The Bad Boys Are Back

8

"You..." Finn's voice trailed off.

It appeared to me that he was speechless.

I leaned back against my seat. And I could see Finn's eyes very momentarily graze my chest before I remembered I wasn't wearing a bra, and slouched forward once again. He didn't comment.

"I'm being serious," I said, to hide the fact that I was enquiring about my crush's love life. Or rather sex life.

Finn reached for the glove compartment, his hands coming dangerously close to my knees. I moved my legs away. He fumbled within until his hands emerged with a pack of cigarettes.

"You want a stick?"

I crossed my arms. "Would it make me feel better about the fact that you think I'm too ugly to seduce anyone?"

Finn leaned back against his seat, his eyebrows furrowing.

"Hey, don't put words in my mouth."

I kept quiet.

"I just wouldn't want someone like you getting involved with Jas. Not like that anyway. You wanna keep business away from your vulnerabilities."

I looked away from Finn. I wasn't sure why this conversation was making me so emotional. Or why Finn even bothered to hide the fact that he thought I wasn't able to get Jasper to open up.

Humans, fundamentally want to be understood. And I felt Jasper, in his position, could really use a person to open up to.

I could hear the sound of Finn's lighter. And when I turned to him, he was lighting a cigarette in his mouth.

"What does it feel like?" I asked.

He took a drag as he drew his own window down to exhale outside.

"What, smoking?"

I nodded.

He shrugged back. "I don't know. I don't feel anything anymore. Used to feel kinda good."

"What kind of good?"

He didn't bother replying me. He just offered his pack to me.

And I stared at it for the longest time. Ten heartbeats later, I concurred that losing 5 minutes of my lifespan couldn't be that bad. Every time I walked in the city I was exposed to the same kind of chemicals. I rationalized that my entire generation was doomed to begin with.

So I took a stick.

Finn's eyes widened a little, but he didn't say anything. He just offered his lighter to me.

His lighter had the words 'Smoking Kills' inscribed. I was too embarrassed to tell him I didn't know how to use a lighter. But I think he figured out after seeing me fumble with the contraption. He took it from my hand and instructed me to put the cigarette in my mouth, before lighting it for me.

I started choking the moment I inhaled.

Finn had an amused glint in his eyes.

"You're addicted to nicotine," I told him through coughs.

"Yeah, probably."

I forced myself to take a second puff, nearly dropping the cigarette butt in the process. I started coughing again the second time.

"Yeah, I don't think you're born to be a smoker."

I surrendered the stick to him so he could smoke the rest of my unfinished cigarette.

"Do you still need me to seduce Jasper?"

"No."

I fumbled with my hands. "Then can I go now? I have stuff to do."