Doesn't Make a Difference
By: keep.your.groove.on.baby
Disclaimer: Only in my dreams do I own the Gorillaz……I hope I can't get sued for that…o crap.
A/N: thoughts will be in italics, and everything else will be in quotes.
A/N: I would like to say thank you to the reviews that I received on the first chapter. Although this is not my first attempt at writing, it is the first story that I am confident I can finish. Thank you for your support. Enjoy!
Chapter Two
Morning rose at Kong Studios like any other morning in the winter time. No birds chirped, only the shuffling of feet in the ominous landfill could be heard occasionally.
It was ten o'clock, Russel was already up in the kitchen cleaning so he could start making breakfast. He heard 2D talking coming down the hall.
Once the drummer heard 2D's feet step on the linoleum he said, "You're up early, 'D. What's the occasion?"
A pause, "Russel, look who's dropped by for a visit!"
Russel turned around and his white eyes got wider than ever before, "Oh…hey. How's it going?"
In Noodle's room, her alarm clock just hit twelve o'clock when the radio automatically turned itself on to wake her up. It took a few minutes but Noodle finally began to stir and stretch while the music playing blared next to her head.
"WHAT THE BLOODY 'ELL ARE YOU DOING HERE!"
Noodle nearly jumped out of her skin at the shock of Murdoc shouting. Breathing heavily she pushed off the covers and quickly padded barefoot out of her room to see what all the shouting was about.
Noodle walked into the kitchen unaware, "Hey guys, what's all the…"
She never saw it coming. Not in a million years. Had you asked her if it was possible, she would have told you that you were crazy and delusional.
But nope. There sitting on a kitchen stool holding hands with 2D was Paula. Paula the bitch from hell that for some unknown reason decided to whore herself out to Murdoc to hurt 2D. And yet she was back, holding his hand.
Murdoc leaned against a counter on the far end of the kitchen away from Paula and 2D, smoking a cigarette. Russel stood next to him with him hands in his pockets glancing at Noodle. Usually Murdoc was not allowed to smoke inside but Noodle ignored it completely and could only gape at Paula and 2D…Paula holding 2D's hand. Obviously they had been talking for a while considering the tension in the room and the fact that Murdoc woke up around eleven to get breakfast.
"Look who's 'ere, Noodle. Our favorite person ever, Paula," Murdoc sneered.
"Stop it Muds, things have changed now," 2D said defensively. Paula shot a glare at Murdoc, and Noodle saw her squeeze 2D's hand.
"Um…hey…" Noodle stammered. She averted her tear-filled eyes and inched her way over to Russel and Murdoc. Russel opened up his arms for her and swallowed her up in a big bear hug.
2D cleared his throat, wondering if he should rethink this decision considering that now Noodle was just as upset as the other two band mates. Another squeeze on his hand from Paula, though, reassured him that he had done the right thing.
"I know this seems kinda sudden, but Paula and I 'ave been talking and we worked things out now. So I asked her to come live with me again."
"And you decided not to consult any of us why, Dullard!" Murdoc spat.
"Because she's staying wit me and it was my decision!"
Then Paula decided to put in her two sense, "Look, darling if me staying here is going to upset your band then…"
"Some of us still remember what happened the last time you were with us, Paula. 2D nearly became a recluse, ODing on almost everything he had and Murdoc got a broken nose," Russel said. Murdoc twitched his nose, remembering that night vividly and almost wishing he'd done something a little bit smarter about it.
Paula gave Russel a glare, "Thankfully Noodle has no problem with me since she wasn't even here when that happened. Besides like 2D said, things have changed now and we've worked out our problems."
Noodle whirled around, shrugging off Russel and gaping at Paula for what she had just said. Murdoc lit another cigarette, sensing that the shit was about to hit the fan.
"I may not have been here when you decided to whore yourself around Kong, but what you did is still inexcusable and I will not respect you for that whatsoever, regardless of whether you made amends with 2D or not!"
The room was deadly silent after that. 2D and Paula could only stare open-mouthed at Noodle seething while Murdoc snickered behind her. Russel put his hands on her shoulders.
