Keep Rehearsing and Keep Performing

He couldn't wait to see her smoke on their next session together, but he knew he had to endure a few more hours before finally seeing her again.

To Rachel's own surprise, she too was eager for twenty-four hours to pass. The two reasons were because she was childishly proud of being able to smoke the new stronger cigarettes that Grant had bought for her. Secondly, she had also worked particularly hard on her smoking 'homework' sessions to be able to take those longer deeper drags that he was so fascinated to see.

But it was not all easy for Rachel. The stronger smoke was more pungent and intense as it flooded her mouth and was sometime like sandpaper on her throat and tickled her lungs as it entered when she inhaled the smoke as deep as she dared. But the biggest hurdle was probably the punch she received when the dense nicotine-rich fumes hit the bottom of her lungs like a hammer on an anvil. It was like the smoke was bashing her into shape. She hadn't adjusted yet to the fullness she felt pressuring her from within her chest. The feeling she got certainly did not create any disappointment. Rachel had not backed down from a challenge yet in her life, so she didn't intend to start now. She trusted Grant. The more she did she actually smoked, the better she would be at acting the ability to smoke.

"I can do this!" She reassured herself as she stood in front of the large mirror perfecting her style before heading off to work. "I will be so much better at my audition by smoking them!" she smiled as she the smoke drifted out her nose.

However, it wasn't only to show off that she longed for their next meeting. The fact was that Rachel liked Grant's company. It was easy to chat with him, she didn't feel being scrutinized as she often did when she went on a date.

"Oh God! What am I thinking???" Rachel snapped back to reality. "We're not dating! Grant is just a good neighbour helping me to figure out this smoking thing!"

***

The following evening Grant again came around at seven, just as agreed, as they had organised themselves to have finished their dinners. Rachel welcomed into the kitchen to get a drink. She clocked his eyes looking drifting across the room to look at her clothes horse of her drying clothes and her particularly the range of her underwear, and a pair of her sexy purple lace knickers hanging down.

Rachel distracted him by getting two bottles of beer out of the fridge and then whilst he was opening the bottles, she enthusiastically threw a kitchen towel on top covering most of the offending items. She then invited him to the lounge and sat herself down on the sofa positioned closest to the open pack and the rather dirty ashtray.

He sat down the polite distance of two sofa squares away from her and nodded. She guilty smiled pulled her third Benson and Hedges cigarette from the pack and placed the filter between her lips. Grant again nodding encouragingly as she flicked the lighter and with a single drag got it alight. She exhaled the first mouthful of smoke before instantly putting the filter back between her lips and pulling hard for a second go.

Grant practically clapped his hands together in the excitement, to him the almost perfect lighting routine, followed by an amazingly powerful drag on the cigarette.

"You are doing so well!" he praised her.

"Thanks..." she shrugged her shoulders before dragging on the cigarette again.

"I have an idea."

"Oh?" Rachel shuffled forwards slightly on the sofa.

"Why don't you come over to my place on Saturday night?" he asked her, trying not to sound as forward as it sounded inside. "I'm always here at your place and I would like to repay you for all the drinks you always offer me."

"Oh sorry, I forgot to get you a beer?" Rachel looked to get off the sofa.

Grant raised his hand to stop her. "Oh no its fine. I am here for you and your smoking, honestly not the drinking."

Rachel was in fact startled by the invite and wasn't entirely sure how she was supposed to interpret it. There was an awkward silent moment, before Grant, trying to explain himself, continued.

"Sorry, Rachel, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. I just thought that if you don't have other plans...you know, there's the football game...so...well, I wondered if you wanted to watch the game. We could order pizzas and have a couple of beers from MY fridge this time."

Rachel smiled thinking he was kind of cute acting less confident than his usual, and she didn't have any plans anyway since for once she had no plans with any of her few friends.

"Why not?! It will be fun. I hate watching football alone!" She said smiling warmly.

"Do you like football?"

Her eyes sparkled "Like it? I love football!" she beamed with excitement.

That was a slight exaggeration, but she saw how her acted confession smoothed the conversation again. She liked watching a game now and then, but she was not really a fan of sort. Somehow, Grant's invitation made her happy and she felt giddily as if she had been invited on a date. It was not a date, was it? She was sure of it, or at least that was how she interpreted it, but obviously she could not ask him about it. That would have been awkward!

