Liz in Philly

***NOTE:  This is the "other side" of the story "Caitlin's Smoking Life".  In
order to fully understand this story, you may want to read that first. Be
warned that this story contains many subjects that may offend certain people.
If the topics of illegal drug use, as well as underage experimentation with
various substances (including tobacco) offend you, you may not want to read
this story.  As this is a story which follows the subjects through many phases
of their lives, it starts while many of the characters are underage, but is
not intended to either condone or glorify underage substance abuse.  As the
story progresses in multiple chapters, the characters will "mature".  The
author does not encourage anyone to consume alcohol until they are at least 21
years of age, nor does the author encourage the experimentation with illegal
narcotics at any age.***

Liz in Philly
by smokingbeauties@yahoo.com

Liz arrived at the hotel in Philadelphia around 3:00 o'clock Friday afternoon.
She was so glad she'd chosen to take a day off and leave early, rather than
wait until she got out of work before starting her trip.

She walked up to the desk where she was met by a girl that Liz thought was no
more than 19 years old.  Her name tag read, "Allison".

Allison greeted Liz and welcomed her to the hotel.  Liz pulled out the
reservation that she'd printed on the computer at home.

"Would you like a smoking room or a non-smoking room?" Allison asked.

Liz thought for just a second.  She knew that her friends both smoked, and
they would be drinking.  Did she really want to be in a situation where she
might be tempted to smoke?  She decided to leave it up to fate.

"It doesn't matter," she replied.

Allison typed some information on her keyboard, then looked at Liz.

"I've got a non-smoking room on the third floor, but that one is kinda small.
I've got a much larger room on the eighth floor, but it's a smoking room," she
said.

Liz again thought about the options.  If she took the smaller, non-smoking
room, it would be on a lower floor, which meant it would be easier to get to
her room while intoxicated.  On the other hand, if she took the smoking room,
it would be bigger, have a better view, and she could let Nicole and Julie
smoke in there if they wanted to.

"I'll take the smoking room," she said.

Allison smiled.  

"So you're a criminal too, huh?" she laughed.

Liz chuckled at the assumption. 

"No, actually.  I quit four years ago, but I'm meeting friends here and
they'll probably end up smoking in my room anyway," she explained. 

"I couldn't do that," started Allison.  "If I'm around people smoking, I just
have to join them!"

Liz smiled, and took the room key, and headed to her room.  She didn't
understand why the young girl at the desk had been so open about her personal
habits, but she certainly didn't mind, either.  Liz had often been
disappointed by people in customer service positions, and their lack of
cordiality.

Liz stepped off the elevator on the eighth floor, and quickly found her room.
It wasn't very far from the elevator, she noticed.  It was just far enough
that it would be quiet, but close enough that she'd be able to make the trip
late at night and not worry about getting lost.

She opened the door, and flipped on the light.  Instantly, Liz noticed the
faint odor of stale cigarette smoke.

"This might be tough," she thought.  She placed her luggage on the far bed,
and sat on the near.  She picked up the telephone to call her friends.

"Hello?" she heard Julie say on the other end of the phone.

"Hey Jules, it's me!"  Liz said.

"Hi!" was her friend's reply.  "What room are you in?"

"I'm in 814, what about you?"  Liz asked.

Julie said, "I'm in 624 and Nicole is in 1011.  Want to come down?"

Liz realized that the hotel had obviously assigned the even numbered floors as
smoking floors, and the odd floors were for the nons.

"I just got in, and I've still got to unpack, you guys can come down here if
you'd like," said Liz.

"Well, um?we're sorta?.busy at the moment, but we'll be down in a few minutes,
ok?"  Julie asked.

Liz laughed, "That's fine, I'll see you guys soon."

She hung up the phone, wondering what the two were doing.

In high school, they were the wild kids, always going to parties, drinking,
smoking, whatever.  Nicole and Julie had smoked a lot of pot in school, as
well, always offering the bowls to Liz, who always declined the offers.  Later
on, she'd regretted that she'd never at least tried it with them, but didn't
dwell on it.

