After a meeting tonight,
the only other guy close to my age came up to me.
I had seen him the week before, too.
It was nice seeing him around.
"You smoke?" he asked.
"Usually only when I'm drunk, but I still do it on occasion."
After pushing my mother to quit and
resenting my father for getting my clothes smelly every time I visited him,
I always told myself I would never pick up a cigarette.
Funny the things we swore as a kid that we eventually end up breaking.
But my casual smoking habits aren't the topic of this post.
As the guy handed me a cigarette and his lighter,
he started a conversation with me.
I handed him back the lighter and just listened as he vented.
I showed off by never removing the cigarette from my mouth
and blowing smoke out the side of my mouth
while offering my two cents whenever he took a pause to pull a drag.
By the end of our cancer sticks,
we had traded numbers to meet up later sometime.
Now I have to wonder...
would we have even talked to each other without the aid of tobacco?
I mean, I am kinda awkward.
I can attest to the connecting power of cigarettes.
I know it isn't the main reason why they hung out,
but within my group of actor friends
there was a group of smokers.
They would go outside during breaks from rehearsals or at parties
to smoke and converse.
Because I'm curious by nature,
I would often follow them and bum a cig off someone.
They usually had some pretty interesting conversations
that I felt privileged to take part in.
So much so I carried a lighter for a few months.
I figured I could trade fire for a rolled up plant.
That's the only appeal I can find for smokers.
I imagine the psychological part of quitting cigarettes
is leaving behind the conversations you have with other smokers
that for some reason you can never have with out a gray cloud around.
I just hope my inquisitive nature doesn't lead to a new addiction.
I have enough of those as is.
Word
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