Chapter Nine
Disclaimer: I don't own Gorillaz.
A/N: Here is the start of the long chappies I had promised. I may not update for a while, I need to recover from this. Enjoy. -poof-
A few months passed. We were getting into May, when Noodle asked us if she could record her own song, and we were like, "Sure, why not?" Because it only does good, and she deserved it, putting up with us. And Noodle, she listens to rock and pop and classical and everything, but when we asked her what type she was thinking of, she said, "Something funky."
And that was that.
She wanted to keep her song a secret. Whenever I'd try to listen in, she'd somehow know and stop whatever she was doing until I went away. I don't know how she figured this out, and you can be sure I checked for some sort of camera or motion sensor, but there was nothing. She just knew.
She told us not to take offense, though. No one was hearing her track until she was done with it. "After all," she'd say, wagging her finger, "You made El Manana without me knowing." So I gave up.
That night, I lay in my bed, dreaming. No, nightmaring. Noodle was on the Island. A man's voice said, "We should kill her." He flicked out a switchknife. I did not see his face, on the blade. Suddenly, she glanced up. Her face was filled with terror, a terror I have never seen before.
I woke up gasping, and a strage thought passed through my head.
'She knows what's going to happen,' said a small, dark voice inside me, 'Ask her. She knows.'
Ask her what? How could I go up to someone and ask them if they know someone wants to kill them? I can barely get up the courage to ask where the hell we are when we go on road trips, but asking someone if they know that someone is out to get them in a dream? 'Solutly not.
It was just a dream, I consoled. No one was going to lay a finger on her while she was here, or anywhere, for that matter. Not while I was around. Parental responsibility, right?
Was I right? I wasn't sure anymore. My thoughts had become Noodle-obsessive.
'No,' said the angel, 'you are just keeping an eye out for her, like a brother. There is nothing.'
'Ah,' said the devil, 'But are you sure? Because, as I recall, you loved her when you first saw her. You thought she was hot. Has that really changed?'
'Just friends, 2D, that's all you are.'
'A friend with a crush...'
'Only children have crushes!'
'Then he deeply admires her, respects her, enjoys her company, and wishes she was single..."
Wait a minute. Isn't she single?
My disorganized mind races. She isn't single? Why wouldn't she say so? Who does she like? How do I know she's dating? How come she hasn't brought him over? What's his name? WHY AM I WORRYING ABOUT THIS SO MUCH?
Okay, relax. Let's think this through before I do something I'll hate myself for later. I was giving myself a migraine.
Was it just parental protectiveness? No. I wasn't her parent, and it wasn't because I was older. Noodle had attracted me since the moment I met her, but that was attraction... this was something different. A feeling. She had done something to me so far beyond where age mattered... Where was the line drawn between friendship and... love?
"Stop it, 'D," I thought, "She may be nice an' stuff, but yer an adult. Ya can't love 'er."
'She holds you by your very dreams,' said the devil, who was becoming my best friend, 'You like her and you know it. So just go say something.'
'You're too old!'
'She's a butterfly. Catch her."
I stood up. Noodle was driving me mad and she didn't even know it. It was time to do something. I opened the door and made my way into the hallway, waiting patiently for the elevator. It took so long that I decided I could've been halfway up before it came, and as I reached the top of the stairs the annoying contraption shouted, "It's THERE!" at me and binged open. So.
I hopped in, slammed a button, and traveled up to the third floor. Just as I stepped out –
"2D?"
I nearly fainted or had a stroke or something. Noodle was halfway down the hall, a tiny sliver of light catching her eyes and glinting in the darkness. She stared in disbelief, but then relaxed and trotted over.
I rubbed my eyes. Which were beginning to hurt. "Noods? Whatcha doin' up a' this 'our?"
She scratched her head. "I know I sound silly," she said, "But there are... things... outside." She probably imagined she was going crazy.
She was talking about the zombies. One little thing I had forgotten to mention.
"C'mere," I said, motioning her closer. We were near Russ' room and if you wake him up, start digging.
She stepped foward, and I saw she was holding a long, slim sword.
Holy. Shit. An actual sword. In our house. She was coming towards me, but I held out a hand and stuttered nervously "—But before ya do," I said, and pointed at the blade, "Wot is that?"
