Three Girls

Three girls
by Suburban Life

The three girls agreed on one thing.  They were each going to have an
identical tattoo on their backs as a symbol of friendship and solidarity with
each other for the rest of their lives.

It was first day of the school holidays and Amber, Bethany and Carmen had
just boarded the train that would take them to the other side of town to the
tattooist that Amber's mother had recommended.

Of the three girls' mothers, Amber's was the youngest and most adventurous.
She had recently taken the plunge and had a tattoo put on her ankle.  Amber's
mother knew her daughter planned to get tattooed after her 18th birthday and
she did not want it to be thought that her daughter would be doing something
like that she had not also done.

Amber's mother told the girls that Tom, the tattooist, was just the right man
to give the three just-turned-18-year-olds their tattoos.  He was gentle but
very imaginative when it came to using the needle.  And he had a great range
of designs in his catalogue, from which the girls had made their choice.

As they had sat down in the train, the three girls continued their lively
conversation, as getting tattooed was the most exciting thing that was likely
to happen to them in the next few months.  They were all in the last year of
school and had their final exams coming up in a few weeks after the end of
the vacation.  So they would all be studying hard from now until the exams.

"I never thought your mum would go so far as to have a tattoo at her age,"
exclaimed Bethany to Amber.

"Well, Mum's not that old, you know, girls," replied Amber in her mother's
defence.  "She's only 37 and she's always been very open to trying new things
and being adventurous.  And she's never been at all reluctant to let me do
almost whatever I liked.

"Now she's really looking forward to seeing my tattoo and wants to compare
notes with me about our experiences in Tom's tattoo studio.  She says it'll
be like having another bond to bring us closer together."

But Bethany was not nearly so happy about what her mother thought about her
having a tattoo.  "Mum thinks I'll be ruining my looks forever and that boys
hate girls with tattoos, because they make you look cheap.  I told her that
times have changed and that lots of girls have tattoos now and that they can
be very decorative.  I pointed out to her, `It's not much different from
wearing a bracelet or earrings.'  But she just told me that it would only be
my own life that I ruined."

Poor Carmen had to tell the other two girls that she was not even going to
tell her mother about the tattoo.  "I can't imagine what she'd say if she
knew I had a tattoo," she lamented.  "She'd go absolutely ballistic!"

The other two girls wondered how Carmen planned to keep the tattoo secret
from her mother.

She explained, "Luckily our shower has a heavily frosted door and so she
won't be able to see in, even if she is in the bathroom at the same time.
And I just won't wear my hipster jeans around the house, only when I go out.
So I think I can keep her from seeing that part of my back almost
permanently.

"You're so lucky, Amber, that you can tell your mother anything," added
Carmen.  "You seem to have the perfect mother-daughter relationship."

"I suppose you're right," rejoined Amber.  "I must admit she's always been
supportive of whatever I've wanted to do.  Remember how we all started
smoking when we were 14?  I went straight home that day and told Mum I was
starting.  She was quite OK with it - even encouraged me.  She said that's
when she started, so why shouldn't I do it at the same age.  And she's always
bought me as many cigarettes as I wanted.  I'm up to over a packet a day now,
but she still smokes a bit more than me.  Sometimes it's like having a
friendly competition with her to see how many we can get through in a day,
when we're both at home."

"Your mum's certainly a lot younger than mine," admitted Bethany.  "Mine's 46
this year.  She knows I smoke - she found out just after I turned 16, when I
left a packet lying around on my desk one day by mistake.  But she always
gives me a hard time about it.  She only lets me smoke outside the house and
I'm always careful not to look as though I'm smoking too much.  That's why I
have so many on the way home from school each day.  I try and get as much of
my nicotine fix then and just have a couple at night so she doesn't know how
much I really smoke.

"Mum will only buy them for me if she's in a good mood.  That's why I have to
ask your mum to buy me smokes every now and then.  Even when she buys them,
she'll only get me one packet a week - that's if I'm lucky."

"Well," piped in Carmen sadly, "you're both much better off than me.  As you
know, my Mum's well over 50 and it's as if she still lived in the dark ages.
She still absolutely forbids me to smoke.  That's why you shouldn't be
surprised when I come around to your place, Amber, and chain through about
eight cigarettes in a row.  Especially on a Sunday - because I've probably
gone most of Saturday and half of Sunday without so much as a whiff of
tobacco.

"As for the thought of Mum actually ever buying me cigarettes - you'd have to
be joking!  I've always had to persuade either your Mum, Amber, or my Dad's
girlfriend to get them for me.  That's the only reason I visit Dad any more.
Glenys is only 27 and smokes herself.  So she understands why I need to go
shopping with her for cigarettes.  And while I'm out, I have to buy a whole
lot of minty chewing gum to go with it, so I can hide the smell of smoke when
I go back to Mum."