Once or twice Liz had gotten a little of a contact high, and enjoyed the
feeling, and a few times almost accepted the offer, though she always
chickened out.

After college, both Julie and Nicole took jobs as teachers, and gave up the
"demon weed".  Liz had still never smoked it.

About fifteen minutes after hanging up the phone, there was a knock on her
door.

She opened the door and saw Nicole and Julie standing at the door, cigarettes
in hand.  Julie wrapped her arms around Liz and gave her a huge hug, which
made Nicole laugh hysterically.

Liz noticed the smell of pot on their clothes.  

"Wow," she started, "You guys are really going back to your old habits for
this thing aren't you?" 

Julie laughed.  

"Well, if we're going to see the same bands we saw in school, we should see
them the same way, otherwise we might find out they suck!"  she said, taking a
puff on her Marlboro Red.

It made sense to Liz.  She looked at the clock.  It was now almost 3:30, and
the concert started at 8:00 PM.  They had time to talk over drinks, watch some
television, and go to dinner.  

A few hours later, the three had quite the buzz going on.  Liz had consumed
five beers, Nicole and Julie each had 3, but they didn't need more, because
they had other intoxicants inside their bodies.

They decided to order room service for dinner.  They placed their order, and
the man on the phone said it would be about 45 minutes before it was ready.

"Time for one more drink," Liz chuckled.

"Absolutely!" agreed Nicole.

Half an hour later, there was a knock on Liz's door.  She opened the door, and
was surprised to see Allison standing there, holding the tray with their food.

"Don't ask," Allison laughed.  "They're really short-handed at the restaurant
and asked me to run food for a little while."

Allison entered the room and placed the tray on the stand by the door.  She
noticed the smell of cigarette smoke instantly.

"I'm not really supposed to do this, but would it be alright with you guys if
I had a cigarette before I went back down?  I'm dying for one!"  she asked.

Julie offered the young girl a beer, which she declined, claiming that not
only was she at work, but she was underage too.  Liz was apparently somewhat
accurate about her age.

Just then, Nicole reached into the pocket of her jacket, and pulled out a
rather large bag of marijuana and a small pipe to smoke it in.

She looked at Allison, and said, "You won't tell, will you?"

Allison laughed.  "As long as you don't tell anyone that I'm having a
cigarette!"

The four laughed at her point as Nicole put the bowl to her lips, lit it, and
took a big hit.

As she exhaled, she passed the bowl to Julie who repeated the process.

Julie offered the bowl to Allison, who just looked at her in shock.

"I, um, I don't know.  I've never done that before," she said.

"Do you want to try it?" asked Julie.

"Sorta," Allison replied.

"Go ahead, take a hit then!"  Nicole encouraged.

Allison was still holding her cigarette, and she passed it to Liz to hold for
her.  Liz wasn't at all comfortable with what she was witnessing.  Here was
this young, innocent girl, just working as hard as she could, probably to pay
her way through college, and her two 30-something friends were getting her
high for the first time.  

It was too much.

Liz looked down at the cigarette burning in her hand.  It was a Newport.  Liz
had never liked menthols, but desperate times called for desperate measures,
she thought.

She brought the Newport to her lips, and took a large drag.

The cool, minty smoke slid down her throat and into her eager lungs.  It felt
great, even if it was a Newport.

Fortunately, her friends were to preoccupied with Allison getting high to even
notice she'd taken a puff.  She looked at them again.  They were in their own
little world.  She figured she could take one more drag and get away with it.  

This time, she put the cigarette to her lips, and tried a direct inhale.  The
smoke burned her throat a little, but she fought the temptation to cough.  She
decided to make it a double.  The mentholated smoked filled her lungs to
capacity as she inhaled deep.

With the cigarette to her side, and the smoke deep in her lungs, Liz noticed
that Julie was looking at her.

"Did you just smoke that?" she asked.

Liz held the smoke inside and answered, "No."

Her heart was pounding.  She really didn't want to get caught, but she didn't
know why.

"Oh, ok," Julie said.

She'd gotten away with it.  She had to exhale, but didn't want to be busted.

Allison had taken about four hits from the bowl, and reached for her
cigarette.  She took a long drag, and smiled.