Noodle couldn't take anymore. Her dreams, her hopes, everything came crashing down in the form of a whore sitting in her kitchen. She shook of Russel's hands and stormed out of the kitchen towards her room, she thought she heard someone call her name but she just ignored it.
She slammed her door shut and stood clenching her fists with tears streaming down her face. She wouldn't stand for this kind of torture…something had to be done. There was no way it was humanly possible for her to stay here with that woman.
Wiping away her tears, she pulled open her drawers and closet and threw on clothes, grabbed her keys and left her room again. She knew she needed to be far away from this place to think over her next course of action. Because indeed…this kind of situation called for action, and action she would take.
Storming back into the kitchen, everyone was as she had left them, except 2D was standing behind Paula with his hands on her shoulder. Noodle looked away from the couple and walked up to Murdoc, thrusting her hand into his pocket and grabbing his cigarettes and a lighter.
"What the…hey!"
Noodle turned around and this time heard Russel calling her name, "Not now Russel!"
"NOODLE!" he shouted.
Noodle spun around, "NO! I said no Russel! I need some fucking space from all this shit!"
She stood for a moment, waiting for him to speak. He glanced at 2D and then at Murdoc. Murdoc put his head down and nodded. Finally Russel said, "Please come back."
Noodle slumped her shoulders, "I'm not leaving, Russel. Not yet anyway."
With that she spun around and fled to the car park, jumping into her truck and throwing it into drive. Before she slammed on the gas she caught sight of Murdoc's Winnebago and an idea struck her.
2D sighed, "Does anybody else understand why she responded like tha'? I've neva seen her tha' hostile before."
"That's not fo' us to explain 'D. Maybe if you looked at it from her perspective you might understand a little bit better."
With that both Russel and Murdoc left the kitchen and 2D could here them calling the lift up to them.
2D sighed and Paula stood and wrapped her arms around him, "Don't be upset darling. We're together again and that's all that matters, right?"
2D shook his head, "I just didn't want to upset Noodle. She means a lot to me and I know I mean a lot to her…" 2D's black eyes widened at the realization of what he had just said.
He didn't have time to ponder anymore on the thought, for Paula was dragging him to the lift.
"Let me do something to get all this shit off your mind," Paula said leaning in and kissing 2D.
Murdoc sat on a stool in the studio booth, lightly strumming his bass guitar to a random song. Russel sat in the booth, half listening to Murdoc.
"That beat sounds good, yo. Should write a song with that or somethin'…"
"What should we do about Paula?" Murdoc said, still in a daze.
Russel sighed, "Yo, I don't even know why you care, ya know?"
Murdoc frowned, "First of all mate, what I did was uncalled for yes but she came to me. And second of all…" Murdoc sighed, "I'm worried about Noodle."
Russel turned off the intercom and walked into the booth with Murdoc, sitting behind his drum set, "Why you worried?"
The bass player swiveled on his stool to face the drummer, "Because she is a part of our band!"
Russel stared levelly at Murdoc, quirking an eyebrow.
Murdoc sighed again, "And because she's like a little sister to me. Come on Russ, I hardly give a damn about anybody, but that girl…she's special to me…and to us…and if you recorded this I'm going to choke you in your sleep you bloody bastard."
Russel rolled his white eyes, "I care about her too but you didn't tell me why you're worried."
"Because I know how she feels about Dullard up there," he said.
Russel chuckled, "Do ya now? Well, don't be tellin' her dat. She thinks I'm the only one dat knows."
Murdoc snorted, "Chic can't get nothin' past me."
Russel picked up his drums sticks and played a small segment from a song, "Yo, play White Light wit me."
"Alright mate."
Meanwhile, about four miles away from Kong Studios, Noodle's Envoy was parked on the side of a road designated for the scenic view of the mountains. No one else was there, so Noodle sat in the back of the Envoy with the hatchback open, drinking Murdoc's beer and smoking Murdoc's cigarettes and abusing a box of tissues she had picked up on the way there.
