School Days - Part 6

Around 5pm, Kyle arrived at Emma’s house. The plan was dinner in town before heading to the dance. He took a deep breath and he knocked on the door. He was a little surprised when it was Emma that answered the door. He was even more surprised with Emma herself. Her hair was carefully styled into a neat bob, a stark contrast to her usual look, which could best be described as looking like a comb briefly brushed against it. She was also wearing a slinky black dress showing ample cleavage and having a slit down the side. Kyle thought she looked like she had dropped right out of an episode of Mad Men, right down to the Marlboro smoldering between her fingers.

“Damn, Kyle! You fill out a tux nicely.”

Kyle didn’t respond, still taking in the view.

“Yoo hoo! Kyle!”

“Emma, I’m sorry, but...damn. That’s the only word I can think of.”

“Oh, shut up. Eyes up here. Remember, you’re not like those other boys, right?”

“Absolutely. Just one friend complementing another.”

“Let me grab my purse and we’ll head.”

“I thought your parents might want to meet me first?”

Emma let out a wry laugh. “If you find my father, tell him he owes fifteen years of back child support. As for Mom, I assume she shacked up with her latest boyfriend. Haven’t seen her in a week.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

“For what? My shitty family isn’t your fault. C’mon.”

As Emma started toward the car, Kyle stood awkwardly rubbing his arm.

“Emma, is it weird if we stop by my place on the way? My mom was going nuts over getting pictures of the two of us. I tried to tell them it isn’t like that...”

“Relax, man. I can put on the good girl front for ten minutes. I mean, I’m still going to smell like an ashtray, but I assume they know I smoke after the other night.”

“Yeah. They weren’t thrilled, but they aren’t in much position to judge.”

“Speaking of smoking...is it going to be an issue if I smoke in the car?”

Kyle had figured this question would come up, and he tried to play it as cool as possible. “Whatever. No big deal.”

Emma smiled, stomped out her current cigarette beneath the stiletto heel she was wearing, and got in the car, rolling down the window and lighting up at the first opportunity.

Okay, Kyle, he thought to himself. Here we go.

---

The two were seated in a booth at a small Italian restaurant. Oak Creek hadn’t quite banned smoking in restaurants yet, but very few still had a smoking section. This restaurant was one, and was selected by Emma for that very reason.

“Thanks for agreeing to come here. The food’s all right, but the main attraction is not having to go outside every fifteen minutes.”

“Seems nice. Any suggestions off the menu?”

“I like the chicken parm myself.”

Kyle put aside his menu. “Well, I’ve trusted you so far.”

The two began chatting about their lives. Despite their brief friendship, they both knew few details about the other. For Kyle’s part, he was mostly focused on how, for the first time, he was really getting a front row seat to Emma’s habit. The two were seated right across from each other, and the lighting seemed almost tailored to highlight her exhales. She had lit a cigarette almost immediately after being seated, and continued to chain off of the initial cigarette right up until their food came. For twenty minutes, he watched as Emma took one slow, long drag after another. Each drag followed by a sharp, audible inhale. After holding for around five seconds each time, the exhale was always through the nose. He also noticed little details, like the light matching tar stains on her fingers and under her nose. He noticed the lightly yellow tint of her teeth. He noticed how she stuck the whole filter in with each drag, creating a ring of deep red lipstick right where the filter met the tobacco. After about fifteen minutes of this smoke show, Kyle got a little bold, and started steering the conversation.

“You really seem to enjoy those cigarettes,” Kyle blurted out.

Emma smiled, thinking back to her conversation with Tanya earlier that day. “I really do. I love to smoke.”

“See, that kinda fascinates me. Do you mind if I ask you about that?”

Emma blew a seemingly endless stream of smoke angled just above Kyle’s head.

“I’ve got nothing to hide. What do you want to know?

“How old were you when you first started smoking?”

“The first time I ever smoked a cigarette...I was eight. I didn’t start smoking on a regular basis until I was 13.”

“Didn’t your mom have a problem with that?”

Emma laughed. “My mom didn’t give a shit as long as she didn’t have to buy me cigarettes. I did odd jobs for pocket money to buy some, and some, frankly, I stole. That gas station by the high school used to do a really shitty job of locking up their cartons. After a couple years...I started hanging out with older guys. Eighteen or nineteen. You’d be amazed what some pervs will do for a jail bait blowjob.”

“Seriously? Jesus.”

“It really wasn’t that big a deal. I didn’t do anything I didn’t want to. One time a guy tried to force me to do something...but the switchblade I had been carrying put a stop to that.”

Kyle didn’t really know what to say to that. He suddenly felt very sheltered in his life.

“Anyway, what else do you want to know? Let’s see: I smoke at least two packs a day. I’m pretty much exclusively a Marlboro Red girl...”

“Why do you do it?”

Emma seemed surprised by that question. “What do you mean?”

“Why did you go through all of that? Why do you keep doing it? Is it just nicotine? You have to know how bad it is for you. Why don’t you care?”

Emma sat silently for a minute. She knew it wasn’t his intent, but these questions were starting to get a little preachy for her taste.

“I do it, because it is a feeling like nothing else, Kyle. I’ve had sex. I’ve tried most drugs you can name and probably a couple you couldn’t. Nothing else comes close to that feeling I get every time I inhale that thick Marlboro smoke deep into my lungs. When I hold it and can almost feel it soaking into the tissues. When the nicotine flows through my veins. I do it...because I can’t imagine not doing it.”

Kyle just looked at her for a second. Whatever response he was expecting, that wasn’t it.

“Emma, I’m sorry, but I need to go to the restroom. Excuse me.”

As Kyle shuffled out of the booth, Emma first thought that she had somehow offended him. Then, as he rounded a corner, she noticed that he was hard as a rock.

“Hm. I guess I’ll have to tell Tanya I guessed right.”