Smoking Leather Ladies

As soon as the plane landed and the passengers were given the signal to deboard, Nikki snatched up her purse and sprinted to the nearest exit in the baggage claim, not even waiting for her parents. The 18-year-old nicotine fiend had moved her cigarettes from her purse into the pocket of her leather blazer and she already had the Marlboro Red 100 in her mouth as she reached the automatic sliding doors. She took a massive drag as soon as she lit up and it practically gave her an orgasm. Nikki hadn’t gone this long without smoking in more than a year. She chained through two cigarettes in five minutes and was halfway through a third when she realized the afternoon South Carolina sun was much too hot for her to be wearing a leather jacket. By the time she finished her third and fourth, her parents had reached the baggage claim. They gathered their bags and proceeded outside to wait for the shuttle to get the rental car, where Nikki chain-smoked two more cigarettes. As she ...

Over the course of the next three weeks, Nikki’s parents still attempted to do anything possible to bring back their sweet, innocent daughter. Grounding her didn’t work, taking away her car didn’t work and neither did counseling. Their last hope was that going off to college would save her. The only problem was, she was already gone. Nikki continued to stay out late, party and treated her parents more like roommates. To their dismay, she came home with another tattoo in early April, this one a half sleeve on her upper right arm that had a cross like the one dangling from her neck, along with her family crest and a smoking skull with cigarette between its lips and a tiara on top. Spring break was upon them and the family had a vacation planned to Myrtle Beach. On one hand, Nikki’s parents were hopeful. They thought a week away from Mark might let her think and come to her senses. On the other hand, they were concerned about her behavior, especially in front of her relatives, who...

Nikki wasn’t all that sad to move on from her group of friends. There simply wasn’t much they offered her anymore. She need to move on, down her own trail. At the time, that trail included bikers, cigarettes, alcohol, sex, cocaine (only socially) and a whole lot of attitude. In fact, Nikki was turning into a downright bully. The fight had changed something in her forever. She enjoyed the aggression. Much like her smoking during the summer, Nikki reached a point where she no longer cared to hide her boyfriend’s choice in lifestyle. One Friday night that became crystal clear. One cold January Friday Nikki made plans to go the movies with her mother. The latter could feel her daughter slipping away and they had not had a chance to spend time alone together recently. That afternoon Nikki came home and relaxed on the couch for a few hours until dinner. Still wearing her Catholic school uniform, she devoured her dinner and went outside to smoke before getting dressed for the movi...