"But it'll be all different now that we've all turned 18, won't it?" asked
Amber.  "I know I'll have to buy my own smokes when I finish school, but I
hope to get a good job and cigarettes are the first thing I'll buy out of my
pay packet.  I'm going to try and get an outdoor job where I can smoke as
much as I need to.  So I reckon I'll get up to two packets a day soon.  I
don't think I'll be able to exist with much less by then."

"That's all right for you, Amber," quipped Bethany.  "Mum says I have to get
a good job in a boring office, where they'll only let you go out for smoke
breaks once or twice a day.  And that sort of job doesn't pay all that well,
so I still won't be able to buy enough cigarettes to satisfy my cravings.
And yet I have the feeling I'm already becoming more and more addicted every
day."

And then it was Carmen's turn.  "I might as well become a nun," she lamented.
"My Mum's lined me up to become a nurse, and they can't smoke at all -
hospitals are all completely non-smoking.  And they still pay nurses less
than the average wage.  So I might as well ring the `Quit' line now and
forget about smoking, let alone becoming addicted."

Amber was coming to realise how much more fortunate she was compared with the
other two when it came to smoking.   So she came back, "I know you two have
trouble smoking as much as you'd like at home, but at least we still have our
boyfriends.

"Adam's really wonderful in bed, and he gets so turned on when I smoke when
we're having sex.  When I do that, he can get very noisy and some mornings
Mum has jokingly commented that our screams of delight have kept her awake
all night.  But we actually quieted down when we're cuddling afterwards and
I'm having a post-coital cigarette or two.  In fact, Mum's glad that Adam and
I get on so well together and says he's welcome at home any time.  And did I
tell you that she recently got a new boyfriend too and that he stays the
night quite often too?"

Bethany chimed in, "Again, you're the lucky one Amber.  Your Mum's just so
much cooler and more relaxed about life than mine.  My Mum's had a couple of
boyfriends since Dad left, but I'm sure she's never had sex with any of them.
She knows that Brett's my boyfriend, but she sure doesn't have the least idea
that we've gone to bed together.  I haven't had the courage to ask if we can
spend the night together at home yet.  All she says when I go out with him
is, `if you can't be good, be careful'.  But I think she just says that for a
joke.

"We have to make love at his flat.  But you should see it - it's so small and
cold and he always leaves his dirty clothes lying around the floor.  It's
hardly the most romantic place to be in bed together.  And then I have to be
home by midnight.  So I can hardly lie around there, having too many
post-coital cigarettes, like you, Amber."

As usual, Carmen had only a tale of woe to tell about how strict and
domineering her mother was.  "You girls know I've got a boyfriend - if you
can call Colin that - but Mum doesn't approve of him.  She's never had any
interest in men after Dad left her and she doesn't think I should either.
That's why I have to tell Mum that I'm going out with you two on a Saturday
night, as she'd have a coronary if I mentioned Colin's name again.  Once she
saw me just kissing him and she just about accused him of raping me.

"Little does she know that we've had sex together, because we can only do it
at his place when his parents are away, as he's also too scared to tell his
parents about us going to bed.  So that means that we've made love together a
grand total of three times in two years.  What kind of a relationship is
that?  What's more, Colin's parents won't let me smoke at their place either,
so I've never had a cigarette either during sex or after it.  It's something
I'd really love to do."

By this time, the train was arriving at the station where they had to get off
to go to the tattooist.  The girls' "t-time" was approaching and they were
all starting to feel a bit nervous about their forthcoming experience.  Their
consolation was what Amber's mother had said, that Tom the tattooist was
gentle and imaginative.  And they hoped she was right.  Despite that
assurance, the three girls anxiously lit up their smokes and took big inhales
to give themselves courage as they chain-smoked their way from the railway
station to the tattoo shop.

They had already decided that Amber should be the first to have her tattoo
applied by Tom.  She was the born ringleader and always the first one to try
anything new.  So she was soon making her way into the studio.  Tom
double-checked that she was over 18 and that she was absolutely positive she
wanted to have the tattoo.  Amber replied a very definite "yes" to both
questions.  She asked if she could have a cigarette while he was applying the
tattoo, but Tom told her that health regulations prevented him from letting
her smoke inside.

When Tom had finished, Amber admired her new adornment in the studio's full
length mirror and she was very pleased with the result.  The tattoo made her
feel she was someone special, particularly when she thought how her two best
friends would soon have exactly the same image on their backs too.  She
walked from the studio back into the waiting room where her two friends were
still nervously awaiting their turns.

