Hunting Vampires, Part 2

Hunting Vampires - II

   Where was Tobacco Trail. It was one of a number of tobacco stores that
Lisa's friend Mr. Singh- to this day she didn't know his first name- owned.
There was no chance he'd be here today- he was never actually here anymore.
But that didn't mean that she couldn't find some help.
   They paused just outside the entrance to the mall. Mark looked at the bright
red graphic stuck on the door glass. A burning cigarette with a red circle
around it and a line drawn through it. He had a feeling that he was going to
start loathing that sign.
   Lisa put a fresh cigarette between her lips and lit it casually.
   "Lisa-"
   "There are times," she said, blowing smoke over head, "where you'll learn to
ignore that stupid little sign. The tobacco shoppe is just inside the mall
here, and you can smoke there. In fact, the smoking law isn't really enforced
anywhere inside this mall- Mr. Singh is the controlling interest landlord- he
owns almost two-thirds of the floor space in the mall."
   Mark held the door open for Lisa, who inhaled again. She waited to exhale
until she was well down the corridor, and she spread more smoke in a wide arc
around them. Three teenage girls walking towards the door saw Lisa with
cigarette in hand and stopped walking. As they passed the girls, all three
opened their small purses and extracted packs of cigarettes. The scene
unfolded in slow-motion cinevision. Mark saw the brands. Marlboro Lights
100s, Salem 100s, and VS 120s. All three girls smiled at them and lit their
cigarettes as if encouraged by Lisa.
   Mark made eye contact with the well-endowed blonde smoking the 120. She
pulled it from between her lips with serious flair, smiled at him, and gently
pushed smoke from her petite, perfect nose. She was wearing an oversized
Moncford High letter jacket which was undeniable sexy and her face- she
reminded him of someone from a long time ago.
   Lisa tugged at Mark's arm and he broke the contact unwillingly.
   "It's like a whole world has opened up for you, isn't it ?"
   His beeper tingled and he stopped to look at it.
   "The office," he said. He used the excuse of digging for his cell phone to
find the young smoker's eyes.
   They were a startling Jamaica sea water blue. He could almost see the white
sand in their bright, youthful depths. The girls were frozen in place now,
letting the blonde flirt with Mark as he dialed the number. Lisa decided to
allow it because the more of this sort of exposure he got now, the easier
things would be later on.
   He was struck by the how perfectly the long cigarette complimented the
girl's look. She wasn't tall, which made the cigarette itself more
spectacular. She was holding it down by her waist, the long white tube
burning hot in the still mall air. Knowing what he wanted to see, she lifted
it to her mouth again and wrapped her lips- perfect without lipstick or
gloss- around the filter. The inhale was audible from twenty feet away.
   It was long and measured.
   He noticed she was holding a box of cigars in her free hand and suddenly he
found himself wishing he was to be the recipient of that gift.
   As if reading his mind, Lisa said "They could be for her, Mark. Do you want
to forget Mindi and see if you can-"
   His eyes felt glazed and detached as he looked at his long-time friend, who
looked marvelous on her own as she enjoyed a sensuous inhale on her Marlboro
Light 100. A new world indeed. What switch had been turned off in his brain
that he'd been missing this ?
   No,  he thought.  Denying this.  It had always been there, hadn't it, since
that day he'd first seen Amy with a long white cigarette pressed between her
lips, making him forget about her perfect breasts or the shapely legs that he
could see even when she was wearing a long skirt. All of which had paled in
comparison to what he'd gotten to know about her as a person that summer.
   "No. Sorry."
   "Mark ?"
   He looked at Lisa, who was combining nose and mouth exhale in a way he now
realised had always been peculiarly hers. It was gorgeous. So was the blonde
girl with the long cigarette and the cigar box. But neither of them were
talking to him.
   "Tamara ?"
   "You called me, Mark. Are you okay ?"
   "Actually," he said, smiling- but not for the benefit of his administrative
assistant or his old friend, "you beeped me."
   "Yeah. I know I said that I wouldn't have the new accounting system
estimates finished until Monday, but the landscape has changed. The accserver
crashed this afternoon while they were doing the AccPac month end."
   "And you didn't call me ?" Mark asked angrily. Amasingly, he found his
attention still taken by the beautiful blonde girl, who had the most
wonderful way of expanding her breasts as she inhaled. It made him wonder if
she was in the high school choir, which was a weird thought. Her exhale was
so monstrous that he almost dropped the phone. 
   "No. You're brilliant, after all."
   Lisa wondered why Mark suddenly blushed, but she passed that off as an
affect of his flirtation. She gave him something else to look at and his eyes
were drawn to her own inhale. For the first time in his life, he noticed that
Lisa wasn't wearing a bra. The cool air-conditioned mall air, now heavy with
her smoke, must have been having that effect on her nipples.
