I lit a cigarette and almost immediately threw it out the car window. 'No smoking' I repeated to myself in thought. My habit of one cigarette a day had been getting to my friends and they insisted I stop for my own sake. I watched in the mirror as the lit stick hit the concrete and quickly disappeared from view. I don't even know why I bought packs anymore. Most of them disappeared before I even got half way through them. One thing they never tell you in anti-smoking ads, if you're going to smoke, go all the way to a full blown addict. When you only smoke occasionally non-smokers still hate you, and smokers don't consider you one of them.
Red and blue lights flashed in my rear view mirror. 'Shit. Littering.' I pulled over to the side of the road and the car continued by me faster than I expected. I felt sorry for whomever they were heading towards, they were going to have a much worse day than I was expecting.
I flipped on the stereo and a song from the last CD I popped in started up in the middle, past all my favorite parts. I pushed the skip button with all my might and listened to the brief whurr before the next started. It was a sad song so I hit the button a few more times until something happy came on. I pulled back on to the road, making sure to obey all the traffic laws I could. 'Fuck it' I thought, and pulled out and lit another cigarette, taking a deep drag on my first puff. I coughed a little, never been able to break that habit.
I watched the speedometer hit 70 and began to space out. The freeway was pretty clear, and that's when I like to drive the most. I get to watch green signs blur by and ignore what they say. I get to sing loudly and no one driving near me will laugh. I wish it was like that during daylight, instead I only get peace like that at night.
I slowly moved into the right lane, enjoying the slow drift of the car, and took my exit. A few turns later and I pulled into a cul de sac in suburbia. I finished the song that was playing before I got out and double checked to make sure the doors were locked. I pulled my cell out of my pocket and hit dial. Three rings later he picked up.
“Hey man! What's going on!?” He yelled into the phone. I could hear the loud yells in the background he was trying to overcome.
“I'm outside, should I just come in?”
“Nah man, here, I'll come and open it up.” I walked up to the door step and waited, tilting back and forth while looking at the ground. The door slammed open and out stumbled Rob.
“Hey man!” His face curdled “You smell like smoke.” he talked into my face.
“And you smell like a drunk”
“That's cause I am drunk! Come on in and join the party!” He tripped slightly as he reentered his house. I closed the door behind me and flipped the lock. I could hear the clinking of glasses from downstairs. I almost tripped as the thick carpet on the stairs caught my shoe. I reached the bottom and found the ground to be sticky, the party must have been going on longer than I thought. Rob bursted through a door and I could see people holding red plastic cups up to their faces. I strolled into the room and looked around to see who I knew. James was there, talking to some blonde girl I didn't recognize. His eyes already looked like he couldn't understand what he was saying, but from the rapid lip movements he was doing it wasn't stopping him.
