She showed her the way

Denise came home from school at 3 o'clock as usual and plopped in front of the TV to watch her favorite soap, Days of our Lives. This was her after school routine: watch her soap opera, then hit the books before her mother came home, so that her mother would see her studying and know that she was being a good girl.

At 15, Denise was a mature young women. She was independent, attractive, and had a pretty good group of friends. She was an A student who had never been in trouble, and had a loving caring mother. Her father had been killed in a car accident when she was just 2, and was someone she had never known personally.

Sitting quietly, the phone rang.

"Hello" she said.

"Hi Dee, its me Jen" the voice on the other end said

"Whatcha doing?" Denise responded.

"Well, my mother is out shopping and I'm all alone, can I stop over?" Jen said

"Sure, I'm just watching Days and my mom won't be home till late. I could use the company" Denise said.

"o.k., I'll be over in like 10 minutes...." Jen said

"see you then!" Said Denise

Jen was Denise's best friend. They had grown up together and shared everything with each other. They seemed to spend hours talking about the same things: boys, school, and shopping. It wasn't unusual for them to spend afternoons together. But today would be special.

Jen showed up a few minutes later and the two of them got busy with the same old talk. Jen left the room a few minutes later to get something to drink in the kitchen when she spotted the days sin. Denise's moms cigarettes. There was a carton of Virginia Slims menthol lights. There were two packs missing, her moms daily tote. Feeling a bit brazen, Jen removed a pack and admired the way slim pack fit in her hands. She examined the pack and walked out to Denise. She had watched her own mother and Denise's mother smoke so many of these over the years and wanted to try it out for her self.

"Look what I've got!!" Jen said.

"You better put those back!!" Denise retorted.

"No!! Haven't you ever been courious about smoking?" she said.

"well, yea, but what if my mom finds out?" Denise responded.

"how's he gonna know? She buys so many of these!!" Jen said.

"She takes two packs out every day, and if we take one, that's gonna leave her short, don't you think?" she said.

"o.k., we'll take two packs out then. She won't even know then. Its not like the carton has to last until the end of the week or anything, she just buys a new one when she needs to." she responded.

"that makes too much sense....I guess we could, but should we?" Denise said.

"I've always wanted to try one...just to see what its like. besides, you see how all the guys look at all the girls out smoking at lunch right?"

"yea.....but we don't look like they do!!"

"we will now!!" Jen said. "Here, you take this pack and I'll take the other, that way we have a supply after I leave."

"You know, I've always wondered too about smoking. Mom looks so satisfied when she is smoking. They must taste really good!!" Denise said.

"Well, let's find out!!" Jen responded.

After opening their own respective packs, the girls wandered out onto the patio having picked up a lighter Denise's mom had lying around and an ashtray to deposit their remains. Each examined the perfectly firm cigarettes all lined up in the box and the foil that contained the riches within. They spent time getting used to the feel of the slim cigarette in their hands and waved them about like they had seen their mothers and other girls at school a million times before. Then the moment came. It was time for one of them to light one.

"Here, let me light you" Denise said.

Nervously, Jen lifted the fresh cigarette to her lips. The white cylinder slid into her lips and she sucked a bit to get a feel for it.

"mmmmm. I can taste the menthol in this. It doesn't smell like it tastes" She said.

Denise placed her VS menthol light in her own lips and realized what Jen was talking about. She let it dangle there while she played with the bic lighter she had procured for the afternoons follies. She managed to get a flame up and she raised it before Jen.

Jen did not immediately light her cigarette up, for she let the flame burn the tip a bit before she realized that she needed to suck a bit to actually light it. As the smoke curled up from the tip, she removed it from her mouth and blew out a small bit of smoke.

"It tastes bitter but minty...I don't know. Its not what I thought it taste like" She said. Here let me have the lighter so you can try"

Jen brought the lighter to a flame like she had seen her own mother do a hundred times and placed it before Denise. Denise began to immediately suck and felt the warmth of the unfettered smoke enter her mouth for the first time. Like Jen, she exhaled it right away after removing the freshly lit cigarette from her lips.

"You're right....it didn't expect it to be like this" She said.

"Maybe we need to take a longer drag or something" Jen said.

The two girls raised their freshly lit cigarettes to their lips again and began to suck. They watched as the tips glowed red before their eyes and dragged for a full two second before extruding them and exhaling the smoke.

"What's up with that?" Denise said.

"we must be doing something wrong......our mom's wouldn't smoke so many of these if they're all like this" Jen responded.

"Yea...and the smoke looks different somehow" Denise said.

"Wait a minute!! I think we need to breathe the smoke in.....like after we drag on it" Jen thought.

"Yea you're right....my mom always takes a big breath after she does...I wonder if that's it" Denise agreed.

The two girls started down a path that day.....each lifted their cigarettes to their mouths, took a small drag of a few second and then breathed in. It would be their first inhale, but certainly not their last. Years of heavy second hand smoke had prepared their awaiting throats and fresh young lungs for what would hit them. Each felt the pang in the back of their throat and a warming feeling as the smoke hit their lungs. They fought off the irritation and immediately blew the smoke out.

"ohhh my god that hurt!!" Jen said.

Denise had a little cough but managed to get the whole drag out.

"God is right...." Denise said as she reached over to the ashtray to put out the evidence of the moment before.

"I can believe our moms do that" Jen retorted. "I think I feel sick....I better lie down"

The two girls both lied down on the deck and began to regain their respective conscientiousness. The moment did not last too long. It past, but the thoughts of experimentation ran through their minds.

Not long after, Jen left to go home and Denise was left home alone again. It was 4:30 and her mother would not be home for another two hours. Her thoughts changed to the afternoons activities and she suddenly felt an urge to try another cigarette. She didn't know why, but as her mother always said, practice makes perfect, and if her mother could smoke as often as she did, there must be something to it.

Denise went back out on the deck and removed the pack from her pocket. She took a deep breath as she extruded one of the cigarettes from the pack. She placed in her lips and picked up the lighter. After she had lit it, she spent a few minutes waving it around watching the smoke rise from the tip. She saw how it looked in her hands and practiced de-ashing a few times. She only took a few small drags without inhaling trying desperately to get used to this strange taste in her mouth. When the cigarette was about 3/4's of the way done, she paused and decided to go for it. She dragged again and inhaled. She blew the smoke out and walked about for a bit feeling light headed. "Damn" she thought. She wondered how bad she could make her self feel by doing that. It wasn't the nicotine or anything, but she secretly enjoyed feeling like this. She dragged again and inhaled. She blew the smoke out and waited a few more seconds and repeated the process. She really felt dizzy and light headed now. She could hardly walk and lied down after crushing the remains out.

It took her a good half hour to feel better, but staying outside in the fresh air helped. With her mother only an hour away, she needed to remove all traces of her transgression. She swept the deck up, flushed the ashtray remains down the toilet, changed her clothes and brushed her teeth. With minutes to spare, she was out again on the deck studying.

Her mother walked out to greet her. She reached for her own pack and sat down and lit up what would be the first of evening pack of cigarettes.

"What did you do today, sweetie?" She asked.

"Oh, nothing...just the usual" Denise responded.

Denise was taken a back by her mother tonight...she paid careful attention to her smoking style and especially her long deliberate drags from her freshly lit cigarette.

"You sure are smoking that fast mom!!" Denise said.

"mmmm" she responded in the middle of a drag "ahhhhhhh" (inhaling) "I ran out at work and had to wait till I came home for a fresh pack." she said while holding the smoke in. "Not that you'd know anything like that....." she thought.