   He was half in nirvana and half terrified that his dad was going to be
furious he'd taken the afternoon off.
   "What do you mean ?"
   "I mean that your dynamically refreshed backup server came up immediately.
It took half an hour but they got all that damn DOS data back. If they
hadn't, I would have called you."
   He heard the tell-tale snickt of a lighter. His dad owned the building that
now housed Gigantium International- what a stupid name, even if it had been
his dad's idea- so there was no no smoking policy anywhere in the building.
But out of respect to her non-smoking boss, Tamara never smoked in the office
if he was there. He had a feeling that with the obvious stress she must have
been under this afternoon, she'd been smoking Marlboro 100s all afternoon. He
could see her twenty-one year old face now, the smooth young brow creased
with the same worry that he often saw the days she had night-school exams.
   "Did the backup run after that ?"
   "Yes, but the primary server is fried. Helena looked at it and confirmed
what you've been saying for two months. It's fried. She said something about
how it crashed like a stock car driver with a broken tie rod, whatever that
is."
   "So, how does this simplify the proposal ?"
   "Your dad cored Mike a new asshole about holding up your proposal based on
what he called platform bigotry."
   He could hear Tamara pull on her cigarette and while he was listening to
that sound, he managed to do something unique to his experience. He split his
vision along two separate lines. In one he could see the unnamed blonde take
another long, satisfy drag on the slim, elegant 120. In the other he watched
Lisa do the same. Although her cigarette was half gone and much shorter than
the girl's, he found both displays compelling.
   "So, it's 20 9600/233's. By when ?"
   "Monday, 5 pm. With all the data ported over to the new DB by Friday, 3 pm
for the week ending."
   "You didn't tell them I can have the data ported over by Wednesday, did you
?"
   Tamara actually laughed, and broke into a fair imitation of Mr. Scott. "I
dinna ken if I can dooo it, Captain ? I'm not a miracle worker."
   "Thanks, Tamara. Why don't you fax the proposal over to me at home and we'll
meet in the morning."
   "I already tried. I think that damn old paper fax machine of yours is out of
paper again. You should start taking your phone messages on your
workstation."
   "Can you drop it off ?" He looked at Lisa. "Five-thirty ?" he said,
questioning both of them. Lisa nodded. Tamara confirmed this would be fine.
The young blonde flashed him another smile.
   It was too much at once for Mark. If this was a new world, he'd found it by
leaping off an high cliff and he was in free fall. Then understanding finally
hit him. There was nothing wrong with watching any number of beautiful women
smoke. He'd been standing here feeling guilty about the fact that while his
interest was in Mindi he was also flirting with some girl who probably still
had a year of her life left worrying about homework.
   That was silly. Oh no. He was planning to do plenty of looking, and come to
think of it, he spent eight hours a day in a smoking-friendly environment-
suddenly having a mom and dad who smoked and owned the family business lock,
stock, and building seemed perfect- with a very attractive smoker.
   "One other thing ? Can you have one of those marvelous executive ashtrays
built into my desk this afternoon."
   "What ?" Tamara said, sounding downright excited.
   "One of those white gold ashtrays with the platinum banding. Remember, I'm
left handed-"
   "So I'll have it put on the right corner of your desk. That way you can
write and smoke at the same time. But what-"
   "My friend Lisa finally helped me see the light- or the lighter. I'll want
it there for our morning meeting."
   He could hear the grin in his assistant's voice. "Cigars or cigarettes ?"
she asked, genuinely interested.
   "Well, I'll start with cigarettes," he said.
   There was disappointment in her voice as she spoke. "Your dad will be
disappointed, I think."
   So will I, her voice said.
   "Well, maybe I'll give that a try at some point, if I can find someone
willing to teach me-"
   "Anytime," Tamara said brightly, surprising her supervisor greatly.
   He cut the connection.
   "I'll need 20 workstations by 9 am Monday and your help with the installs.
Can you handle that ?"
   "It'll cost you-" Lisa said.
   "How much ?"
   "Dinner at Le Chart."
   "Jesus," he said mockingly. "Why not a new Lexus ?"
   "Dinner. In the smoking section."
   He agreed as they walked over to the sand bin and Lisa put out her
cigarette. He thought it a little strange that they still had ashtrays or
whatever you called it in a no-smoking mall. Of course, he waited while, as
expected, Lisa lit another cigarette.
   They walked into the Tobacco Trail. The store was huge, almost like the
front of an anchor store. There were plenty of people milling around, mostly
women in their young twenties. While most were smoking cigarettes- Marlboro
Lights 100s seemed to be the brand of choice, some were very happily smoking
cigars. The place was a pleasant smelling haze of dozens of types of tobacco
smoke.
