Sisterhood Of The Smoker Babes, Part 10

Writers Note---Those that enjoy a good science fiction story know that they
need to suspend their beliefs of the real world and allow for the possibility
of things that are out of the ordinary. You will need to do that when you
read this story. With that being said, while the science fiction stuff is
mostly a product of my imagination, many of the smoking scenes are in fact
based on real encounters and sightings that I've experienced throughout
my life. Some have been modified to fit the context of the story but others
remain mostly intact as they actually occurred. Lastly, when reading this I
suggest that you pay attention to the timeline as it is critical to how
you'll draw your conclusions over the story's ending. My email address is
hotelcalifornia14@hotmail.com if you wish to discuss or comment on the story.
I hope you have as much fun reading this as I did writing it.


          SISTERHOOD OF THE SMOKER BABES-THE SMOKING WAR CHRONICLES

CHAPTER 10 - April 10, 1979 - Second Chance

    For once the Trav didn't betray me. It didn't put me in the proximity of
vicious Germen sheppards, or on-coming cars, or in the middle of someone
having sex as it did once with me and Cameron. This time it put me exactly
where I needed to be. April 10, 1979 at 2:45 pm. My jump landed me right
outside at the door leading to the quadrangle at my old high school. The
quadrangle, or quad as it was called, was a three sided enclave of open
grassy space created by the odd shape of the school building. Back in the
seventies it was used as the smoking area where all the teenagers who smoked
went outside to feed their nicotine addictions in between classes.  After
school it was mostly empty, the only exception might be someone using it as a
shortcut to get to the athletic fields and locker rooms. I looked at my
watch. If I'd remembered the time correctly she should be appearing any
minute. 

    I waited patiently. The day was exactly as I'd remembered it, an early
spring day in the high fifties. It was a bit chilly because of some wind, but
having a day in the high fifties after a long New England winter seemed like
basking in the Florida sunshine. I lit a cigarette unconsciously. I wasn't
nervous really but I was feeling some anticipation and excitement about
reliving this moment. 

    "Hi, whoa, what are you doing smoking!" 

    I snapped out of my daydream and realized that I had tripped myself up a
bit. I didn't smoke in high school. I was the typical jock and although I was
beginning to pay a bit of attention to females that smoked back then, I had
absolutely no idea of the existence of something called the smoking finish. I
had the reputation of a clean cut sports nut and yet there I was sticking out
like a sore thumb in my 18 year old body dangling a cigarette between my
fingertips as Erin Williams looked on incredulously. So much for remaining
inconspicuous. 

    She looked just like I remembered her. Her hair was shorter than in 1976,
it was now shoulder length. She was a bit taller but thinner; she wasn't fat
when she was younger but by '79 as she approached her graduation she was
turning into a gorgeous young woman. She still had a certain girl next door
look, the freckles on her face accentuated this, and she was still into
sixties fashion but make no mistake, Erin Williams had transformed from a
girl to a woman between 1976 and 1979. 

    She was wearing her gold trimmed dark blue cheerleader jacket with a
large gold 'W' implanted on her chest. Underneath her jacket was her blue and
white cheerleader jersey; I knew this because she had her gold and blue
uniform shorts on. There was a spring soccer game in about a half hour where
she would be cheering. 

    "Hellooo, you-who, earth to Michael," she said, "I didn't know you
smoked!" She was looking at me with a truly astonished look on her face. 

    I needed to think fast. When I lived this encounter the first time, sans
me smoking a cigarette, nerves got the best of me and because of this, our
encounter ended after our walk across the quad. 

    "Well, I didn't know you were following me!" I said. "You're not stalking
me are you?" 

    My cocky comeback surprised her and she laughed. We weren't more than
casual acquaintances in high school and didn't know each other well. We had a
few peripheral friends in common but aside from that our interactions were
usually nothing more than an occasional greeting in the hallway. She laughed
at my stalking comment, however. 

    "I'm not stalking you, silly, I just wasn't expecting to find you smoking
when I opened the door." she said. 

    "Oh, so now you have expectations of me?" I said with a hint of a
flirtatious tone. She could tell there was something different in the way I
was acting but couldn't figure out exactly what. She reached in her pocket
and pulled out a Kool cigarette from her pack and dangled it from her mouth.
She was reaching for her lighter but I beat her to the punch. 

    "Thanks!" she said. "I really needed one. Man, I had trigonometry last
period and I thought I was gonna crawl outta my skin," she said as smoke
billowed out of her mouth. We started to walk across the quad as we did when
I was a kid, the only difference this time was that I had a cigarette as
well. 

