A full tank of gas. That was all Howard needed to be happy back then. Before he left his parents his dad would drive out with him to the only gas station in town and fill it up for him. Then he'd walk into the store and pay. He'd come...

Yes, she thought.

Happened all the time. Especially behind the counter as a barista. So many customers came in eager with 'unique' ideas. And almost all of them would be uninteresting. In those cases she always felt like suzy described.

"I get it," Imogen said with a smiile.

It looked like the lady...

Inside the noise reverberated. Laughs. Screaming conversations. A guitar was playing. Derek sung a tune that sounded Irish.

Girls were in spaghetti straps; boys in shorts and tanktops or light, breathable cotton tees.

It was dark except for the glow of yellowish lamps. Everybody was either smiling or nodding with eyes half...

On that boardwalk the two spoke for less than half hour's time. To Dave it felt like a long conversation, Not in a bad way. time slowed down. He paid attention. Listened. there were no goals. Just two men exchanging words while the ocean exchanged force against the coastline.

it felt...

"Yeah. Why are you up so late?"

"Couldn't sleep."

Then before Alan could reply, "why haven't you been replying? You've been... weird."

Alan suddenly forgot about his lost friend. Only Imogen Howe mattered now. He tried hiding his emotions from Aaron. But Aaron was too bored with looking for Jack now that he...

He had no appetite but crammed the pizza down. He knew Aaron would give him shit for it otherwise. Jack had already paid for everything. Outside Aaron said that he needed to go take a dump and nap at home.

"But what are you doing tonight?"

"Not sure I'll even be here...

James couldn't drink. Sneaking in beers didn't work. Because he couldn't get drunk. Instead he would just feel bloated and have to piss. So he began chain smoking.  Big Joe didn't approve. But since it didn't impact their heist he couldn't complain.

James would smoke a whole pack by the afternoon....

"So what happened here exactly?"

"Lamp to the back of the head."

"No i meant, why would anyone kill Dr. Carol in her office like this."

"Don't know. That's our job to figure out."

"You know how when a wife is murdered. 99 times out of 100 it's the husband?"

"Yeah."

"Well do you think there's...

Keith needed a coffee . The Ethiopian place looked closed from the look of it. He thought about suggesting they try opening the door to see if maybe they were still in service. Immediately after the thought he decided against it.

The two continued their walk. The wind was no longer...

Steve tried in that moment to think like his girlfriend, who handled most of everything in their life. From the wifi to gas bills, even to paying the water. He searched the house checking the file cabinets. Then he thought maybe the computer, and went back to the computer. He...

"I'd like a  beer as well."

Denver raised his hand. It took ten seconds. His voice wheezed through the air. He'd taken his oxygen mask  off. Marc Love had already gotten up but Denver swatted him away.

The waiter acknowledged the request. Gave the two younger men a look that asked 'is...

The office stared at the tall man who walked by. He must've been 6'5. But his bad posture had him standing at an effective height of just 6'3. On paper he was not a high ranking official. In fact, he wasn't even an official. Nobody was sure what he was....

Wake up my, man.

Hey. Can you hear me? Wake up.

The man turned away. Looked at his partner who was smoking a cigarette and said, I don't think he's getting up.

He'll get up, the smoker replied.

The man resented this about his partner. Always unexplainably confident. He quit asking for reasons because...

"Wipe that smirk off your face."

Kyle brushes his hair behind his ear. Stared at her.

"Stop it! I mean it!"

He walked over to her slow. Soon they were kissing. After it was finished they lay there. He thought he could use a  cigarette . Damn he would want one if it...

Affleck giggled. Then he was about to take a sip of his  cold brew when somebody came over and decked him in the face. That was the last thing he remembered. He woke up in an  emergency room . He thought about saying "where am I?" but that felt like...

What the hell are you apologizing for?

Will took a breath then told the gas station clerk, you're right. I didn't do anything wrong.

Exactly! The world is always trying to put all the blame on the little guys. Like I can guarantee you that my boss and his boss is going...

After the service Will runs into Allison leaning against the brick right outside the church doors. The way she's standing makes it feel like she was waiting there for him all along. But that can't be. He must be imagining. For they have't spoken in over five years. Will has...

