Hoodlum Tragedies (Old Version)

V A N I L L A

Curly never would've expected to go though this much agony waiting for a date. As if that wasn't enough his mind kept going back to what he was keeping under his floorboards, he wasn't even religious but he was sure he was going to be damned to hell. He hadn't even told Jimmy about it and because of that he hadn't seen him in a while. The only thing he was even excited for was the date he was going on, he had gotten used to the hookups in Bucks rooms upstairs.

"Curls, you got a phone call." Angela says from the doorway.

He notices her standing in the doorway, she doesn't have a scowl on her face, instead she had a strange looking smile on her face, like she's about to hear the lastest gossip about Paul Newman.

"Who is it?"

"Its a girl," She yawns. "Says her name is Daisy, you home or not?"

Curly can feel his heart rate pick up and he sits up from his bed, leaning over to stub his cigarette out. "I'll be there in a second."

He starts to get even more nervous, they had about an hour before his date started and he swore she was about to cancel the date. He'd be bummed, no one had stood him up since he was 13. When Mary Bates said she'd meet him at the movie theater and he waited all day for her, Tim had to drive him home and buy him some ice cream because he was so embarrassed. As soon as he went to school he made it his business to beat her brother up.

"Hey," Curly said once he picked the phone up.

"Hey, now." She replied back in her sweet tone. Her voice was hushed like someone had their ear pressed to the wall attempting to listen to the conversation.

"Don't take this the wrong way but I gotta cancel. I'm stuck with James because Pa went out."

"Damn..are you sure?" Curly asks.

"Yeah, sorry."

Curly takes a deep breath before he turns his back to Angela who's creeping in the kitchen and huddles closer into the phone. "Well, James can come. He ain't a snitch right?" Curly teases.

He can hear her laugh through the phone and it already has him smiling, he's relieved that Angela can't see it or else she'd be telling everyone he's 'pussy whipped'. He was getting annoyed just thinking about Los Tios finding out about it, their jokes were monotonous and he was sick of it.

"Naw he ain't, you sure though?"

"Yeah, I'll be there soon." Curly says.

"Well, we'll be there at the corner of Sutton and Pickett. Thanks a lot, Curly I mean it."

"Don't mention it."

Curly hung the phone back on the wall, the sound of Angela's door closing grateful or else she'd be asking him non stop who he was going out with. He didn't put it past her, she was probably already on the phone with her slutty friends telling them his business. Curly went out searching for Tim so he could remind him about the car.

"Tim?" Curly calls.

"I'm in here." He calls from the room.

Curly stands outside of Tim's room. He could never find himself to step over the door frame and walk in. The room used to be his mothers and his old man's. It brought back memories, especially the bad ones. He could still see himself bent over the bed, Cole beating the life out of him with the buckle but refusing to cry because he didn't deserve that reaction. Tim notices Curly's srunched up face and the way he's leaning on the side of the door.

"What do you need, hermano?" Tim asked.

"I just wanted to make sure I could still borrow el carro." (The Car)