She had been crying since she had torn out of the car park. She nearly smashed into the gates of Kong and almost got into an accident twice.
Her face was red from crying so hard and the tear streaks had dried and now irritated her skin. All in all…she looked like hell.
Noodle stared out at the mountains lined up in front of her. A breeze swam through the back of the Envoy, irritating the dried tears and manifesting new ones. She had been thinking and plotting since she had gotten there.
I should have known…but how could I? Paula was old news by the time I had gotten there and I was too young to care or to understand. Now she's back…probably here to stay if 2D has the balls to fight for it, either that or he'll leave with her and then Gorillaz is fucked forever.
Noodle lit another cigarette and took a long drag on it. She exhaled and watched the smoke drift away from her out of the truck and into the sky. Then an idea hit her, a plan that she knew she had to take into action for her sake.
If 2D leaves with Paula…then Gorillaz won't be able to make another album and we're doomed. However…if I leave…Paula can take my place…
It was a long shot and Noodle knew that it would require elements that she had never delved into, but it was a risk she was willing to take.
Scrambling around the Envoy for a pen and paper, Noodle began listing her priorities and affairs that had to be taken care of.
It took Noodle the rest of the beer and four more cigarettes to conduct her plan on paper. She kept tossing the paper away, thinking it was erroneous and stupid. Then she'd remember 2D and Paula and how close they had been in the kitchen, and then she would grab the paper again and continue with her plan.
At this point she was close to being tipsy and on a full-scale nicotine rush when her plan was finally complete. She read over the specifics to make sure she had everything in order and that she wouldn't completely screw herself in attempting this.
Priorities for Escaping
tomorrow…start doing laundry for all your shit and bring down to truck after each load
look for an apartment at least fifty miles from Kong
change cell phone number
find a job. Not a band
pack the rest of your shit and bring down to truck
write goodbye letter to band.
Noodle had side notes next to each number for where she should get an apartment, what kind of job she wanted and what she should say in her good bye letter. It was an intricate list but it was what she needed to move on.
Noodle slid herself out of the Envoy and stretched, taking in her surroundings. She was in an abandoned tourist area and was not about to go hunting for a job and an apartment fifty miles from here on half a tank of gas. So that was the first thing she should do…go to the gas station.
She closed the hatchback and hopped into the Envoy, driving back towards Kong in the hopes of a gas station being somewhere along the way.
Noodle got pretty close the where Kong was located before she found a gas station. She pulled in and filled her tank. Looking around she saw a newspaper stand outside of the station. Excitedly, Noodle fumbled for her credit card to pay for the gas before running and getting a newspaper.
Then another idea occurred to her and she went inside and as luck would have it, there was a magazine rack right next to the door. On it she found several apartment listing magazines and picked up all of them and ran to the counter, slapping down the magazines.
"I'll take all of these please!" she said to the mangy woman behind the counter.
Saying nothing the woman pointed behind Noodle to the magazine rack. She turned and saw that above the rack was a sign that read – FREE – TAKE ONE.
"Oh…well I'm taking more than one so shouldn't I pay?"
The woman said nothing so Noodle just grabbed the magazines and left the gas station in a hurry.
"Freak," she mumbled while in the safety of her car. Ten minutes later Noodle was waiting for the gates of Kong to open. It was late afternoon at this point and she knew that everyone was either out or up and around inside Kong.
Pulling into the car park, Noodle decided to park as close as she could to the lift but as far away from Murdoc's Winnebago and 2D's room as possible. Especially 2D's room.
Once parked, Noodle sat and thought of the first thing she should do. Tonight she was going to do all of her laundry and try to pack most of her things. She needed to leave as soon as possible.
"Boxes. I need boxes. Shit. The store room."
Noodle sighed and got out of the truck, kicking herself for making up a plan that required boxes. Boxes from the store that was fifty feet below Kong!
She inched her way past Murdoc's Winnie and paused to listen. Nothing. The geep was still here so he was probably out or upstairs. So Noodle walked with a little more comfort and ease to the bunker hole. She climbed onto the platform lift and pushed the button that would lower her down to the store room.