   There was no sign, however, of any tobacco. There was a juice bar to the
left, and to the right was the sort of knick-nack area Mark had come to
associate with the tobacco shoppe. Watches, leather cases, curious of a more
refined nature filled the case. There were a number of young men and women,
all in white t-shirts, all smoking cigars or cigarettes, serving customers.
   Lisa cut through the crowd, speaking over her shoulder.
   "This place is packed every day. All the mall workers come here to smoke."
   "I can see," Mark said. He saw any number of worthwhile sights but none
quite like the young blonde girl. He filed the imagery from that away for
later- pleasant- dissection.
   They walked into the shoppe proper. There were four people behind the
counter and about two dozen milling around, many of them sampling a variety of
 tobacco products. But Mark's attention was arrested by a medium-height
redhead with a dynamic face and sparkling green eyes. She was patiently
working a long, medium-ring, or so he thought, cigar. She had the burning tan
cigar perched between her lips and her eyes were actually closing as she
inhaled. The enjoyment was obvious and intoxicatingly infectious. She looked
at Lisa and smiled.
   They walked straight over to her and the woman's face brightened.
   "Lisa. Cool. I was just thinking about you."
   They smiled at one another like old friends.
   "Can we-"
   "Sure." She lifted a thick wooden gate and ushered them into a private room
with looked like a smoking den except for the Powerbook sitting on the desk
in the corner. She motioned for them to sit in twin plush leather chairs
almost as nice as her own.
   "What can I do for you two ? Cubans ?"
   "No, you know that's my style, Josephine. This is Mark. He's thinking about
taking up smoking, but it's a special case."
   As Josephine spoke, bluish cigar spoke trailed from her mouth. She held the
cigar in an impossibly feminine way.
   Mark admitted on the spot- silently- that he'd been an idiot for most of the
last twenty-four years.
   "Let's see. You're twenty-three or twenty-four. So this has to be about a
woman, right ?"
   Mark glanced at Lisa suspiciously as if this might be a set-up. Of course,
if it was, he didn't care.
   "Mindi, actually."
   "Our Mindi ?"
   "Yeah," Lisa said.
   "So, Mark ? You want Mindi to notice you. Well, Lisa did the right thing to
bring you here." She looked at Lisa. "If I remember, Mindi prefers men who
smoke something different ? Something unique."
   Lisa nodded. "I couldn't come up with anything."
   "Export A's. The box alone will intrigue her. Of course, you can't just buy
them anywhere, but that's not why I'm suggesting them. You'll catch her eye
with those, Mark. My promise as a tobacco shoppe owner. Both of them. Lisa,
pour us some brandy and I'll be right back."
   She was as good as her word. She came back almost immediately and handed
Mark a long, slim white box of the canadian cigarettes.
   "Are you the co-owner ?" Mark asked, obviously surprised.
   "Don't look so shocked."
   "But you're hardly our age," he said, studying the white box.
   "I'm not," Josephine said happily. "I'm just turning 21 today. When I was
eighteen, my grandfather died. He left me, well, more money than I could
spend. Mr. Singh and I were good friends by then- you get to know someone
when they are teaching you the finer points of cigar smoking. I told him
about my sudden prosperity and- I'll never forget it. He's such a sweet man.
He said that I had the perfect combination of charm and capital. Given that I
was already halfway through college and doubting that I wanted to be clinical
psychologist, I put my money were my mouth is, and-"
   "Let me guess. Vassar, right ? You were there when Lisa and Mindi were."
   "She was there more than us," Lisa said. "She started at 17 and went summers
and got her degree in three years. But her heart was never in it."
   "Exactly," Josephine said. "Please, Mark. It's time you joined us."
   He slugged the brandy first, lighting a fire in his innards.
   It was over quickly. Before he knew what he was doing, he was smoking.
   Or the cigarette was. He pulled a baby inhale into his mouth, sampled the
taste. It was different. He'd snuck a pull of Lisa's cigarette in the car but
this wasn't the same. It was richer.
   He liked it. He looked at Lisa and saw that she liked the look as well, and
that was a start.
   "Excellent," Josephine said, pulling on her cigar. She exhaled and washed
the taste down with the brandy.
   "Now try inhaling," Lisa teased. She was slightly worried about this part.
It was what you always worried about with a new smoker. Would his virgin
lungs rebel ? Would he shoot a mouthful of smoke into his stomach and gag ?
   None of those things happened. Instead, he pulled on the cigarette in a
conservative fashion, his eyes swelling as the smoke slipped down his throat.
