Ah, cigarettes. The bait was claimed without any heedful falter. Naughty little wondering fox. Now, much like your paw tenderly clamped within the metal of the hunters ambush, your parched throat and eddied mind will enjoy the sedation that follows suit with surrendering to temptation, but you'll fail to recall why it was you did at all. Smoking. An immobilization of his equilibrium for only a limited time. He hated transient things; limited-time-only offers! And all the world was filled with them! Even her laugh was fleeting as a milkweed on the breeze, off to sink into the earth somewhere else far away from the conversation.
"Thanks." he'd said, "I quit a long time ago." he'd continued, acting as if this were no big deal. It wasn't. Big deals were subjective.
The lighter was taken as well, engrossed though still in her very isolated story. There were details she was probably deliberately overlooking. It was probably polite of him to overlook them to. But, he did so love to pry. It was as well most unfortunate that she was only joking with him on account of all that glorious, imaginary, steaming murder. Life lacked such color lately! Where were all the scandals? He'd thought to himself, as he'd tilted his head and lit the end of the cigarette. The ember glowed orange and soft as the inside of a jack-o-lantern lit on halloween, faded, and the smoke billowed up to no where. At least he hadn't the urge to cough.
"How terrible, but you were on your way somewhere. And if it wasn't to murder, what was it for?" examining the filter of the cigarette itself as he handed back her property, he inspected it for its brand. Before he could rouse himself to caring for any of the familiarity he might have felt for its name, the flood that only those select few who do not smoke regularly gently impacted his mind. That sensation of the ground coming up beneath him was a welcomed change. He grinned and insouciantly hummed aloud. He was a shameless man, and even shut his eyes to enjoy himself as if her being present didn't subjugate his nature at all. "Oh, it's making me dizzy, but go ahead, please. I'd love the answer. Hopefully it's ghost hunting. I'd like company while bumbling around like a fool looking for nothing."