How I Started Smoking Again

How I Started Smoking Again
by Karen Lyons, pinkparkhorse@yahoo.com

I recently started smoking again and I have never been happier.  Let me tell
the whole story.

I am 25 years old and several months back I met my next door neighbor.  Her
name is Ashley and we live in a nice appartement complex.  Oddly enough she
is 25 too and we are both single mothers with a 3 year old daughter.  We both
have great jobs and make enough money to raise our daughters and live a
comfortable life.  

We have gotten to know each other and started hanging out right away.  We get
along perfectly and we have a lot of fun taking our kids to the park and the
mall.  We are also both young, attractive, single women, so double dating and
hanging out together while the kids are at a babysitter is tons of fun too.
One day Ashley said she had a great idea.  We should pack up the kids in the
car and take them to the coast.  We both had some vacation time we could take
so I said it sounded great.  Our kids behave very well so I wasn't worried
about taking them on a six hour road trip at all.  We even decided to spend
the whole week in a cabin.  When the day to leave came, we packed just enough
clothes and stuff for the week into Ashley's car, strapped the girls in
their car seats and headed for the coast.  It was a beautiful, warm spring
day, a perfect day for this really.

We had been on the road about 45 minutes when I got a big surprise.  Ashley
reached beside her and opened her purse.  She rummaged for a minute and then
pulled out a pack of Marlboro Reds.  She flipped it open and took one out.
Then she reached forward and pushed in the car lighter.  As she held the
unlit cigarette in her hand and waited for the lighter to heat up I sat there
shocked.  I had no idea Ashley smoked.  The lighter popped out and Ashley put
the cigarette between her lips and grabbed the lighter.  As she brought the
lighter to the tip of the cigarette, I was still dumbfounded and thinking,
wow she is really going to smoke a cigarette.  The cigarette touched the hot
lighter and she sucked in.  She pulled the lighter away and the tip of the
Marlboro was glowing red.  She took a big drag and exhaled smoke into the car
with a look of deep satisfaction on her face.

"I didn't know you smoked" I said

"You haven't been around me enough then" She replied with a contented grin.
She took another big drag and as she exhaled almost giggled that she hoped I
didn't mind.  

In no time the smell of cigarette smoke filled the car and I couldn't
believe how much I was beginning to enjoy it.  I thought back to days nearly
forgotten, when I had been a smoker late in high school and through college.
I quit for reasons I could no longer really remember when I graduated from
college 4 years ago.  I had also smoked Marlboro Reds and had forgotten how
delicious they can smell.

She finished her cigarette and flicked the butt out the window.  We drove for
about another hour when the girls started whining for food.  So we stopped
and got lunch and when we got back in the car I realized I was hoping Ashley
would light up again.  She did not disappoint me.  A few miles down the road
from the little diner we had stopped at, she took out another Marlboro.  This
time she also dug out a hot pink bic lighter.  She put the cigarette between
her lips, flicked the lighter and brought the flame to the tip of her
cigarette.  She looked so beautiful and happy and satisfied as she smoked
that cigarette it made me long for one of my own.  I kept telling myself I
had quit years before and didn't want to start again.  

By the time we got to the cabin, I could no longer kid myself.  Ashley had
smoked several more cigarettes on the way there and I slowly began to realize
her secondhand smoke was the only thing satisfying my growing cravings for a
cigarette.  It was no longer enough and I decided to come clean.

As we sat relaxing at the kitchen table, I told Ashley about how I had smoked
her exact brand and quit years ago, she was very interested and amused.  When
I told her about my suffering from the car ride here, she just laughed and
handed me her pack of Marlboros.

My mouth was watering and my body was shaking with excitment as I took out
one of the cigarettes.  She handed me her lighter and I just held the
cigarette in my left hand and the lighter in my right for several minutes.
Did I really want to do this? I was so excited but there was that voice way
in the back of my head saying not to.  Finally, Ashley said, "Go for it!"
and I knew I was going to.  Still I wanted to savor the moment somehow.  So I
very slowly brought the cigarette to my lips and then I let it dangle there
for a minute.  Then I got the lighter ready and flicked it.  I slowly brought
the lighter up to meet the tip of the Marlboro and sucked hard.  The moment
was heavenly.  I took a deep drag into my lungs and pure pleasure overtook my
body.  As I exhaled, the sensations were better than I remembered.  Ashley
had a wicked grin on her face and I gave her one back.  She lit up a Marlboro
of her own and grabbed an ashtray from somewhere.  We sat there smoking and
chatting until it was time to put the kids to bed, and then we smoked and
chatted some more.  I bought myself a carton of Marlboro Reds in the morning.

We had a great vacation and when we had to return home, we both smoked in the
car this time.  We are now closer than ever and life is so good.  Why did I
ever quit in the first place?