Hoodlum Tragedies (Old Version)

S H O C K

"Hijo de puta." Curly hissed as he touched the tender bruise below his eye.

Once again Curly Shepard had fucked something up and he dealt with it by sulking around in his room, staring up at the ceiling and icing his face with frozen peas. It was only a few hours ago when Tim had Curly pressed to the wall, his fist wrapped up in Curly's loose shirt as he barked out orders, telling Curly he'd fight the River King's best fighter, Marco. All because he was too dumb and lazy to check if they were completely alone when stealing the car parts. There were no ill feelings between him and The River Kings, he got caught, he had to pay up. That's how it was.

"Damn, he did a job on you." Angela said from the doorway, lazily leaning in, her hair looking as if she grabbed a pair of scissors and sawed it off in a fit of frustration.

Angela was always battling with her hair ever since Bryon had cut it off that night. He figured she never got over it.

"And someone did a job on your hair. Mind your fucking business." Curly spat.

Curly wasn't anywhere near upset with Angela and if his ego hadn't been bruised he probably would've laughed. The rumble went fine and Curly knew he whooped him good, but his fight was flawed and Marco caught him off guard a few times. They gang would never say anything disrespectful about the fight, they knew better than that, but it was still embarrassing he had been caught in the first place, especially one he was so used to doing.

"I guess you don't want no smoothie then." Angela said sassily, moving from the doorway and into the kitchen.

Curly sat up slightly, grimacing when he felt the pain in his stomach from the good kick Marco gave him. He would've been icing that too if they had more ice packs, and Curly cared more about the swelling on his face making him look stupid. He didn't care so much for the bruise, he'd get more attention that way. He craved attention, it made him feel special, or wanted even. Tim always said it was because he didn't get enough at home. Which was true, Los Tios never wanted to be bothered with him when he was a kid, when he got older they were only concerned with his addition to the gang. "Wait, what flavor?"

"Strawberry." She replied.

Curly sat up as Angela came back into the room transferring half her smoothie in a glass from the kitchen. The sound of the door being unlocked made Curly tense up, he hadn't talked to Tim since the fight and he hadn't even uttered a 'good job' after Curly won. Curly felt stupid to even be expecting it in the first place, it wasn't as if he deserved it, he was just fixing the mess he already made.

"Hey," Jimmy said as he appeared in Curly's door.

He was cold and a little bit stand-offish. Curly hadn't talked to Jimmy either ever since the night of the stolen car parts. They only spoke in passing, the other not wanting to bring up what the issue was. Angela greeted Jimmy and disappeared out of the room leaving Jimmy leaning awkwardly on the wall, his hair falling into his face as he stared down on the floor.

"Que paso?"

"I guess we should talk.." Jimmy said quietly.

He walked in the room, kicking it shut with his foot so Angela couldn't hear and sat on Curly's bed. The house was quiet, not even the sound of the TV was playing from the living room. It was weird to hear the Shepard's house become so quiet, especially since Ma hadn't been home. "So." Jimmy mumbled.

"So." Curly replied, staring at the hole in his sock. "Still mad at me?"

"I ain't mad at you..I'm Irritated. Tim'll find out, y'know he will. But you coulda fucking told me, ese. Coulda helped you." Jimmy huffed out, he kept his eyes on the floor as if that was far more interesting than looking Curly in the eyes.