Page 66 of Better Than the Movies
“I thought you’d say ‘cancer stick,’ but the rest I got right.”
I tilted my head. “I’m that predictable?”
He just cocked an eyebrow.
“Fine.” I held out my palm. “Hand over one of your elegant,cherry-flavored sticks of disgustingness so I can set it on fire and suck its death smoke into my lungs.”
He raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Seriously?”
I shrugged. “Why not?”
“You should write ad copy for the Swisher people, by the way.”
“How do you know I don’t?”
“Well, if you did, you would know that you don’t inhale cigars.”
“You don’t?”
“Nope.”
“So… you just take a pull and hold it in your cheeks like a bloated chipmunk?”
“You definitely do not. You just inhale less than a cigarette.”
“Are you like a hard-core smoker or something?”
“No.”
“Well, it seems to me like if you’re lighting up out here all by yourself after a long, hard day, you maybe have a problem.”
“C’mere.” He patted the chair beside him.
“Eww, no.” I said it teasingly, feeling somehow busted since I’d thought about moving closer to him earlier.
“Relax—I was just going to light your flaming nasty stick for you.”
“Oh.” I stood and moved to the chair beside him. “My bad.”
“That’s the first time you’ve ever said that, isn’t it?”
“I think so.”
He chuckled and opened the package. I wasn’t sure why I was doing this, especially with Wes Bennett, but I knew I wasn’t ready to go inside. I was kind of having fun.
“Have you ever smoked?”
“Yes.”
“Seriously?” Wes put one of the cigars in his mouth and flicked the lighter.
“I smoked with Joss at a party last summer.”
He grinned and puffed as the Swisher lit. “I would’ve loved to witness that. Little Libby Loo, coughing her lungs out while Jocelyn probably laughed and blew perfect smoke rings.”
“You’re not that far off.” Jocelyn was nauseatingly good at everything. I’d never seen her fail at anything. Not back in the day, and definitely not since we’d become friends. If I were honest—and I’d never say it out loud—it bugged the shit out of me.
Not that she was good at things. I could handle that. It was more that she was good at things without really trying or caring about them. She breezed through life, never seeming to stumble like I did on an hourly basis.
