Surviving the Valley- Murda She Wrote

11. Cousin

it's a few hours into the night at The Pynk. Big L and Cliff stand hovered over each other in the office sorting through the accounts. "𝘼𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝘾𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙛, 𝙞𝙛 𝙢𝙮 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙝 𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙢𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙡𝙮, 𝙄 𝙨𝙖𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩'𝙨 𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩' 8𝙠 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙚 𝙩𝙤𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩?" Big L asks a nodding Cliff as he plops down on the office chair. "𝙈𝙝𝙢 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙖 𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘯 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙡𝙤' 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙛𝙛𝙖𝙨 𝙢𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙣' 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙠 𝙩𝙤𝙬𝙣" Cliff says in chuckled scoffs, passing a lit blunt to Big L who now shakes his head in laughter. "𝘾𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙗𝙚 𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙩𝙖 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙛𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙞𝙣' 𝙨𝙤 𝙙𝙖𝙮𝙪𝙢 𝙨𝙩𝙪𝙗𝙗𝙤𝙧𝙣" he says, taking a puff of the blunt and locking eyes with Cliff. She tugs his right ear, almost snagging his diamond stud on her beaded acrylics. "𝘾𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙖 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙛𝙚𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙘 𝙛𝙤𝙭 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙣' 𝙖𝙨𝙨 𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨" snatching the blunt back. Big L smacks her hands away before exhaling his smoke into her face. "𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙨𝙬𝙚𝙧 𝙞𝙨 𝙉𝙊" she says firmly.

𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘤𝘬 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘤𝘬 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘤𝘬

Before they could finish arguing, they're interrupted by knocks at the door. Big L immediately looks to the security camera before him. The tall, skinny figure of Woddy reflects back. Cliff and Big L share a quick look. "𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙪𝙘𝙠?" Cliff says to herself. Big L begins to recognize him from the night of the shoot out. "𝙉𝙤𝙬 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙖 𝙝𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙠 𝙛𝙞𝙜𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙝𝙪𝙧𝙚" he says, looking to Cliff once more. It hits him that this is Murda's friend, the one he once carried a shot Murda to the car with. "𝙇𝙞𝙡' 𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙜𝙪𝙝" Cliff and Big L say in sync, thinking back to when Murda would make his special appearances to these parts too. Woddy must've been taught a thing or two. Cliff ups her pace to the door, opening it without much thought. "𝘾𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙛, 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩'𝙨 𝙜𝙤𝙤𝙙" he says giving her a quick bro hug and inviting himself in, stepping a few inches over Cliff's new pink heels. "𝙊𝙤𝙥—" she says turning her head back to Big L, with now dilated eye balls. Woddy sits on the couch besides the jukebox, making himself extra comfortable and taking in the new atmosphere. Cliff pauses when she asks herself reasons he would even be here right now. 

"𝙈𝙪𝙧𝙙𝙖 𝙖𝙞𝙣'𝙩 𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙖𝙞𝙣'𝙩 𝙞𝙩?" Cliff asks with worry in her voice, dramatically feeling for her heart and stumbling over her own feet. "𝙉𝙖𝙬 𝘾𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙛, 𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙤𝙤𝙙" Woddy says in a smirk, looking to Big L who is fighting a laugh in his baritone too. "𝙄'𝙢 𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙮𝙤𝙪" he adds, sitting up. Cliff looks around the room to Big L, and then back to Woddy. "𝙉𝙞𝙜𝙜𝙪𝙝 𝙞'𝙤𝙣 𝙙𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙨" she says, causing Big L to cackle an erupting laughter. Woddy smacks his lips, holding in a smirk of his own. "𝙉𝙞𝙜𝙜𝙪𝙝—𝙣𝙖𝙬 𝙣𝙖𝙬 𝙣𝙖𝙬" he says shaking his head to hide a laugh. "𝘼𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩?" she asks when she realizes. "𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙮 𝙩𝙤𝙤 𝙢𝙪𝙘𝙝 " Woddy adds. Cliff makes her way over to him, giving a deranged look to his calm mug. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘨𝘶𝘩 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 Cliff thinks to herself. Woddy stares back a few seconds, asking an unsaid "what?" with his eyes.