Noodle stopped and inspected the sword, as if there might be some dirt on it. She held it up straight down her forehead like a samurai and it glinted in the moonlight. "This?" she asked, "It's a katana. My katana. You never seen one before?"
I shook my head dumbly. That's me.
"Well, I'm not about to do any slicing-and-dicing, so don't worry. But what I am worried about, and the reason I brought this, is because you have things in your backyard."
She stood there, waiting for an answer. We could hear the howling and moaning quite clearly.
"Erm... well, they're... umm..." I started. What was the best way to explain to a little girl that you lived on a haunted burial ground where zombies pranced every night?
"Are they like, monsters?" she asked, watching the ceiling.
"Umm, not exactly... they're kinda, umm... zombies?"
The truth always wins. I hope.
"...Zombies."
"Yep."
"...Are you serious?"
She looked at me like a piece of poo on the sidewalk. Typical.
"Neva been maw."
Suddenly, she gets a weird grin. "That's cool. They can't get in here, right?"
Did she say it was 'cool'?
Whoa. Fearless at Fifteen, I suppose.
I guess they can, if they want to." I look out the window. "Thing is, they don' ezactly want to..."
"Ok, good. But maybe one day I'd like to go out and kick their asses. Just for fun," she added, winking.
"I'm shure ya would, love. Wanna tell me 'ow many maw weapons I need ta watch out faw?"
"Not that many," she started (Good God, there were more? I had been kidding!), "An axe, another katana, numchucks... switchblade, shuriken stars, razor disks..."
Ok. Switchblades I could handle. As for the rest, I'd try to stay on her good side.
Suddenly, before I could respond, the migraine hit, like a bullet to the brain. There had been plenty of warning signs, but like an idiot, I had ignored them all. Not even taken a Tylenol. Bam. A shuriken star in the eye couldn't have felt worse. The familiar sensation of being about to vomit arose in the pit of my stomach.
"Oh, god," I moaned, sliding onto my knees to the floor. Noodle knelt next to me, in an instant, at my side.
"2D-sand? Are you okay? You are paling."
I was going to be sick, I knew it. If I opened my eyes, there'd be too much light and I'd throw up anyway. The bathroom was just down the hall, but I was blind.
"Noodle...I'm gonna be..." I murmured, trying to keep my mouth closed. Dizziness pain... so much pain...
Noodle knew what I was trying to get across. She took me by the elbow and hoisted me up and led me down the hall with an arm slung over her shoulder and steered me into the bathroom. I reached a stall and heaved. Too much pain.
She was not disgusted. 'Throwing up was something I saw everyday,' she explained to me afterward, but this is not afterward. This is not, and I was puking in a stall and she was stroking my back and rubbing my shoulders and wiping my mouth with a tissue.
When I stopped, I noticed the lights were on. Too weak to talk, I tried to point. She got up and flicked them off for me. It was hard to breathe.
Noodle helped me to my feet. I was weak as a baby deer, and she led me back to the elevator and to my bedroom. I felt another wave of nausea sweep over. No...
But she did not take me back to the bathroom. She kicked open the door of my dark, messy bedroom and stumbled over a pile of clothing. "Aii, kuso!" she cried, shoving it aside. She sat me down on my bed and touched my forehead and brushed my hair out of my eyes.
"Ok, I'm gonna try to fix this," she said, "It's a migraine, right?"
I nodded, sending a jolt of pain through the back of my neck. I was dying.
"This may hurt a bit," she said. Oh well. It couldn't be worse than what I was feeling now.
(WARNING: DO NOT EVER TRY THIS. YOU COULD GET SERIOUSLY HURT.)
I couldn't argue. Gently, her fingers glided through my hair until she found my ears. Placing her thumbs over them, her fingers traced the small indents that were my temples. Suddenly, she pressed them together, so hard it made my ears pop. I could feel her pulse against my skin. There was no pain yet that I wasn't already having. I liked her touch.
"Goodnight, 2D-sama," she whispered suddenly, and pressed. She smelled like... snuggle.
"Wha–?" I started, but had no time to finish. The pain was... excruciating. I wanted to scream, but no sound came out. Pressure, pressure in my head, I was dying... she was killing me and my vision blurred and went foggy and dark and Noodle wasn't there anymore.
