Hoodlum Tragedies (Old Version)

B L O S S O M S

"I gotta say, you're pretty damn good at this." Tio Jose says as he takes a sip from his glass of water.

Curly sits on the couch as his Tio sorts through the cash. Curly attempts to hide his frown, he knows he shouldn't feel good about it but he can't help that he does. It was foreign for someone to actually appreciate Curly for what he's done. Tim would never say anything positive about Curly's achievements.

As Curly thinks of the praise, he lets himself smile instead. His day couldn't possibly get better. He finished selling the cocaine and he actually made a lot of money from it. Afterwards, he'd go on his date with Daisy that he had been waiting for for a few days. He had been thinking about getting a kiss from her again, that possibly was the only thing that didn't get him discouraged from doing what he needed to do.

"Gracias, Jose."

Jose walks closer to Curly to rustle his hair around. The act was also foreign to him, and Tim hadn't done that to Curly since he was a kid. Affection just didn't exist anymore.

"You ever think about selling more? I know a guy and we could make some good money."

Curly shook his head at the request. The thought of doing it again put him on edge. He wasn't close to being caught but maybe it was because he got lucky. He wanted it to be over with but he didn't mind seeing Jose. Especially with all that trouble he stirred up with the gang war, he wanted to be around him now more than ever.

"Nah but thanks for the offer."

Jose smiles and shrugs. "Offer still stands, kid."

"Hey, Jose?" Curly asked as he turned to look at his uncle.

"Si?"

"What do you do if you're being blackmailed?" Curly asked, he turned his eyes back to the TV. He felt embarrassed for even asking.

He could hear his Tio striking a match to light his cigarette. "You being blackmailed, kid?"

Curly didn't reply at first until he got a smack to the back of his head that made him flinch. "Aye chico. Answer me." he said sternly.

Curly turned to look at him before huffing a deep breath.

"Alright.. Tim's got an alliance with these kids. They asked me to get rid of the coke and I did it so our alliance wouldn't get fucked. We're in the middle of a war with Tiber because we stole their connection. Turns out, Tiber is trying to make us fall through Brumley so we're weak when they attack. Tim don't know and I don't know if I should tell him. I'll fuck everything up."

Angel stared at Curly, his eyes squinted because he was thinking. He then stared at Curly before blowing his smoke out in Curly's direction.

"You need to tell, Tim." Angel said order.

Curly's stomach sank. He knew he had to tell him or one of them would end up dead next time.

"I'm sorry I'm late." Curly said as he rushed to the back booth.

He had picked a random restaurant in between all the neighborhoods where he had seen a lot of people go. On the way back from Angel's, Curly had decided he'd tell Tim after his date with Daisy. If he dragged it out any longer, he'd stress himself out more than he needed to. He knew seeing Daisy would cheer him up.

Daisy had on a fitting striped black and white dress with a red ribbon holding her hair back. Her cross necklace laid neatly across her chest.

"Thats alright." She replies softly.

"I had to rush home." Curly explained. "You look real nice."

Daisy smiled as her eyes traveled down and looked towards the table. Curly knew she was embarrassed so he reached his hand across the table to hold it over hers. "You're blushing," Curly stated.