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Date Posted: 20:17:38 08/13/22 Sat
Author: Curious
Author Host/IP: 120.159.212.179
Subject: Re: Story Inspiration Sources (The AWS Material, Part Three)
In reply to: Curious 's message, "Story Inspiration Sources (Relaunch)" on 03:11:00 03/06/22 Sun
Part Three, see part one for the introduction.
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AWS (My smoking babysitters 1)
Couldn't agree more with the smell of smoke evoking feelings of home and comfort. I also grew up in a smoke-friendly house and always felt the same way, even long before I ever thought to try smoking for myself.
I only had one babysitter who smoked when I was a kid, and she didn't babysit me that often. Most of my babysitters were high school age and if they did smoke, they never did it around me even though there was nothing stopping them. The one who did smoke was "older," in terms of your average babysitter. She was in her 30s or 40s and was a family friend. She'd only babysit me when no one else was available as a favor to my parents (she still got paid, of course), so it was far from a regular thing.
The last time she ever "babysat," me wasn't really a matter of babysitting. I was 15 and my parents went out of town for the weekend, so although I was old enough to not need a babysitter, they couldn't exactly leave me home alone for three days, so they had her house sit. The first night, I went upstairs and grabbed a cigarette out of a pack I took from my parent's carton a couple weeks earlier and hid in the guest room upstairs. I went to the backyard and smoked it. When I came back in, I noticed her walking back down the hall to the downstairs bedroom after grabbing a glass of water. I was really worried for a moment, as only one person in my life at that point knew I smoked at all, but she didn't say anything and if she had already been asleep before, she may not have even noticed me standing outside, so I just shrugged it off and assumed I got lucky.
The next night, she cooked dinner and we sat in the living room watching a movie. I was on the couch and she was on a recliner chair. There was a small glass table between us with a lamp, an ashtray, a glass of wine she made and of course, her cigarettes. As usual, she was chainsmoking away and although I wasn't at all a regular/addicted smoker yet and wouldn't be for some time, I was getting really antsy for one since she was chainsmoking right next to me. I kept glancing over at her pack of cigarettes on the table, practically right next to my elbow. They were Marlboro Light 100s. I didn't realize how much I kept glancing at them or how often. Eventually -- out of nowhere -- she says, "You want one, don't you?"
I just kind of looked at her, befuddled. She smiled, chuckled, and said something like, "When I heard the backdoor open last night, I thought you might be trying to sneak out or something. I saw what you were doing."
I remember apologizing, thinking I was in trouble, but she just said, "No need to apologize, hon. I'm just glad you didn't try to sneak out like teenagers like to do. Help yourself."
She nudged the pack of cigarettes towards me. I shrugged, took one out of the pack and leaned in as she extended the lighter towards me. She told me, "You better not tell your parents. I'm sure they'd kill me."
Now that I think back on it, it was also the first time anyone really tried to give me advice or "coach," me on smoking. She asked how long I had been smoking and how much I smoked. I had tried my first cigarette around 12 or 13, but I'd only ever get to have a cigarette once every few days, sometimes once every couple of weeks. She again told me to help myself to the pack on the table, but warned me "not to go overboard. We don't need you getting sick."
Although she never housesit for my parents again, I did see her time to time, but unfortunately it was always with other people for neighborhood gatherings and the like, so I never got to smoke with her again. Still, it was a cool experience.
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AWS (My smoking babysitters 2)
It was indeed awesome at the time. I had smoked in my house before then since my parents smoked inside all the time. It was easy to get away with. I would sometimes even just smoke a cigarette upstairs after my parents went to bed, though that was rarer than just going outside on the upstairs deck.
She wasn't the first adult in my life to find out I smoked. A friend's mom became aware a couple months earlier and similarly embraced it, but I would always smoke with her in her car or at her house rather than my own.
The only other time an adult "let me," smoke in my own home before my parents found out I smoked occurred when I was 17 just a few months before I flat out told my parents. I've posted the story here before I believe, but it was a housekeeper we had who was quite a heavy smoker and since it was a smoke-friendly house, she'd often chainsmoke while working. She came over one morning per her usual schedule. My mom was out running errands, dad was at work. I woke up slightly hungover from a party with my friends the night before and really wanted a cigarette, but realized I didn't have any left. Rather than just go to the drawer in the living room where I knew there would be a carton or two, I stupidly decided to try and take one from our housekeeper's purse near the front door. My parents smoked ML Ultra Lights which I had grown to hate since trying other brands and the housekeeper smoked ML Lights, which are definitely better.
Unfortunately (fortunately, in retrospect), our housekeeper caught me just as I took a cigarette. She said, "I'll pretend I didn't see that," and went about her work. Embarrassed, I put the cigarette back in her pack and went into the living room to watch TV. She walked in a few minutes later to clean the bar area, cigarette in hand. She noticed the empty ashtray sitting on the table next to me and to my surprise said, "You didn't smoke that cigarette?"
I told her no, and she made it clear that she wasn't saying I couldn't have one, only that she would feign ignorance that she saw me smoking. Similar to the babysitter in my other story, she told me to "Help myself," to her pack since she had a whole carton in the car, which I gladly did.