She could tell right away that he was enjoying the sensation. "Ohmigod," he
said. "You've known this since you were fourteen ?" he asked Lisa,
bewildered.
   "I tried to tell you, Mark. A bunch of times."
   "Don't feel bad, Mark. I was sixteen," Josephine said. "But if I'd had a
friend as pretty as Lisa here, I might have gotten the message sooner. I'll
have someone bring out enough of those to keep you busy for a few weeks,
Mark."
   "Before you do that, I need a box of cigars," Lisa said.
   "I thought you didn't-"
   "I don't. But I have a friend who is starting. A female friend."
   Josephine held out the cigar she was smoking. "This is from a little
plantation in Virginia. A designer blend. Designed for women. It's not in the
marketplace yet, but I can spare a box for a customer like you."
   "Make it two," Mark chimed in.
   "Mark-" Lisa chided. "One thing at a time."
   "They're for Tamara. I own her for this afternoon."
   Josephine nodded. "I can spare two. I'll be right back."
   Lisa watched Mark's inhale. It was deeper. More satisfactory. Not a smoker's
inhale, but closer.
   "I see you're going to be a quick student."
   Mark nodded, and exhaled from his nose. Quick indeed.

   The doorbell rang at five twenty-nine.
   Mark paused long enough to light another cigarette.
   Saying that he liked the taste or the way it made his throat feel would have
been an exaggeration.
   On the other hand, the way it made him feel-
   Lisa said that the taste, which was hardly unpleasant, would grow on him.
That the roughness of his throat would fade in a few days, but that he was
better off getting a good night's sleep to relieve the stress.
   Tamara was standing there in jeans and a New England Patriots t-shirt,
smoking a Marlboro 100. Her long brunette hair was pulled back into a tight
pony tail and she was wearing large dark sunglasses. With her backpack slung
over her back, she looked every bit the college student she was three nights
a week. 
   She pursed her lips tightly and pushed smoke between them, a tight stream of
expanding smoke that broke a few inches in front of him. Her face tilted down
slightly and she saw the Export A in his hand.
   Her smile was genuine and infectious.
   "It's true. I can't believe it."
   "Come on in, Tam. Why can't you believe it ?"
   "People don't start smoking at twenty-four, that's all."
   They sat down next to one another on the couch, and for the first time Mark
noticed how nice his assistant smelled. There was a mix of shampoo, light
musk, and smoke with he found very pleasant. He understood that there had
been a lot of things he wasn't noticing, and vowed that would stop.
   She was sweating lightly- he seemed to remember her car didn't have
air-conditioning- and the sheen on her forehead was enticing.
   "Well, I did. And I have a present for you."
   She'd put her cigarette in her mouth and was holding it there while she dug
the upgrade proposal from her pack. The cigarette looked right in her mouth.
He didn't particularly like the cork-coloured tip, but then again, perhaps
that was something they could work on.
   He traded her the box of cigars for the paperwork.
   "I've heard about these," she fairly cooed. "Exports A's, and these cigars-
which aren't even on the market yet- you must have gone to the Tobacco
Trail."
   "Yeah. How'd you know ?"
   "I smoke a few cigars a week, maybe. Once a month or so I take a ride out
there. Josephine finds the most amasing things, and she always knows what you
want. It's eerie."
   "You seem to be happy that I'm smoking," he said off-handedly as he looked
over the proposal, which Tam had made very readable. He wanted to get used to
telling people that he was a smoker now, and having a receptive audience sure
made it easier.
   "Well, I haven't smoked in the office because you didn't. I get real cranky
some days. Sometimes when five-thirty comes I feel like I owe you an apology
for being short with you."
   "I hadn't noticed," Mark lied. The truth was, not only had he noticed, but
he'd come very close on more than one occasion to telling his assistant to go
and have a smoke. But she hardly ever took a break during the day, and the
truth was, there was no one to take them with. Almost everyone at Gigantium
smoked right at their desk, whenever they pleased.
   "I never asked you not to smoke, Tam."
   "I was being polite."
   "You should have asked me," he said. "Hell, you should have asked me why I
didn't smoke."
   "I thought you knew," she said.
   "No. I never thought about it."
   "Why the change ?" she asked, taking a long pull on her cigarette at the end
of the question. He matched it, finding that on his fifth cigarette he was
already learning how to inhale properly. By seven tonight-
   "Lust," he said. "You know Lisa's friend Mindi-"
   "The school teacher ?" she asked. Was that disappointment in her voice ?
   "Yeah. She's- well, Lisa told me she only dates men who smoke-"
   "A sound policy."
   "Would you like some wine ? This proposal looks great, but I'll need to
review the numbers after I get home tonight."
