Chapter Three
"So, I says to the guy, what the hell you talking about? And he looks me right in the eye and tells me to, and I quote, 'shut the fuckin' hell up yah nigger'. Man, if Noodle hadn't had held me back, I would have beat that boys ass within an inch of his life. Where in the world did that boy learn that word? Didn't his mamma ever tell him that to use that word would get him into big trouble? Are you listening to me 2D? You seem kind of out of it." Russel looked at 2D worriedly. He was now sporting a black eye and a rather nasty looking bite on his neck. Both Russel and Noodle had confronted him about the bite earlier that morning but 2D had only shrugged while mumbling something incoherent before disappearing from sight until later on in the afternoon for lunch. Russel had been about to ask 2D again what had happened but the look on Noodle's face had told him he should hold the question back and wait to see if 2D ever openly gave the information.
Russel, Noodle and 2D were currently sitting in the kitchen at the table, eating their sandwiches which Russel had made for them. 2D looked up at Russel in mid bite. He continued, tearing the piece of bread, peanut butter, and jam of the sandwich and chewing on it. "Yeshfmlisnungs," he stated as he tried to talk with his tongue sticking to the roof of his mouth. Russel raised one eyebrow, telling 2D he did not understand what he was saying. 2D nodded, cleared the roof of his mouth, swallowed and looked at Russel. "Yeh I'm listenin'. The guy called you the 'n' word an' if Noodle hadn' been holdin' yeh back, you would 'ave beat 'im up," he stated with a smile before taking another bite out of his half eaten sandwich. Russel however did not return the smile. 2D's shoulders slumped in defeat as he realized he wouldn't get out of answering Russel but he still wasn't too keen on letting the others in on what Murdoc and he had done.
"Listen man, I know you don't want to talk about it but Noodle and I are worried about you. Every time we see you, you've got a new bruise, or cut, or bite. You're waking up a lot later than usual and you get shifty every time someone tries to touch you," Russel stated. 2D nodded as he tried to think of something to throw them off course. He couldn't let them no that he had let Murdoc do sexual things to himself. He just knew that they would freak out and everybody are hated Murdoc enough without their whole screwed up relationship to put on top of it.
"You… you also not meet Murdoc eyes when he looks you," Noodle stated somewhat hesitantly. At this Russel rose from his seat at the table and looked down at 2D with rage. 2D shrunk back in his seat, wishing very much that he would just disappear into the chair and get away from Russel's heated glare. "Murdoc give you that bite, did he?" Noodle asked. Immediately 2D began to shake his head no, denying it fervently.
"No! No! Murdoc would never! I'm mean, I know he gets rough wif me sometimes, but he didn' bite me! I swear it!" It was at this point that Murdoc entered the kitchen, scratching his bare chest as he yawned widely before walking over to the refrigerator. He didn't seem to notice the death glares that Russel was sending him or the way 2D sunk into his chair even more. Murdoc pulled out a bottle of orange juice, uncapped it and took a swing from the carton. It was as he was doing this he noticed Russel. He rolled his eyes while wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
"What did I do now?" he grumbled, looking at Russel. If 2D could he would have sunk lower into his chair but instead he fell to the floor to hide under the table. At this Noodle poked her head under the table and looked at him with confusion. 2D could see both Murdoc's and Russel's feet, both approaching the other. He felt an odd lump form in his throat and tried to swallow it down.
"Have you been roughing up 2D again?" Russel asked. 2D could just see Murdoc rolling his eyes as he watched the bassist's feet come right in front of Russel's. "Well, did you?"
"And what if I did?" Murdoc drawled. 2D shot a glance at Noodle's legs which were swinging innocently as she sat on the chair. 2D shot another glance, this time at Russel and Murdoc's feet. He wasn't listening to their conversation but trying to think of a way of escaping the room and hiding in the safety of his own. Or course this time; he'd remember to lock his door. "What did the little' fag'it tell you?" 2D moved the chair slowly and began slinking away on the floor towards the door of the kitchen. There was a huge chance that both Russel and Murdoc would see him but decided as soon as they did, he would bolt up from the floor and just run for it. He already could feel Noodle's eyes bearing down on his neck.
He cautiously took a peek over his shoulder, still moving. And like usual, he somehow managed to attract attention to himself, this time by bumping into the counter and knocking the jar of peanut butter off of it. He saw Murdoc swing around and look at him with a murderous gaze. At once, Murdoc began to stomp his way over and 2D tried desperately to swallow the lump in his throat. He had seemed to forgotten his plan of just bolting for it as he stayed planted the floor, the peanut butter jar not shattered, but rolling slowly away from him as if to escape the fight about to outburst.
Murdoc grabbed 2D's shirt collar and pulled him off the floor, holding him up and making it seem as if he was holding him off the floor. "I didn' tell 'im nothin' I swear Murdoc! I swear it!" 2D said in a soft whisper. Murdoc's glare hardened as he dropped 2D.
"There was nothing to tell," he growled. 2D nodded his eyes still on Murdoc as the bassist turned to face the other two band members. He sat watching, not sure of what to do or what to say. So instead, he sat still on the kitchen floor, watching with scared eyes. "Yeh, I bit 'im," Murdoc admitted. "Under what circumstances are only 2D's and my own business. Get it?" He saw Russel struggle between deciding whether to kill Murdoc or just leave it alone. Russel finally sighed, not looking at anyone as he left the room in disgust. When Russel was a safe distance away from the room, Murdoc turned around and looked at 2D. "Come on, you little git. We need to get that cleaned and bandaged before it gets infected." He walked over to the singer and hauled him up, putting his arm around 2D's shoulders and he guided him towards the car park where his Winnebago sat. When 2D looked back, he saw Noodle biting into her almost finished sandwich with a smile on her small round face.