Watching Her

Chapter 15

Lucy lay there after waking up realising she had spent the night dreaming about smoking. Smelling the almost still thick smoke-tinged air of her bedroom for a few seconds with her eyes still shut waiting almost impatiently for the alarm to go off, she had already peaked at the time and confirmed that it was about to go, it took what felt like years.

Eventually the green lines aligned to 6 00 and the incessant beeps started. Lucy smiled as she enthusiastically whacked the top to stop the noise, and then calmly reached around and turned it off.

She strode to her dressing table in the darkness, her hand riding along the bed as guide and turned on the angle light and stared at the mirror as she sat down. Her face was lit, surrounded by the darkness. She leaned forward and with her nails flicked the large boulder of sleep out of the corners of her blue eyes and smiled invitingly, waiting for her Reflection to arrive.

She rubbed her lips together as she studied her face, her moisturiser routine, and good sleep was doing wonders for her face. She was proud of her slim frame, her straight nose, soft pink lips, and rosy cheeks.

As she stared intently and blinked a couple of times, and as she opened her eyes and focused again on her face she watched with a wry smile on her face as she could see her face slowly morph. Her crow's feet in the corner of eyes deepened and her cheeks became more pronounced. There was even a hint of double chin. She smiled and her Reflection smiled back, the wrinkles on her forehead, and her dimples were larger, there was a small crease now extending from both corners of her mouth from years of continuously putting cigarettes between her lips. Lucy had aged as she watched. But still looked absolutely amazing to her.

"Morning you!" they said to each other as they grinned as they pulled the final cigarette out of the pack. "Don't worry, I will definitely buy some more for us on my way home tonight!" Lucy said confidently and nodded. "As I obviously can't sit here every day and watch you tease me with cigarettes!"

Her Reflection grinned bashfully as if to say that sounds good with the fresh cigarette protruding from her lips, they brought the lighter to the tip, their cheeks collapsed in unison as they pulled hungrily pulled the smoke into their waiting lungs, and then after a count of two exhaled a thick twisting grey cone up to the ceiling.

Lucy copied her Reflection as they rolled the cigarette tip along the edge of the ashtray and watched as she gently knocked the tip of ash off and ran her tongue along her lips as she thought. "Hmmm can I wait until after work?" she asked the mirror as she studied herself in the mirror, she gulped at the suggestion of why she wanted to buy another pack as they then both instinctively took another long deep drag.

They exhaled and repeated the drags before the cigarette was soon finished. With a sighed exhale Lucy stubbed the cigarette out. Both her and her Reflection both gently coughed once finished. Lucy looked up at her Reflection who just shrugged her shoulders. As if to say it happens as she naturally pulled another cigarette out of her endless pack. Lucy looked in the empty one in her side of the mirror as her reflection lit the cigarette, exhaled a cloud of smoke and as it dissipated Lucy's face morphed back to normal, and the smoking reflection disappeared. With a sudden feeling of emptiness. Lucy got on with her makeup and daily preparation.

***

"Morning!" Tammy excitedly bounced up from her desk as Lucy walked into the office.

"Hey!" Lucy smiled. "It's pouring out there. I am drenched!

"Yes, tell me about it, I think my shoes are ruined just running from the car to here. Did you have a good evening?" She asked with over bounding enthusiasm.

Lucy raised her eyebrow "Yeah, Sunday night alone in the house...if you call that fun?" she replied as she gulped her McDonalds coffee.

"Oh, you just seemed excited to get home after our walk...I thought you were doing something really interesting!" Tammy smiled trying to tease more out of her.

"I think you doth think too much Tam, other than sorting out some more drawers I didn't do anything more exciting."

"Ah, sorry Lucy, I thought that you might be, you know, seeing someone!" She grinned.

Lucy laughed hard and then shocked herself as she coughed and briefly wiped her nose with the back of her fingers. "No, silly, don't think anything stupid like that. I am happy being single."

Tammy looked with her concerned face "You are feeling okay Luce. Sounds a little croaky, like you are coming down with something. We didn't get too cold on our walk?"

Lucy chuckled and nodded, "I am fine, too much dust from cleaning the house, just had a bit of a scratchy throat at times over the weekend, but I have taken a small dose of my medicine this morning, and I will be just fine. I just need to get another pack of...Lemsips...on the way home!" Lucy said slowly trying to convince herself and then paused as she realised what words had just tumbled out of her mouth and then shook her head before taking off her dripping wet coat and hanging it on the back of her office chair.

Tammy grinned as crossed her index fingers of both hands across to make an X and offered them up "Well, you seemed fine yesterday, but please stay away from me with your cough and sore throat, I don't want them!"

Lucy put her hands up as if to say don't worry I won't come anywhere near you. "Anything exciting in the inbox?"

"Nah!"

"Good!"

***

They both picked up their coffee mugs and slurped the drink and then chewed on their sandwiches as they glanced out the staffroom window as the black clouds made it look impressively dark even for lunchtime as the heavy rain battered the window.

Lucy leant her head against the window and sighed, her breath steamed and clouded up the window with the condensate "I hate Mondays!" she grinned and wiped the window with the side of her hand and glanced down almost longingly at the smoking shelter down below.

"Just be grateful you can stay in here and that you are not a slave to 'evil' nicotine and can stay warm!" Tammy said breaking Lucy's stare as they then both peered through the window at a huddle of people in the carpark hiding under coats and collection of large red and yellow golfing umbrellas whilst trying to stay dry whilst smoke drifted up from around them whilst they were furiously smoking their cigarettes.

Lucy looked up and again caught her reflection in the window and gulped before looking back down at her colleagues. "Yeah...I guess we do have the benefits..." she said loudly and turned to the window "but they probably have some too?" she muttered questioningly quietly under her breath as she smiled and then ran her tongue along her teeth trying and failing to find the taste of the bitter remnants of her pre-breakfast cigarette. All she could taste was her lip balm. Annoyed now that she was thinking about it. Almost wishing she could have enjoyed a second, as she then looked at the window with the raindrops streaking down outside of the glass and locked sight on her reflection again backed by the large yellow umbrella and winced, then raised her head off the cold window and quickly gulped her coffee and they sat there in silence as they both continued to eat their lunch.