Smoke And Mirrors, Part 8

This fictional story contains adult themes and descriptions. If such offends
you, read no further.  All persons and situations depicted are fictional, any
similarities to real persons or events is purely coincidental. All rights
reserved. This story cannot be reproduced without the written prior approval
of the author. You can notify the author at del999@yahoo.com.

Smoke & Mirrors
Part 8: The Gift

Jill had been watching her student very carefully. She was satisfied that
Suzanne would soon reach Jill's fifty cigarette goal. Luckily, Friday was the
day that their schedules allowed them the entire day off.

Jill had continued the charade of substituting the full flavor cigarettes in
the Salem lights pack. With nearly the entire day available, Jill would make
sure that Suzanne would consume a record of number of cigarettes. Every time
that Suzanne would pause from her studies, she would be there offering her
another cigarette. Any type of resistance was well in the past, with Suzanne
now gratefully lighting up at least one cigarette every hour. By 6:00 PM, she
had already smoked ten cigarettes!

Jill was happy about the progress that Suzanne was making. She would take
Suzanne out as a special treat. It would be a reward for her change in
attitude. She said that she would buy. They decided that they would go to
Applebee's, a nearby restaurant where all the college kids frequented. Paula
decided to join them and even offered to give them a ride to the restaurant.
As the car pulled out of the parking lot, all three girls lit up nearly
simultaneously. The car was immediately filled with a smoky haze. Suzanne was
worried that Paula couldn't see the road. Finally Jill suggested that maybe
someone had better open a window before Paula had an accident. All the girls
laughed. Suzanne enjoyed smoking in the car, realizing that it was something
to do to pass the time while they made their way to the restaurant.

During a quiet moment in the car, Jill started to do the mathematics in her
head. If her count was right, Suzanne had just lit up her 50th cigarette of
the week. She knew that Suzanne was about to pass into the next glorious
phase of "needing", not just wanting to smoke. Even if she wanted to quit
now, she knew that Saint Nicotine had already had begun to sink the hook into
this young girl. It would only be a matter of time before the nerve endings
in Suzanne's body would start to want for the nicotine that it had become
accustomed to. She would be sure to be there to continue to feed the beast
that was growing within her.

As they arrived at the restaurant, the waitress handling the seating came up
and said "Smoking or non-smoking?" Before anyone could reply, Suzanne was the
first to respond and proudly said with conviction. "Smoking please." Jill
smiled to herself. The girls were quickly seated. Paula and Jill quickly
pulled out there packs, both offering Suzanne a cigarette at the same time.
Reluctantly, Suzanne said "I think I'll pass right now" recognizing that she
still felt very light headed from all the cigarettes she had smoked over the
last six hours. The girls simply raised their shoulders with looks on their
faces implying that this was her loss. They then lit up their cigarettes.
Suzanne watched the two girls carefully, concentrating on their experienced
styles. They looked so sophisticated smoking. She wondered if she could ever
be as comfortable with her own smoking. She had been only smoking now for 6
days and felt that she had made good progress for just being a beginner.

Suzanne casually scanned the smoking section of the restaurant. There were
many college girls, all smoking of course. She started to pay attention to
each of their styles. She saw a rather unattractive overweight girl, use the
thumb and finger technique, and was reminded how unfeminine it looked. She
casually observed the various brands that all the college students were
smoking. She mentally noted the Marlboro Lights in the white package,
Marlboro's with the deep red and white on the package, Newports, Camels, and
even the odd Salem smoker. She surprised herself, when she realized that she
could recognize what the brands were by simply seeing the color of the pack,
even from this long distance. It must have been all the advertisements that
she had been unconsciously exposed to in the magazines, newspapers and
billboards. Brand recognition, she thought to herself. Surprisingly, she
wondered whether she might pick one to be "her brand."

