"I guess you didn't think to tell me you had a partner, amigo." Tio Jose says as he sits at the kitchen table.
Curly had been on his way out and just casually mentioned that he'd be meeting up with Connie and that she would help him sell. He shrugs awkwardly and plays with his curls in the back of his head. "Didn't think I needed to tell you." He says carefully.
Jose takes in a deep breath before asking Curly,
"Y'know this Chica well?"
Curly nodded, he had knew her pretty much all his life and he came to understand her antics. If she was going to cross him, he knew the signs. Not that he thought she would, not this time at least, she was desperate. And if she had plans for stepping over Curly he had plans to make sure she burned. Jose shook his head before letting out a chuckle, he was tending to the white dust on the table, Curly watched as it fell to the floor.
"Alright. Make sure she don't get too close to the product or the money. You can't trust no one, entiendes?"
"Si." Curly replies.
His uncle chuckles before flicking his hand, signaling that it was okay for Curly to leave. Connie had been standing on on the poor with her hands on her hips and a cigarette in her mouth.
His Tio laughed again and signaled for Curly that it was alright to leave. He opened the door to see that Connie had been standing there on the porch with her hands on her hips and a cigarette in her mouth. They decided to meet at this address before going back to Susie's to eat and then to sell at a nightclub.
"Jesus, you're the one who's bitching about being late but look at you." She scoffs.
Curly rolls his eyes and ignores her as he walks towards his car. She quickly follows him in the car like he thought she would.
Curly rolls his eyes and ignores her like he usually does. She follows him to the car like the lost puppy she made herself to be just like he thought she would.
"I'm gonna run in the diner real quick." Curly told Connie as he turned the car off once he reached Susie's.
Connie lifted her head and looked over at Curly before asking "Why?"
Curly groaned and mocked Connie and got out of the car. He was about to tell her to mind her business but to start arguing this early into their partnership would mean it was bad luck. The truth however, he wanted to see Daisy before he left. Her shift was ending and he wouldn't want her to worry if she hadn't seen him for a while. He would never tell her what he was getting in to, it would be beyond foolish to put the both of them in harms way, but Daisy was smart, she had an idea.
Once Curly got inside, he put in order in for a shake and he noticed she wasn't working at the counter. She had been standing off to the side, away from the jukebox with an older looking man that she resembled quite a bit and her younger brother James. She had a look of discomfort and she tried to appear even more closed off than she normally died, she was hugging her arms and her head slightly dipped. He had put it together the man was her father, with the over extended power he seemed to have over her and James. The man looked tough, as if he could've been in the military at one point in his life. Perfect posture, and a blank face.
"You'd better not be hanging around these goddamn thugs. I ain't kick that nappy headed brother of yours out for no reason." The old man ranted.
Daisy chewed on her lip as she looked down at her shoes, slowly nodding. "I know, Daddy. I'm not I promise. He was only Karen's brother." She said with embarrassment.
"And you better not be talking to Willy either. I'd beat the skin off your tail if I find out you are." He threatened.
Curly flinched at the words as he remembered the same sort of threats from his own parents. He wondered if it was just an empty threat, just to scare her a little bit. The Tio's used to use empty threats for Angela all the time but they would be out of their mind if they carried out with it. Her father didn't seem like he had been kidding. Curly could feel his anger rising from the violence the old man spat. He had to remember to keep his cool. Daisy brought her eyes up to Curly's before quickly looking away with a bashful look panting her face. She grabbed James protectively before hanging her head again.
He didn't know what to think. This was the first time that he had seen her vulnerable and open and she didn't get a chance to come out to him herself. It was a sad sight, her trying to remain tough for James as her father publicly shamed her as if she was the Devil itself. He felt for her, he wanted to reach out to her, take her away and get her mind off of it. Selling had completely left his mind but he knew he couldn't and that if her father had even seen her look at him, he'd carry through with the threat. Curly gave her a weak smile before leaving the diner, highly confused.
"This seems like a... Shit hole." Connie commented as she got out of the car and stood next to Curly. "I'm dressed the part, right boss?"
