Mei woke up late the next day, feeling really awful. Her head hurt, and she had a weird, fuzzy taste in her mouth, like she'd slept with cotton balls on her tongue. She checked her phone before getting out of bed, like always, and there was a message from her mother: 'Gone shopping, breakfast is in the fridge. Don't forget to study!' Her stomach rebelled at the very idea of food. There was another message, from Yui: 'Hi! Hope you're feeling okay. Remember our study date this afternoon!' Studying, Mei thought. That was funny. Her brain felt like it had been sat on by an elephant. "So this is what a hangover feels like," she said to herself, and sent Yui an e-mail asking if it always felt this way the morning after drinking. She barely remembered the previous night, just that she drank, and....
She sat up abruptly (instantly regretting it) and opened her purse. Sure enough, there was a pack of Marlboro menthols, almost full, along with a tiny white lighter.
She stared at it for what must have been a full minute. They were hers. Her cigarettes. Last night, she'd actually smoked.
Even with the evidence staring her in the face, it still seemed like a dream.
Shaking her head, she closed her purse and went to the bathroom for a nice, long, hot bath, gulping down two big glasses of cold water while she waited for the tub to fill, and then just letting herself soak in the water until she felt a little bit better. After that she spent the morning in an old, stained pair of sweat-pants, parked on the sofa, watching old DVDs she'd downloaded from the internet. It took a couple of hours before her stomach got over it's temper tantrum, so she went into the kitchen and microwaved herself a small bowl of the miso soup her mother had left in the fridge. By then it was already past noon, and she was supposed to meet Yui in an hour or so (as Yui helpfully reminded her, along with the advice to drink lots of water the next time she drank.)
She took her time getting ready, picking out her clothes, putting on makeup. Not that she went to more effort than usual; she just wasn't capable of moving all that fast. Finally she was ready, and she grabbed her backpack, e-mailed Yui that she was on her way, and headed out the door.
Yui, for once, was actually there before she was; she got an e-mail back from her, five minutes after leaving, saying that she was waiting, at the Excelsior, 'on the 3rd floor'.
Mei had been to the Excelsior a few times, but she'd never been on the third floor. That was the smoking floor. She felt butterflies in her stomach when she read the message, knowing what it meant.
She arrived a few minutes later, got a big, sweet iced mochacino, and headed all the way up ... pausing a little on the second floor landing, feeling as though everyone was looking at her. But that was silly, of course.
Yui was sitting at a table in the corner - one of the nice ones, with the bug comfy chairs - busying herself touching up her perfect makeup. She looked up as Mei sat down, and said, smiling, "I think you're forgetting something."
Mei frowned. "I am? What...?"
Yui's gaze darted down to the rectangular white ashtray, sitting empty next to her cigarettes and her cell phone. "Oh!" said Mei. "Right." She set down her coffee and her bag, went back to the counter by the stairs and picked up an ashtray.
"So how are you feeling?" Yui asked. "Still hungover?"
"Better now than in the morning," Mei said. "That was awful!"
Yui giggled. "Yeah, it was bad my first time, too. Sorry, I should have told you about drinking water last night, but I was too drunk to remember! I forget to drink water sometimes, myself. It really helps though."
"I'll remember that next time. Or maybe I just won't drink any more!"
"I've said that before," Yui rolled her eyes. "Anyhow...." she picked up her pack. "Are you ready?"
Mei blinked. "Already?"
"Why not? If we're going to smoke, we should smoke. And besides, we did promise each other last night...."
Mei sighed. "Yes, we did. Well, if you want to...." She opened her purse, took out her cigarettes. Yui was already waiting by the time she took one out, a long, unlit white menthol waiting between her fingers. Their lighters clicked, and they inhaled, bringing their cigarettes to life.
Yui looked at hers meditatively, then brought it up to her lips and dragged. This time, instead of a shapeless cloud, when she breathed out it was a long, thin stream. "Cool," she said, and tried it again.
"How do you do that?" asked Mei.
"It's easy," said Yui. "Just, after you suck on the cigarette, breath in when you take it down. Then you inhale the smoke, instead of having it just sit in your mouth."
Mei tried it, and was immediately rewarded - or punished - with a blast of smoke, simultaneously hot and cold, in her virgin lungs. The coughing that followed was completely involuntary.
"Are you okay?" Yui asked.
Mei held up her hand, glancing around. No one was looking ... well, one lady was, an office worker in her early 30's on her lunch break - or cigarette break, judging by the absence of food and overflowing ashtray - smiling a little. She felt her cheeks flush, but said, "It's okay, I'm fine." She had to save face, so she immediately took another drag - much smaller this time, she didn't want a repeat - and successfully exhaled a small, weak plume. "Wow," she said.
"You've got that right," said Yui, smiling, drawing again on her cigarette.
Mei took a few more drags of her cigarette, punctuated with sips of her coffee; when she got about halfway through she put her hand to her head and said, "That's weird. My body feels all fluttery, like I'm being tickled with feathers!"
"Yeah," said Yui, pausing to exhale again. "It feels really nice, doesn't it!"
"Uh-huh." Mei giggled, took another drag. "I'm starting to understand why people like this so much!"
She finished their cigarettes, taking a final drag and stubbing them out almost in unison, and Mei said, "Okay. We did come here to study, so we should probably...."
Yui rolled her eyes. "Mei. You're way too serious. But, yeah, you're right. We should study."
But it was barely ten minutes later that Yui said, "All this chemistry is hurting my head. Time for another cigarette."
