Watching Her

Lucy matched the reflection inhale for exhale, she was mesmerised watching the smoke bounce off the mirror, rise the to the ceiling, flow out of their noses. She was almost giddy watching herself do it. She couldn't believe she was. The wine was certainly helping her mouth taste better after each drag.

Lucy went to stub the cigarette out as it got hot between her fingers as it reached the filter and noticed that it was back to being her mirror image. There were only five butts in the ashtray in front of her as well as in the mirror. She smiled; she now knew how to spot when the dressing table was playing games.

She got up and sighed through her nose, she could smell cigarette emitting from within. It spooked her little. Lucy carried her now empty wine glass downstairs and quickly topped it up, looked in the fridge and pulled out the microwave lasagne for one.

With the TV on in the background, Lucy quickly demolished her tea and poured herself the last glass from the bottle of wine. She didn't care she had already drunk a whole bottle, she was getting a taxi in an hours' time.

***

Lucy got undressed and briefly stood naked in front of the mirror, before bending over pulling up her large white compression knickers and then put on her strapless bra. She didn't need the Spanex pants, but it made her feel better in the tight-fitting dress.

She pulled the dress over her head and the pulled it down to her knees, it looked stunning, 'The dressing table has taste' she smiled at it

Lucy then sat down in front of the mirror to try and tie the halter neck up. After faffing for five minutes in the mirror she eventually got it tied so it wasn't going to fall down and reveal her boring white bra.

She glanced at her phone the taxi was coming in twenty minutes, she had to rush, she got ready to touch up her make up, and her hand reached for the pack of cigarettes, and she glanced at the mirror, but it was just her mirror image, the ashtray still only had the five cigarettes in it. Lucy frowned and sucked her lips thoughtfully before removing her hand from the pack and continued putting on her make up.

***

Lucy climbed the stairs in the darkness slowly giggling to herself using her hand to support herself as she focused on putting one foot in front of the other as she made her way up the creaking stairs. It has been a great fun; they had drunk far too much and danced the night away. They had even bumped into Liam and Simon, but she had lost them when they had headed off to the smoking area in the nightclub at some point.

She stumbled into the bathroom and like a cat playing it took her a couple of attempts to grab the pull cord, and to turn the light on, she then focused on her face in the little mirror, her make up as predictably smudged as she had drunkenly attempted to reapply throughout night. She pulled, tugged, and fought the halter neck knot and eventually it fell loose and with a couple of goes it dropped to the floor, her bra and her huge knickers eventually followed suit as she stumbled around the bathroom, she then she sat down on the toilet.

With her elbows leaning on her knees, her hands supporting her head she looked through the open door at her bedroom, the desk light was on. She shook her head then regretted doing that as the world swirled, she was sure that she had turned everything off when she left the house. She can still hear in her head her mum and dad shouting at her "turn the bloody lights off" whenever she leaves a room.

Her focus was now urgently on the bedroom, she got up and forgetting to flush bounced off both bathroom and bedroom door frames before landing triumphantly at the dressing table.

At first glance in the mirror she smiled, her Reflection and nodded happily, Lucy had to take a double look as her hair and makeup was still perfect in this mirror, yes, she and her Reflection were still very naked and very drunk, but she looked a lot less of mess, she looked absolutely gorgeous. "Mirror, I like you a lot, I do!" she drunkenly pronounced with all seriousness as their hands went straight to the pack and "And Shh you, as I also might like a ciggy!" she giggled as pulled a cigarette out of the pack and unsteadily placed the filter between their lips.

Chapter 12

Lucy groaned as she rolled out of bed and stumbled back towards the bathroom, she turned on the taps and guzzled as much as water as she could, her mouth felt awful. Then sat back down on the toilet and moaned. Again, she with her hands supporting her head she looked up towards her bedroom, and as she did her angle light came on all by itself, her shoulders dropped, and she shook her head and sighed loudly and stood up and lent of the flush and then crept back into the bedroom.

She put her arms on her naked hips and looked down at the desk. There were now nine butts in the ashtray. No wonder her mouth felt awful. How many did the evil mirror force her to enjoy last night?