"It didn't hurt at all," Amber, told them.  She was not quite telling the
truth about that, but she did not want them to wimp out now that she had gone
through with her part of their joint plan.  Bethany and Carmen admired
Amber's tattoo and were now looking forward to having theirs done as well.

In the meantime, Amber was able to go outside and have a refreshing and
satisfying smoke or two while she waited for her two friends.  She also made
a call to her mother on her mobile phone.

++++

Eventually Bethany and Carmen each finished their turns in the tattooist's
studio and they were all able to inspect each other's identical masterpieces.
Tom told them it was the only time he had ever given three girls the same
tattoo.  And they were completely identical - he had done a marvellous job
and the girls were all extremely pleased with the result.  They each lit up a
fresh cigarette as they headed back to the railway station for the trip home
in the train.

Once they were comfortably seated in the train, Amber revealed what she had
been talking to her mother about on the mobile phone.  Amber had been
thinking about the problems Bethany and Carmen had been having with their
mothers.  So she asked her mother if the other two girls could come and live
at Amber's house, so that at least they could smoke, display their tattoos
and go to bed with their boyfriends without being hassled.

"We've got a huge house, with two spare bedrooms and Mum's always saying that
we should have more people using them.  You two would be ideal.  If we're all
in the same house together, apart from everything else, we can encourage each
other while we study for our final school exams."

"We've always got on very well together," conceded Bethany enthusiastically.
"That's why the three of us have just got the same tattoo - it's a sign of
everlasting friendship and solidarity.  But I don't know what Mum would
think."

"And I know mine will just say `no'," added Carmen.

"Well, we're all 18 now and old enough to make our own decisions.  So, why
not just do it and we'll tell them afterwards," replied Amber.

"Agreed," said the other two in chorus.

++++

So, when Bethany and Carmen arrived home and while their mothers were both
out, they moved all their possessions into the spare rooms at Amber's house.
They both left notes for their mothers to say where they had gone.

When they were all together back at Amber's home, the three girls all put on
their hipster jeans and crop-tops so they could display their tattoos.
Amber's mother welcomed her two new boarders with open arms and admired the
three girls' identical tattoos.  She asked how they enjoyed dealing with Tom
the tattooist.  And, of course, they all pretended that it had not hurt at
all!

Amber and her Mum made coffees for everyone and they all sat down and lit up
cigarettes, knowing they now had the freedom to smoke whenever and wherever
they cared to both in and out of the house.  They each inhaled deeply to
satisfy their cravings and blew pretty smoke rings to show how happy they all
were.

Amber's mum assured them that she knew how important their upcoming exams
were and so she would keep them supplied with cigarettes and coffee so they
could maintain their concentration.  She also knew how important it was for
them to have proper relaxation and how to combat the effects of stress when
they were studying.  So she told them that their boyfriends were welcome to
stay any night after they had finished their day's study.

Amber announced to the other two girls that they would be having a party that
night and to invite their boyfriends around.  "Remember, girls, it's school
holidays and we don't have to get up early for school tomorrow.  So the boys
can all stay the night and we can sleep in tomorrow.  No more nicotine
withdrawal problems and no more sexual frustration from now on!"

Of course there was drama with Bethany's and Carmen's mothers.  They both
rang Amber's mother to complain that she had aided and abetted their
daughters' sudden departure from home.  But Amber's Mum was ready for them
and pointed out that the girls were all 18 and old enough to make their own
decisions.  They had all been smoking for several years and they had all been
sleeping with their boyfriends for a while too.  This meant that, now the
girls were living at Amber's place, they would be doing no more and no less
than they had in the past.  They would just be doing it in a more
teenage-friendly atmosphere.

And, as for the tattoos, Amber's Mum merely said that, in this age of
isolation caused by computers and divorce, it was nice to see three teenage
girls bonding so well together.  She pointed out that the tattoos were the
outward signs of a permanent inner commitment to each other.  They were
physical symbols of friendship and solidarity that would be with them for the
rest of their lives.

After dinner, the three girls' boyfriends arrived along with Amber's Mum's
boyfriend.  The four ladies all smoked a lot of cigarettes during the party
that night and their boyfriends admired them for doing so.  Adam, Brett and
Colin all felt the girls' backs where the tattoos were, but it was probably
just an excuse for them to touch up the girls' bottoms.  Whatever the reason,
there were no complaints from the girls.

Brett and Colin were still getting used to the idea that they would be able
to spend the night with their girlfriends without any objections from the
girls' mothers.  But, by the next morning - after a night of considerable
passion, not to mention the girls smoking cigarettes before, during and after
sex - they had fully got used to the new regime at Amber's place.

Sitting around the breakfast table there were eight very happy, relaxed and
satisfied people - four ladies smoking away to their hearts' content and four
boyfriends constantly admiring them.