Surviving the Valley- Murda She Wrote

16. Busted.

Just a few hours has gone by since Alicia made her way back to Chucalissa's medical. She sits on a bench on the side of the building, scrambling through her purse for her cigarette lighter. She's been out here a little over an hour, trying to build the courage to go inside. It's a little earlier than Murda would expect her to be back and she doesn't exactly plan on explaining or informing Murda on the blow up she had with Tanita. She figured she'd just let it blow over, as their arguments usually do. And if things were to get too out of hand, she trusts Murda will step in to handle it, as he always has. She holds the cigarette lighter to her cancer stick, struggling to make the flame flick. Even though her high has wore off by now, the argument with her momma has given her a new event to place her jitters on. "𝙈𝙞𝙨𝙨 𝘼" the deep voice of Woddy travels from a few feet in front of her. "𝙃𝙚𝙮 𝙒𝙤𝙙𝙙𝙮 𝙗𝙬𝙤𝙮" she says, flashing him an awkward smile.

It's been a little harder to look him in the eye considering what he saw earlier. "𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙜𝙜𝙡𝙞𝙣?" he laughs, pulling out a lighter of his own from his pocket. "𝙉𝙖𝙬, 𝙞'𝙢 𝙨𝙠𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩" she says, avoiding any more eye contact. "𝘾𝙢𝙤𝙣, 𝙄 𝙜𝙤𝙩𝙘𝙝𝙪" he says, holding up the flame if he's asking permission to light it. She grants it with a nod upwards. "𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙢𝙤𝙠𝙚 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚?" he jokes, sitting on the other end of the bench. Alicia looks down bad. Her hair that was once freshly flat ironed, is now in a messy bun, sweat drips from each side of her forehead, and her face looks flushed from hours of crying. "𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙮 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙤𝙣𝙚" she says, returning the laugh. "𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙄 𝙢𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙨𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙤𝙭 𝙖𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙩 𝙮𝙤 𝙛𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙙 𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙮 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙥𝙪𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙙" Alicia says. Woddy smacks his lips between chuckles.  "𝙈𝙖𝙣, 𝙏𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙖 𝙠𝙞𝙘𝙠 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙤𝙪𝙩?" he asks. She grins, shaking her head between puffs. "𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙞𝙣'𝙩 𝙠𝙞𝙘𝙠 𝙢𝙚 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙗𝙖𝙗𝙮, 𝙄 𝙡𝙚𝙛𝙩" she adds. "𝙒𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙚𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙖𝙮... 𝙄 𝙢𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙤𝙬𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙜𝙪𝙝 𝙖 𝘽𝙚𝙣 𝙖𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙡𝙡" he says, causing Alicia to look up with raised brows. "𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙞𝙡 𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙜𝙪𝙝𝙨 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙞𝙣' 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙨 𝙤𝙣 𝙢𝙚?" she says, almost choking on her own cigarette smoke. "𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙣" Woddy responds. "𝘾𝙖𝙣'𝙩 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙮'𝙖𝙡𝙡" Alicia laughs, thinking about the terms of the bet being actually exchanged.

"𝙄'𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝..." she continues, making Woddy's head turn in half smiles. "𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙗𝙬𝙤𝙮 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙖..." she says, chuckling. Once her words settle, part of her wants to retract the statement. Some guilt eats at her, especially once she looks back at Woddy, who has now awkwardly turned his head back from her sight. The one thing Murda seemed to not know about his momma, his best nigga did. He's known it for awhile now, since Murda passed on the responsibility of looking after Alicia, when he was inside and before she ran off to Louisiana. From there, Woddy became something like a second son, which if you're the son of Alicia, is more like a caretaker or therapist. Alicia was never one to keep LaMarques of all people,  in the dark about her life, but this was one secret she couldn't face telling him. She knew that he would find a way to bring the fault back on himself, and though Alicia could blame her mother or anyone for anything she desired with no problem, Murda was the one person she'd ever place her faults on... at least intentionally.

"𝙈𝙞𝙨𝙨 𝘼" Woddy says, breaking the few seconds of silence. Alicia has an idea of where the conversation is going. "𝙄 𝙘𝙖𝙣'𝙩 𝙠𝙚𝙚𝙥 𝙙𝙤𝙞𝙣' 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙮𝙤𝙪" he continues. She sighs, "𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙥𝙪𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙒𝙤𝙙𝙙𝙮" she says. "𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙𝙣'𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙇𝙞𝙇𝙞... 𝙚𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦" Alicia doesn't have many words to give him at the moment. "𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙬𝙞𝙥𝙞𝙣' 𝙥𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙚 𝙇𝙖𝙈𝙖𝙧𝙦𝙪𝙚𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙖 𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙡 𝙢𝙖𝙣... 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠𝙞𝙣'?" he adds. "𝙄'𝙢 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙞𝙣' 𝙖 𝙡𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙣𝙤𝙗𝙤𝙙𝙮 𝙚𝙡𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙪𝙝-𝙙𝙖𝙮—" Alicia says before getting cut off. "𝙄 𝙖𝙞𝙣'𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙡𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪—𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙞𝙣'𝙩 𝙢𝙮 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚.𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙢𝙮 𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙜𝙪𝙝'𝙨 𝙢𝙖𝙢𝙖... 𝙎𝙝𝙞𝙩, 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙘𝙩 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙢𝙮 𝙨𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙖𝙢𝙖" he says. Alicia looks to his face for the first time since the conversation started. "𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙄 𝙖𝙡𝙨𝙤 𝙖𝙞𝙣'𝙩 𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙧𝙚𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚, 𝙚𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙈𝙪𝙧𝙙𝙖 𝙜𝙤𝙣' 𝙗𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙚𝙚 𝙞𝙩" Woddy says, causing Alicia's eyes to trail back to the ground with guilt. "𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚'𝙨 𝙖 𝙡𝙤𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩'𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙮'𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙖𝙞𝙣'𝙩 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙠. 𝙞𝙢𝙖 𝙡𝙚𝙩 𝙝𝙞𝙢 𝙙𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙝𝙞𝙢𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛...𝙨𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙞𝙢𝙖 𝙡𝙚𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙞𝙭 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛" he finishes, reaching against the bench to bump his knuckle to Alicia's. She sits in her new thoughts and reflections of the time being. Woddy grabs his buzzing phone from his pocket. F&G has seemed busy than usual with him being there less. "𝘼𝙬 𝙛𝙪𝙘𝙠. 𝙄 𝙜𝙤𝙩𝙩𝙖 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣. 𝙏𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙈𝙪𝙧𝙙𝙖 𝙞'𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙧"  he adds, before brushing past her hand as a goodbye.