Hey. I'm pretty tired right now... so I don't have many additional comments. You know the drill.

~77

Ever since the day on the beach, things had gotten better between 2D and Noodle. He no longer sulked around his room, pitying his terrible timing and she no longer raged around the house at everyone within earshot. Within days, the two were back on their old terms and spending almost every moment together. The past month had been much more tolerable, for all members of the house on the plastic island. The only thing that was different was that everyone avoided the topic of Noodle's impending marriage like the plague. Noodle was smart enough to know that the topic upset 2D, even if she didn't know why, and 2D had enough sense to avoid the pain it brought. They often talked about her fiancé, his likes and dislikes, but it was easy for 2D to pretend this strange man was merely a figment of Noodle's imagination, posing no real threat to his happiness… for now. Noodle was feeling a little stressed, however. Her wedding was in a month and she hadn't gotten around to asking 2D to give her away. Noodle hated that it was so soon, but Darren had insisted and she couldn't disappoint him. She had already arranged the cake, the band (NOT Gorillaz, for once) and everything was down to the last T. The only thing missing was someone to walk her down the aisle. She knew protocol insisted she have Russel do the honor, but something inside her wouldn't let 2D ignore her that easily. She realized this was probably a mean thing to do to one's best friend, especially one showing so much distaste for the event, but she couldn't imagine the day without him.

One last lazy day caught the two lounging on 2D's bed. Noodle had managed to find a bowl and filled it with popcorn. The two were taking turns tossing pieces in the other's mouth. Noodle had made some spectacular catches, snagging the popcorn at the last possible second. 2D had mostly just made a mess. Noodle glanced at him, squinting in concentration.

"Ready…?" The singer nodded, determinedly. His tongue poked out of his mouth in concentration. Noodle held the piece in front of his face.

"Go!" Noodle tossed the popcorn high in the air. It didn't get quite the trajectory she wanted, though. 2D dove for it, lunging forward to catch the piece of the tip of his tongue. In the process, he had bowled Noodle over and ended up sprawled over her on all fours. He looked down and smirked.

"… leh's see yeh'r fiancé do that." He spoke softly, meant only for her. She giggled and fished a piece of popcorn out of his hair. When he saw the piece, he grinned hugely. "Looks like someone has poor aim. Awl the pieces I threw landed where they were supposed to." Noodle scoffed.

"Please! That one nearly sent me over the edge of the bed! You're no better than I am!" He chuckled and let her up. She ran her hand through her hair, fixing and messing it up at the same time.

"Seriously, though… bet yeh'r fiancé couldn't catch that." Noodle rolled her eyes.

"Of course not, he's too dignified. And you aren't allowed to challenge him to a popcorn throwing contest at the recep-" She stopped and looked up. His face had fallen. She seemed to be the only one who ever slipped in their unspoken agreement not to ever mention the event itself.

"When is the- uh… fing?" Noodle's blood ran cold, how was she supposed to tell him she was getting married in a month?

"May 23rd is the only date that worked for him." Noodle refused to look at his face, but she watched his hands and they stopped fiddling and hung limp in his lap.

"So soon?" She nodded, still not daring to look up.

"Darren is insisting."

"… Thah's a great birthday present, yew really shouldn' 'ave." 2D sneered. Noodle looked up. She had completely forgotten his birthday was on the 23rd of May.

"We- we'll still do something for you're birthday, 2D, I would never just leave you on your day." No need to mention the fact that she almost was going to. He sat in silence for a moment. She battled inside with what to say to him. Should she apologize? Should she have to?

"Yew wanna watch a movie?" Noodle let out a sigh of relief. She was glad he didn't seem to dwell on it, but she was also getting a bit annoyed that he kept blowing it off like it was no big deal. She nodded and settled beside him to watch the omnipresent zombie movie.

