Smoking story

“It almost makes you want to give it up,” he said to the girl who had just drifted from the pub into the smoking shelter.
She lit a cigarette. “It’s terrible, isn’t it”, she said. Her husband or boyfriend was waiting for her there, he guessed, just as his girlfriend was waiting for him.  On second thoughts maybe she wasn’t with a man. The only man around her age - about 20 - was the barman. Maybe she was with a girlfriend.
He glanced again at the bar and saw that she had bought a drink. The barman’s hand seemed to linger over hers when he handed her the drink and his expression hardened.
He realised that the girl had seen it too - and his reaction. “It’s really terrible, isn’t it” she said, smiling this time. She stubbed out her cigarette. “Anyway, it’s been nice meeting you.”
Back in the pub she walked up to the bar and smiled at them both.”It worked. He’s jealous” she said to the girl. “Ok, you’ve had your 15 milliseconds of fame” she said to the barman, nodding towards a drinker at the end of the bar who’d just finished his beer and was looking at him expectantly.
The girl tilted her head towards the shelter where her boyfriend was still smoking. “It’s been really nice seeing you again, Sarah, I didn’t think I’d meet an old friend from college when we came in here - and thanks for the research.”
“No problem, apart from having to smoke a cigarette again for the first time in three years”
“Don’t get into the habit.”
“Ok, as long as you don’t get into the habit of getting too friendly with my husband,” Sarah said, smiling fondly at the barman.

A little background information

It’s now against the law to smoke in bars and pubs in the UK,  but many pubs have erected `smoking shelters’ just outside their premises, where customers can smoke.