With a twist and a cough, she grabbed her next cigarette out of the pack on the bed side unit and lit her first 'It's the freaking weekend cigarette' and turned with her exhale and looked at herself side on in the full-size mirror on the wardrobe door. She could see her thighs covered in various bruises even one on her small Eeyore tattoo she got for a dare one drunken Sunday afternoon a few years back, Zoe had the matching Winnie the Pooh on her upper thigh. Most of the bruises came from bumping into the kitchen table and chairs when drunk, she presumed to herself. She could never really remember.
Looked in the mirror and frowned as she stroked her now rather large over hanging muffin top belly that acted like a spongy jiggling cantilevered building hovering high above her pubes. She was also annoyed with the equally full and annoying spare tire that unhelpfully sat above her hips. Both of which lipped over what was now a clear panty line, when and if she bothered to wear them. She 'had to' this past week. "That hadn't been there 3 years ago," she mused again to herself as she inhaled her cigarette and subsequently exhaled towards the mirror, the smoke bouncing off in every direction.
Her fat had always been there; just less of it. Laura had never been a slim girl. But in her defence, her stomach had nowhere near as big. Since moving out of home. She has not really done any activity, other than eat almost daily takeaways, drink gallons of wine, and smoke thousands upon thousands of cigarettes.
Whilst looking intently in the mirror she had then gently lifted her sagging large right breast and let go leaving it slap back down again against her skin. She sighed her nipples hardened after being played with. So, with a smile she tweaked her large now erect nipples. Her breasts were her best asset she reminded herself, on the very rare occasions when dressed in a certain way- low cut little black dress, her post push up bra, then she can still get the guys to stare with appreciation. She brought her cigarette back to her lips and inhaled and then did some well-practiced snap inhales and smoke rings into the mirror.
Laura balanced the cigarette in the ashtray and with a groan retrieved her Denis nightie, dumped on the bedstead in her slightly hungover rush this morning, and put it on. Laura salvaged the cigarette from the ashtray and inhaled yet again. She then flumped out on to the bed, exhaled the cone of smoke and watched till it hit the bedroom ceiling directly above her head and dissipated. She repeated the large inhale and exhale watching the last bit of smoke bounce off the ceiling. She grabbed her phone, coughed and she lay there on the bed and smoked for a couple of minutes while she ordered her large pizza with extra pepperoni and wedges delivery on her phone app.
With her exhale still drifting from her nose she finally extinguished that cigarette. She lay there for a minute just slowly breathing in and out attempting to relax before a smile crept across her face. Her hand stretched out yet again and between her fingers slid a fresh cigarette from the pack and placed the filter between her lips. Her hand slowly and purposefully her chubby fingers stretched out once again to find the lighter. With it successfully retrieved she lit her second 'it's the freaking weekend cigarette' of the evening with a deep double drag. She exhaled a large cloud of smoke as she lay there out on her back. With yet another drag, and exhale, she gently shuffled herself off the bed she again gently coughed as she flicked the ash from her cigarette and headed downstairs to the kitchen.
Once there she opened one of her several Β£6 bottles of chardonnay she had in the fridge. If she bought six at a time, she got 25% off, which was a win. She poured herself her first large glass of the evening and settled in on the sofa to wait for what she hopes was her usual rather gorgeous looking pizza delivery guy.
Saturday
Laura sniffed hard then woke up and as she rolled over pulling her duvet with her trying to continue hiding from the outside world. Soon after she rolled the predictable and usual hacking cough appeared. She hacked again then swallowed whilst she waited for her juddering body to calm down a little. She opened one of her green eyes, the clock determined it was just after nine thirty. Then slowly it scanned the slightly spinning room twice. Twice only because on the first scan, she thought it moved. In reality she was happy where she was. In bed- 'that's good' she thought 'could have been the sofa- again'. Her second thought was to debate falling back to sleep, or to look for her cigarettes. With both eyes open she was instantly relieved there were two sleeping filters protruding from the pack on the bedside unit. On the weekends, she could never really remember going to bed. Clumsily and she thought most likely still drunkenly her hand wavered knocking over the bed side lamp with a thud. She left it leaning artistically against the wall as she prioritised retrieving the all-important pack. She soon lit one of the cigarettes, inhaled. As she lay there in bed and dragged three times in quick succession her what were once angry nicotine starved lungs started to finally relax.
The two bottles of wine and, if she can remember properly, a couple or three gin night caps to herself had not done her head any good. the pack or so of cigarettes she had with the drink, had not done her throat and lungs much good either. She tried to enjoy the cigarette, but smoked it far too hurriedly, finishing it before she was ultimately ready. It however momentarily solving her throat and lungs problem. She still had on her list to deal with her twinging bladder.
Laura had arranged plans to meet up with Zoe and Karen her work colleagues and friends from work for lunch and spot of shopping at 12ish. She rolled to the edge of the bed, coughed, and slowly groaning and moaning sat up. And stayed put slumped on the edge of the bed as she finished her cigarette. She really needed to move as she more than urgently needed her morning piss.
She slowly padded round the bed onto the landing and to her bathroom, she tugged and eventually hoicked up her surprisingly damp nightie and sat on the toilet. 'Did I wet the bed again?' She mused to herself feeling the warm wet nightie that now stuck her back whilst contemplating stripping the bed of sheets again.
Laura had sat down almost falling on the toilet seat and then smiled as she lit the cigarette in her mouth using the pink Bic lighter conveniently left by the sink taps and relaxed again. As she recreated 'a thundering Niagara Falls' as her ex-boyfriend had cheekily mentioned once or twice, she started to get flashbacks to last night.
Sometime during the second half of the required second bottle of wine, a Brian Cox documentary on one of the random channels on telly had popped up. Laura could all of a sudden remember being far too drunk to concentrate or take in on the useful information he was famous for saying, however she could vaguely remember fingering herself to orgasm whilst sitting on the on the sofa. She fancied the pants off Prof Cox. Laura's nipples suddenly pinged erect against the nightie at that thought of Prof Cox and his purring calm voice. Laura momentarily stopped peeing and stretched her arm across to ash her cigarette in the white sink beside the toilet. She would find three more butts from last night. She picked them up and dropped them between her legs, they bounced off her thick thighs leaving a couple of ash marks before they fell into the bowl. She stood up too early enjoying the last bit of pee dribble and tickle down her thighs, gave her thighs a cursory wipe and then flushed. Then tugging her damp nighty back down over her thighs, she went downstairs to hunt for her morning coffee.
Once her coffee machine had whirred and her phone and fresh pack of cigarettes retrieved from the lounge, Laura was starting feel more human again.
She drank her coffee, as she powered her way through her third morning cigarette. She sat there not really worried that she was in her wet nightie as she focused on nibbling at the half of cold pizza slice remaining in the pizza box on the kitchen table and thought about making a plan for the morning.
She plugged her predictably dead phone into the charger and waited for it to come to life. She then checked for messages from the girls, so she assumed it was still on. She used to go out often with Zoe and Karen, they had actually been to school and college together before going their separate ways at university however somehow, they all ended up back together working at Tectron in the same building. 10-12 years ago, they would have gone out together on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday nights, easily drinking three or four bottles of Wetherspoons cheap wine between them and then dancing, drinking, and smoking the night away at the nightclub and still managed to up for college or work in the morning. Those were the days when there wasn't a smoking ban, and there was a convenient smoking section upstairs in spoons. The three girls would be sitting up there in an ever-increasing cloud of smoke.