Nicole's Smoking Story Part 3

For the remainder of the fall Nikki continued to smoke, getting in a few cigarettes after school before her parents got home and her friends began to get used to her periodic smoke breaks when they hung out.

She continued to use Friday as the day to buy her cigarettes since her dad finished practice an hour earlier that day due to preparations for a Saturday game and they never blinked at the fact that she didn’t want to ride the bus on that day.

Living in the Pendleton school district, the school was required to supply her a bus home from her private school and because she lived 20 minutes from school, the bus consisted only of kids that went to BOCES for technical skills and that was a rough crowd.

Nikki never asked for an allowance, her parents had always just given her $20 per week. She had always helped out with various chores around the house without her parents ever asking her such as walking the dog, vacuuming or doing work in the yard. Not to mention, she was simply a great kid that never got in trouble at home or anywhere else and she worked hard to get excellent grades.

Before she started smoking, she spent her allowance on clothes or just saved it, but now it was feeding her new habit.

Once football season ended, Nikki found herself in a difficult predicament. Her dad no longer had practice after school so he would pick her up each day. She would use her sleepovers each weekend as a time to buy her cigarettes, but smoking during the week was the trick.

She would manage to get a couple here and there during the week by walking the dog, but she was finding that she wanted to smoke more frequently.

In her mind, her parents would never approve of her smoking, let alone let her do so openly so Nikki had to find other ways.

Thanksgiving and Christmas vacations were particularly hard for her, especially with her brothers being home. There were far too many people in the house to get away.

On the Thursday, just after Christmas vacation ended, Nikki found herself stressed over having quite a bit of reading to do for homework, while having to study for a test the next day.

Finally she had her breaking point. She looked at her cellphone and saw that it was close to midnight and she knew that her parents were in bed. So Nikki decided to do something she had never done before.

She grabbed a sweatshirt and grabbed her cigarettes. Nikki was going to sneak out to have a quick smoke right under her parent’s noses.

It hadn’t snowed in a few days so she would not leave on tracks. It seemed like the perfect time.

Nikki went out the side of the garage, being careful not to let the door creak. She lit up almost immediately and felt a calming sensation as the smoke entered her lungs in the cold winter night. It was especially satisfying giving the nervousness of possibly getting caught.

She quickly finished her cigarette before putting it out in the snow. She figured she could simply flush it down the toilet.

Thinking she was going to get away with it, Nikki went back inside, tossed the butt in the toilet and washed her hands. Not noticing anything around her, she opened the door that connected the bathroom to her room and found her mother sitting on her bad with her arms crossed.

Nikki was busted.

“Just what do you think you are doing?” her mother asked.

Her 15-year-old daughter just looked at her, not able to muster up a response.

“When did you start smoking?” she asked.

“A few months ago,” Nikki mumbled as her father entered the room.

“Well this is the last of it,” her father said sternly. “Give me your cigarettes.”

Nikki didn’t move.

“We will get you the help to quit, but you will not smoke in this house,” her mother said.

“I’m not quitting,” Nikki finally said.

“You are 15, you live by our rules,” her father said.

“I know it’s hard for you to understand but I like smoking,” said Nikki. “I’m not giving you my cigarettes and I’m not quitting. You can’t stop me.”

This was the first time that Nikki had ever been in trouble in her life and it was certainly the first time she had defied her parents. Her parents didn’t even ask how she bought them because as teachers they knew that it was not difficult for someone underage to buy cigarettes.

“We are teachers,” said her mother. “We will not let our daughter smoke. If we need to, we’ll cut off your allowance because we know that’s how you buy them.”

“I never do anything wrong!” Nikki exclaimed. “I have great grades, I don’t drink, I do chores without asking and I never get in trouble. So what’s the big deal if I smoke?”

“It’s bad for you and are underage,” her father responded. “That’s the big deal.”

“I don’t do anything else that’s even close to being dangerous,” Nikki said. “So now I’m a bad kid just because I smoke?”

“You’re not a bad kid,” said her mother with tears in her eyes. “It’s late. We will talk about this tomorrow.”

Seeing her mother cry nearly brought tears to Nikki’s eyes, but for a reason she could not explain, she would not give in and would continue to smoke.

Somehow Nikki managed to get through school the following day and did very well on her test – some of her academic stress was self-inflicted because she wanted to do well so badly – but she was dreading

having to continue the smoking argument with her parents later that night.

She had told her friends what had happened and they showed little sympathy to her because of their feelings towards the habit. When her father picked her up after school, the entire car ride home was silent and as soon as they got home she went to her room.

She sat anxiously in her room, not really noticing what she was watching on TV, until she heard the garage door at 5 p.m. Nikki knew that the looming conversation was about to continue shortly. When her mother got home she went upstairs to see her father and they remained up there for a good 45 minutes. Nikki could barely sit still and she would kill for a cigarette at that moment.

Finally her parents entered her room.

“Why would you ever want to smoke?” her mother asked.

