The sound of ringing resonated through the earpiece of the cell phone and the sound waves surfed into the ear that sat beside it. An answer was something that wasn't expected and none came. It rang on and on until after a minute the answering machine played:

Hey. It's Paige. I couldn't answer the phone, if you haven't noticed already, but I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Just leave a message after the 'beeeep' and I'll …

The machine abruptly ended as the cell phone clicked close. Amy grumbled and threw the phone on the sheets, following the same action with the rest of her body. That stupid ringing was still playing in her head since that's all she had heard from her friend since the Thursday morning Paige had called her. Amy remembered the last time they actually spoke face to face. It was Tuesday morning when Paige had left but it felt like it happened longer ago.

Paige put the final things away in her bag, zippering it closed. Amy sloppily walked into the kitchen and lit up a cigarette (one of her unhealthy morning and all around habits). As she saw Paige's pile of bags and her lanky room mate gathering all of them in long arms, she was confused. Utterly and unwaveringly confused.

"Paige? Wots all this… shit… about?" Paige looked back towards the shorter Eurasian woman behind her, a hint of sadness and even fear in her voice. But she tried her best to sound confident and determined.

"I'm going to follow my dream. I'm making music."

"And where the hell are ya gonna do tha'?"

"Anywhere but here. I need to go out to get this done .It's not that I want to leave, I have to. Don't worry about me." Paige didn't look towards Amy's direction, still gathering some things and checking around for any possible possession that she would need to bring with her. Amy walked over to the preoccupied Aussie, taking a hold of her thin wrist.

"Paige! Wot are y' thinkin'?" Paige turned to face the short woman and gave a small shrug. Amy reprimanded Paige in a loud voice. "Are you even thinking? You can't jus' go out and suddenly get noticed. Do you even 'ave a plan? Do you 'ave any idea 'ow t' take care of yourself?"

Paige sheepishly looked away from Amy, letting out a nervous laugh that gave Amy the wrong impression that this was all a joke.

"Amy, if I told you my plan, you'd never believe me in a million years. I can do this, o…"

"Well wot if y' cant?" Amy cut in. "Wot if this doesn't work out for you? Where the 'ell are y' going, anyway?" Paige didn't respond at first but instead led Amy to the small table in the kitchen. They sat down and faced one another, except for the fact that Paige wasn't looking at Amy while Amy was staring down Paige.

"Look, Ams. I know that you care about me. I know that I'm like a little sister to you. But I'm old enough to take care of myself and do what I want to. By myself. I don't mind that you're concerned about me, but I…"

"I just want t' know where you're going."

"The Gorillaz studio."

Silence filled the room and Amy didn't respond at all. She wasn't sure how to respond. Should she be excited, infuriated, scared, upset, worried, supportive, jealous? Jealous; Amy was jealous of Paige. She was envious of her musical talents, her ambitions, and her strong will to follow through with her dreams. Now that Paige was really going for it, for her "big break", Amy felt jealous. It was Gorillaz! Such a big success with such a small opening for new artists. But Amy started to let her shade of green fade away and she thought about the young girl before her. Paige was young, too young to understand that what she was doing was possibly a mistake, but she was also naïve enough to not let those thoughts get to her and stop her. She was young, only a few years younger then Amy, but she had talent, knowledge, and virtue past her years while having the determination and stubbornness of a child. Paige was going to Kong Studios and Amy knew that what ever she did and whatever she could possibly say would never become a barrier to Paige's dream.

And then she was gone.

Amy took another drag of her cigarette as she looked straight ahead of her with unfocused eyes. She was bored without Paige and the thought of not knowing what she was up to kind of scared her. 'She better not be getting herself into trouble.' she thought, tapping her toes on the linoleum floor of the kitchen. The phone hung on the wall of the kitchen and was in arms reach of Amy. She looked at it, the empty plate on the table before her, out the window towards the dark muggy night, and back towards the phone.

"The hell!" Amy said to herself with a shrug, picking up the phone and dialing the number with false hope. It was a Saturday night; who isn't busy on a Saturday night? No answer.