Liz exhaled as slowly as she possibly could through her nose, hoping they
wouldn't notice.

Allison sat perfectly still.

"What do ya think?" Nicole asked.

"That's fucking awesome!" Allison replied.

Julie and Nicole laughed.  

"Try telling her that!" Nicole teased.

Allison looked at Liz.  

"You don't do that?" she asked.

"Nope, never," Liz replied.

"Wow, you really should try it!" Allison said, now completely stoned.

"Any time you want to try more, we'll be here all weekend!" Julie said as she
took another hit.

"Really?  I'll definitely be back!" Allison said.

"We'll be here!" Nicole replied.

Allison left, and the three women each had one more beer.

With a lump in her throat, Liz asked, "Why did you guys always used to want me
to get high?"

Nicole exhaled a cloud of pot smoke, and said, "Because you'd love it!"

"Why?" Liz asked.

"You heard her, it feels fucking great!"  Julie answered.

"But?what's it feel like?"  Liz asked nervously.

"There's really no way to describe it.  Are you thinking of trying it?" Nicole
asked.

"No.  Well, maybe.  I don't know.  I mean, I'm 36 years old.  I've got a 15
year old daughter at home.  I'm a little old to start experimenting with
drugs, don't you think?"  Liz laughed.

"You're never too old, Liz," Nicole explained.  "You don't even have to do it
ever again if you don't want to.  It's not like you can get addicted to it or
anything!"

Julie smiled and said, "Yeah, we hadn't smoked it in almost 15 years, and now
we're smoking it again.  After this weekend, who knows if or when we'll smoke
again."

Liz was surprised.  "What do you mean you can't get addicted?"

"I meant what I said," Nicole started, "No one has ever gotten addicted to
pot.  It just doesn't work that way."

"Oh," Liz said, "You mean I could do it once and never want to do it again, no
matter how good it feels?"

"That's exactly what she means," interjected Julie.

"Give it to me," said Liz, shocking both of her friends.

"What?" Nicole asked.

"Give it to me before I change my mind!"  Liz demanded.

Julie passed the bowl to Liz.  Nicole picked up the lighter.

Liz's heart was pounding harder than ever before.  She was about to smoke pot.
She thought that if her daughter knew, she'd flip.  She had no idea that at
the same time this was going on, her sweet, young, innocent daughter was
contemplating smoking a cigarette herself.

"What do I do?" Liz asked.

"I'm going to hold the flame over the little hole.  You just suck," Nicole
replied.

Liz put the tip of the bowl in her mouth, and Nicole flicked the lighter to
life.  She moved the flame over the hole.

Liz closed her eyes, and started to slowly suck in.  The smoke was sweet, and
it didn't burn as much as cigarette smoke did.

She pulled the bowl out of her mouth, and inhaled deep. 

"Now hold it in," Julie said.

Liz did as she was instructed, and felt her body start to relax.

As she exhaled the pot smoke, she felt an overwhelming sense of guilt.  She
was a mother.  She was an accomplished executive with a major international
publishing company.  She couldn't be smoking marijuana, regardless of how good
it felt.

And it did feel good.

Julie was taking a hit on the bowl, and when she exhaled, she passed it back
to Liz.  "Want more?" she asked.

Liz thought.  She knew she probably shouldn't smoke more, but it did feel
good.  Five minutes ago, she'd never done a drug in her life, and now she had.
Did it really matter how much of it she smoked?

She reached out and took the bowl.

She lifted it to her lips once more, flicked the lighter again, and inhaled
deeply.  This time it was even better as the smoke slipped quickly down her
throat and into her waiting lungs.

She held the smoke in as long as she possibly could before exhaling out her
nose slowly.

Julie was lighting a Marlboro Red and Nicole was already smoking a Marlboro
Light.  

"God cigarettes are great after you get stoned!" she laughed.

She suddenly noticed that Liz was looking at her.

"Ohmigod, I'm sorry Liz," she said.  "I wasn't even thinking that you had
quit.  Do you want me to go outside?"

Liz laughed.  It was probably because of the pot that she found the humor in
the question.