"That's 'cus it is." Curly grumbles.
This place had been crawling with fiends looking for their fix. They didn't care so much about the maintenance, it didn't look all that different from the hippie houses. Curly looked her over, she had her usual outfit on with much more makeup than usual. The guys would go for it.
"Perfect. Let's go."
The two entered through the doors and the smell of sweat and musk filled the air. Loud music had been playing as random people filled the floor. The sight was an atrocity, they hardly looked like humans, sweating profusely from the side effects and the extra "exercise". This would be Curly's first night selling here and he hoped for good business. Connie stood awkwardly in front of the crowd, pondering her next move. Curly sighed and dragged her by her arm off to the side, an amateur mistake. She had been using her skills she learned from the streets.
"Connie, you don't gotta put yourself out there. They know who you are, just relax." Curly explained.
Curly ordered a beer from the bartender, to keep his mind straight and muttered a "Gracias". He turned to the crowd to see if he could predict who his first customer might be. Instead, he saw a big chicano rushing towards him as if Curly murdered his family.
"Who you think you are, puto?" a man asked.
He was built rather large but he was a little bit shorter than Curly. His skin color resembled sand.
"Aye, who you calling a puto?"
"You, cabron! Who you think you are selling in my joint, the fuck?"
Curly balled his fists up so if anything happened he was prepared. He was already ticked off from the days events, now this kid was edging him on. But before either of them could throw their fists at each other, another chicano had separated them. It was Miguel, the chicano who helped Curly sell speed when he first started.
"Chicos, calmense, Santana relax." he said while putting his hand on his shoulder. "This is Jose's sobrino. There ain't no bad blood, claro?"
The guy named Santana held the scowl on his face as he looked Curly. "Youngins always takin' over ese." Santana growled.
"What you expect from Stephen's son?" Miguel chuckled.
Santana walked away in a huff, leaving Curly, Connie, and Miguel standing there.
"You know about my dad?" Curly asked.
Miguel let out a laugh that made Curly feel a bit naive. "Everybody knows about Tu papa. One of the best. You push like your old man." Miguel comments. "Hey, I thought you said you was only selling once."
Curly shrugged as he hid the embarrassment from Miguel. He only intended on selling once but life had other plans for him, this was only temporary, he knew he couldn't do this forever.
"Gotta do what I gotta do, si?"
Miguel chuckled before putting his hands up in defense, he wished Curly good luck and disappeared into the crowd. Curly looked at Connie who started selling already, she was surrounded by both guys and girls. He smiled when he saw the scene, it seemed his plan worked, he knew she'd bring in money.
"C'mon Winston. That's enough for tonight." Curly said as he shoved the remaining product in his bag.
He could see that Connie was about to open her mouth and protest, but she quickly made a grunt instead. If he didn't have to be somewhere, he'd stay longer and make extra cash. But after what he saw in the diner he wanted to make sure Daisy had been okay. He knew what it was like having nutcases for parents.
"You're no fun." Connie pouted.
"I've got places to be, things to do." Curly replied as the two walked to the black car that belonged to Jose.
"You uncles pretty cool." Connie commented, swirling her fingers in her hair. "Lettin' you borrow the car and all."
Curly shrugged as he started the car. He knew this was Connie's way of trying to dig out information, however Curly wouldn't give her any. He wasn't an idiot like everyone made him out to be. He drove in the direction of Buck's, not really knowing where she was staying or if she had been staying with Dallas, he didn't really care. It was her business and she could figure it out.
"Pay up." Curly said once he got to Bucks.
"You really think I'd steal from you?" Connie asked as she dug in her bra for it.
Curly frowned and turned to look out the window with his hand still outstretched for the money. The sight of her chest was something he didn't want to see as crazy as that sounded.
"Oh don't act like you don't want this." She said as she slapped the bills in his hands.
"I don't.. And there's nothing going on between us." Curly reminded.
He counted the money and handed her a 20 dollar bill for her pay of the night. "You'll get the rest next week." he told her.