She glanced around nervously as the platform lift lowered her further away from the car park, "How the hell do we live here?"
Noodle was jolted out of her reverie as the lift landed roughly on the lower levels of Kong. She held her nose and sidestepped around all the trash that somehow they had accumulated. Noodle wasn't even aware of them coming down her a whole lot unless they needed food that was shortcoming but how could they trash the place?
She walked eerily to the store room and was relieved to find that it was in somewhat good order. And right next to the door was several piles of broken down boxes.
"Perfect," Noodle whispered. She grabbed a large armload of boxes and brought it out to the lift.
Noodle did this three more times until she opted that she had enough boxes for the things she owned and would be taking with her.
She climbed onto the lift and pressed the button to make it go up, all too happy to be leaving the dark places beneath Kong.
Unfortunately for Noodle, what was waiting for her at the top of the bunker was much more unpleasant than anything below. Waiting for her on the bunker landing stood none other than 2D and Paula, both looking bewildered.
Noodle sighed when the lift secured itself at the bunker platform and opened the gate, dragging out one pile of boxes, trying her best to avoid eye contact with either one of the couple.
"Um…Noodle what are you doing?"
Noodle didn't answer until she had dragged all three piles of boxes off the lift and into the car park. When she was done she stretched and sighed nonchalantly.
"I'm…giving away some of my old clothes and apparently I had more than I thought so I need some boxes." She turned away from them and started loading the boxes onto a go cart to bring them to the lift that would take her up to her room.
2D and Paula both shared a look and stepped around her awkwardly so they wouldn't get in her way.
"Do you need any help, darling? 2D and I can help you take those upstairs," Paula said.
Noodles was bent over away from them when Paula decided to say this, so fortunately Noodle had the opportunity to grit her teeth and make a face before responding with a, "No."
She didn't look at them as she climbed into the go cart and drove over to the lift. She hoped this was the last time she would have to look at them or talk to them ever again.
Stopping outside the lift, Noodle got out and grabbed the newspaper and magazines out of her truck and plopped them on top of a pile of boxes before dragging all of them into the lift to go to her room.
When the lift opened she peeked out to see if anyone would be there to see her. Russel and Murdoc were no where in sight so she took her time dragging all three piles of boxes down to her room.
Once in her room, Noodle sat down on her bed and buried her face in her hands. She was tired, and had been crying all day. She wiped her face with her hands and looked around her room. She had so much to do and she wanted to do it all now and get out.
But first things first. She got out the apartment magazines that she had and began looking through all of them.
It took her about four hours to go through all of the magazines and pick out what would work for her, then she went back and called each place, getting necessary information from them and then at that point deciding which ones would work after talking to the owner. She narrowed it down to two places that she could not decide between.
One place was thirty miles from where she was now and in a nice area with a lot of opportunities for a job. The other place was a little over a hundred miles away in a completely different town and was also in a very nice area but it was a small town so job opportunities would be limited.
There'd also be less people there. Less people that would recognize you and you could settle in undisturbed and away from all this.
Noodle made her decision and circled the apartment complex that was the furthest away: Paradise Cottage. Noodle laughed at the queer name for the apartment complex, it seemed like an oxymoron. Paradise in a cottage? Yea, ok.
Standing up and stretching, Noodle thought about her next course of action. How about calling them back and getting an apartment you dolt.
Noodle blinked. That was probably a good idea.
She threw away the other magazines and kept the one she wanted and called the number back.
"Um, yes, hi I just spoke to you about the two bedroom apartment for four hundred fifty a month. Yes I'm interested in it. Um, I can fill out paper work when I get there; I'm trying to pack all of my things now. Yes, I am in a hurry. Um, I'm trying to get out by tomorrow but it might be another day from now. My name? Noodle…Hitori."
It felt strange saying that last name. After she had arrived and they had confirmed that they were going to call her Noodle, they needed to get her paperwork figured out and that required a last name, so they picked Hitori.