   "Where are you going ?"
   "MacCleary's. What about you ?"
   "The same. I'm meeting Donna and Joan from sales and a few people from
Kiley's. Actually, I need to get going. It's a long drive home and I need to
take a shower. As it is, I'll never get there on time. Why I took an
apartment so far out of town-"
   An idea was forming. Mark had been disappointed when Lisa had begged off
going to MacCleary's with him, and he didn't want to go alone. He also felt
bad about pranging up Tam's plans.
   "Unless you were hoping to change, you can shower here. That way you'll have
plenty of time. I don't want to be responsible for making you late."
   "I'll take that glass of wine, then. And do you mind if I try one of these
cigars ?"
   "No. Not at all. Josephine was smoking one when we met with her. It had a
very nice aroma."
   "I imagine. She only smokes the best of the best."
   Mark walked into the kitchen and pulled his best bottle of white from the
fridge. It had been chilling for about an hour and was perfect. Twenty-four
hours ago he knew he would have been standing here in the kitchen thinking-
and thinking and thinking- about what he was doing. He thought back to how
nervous he'd been today at lunch and-
   It was like that person was gone.
   He filled both glasses like he was pitcher pouring beer and carried them
halfway across the kitchen. Then he went back and took the bottle as well.
   Tam had the cigar going nicely by the time he returned. The living room was
full of cigar smoke but he found that not only did he not mind, but he was
glad for it.
   His small house now had the smell of a smoker's residence.
   It was an homey smell.
   Despite the fact that Josephine had looked quiet feminine smoking a cigar,
he'd expected to be a little turned off seeing petite little Tam smoking a
cigar. This was not the case at all. In fact, it was having quite the
opposite effect and for a moment he forgot completely about Mindi. He was
thinking about how someone who'd he'd kept at arm's length for the last nine
months now shared something with him- or more precisely, he shared something
with her.
   It was going to make that seven am trip into the office something to look
forward to.
   Tam drained the glass in two long gulps.
   "Wow. That's amasing."
   "It's a private french label. My mother has relatives in the south of
France. They have a little vineyard."
   "They should get a bigger one. Do you mind ?" She held the glass out with
the same hand that was holding the cigar and he found himself turned on. He
was going to have to watch this. Now that the floodgates were open, it seemed
that he was surrounded by beautiful women who turned him on with their
smoking. That girl in the mall, Mindi, Amy, Tam. Lisa.
   Where did that come from ?   he wondered.
   He poured her more wine and then lit one of the exports.
   "It's funny. You're a few years behind, but you started with the same
cigarettes."
   Mark decided he could go for another story about someone starting to smoke-
it was the topic of the day, after all.
   "When was that ?"
   "I was fourteen. dad got a two year job as a consultant for a greater
Montreal bank. Mom and dad always smoked and by then my older sister Giselle
did as well. We'd been there about a month and- well, all my friends smoked,
my family smoked. In Quebec there's no laws about age. I just walked into a
little store on Rue St. Anne and asked for a pack of Export A's. The woman
behind the counter handed them over, told me the price in French, and took
the better part of a fiver. I went home and told my mother I was going to
smoke. I thought I was being so bold. All she said was 'Go into the living
room and let your father know.' All he asked was if I had told mother."
   Mark poured her a third glass of wine, added half to his own, and sat back
and watched her gently work the cigar. No, there was no turn off watching her
lips gracefully interact with the dark tan cigar. None at all. She seemed to
prefer nose exhales of the thicker smoke. He agreed silently that this was a
fine approach.
   "If you don't mind me asking, why did you switch brands ?"
   "Well, unlike now, I didn't know anywhere to buy Export A's. I switched to
Marlboro Lights 100s and I'd still be smoking them now-" she paused. "If I
wasn't working for you, that is."
   Although he thought it was a little bit bold, Mark replied that he preferred
the look of the Lights to the Regulars she smoked now. "Those cork filters
are just- strange looking."
   "I know. They aren't attractive at all. But I just wasn't smoking enough. I
found myself smoking constantly when I wasn't at work, trying to make up for
lost time. Finally Donna suggested trying the regulars. But to be honest,
they're a little strong. I got so used to the taste of the lights." 
   "Well, now you can smoke as much as you like at work. Speaking of which-"
   "They put the ashtray in around four. Your father asked what was going on. I
told him- I hope you don't mind."
   "No," Mark said, smiling. "Did he say anything else ?" In the back of his
mind he was still worried about this afternoon's events.
   "Yeah. He said that he should have listened to you sooner. You've been
pushing to change accounting's equipment since you got into the position. He
mentioned a raise-"
   "Really ?" Mark asked, amased.