At the table next to them, she watched as an attractive couple arrived. The
girl was a young red head with long straight thick hair, with freckles that
made her look slightly younger than she really was. Casual but well dressed,
she was a stunning beauty with delicate pale features and perfect makeup.
Suzanne admired the red head's appearance and poise. Her escort was six feet
tall and was dark and handsome. The red head looked as young as Suzanne. A
strange thought came into Suzanne's head. I wonder if she smokes. Jill and
Paula continued to talk about men, as a disinterested Suzanne continued to
watch. It didn't take long before the handsome guy removed a package of Kools
from his pocket. Now was the moment of truth. She waited with anticipation.
Would she, or wouldn't she? He quickly offered her the pack with an extended
cigarette. She grimaced and shook her head back and forth to indicate a no.
Suzanne was somehow disappointed. She actually wanted to see this beautiful
girl smoke. Somehow, she thought it would reinforce her own decision to start
smoking. She continued to watch in anticipation as the red head reached into
her purse. She slowly pulled out a package of cigarettes, with those familiar
green and turquoise stripes. Suzanne smiled as she recognized the package of
VS menthols, her old brand she quipped to herself. As the redhead pulled out
one of her cigarettes, she noticed immediately how much longer it was. The
boyfriend quickly lit his lighter and brought it toward her. They were both
smiling and looking into each other's eyes as she expertly lit the long
cigarette. It seemed so romantic, she thought, wondering whether one day Phil
would do the same for her. They seemed to be so close, sharing this
experience. She had never really seen anyone smoke such a long cigarette, but
she could see how sexy it looked. It certainly looked stylish. The red head
smoked with experience, taking long draws, as she seemed to caress the filter
each time that it met her lips. Her exhales were sensual. s She made sure to
deliberately blow the smoke upwards in a long stream. It almost looked
erotic. Suzanne could see that her boyfriend's eyes never left her each time
she exhaled. Hmmm, she thought, I wonder what those are like. Could she ever
be so bold to smoke such a long cigarette? She made a mental note as she
carefully looked to see what the name on the package said. She carefully read
to herself Virginia Slims Luxury Lights, Menthol 120's. Even the name sounded
appealing, as she repeated it over and over again in her head.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of the food order. The meal was
typical college fare with the other girls ordering burgers and fries. Suzanne
realized that she was not that hungry, and decided to simply have only a
burger, with no cheese. This seemed odd to her, as she always had a good
appetite. She then remembered how Paula had commented that smoking had
allowed her to lose weight. She remembered reading that smoking suppressed
your appetite. After all she had smoked a lot of cigarettes that day. She
tried to count but quickly gave up, thinking oh heck, what difference did it
make? She smiled to herself as she bit into the burger. Maybe her original
negative attitudes to smoking weren't entirely correct. There could be
something to this.

After her second bite, thoughts of an after dinner cigarette began to invade
her mind. That's odd- I've never really had a thought like that before. Oh
well, she would wait. She somehow knew it would be a great way to top off a
meal. Suzanne had just experienced her first subtle craving.

As she had continued to eat her dinner, Suzanne recognized that she felt a
yearning for a cigarette grow inside her. As the girls pushed away their
finished meal, Paula said, smiling, "I know what I need right now. It's time
for dessert." The girls all laughed.

Suzanne gratefully accepted one from Jill, saying "Thanks" Jill heard the
tone of gratitude in Suzanne's voice as she looked longingly at the cigarette
being offered to her. Jill thought that there might have even been a little
twinge of desperation in her tone. She knew what to do. Jill deliberately lit
Paula's first, then proceeded to dawdle as she talked with the unlit
cigarette dangling from her own moving lips. She made sure to let Suzanne
squirm for a while  as her body reminded her of its need to be satisfied with
the nicotine it had slowly become accustomed to . She smiled wickedly to
herself as she continued to stall. She would make her wait so that she could
fully realize how much she wanted that cigarette. A look of apprehension
increased on Suzanne's face. Suzanne, who feeling very edgy, fidgeted with
the unlit cigarette, as Jill continued to ramble on. She let her lighter go
out and continued to talk as her cigarette dangled from her lips. Suzanne
shifted in her seat.

Finally Jill lit her lighter and offered the flame to Suzanne. As she bent
over to reach the flame, Suzanne had consciously emptied all the air out of
her lungs. As the tip of her cigarette waited for the flame to arrive, she
pulled as hard as she could. As the flame met the tip of the cigarette she
continued to pull for at least 3 seconds. She inhaled very deeply wanting to
feel the effect of the thick warm smoke inside her. She then paused, not
wanting to exhale. She could now feel the tense agitated feeling inside her
slowly departing from her body. She nearly forgot to exhale, as only a small
amount of the smoke was finally released through her nose unconsciously,
which had become her own developing style.

Oh the relief, oh the comfort. She recognized almost immediately that she
felt like she had almost needed this cigarette. The thought had concerned
her, but she was not about to worry about it now. What she wanted now was
another deep drag. She indulged herself and proceeded to suck hard and take
another long satisfying drag. It tasted so good.