***

On Saturday Grant had spent the morning frantically cleaning the house, then running errands. It was getting close to Christmas, he needed to find something for his elderly parents. He then hit the supermarket as he wanted the fridge stocked with beer and wine. In the afternoon he was practically nervously pacing up and down the house. After taking a long shower than usual, he then focused on trying to get everything just so.

Rachel had been an equal stress, after having smoked her morning cigarettes, she then attempted to distract herself from the nervous excitement by popping into town briefly. After lunch she then spent some time reading and attempting to learn some more lines.

Mid-afternoon she then showered, shaved her legs and arm pits, and then focused on doing her make up and choosing what to wear. She was now looking and smelling sweet and with what she was wearing, felt that she was looking stunning. With her coat and woolly hat on she headed out the door. She felt daft getting all dressed up to walk fifty paces down the pavement. But it was wintery, she knew it would be cold wearing a skirt and the rain showers were about.

At just after five Rachel, with a deep breath, finally knocked on Grant's door. They had planned to have their regulation, totally normal, smoking session before the game that started at six. Grant was curious to say the least about what new brand she would bring along. He kept exact count of her consumption and knew that her fourth cigarette that day would be from a new pack.

Like clockwork, so far Rachel had maintained her routine keeping her consumption at four cigarettes a day and he smiled mischievously when he saw her carry the pack of Camel 100s in addition the Benson & Hedges.

After jolted and rather awkward pleasantries of not hugging or shaking hands he took her coat and hung it up in the hallway. Grant invited his guest to the living room where Rachel soon sunk down in the over-sized, rather fluffy couch, taking the corner closest to the glass door that opened towards the back patio. He returned with two bottles of ice-cold beers a small dish with an assortment of chips and nuts placing it next to one of Penny's old ashtrays, and then retreated and took his place on the other end of the matching large couch.

"Are you sure it's ok to smoke in your house?" She nervously asked looking around taking the room in.

Grant practically belly laughed "Of course. It's perfectly fine, don't worry, I would not have invited you here otherwise! Please go on." 'I miss seeing it.' he said in his head and sighed.

Rachel carefully shuffled forward on the chair as she extracted the last of the Benson & Hedges 100s and showed Grant the open end proving it was empty before she giggled as she almost triumphantly crushed the pack and dropped it carefully on the coffee table next to the spotless glass ashtray. She then proceeded then to light up. After smoking a whole pack of standard cigarettes, she had now got the hang on them. Grant complimented her for seeming content, and not uncomfortable anymore and was blown away by how amazing she looked smoking confidently that strong cigarette.

Rachel alternated 3-second-long drags and deep inhales with sips of beer, appreciating and enjoying the combination of the two bitter tastes.

"Grant, I was thinking about something...." She said after a long exhale towards the ceiling.

"What's up?"

"I've told you about my colleague Amanda from work, remember?"

"Yeah...what about her?"

"Amanda smokes all the time during lunch breaks and since I am now quite comfortable smoking in front of you, I was wondering if I should try to do it with someone else..." Rachel suggested.

Grant stifled an excited gulp for air, "I take it, you feel as if you would now like to smoke with her during the lunch breaks?" he enquired, his voice contained a little worry that Rachel might imply the end of their smoking sessions.

Rachel smiled "Yeah. Kind of...I was thinking I could easily skip one of my morning cigarettes, just have the one after breakfast and instead smoke the one with her after lunch?"

Grant nodded, "Sounds plausible."

"You know, Amanda will definitely not give me a hard time. As I mentioned it to already, I sort of told her that I have been experimenting a little to prepare for my audition. You will never guess what, but she's asked me already a few times to join her for a cigarette, but so far, you know, well I've always politely said now, but maybe, you know, for my confidence?"

Grant chuckled quietly and nodded. "I think it sounds like a smart move. It will certainly help you to able to relax with others when smoking, as we all know its naturally a sociable event!"

He noticed his beer was almost finished having drunk it far too quickly and stood up. "I'm getting another one. Can I get one more for you too?" He asked.