It was nearly noon when the bassist exited the Winnebago, rustling his black mop top and pulling at the uncomfortable bunching of denim on his jeans. Murdoc groaned as he looked down at the car park pavement, noticing the stains of blood from a few nights ago. It was Sunday morning now, only two days since the incident. Thinking back on the event, he remembered the hilarious and pathetic look on 2D's face and the hysterical actions of Paige towards the zombie. Paige. He wondered what she was up to. The day before, she was still shook up by the zombie attack and was attached to Noodle's hip, not leaving her for less then a second. This was mostly do to the fact that Paige understood that Noodle was very skilled in self defense and the fact that she wasn't going to go to the bathroom and get changed with one of the men (that's really how close she was to Noodle).

As Murdoc turned the corner around the Winnie, he noticed the empty space in the car park. Normally, an empty space in a car park wouldn't be anything to get excited or surprised over but in this case, it was. One of the cars was missing, but so was one of the people that resided in Kong for the time-being. It didn't take long before Murdoc discovered Paige had gone out, mostly because when he saw Noodle there was no ridiculously lanky Australian woman attached. When questioned, Noodle explained that Paige wanted to go out so she had permission from Russel to have the keys and take the car out for a while. Murdoc pondered on this but was stumped on why she would have to leave. Probably for some lady products that didn't spark any interest in Murdoc at all. But that didn't stop him from making yet another attempt at wooing her. "Why not, ey?"

Paige drove along the long driveway up to Kong only to find that the car park door refused to open. Noodle had given her the combination number to open it but for some reason it wasn't working. 'Maybe I have the wrong number? Or maybe the battery is dead? Hmm, that sucks.' Paige had no choice but to park the car where it stood and walk to the front door. She opened the door and quickly came in, turning around to gingerly close it as to not bring attention to herself. Too late.

"Oi, luv. I missed y' dearly."

Paige spun around in surprise and flattened herself against the door to see no one other than Murdoc Niccals. He was sitting on the floor with a cigarette between his lips, a half empty pack of fags next to him accompanied by a bottle of vodka. Paige's surprise bubbled away, almost turned to anger, but she calmly composed herself.

"Who, me?" she replied innocently and purposefully, pointing to herself. Murdoc laughed and snapped back a reply.

"No, the door. Who else y' think I'm talkin' t'?" He took another drag of his cigarette waiting for a response from Paige, but none came. He looked up to Paige, who was itching to leave the room but didn't when Murdoc spook again.

"So, where were you?"

"No where." She replied quickly, even thought it was probably the stupidest answer she could give. But it was all that came out of her mouth. Murdoc raised an eye brow to her and held the cigarette between his fingers at his lips.

"You obviously weren't 'ere. So 'no where' is the wrong answer. Sorry, luv."

"I was just out for a while. Y'know, just looking around." Paige lied to him, still getting antsy and nervous. Murdoc picked this up and was about to put some more wood on the burning fire. Now to think about it, wood isn't the best thing to describe what Murdoc planed to do. Something more fitting would be gasoline or even some napalm explosives to the fire. The Satanist pulled the cigarette from his lips and flicked some ash on the floor, making it seem like he was not interested one bit. Just adding some wood to the fire now; not the explosives yet.

"Tha's a shame, mostly 'cause there's not much t' do 'round here."

Paige stuttered a response again in an effort to shrug him off her shoulder. (Silly Paige! You should have learned from previous times that Murdoc doesn't let things go easily.) She hoped that this last lie would get her free.

"Exactly! That's why I came back. There was nothing that caught my interest."

Paige miscalculated this move because before she knew it the bassist had flicked his fag away, rose from the floor and tugged her forward towards himself with hands interlocked behind her thin waist. Ohh, the fire is really burning now!

"No wonder you came back. All the int'rest you would need is right before your very eyes, right luv?" Murdoc said lustfully and pulled the woman even closer.

Explosion initiated!

Paige was now flustered to the point where she couldn't force her body to pull away but instead she made an effort to hide her red and surprised face. Trying her best to turn away, calloused hands met the sides of her face and turned her so that she and Murdoc were face to face; eye to eye. Murdoc rubbed his thumb in circular motions at the temples of Paige's head, coxing her to relax. Paige couldn't help but to feel pleasure under Murdoc's touch, beside the fact that she knew that it was only another effort to get her to sleep with him. But at the time, she let him continue to massage her head.