    "You should have just excused yourself and said that you needed to go
smoke a cigarette and that you'd be back in five minutes," I said. 

    She burst out laughing. "Oh my god, I could see Donovan's face. He'd be
like 'Miss Williams, show some respect and you can ABSOLUTELY not leave my
class to go have a cigarette'." She then double pumped as if in triumph and
blew her smoke straight up in the air.

    "And you could have said, 'Mr. Donovan, go fuck yourself, I am going out
for a cigarette and any of my friends that want to smoke can come out with me
to have one'." 

    She giggled, "Oh man, his face would get so red it would explode!" Then
she turned serious. "So really, you didn't answer my question, when did you
start smoking?" 

    I decided to give her an answer loosely based on the truth. I told her
that both my parents smoked and it made me curious so I tried it at thirteen.
I then told her that I'd have one every now and then but didn't really start
until a month or so ago. Then I told a white lie about just getting out of a
stressful English test and feeling like I needed one. 

    "That's cool," she said. "I smoke 'cause I'm stressed sometimes, I mean
so much goin' on with graduation and college an' stuff it just relaxes me and
makes me feel good. Aside from that, I smoke just because I like smoking;
makes me feel cool 'n stuff." 

    "Yeah, I know what you mean," I replied. And then I couldn't help myself.
Things were going so good so far so I figured I'd press my luck.  "So, jjwhen
did you start anyway, I mean you've been smoking awhile right?' 

    "Oh what, now you're the one stalking me now," she said with a grin. I
started to say something but she kept going. "When I was thirteen, no wait, I
was twelve I think, I don't even remember, I've been smoking for like
forever." 

    I tried to remain calm but it was going to be an effort to keep my
emotions under control. I had to. By this point we had reached the end of the
quad and were out in the open. An outdoor basketball court was to our right
and further down on the right away from the school were the athletic fields.
The locker room, where I was supposed to be heading was on the left. We'd
already extinguished our cigarettes before entering the open area. It seemed
the encounter was ending, just as it had the first time. 

    Suddenly she grabbed my hand. "Wait, come with me!" Before I knew it she
was pulling me back towards the quad area but this time took me around the
corner behind the east wing of the school which obscured us from the athletic
complex. "I'm gonna have one more. The soccer game's like two hours and me
and Liz will sneak off and have one at half time but I'm usually in mad crave
phase by then." 

    We sat down against the wall, our shoulders up against each other, and
lit our cigarettes and began talking about normal high school stuff, such as
other kids, current classes, teachers, dances, and our upcoming graduation.
I again was pleasantly surprised how long forgotten details came back to me
so easily. 

    "Hey, so how come we aren't friends anyway?" she said right after
dragging on her Kool. I waited and watched her creamy exhale before I
answered. 

    "I don't know, I think it was because you always hung with the bitchy
kids," I joked. 

    She hit my arm. "Stop it, no really, we've gone to the same school
together for like six years and we barely know each other, why is that
anyway?" 

    This seemed to be an opening. I began pushing heavily on the door.
"Well, there's still two months of school left. Will you pleeeeeze be my
friend Erin?" I pleaded sarcastically but with a grin on my face. 

    "You're crazy," she said hitting my arm again. Her cigarette was nearly
down to the filter. She looked at it, I thought I saw a tinge of
disappointment on her face. She hit the cigarette one last time and
mistakenly blew her smoke in my face. "Oops, sorry!" she said. 

    "It's ok." I said as we stood up, still leaning up against the building.
"Hey if we're friends now then we need each other's numbers because friends
call each other on the phone right?" 

    "Yeah" she said, "absolutely. I mean if my car ran out of gas or
something and I needed to call you I would need to know what your number is." 

    I took out a piece of paper, tore it in half and we wrote our phone
numbers down and handed them to each other. We started walking towards the
locker room saying nothing. "Here," she said, reaching into her pocket and
handing me a piece of gum while putting one in her mouth as well. "Can't go
into track practice smelling like cigarettes, your coach might think I'm
corrupting you or something."

    "Yeah, he'd be like 'stay away from that evil Erin girl'." I said and she
flashed a smile. 

    We were inside the building, in front of the boys locker room door, the
girls locker room was further down the hallway. "Well I'll see you around
tomorrow," she said. 

    "Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow, probably in the quad," I said. 

    She took two steps to start walking away and then suddenly pirouetted and
pulled me up against her and started kissing me. Her quick action caught me
off guard but I remained in the moment and kissed her back. As we kissed, I
could still taste the remnants of the two recently smoked Kools despite the
strawberry bubble gum she was chewing. 

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