Rachel looked at her half empty bottle. "Thanks Grant. Yes, do you know what? As I think it will, yes it will definitely go nicely with my next cigarette." she smiled flirtatiously at Grant.

Grant triumphantly beamed "Coming right up!" He said as he walked out to the kitchen. Hearing her talking about smoking so freely was so exciting and he used his brief visit to the fridge to take a couple of deep breaths of air and calm down as much as he could.

He returned and handed Rachel the fizzing new beer bottle as she was delicately peeling the cellophane off from the brand-new pack of Camels. She wasn't used yet to opening soft packs and he observed attentively at she teared the foil open and the begun trying to get one cigarette out. He watched her fiddling unsuccessfully for a short while.

"You have to tap the pack to get the cigarette out..." he suggested and mimicked the motion as if holding an invisible pack.

Rachel got the message, tapped the pack with her right index finger 2-3 times until a couple of cigarettes emerged slightly and she could grab hold of one of them.

"Oh, right, so that's how you do it!" She said with an amused smile and then looked at the orange- cork coloured filter cigarette in her fingers. Until now she had unintentionally only smoked all-whites apart from occasional odd ones in high school. The look of the cigarette intrigued her, but she didn't say anything about it.

She had spent part of the time before coming over to Grant's choosing which pack to bring. She had studied, the student she was and looked at and compared the 'not good stuff list' on the back of the packs comparing the nicotine and tar contents and with sad realisation she knew that these were supposedly even stronger than the Benson & Hedges.

Rachel looked at Grant, he grinned back encouragingly as she then took a last gulp to finish her first beer, wetted her lips with her tongue. Almost hoping to tease Grant before she placed the cigarette between her lips. She glanced down almost cross eyed at the cylinder protruding from her lips.

This time she was more curious than afraid, believing that however different the cigarette would taste or feel she would be able to handle it, so after another deep breath she flicked the lighter and touched the end of the cigarette with the dancing flame.

Grant was smiling reassuringly observing in excited silence, trying to capture all the details of the smoking scene that was beautifully evolving in front of him, and saw once the cigarette was alight, in almost amazement as Rachel took a long drag as customary for her, her fingers making a wide "Vee" her index and middle fingers releasing the cigarette she inhaled sharply, before clamping hard against it and removing it from her lips as she bathed her lung with the noxious smoke. Grant mentally but subconsciously counted the seconds before the beautiful girl in front of him began exhaling a tight cone through her full lips.

"Wow! These are different!" Rachel pulled a face of almost disgust, tilting her head slightly to the side and running her tongue along her lips as she inspected the burning cigarette. "The label say they are stronger, and they sure feel that way. The smoke felt almost scratchy as I inhaled it!"

She instantly grabbed and gulped down her beer as to wash her throat. Sticking her tongue out and staring at the burning cigarette between her finger with disgust.

"I don't know how it works on a set, but if you're not allowed to choose the cigarettes, I suppose it is important that you learn to smoke any cigarette they might provide to you without letting it affect your style. So, maybe it is a good thing that these ones taste differently from the Benson ones, don't you think?" Grant offered as a positive line of thought.

Rachel reluctantly nodded as she continued to stare at her hand with the burning cigarette between it, "I don't know either, but you're probably right about the taste." Rachel announced as she rubbed her lips in preparation before bringing the filter back to her lips.

"Hopefully!" Grant replied.

Rachel nodded and took yet another deep drag, focusing on not letting the pungent feeling stop her until she her mouth was completely filled with acrid smoke, then she pulled the cigarette from her lips and purposedly inhaled the whole mouthful into her chest, engulfing her lungs once again. The smoke felt remarkably harsh in her chest, but she was determined to complete the task and let it sit there for a few more seconds before beginning to exhale elegantly raising her chin a bit and turning her head slightly away from Grant to offer him a better visual of the cone flowing through her lips.

Feeling that she was succeeding, as the exhale started to thin out, she couldn't avoid smiling and almost flickering her eye lashes as she asked, "How did that look?"