"Alright boss." Connie smirked as she got out the car.
When Curly reached Daisy's house, he was expecting for her bedroom light to be off. She had told him plenty of times she went to sleep early because she'd fall asleep in class. It was already well passed 12 o' clock. He was thankful that her house was a one story so he didn't have to climb anything to get to her room. Curly had bad history with climbing things like telephones and tree branches.
He reached for a small pebble and bounced it off her window. A few moments later he could see her shadow and then the blinds moving before pulling the window up. Her hair had been completely out, no clips to hold in place, just flowing freely from her head. He tried to think of time where he saw it like this but he couldn't. She looked nice like that.
"What're you doing here?" She asked as she leaned on her sill.
"I ain't allowed to drop by?" Curly teased.
Daisy let out a nervous laugh before hushing Curly and moving the window up higher. He climbed in her room without much effort and took in his surroundings. Her room was what he expected it to be, completely matching her personality. It was girly, pink curtains hanging in front of the windows, old dolls sitting high up in the closet, a bible on her dresser opened on a verse and a cross hanging above her bed.
"What're you really doing here?" Daisy asked.
"I wanted to see how you were doing... After y'know..earlier." Curly trailed off.
"Oh.. You mean my Pa? Its nothing, that's a good day for him."
Daisy shrugged as she sat on her bed, once again hiding her face as it turned red. She had been surrounded by papers and textbooks. Some had been crumbled and thrown to the floor.
"Damn Dais.." Curly said as he pushed a paper aside, leaning back on his elbows. "A good day? He threatened to whip the skin off your back."
Daisy chews on her lips as she looks over a paper but he knows she isn't reading it. "He's just over protective. He doesn't like the whole.. Gang thing."
"What's the whole thing about Willy?"
"Oh. Well Willy isn't... Willy's not my Pa's kid. So when he learned he was gang banging he kicked him out. I'm not really supposed to talk to Willy but. He's my brother." Daisy replied sheepishly.
"Damn kid. I'm sorry." Curly replies. "What're you doing up so late?"
"I'm trying to get this work done." She sighed as she ran her fingers through her messy hair.
She huffed and pushed the papers away from her slightly. Just one glance at her papers he could tell she was an over achiever, the problems had been attempted multiple times and scribbled out.
"What is it?"
"Its math."
Curly grabbed a paper and looked it over. He had passed this kind of math before and he also enjoyed it. Math was his thing and it was only thing he could understand in school surprisingly. He never really got along with words and comprehending philosophers or understanding symbolizing in literature. Nor did he care to do it. Math was straight forward, you do this, then you do that and you solve the puzzle. You're either right or wrong.
"I could help. I've done this before, got an A-." He would've gotten an A+ if he had put any effort into it, he could still remember that period of time where he had been a depressed mess.
Daisy laughed as she looked over at Curly. "Mr. Im 'too cool for school' got an A-? Get over here and show me then."
Curly moved so he could sit next to her and leaned back against her headboard. The smell of her perfume filling his nose made him smile, she had The Supremes playing on her record and it crossed his mind that he had saw a Supremes record across town, maybe he'd get it for her if he was able to. Curly looked the paper over again so he could figure out an explanation.
"Look, this here? All you gotta do is divide both side. And plug the number back in." he explained.
"Alright." Daisy replied as she took her pencil and followed Curly's words.
She had been on Curly's right which he had been thankful for because he was constantly bumping hands with people since he was left handed. All the Shepards were lefties except for his Ma. He always thought his dad did it on purpose but they naturally wrote with their left hand. Tim however, was ambidextrous, which he always used for his advantage.
Curly looked over at Daisy when he felt her head hit his shoulder and saw that she had feel asleep. Her hair had been even more messy as she slept with her mouth slightly parted. She breathed in light breaths and Curly wondered if he had every seen something so beautiful. He smiled to himself as he finished her homework and shut it in the text book.
"Night, kid." he whispered as he moved her hair from her face and kissed her forehead.
He went climbed back out her window and disappeared in the night.