“Mom, I’ve told you already,” Nikki said. “I like the way it makes me feel and there’s no way for me to make you understand it.”

They stared at their teenage daughter. They had to admit that they couldn’t ask for a better daughter and many parents pray for a child like her. She does everything they could ever ask, and she often does it before they ask. A proposal was coming.

“Nicole, you are a great kid,” her father said. “You don’t ever get in trouble and this is the first time we have argued in a long time.”

“We don’t condone you smoking and we want you to quit,” her mother said.

“But – “ Nikki began before her mother put her hand up to silence her.

“We are going to allow you to smoke at home,” her mother said. “You are not smoke in public and you are not smoke in the house or in our cars.”

“We aren’t going to buy them for you either,” her father added.

“No way,” said Nikki angrily. “I’m not going to be hidden like you’re ashamed of me. You can’t tell me where I can smoke.”

“You aren’t in a position to negotiate,” her father said firmly.

“Yes, I am,” Nikki retorted. “You can ground me but you can’t keep me from doing what I want to do.”

Her parents looked at each other and knew that they were beaten on this one. Their beautiful, intelligent baby wasn’t going to give in.

“How about this,” her mother started. “You can smoke if we go out in public, but not in Lockport. We are teachers and we cannot be seen allowing our daughter to smoke. You also cannot smoke in front of your grandparents. They would be crushed.”

“The rules about not smoking in the house or the cars still stand and we will not buy them for you,” her father chipped in.

“Agreed!” Nikki squealed excitedly. “Thank you so much for understanding!”

Her parents exited the room, probably still in disbelief that they were allowing a 15-year-old to smoke openly. Nikki was incredibly excited that she was going to be able to smoke whenever and wherever she wanted. She had to admit that it would be awkward going outside to smoke for the first time in front of her parents but she knew she’d get over it.

After dinner Nikki decided that it was time to test her freedom. She grabbed a cigarette and lighter, put on her leather coat and smiled at her parents as she walked out the door for her first smoke out of the closet.

Nikki was enjoying her new-found freedom to smoke whenever she pleased, and she found herself nearing a half a pack per day in just a few days over the next two weeks. She had a cigarette every morning when she woke up and another before getting in the car to go to school, as well as another as soon as she got home in the afternoon, but she was finding it increasingly difficult to get through the school day without smoking. She didn’t allow it to affect her attention to her studies but the urges were tough to handle at lunchtime and study halls.

As Martin Luther King Day approached, Nikki was anxious to try out her just how lenient her parents were and how they would handle her smoking in public. She had yet to tell any of her other family members although her parents had told her brothers of the situation, but she had yet to smoke in a public place in front of them.

Nikki thought the MLK day off would be a good time to try it out as she was supposed to go to the dentist with her mother for a regular cleaning and then a trip to the mall afterwards.

The family had been seeing the same dentist in Buffalo for years and she was determined to keep her perfect white teeth and hide the fact that she had begun smoking from him. So other than an early smoke,

Nikki held off on smoking until their 10 a.m. appointment so that there would be not scent on her breath.

Nikki saw the dentist first and had a perfect checkup as usual so she went to sit in the waiting room while her mother was seen. The original plan was to wait until after her mother had finished but just as she was about to finish with the dental hygienist, Nikki could wait no longer. She knew that should had a solid 10 to 15 minutes from the end of the cleaning to the dentist overview, so she grabbed her leather coat and purse and stepped outside.

Nikki was nearly halfway through her cigarette when she heard the door next to her open. There she saw the hygienist, Lynne, with an unlit all-white cigarette dangling from her lips.

Lynne was not gorgeous by any means, but she was an attractive woman in her mid-30s that spent much of the time talking about her side job of training helper dogs.

It shocked Nikki to see that Lynne smoked because she had never pictured it in the nearly 10 years that she had worked on her teeth, not to mention it was the first time she had smoked in front of a stranger.

“You weren’t supposed to see me!” Lynne shrieked.

“It’s OK, join the party,” Nikki said with a smile.

“Do your parents know that you smoke?” Lynne asked curiously. “You’re still underage.”

“Yes, they were pretty upset about it at first but the came around,” Nikki said.

“Well, we should both quit,” Lynne said.

They shared a laugh and made small talk for a few minutes before Nikki headed inside to wait for her mother.

After the dentist they went out to lunch before setting out for the mall. By the time they reached the parking lot, Nikki was craving for a cigarette, so as soon as they parked she hopped out and quickly lit up. Still not used to the sight of her daughter smoking, Nikki’s mother cringed a little but her reaction left her unfazed.

They paused just prior to the entrance will Nikki finished her smoke, enjoying every second of being allowed to smoke in public. She finally finished and the pair went inside and began their shopping escapade. After nearly two hours of shopping, Nikki was ready for another cigarette.

“Hey mom, I’m going to go out for a smoke,” Nikki said. “I’ll meet you in a little bit."

Nikki headed out the nearest entrance to cure her craving. She was officially a full-fledged smoker and there was no going back.