I "smoked"

Recently, since I've went into a new environment - university,
I've been joking to my old friends that I started smoking. (why not?)
Now of course, no one will be happy when they hear that,
but I've never expected to hear of the following replies.

"I don't want to talk to you anymore"
or "I can't be close with you anymore".
Now, I'm left wondering for a few days now,
are these the thoughts projected from their parents?

I would've thought the first reply would have been "why?"
or warning me that it is bad for my health,
but to be disowned by close friends because of smoking,
without even the little knowledge of how people fall into it, that could have made matters worse for a smoker.

The person could have had peer pressure,
or he was made to smoke by bullies.
His parents might have been the source of the influence
or even because of depression.

Of course, I'm not saying that smoking is the right thing to do,
but disowning a friend is equivalent to disowning a family member.
Not to mention that to get over smoking really takes strong will,
they have to go through withdrawal phase and what not.

Now, seriously, when a friend opens up to you,
and tells you these things,
it's usually the case that they trust that you will be by their sides,
even though they have issues and they might want you to help them in stopping themselves from smoking as well.

To make matters worse,
once you've rejected their honesty in opening up,
it's as if you're telling them not be honest at all,
and that might make them walk down into the pathway of destruction.

I'm not a fan of being a second-hand smoker, well, who is?
And I don't really like it when people smoke in front of me,
since it causes me to feel like choking and scream for help for bystanders,
but I'm not really one to judge others for their actions.

It's their life, it's not like they are forcing me to smoke along with them.
As long as my expression of feeling choked gets through,
I'm totally fine with it.
Or of course, IF it is possible, I could just leave the room and move to a non-smoking area.

Hey, I'm given a brain to control my actions,
the least I could do is to use it at times of needs.
Unlike SOME people who complain
and are too lazy to move their buttocks.

An additional information about me is that
contrary to the headline,
I've never smoked
and never will.