesturing towards Maria.

Maria, looking nervous and sullen, took up the reins as the whole table
suddenly went quiet.

"Well, after what happened on Sunday, I went over to Stacy's on Monday to
study," she began. "Of course, Stacy was smoking as usual, and I decided to
tell her what had happened the previous day when I shared a cigarette with
you, mum. Suddenly, Stacy was tearing out the room to tell Gwen! I had no
choice but to follow her downstairs as Stacy was relaying the story. Of
course, both of them then turned to me and said they didn't believe me! The
next thing I knew, Stacy had lit a cigarette and thrust it towards me,
telling me that she wouldn't believe it `til she saw it with her own eyes.
Not knowing what to do, I took the cigarette from her defiantly and put it in
my mouth. I was wary of how I ended up coughing on Sunday, so I took only a
small drag, but immediately noticed a different taste. I think it's because
they were a stronger brand of cigarette than yours, mum." She looked to Stacy
for confirmation, which she received with a small nod of her head. Maria
continued, "Right away, I felt a more powerful kick, and the head rush that
followed was incredible. I took another drag just to be sure, and again the
head rush came back. It was amazing! I smoked the rest of the cigarette and
really enjoyed it. I hope you're not disappointed, mum?" Maria asked.

"Of course I'm not," Janet responded. "I told you I would support you
whichever decision you made."

Maria looked at the cigarette lying in front of her, as if making a decision.
Finally, she picked it up and held it between her fingers. She looked at her
mother for a sign. Janet obliged, picking up her lighter and passing it to
Maria. Maria put the cigarette in her mouth as everybody looked on, and after
a few seconds sparked the lighter and applied the flame to the tip. She took
a medium inhale, still nervous about smoking in public and especially in
front of her mother, but as no one seemed to mind she gained a little
confidence and took a bigger draw. Maria then continued her story between
drags of her cigarette.

"Well, after that first cigarette with Stacy and Gwen, it became like a game
to them to make me smoke as much as possible. I had another one that night,
but managed for the most part to avoid the pressure to smoke, as much as I
enjoyed the two I had. The next night, I went back to Stacy's to study and
before I had even taken my coat off, Stacy had stuck a lit cigarette in my
mouth. As she already had one for herself, I gave in and smoked it. Much to
my delight, it was better than the two I had on Monday. I decided then to
simply smoke when I felt the urge, and not just every time Stacy and Gwen lit
up. I had four more that night, I think, then six or seven each on Wednesday
and Thursday. On Friday, I took the plunge and bought a packet of twenty and
a lighter for myself. I think I had about ten cigarettes at Stacy's that
evening and even had one in here when you guys went to bed, which made me
nervous as hell about getting caught! And that takes me `til now. I've not
had a cigarette all day, which has made me a bit cranky - I guess that what
cravings feel like." All the women nodded their heads, knowingly. "Anyway,
all of you guys smoking has been driving me crazy all night, and it's not
helped that Gwen and Stacy continually offering me cigarettes since they
walked in the door!"

"Yeah, sorry about that," Stacy said for both her and her mother, "it's just
that you said your mum wouldn't mind you smoking and yet you denied yourself
for no reason."

"Why don't you go and get your cigarettes?" Janet interjected.

"Yeah, then you can finally stop bumming mine!" Stacy winked.

Maria left the table and went to her room to get her cigarettes and lighter.
As she came back, her mother asked, "Which brand do you smoke?"

"Same as Stacy and Gwen - Marlboro 100's."

"I've never tried one of them - do you mind?" Janet asked, pointing at the
packet in Maria's hand.

"Sure, no problem, mum," Maria said, passing a cigarette to her mum. Janet
placed the cigarette in her mouth and asked her daughter, "You got a light?"

Maria smiled at how cool her mum was and lit Janet's cigarette, followed by
one of her own.

"These are really strong," Janet observed, after taking her first drag.

"Yeah, that's why I like them. Your menthols are nice and smooth, but I
really like the powerful kick these give you when you inhale." As if to
emphasize this, she took a large drag and held it in her lungs for as long as
they would allow before exhaling the remaining smoke. Janet followed suit and
was amazed that after only a few days smoking her daughter had the tolerance
needed to perform such a feat, as the smoke really was quite potent. Both of
them continued smoking their cigarettes as everyone else lit up and resumed
chatting to each other, letting the Morris women have a little bonding
session over their Marlboro's.

After they were both done, Janet lit up a menthol while Maria had another
Marlboro.

"I think I'll stick to my own brand - I prefer the minty taste," Janet said.
"But by all means, if you prefer Marlboro's, I'll make sure I'll get you a
carton tomorrow at the shops."

"Really? That would be great!" Maria gushed. "Really, mum, you're the best! I
love you so much!"

Janet replied, "I love you, too, dear. And don't worry about your dad - I'll
square things off with him. Knowing how he feels about my smoking, I'm sure
he won't mind!

And with that, Janet picked up her glass and declared, "A toast! To friends!
And, of course, to smoking, the thing that brought us all together!"

EPILOGUE

The party ended on a high note. All in all, each of the women smoked over
forty cigarettes except Maria, who had a late start and only managed twenty.
The women took each other's numbers and e-mail addresses, and they all became
friends, regularly hosting parties at each other's houses.

A few weeks later, Maria and Stacy passed their exams with flying colours and
ended up sharing a room at university with each other a few months later
(smoking, of course!) Unexpectedly, they also became lovers and eventually
married each other in a civil ceremony the following year. They both
continued to smoke, Maria evening off at around twenty-five a day and Stacy
nearer the forty mark, except of course when they went out, where they were
careful to take at least three packet of cigarettes each with them!

Janet and David continued to lead a fantastic life. Janet eventually became a
partner in her firm and David ended up head of I.T. in his. Janet's smoking
averaged around thirty a day when she was working and forty-fifty at
weekends. Of course, it was a different story in the bedroom, when Janet
could smoke as many as ten more to please David, who never failed to get
aroused when his wife dressed up and lit up for him. Smoking became a ritual
part of their lovemaking, and neither of them grew tired of it.

And all of this came about because of a fear of flying.

THE END

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