"Do you think it really matters right now?" she asked.

Nicole found a lot of humor in this apparently, because she laughed aloud
hysterically.

"Can I have one of those?" Liz asked.

Julie was hesitant.

"Liz, you quit a long time ago.  You really don't want to start smoking again,
you know that," she said.

"No, it's fine," said Liz.  "I'm not going to start smoking again, but I'm
drunk and I'm stoned, and I'd really like to smoke a cigarette right now."

"Maybe you should take one of mine," said Nicole.

"No, I want a red!" declared Liz.  "I smoked one of those in December, and I
really liked it.  That's what I want."

Julie sighed and handed Liz the red and white box.  Liz smiled as she pulled
out a cigarette and placed it between her lips.

She flicked the lighter to life, and touched the flame to the tip.  She drew
deeply, and inhaled even deeper.  The smoke was a lot more harsh than the
marijuana, but it was far more familiar.

She exhaled slowly and took another puff immediately after.

"You guys ready to go?" she asked.

They were, and the three girls departed for the concert.  Rather than drive,
they took a cab.  

When they arrived at the arena where the concert was, their minds were all on
the same thing?food.

"Those are the munchies you always hear about," explained Nicole.  While they
stood in line for popcorn and pretzels, they heard a shriek.

"OH MY GOD!" the voice said.

The girls turned around, and saw Allison, the girl from the hotel, walking
towards them.

"What are you guys doing here?" she asked.

"This is why we're all in town," replied Julie.  "What are you doing here?"

"I love the bands that are playing, and when I heard they were coming to town,
I was all over it!  I just had  to get tickets!"

"You here alone?" Nicole asked.

"No, this is my friend Stacy, we came together," replied Allison.

Liz noticed that Stacy looked a lot like her daughter Caitlin, but a few years
older.

"Can you guys buy us beer?"  she asked after being introduced.

"No, they can't buy you beer!" laughed Allison.

"But we can get you fucked up!" added Nicole.

"Really?"  asked Stacy.

"Let's go in the bathroom," said Julie.

The five girls went into the ladies room of the arena, and found it
surprisingly empty.  They could smell marijuana and cigarette smoke in the
air, but none of them noticed.

As Julie pulled the bowl from her purse, a voice was heard from one of the
stalls.

"You can't smoke that in here," the voice said.

Julie instinctively returned the bowl to her purse, hoping to not get caught.

"Shit," Liz muttered, visualizing her fate, had she gotten arrested on drug
charges.

"Relax," said the female voice.  "Not without sharing, anyway," she giggled.

A young woman emerged from the stall.  Her nose was red, and her eyes watered.
Liz thought her to be about 24 years old.  She had long blonde hair, blue eyes
that were almost white, and was very thin.  She'd obviously had braces when
she was younger, because her teeth were perfectly straight, and very, very
white.

"What's up?" asked Nicole.

"Can I have some?" the girl asked.

Julie interrupted, "We don't exactly just give it to total strangers!"

Allison thought this comment was a little funny, and started to laugh, seeing
as how she was a total stranger, but they let her get stoned with them.

"Well of course I wouldn't just take your weed," she started.  "I'd give you
something in return."

Allison had never been around drugs before, and got a bad feeling from this
young girl, who introduced herself as Jennifer.

"What did you have in mind?" asked Julie.

Jennifer stuck her hand into her pocket, and pulled out a bag of what looked
like powdered sugar.  The girls immediately recognized it as cocaine.

"Whoa, I don't know if I want to do that!" said Nicole.

"It's up to you guys, but fair's fair.  You give me some of yours and you can
get some of mine," Jennifer replied.

Julie was still stoned, and feeling rather bold.

"I'll try it," she said.

Julie noticed the shocked glances of Liz, Nicole, and Allison.  Her two best
friends knew that this was something that none of them had ever tried, and
they were concerned for their friend.

"No you won't," said Liz.

"No, really, I want to try it!" Julie responded.

By now Jennifer was back in the bathroom stall, and Julie had followed.

They heard a noise that they decided was the razor blade cutting the coke into
lines.