   "Ten thousand. I was shocked when he told me, but I think he assumes you and
I are close enough."
   "I'm not taking a raise without you taking one, too, Tam. You put the
numbers together. I'm just a techhead."
   She looked at him with something-
   It had to be the wine. Her glass was empty again and he drained the bottle
into her glass as she finished the cigar.
   He was feeling almost as flushed as she looked.
   "I really should take a shower."
   "Third door, top of the stairs. Towels are in the closet outside the door. I
just got a new hot water heater, so you can run the shower as long as you
want."
   "Thanks."
   She finished her wine and darted up the stairs.

   Twenty minutes later, she came downstairs again, looking almost radiant. Her
skin had a scrubbed clean down home look and she'd pulled her wet hair back
in that tight pony tail which highlighted her soft cheek bones. She was
flushed from the wine.
   In fact, she asked Mark if he wouldn't mind driving them to MacCleary's.
"Donna can give me a ride home. I don't think I should drive right now, and
with the way I've been feeling, I might just keep drinking all night."
   Mark had noticed that Tam seemed more edgy than normal lately, but he'd
chalked that up to the job.
   "What's wrong ?"
   "You probably didn't know, but I was dating Hank Jones from Acquisitions."
   How detached had Mark really been ? He hadn't known that, even though he'd
seen Hank hanging around the office often enough to put the pieces together.
   "Was ?"
   "He dumped me yesterday. Something about my being too young and frivolous.
Pisser."
   "Hank ? Mr. Irresponsible. If he wasn't Mike's son-"
   "I know. The guy is allergic to work, and he tells me- well, let's not talk
about that. I want to go get drunk and smoke cigarettes and listen to the
band. Maybe I'll meet somebody and you'll hook up with Mindi and we'll both
end up getting lucky."	
   It was a nice thought.

   Mark pulled his Saab into the convenience store parking lot and Tam jumped
out. He wondered if it was on his advice that she'd decided to switch back
from regulars to lights. He decided not to analyse that. For whatever reason,
he'd never liked those cork-coloured cigarettes, and now he wouldn't have to
see them anymore.
   Not that he'd seen them very much. He felt bad for Tam.
   Who wasn't holding a grudge. In fact, although it was probably just the wine
and her relationship woes, she was being very friendly.
   She came out of the store quickly, carrying a carton of Marlboro Lights
100s. She pulled a pack out and tossed the open carton in the back seat of
the car. Without hesitation, she lit one and filled the car with sweet,
perfect smoke.
   Perfect because it was what he had already decided he liked best- at least
coming from Lisa's-
   From a woman's, he corrected himself, mouth.
   The drive was quite enjoyable.
   
   They went their separate ways at MacCleary's, but not before Tam had pressed
a wet, smoky kiss to Mark's cheek.
   He was glad for the hazy arc-sodium lighting, which hid his blush nicely.
   Mindi and Amy were together at the bar. It was the first thing he saw when
he walked in.
   That was both good and bad. Good because at least in Amy's case, he had a
reason to say hi. Which was also a bad thing.
   But he'd come a long way for this. He took one last look at Tam, who was
talking animatedly to her friends- who seemed to be questioning her change in
brands. He had no idea how he knew that, but the way that looked at him-
Donna smiled at him for the first time that- hell the first time ever. He
knew.
   He strolled up to the bar, working a fresh cigarette. At Josephine's
suggestion, he was holding the cigarette box where it could easily be seen.
It garnered a few looks- not all of them kind, at least from the men.
   There were some ignorant backwoods morons who didn't like french-canadians.
Mark knew that from having lived in northern New Hampshire all his life. But
he wasn't here to mix with the boys. Anyone who would call a man frog to his
face wasn't worth the cost of a dirty look.
   He found a niche near the two women and signalled the bartender, who nodded
and went on with his business, letting Mark know he'd get there eventually.
   "Mark ?" Mindi said, surprised.
   Here it was. All this had been for this moment and he was determined to make
the most of it.
   Lisa had told him to act disinterested, but it was hard.
   Amy and Mindi were both smoking the brand. Their cigarettes had just been
lit, were long and beautiful in their hands. Amy smiled at him and let a slow
exhale escape from her nose. Mindi lifted her own cigarette to her mouth and
inhaled in a maddeningly sensuous way.
   Mark realised he was gathering wool.
   "Hi, Mindi. Hi Amy."
   "You two know each other ?"
   Amy's smoky smile was broken by a pursing of lips and exhale which he knew
only too well, both from sight and taste.
   "Once upon a time, Mark was my best student. He really had a passion-"
   Mark swallowed hard, found himself inhaling on his cigarette for comfort.