Again, it was only a few months later that I took the initiative and outright confessed to my parents that I smoked, so I didn't have to be sneaky about it much longer. :P
AWS (How did you feel when a younger sibling started smoking)
I don't have any younger siblings, but my older sister was very accepting when she found out I started smoking. I believe I've posted the story here before, but she found out shortly before I told either of my parents. She came in town to visit one summer, took me out to dinner so we could catch up, and after we ate and were leaving the restaurant, she said, "Well, I could certainly go for a cigarette."
I wasn't thinking and said, "yeah, me too," and blushed hard when I realized what I had just said. She didn't comment on it until we got in my car. She asked if I minded if she smoked, I told her to go ahead, and right after she lit up, she asked if I was joking or not with my comment a couple minutes earlier. I was 17 and hadn't had a cigarette all day and really wanted one, so I just confessed rather than deny it. She said something to the effect of, "I guess it was only a matter of time," given how many people in our family are smokers and offered me one of her cigarettes, which I eagerly accepted.
She agreed to keep it a secret from the parents and since she had missed my birthday a few months earlier, offered to get me a belated birthday present. I couldn't really think of anything I wanted on the spot, so I jokingly said, "How about a carton of cigarettes?"
I was legitimately joking since I had only ever had one carton a little over a year earlier when an ex-girlfriend's mom bought a carton for the both of us. I ended up keeping it but had to throw it out a couple weeks later when it was little less than half-full because my mom mentioned she was going to be cleaning out and rearranging the rooms upstairs one day. The carton wasn't my parent's brand, so I knew if she found it, I'd be busted, and after my parents went to bed the night before, I saved a couple of packs but threw the rest in the garbage can outside. I didn't really fret over it at the time since I didn't smoke much at all and even two or three packs would last me quite a long time.
Anyway, to my surprise, she said, "Well, if mom and dad don't know you smoke, do you think you have a hiding place good enough for a whole carton?"
Realizing she was actually open to the idea of getting me a carton of cigarettes as a belated birthday present, I said "Yeah," and explained the story above. She laughed and asked me what brand I wanted, and to choose wisely since it was a whole carton. She initially offered to get me a pack of Parliament 100s (her brand), but I somewhat sheepishly asked if she'd get me a carton of Benson and Hedges Premium (still my favorite brand). She laughed again and commented something to the effect of, "You're already smoking expensive cigarettes, huh?" but agreed.
We went to a nearby tobacco shop, she went in and bought the carton, and asked where my hiding spot was when she got back in the car. Since my parents would both still be up when we got back, she said she'd just go straight up stairs after walking in and put the carton in the hiding spot before they saw it. Plan worked out well, and that carton ended up lasting me several months.
-----------------------
AWS (When did you know?)
I actually remember having this conversation with a girl I knew back in high school. Some time ago, I mentioned in a story about how my friend's mom had to drive me to deliver part of a school project to a classmate one weekend afternoon. At the time, she was the only adult in my life who knew I smoked and allowed it and was one of the very few people who knew I smoked at all as well.
Well, the girl I was paired up with for the project had no idea I smoked until my friend's mom jokingly said I was her "smoking buddy" (after I handed her a lighter I had in my lap). My classmate, Amy, was surprised to learn I was a smoker, and I was equally surprised to learn she was a smoker as well. She was pretty, short, all that good stuff but I never pegged her for a smoker, and just like me, very, very few of her friends knew she smoked at all.
Of course, we weren't really "smokers," technically. We just enjoyed smoking and would smoke whenever we could get away with it. Anyway, after that day, she messaged me a couple weeks later and asked if I really smoked (since she couldn't tell if my friend's mom was just joking or not). I told her that I did smoke from time to time, at which point she confirmed she did, too. This soon led to us becoming pretty close friends (which almost blossomed into a romantic high school relationship, but that's a different topic), as we were two young closet smokers hesitant to tell anyone about it.
She soon mentioned that her mom was gone for the day and if she had any cigarettes, she'd be smoking all day in the backyard. I said I still had a full pack that my friend's mom bought me, and that maybe we could hang out for the day. She didn't live far from me, so I asked to borrow my mom's car since she was sick and drove over.
We smoked a couple of cigarettes and discussed our mutual secret. She mentioned that her mom was a smoker, and that she suspected her mom was onto her, as she would usually have a few packs lying around the house at all times, but recently she had either kept them well hidden or in her car, as Amy hadn't been able to find any to steal lately. I said something that I had only ever told my friend's mom; that sometimes I felt "addicted" even though I wasn't -- and that I remember having "cravings" before I had ever even had a cigarette in my life!
It was a totally bizarre thought, but it was true. She looked surprised and said she had the same feeling. We reasoned that these false "cravings," were likely a product of growing up around smoking and being immensely curious about and interested in it. I suggested that I was probably "destined" to be a smoker and subconsciously knew it since I was a kid, but was only then starting to realize that fact, and she agreed.
Still, I hadn't yet reached the point when I was having actual, physical cravings, so again, I wasn't a "smoker," per se, but it wouldn't be long after that when I would start craving cigarettes.
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