Watching Her

"What now?" the muffled voice of Tammy asked with the cigarette between her lips.

"All I know is just follow your Reflection and then enjoy the ride!" Lucy grinned as she picked up the lighter, flipped open the lid and brought the flame underneath Tammy's cigarette. "Just go along whatever she does, but when doing this, please don't take your eyes off her!" Lucy grinned as the hot flame slowly rose to the tip, and just as her reflection's cheeks concaved, Tammy did too, the cherry burnt brightly as she pulled the smoke in to her lungs.

Lucy watched as under the bright light Tammy and her reflection inhaled the smoke, and then Tammy followed the exhale out to the side. The smoke twirled and danced in front of them as Lucy turned and grinned at her Reflection as they did exactly the same thing. For Lucy it had been a long ten antagonising minutes since her last one. This was born out as both her and her Reflection dragged hard on the cigarette.

"Luce, look, we're actually smoking!" Tammy stated with the smoke still drifting out of the mouth as it bounced of the mirror and dissipated as she stared in awe of her Reflection in the mirror.

"I know, and, Tam, and you look beautiful and stunning doing it!" Lucy replied as she glanced at her friend all lit up with the angle light with a burning cigarette elegantly between her fingers.

"Luce, but I look, like...older?" She said peering closer to the mirror as the grey smoke from her cigarette drifted past her nose.

"That's what I told you, but I think we look so stylish!" Lucy grinned in unity as they distracted themselves from the conversation as all four of them moved their hands with perfect synchronicity and their cheeks dug in as they powered the smoke into their lungs. The large exhaled followed.

"That is crazy, but it's also amazing, I never knew!" She stated as her first of the two waves of nicotine was flooding her system.

"It is, and the best thing, look at it, there is still plenty of this amazing smoke between your fingers to enjoy!" Lucy stated after glancing at each of their burning cigarettes, "Just keep following your sexy Reflection."

Tammy nodded slowly in agreement mesmerised by what she was watching as in silence, all four women then dragged on their cigarettes in unison.

As the smoke collided with the mirror Tammy grinned "Wow, I am doing this!" she smiled as leant forward and studied her Reflection "But Luce," she turned and looked at her "Why am I doing this?" She asked as the particles of smoke from the two cigarettes swirled and danced together in together in front of mirror.

Lucy didn't answer as she was focused looking at her Reflection, she mouthed 'Bitch, thank you' to it, who flicked her long eyelashes a couple of times in appreciation as Tammy turned her head back and locked eyes on her mirror image as they then almost gracefully put the cigarettes back between theirs lips and pulled hard on their filters as in the room it looked like four orange cherries burning brightly with the inhales.

Then with heads turned slightly to the side there were four large clouds of exhales, and surrounded by the darkness, you could look from one ashtray to the other in the mirror and back again and it was impossible to say which was which, as under the bright desk light they all powered through that cigarette and then one more, and then with Lucy encouraging she led Tammy the way into the next, they all soon disappeared from view under a large, thick, grey cloud of smoke.

The End

Watching Her Too- The Epilogue

Part 1 A couple of weeks later.

Lucy's took a sharp intake of breath before shooting her arm across her face to her right and she leaned over and blew a short blast of air of out her mouth, and then straightened upright and took another deep breath in and then leaned to her left with force just as instructed forcing the air out of the recesses of her lungs again.

She then she stood up straight bouncing to the rhythm of the music whilst on the balls of her feet as she dropped her arms down by her side and nodded her head to the syncopated beat of the music as panted to briefly attempt to gain her breath back as the music slowed down again.

She stared out in front of her at the large floor to ceiling mirror along the whole wall, her normally English rose-pink cheeks were bright red, there were beads of sweat crawling and wicking across her petite laugher lines on forehead. They were falling dripping down her neck, her focus on herself in the mirror was again jolted away by the instructor's voice booming around the room. "Come on girls final time, lets increase the intensity, come on let's power those legs!" as the beats of the music she was playing increased in tempo. The ten other hot and sweaty women of various shapes and sizes clad in brightly coloured Lycra reflected back in the small dance room mirror all started powering their arms like pistons and then running on the spot to the music as it reached the crescendo, the trainers hitting the floor thudding and squeaking creating the loud sound like a herd of wildebeests rampaging across the plains of Africa. "Excellent work girls!" The extremely skinny, energetic, and very bouncy instructor bellowed out as the music faded.