After two hours of mindless gore, Noodle decided it was time for bed. She bade 2D goodnight and let the lift carry her tired form towards her floor. She stumbled into her room and flipped on the light. Shoes and clothes lay everywhere, evidence of their owner, too lazy to clean the room. She heard a faint beep and stumbled over various articles of clothing to her dresser. She picked up her empty laundry hamper and looked underneath it. No phone under there. She tossed it aside and fished a random hoodie off the ground. She searched in its pocket, but came out empty handed. Where on earth was her phone? She heard the beep again. She looked around herself, getting irritated at herself. Her thoughts drifted back to 2D. Surely, she should remind him of the fact she wanted him to give her away. He was probably "conveniently" forgetting about that part. Noodle threw the clothes on the floor onto her bed. If he truly didn't want to be at the wedding, did she has the right to ask him? She finally pulled her beeping phone out of a shirt sleeve, of all places, and checked the screen. She had two missed calls, one from the Seventeen magazine coordinator, she skipped this message very fast, and one from Darren. He had also sent a text with instructions to call him as soon as she received the message. He rarely texted her, so she figured it must be important, whatever he wanted to talk about. She dialed the number she knew by heart. She used to call him in the dead of night when she lived at Kong, he had been nineteen then… it had been a big surprise when she came back, he was twenty-four and a lawyer. She was twenty-one and had no idea what she was going to do with the remainder of her life. He had been wonderfully familiar to her. More familiar than even the contemplative and complex man that Noodle never thought she'd find in 2D.

The line rang for a few seconds before a cheerful voice answered.

"Noodle, darling!" She winced. His new thing was calling her 'darling' whenever he addressed her. There were only two people she could ever get used to calling her that, and they both lived on this island.

"Darren! I got your text. Is anything wrong?" The voice hesitated.

"We don't have to start out with that. Tell me about your day, did you do anything fun?" Noodle smiled, one of Darren's more endearing qualities was that he was always so interested in the trivial parts of her day. She asked him about it once and he just replied, 'it makes me happy when you're happy, so of course I care about when you go for a walk or draw something.'

"Not really today. 2D and I tried scuba diving by the cove. Well- I tried it, he mainly just sat on the beach, quivering in fear." Darren chuckled and asked her more questions. Noodle liked talking to her fiancé. He was easy to have a conversation with and once you got him started on a topic he liked, very interesting. Noodle liked to think if they weren't going to be married, they could still remain close friends. She pushed for marriage though, because he was sturdy and dependable, exactly what a husband should be. And she knew she would be crazy if she let that get away. When the two had exhausted the topic of Noodle's day, the conversation turned to the reason Darren had been eager to talk to her in the first place.

"-and they're sending me out almost directly after the wedding! I tried speaking to him, but- well, you know Lyle, he didn't budge!" Noodle's smile had slowly turned to a frown. His law firm was sending him out to the States the night of their wedding. She couldn't think of a more dreadful way to spend her wedding night than away from her almost-husband. She tried many sentences in her head before settling on one that wasn't quite as accusatory as the rest.

"Do you want to move the wedding?"

"Well… no. I know you've got everything planned, it would be extremely hard to shift everything back a week, wouldn't it?" She made a noise of agreement.

"So, you won't be there for… the wedding night?" Noodle could practically hear his blush over the line as he stammered. Despite her disappointment, she liked being able to rattle him. "Are you sure this just isn't a way to put off marrying me?"

"Noodle, darling, I would fight through every obstacle in the world to marry you… it's just the… wedding night we'll have to postpone." She grinned. Most people were surprised to learn they hadn't slept together yet, 2D had had an odd smirk on his face when he found out, but Noodle thought she was glad they were waiting. She sighed in a playful disappointed way.

