Watching Her

Chapter 16

Lucy pulled down the hood of her raincoat as she walked around the corner shop, she did drop a pack of lemon Lemsips and strawberry Strepsils into the basket just in case the tickle on her throat was developing into something. She continued strolling around and put another bottle of Chardonnay into the basket, as well as a couple of treats of a chocolate bar and some Haribo.

There was no decision to make as she reached the checkouts and with a glance around her, she headed straight to the tobacconist queue, as she stood patiently, she clocked the advert for the lottery and dug into her handbag and got the ticket from last week that she completely forgot about.

The girl behind the counter beeped through the wine and did that obvious eyeing up to check that Lucy was over age before putting the bottle in the bag. "Anything else love?"

Lucy handed over the ticket "Oh, just check this one, I don't think I have won anything!" She grinned hopefully as the girl zapped the ticket. The machine beeped.

"Congratulations you've won..." the lady paused with anticipation with a big smile "...20 quid 80!"

Lucy laughed at the pitiful amount "In that case I will buy two packs of B&H golds as well please!" she grinned as she got her card out to pay the difference as she studied the counter and bit her bottom lip. "Oh, and I better get another lighter as well," she said, picking up the yellow Bic from the counter, she turned it so the lady could zap it with the barcode reader before dropping it into the bag. She paid up, pulled her hood up and headed out the door into the rain.

***

Lucy looked up at her rear-view mirror and again checked her face, she dug into her handbag and reapplied her lipstick. That instantly gave her a little boost with her now pinker lips. She started the car and the windscreen wipers started to go with the heavy rain, the heat from her body had steamed up the windscreen, she turned on the blowers and as she waited for the screen to demist, she leant over, opened the glovebox on her car and dug into the bag on the passenger side and smiled as safely stowed the pack of cigarettes and lighter she swung the door shut and stared at it for second. Not one hundred percent sure why she put them in there.

She put her seatbelt on and ran her hands through her hair as the condensation was slowly blown away. She glanced back up at the mirror and confidently smiled at herself as she put the car in gear and slowly checking around, she quickly accelerated her car forward.

***

Lucy dropped everything in the porch except for the new pack of Benson and Hedges and ran straight up the stairs ripping the cellophane off as she went. It slowly drifted to the floor halfway up the stairs. Lucy took a deep breath of air as she sat down, flipped open the pack, positioned it in the right place on the dressing table, tidied her wet and windswept hair and waited impatiently in front of her Reflection.

She tapped her nails on the pack and noted in the mirror that the paint was chipped. She made a mental note to redo them again this evening. As she waited, she watched herself in the mirror, calmly getting her breath back from sprinting up the stairs. She looked down at the pack and shrugged her shoulders and thought about getting a head start so she pulled a cigarette out.

Lucy confidently placed the filter between her lips again looking around in either mirror for a hint of her smoking Reflection. She leaned forward with the cigarette protruding from her face and then sat back, she removed the cigarette, bit her bottom lip, and picked up the lighter, placed the cigarette back between her lips and flipped open the lid to produce a flame. 'Sod you!' she said to herself as her cheeks collapsed around the cigarette as she pulled the smoke into her lungs, the first cigarette in twelve hours, she pulled again before exhaling towards the mirror. Her shoulder sagged as she relaxed as the wave of anticipated nicotine got to work. She looked through the exhaled cloud of smoke at her cheekily grinning Reflection.

"Bitch, you wanted me to go first!" She snarked at her Reflection as it grinned back. Together they replaced the cigarette back between their lips, and their cheeks collapsed deeply again in unison as they both pulled a large lungful of smoke deep into their chests. "But God I am sure I needed this!" she said to her Reflection whilst both were holding the cigarette up to the mirror and watching the smoke lit by the light drift off the tip up towards the ceiling. She looked away from the cigarette and to her Reflection and whispered, "But thank you!" as she smiled at herself and they both took another long drag, holding the smoke for what felt like ages before releasing a large volume of smoke into the room.

That first cigarette of the evening very quickly became a second, which with no argument from either of them was swiftly followed by a third, But Lucy realised that her Reflection disappeared long before she had actually finished the third cigarette. She was so lost in the process of pulling in and enjoying the smoke in her wanting lungs, that she really didn't care. She stubbed it out with a stream of smoke still pouring out of her nose, as she was utterly delirious and giddy again. It had been over eight hours since her last cigarette. Her head felt light and her feet like concrete as she slowly made her way down the stairs, she almost slipped on the cellophane on the steps but managed to catch herself on the handrail.

She got to the bottom of the stairs and realised she had dropped everything so headed to the porch and retrieved her shopping and then swiftly opened the wine and poured it into a large glass. She washed the taste of the now rather delightful bitter taste from her mouth with a large gulp of crisp wine, before opening the fridge and getting a microwave cottage pie for one out.