Mei looked at her in shock. "Another one!?"
"Uh-huh. Come on, girl, let's get going!" Her cigarette was already between her lips, bouncing up and down as she spoke.
Mei shook her head, but took out another cigarette. She lit up again, remembering to inhale as she took the cigarette down from her lips, and successfully suppressing her urge to cough.
"Ah," said Yui, "That's nice. So much better than boring studying!"
Mei smiled. "Are you sure you waited for me before smoking?"
"Are you saying I was lying last night?" Yui said, looking scandalized.
"I'm saying you're acting like you're already addicted."
"Well," Yui said, "You have to admit, these are pretty yummy." She punctuated her remark with a long drag of her cigarette, letting her fingers fall from her cigarette while her cheeks caved in around it. Then she coughed.
Mei giggled. "Okay. Maybe you are new to this." Then she mimicked her friend's actions, bringing her fingers away in a perfect V while the cherry lit up and crackled with the force of her drag. When she released the smoke, she wanted to cough, but managed to suppress it.
"I told you!" Yui said, knocking the ash from her tip. "I wanted cigarettes to be our thing!"
"Excuse me," said a throaty voice from behind Mei, interrupting their conversation. Mei looked over her shoulder, and saw the office worker that had been chuckling at her earlier. She was a short, cute lady, dressed in a black jacket and skirt, with conservative makeup that concealed a face just starting to show it's age. No one would really look twice at her, because of her clothes, but underneath, a discerning eye would see the carefully concealed beauty.
"Yes?" said Mei, politely.
The lady smiled, kindly. "I couldn't help but notice, the two of you coughing when you smoked."
Mei's cheeks flushed again. The lady laughed, but not cruelly. "Oh, don't worry. I was just wondering ... did you start smoking recently?"
Mei's mouth opened, but she couldn't find the words to speak. The embarrasment was overpowering! Here she was, thinking she looked all old and sophisticated, and this smart, independant, modern women saw right through her.
Yui of course was fine with it. "We just started last night," she said, "Together! My friend just turned 20 yesterday."
The woman's face broke into a smile. "That's wonderful! I started at the same age, myself. Well, I have to get back to work, but I just wanted to see if I was right, and if I was, to say, 'hang in there, girls!' Don't be embarrased about it. You'll be great in no time. Not that you aren't doing well already." She winked. "It's the ultimate fashion accessory. Well, bye now!"
"Bye..." said Mei, not sure what else to say. As the woman walked away, she said, "That was weird...." and heard a telltale click behind her. She turned back around, to see Yui taking a freshly lit cigarette away from her lips, a thin trail of smoke following behind the filter.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Yui asked, cigarette cocked at an angle.
Mei just shook her head, and reached for another cigarette.

They spent two hours at the coffee shop, Mei trying to study as much as possible, but Yui interrupting every twenty minutes or so with a demand that they smoke another cigarette. Her friend was so eager to smoke, Mei thought, it was almost indecent. Nonetheless, she held to their pact of the night before, and matched her friend cigarette for cigarette. By the end their once pristine ashtrays were overflowing with butts ... Mei counted six cigarettes, though the last few she'd put out when they were halfway done. She couldn't believe she'd smoked so much, in such a short period. It wasn't even a full day since her first cigarette! She wasn't sure whether to be proud of herself, or disgusted.
"I think that's enough studying for today," Yui said, closing her book. "My head hurts. I can't take any more reaction pathways!"
Mei nodded. "Yeah, it's definately time for a break. Not that we haven't been taking a lot of breaks as it is...."
Yui giggled. "Yeah. So how does it feel to be a smoker?"
"It feels like my lungs hurt. My throat's all scratchy, and my mouth tastes bad. Kind of fuzzy."
"Ummm," Yui said, and reached for her purse. She rustled around inside for a bit, and finally took out a packet of breathmints. "Here," she said, "Have one of these. They're really strong, but they'll make your mouth taste good again."
"How do you know?" asked Mei, accepting a mint.
"My mom uses these all the time," Yui said.
Mei nodded. Right. Yui's mother smoked ... not heavily, but regularly. She popped the mint into her mouth, waited for a second, and winced. "Wow. You're right. These are really strong!"
"Yeah," said Yui, eating one herself. "They take some getting used to. Sort of like cigarettes! Speaking of which...." she picked up her pack.
"Another one!" Mei groaned. "Yui, I told you, my lungs hurt."
"We're leaving soon! This will be our last cigarette until we meet again ... that could be a few days from now. Come on ... just one more. Please?"
Mei sighed. "Okay. Just one more." She reached for the now-half-empty pack and extracted her seventh cigarette of the day, placed the filter between her lips, and, with a movement that she was almost getting used to, clicked the lighter and touched the flame to the tip. When the smoke rushed into her mouth, and then past as she took the cigarette away, her throat complained, and then her lungs. Too much, they were telling her. Too much, too soon.
They chatted about what they'd do with the rest of the day - Yui had to go to her job in an hour, at an izakaya down the street, while Mei intended simply to go home continue studying - and took their time smoking their cigarettes. For all her eagerness to smoke as much as she could, Mei could tell that Yui's body was struggling almost as much as her own (maybe a little less, but then, Yui's parents both smoked - her father heavily - and she spent a lot of time in smoky izakayas.) But they finished them, and Mei felt almost a little sad as she stubbed it out; she didn't really plan on smoking when she wasn't hanging out with Yui, and as Yui had said, it might be a few days before they saw each other again.