It all ended abruptly when she felt the motion stop and a swift tug forward. Paige braced herself for the worst but it never comes. More over, it seemed that the most unexpected happened. Murdoc suddenly pulled Paige's forehead down towards his crooked nose and placed the rounded tip to the flat surface of her head. There was a still moment like this with the bassist holding Paige's head to his nose but not in anyway did he force her to and neither did she force herself away. She could smell the hint of cigarette smoke and alcoholic beverage on his breath as they stood for a minute. But it seemed that Murdoc had another trick up his sleeve as he brought in a deep breath, taking in the scent of Paige's skin.

Paige was very confused and totally surprised by such a random thing for him to do. She couldn't help but feel aroused at the action, though, and her face deepened to a darker pink. Murdoc grinned his trade mark and mischievous grin as he opened his eyes to look down at the bent over woman he was holding. (Remember that Paige is slightly taller than Murdoc :P). She looked up fearfully wondering what he would do next, but it was what he said that knocked her off balance.

"Holy water."

It wasn't even a question but a simple statement. Who knew that two simple words could change the entire atmosphere of the room? And who would have thought those two words would be 'holy' and 'water'? Well, that's what did it because as soon as Murdoc said it, Paige nervously and awkwardly pushed herself away from him but was unsuccessful as the door was right behind her. Paige was cornered, and even worst, she was caught in a lie. The woman was unable to explain herself, mostly because she was unsure what was going on in Murdoc's head at the moment. Once again, Paige was stuck between a rock and a hard place and those being Murdoc and the damn door. Murdoc stepped forward toward the woman.

"Wot? You think I'm mad atcha?"

Paige was startled by his motion forward and his voice and tried her best to stay out of his way. In an effort to explain herself, she stuttered an answer.

"Umm, I… I, uhh, don't really know what to think right now. And I'm clueless about what you're thinking as well."

Murdoc laughed at the young woman and placed his palms flat against the door behind Paige at each side of her head and leaned in towards her. Paige could only prepare herself for the worst since anything would be better then the worst possible option. And if the worst possible thing were to happen, at least she would be mentally prepared. Murdoc stopped laughing and looked dead into Paige's eyes, still holding a small grin on his face.

"Paige, are you mad at me 'cause I'm a follower of the devil?"

Paige instinctively looked down at the symbol of his beliefs that lied on his bare chest; the inverted cross. But from her view, the cross almost seemed the right side up, but she looked up towards the mismatched eyes again to respond defensively and truthfully back to the man in front of her.

"No, of course not."

Murdoc smirked again and looked into her eyes, now a bit closer than they were before. His voice was almost a whisper.

"Then why would I be mad at you for your religion?" He leaned in closer, their visages deathly close. Paige whimpered back.

"I don't know."

Their warm breaths escaped from their slightly parted mouths and lingered on the other's lips. There was barely any space between the two now, as Paige let herself move forward towards the bassist that she had previously refused to come close to. This warmth was so tempting, and she regretfully but truthfully wanted more. With her eyes closed Paige awaited for the kiss but none came. Still in the same position, she opened her eyes to see Murdoc walking away shoving the pack of cigarettes into his back pocket and dangling the bottle of vodka between his fingers.

'What… just… happened?' Paige thought as she pulled herself to her normal posture and looked on as the bassist jetted out of the room. She knew that Murdoc was a crafty person, but now he was just playing games. In the back of her head, even if she hated to admit it, Murdoc was winning some how.

The Satanist held in a triumphant laugh as best as he could as he entered the corridor. As the door closed behind him, he let out a sigh and smiled. 2D was standing right there.

"'ey, Murdoc. Watch y' been up t'? Is Paige back yet?"

Murdoc looked at the singer, his smile slid down to a frown as he scowled at the taller man.

"Why would you care?"

"I don' know. She's been out for a while."

Murdoc walked up to 2D threateningly with his hands made into tight fist as each side. 2D intuitively backed away as he saw the signs of a beating coming his way. Murdoc pointed a finger into the man's face and 2D shrunk away and stared at the finger between his eyes.

"Now, you listen y' nosey parker! Paige ain't your property so don't fake yourself in believing your all 'buddy-buddy' because that's not the case." Murdoc now grinned and removed the hand from the singers face, giving him a change to move back to normal height. Leaning on the corridor wall, he continued. "She's looking for me right now if you didn't know. It's just a matter of…"

"Murdoc!?" Paige yelled from the lobby, stomping her way towards the corridor door.

