Mind Games and D.I.D

72. Do you regret it?

After a pleasantly uneventful car ride back to Steve's house, they soon found themselves chilling and enjoying a late-night movie on television.

"Ciggy?" Steve offered Morgan as they sat on the couch together in the second lounge as it was more of a cosier room than the more open main lounge.

"Sure," she eagerly accepted, then he handed her one. "Cheers."

"How'd you get into smoking?" Steve asked curiously between puffs as she lit up. Morgan shrugged her shoulders.

"A group of kids at middle school said it was cool. I thought they were cool at the time, so I just started up."

"Do you regret it?"

"At times when I don't have the money to get more. Especially those few days in that cellar with that asshole. I wished I hadn't started it so bad when he was taunting me with them, saying that my addiction to cigarettes was his power over me... and he was fucking right, because I wouldn't have folded so easily otherwise," she stated, then took a puff. "And to top it off, these, on the back of my legs were because he smelt a little smoke in the room..." Morgan sighed as she softly rubbed the back of one thigh.

"That's fucked up," Steve replied sympathetically.

"The most fucked up thing is that I'll probably always have these scars to remind me."

"They'll fade."

"Mh," Morgan agreed and quickly shook it off. She didn't want to feel that way anymore, so she changed the subject back. "How'd you become a chronic smoker?"

"When I was, I dunno, eleven or twelve, maybe, mum and dad used to have this friend about their age that would come around every now and again. Mrs Sue, I used to call her," he took a deep puff. "She was an older woman, a classic cougar and absolutely gorgeous. Thick, long blonde hair, red lips full of Botox, and amazing tits. See, she always wore tight clothing and always had this wonderful cleavage..."

"Get on with it," Morgan uttered, getting over the description of this woman.

"Mrs Sue also smoked a lot, and my little pre-adolescent brain thought it was the most attractive thing I'd ever seen. The way the smoke slid past her bleached white teeth and rolled off her red lips and over that full cleavage. Oh, I'm getting tingles just thinking about it..."

"So detailed..." Morgan squinted her eyes at him, thinking about how he could most likely be making it all up.

"Okay, yes. Two years later I lost my virginity to that woman," Steve happily admitted.

"Oh my god. Ew," Morgan blurted out, not actually expecting him to admit it so easily.

"It was one day while the folks were at work, like usual. Mrs Sue called around to the house and I answered the door in just my..."

"Nope! That's enough, thanks. I get it," Morgan interrupted his thought.

"Yeah, well, let's just say we enjoyed a few post-coital cigarettes that day," he snickered. Morgan shook her head.

"Mrs Sue should be in jail. I mean, I've heard of 'cougar' woman going for young guys before... but that's too far. You would have been, what? Barely fourteen at the oldest..."

"Thirteen..." he cleared his throat and corrected her.

"And she was?"

"A sultry fifty-one," Steve informed her dreamily. Morgan's expression looked as if she had just vomited in her mouth.

"But I tell you now, she didn't look a day over thirty-five and fucked like a twenty-one-year-old. Still to date, the best shag of my life. Oh, she taught me so many things..." he reminisced from in a dream-like state. Morgan shook her head again in shock.

"I do remember hearing you describe her as 'mature' before but not a full-blown granny."

"Jokes on you," he smirked. "She never had kids."

"Thank Christ for that," she exhaled. "Can we change the subject now? I'm sorry I asked."

"I'm not," Steve smirked before inhaling deeply.

"I think I liked it better when you avoided every question about your past."

"Ah, well. You've got to start sharing sooner or later, don't you? Just like you shared all those horrible details about your time with Tony. I feel like it's only fair."

"Yeah. And you know I'm really grateful for you letting me stay here and unloading all my bullshit on you after all this."

"It's all good. I enjoy the company, anyway."

"I could tell. But I think I might go back home this weekend and try to get back into normal school routine again."

"You could do that. Or stay another week. We both know that psychopath is still out there, and you'd be pretty easy to snatch from your house. Plus, my house is closer to school."

"You just had to say that, didn't you? Just had to mention him like that again," Morgan uttered, looking slightly shocked.

"Sorry. But it's true. Then hopefully by next week, the cops will have caught the son of a bitch and you'll be safe again. Because really, a GPS tracker and a restraining order can only do so much. It can't protect you from a nut-job with a knife."

Morgan awkwardly smiled at his blunt honesty but knew he was right.

"Okay, Steve. I'll stay another week."

"Good. I will be the nut-job with a knife, at your service," he bowed slightly.

"Don't bring a knife to school..." she exclaimed seriously.

"Aw..." Steve mumbled like she was being unreasonable. Morgan let off a chuckle as their conversation dipped and he leaned forward to the ashtray before them to flick some ash off his cigarette.

"Speaking of remembering stuff," he cleared his throat again. "Did you steal that pack of smokes before leaving my place after a certain party almost a year ago?"

Morgan paused like she had been caught stealing.

"Okay, I might have..."

"I know you did. So just admit it."

"I did," she sighed. "I'm sorry. I was drunk and broke and really needed them at the time."

"Bitch," he let off a chuckle. "I knew I wasn't going crazy when I couldn't find them hours after buying them."

"I am sorry."

"It's alright," he shrugged. "I found a good distraction that night, anyway."

"What?" She queried. "Weed?"

"Nah I was out of that, too."

"Then, who?" She clicked on. Steve tapped the side of his nose before just grinning back at her. "Was it someone there?"

"Obviously," he let off a laugh. "I didn't go jog to a neighbours place to get lucky."

"You know what I mean," she rolled her eyes. "Who did you hook up with?"

"All I will say is that it was a cherry-popping kind of night," he winked.

"Oh my god, who?"

"I'll also remind you how you just went on about liking me better when I avoided questions about my past."

"You're such a dick," she shook her head.

"I try my best."

"You don't even need to try. It's like, your best talent."

"You're the sweetest," Steve smiled with a hand on his chest and turned his attention back to the movie.