"No, we really don't like each other," we always used to say. "We're not dating, no, stop asking."

"We're never going to get together," we'd insist.

Well, I was lying. And I thought he was lying, too.

We met about four years ago. He was always standing in the door way leading out of the high school. He'd lean up against the door and smoke his cigarettes like nothing else in the world mattered. I thought he was so cool, standing there like that. Then again, I was a freshman that year; all of the seniors were cool.

I talked to my friend, Ike; asked about him. I learned that his name was Craig Tucker. I learned that he was one of Ike's friends.

Ike and Kenny and Craig and Kyle, they were a group. I'd already known that, but I never hung out with them, so I had no idea who "Kenny and Craig and Kyle" were. Well, now I knew who Craig was.

And Craig was cool.

It was probably a stupid decision on my part, I know it was, but I got my hands on a pack of cigarettes. I'd never smoked before, but I wanted an excuse to talk to Craig.

It took me a while, I'm not sure why, but I finally got the nerve up one afternoon to execute my plan. I casually strode over to where he was standing, where he stood every day, and leaned on the door next to him. He didn't even pay me any attention.

Agitated by that fact, I fumbled to get the pack of cigarettes out of my pocket. The same pack I'd been smuggling around for a whole week. I plucked one out of the carton and stared at it.

For a second, I forgot where I was. With the cigarette in my hand, I could feel it. I could see it. It suddenly became a lot more real what I was about to do, and I wasn't sure I wanted to go through with it. Then I noticed Craig shift next to me and I remembered why I was there.

My face flushed in slight embarrassment and I fished out my lighter. I could do this. I could do this.

I brought the cigarette up to my face and lit the end of it, watching it flare red for a moment before beginning to smolder. I took a mini breath to calm my nerves and stuck the cigarette between my lips.

It was then that I realized that I didn't know how to smoke. It was self explanatory, right? All I had to do was inhale.

Well, I inhaled, and the next thing I knew, I was doubled over in a coughing fit with tears in my eyes.

"You okay, kid?"

My eyes snapped open when I realized it was Craig that had asked. I wanted to respond, but I couldn't stop coughing. I didn't want to look up at him and have him see how badly I was handling my first cigarette.

After a concentrated minute, I managed to get myself to stop the coughing. My throat felt raw and ripped apart and I knew my eyes were probably red.

I stood back up straight and didn't look at Craig. He probably thought I was just some stupid kid by now. I blew it, this was a stupid idea. Several long moments of silence passed between the two of us.

"I asked you a question, don't fucking ignore me."

This surprised me, but I still didn't want to look at him. "Um, yeah, I'm fine," I muttered.

"Was that your first smoke or something?" he asked. I didn't answer him and he snickered.

"What's your name, kid?"

I contemplated this for a minute. I could just lie and pretend this never happened, or I could tell him the truth and pray that this fiasco somehow worked out. "Filmore."

I listened to him take another drag, watched the ground as he dropped the cigarette and snuffed it with his boot. "So tell me, Filmore, what the hell are you doing?"

"What am I doing?" I repeated, confused by the question.

"You've obviously never smoked before, you don't know me, and everyone else in the school has gone home by now." I looked around to notice that he was right.

I chewed on my lip, still refusing to look over at him. This was bad. "I, um…"

"Aw, how cute, you were just trying to be cool," he said. That finally got me to look up at him. I frowned and he smirked. "Little freshman trying to be a big guy."

"Hey!" I said, my brows furrowing now, frustration mixing with my humiliation. "I'm not just a freshman, I'm totally cool!"

"Mhm," he said, rolling his eyes, that stupid smug grin on his face.

Driven to prove myself, I picked another cigarette out of my pack. I lit it and took another inhale. It burned like hell on my already raw throat, but I forced it down. I suppressed the urge to cough but I could feel my face heating up and my eyes beginning to water again. I let out the smoke in one quick breath and had to take several more breaths to steady my breathing out again.

I brought the cigarette back up to try again, but his hand on my wrist stopped me. "Don't hurt yourself, kid," he said, that goddamn smirk bearing down on me. "Being able to take a cigarette doesn't make you cool."

He let go and stood away from the door, stretching his arms into the air. Was he leaving? Hell no, not after a display like that. He started to walk away, and I scowled at him. "Hey, fuck you! I'm just as cool as you are, maybe even cooler!" I shouted.

He waved me off and continued down the sidewalk, ignoring me.

I jogged after him, angry by that point, and stopped in front of him, blocking him from continuing to walk away from me. "You're a dick, you know that?"

He raised an eyebrow down at me, and it wasn't until then, standing so close to him, that I noticed he was nearly a foot taller than me. "Yeah?" he asked.

Undeterred, I kept on. "Yeah, you're fucking arrogant and you suck."

A few moments of silence passed between us before he picked his smirk back up. "I like you, kid. You got spunk."

"Spunk?" I asked, faltering a bit in my anger. I was just yelling at him, why was he complimenting me? That was a compliment, right?

"How about you come back to my place, chill with the boys. Not today, but I think we might be able to fit one more on the couch."

He just invited me to hang out with him. He just asked me to go to his house.

"Uh, yeah, sure," I said, unsure of what the appropriate level of enthusiasm was supposed to be.

"We'll talk later, but I gotta go, you're making me late," he said. He stepped around me, patted my shoulder on his way, and started off down the sidewalk again. I didn't try to stop him that time.

So I don't want to be one of those people that uploads a chapter fic and then doesn't update chapters for months at a time... but that's totally what's going to happen with this, I'm warning you now. I wrote this a few days ago and I never uploaded it for that reason, but I feel like if I don't upload it now I'll forget and never do it and if I have it sitting on my page then I'll have to look at that incomplete label all the time and uGH ANYWAYS. I have a lot of drive currently for this, but I just happen to have more drive for this Halloween thing I'm doing, ohohoho. So... yeah, Craimore. 8D