   "-for literature," she finished. As Mindi turned to look at him Amy gave him
a devilish wink which told him that he was- for now- safe.
   "I didn't know that you smoked, Mark."
   He'd talked this over with Lisa as well. Half the truth was what they'd
decided on.
   "I just started. Lisa gave me a few pointers."
   "Is she coming ?" Mindi asked.
   "What'll it be ?" the bartender interrupted.
   "A Bass," Mark said. The bartender went away, came back seconds later with
an open hand and the Bass ale. Mark passed him a five and told him to keep
the change.
   "She's- no, I don't think so. She said if she wasn't here by now, not to
expect her."
   "That's too bad," Mindi said. "Pull up a stool."
   Mark did so gladly and-

   Lisa was sitting on 'her' gravestone. Nathaniel Brown MacDonough. An ancient
relative. It was where she came to think- and to watch for-
   It was best not to think of that. The air was chill, the wind was strong,
and the moon was full. A perfect night for it, but she'd only come here to
think. A beer rested forgotten in her right hand. A freshly lit cigarette in
her left. It was a good night to think. The air was crisp. The smoke from her
cigarette was swirling in the misty air.
   She inhaled deeply and thought about it all. She should be happy. Finally,
after all these years, Mark was finally smoking. And he was happy.
   Of course, he was also thinking about Mindi.
   Mindi was thinking about him. That was why the yearbook had been in her car.
   She'd played the pieces on the chess board. Check would soon be checkmate.
But for whom ?
   Why was sitting in the graveyard drinking a beer and wondering if the tears
would shine in the reflection of soft moonlight ?
   Sting's Island of Souls was running through her mind, always a bad sign. She
had done all the right things.
   And yet.
   Morose was a bad mood out here when there might be work to do.
   It was the layers of memories that were undoing here. Senior class trip to
Six Flags. She'd held Mark's head while he threw up after a ride on the
Twister. Prom night- both their dates had ended up- fittingly enough- with
one another. Nights spent studying and cuddling like-
   If she'd been one of the boys, he'd been one of the girls.
   All this time, endlessly.
   No, tonight was the worst sort of night, unless you were looking for a
priest to administer the final rights. She had to get out of here, and get
out now before something she didn't want to think about finally happened,
after all these years of being so cautious. 
   About so many things.

   "Where'd she say she was ?"
   "Out hunting vampires."
   Amy looked at him strangely, but Mindi just nodded. He looked at his
teacher. "It's an old joke with Lisa."
   "Very old," Mindi added.
   "I didn't really come here to see her, though. We left it as, you know,
whatever."
   "Than why did you come ?" Amy asked archly.
   This was not going to be easy, Mark decided.
   "To check out the bar scene, catch the band. Actually, I gave my
administrative assistant a ride. She's having some man trouble, I guess."
   "It's really too bad Lisa couldn't make it," Mindi said. She then surprised
Mark by placing her hand on Mark's. "For her, at least."
   She's flirting with me, Mark thought.
   "I was hoping to see you, actually. I was-"
   It only made sense to Mark that just as he was about to take another leap
off another cliff he was interrupted.
   The voice was high-pitched, badly stressed, but eerily familiar.
   "Amy-"
   Mark and Mindi turned and he saw-
   The girl from the mall, minus the jacket but not the ultra-long cigarette.
She looked directly at Mark, her eyes stunningly blue.
   Even brimming with tears.
   "Don't I know you ?"
   "We- saw each other at the mall," Mark said, vaguely, but not seriously,
embarrassed.
   "This is my sister, Alicia," Amy said, and suddenly the resemblance- and the
attraction- made perfect sense.
   "When Dad retired last summer, he and mom went on an one-year tour of the
world. He'd seen it once and decided it was mom's turn. They sent Alicia my
way so that she could do the school thing."
   "You two are sisters ?"
   "I was an early child. Alicia was a late child. Some churlish bastards think
we're mother and daughter."
   "I never would have made that mistake," Mark countered quickly.
   Amy smiled and so did Alicia. "Well, you always were advanced for your age.
What's up, Alicia ? And where's your letter jacket ?"
   "That bastard Frank took it back. In fact, he took it back and told me to
fuck off. I guess he was mad that I got his precious letter jacket all
smoky."
   "He broke up with you over that ?" Mark asked. "What an idiot."
   Alicia inhaled deeply on the cigarette, put forth an exhale which perfectly
mimicked her sister's- and outdid Mindi's- then nodded her head. "Yes. I
should have known better than to date the quarterback. They're always
assholes." She then burst into tears and buried her head in her sister's
shoulder.
   Mark found himself remembering that place only too well.