As such Lucy sat down and on leaned on the dressing table and looked at her Reflection, bed head and tired looking face was reflected, but where she thought she was frowning in her sorrows, her Reflection was smiling brightly back.

As Lucy then forced a smile back her spare hand instinctively creeped along the desk and pulled the cigarette out of the pack it dawned on her that there now only eleven left. "Mirror, you are making me smoke too much!"

Her Reflection shrugged her shoulders and they both reached for the lighter.

Within a few minutes of repetitive and large clouds of intense, but delightful smoke filling her lungs, the cigarette was nearly finished. Lucy had inhaled deeply and removed the cigarette from her lips and had exhaled a cone to the ceiling, she leant forward as if to stub it out and her Reflection glared at her and again glanced down at the pack.

"What, hang on, are we having a second one already?" Lucy asked her Reflection who smiled and nodded enthusiastically, as they placed the butt between their left-hand fingers, and with their right pulled out another cigarette from the pack, smiled at each other and placed the filter between their lips and her reflection reshowed her how to chain light a cigarette, with another powerful double pump inhale. It was reshowing, seeing as they had sat there just like this and smoked three others like that the night before.

***

Lucy sat on her sofa trying to look natural holding a mug of coffee and watching the rolling news on the television. Once dressed she had spent the last half an hour running around the house with air freshener spray, like the air stewardess do with the bug spray in the cabin when leaving a tropical country, she was desperately trying to remove any hint of cigarette smoke. Her dad had texted to say that they were coming over again. The ashtray and the pack of cigarettes were hidden in the back of the bottom drawer, she didn't dare throw the contents in the kitchen bin, she was sure her mum would check.

She looked up as her dad unlocked the front door with their spare key, and they made their way in. Lucy frowned and chewed on the inside of her cheek, and bit her bottom lip, she could well have been naked or something.

"Morning Luce, how are you doing this glorious morning, we have even been shopping for you, didn't want you to starve!" Graham almost boomed as he walked uninvited into the house carrying four Waitrose bags for life. "Come on Wend!" he stated as he turned at looked back into the little porch as she hurriedly followed on carrying a bucket full of cleaning sprays and polish.

"Morning Dad, Mum, thanks for the food..." Lucy smiled as she untucked her legs from under her and stood up holding her mug firmly in both hands and looked quizzically at the cleaning items and intrigued by what food they had brought.

Wendy looked at Graham sternly before turning to Lucy "Well seeing as your stuff reeked of Granny Gilmartin's cigarettes, we thought, well I thought we should at least scrub it clean for you!"

Lucy chuckled "Mum, its fine, I have had the windows open all evening seeing as it has been warm, and I really haven't noticed it."

"Luce, she has spoken of nothing else since last weekend, please just let her clean something, she has been suggesting that granny has been stinking your house out from the grave. I was then thinking I could take you all out to the Fox and Hounds for lunch. How does that sound?"

Lucy smiled and nodded "That sounds ideal, shall I boil the kettle, I really could do with another coffee?"

Graham glanced as Wendy made a beeline to the Welsh dresser with her bucket of polish and cloths. "Yes, I think you better."

***

Lucy flaked out on the sofa; she was knackered. She had manged to keep her parents out of the bedroom, but they had gone around every item of furniture and given it a good polish and even vacuumed the carpets again.

She had suggested that the dressing table was fine as she had covered it in her own perfume enough times by now, and that she hadn't tidied up in there since she got up rather hungover and really didn't want them both nosing around.

Her purple dads face suggested he thought there was a vibrator left out or something, which made her grin.

After they dropped her home on the way back from lunch, she eventually collapsed on the sofa. She was full, but the chips and burger certainly helped with the hangover, as well as a pint of lemonade and lime, she had been tempted by a pint of shandy, but had thought against it. As she lay crashed out on the sofa, she stared out the front window and caught her reflection of herself as she ran her tongue across her lips. She shuffled up off the sofa and headed back up the stairs.

She pushed open her door and looked at the dressing table in the dull afternoon light. She sat down and with some gentle internal persuasion opened the drawers and put the ashtray with the extinguished butts in and the pack back in their spots on the table and looked at her Reflection.