From up in the hills, the lights looked pretty. The chaos of being within it, stuck in traffic or wondering where your next meal was going to come from was dressed up as a gorgeous sea. Pain and suffering could be beautiful, if viewed from a far enough distance.

From up...

I wandered aimlessly. Waiting to smoke my next  cigar . I already had a buzz going. So I'd hold off as long as possible before stopping in someplace for a  whiskey . You could make a buzz go long that way. The key was not to get into  beer too...

He went out for a smoke. Outside were three people. Two of them already smoking. One asked if he could bum a  cigarette . He shrugged and said why not and gave him one. And then he asked for a light. Jeesh, he thought. Enough to bum a cig but...

A smoker never gets bored. There's always something to smoke.

This is their curse, because everything is irritable without it.

smoking . No matter what's happening in the world, if enough time's passed since the last  cigarette you can call a smoke break and take time away from "important matters". Doesn't...

It was late. The time a healthy person wouldn't eat. Let alone be awake. But he had slept all day and had nothing more than two slices of toast with peanut butter rubbed onto them. As soon as he stepped out into the thick summer air the scent of alcoholics'...

Outside a service access backdoor stood Justine holding a cigarette , her upper back leaned against the brick wall. All felt calm, honking and engines floated peacefully, muffled through the large alleyway between the Historic Center and the National Hotel.

The ordinary urban alley had a bad association. With trash inappropriately...

He left the room in a hurry. With each step he wished he had stayed. But it was too late now. Leaving had made a statement, a statement that would become meaningless the moment he returned. So he kept storming along.

Once he was far enough from the room his steps...

The thing I neglected to tell that mother fucker was that there was one other thing I done always keep with me besides condoms . Dudes would clown me for carrying this around in my pocket, but the ladies love it. They love to get smacked from behind with a...

By the time he walked into the menagerie of 10AM at the office, he was calm about everything. He knew he'd get out of this. He'd gotten himself into worse situations before. Plus now that he thought about it, his wife catching him  cheating wasn't the biggest of his worries.

Even...

I went about my day regularly after that.

It was only later, having a cigarette outside, you returned into my mind.

Why is it when I go outside how I think and feel shifts suddenly? Unexplainably?

Compared to my usual way of thinking I quite like how my mind works when I'm outside....

They drove west in an Orange Saturn VUE . The driver was smoking a  cigarette although they usually didn't smoke. But today was a special occasion so he had specifically went to the store to pick up a pack of  American Spirits Blue the day before picking up his passenger.

She...

One thing she hated about the suburbs was that you could never run into someone while standing outside.

Though you didn't get any privacy either. It was the worst of both worlds.

This night she pretended she was downtown smoking her  cigarette and someone might pass her and ask to bum one...

She was driving back alone after the beach.

On the drive there her minivan had been packed with so many people that if the cops pulled them over she would've gotten a ticket.

That had been a fun ride. High sun, blue sky, and the music up loud with the windows down....

It must've been years since the last time he walked alone, out onto the street, this late at night, after having drinks.

Rain had come and gone. Now he felt as though he was walking through mist rather than being hit by falling raindrops.

He was two blocks over from the smack...

There was a bar. Outside of town. Just beyond city limits technically; this allowed them to avoid a few laws or something like that. But nobody gave a damn about that and they called this their favorite bar in town.

It was my favorite bar in town. In fact it was...

You wouldn't believe how much attention went into this one event. In fact for the past two weeks I don't think my friends talked about anything else. I'll also admit that I wasn't free from all this excitement. I too couldn't wait for this Saturday to come.

But my date cancelled...

She liked the idea of a stranger in an Airbnb in town. It felt more exciting than a local just doing a staycation , which was a word she'd never heard before. At first she thought she might want to do a staycation, but then she couldn't ignore just how...

It was  Tuesday night. Pitch black where she sat inside an orange SUV, the engine cut on the unlit parking lot across from the gas station. Jeannie was inside, picking up a 24 pack of Miller Lite using her cousin's ID.

Two things were on Imogen's mind as she listened to...

It had rained everyday until Friday so the air was cool. The clouds didn't give us their all, she thought as she looked up. Or new clouds had simply formed already in their place after falling to the ground as rain. 

When was a cloud in the air, that cloud?...