Re: The New Bride/The Bohemian
Antigone didn't even really enjoy smoking, but it was a damning way to pass time. Contemplating this, with the thinly rolled paper of the cigarette turned over between her gloved fingers, did not provide Antigone with any new revelations. She mostly liked the idea of smoking; the act itself was inconsequential(and honestly boring), but it was also forbidden. Perhaps not the same forbidden as a tattoo or an abortion, but smoking seemed forever relegated to dangerous women. Antigone toasted her little bottle of opium potion to the Salomes of the world.
Blame it on the tincture, but Antigone did not immediately realize that she was being watched. Not with a pretty little hum in her bloodstream and a little Louis Armstrong in her head. On her final exhale of herb and gray, Antigone left the remains of her cigarette to smolder on the tracks while turning toward the steps, and - "Oh!" The one in the jumpsuit there was a surprise.
Incapable of shame, Antigone did not wilt beneath the frothy weight of her veil, but instead laughed as if relieved. "You gave me a start." As a girl, she'd learned that insincerity was the private language of the world, and so she replaced the laughing show of her teeth with a very slight, tight-lipped smile that barely even conveyed politeness. "Have they said when they will be starting the train?"