Murdoc grinned and glanced at 2D. "What did I tell you?" he said as he turned towards the door, waiting for Paige to enter.

Well, Paige entered (she sure as hell did) but not in the way Murdoc had expected. Instead of the mental image of the Australian woman coming in to apologize and get what she was about to get before he had pulled away, in came a fuming woman with her fists clenched at her sides. She seemed taller at the moment; maybe from her frizzy hair do to the humid weather but most likely because of her anger. Murdoc's eyes widened at she came in close, grabbed his shoulders and pulled him forward. For a second, Paige had him believing that she was back to steal a kiss from him but that changed when she swiftly turned him around, pushed him forward, and kicked him in the rear end. The bassist fumbled forward a bit and turned around now enraged at the fact that he was caught off guard, was pushed around by a woman (and a skinny woman at that), and that 2D had seen the whole thing first hand. Paige started to scream at him, unaware that 2D was witnessing the whole thing like a fly on the wall.

"Did you think that I would just fall for that!? I'm not that stupid, Murdoc, if you haven't figured out already. I didn't come here so that you could hunt me down every minute. I know its all part of your 'game', but I don't want to be any part of it. What you did out there was totally unaccepta-".

Paige was cut off by the sound of muffled snickers (not the yummy, chocolaty, peanuty kind). She froze in her foots steps and realized that she was in a strange position with her arms all over and knees bent. Murdoc's face was filled with sheer shock, disgust, and disbelief that this 'chick' was yelling at him. But when the sound of suppressed laughter cut through the scene, everything flopped around. 2D was covering his mouth, trying his best not to laugh out loud at what he saw before himself. Murdoc, of all people, seemed less intimidating than his normal self as the usually calm and low key woman bashed him. Paige turned her head around to notice 2D for the first time since entering the corridor. Murdoc was now infuriated, being humiliated in front of the dullard out of anyone and everyone in the world. 'Anyone but him!' he thought as 2D continued to laugh.

Murdoc trudged quickly towards 2D and grabbed him by the hair and pulled him under his arm, bringing the taller man in a very uncomfortable and strangling hold between his ribs and elbow.

"You think this is funny?! I'll show you funny when I pull those giddy little teeth out of your fucking mouth one by one!"

"Murdoc!" Paige yelled out and struggled to pull 2D out of the hold. "Let him go! He didn't do anything!" After freeing him and sending the to back a foot or two, 2D scampered his way behind Paige as if she was like the protective big brother and Murdoc was the bully.

"I'm sowry, Muds. I jus' couldn't hold it in. I won't tell anyone, I swear."

"Your damn right y' won't tell anyone!" Murdoc shot back, lunging a bit forward to bring back his dominating position. 2D squeamishly buried his blue hair into the back up Paige's neck as she stepped back at the sudden movement that the bassist took forward. She took 2D's hand from behind her and dragged him down the corridor past Murdoc.

"Come on, 2D. Let's go. At least I can trust to be with you for more than ten minutes." The last remark was meant for Murdoc, and he heard it. He shouted back to her.

"Oh yeh? The dullard's just a gayarse that is either too daft or too homosexual t' even think 'bout tha'." Paige ignored him and continued to pull 2D with her. As they turned a few corners and were far enough away from Murdoc, they stopped. Paige didn't know what to say and neither did 2D. 2D had never seen Paige do something like that before or even anyone do something like that to Murdoc. Paige, herself, was surprised at her actions and felt somewhere deep down that what she did was wrong. 2D put a hand on her shoulder and looked Paige in the eyes, fear slightly changing his facially expression.

"Wot d' y' fink Murdoc is gonna do now?" Paige was still mad and said the first and most logical thing that came out of her mind.

"He's probably gonna wank himself and drink till he passes out. What's new?" 2D's eyes widened at her harsh but frank words.

"Oh."

And the conversation ended at that as they made their way to the basement in silence.

Hey! *F*I*M* here again... just checking in on the story. Sorry it took so long, I was busy. It's pretty depresing having to write about the summer during the winter but thats a diffrent story. Anyway, if you've read this chapter dont refrain from a comment or critice. If i can spend about a month writing a really long chapter that ends up becoming two, then I think you can leave a sentence or two about the story. Thank you everyone who read this!