It was dark and the work party was dragging slowly to an end. He saw her out the back of the shop smoking on the steps alone. It suited her.
He walked over to her and she looked up and smiled, as friends do. He sat down next to her on the cold concrete step.
She took her half smoked cigarette out of her lips and placed it in his fingers. He really didn’t smoke and he turned the cigarette before putting it his mouth. As the warm nicotine slid down his cold throat he coughed reluctantly.
“I'm just a beginner” he said and they both laughed.
He passed the cigarette back to her and their fingers touched lightly for the first time.
“It's a good thing I'm leaving”, he said to no one in particular, “but I'm going to miss you”.
She watched him from the corner of her eyes as she exhaled the smoke of the cigarette into the night air. They both smiled a little.
Across the street a car pulled up.
‘That’s my ride’ she said. She rose from the concrete step and passed over the last of the cigarette.
‘Finish this for me’, she said.
He took it, but didn't smoke it.
He watched the car until it went out of sight. The he stubbed out the cigarette and went back to the party.