"…yes this is my phone number. Ok, I will let you know exactly what time I'm coming when I get the chance. Yes, thank you Mrs. Burnam I look forward to meeting you too. Bye."
Noodle hung up the phone and smiled to herself. She was doing it…she was actually going through with this.
Ok, second course of action…pack.
Noodle looked around her room again and realized that if she did all of her laundry before she packed…it would smell like boxes and she'd have to wash it again.
Noodle sighed, Ok…scratch that idea you idiot.
She locked her door and started making the boxes with tape she found in her closet. After that she marked each one with a marker, CLOTHES, GUITARS, CRAP, BED, etc.
She started with her clothes first, opting that she'd probably just keep on what she had and shower when she got that. Remember that Noodle marked a box that said BATHROOM. She opened her closet and grabbed an armful of clothes and laid it on her bed. She checked her clock, seven o'clock. This was going to take her awhile.
Russel yawned and checked his watch, "Oh man, we've been down here all damn day! It's ten o'clock!"
Murdoc was trying his hardest not to touch anything. His fingers were raw from playing his bass for so long and he'd played for that long sober. He didn't know whether to cry or scream.
Pulling off his bass with his palms and sitting it down where he'd been sitting and stretched, "I'ma hit the sack, mate."
Russel looked around for no reason, "What do you think 'D's doing?"
"Screwing."
Russel sighed, "It ain't the same wit'out him, man. It just ain't the same."
Murdoc patted his pockets and growled, "I can't believe I let her take my cigarettes now I gota go buy more!"
Russel stood, raising a questioning eyebrow, "Don't you have a shit load of smokes in storage or something?"
Murdoc waved a hand dismissively, "I'll see ya, mate."
With that Murdoc left down the lift first to the car park and was shocked to see Noodle standing outside the lift when the doors opened.
"'ey love, what're you doing?" He noticed her truck was filled with boxes and then every seat except the driver's seat was folded down.
Noodle paused awkwardly, "Um…I'm giving away a lot of my old clothes and I had to pack them all up. I'm taking them to the thrift store tomorrow."
Noodle noticed the geep keys in his hands and hurried to change the subject, "Oh! Are you going out?"
Murdoc gave her a curioius look but decided not to push her about it, "Yea…you ganked all my smokes, love so I need more."
Noodle brightened and pulled a twenty out of her pocket, "Can you get me whatever this can buy?"
Murdoc awkwardly took the money and nodded. Then he looked her dead in the eye, "Are you ok, love?"
Noodle started at the question, not used to Murdoc showing much concern for anything animate. She switched her weight from one foot to the other uneasily before sighing.
"I just don't like her being here, Muds. Her presence kind of disrupts the "peace" that we had around here."
Murdoc looked around awkwardly again before slowly walking up to her and wrapping her up in a hug. Noodle froze for a moment before slowly returning the hug. She had never been in such close proximity with the bass player and she noticed that his scent was not as bad as she thought it would be. He smelled of cigarettes but he made an attempt to cover it with cologne and deodorant.
He squeezed her, "Russel and I are always here for you, you know that right? I know I've never said this before but….I…I do care about ya, love."
He released her from the hug and cleared his throat, "And if you take my cigarettes again, I'm gona kill ya."
Noodle laughed and wiped away tears that threatened to fall. She reached into her back pocket and pulled out another twenty and handed it to him, "Well you might want to get more beer."
Murdoc's eyes widened and he was about to snarl before he calmed himself. He shook his head and pushed the money away, "Keep it, I know you needed it today."
He walked away from her towards the geep. She watched him get in and haul ass out of the car park with tears in her eyes. She reconsidered staying with the band, now that Murdoc had voiced his care for her. But looking past the Envoy she saw 2D's door…with the lights on…and shadows moving inside. Taking a deep breath and straightening her spine, Noodle slammed the button that called for the lift to take her upstairs. She still had one more thing to take care of.
A/N: Some of you may have noticed that I don't really devote much of the story to 2D and Paula. Well, sorry to disappoint, but this is not a 2D/Paula story. 2D will be more involved in the next chapter.