"Ready?" asked Jennifer.

"As ready as I'll ever be!" proclaimed Julie.

The next thing they heard was a sniffing noise.  Julie was snorting cocaine.
They were shocked.

"Now for the other side," Jennifer coached.

Again, the sniffing noise was heard.  Liz felt like she was in way over her
head.

"Give me a cigarette," she demanded of Allison, not caring who heard her ask
for the very thing she'd quit so many years ago.

Allison took two cigarettes out and passed one to Liz, who immediately put it
in her mouth.

Allison lit her cigarette, and held the flame of the lighter out to Liz, who
leaned into the flame and took a long drag.

She inhaled the menthol smoke as deep inside her as she could.  The sensation
enhanced the effects of the marijuana already in her system.

She was enjoying smoking the cigarette way too much, she thought.  This was
her second one that day, and only her third in four years.

Julie emerged from the stall alone, with a big smile on her face.

"That's great!" she said excitedly.

To the shock of the rest of the girls, Stacy spoke up.

"I want to try it too," she said.

Allison seemed the most surprised. 

"You've never even smoked a cigarette!" she proclaimed.

"Maybe afterwards, I will," she said, laughing as she entered the stall.

Again, the razor blade was heard cutting, and Jennifer asked if she was ready.

"Not really, but what the fuck?" Stacy replied.

The remaining three could hear Stacy sniff the white powder into her nose,
followed by a slight cough, then some sniffing.

"One more for number two," Jennifer said.

Another sniff, and Stacy exited the stall, also smiling.

By now, Julie was really feeling the effects of the coke in her body.  She
smiled from ear to ear.

Allison looked at Nicole, and smiled.

"Oh why not?" said Nicole, passing her cigarette Allison, who took a large
double puff.

Nicole entered the stall, and the process was repeated.

Cutting. 

Jennifer asked if Nicole was ready.

Nicole said nothing.

For just a moment, Liz thought she wouldn't be the only one not experimenting
with the "hard drugs".

Her suspicion was rejected, though, as she heard a short sniff, and a choking
noise.

"You've gotta have a little more than that if you want to really feel it,"
Jennifer suggested.

Another sniffing noise was heard, followed by Jennifer's usual comment about
sniffing in both nostrils.

Nicole followed the instructions, and sniffed the second line.

Allison said nothing as she entered the stall and closed the door behind her.

Jennifer cut another line of cocaine, and handed the rolled up bill to
Allison.

Allison put it in her nose, and after only a brief hesitation, snorted back
the entire line.

Jennifer cut one more line, and Allison snorted that one as well.  She felt
the cocaine going to her head, and she giggled as she wiped the excess powder
from her nose.

She appeared from the stall, also smiling.  She looked at Liz.

"Your turn, Lizzie!" she said.

"No fucking way," Liz replied.  "I'm not going near that shit."

"Oh come on," started Julie.  "You never wanted to do the shit we did as a
kid, and we finally got you to smoke weed with us today, and you loved it.
Don't live with those regrets about this too!"

Her angry sounding words shocked Liz, who had never heard Julie sound so
disappointed.  Yet for some reason, her words were true.  

Her whole life, Liz had wondered what it would be like if she had just said
yes when she was offered the bong, bowl, and joint when she was 17-ish.
Nicole and Julie had offered her pot so many times, and she'd always said no.
Tonight, she was experimenting with new things, should she go all out?

"One line," Jennifer pleaded.  "Look how young she is," she said, pointing to
Allison.  "She could handle it, surely you can."

For a second, Liz was offended by Jennifer's implication that Liz was old.
She let it go though.

Liz took a double puff on the Newport, and decided she might as well try it,
as long as she only had to do one line.

"I've got this going," she started.  "I can't do both!" she joked, referring
to the cigarette.

"Give it to me," said Stacy.

"You want to smoke it?" Liz asked.

"Yeah, why not?" replied the obviously stoned Stacy, who looked not a day over
17.

"Just be careful, I don't think you know what you're getting yourself into,"
Liz warned.

She handed the smoldering cigarette to Stacy, who looked as if she felt
awkward holding it.

