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I watched him light the cigarette and decided to let him smoke one, as long as he left it at that and didn’t fill the house with smoke for the rest of the evening.

He took a deep drag, as if he needed it, before exhaling the smoke.

His gaze wandered to me, and I looked back at the TV, caught out.

“Want one?”

He held out his cigarette to me.

“No, thanks,” I replied quickly, as I had to make it clear to him that smoking would never be on my list. The mere smell was disgusting.

“Come on. You've never smoked before, have you?”

For the first time in hours, his smirk returned, and I was grateful that he was no longer thinking about my embarrassing confession.

“It'll kill you eventually,” I snorted and grinned, even though I only half felt like it.

“One drag won't kill you.” He leaned forward and held the cigarette out to me. “Come on.” Hesitantly, I stared at the glowing object, which threatened to leave ash on the sofa. “You probably want to know what it feels like.”

Did I? I asked myself that question every time Amber secretly took a drag on a cigarette in the schoolyard.

“Where's my little rebellious girl, hmm?”

He grinned crookedly, and I knew he had already reached the limit of his tolerable beer consumption, so I wasn't surprised when he put the cigarette to my lips.

I took a shaky breath, opened my lips carefully, and let Tony put the tip of the cigarette in my mouth.

One drag wouldn't hurt.

I ignored every warning in my head and sucked the air through the cigarette filter, allowing the burning smoke to make its way down my throat into my lungs as I stared into Tony's glinting eyes, as if he were taking mischievous pleasure in this.

Immediately, I recoiled under a scratchy burning sensation in my lungs, coughing as if my body wanted to get rid of something deeply toxic.

Disturbed, I looked at Tony.

“Ugh, God! How can you like this?”

“You'll get used to it.”

Relaxed, he sank back into the couch and turned his attention to the TV before taking another drag, closing his eyes as if he were enjoying it.

“No thanks,” I blurted out, determined never to go anywhere near a cigarette again in my life. My throat was still scratchy. “Please go outside if you want to keep smoking.”

Tony looked at me with raised eyebrows.

“You're kicking me out?”

I raised both eyebrows as well.

“Seriously?”

He laughed as if he hadn't expected that from me.

“I just want to save you trouble with our family,” I lied, because I didn't want him to take it personally that I hated the smell.

He snorted but got up.

“Whatever.”