Lucy gulped as the flipped open the pack on her own accord and winced as she counted the nine cigarettes remaining in the pack. She instantly shook her head as admonished herself to determining how many cigarettes she had. She confirmed to herself as long as the Reflection turned up, a couple more for today, and then some for tomorrow, and if she was lucky maybe one more before work on Monday.

Lucy again looked at the mirror, she poked her tongue out, it was just her, the Reflection wasn't playing games. She looked pulled her phone out of the back pocket of her blue jeans, it was three-thirty, maybe it was too early. Her other hand tapped the cigarette pack impatiently waiting for something to happen as she looked around the room.

She tapped the pack once more and looked intently at her mirror image, shrugged her shoulders picked up her phone, got up and headed towards the stairs as her Reflection sat, still in the mirror and frowned in disappointment as Lucy disappeared through the door.

Chapter 13

Just half an hour later, Lucy sighed after climbing the stairs as she sat back down on the stool, she just had to look at the mirror again on the off chance the Reflection was back, there was literally nothing on television, she had already seen her mum and she was bored of Facebook stalking her customers.

Lucy bit her bottom lip, looked at the open pack, took a deep breath and then herself pulled out a cigarette and placed the filter between her lips and stared at her mirror image. She was scared that she had just done that all by herself- put a cigarette between her lips, but she felt as if she needed, almost right to have a cigarette just there. As she stared as her neatly plucked eyebrows raised twice. They smiled at each other as they calmly brought the lighter to the tip, her Reflection smiled and battered her eyelids as the reflected ashtray in the mirror was now filled with butts.

Their rosy, red cheeks collapsed in unison as the smoke was pulled into the lungs.

Lucy exhaled a cone and found herself saying "Thank you" to her Reflection as the smoke continued to drift out of her mouth.

Her reflection shrugged its shoulder just as Lucy would do as they manicured the initial ash, before in unison taking another drag on the cigarette.

Lucy exhaled as she had done the three dozen times she had done before, but her reflection started to let a little smoke out of her mouth and then inhale it back up her nose. The smoke was like a grey twisting curtain funnelling up her cute philtrum as the smoke slowly escaped the mouth and disappeared up the nose. Her Reflection then exhaled the cone from her lungs. Lucy sat there in front of the mirror opened mouth as she watched the trick.

Her Reflection nodded as if it were to be repeated, they took a gentle drag as if not to inhale properly and then together they left the smoke drift out their mouths and hoovered it up their noses. With the final exhale, Lucy was bouncing on her seat with the accomplishment. She couldn't wait to go again, she led this time and her Reflection followed as the repeated the exercise, over and over again. She was mesmerised playing with the smoke drifting from her mouth, and then smelling the pungent smoke as she drew it in, with bam, the pleasure as the smoke eventually hit her lungs.

With that cigarette nearly complete, the Reflection and Lucy took a short final drag and exhaled towards the mirror, the two clouds collided at the mirror glass, before the Reflection smiled and again looked towards the pack, they beamed at each other full well knowing what was going to happen next. The fresh filters were placed between the lips and the double pump inhale conducted to light the fresh cigarette, with the ceremonial stubbing out of the completed butt in the ashtray as the smoke of the fresh exhale clouded the space between them.

The Reflection then conducted a quick double eyebrow raise and a smile, Lucy knew that her Reflection was going to lead again. She sat and watched, the cigarette burning brightly next to her face. Yes, she could be getting on with doing her washing, so she had clean clothes for work, or cooking tea, but no she sat as she watched her reflection take the cigarette between her lips, briefly draw on the cigarette, and almost hamstered the smoke in her cheeks. She opened her mouth with an obvious O and with the creamy smoke being briefly held in the dark void between her pink lips and white teeth as slowly clicked her jaw, the smoke left the mouth in perfect rings and drifted across the mirror. Before her reflection pulled the rest of the smoke in her mouth down into her lungs and then exhaled her small cone.

It took Lucy a couple of goes to get it right, the first attempt she inhaled the smoke properly, forgetting to hold it in her mouth, and the second attempt the smoke escaped before she could make the O's.

However, on the third drag, Lucy and her reflection were mirror images of each other as the fourth, fifth and subsequent drags produced a medley of cloudy rings of smoke that combined as they crashed into the mirror in some Olympic ring dance before dispersing across the glass.