Lucy sighed loudly and stood still as the music stopped, whilst the still bouncing on her toes instructor shouted, as she showed no effect at all from the work out. "Well done girls, see you all next week!" into her black boom mic across her lips as the collective gaggle of women all bent over and put their hands on their knees or their wide hips trying to breath. Whilst everyone else had straightened up and had headed for their water bottles and bags at the side of the room, Lucy was briefly alone in the middle of the room hands on knees panting hard. Desperate to get oxygen into her lungs.

"Thank you, Tracey!" Lucy eventually and politely shouted at the instructor once she could get air to move so that she could talk. Tracey waved back grinning as Lucy made her way across the room, she squatted down by her bag, pulled out her pink lidded water bottle as she guzzled and gulped down the water. She pulled out her now equally sweaty washcloth and again wiped her face of sweat and dribbled water, it also helped briefly cool her face, she picked up her bag, and then got up and was briefly social with the rest of the girls, before she headed to the car as quickly as possible, shivering as she followed the women outside and reached the blast of cool fresh air.

Lucy got to her car and sat in the driver's seat, she was lit by the yellow glow of the ceiling light that was slowly fading as she had got the key was in the ignition, it was now dark outside, and she was still gasping for air 'That was hard one tonight!' she mused as she turned the rear-view mirror so that she could see and study her still puffy pink-red face in the last of the light. She frowned, pouted her lips, and bit and then relaxed her makeup free face until she sat there in complete darkness. The windows and windscreen had steamed up in the three minutes she had sat there from the heat permeating from her body, she checked the car was in neutral and then started the engine. She fiddled with the centre console to get the fan on the windscreen and as she sat and waited. She glanced again at the glovebox. She knew what was in there. She ran her tongue across her lips and then looked at the very small clear patch of windscreen surrounded the condensation struggling to slowly grow wider and nodded her head of convincing herself.

Soon the red cherry of her lit cigarette shone brightly through the foggy windows of the car the dark carpark as she dragged hard on the cigarette, she wound down the window, and let the smoke and her exhale escape through the gap and tapped the tip of the cigarette on the ridge of the glass and watched the ash disperse in the air the other side and placed the filter back between her lips and pulled hard again. She sat there in silence taking occasional glances at the rear-view mirror for the four minutes it took her hungrily finish that cigarette. She finally exhaled the last drag, flicking the butt out the window, the red glow of the butt finally extinguished as the butt rolled into a concrete gully behind the car. With the windscreen now perfectly clear, she gulped down more of her water from her bag, smiled, dropped the water bottle on the passenger seat and slowly drove off.

Part 2

Lucy sunk into her sofa, all freshly showered and changed, watching as she balanced an unlit cigarette, like a pencil on the tip of her finger, she again bit her bottom lip as she waited for the phone to be answered.

"Hey mum, are you okay?" She asked as she then pushed the cigarette back into the pack.

"Yes, I am fine mum!" she grinned as she stared at the pack on the lap. "Sorry to bother you so late, but I've been doing some thinking, does dad still have Grannies spare bed in storage?"

"Yes, I know I said that I didn't need it, and that it was ancient, and that I was going to turn the back bedroom into an office." She bit her bottom lip again and nodded as her mum spoke again.

"But mum, well you see, I was talking at work about the house, and I have had a better idea, my friend Tammy, she still lives with her parents, well she can move in, and help me with the mortgage?"

Lucy smiled at the response "Oh no, there are no problems with money at all." She glanced again at the pack balancing on her stylish blue ripped blue denim covered thigh. "I was just thinking of company and well, money towards paying off the mortgage, as dad says, it's better to overpay?"

Lucy nodded as her fingers fidgeted as she listened and picked at the edge of frayed white cotton of her ripped jeans on her knee as she nodded to her mum. "Can you have a word and if Dad isn't busy maybe on Saturday?"

"Yes mum, I am eating fine, and yes, I am getting my vegetables mum, I am fine!" She glanced across at the greasy brown McDonald's bag crunched up by her feet that she had picked up as she drove home from her exercise.

