I asked, feeling like a nancy. I hated that my disgust came through. Something was eating at my friend and I needed to coax it out of the guy. Luke didn’t respond to me. Instead he drew on the lit cigarette causing the end to flare and burn. The fun guy he’d been seemed to be burning out as well. I wasn’t against the smoking and drinking as much as I knew the reason why he was doing those things. He let out a long stream of poisonous gas from his mouth. Next, he chugged at the bottle like it was water on a hot day. Collapsing on the bench next to him, I covered my face with my hands especially my nose. I didn’t want second hand smoke, but this conversation needed to be had if we were going to make it through this weekend. “Dude, do you mind? I’d like to breathe,” I complained through my palms. The guy didn’t even bat an eye. He snuffed out the cancer stick by stubbing it in the ashtray only to stay silent. “What the hell?” I asked. We’d known each other since before we were in diapers.