The taste of the smoke within her mouth was lingering and Lucy and her Reflection ran their tongues across their lips and teeth as an attempt to clean them before taking a long deep final drag on the cigarette before stubbing it out.

Lucy's shoulders dropped as she bit her bottom lip as the smoke seeped off the stubbed ash in the ashtray as she looked up at her smiling Reflection.

Her Reflection looked again down at the pack; Lucy winced as she turned the pack to see how many were in there, six, and then she turned it to the mirror so the Reflection could see, as if to highlight to it her problem. Lucy's eyes widen when the mirror image of her pack clearly showed a full twenty cigarettes. Lucy smiled, there was no requirement for the Reflection to get more cigarettes. She couldn't leave, she could just sit there permanently taking cigarette after cigarette and enjoy each and every single one of them.

Lucy paused her train of thought at the word enjoyment and shook her head again as her Reflection tilted her head and raised one of her shoulders and almost did puppy eyes as if to say go on, just one more.

***

Lucy slowly walked down the stairs to her kitchen and boiled the kettle, whilst waiting for the kettle to boil she poured herself a glass of orange squash. Then quickly guzzled it down. Her mouth felt disgusting, the rings, holding the smoke in her cheeks, looked amazing, but ugh her tongue felt like leather. The squash did little to wash the taste away as she shovelled three teaspoons of instant coffee into her mug and poured the boiling water in.

She was feeling amazing, almost giddy three cigarettes in quick succession were making her almost want to bounce. She would have done, if she didn't feel as if it would make her sick or cough, her lungs seriously felt as if they had smoked the three cigarettes she had just done.

She looked at the black coffee, hoping without milk that the strong taste of coffee would counter the strong bitter residue of smoke in her mouth. She picked up her mobile phone and mug and headed to the living room to try and calmly enjoy her smoking induced buzz.

Chapter 14

Her Saturday night in on her own watching television with a glass of wine finished with a devouring final cigarette with her Reflection before going into the bathroom and washing her teeth, there were four left, her parents had done the shopping, there was no need to head out on the Sunday.

When she woke on Sunday morning she didn't get far before stopping and kneeling on the stool in front of the mirror. Then after thinking for a couple of seconds, she sat down properly at the dressing table and tapped the cigarette pack waiting for her Reflection to catch up. Once she had received the nod, both of them promptly put a cigarette between their lips. She even said "Good Morning" to her Reflection who nodded back with a smile as they both quickly grabbed the lighter.

She was enjoying the company of her Reflection, even if it was not being very communicative, it was highly expressive. Especially when it suggested another cigarette. However anxiously there were now only two solitary cigarettes in the pack, Lucy declined the offer and pulling another one out of the pack once she stubbed the first cigarette of the day out, she knew she had to pace them.

Lucy got up and headed to the shower, and then got dressed in the grey jogging bottoms and white crop top lounge wear and headed down the stairs checking her phone as she went.

There was a WhatsApp message from Tammy suggesting that she and Rachael were going for a coffee at Carrington Woods cafe and then for a bit of a stomp if she fancied joining them.

Lucy nodded at the phone and flicked on the kettle and then replied.

***

Lucy waved goodbye to Tammy as she drove off, and then kicked off her muddy wellies in the porch and padded into the house, pulled off her woolly hat, letting her long hair fall down and then removed her coat, she shivered as she touched the cold radiator in the hallway and, then looked at the blank wall at the bottom of the stairs above the radiator where the coat hook should really go and mentally added it to her growing list of things that she needed to borrow her dad's drill and make holes in the wall with. She folded the coat over and placed it on the back of her chair in the living room and made her way to the kitchen to again boil the kettle. Tammy had asked when she dropped her off to come in and see the house, but Lucy had again suggested next weekend.

She was still buzzing from coffee she had when they got back to the café in the carpark, but felt the needed more, she was not sure if was going to sleep that night, but they had walked miles and miles in the woods, chatting away the time, they didn't realise that they had walked so far until they reached the end of the woods. They then had to turn around and come all the back. Lucy concluded that she should be tired enough to sleep. Especially if she sees her Reflection before bed.