"Yes mum, I am still going to Zumba, I even went again this evening, don't worry I am getting my endorphins going. I am being a good girl." As she again bit her bottom lip as she looked at the white cigarette pack balanced on her leg in front of her.

"Great, thanks mum, anyway, I will hopefully see Dad on Saturday, he should be able to get it in his trailer? That's great I will let Tammy know that this will work, thank you so much mum, love you, by-bye!"

She hung up, groaned as she got off the sofa, slid the phone in her back pocket of her fitted jeans and then with her pack firmly clutched in her hand she made her way up the stairs to her bedroom. She had a daily meeting with her Reflection.

Part 3 The following week

Lucy twisted close her lipstick and as she rubbed her now pinker lips together. She dropped it back in to her makeup bag on the dressing tabletop. She looked up and studied the mirror as she pouted her freshly covered lips at her Reflection and they both smiled brightly at each other. Then with a glance to their right in perfect symmetry picked up the short burning cigarette from the ashtray, closed their eyes as their lips sealed around the filter and took just one more longing deep drag on her cigarette and as they opened their eyes, they exhaled out of the corner of her mouths. Almost seductively they then ran their tongues across their teeth as they stubbed the now pink lipstick covered butt out in the ashtray. Both Lucy and her Reflection needed a short gentle cough and with a quick a wave goodbye Lucy pushed the stool and made her way down the stairs.

"Morning you" Tammy smiled as she turned her head and bounced up from the sofa as Lucy shuffled down the stairs.

"Morning!" Lucy croaked and coughed again to clear her throat. "Sleep okay, hope the old mattress is comfortable?" She asked as she fiddled with her black fluffy hairband over her ponytail.

"Yes, it was fine! Oh, and I've made us a packed lunch each so that we can easily, you know as we discussed," she winked "pop outside at lunch!"

"Are you sure, it will be colder than the car?" Lucy questioned looking out through the already opened curtains at the grey day outside.

"Yeah, but its where the, you know others hang out?" Tammy responded.

"But we are not... real smokers?" Lucy asked as she winced as she glanced up towards the stairs.

"Luce?"

"Yes?"

"Are we smoking?"

Lucy smiled turned back and shrugged her shoulders "Wonderful" she stated with sarcastically, "I need coffee before I go anywhere!" as she shuffled into the kitchen, shook the white plastic kettle, and then flicked the switch at the base, double checking the red light was on before looking back up at Tammy.

"Luce, talking of popping, can I, you know, pop into your room quickly?"

Lucy smiled wryly "Of course, I left the open pack up there, I am done up there for a bit."

Tammy nodded enthusiastically "Thank you, I sort of feel as if I need to have...

"...a meeting with your Reflection?"

"Well yes...I need to do my makeup too."

Lucy smiled and nodded with an eyeroll, "Help yourself, I need some breakfast, and..." she glanced at the space on the wall where a clock really should go "...be quick as we don't want to be late!"

Tammy nodded as she was already powering up the stairs as fast as her tight orange pencil skirt would allow.

***

Tammy watched as Simon whistled happily out of tune as he strolled past them as he headed towards the door, and then bounced up from her seat "Luce, are you ready?"

Lucy chuckled to herself as she picked her jacket off the back of her chair and put her arms in the hole. "Yeah, come on, let's go down."

"Cool!" Tammy smiled, her pack and lighter already secured in her hand, her warm coat already on.

***

Lucy perched beside Tammy on the little wooden bench under the small wooden shelter that someone had made from packing pallets, and in perfect symmetry they flicked the Bic lighter twice to get the flame before leaning their heads forwards, their cheeks collapsed twice in succession as they pulled the burning air through the filter to get the tip to light, the wind instantly blew the cigarettes out. They looked at each other confused.

"Tammy and Luce, a surprise to see you both here!" he grinned and pulled on his cigarette. "Not trying to teach a grandmother to suck eggs, but you need to shelter the tip of cigarette when lighting outside? He grinned at the two of them sitting there looking grumpy at each other.

"Oh..." Lucy looked at Tammy "Right, okay."

Steve walked closer and dangled his cigarette as he cupped his hands together and stood in front of Lucy "Try again."

Lucy leaned forward, flicked the lighter, his large firm hands lit up with the flame and with her practised double pump got the cigarette alight. Steve shuffled to the side and Tammy swiftly followed suite.