   Mindi took his hand again. "I think we'll probably be going- before they
spot Alicia in the adult's section. I don't know how she even got past the
bouncers upstairs. I think you were going to say something to me, and I'd-"
   She hesitated without releasing the pressure on his hand. Both of them
inhaled together, exhaled together. Mark knew he could get used to this.
   "I'd love to hear it. But I think you should know- Lisa has always-"
   Mark found that one of his internal organs had migrated to his throat.
   "Jesus. We're going to have to take Alicia home. Girl's night in. I- well,
I'd rather you talked to Lisa first. If, after that, you want to give me a
call, well- give me a call."
   Just like that it was over. The three women left and Mark was left alone.
   Talk about your crash and burn scenarios. Mark pulled on his cigarette,
found some relief at least in the gentle heady high the smoke provided.
   She hadn't said no. In fact, she'd said yes. But in the process she'd turned
the easiest relationship in his life into one of the hardest and suddenly
Lisa's reaction to his 'one of the guys' comment made perfect sense.
   So why was he mad at her ?
   By the time he'd found an answer he'd gotten himself another beer and Tam,
seeing him looking lost, had come to his rescue. And later that night, he
came to hers.
   
   Tam was lying in his bed with him, wearing nothing but his robe. She was
nestled in the crook of his arm, smoking a Marlboro Light 100. He was
matching her inhale for inhale and the bedroom was full of their smoke.
   Hank had reared his ugly head about ten-thirty. By then, Mark had found
himself in a group of seven women, all smokers, all of whom accepted Mark
immediately. Donna, whom he'd privately thought hated him, had practically
hung all over him any time he separated from Tam.
   On Monday, Mark was going to talk to his father about Hank. Mike's son or
not, Hank was a problem. It turned out he was as loose with his temper as his
work ethic, and-
   They'd almost ended up in the parking lot. Well, in the end, Mark and Tam
had. It turned out Hank knew the owners of the club- or at least all the
bouncers- and finally the two of them had decided the easiest thing to do was
leave.
   They were not, Mark had decided, going to have sex.
   "Thank you for everything, Mark. I needed a little help tonight."
   "Well, you've earned it. Everyone at work thinks the only reason I'm the IS
manager is because of my last name."
   "The only people who think that are guys like Mike who are fighting what
you're doing. You told me once that the first thing they taught you in
college was that an IS manager can't let a few users dictate IS policy, right
?"
   "Yeah. Look, I'm sorry things with Hank didn't work out."
   Tam exhaled a thick cloud of smoke which Mark drank in. "I'm not." She
deftly undid the strap of the robe and rolled over onto him, still exhaling
smoke. When she parted her lips fully Mark met them. 
   Her hand strayed to the opening in her boxers and slipped through. She began
to stroke his penis deftly and it soon became apparent that he might not even
need to remove his boxers.
   They began to kiss, pausing only long enough to smoke. Cigarettes were
finished. New ones were lit after they stripped. Mark found that L- Tam had
very responsive nipples. They mingled their kiss and their smoking while
sitting up on their knees and soon they made love the same way. Mark entered
Tam while she was  in mid-inhale and she managed to hold the smoke until they
began to kiss.
   He was afraid that he would go too soon, that it wouldn't be as good for Tam
as it felt for him, but in the end she came first- and long and hard. As she
began to wind down he finally came himself. It seemed to last forever.
   When they were done, they lay back together and smoked in silence for a long
time. So long that Tam finally lit another cigarette, which they shared. Mark
was glad for this. He liked the Export A's well, enough, but this was the
cigarette that he really wanted to try. It was crisp, clean, perfect. A fine
cigarette to smoke.
   It wasn't until they finished it that Tam finally spoke.
   "You should really work things out with Lisa, Mark."
   "I came home with you," he said hotly, tired of the same thing haunting his
every step.
   "And you were sure we wouldn't have sex, that you were just being nice. I've
seen you two together enough-"
   "Then why did we just-"
   "Because we both enjoyed it. It's just like smoking. It's time you
understood that it's okay to enjoy things. When you called this afternoon I
was so happy for both of us, but I assumed you and Lisa-"
   "I don't want to talk about Lisa," Mark said, although the truth was-
   They decided that the truth would wait. Tam took two cigarettes from the now
empty pack, lit them both, and handed one to Mark. She sat up on her knees
and Mark followed suit. They began to kiss again, sharing the smoke from
their cigarettes until he was hard and then they made love again. She took it
slower this time, luxuriating in the way he felt inside her, moving back and
forth slowly until she could no longer bend forward to kiss him. They arched
their backs and smoked and came again, and by the time they fell to sleep,
wrapped in sweat and smoke, Mark admitted to himself that he would indeed
have to discuss all this with Lisa.
   Tomorrow.

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