Her performance did not go unobserved. Jill smiled, as she emphasized. "There
is nothing better than an after dinner cigarette? Right?"

They all nodded in unison. Suzanne continued to nod in agreement while taking
her third successive toe reaching drag.

Jill knew at that moment that Suzanne had just graduated from her second
course. She would no longer require the encouragement of an offered
cigarette. She would now be ready to have her own supply. Jill knew that
Suzanne was about to progress to her third course "Smoking On Your Own" She
knew what she would do next.

They continued to smoke and chat, with Suzanne lighting up with the girls,
only a few minutes after extinguishing her previous cigarette. Suzanne
thought to herself. What has come over me?  I just can't seem to get enough.
After finishing the second cigarette, to her relief she finally felt
satiated. Jill continued to watch her student's behavior out of the corner of
her eye.

After the bill had been paid, Paula said that she had a bunch of things to do
the next day, so that they had better call it a night. Both girls agreed, and
they casually left the emptying restaurant. As they were driving home, Jill
asked Paula if she could stop at the convenience store to pick up some
shampoo. As the other girls didn't need anything, they decided to wait in the
car. Jill quickly found her shampoo, and proceeded to go to the check out
stand. The clerk started to scan her purchase, then said, "Is their anything
else?" Scanning the display case by the register, she spotted what Jill was
looking for. "Yes I think, I'll take one of these slim gold electronic
lighters.," clicking it a few times, seeing how easily it lit and what a
precise flame it gave. "Anything else?" the clerk said. "Yes, give me a pack
of VS 100's Menthol full strength, and a pack of the Benson & Hedges Ultra
Lights Menthols, you know the ones in the gold box." After a little
difficulty, the clerk found the brand, ringing up the purchase. The purchases
were gently  placed into a plastic bag and the bill paid.

Hmmm. Five dollars for the lighter, another four dollars for the cigarettes.
Such a small investment to plant the seeds of addiction into her young
friend. As she walked out of the store, her thoughts continued. These Ultra
lights would be a present to her student. Suzanne would now need to have her
own supply. She would tell Suzanne that she had bought this brand of
cigarettes because Suzanne had expressed concern about getting hooked. This
would increase her trust in Jill. She knew she was already getting cravings.
After seeing her performance at dinner tonight, she knew that Suzanne would
turn to these lighter cigarettes more and more frequently, trying to
replicate the effects of the full flavor cigarettes that she had grown
accustomed to. These cigarettes only had one third the nicotine that the
Salem full flavored had. Poor, Suzanne. She would have to smoke a pack and a
half of these to replicate the effect of her usual ten Salems a day. This
would inevitably lead to an increase in the frequency of her daily
consumption. Sometimes, you have to take a little step backward to take the
next big step forward, she thought. She would let nature take its course. She
knew that eventually, Suzanne would get back to the full strength cigarettes,
but that would appear to be her choice. She had done this with many of her
previous students, and it had always worked like a charm. The trick was to
get smoking ingrained into Suzanne's daily life. She would learn to take long
cheek hollowing drags to try to get more nicotine from these ultra light
cigarettes. They would be a good transition and a good lesson for her new
student.

Paula dropped the girls off at the apartment. Jill remained silent about her
purchase, wanting to surprise Suzanne. As they kicked off their shoes and
entered the apartment, Jill said to Suzanne, "Come over here. I have a
present for you."

Jill seated herself on the couch with her gifts still in the bag on the
coffee table in front of her. She thought to herself, this was where she had
taught Suzanne to smoke her first cigarette. It just seemed appropriate that
it would be the place where she would receive her very first pack of her own
cigarettes.

"What's the occasion?" Suzanne said curiously.

"Well," Jill continued, "Tonight I saw you smoke the way I do, and I am
really proud of you."  Jill said as she presented the slim gold lighter to
her. "It's sort of like a graduation present. That way you can use your own
lighter to light up whenever you want." Suzanne reminded herself how anxious
she had become waiting for Jill to finally light her cigarette.

Suzanne was quite embarrassed but excited. "Go ahead! Try it." Jill said.

Suzanne pushed the button on the lighter as it produced a silentand precise
flame. "Oh, this looks really nice and it lights so easily. I hope that it
wasn't too expensive?" Suzanne said meekly.

"Nah! It's no big deal. I also bought you these," as she handed her the
matching gold package of Benson & Hedges Ultra Lights Menthols. "You can't be
going around bumming cigarettes from everyone. It's embarrassing." she
laughed.