Stacy brought the cigarette to her lips, and took a delicate puff.

She blew the smoke out instantly, and laughed.

"Wow, it tastes minty!" she said.

"That's called menthol," explained Nicole.

"Whatever it is, it tastes pretty cool," Stacy responded quickly, as she took
another puff.

"We've gotta get you to inhale," said Allison.

The girls were teaching Stacy to inhale as Liz entered the stall, looking
terrified of what she was about to do.

"You know the drill," said Jennifer.

She handed Liz the rolled up dollar bill.  Liz's hands were shaking as she
took it.  This was different than smoking weed.  This was cocaine.  This was a
real drug, she thought.

Jennifer instructed her to put the tube in her nose, and pinch off the other
nostril.

Liz did as charged.

She bent down, touched the tip of the bill to the beginning of the line, and
started to sniff.

As she did, she repeatedly asked herself, "What the fuck am I doing?!?!"

She ignored that thought, though, and continued to sniff the white powder into
the back of her nose.

The feeling was indescribable.

"Good job," said Jennifer.  "Now you've got a choice."

"What's that?" asked Liz.

"Well, you can either do one more line for the other side, or you can smoke
the bill," Jennifer explained.  "Whenever I do coke with people, the person
who does the least smokes the bill.  It's up to you."

"What if everyone does the same amount?" asked Liz, considering another line,
hoping it would make her feel even better.

"Then we share it!" laughed Jennifer.

"Give it to me then," said Liz, who proceeded to lean down and sniff cocaine
into the other nostril.

When she was done, she passed the dollar bill back to Jennifer, who also
sniffed two lines.

Jennifer pulled a lighter out of her pocket, and put the dollar bill in her
mouth.

Liz was surprised when she saw Jennifer light the tip of the bill, and pull
the dark smoke into her lungs.  She passed it to Liz.

Liz took the bill, put it to her lips, and took a large drag, snapping the
smoke inside her.  The two girls exited the stall as Liz exhaled the smoke,
and passed the bill to Allison.

Allison took a puff, inhaled, and passed it to Julie.

Julie took a triple direct hit, as if she was smoking a joint, and handed it
to Nicole, who cautiously took the bill, and took a good sized drag.

This continued until the five girls were all equally stoned.

Liz was surprised at how amazing she felt, considering that when she woke up
that morning, she'd never done a drug in her life.  Now she'd not only smoked
pot, but she'd done coke as well.  She still felt guilty though.

Allison, Liz, Nicole, and Julie walked out of the bathroom, and headed towards
their seats.

Allison stopped.  The others looked at her.

"I left my purse in the bathroom, I'll be right back," she said.

The three girls waited for her, assuming they'd all be sitting together to
enjoy the concert stoned out of their minds.

Allison walked into the bathroom, and saw Jennifer sitting on the counter,
smoking a joint.

"Forget something?" she asked.

"Yeah," started Allison.  "I left my purse in there."

As she retrieved her purse, Jennifer said, "First time?"

"Yeah," said Allison.

"What did you think?" Jennifer asked.

"It's nice," replied Allison.

"Want to buy some?"  Jennifer inquired, surprising the young Allison.

"How much?"

Jennifer explained the pricing to her, and Allison produced a hundred dollar
bill.  Jennifer's eyes lit up, and separated a healthy amount of the coke as
she took the hundred dollar bill.

"Got something to put it in?" Jennifer asked.

Allison hadn't planned on buying drugs that night, so she wasn't sure if she
did or not.  She fumbled around her purse.  One of her hobbies was
photography, so she had several empty film canisters.  She placed them on the
counter.

"You come prepared!" Jennifer laughed.

"Yeah, well it wasn't exactly planned," Allison retorted.

After the transaction was completed, Allison put the canister in her purse,
and headed for the bathroom door.

"One thing to keep in mind," Jennifer said as she got off the counter.

"What's that?" asked Allison.

"You don't have to snort it, you can smoke it, too!" Jennifer said with a
wink.

"I'll have to remember that!" laughed Allison, as she walked out the door as
if nothing had happened at all.