"Yeah, you don't mind, do you, us being down here?" Lucy asked, the smoke drifting out of her mouth in the wind.

"Your both adults, of course not, I wouldn't and couldn't recommend this evil filthy habit to anyone, but if you have already crossed that bridge, it's great to see you two great women suddenly joining us out here in the smoking darkside of the office?" Grinned Simon as the smoke drifted out of his mouth.

Tammy looked up and stared at Steve and then her fingers and realised that she was holding a cigarette in front of someone who wasn't Lucy or her Reflection. She frowned and then shuffled up straight and smiled confidently back "Yeah...looks that way." She stated before then turning and nervously as before smiling at Lucy who was equally nervously biting her bottom lip.

"Welcome, and I guess we will see you both down here later." Simon grinned widely, then dropped his cigarette, both girls followed it with their eyes as twisted his brown brogue shoes on top of the butt splattering it on the floor.

"Err if that's okay?" they both grinned and looked at each other then back at Simon.

"Yeah, I think so!" he smiled. "But don't spend too long out here, the others start gossiping!

"We won't!" Tammy responded quickly.

"Well, have fun, I guess, and I will see you out here at lunchtime!" he replied as he started whistling as he made his way back towards the offices.

Tammy watched as Simon made his way long the grey concrete path back towards the offices "I think we might be lucky one of the managers smokes!" she stated.

"Yeah, and it helps that he is rather fit too!" Lucy smiled and they both in perfect synchronicity put the cigarette between their lips put their fingers wide like a V as their cheeks collapsed as both took a long drag on the cigarette for exactly the same length of time. "It's only a couple of hours to go!" Lucy stated with her exhale.

"I'm thinking about it already!" Tammy replied.

"I'm thinking how I explain this to my parents!" Lucy mused before they placed the filters back between their lips and dragged hard.

Tammy laughed her exhale and gently coughed "Don't make me laugh doing this!" she replied.

"I am serious, my house stank of cigarettes from all the furniture, and now I am a fool for stinking it out myself! He is right, this is a filthy evil habit I've found myself with. I should have never followed the mirror; they will so find out eventually."

"Please don't stress, maybe we can we just only ever smoke in your room?" Tammy asked nervously and rubbed her lips together and put the filter back between them for a gently pull, letting the smoke drift out of her mouth.

Lucy tapped her cigarette on the edge of the bench to remove the ash, leaving a slight black singe stain where the cigarette briefly touched "I don't know Tam, is my house...a...smoking house now...I guess, I don't know, oh hell, is it Tam, am I now a smoker...?" she winced as the words tumbled out of her mouth and quickly comforted herself as she placed the filter back between her lips and pulled again.

"Are we?" Tammy asked as Lucy's exhale drifted past her face.

Lucy sighed thoughtfully out of her nose forcing more remnants of smoke out "I can't sit there at the bloody mirror and not actually enjoy a cigarette."

Tammy smiled and looked at her friend, "That's the problem, isn't it..." she looked down the three-quarters finished cigarette burning between her own slim fingers "They are actually enjoyable!"

Lucy nodded and looked down at her hand "Then maybe I am?" she stated and briskly brought her hand and filter back to her mouth.

***

Lucy looked up and smiled as she heard the slightly tuneful singing on Simon walking towards their desks, no sooner had he passed them had Tammy bounced up from behind her divider.

"Shit, we missed the afternoon smoke break, quick are you coming too?" She smiled as she turned and watched him disappear towards his office door.

"You're eager!" Lucy said as she stood up too, and then picked up her coat and handbag, double checking the pack was in there.

"I know, we were both on the phone when he went down, I don't want to miss this opportunity."

"It's just gone three, we leave for home in a couple of hours." Lucy almost teased. "We could survive?"

"I know, I know, but Steve has been and gone, come on." Tammy said as she impatiently started making her way towards the door holding her pack in hand leaving her coat behind, Lucy smiled and followed on.

As they inhaled on the lit cigarette, Tammy exhaled away from Lucy and then looked at her. "What's the history to that mirror?"

"I don't know, its old, and my granny bought it second hand, why?"

"We, I mean you, can't be the first?" Tammy stated as she thoughtfully brought the filter to her lips and pulled again.