EL MANANA

2D woke up that day thinking that everything would be alright…for once. He loved Paula, oh how he loved her. When he was with her life was just a passing glance, everything was easy and great, even though she could've taken better care of her teeth and covered herself up more. Also, there were the constant terrifying glances from Murdoc each day that ruthlessly haunted him at night…it was as if the ruined bassist were silently warning him…

D opened the door to find her standing in the hall, resplendent in her own disturbing way. "Hey babe," she whispered, her voice freakishly sexy.

"Mmm," he murmured in reply, kissing her tenderly until a familiar dispute began to arise.

"DAMN IT MUDS YOU TOUCH MAH CLOTHES ONE MORE TIME AND I'LL FRIGGIN' KILL YOU MAN!" Russell's angry voice exploded through the studios. The hefty man clomped out of his room holding a limp yet immense white shirt in his great hands.

"He threw mah shirt in the toilet," the drummer growled at the couple watching confusedly. "Mah favorite shirt." He scowled.

"Sorry, Russ. I'd tell 'im off for ya, but ya know 'e thinks 'm a dullard and all that. Wouldn't listen to me in a million years, I bet," 2D said pathetically. Secretly he was remembering those eyes…

"Yeah, yeah, I know. It's alright, man. You jus' go be wit Paula, y'know, y'all in love, I know, I know." Russell nodded, understanding.

"I'm jus' gon' go an' teach 'im a lesson," he added, wandering off down the hallway.

Paula watched him stride away towards the Winne in the car park then cooed, "I hear they're having a special in the pub tonight. You wanna go, later? Around 10? Yeah, 's musical entertainment, thought we might learn somethin', wanna go?"

2D looked at her with adoration in his eyes. "Yes, love," he murmured softly, the love welling deeply in his heart.

Venomous thoughts crossed the slutty guitarist's mind as she forced herself to look back at him. Ehh…he was so…so…dorky, she thought. Paula was not intelligent enough to think of a more vulgar word, or trust me..she would've. The only reason her roving, wicked self stayed with him was the money.

Later that night the contrary couple was getting ready for a night on the town. Innocent 2D did not notice Murdoc observing them carefully from the safety of a storage room, a malicious plan forming in his steel-trap mind.

Not long after….

"Ahahahahahahahahaha!" the sound of boisterous laughing could be heard in the pub…mostly coming from a drunken raven-haired woman I'm sorry to say was Paula.

Author's Note: yeah…things are about to get ugly y'all…stop reading if you wanna. It may be for the good of the naive if you do so.

"Umm…honey, baby, sweetheart, oughtn't we go an' head back? Umm, we don' wanna ge' too tipsy, eh-he. Y'wanna go? Please?" squeaked poor 2D. He was becoming increasingly nervous. This was the kind of thing Muds would like, but stupid parties weren't his cup of tea. It didn't help matters that the 'musical entertainment' turned out to be an extremely handsome 20-year-old that Paula kept hitting on. The asshole couldn't even play guitar but she had offered to teach him…an offer he was all to eager to accept.

"NO! WHADDAYA MEAN, WE'RE STAYIN' HERE YA LIL' FREAK, YEAH! AHAHAHAAHAHA!"

"Freak?"

"Little nerd, hehehe. Come 'ere you beautiful thing." With that she grabbed the handsome 20 year old by the neck & kissed him dead on the lips right in front of D.

"Eeep," he whimpered, understandably hurt. A single tear flowed from his vacant eyes, as he stared blankly at the wall. It wasn't love welling in his heart now. It was pain.

When they finally returned it must have been around 2:30 in the morning. D was so utterly miserable about Paula's antics that he just wanted to go to bed. She, on the other hand, was VERY drunk and eager to play.

Lucky for her so was Murdoc. The darkened man was waiting for her in the bathroom, and you can imagine she had to go after all the crap she'd been drinking.

2D didn't give her the honor of seeing him again. The poor fellow just went to his room, ignoring Russell's questioning look in the kitchen.

Meanwhile in the toilets… "Hello poppet," came the nasty voice from within. Paula jumped, startled, not paying any attention in her spacey state. What she saw made her wandering heart leap, for there was Murdoc, the horribly handsome bassist she always kept an eye on. He was wearing nothing but a pair of tight jeans and a come-n-get-me look. Feeling drunk and totally mad Paula yelped with joy and hopped in there with him.

Mmm, Muds thought gleefully. 'S all going according to plan. OHHHH, you NAUGHTY girl!

Paula laughed with bliss, enjoying Murdoc's years of experience finally. She was too blank to realise what she was really doing, that she was breaking a young man's heart, destroying him with her betrayal, even though to be perfectly honest she had no idea of what the hell she was doing.

"MMmmMMmmM, I never been shagged so good in m'life babe. How's 'bout you an' me, yeah, get together, you leave that dullard, yeah…you're mine love…you are!" Muds laughed evilly.

"YEAH BABY I KNOW IT GIMME SOME MORE! YEAH MUDS SHOW ME HOW ITS DONE! WHEEEEEEEEE! EEEPPIIESSSS! HEHEHEAHAHAHAHA! GIDDYAP!" The screaming was what did it. If this insane drunken woman had never opened her mouth, Russell wouldn't have heard her and Murdoc would carry out the rest of his life knowing that he'd wrecked his bandmate's spirit forever without paying for it.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOIN ON HUR!" Russell roared. His white eyes blazed with the anger of hell. "YOU MOTHERFUCKER! HOW DARE YOU!" He gave a terrible yell and sent his massive fist into Murdoc's nose! "YOU BETRAYED HIM!" Blood poured to the ground, with Muds cursing so horribly his words could never be put on paper. Everything after the bone-breaking was bedlam.

Paula was wailing hysterically, holding a towel over her bare body. 2D, who was lying in bed, ill with heartache & a migraine, dragged himself out to see what the commotion was. "Russ!" he cried, noticing the big man bounding after Murdoc with a look of absolute hatred.

"D! It's gon' be okay man! I'm gonna kill this muthah if it's the last thing I do!" Russell vowed, tearing out of the bathroom, swearing vehemently.

"P-Paula…wuh? W-whuh happened? W-why're you runnin' around like that? Why's Russ so mad?" Deep down he was sure he knew. You should have seen it all along.

"I'm sorry," she rasped. "I-I-I'm sorry."

"Jus' go." The hurt overtook him and, antagonized beyond what he could take, the betrayed singer fell to the floor.

The morning after…

"D," came the tender voice. He cracked open his eyes slowly. Russell was looking down at him.

"You ok man? You…collapsed on the floor."

He got a groan in reply. "Russ…whuh?"

"You jus' got your heart broke," the drummer told him kindly.

2D choked out a miserable sob when suddenly the doorbell rang.

"Stay right there & get yo'self together, I'll answer it."

Slowly Russell went to the door. When he opened it, no one was there. He gazed around, searching for a possible zombie prankster or something along those lines.

But all he saw was a Fed-Ex box perched neatly on the steps.