When I woke up, my first thought was, 'Why the bloody 'ell are tha lights on?" I groaned and rolled over and my head hurt. Not a lot, and not from the migraine. From Noodle's 'treatment.'
Boosh. There she was all of a sudden, sitting on me, hugging me in a glomp. Full of energy, smiling. "2D! Are you feeling better?"
"Uhh, yeah, kinda... Wot the 'ell didya do ta me, Noods?"
"Tapped your pressure points. Made you black out. A mite too hard, and I could've killed you, a mite to soft and you'd be puking up your organs next. Good thing I'm an expert at it, eh?"
Yeah. Good thing. I'd have to be careful when I got sick. "Uhm, yeah."
I felt sick again, the aftermath of the migraine. Noodle saw me turning green and reached for the wastebasket. I realized as I hurled I didn't have a shirt on. Yup.
Somehow, she summoned up a glass of water and dumped it down my parched throat. Instantly, I could feel something breaking up in my head, something clearing. On solid ground again. Noodle could work miracles.
Russel peered in the doorway, holding more water and some Advil. "He okay, Noodle?" he asked, concerned. Noodle nodded, but took the tray from him and waved him away. "Yes, Russel-ku', but give him some time. Migraines are a hard test of strength."
"Ya're tha one wit tha strength," I said.
"You're the one with the migraine."
So I lay there and Russel closed the door and I looked around. Noodle had pushed to chairs together, bless her, and made a tiny bed in the corner.
"Didja sleep in 'ere all night, love?" I asked, drowsy.
"Yeah... You were pretty sick, y'know."
"Yeah, but they're commonplace faw me."
"Oh, really? Well now you know who to call when it bothers you. But if my teaching is correct, you won't have another for maybe... four months? At least."
Four. Fucking. Months. Without. Migraines. No words could describe how grateful I was feeling. I hugged her tightly, as I tight as I could in the state I was in.
She made a tiny, "oh," and hugged me back. She probably saw my K.F.C. and 23 scars, but if she did, she didn't care. She smelled so good, like almond and vanilla and cinnamon and cream and sugar and honey... Her scent.
She rested her head on my shoulder.
"Go out with me."
The words seemed to revert and echo around the room, and a hundred years flew by before I found myself pulling away, staring at her blushing face. Cute, but...
"...What?"
She smiled furiously, and blushed brighter than the sun and squirmed. "Go out with me," she repeated, "After you stop throwing up, I mean."
"I..."
"Do it, and something great will happen. I don't know what, but it'll be awesome and you'll be happy and I'll make something great happen. It'll be amazing and everything. I promise."
I stared at her. Was she serious? I was not upset, sure as hell not upset, happy, delighted, even, but she was a child! God knows everyone would see us and start saying horrible things...
'You're bandmates,' said the devil, 'No one would suspect it, and you can use that as an excuse to be with her a lot.'
'Don't do it! She's eight years younger than you!'
But the second voice was being drowned out.
A long, dormant feeling suddenly shifted inside of me. Noodle was cute, nice, sweet... still hot. But I had the feeling I was doing something wrong. I liked her. A lot. That was safe to say, and hiding things from yourself is unhealthy. How much damage could a date or two do?
"I..." I began, "I can't."
The words slipped. Noodle, if she was upset, did not show it.
"Why?" she asked, not sad, but curious.
"I... you... ya jus' a kid. It's wrong by law or summ'fink."
And she slid foward abruptly, pressing herself on me, and stared into my eyes. Through her sweet hair lay two shiny, dark, reflecting eyes... and I could've sworn there were specks of green but maybe I was seeing things.
"2D..." she breathed, "Age is two things. A number and a barrier."
Her nose skinned mine softly, and her eyes glinted darkly.
"Break it down."
She knew what I wanted to say. We were connected. I looked at her and she looked at me and I said, "Awright."
And the tension was gone and she hugged me and smiled and had an expression that was so purely happy I can't even describe it. Serenely happy. "Yes," she breathed, closing her eyes, savoring the words like a fine wine and loved the sound of them on her tongue.
And that was how me and Noodle went, breaking down barriers and ruling the world.