"Fine… but you have to make it up to me when you get back." He agreed and a beep was heard on his other line. He apologized but Noodle insisted he take his conference call. They bade the other farewell and hung up. Noodle walked to her bed, swiped a pile off of the covers and flopped down. Who in the world ever spent their wedding night without the one they married? Noodle cursed her bad luck. Now what? She also found herself heaving a sigh of relief. She didn't know why, but every time she thought about the... honeymoon, she had to fight a slight shudder. She knew it should be something she should be looking forward to, but she couldn't help but feel a bit relieved whenever she looked at a calendar and realize that she didn't have to think about... that... until much later. She let her mind wander into the bit of her that was prepared for times like that. She really couldn't picture herself with Darren. She couldn't form a mental image of herself and him... together. She wondered if it was just a mental block... or if it was just him. He was very innocent, after all. She thought about it. Suddenly, a wild image of herself speed out on a bed appeared in her head. And, hovering over her... was not Darren... it was 2D. She shook her head. That was not a thought to be thinking before her wedding. He was her friend! She blushed at the very thought. Still... she would be lying if she said the image hadn't affected her in a most pleasant way. She shook her head one more time. She spoke out loud to herself.

"No, bad thoughts..."A knock was heard. She turned her head towards the door.

"It's open." Murdoc strutted in, hands in pockets. He glanced around the room with a slight sneer.

"Been busy cleaning, I see." She stuck her tongue out at him. He chuckled and came to sit on the edge of her bed. Noodle shifted so her head was hanging off the side so she could talk to him.

"What're you doing, Murdoc?" The bassist shrugged.

"Jist… sorta thinking… bout stuff."

"That's dangerous. What about?" A silence followed before Murdoc spoke.

"Are yeh leavin us… when yeh get hitched and all that?" Noodle looked down and fiddled with her bedspread. They hadn't really planned this on purpose. Noodle didn't like the thought of leaving Gorillaz forever, it was her first real home and all, but she also acknowledged the fact that she couldn't hold down a marriage and be in a rock band.

"I… don't know. You know why I can't say yes or no right now." Murdoc nodded and leaned back on his hands, looking up into space thoughtfully.

"Did I ever tell you lot about the time I almost got hitched in Monte Carlo?" Noodle shook her head and sat up. "Well, there was this hooker-" Noodle rolled her eyes.

"Shocker." Murdoc smiled and glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, but ignored the comment.

"-There was this hooker. Pretty thing she was, massive tits, eyes that led me straight to the bedroom, and her… well, anyway, she was a hooker. And my first night in Monte Carlo… I fell in love. I was dead set on marrying her. 'Course, I was very, very drunk too. Bit too much of the happy juice… hmmm… Oh! Uh, anyway, I had the judge all set up, she had her dress, it was going to happen. But then… then, I remembered something very important. I had a band! So, I drug Russel and Two-Dents down from the hotel room and I made them stand in as my best… men. Russel, oh, Russel… I owe my sanity to that tosser, took one look at 'er… and smacked me 'round the head! He said, an' I'll never forget this, he said, 'Muds… we ain't puttin' up with no STD's in our house'. 'Course, then I came to my senses. If I had a wife, that would mean I'd be tied down. Even if she was a hooker! So, I dumped her then and there and hit the next casino. Oh, and there, I met this lovely girl…" Noodle rolled her eyes and stopped listening. She wasn't quite sure what the moral to his story was, she wasn't quite sure if he did, for that matter. From what she could infer, Murdoc was basically advising her to choose the crazy rock star life over marriage. She wasn't sure she could keep doing this forever. But, she also wasn't sure she could take a break from it either. The last time she had tried, she nearly paid with her life. It would have to be all or nothing. Remain here without Darren, or fade into oblivion… without Gorillaz.

She tried to imagine her life without the band. She couldn't quite see herself as a housewife, doting on her husband and child(ren). She supposed this happened to all soon-to-be-brides eventually, though. She loved Darren. Surely, that was enough? They hadn't talked about moving or settling down anyplace. Noodle thought for a moment. Where would she go? The band (herself included) was banned in five countries for Murdoc's… behavior issues. And Noodle had to stay away from Japan as the government was still looking for her. She wandered out of her room, leaving Murdoc to mumble to the air about his drunken memories.

Review please!