Suzanne laughed too. "I guess you're right. Thanks." Suzanne said rather
apologetically.

"Here's my thinking." Jill continued. "Since our talk a while back, you've
been a good sport about smoking and I can see that you have been giving it a
real try and I appreciate that. I know you still believe in all that bull
shit about how addictive cigarettes are, so I thought that it would be better
if you had your own brand to smoke. These ultra lights are quite light.
They're not to my taste, but I think you'll like them since you're still
learning. You see a lot of girls smoking this brand. Don't you think the
package looks rich and elegant?"

"Yes" Suzanne admitted. "They do look classy."

"Now you won't have to smoke Paula's and my stronger cigarettes." she said as
she pulled out her package of full flavor VS 100's. "I will have more of
these delicious beauties for myself," she said with a broad grin.

Jill continued, "This way, whenever you want to have a cigarette, you can
help yourself. How does that sound?" Jill said with a wise but concerned tone
of voice.

"Yeah, that seems to make a lot of sense." Suzanne nodded.

Suzanne reached over and gave Jill a big hug.

Suzanne blurted out. "You're the best roommate a girl could ever have," she
said, beaming. Jill blushed with this demonstration of affection.

"Well, it has been a long day, I'm so bushed, I couldn't even smoke another
cigarette," Jill said laughingly. "Tomorrow, we'll see what you think of
`your' cigarettes," she said sleepily. "But can you promise me one thing?"
Jill said her voice getting low and serious.

Suzanne wasn't sure, what was coming next. Hopefully it wouldn't be some kind
of challenge to smoke the whole pack in one day or something like that?

"Promise me now that now you have your own lighter, you won't burn down the
apartment." The girls laughed in unison. "I'll be careful, I promise, Jill."
Suzanne said. Jill got up and started to walk to her bedroom.

Suzanne added, "And one more thing," Jill paused by her bedroom door
wondering what Suzanne might say.

"I want to thank you for being so patient with me all week over this smoking
thing. I want you to know how much I appreciate your friendship. I'll keep my
promise to you. I won't let you down," Suzanne said solemnly.

As Jill slowly turned her back and smiled she said slowly "I know you won't,
Suzanne, I know you won't."

Jill slipped in between the covers and lay in her bed feeling quite
confident. With Suzanne now having her own "ultra light cigarettes" she knew
that she would now be able to satisfy her frequent need. She had planned to
give Suzanne and her new cigarettes the entire day together by themselves.
She would take inventory when she returned later that night. She knew what
Suzanne's reaction would be to the ultra lights. She would soon want to move
back to the full flavored cigarettes that she had learned to enjoy. It was
all falling into place. With that thought, she turned over and fell into a
contented sleep.

Suzanne was excited, as she prepared for bed. What a nice thing for Jill to
do. She had misjudged her. She really was her friend and was looking out for
her best interests. The ultra lights sounded like a good idea. She carefully
placed her lighter and cigarettes on the night table where she would easily
find them in the morning. She admired how pretty they were. Again, that
feeling that she had had after dinner that evening started to return. She
clicked the lighter a few times in the darkened room. It was so sleek and
sexy, she thought, as it lit effortlessly and so quietly every time. A small
craving began to develop inside her. Maybe I should try one now, she thought
mischievously. No. That wouldn't be right. Would it? She would control
herself. She would open the pack tomorrow and have one of `her' cigarettes
with Jill as soon as she awakened in the morning. She wasn't sure whether it
was the excitement of the day's events, but she had difficulty falling to
sleep that night. As her mind wandered, she eventually fell off to sleep. She
again dreamed the same dream that she had had a few nights ago. She scanned
the room looking for Jill, but this time she was nowhere to be found. This
time, at the table where she had seen the blonde girl smoking, the redhead
was now seated. She again was smoking those extra long cigarettes. She turned
to look at Phil, and all she could see was the flame from his lighter. She
slowly lifted her own cigarette to her lips and was surprised to see one of
those long cigarettes held between her own carefully manicured and painted
nails. It made her look so sexy, she thought to herself. Phil's eyes were
literally riveted on her. As she exhaled a long plume of smoke, enjoying the
satisfying minty taste of her cigarette, she glanced down at the table where
she and Phil were seated. She slowly read the label on the package by her
elbow. It read "Virginia Slims Luxury Lights Menthol 120's." A satisfied
smile slowly appeared on her lips. She continued to sleep and breathe deeply,
imagining she was smoking. She sighed as she turned over and fell into a deep
and contented sleep.

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