"Perfect! Absolutely perfect!" Grant complimented her, as he was so blown away by the display Rachel had offered that he needed to shift position on the couch swinging his foot up on to his knee as up to create a triangle to be sure to hide the bulge that was pressing under his pants. "That's how you should smoke them. You look extremely convincing as an experienced smoker!"

And Rachel did. Having proven that she could handle even those stronger Camel 100s, she made sure to continue with the same style for the rest of the cigarette until she triumphantly crushed it in the ashtray.

"I don't know about you Grant, but I'm starving!" She exclaimed interrupting her last exhale, not realizing that she had done a talking exhale for the first time.

Grant could not at that very moment dare to stand up in front of her to go grab his phone from the middle of the table, so with a big grin he distracted Rachel.

"Rachel, sorry to annoy, would you mind grabbing us a couple more beers in the fridge while I order a couple of pizzas? We are both almost out."

"Oh, sure, I need the bathroom and then I definitely need another beer to wash my mouth and throat the Camels are seriously coarser!" She grimaced as she jumped up, gently coughed, and looked surprised, before adjusting the hem of the skirt down a little towards her knees and then then happily heading towards the bathroom as Grant watched her briefly before he then focused on the app on his phone.

***

During the following three hours they loosely watched the game, ate their pizzas, and drank three more beers each. Grant was relaxed from the drinking, but Rachel was no doubt beyond relaxed. She wasn't used to drink very much and after downing six beers in less than four hours she wasn't far from being drunk. But they were having a good time, and both were enjoying each other's company, so when the game ended, Grant took a chance.

"Those pizzas and nuts are so salty, it makes me so thirsty, but I think we've drunk all the beer I had in the fridge. What would you say if I opened a bottle of wine instead? It's better than warm beer!"

"Uh...Grant...I don't know...I feel like I've had too much already...I know I will regret it tomorrow..." Rachel tried to counter.

"Oh, come on Rachel! Don't let me drink the wine alone!" Grant insisted jokingly.

Rachel glanced at the pack and lighter and slowly nodded as she surrendered. "Ok! What the hell! But it'd better be white and chilled!" She tipsily giggled.

Grant returned with two glasses and an open bottle of Chardonnay. He poured some for Rachel and then for himself and raised his glass.

"Cheers! Thank you for accepting my invitation, Rachel. I'm having a wonderful time."

"You're welcome. Me too!" She responded.

Shortly thereafter, as he refilled the glasses, from the bottom shelf of the small wooden table next to his corner of the couch Grant pulled out an open pack of Marlboro 100s.

"What's THAT?" Rachel asked unable to hide her surprise pointing her inquisitive finger to the red and white pack in his hand.

"What does it look like? It's a pack of cigarettes!" Grant laughed.

"I know that silly."

"I did say that you can smoke in here!" he smiled.

"But you don't smoke, do you?" She raised her eyebrow at him incriminatingly.

"You never asked. I don't really. But after a drink or two, I sometimes, and I used to have an occasional cigarette with..." he gulped and took a deep breath, "...Penny and this was, you know, her brand for...Anyway for your information, from time to time I still indulge myself with a cigarette, just once in a while, mostly to remember the happy time before...you know...before I lost her..." Grant finished slowly and quietly.

Rachel's body collapsed as she sighed as she saw the pain on his face. She thoughtfully nodded and turned her a frown into a smile as she thought it was almost sweet thing of him to do. But she didn't say anything. She watched as Grant extracted a cigarette, and placed it in his mouth, and then looked sweetly at Rachel.

"I'm sorry. How rude of me. Would like one?" he asked around the filter.

"But I've already had my two cigarettes, remember?"

Now it was time for Grant to test his luck. He laughed, "And, so what? Come on! Don't let the old man smoke alone. I'll feel like a fool!"

Rachel laughed sarcastically "You mean like I have been doing?" Grant winced as the truth hit him. Rachel leaned forwards and sipped more wine, then looked a Grant. She again crumpled at the external peer pressure and buzz from within of the enjoyment of the moment; she was feeling sorry for him. She gulped more of the wine all whilst staring at the open pack that Grant was offering to her.

"Ok. But just one!" she said overly firmly as she caved.

"Yes, of course!" Grant cheered as he shook the pack to make a couple of cigarettes emerge through the opened foil.