She's My Collar

By: KKM

Disclaimer: I do not own the Gorillaz or any related characters/songs. Gorillaz are © Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett.

Last Time:

"M'leavin," he muttered coldly, stepping away from her has he clunked down the rest of the stairs. He looked back up at her when she hadn't moved and seemed to falter at the stricken look on her face. He paused a moment frowning at her strange reaction. He hadn't been any colder than he usually was toward her. Then his words from a few weeks ago echoed through his damaged mind and he winced.

'I'll stay 'till this damn album is done fer tha' band. But afta' this, I'm gone.'

Murdoc was going to jail for nine months and who knew what Russel was going to do in the meantime. 'She finks yo' gonna' leave too,' he thought to himself. 'An maybe I should…' But as always, something in his mind prevented him from doing what he should do and he spoke a vague reassurance that had her staring at him in bewilderment. "I'll be back," he said simply.

Then she was left alone to her troubled thoughts.

Chapter 13: Strobelite

"C'mon lads, anotha' round!" Murdoc hooted joyfully as he slammed his now empty beer flagon hard on the table to catch their waitress's attention. After Noodle had run off to her room, the three friends had migrated to the local bar just outside of their neighborhood. It was a small cozy little place called Squirrely's where they would frequent every now and then for a good brew and maybe a game or two of pool or darts. Presently, they were all sitting at a small round table on the far side of the bar so they could have a little bit of privacy but still be able to enjoy the comings and goings of the establishment. Or at least Murdoc was (every time a hotty walked by he'd elbow Russel in the ribs and whistle, "Ge' a good look o'that, mate!").

2D was leaning back in his seat with a relaxed look on his still slightly bruised face. Luckily, since they weren't at the forefront of the bar and the lighting wasn't that great, no one had paid him any mind. He could feel the nice warm buzz of his beverage lulling him into a lazy state of mind. All of the tension he'd built up over the past couple of days was slowly fading from his fuzzy mind and being replaced with a sense of drunken security.

He probably would have accidentally dozed off if Russel hadn't good-naturedly smacked his shoulder to get his attention. "Aw, man 'D. If ya'all were that tense when they took Muds away. I bet ch'all were really freaked out when I had to leave," he was saying between bites of his chili fries.

"Oh yeeeeeeah," Muds agreed, swaying a little before greedily snatching the replacement drink the waitress had just dropped off. He offered her a sly wink and chuckled arrogantly when she blushed and hurried away. "That bird's gonna' be frisky soon, mark my words," he murmured with a lecherous grin before returning his attention to the conversation and nodding toward Russ. "I'd forgotten 'bout you leavin' an' all. No' that I could've done much 'bout it anyways."

"Well, thanks to yo' stupid ass I had too," Russ retorted with a snort, narrowing his eyes at the green man. "All of our features in America were freakin' out, man. News don't always mesh right overseas."

"I'll say," he cackled, thrusting his mug in the air, sloshing some beer at them as if he was toasting the bigger man's words. Some of the beer landed in Russ's food causing him to grimace a little, but he seemed to think it was still safe because he continued to eat it without complaint. "Very attached to their celebrity news, 'Yanks arrre. Trust anythin' I tell you. Sometimes I wonder what they'd do withou' us."

"Whatever, man," Russ shook his head, too used to the older man's problem with unedited word-vomit to be overly concerned or offended. "Either way, I had to go."

"Yeah, t'was definitely a bit o'a surprise," Stu agreed, finally seeming to emerge from his drunken stupor. His cheeks were slightly flushed and his lips were turned up in a bit of a tipsy grin. "Bu' it worked out in tha' long run, dinnit? At first though, it was bloody 'orrible!" he admitted, stealing another swig of his drink before Muds could swipe it from him. He'd seen the other man eyeing it and decided he'd better finish it before the other man claimed it as his. "M'glad you did though. I mean, we missed yeh an' it was pretty 'ard, but I don't fink it would 'ave worked itself out 'ow it had if yeh hadn't."

"When I was gone, you were able to work it out?" Russ asked, curiously. His fries were now long gone and he was rubbing his stomach appreciatively. His full attention was now on the wavering singer.

"Yeah," 2D replied, closing his eyes a moment as he allowed his find to focus on the warm rush of the alcohol again. He'd always liked the weird sense of vertigo alcohol gave him. Because he was so rail thin, it had always affected him faster than not. It made him think back to the small bits of his childhood he could remember where he'd do a thousand summersaults until he'd fall over from dizziness. It was different than the foggy haze his pills would cause and for the moment his headaches weren't affecting him, so he was planning on enjoying the moment as long as he could.

"Aw, fuck. We 'ave to listen teh more o'this mushy shit?" Murdoc practically whined, throwing a crumpled straw wrapper at the blue-haired man. It bounced off of the singer's forehead and landed in his half-finished drink causing 2D to jump a bit as he opened his eyes again. "Fiiiiiine, carry on," Murdoc groaned dramatically giving his blessing.

2D blinked a moment before looking between his two friends and realizing that they were both staring at him intently. "Oh! Uh…" he squeaked, uncomfortable with the sudden attention. He threaded one of his unsteady hands through his messy blue locks with a sweat drop.

"Loo' at that, we broke 'im." Murdoc turned to Russ with a smirk.

"It's okay, 'D. Just start from when I told ya' I was leaving," Russ supplied helpfully, ignoring Murdoc completely.

"Awright, I c'n do that," 2D said slowly, chewing on his lip a bit as he thought back. "Tha' night I'd actually tried goin' onna date. But it din' go so well…"

Everything felt wrong. Very wrong.

2D had been at their local bar when a beautiful Italian girl caught his eye. She'd been gorgeous with her lovely olive complexion, large almond shaped caramel eyes, and long sleek black hair. They'd locked eyes practically the moment she'd arrived. He hadn't been able to take his eyes off of her lovely body in that tight little gold mini-dress of hers. Back before he'd been with Noodle, this was exactly the type of girl he'd go for; beautiful and confident. Being the lead singer of a world famous band, he'd never really needed to put much effort into it to get what he wanted. Tonight had been no different.

Images of Noodle had flashed in his mind briefly, but he knew that if he was going to be serious about moving on he'd have to push that guilt from his mind. At first when he'd went over to talk to her, he'd thought that maybe she'd been a little put off by him. But eventually his natural charm seemed to have shined through because one thing led to another and they were now at her house in her bedroom making out heavily.

At some point, she'd taken his shirt off and was now hungrily running her hands all along his torso while she sucked on his neck like a vampire in heat. Any normal bloke would have died to be in his place right now, but everything felt stilted and wrong to him. Her touches weren't as loving, only needy and somewhat grabby. Her kisses lacked the passion that he so desperately needed and were sloppy and wet. Her body, while quite perfect, just didn't feel right against his. Her eyes that had been so beautiful in the dim lighting of the bar were now somewhat off putting as she kept glancing up at him and moaning in a cheap way that he knew some men enjoyed. He wasn't like that though. He found that he needed something more tangible.

He thought that maybe he could just swallow his feelings and continue, but the more she touched him the sicker his stomach began to feel and the more uncomfortable he became. He couldn't even find it in himself to get hard from this woman's advances.

She just wasn't his Noodle.

"Stop," he frowned, gently pushing her away from him.

"B-but, what?" she'd looked up at him in confusion. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No, love," he assured her as he slid from her bed, and bent down to pick up his crumpled shirt. He slid it over his messy head and turned back to her with a sigh. "Look, you're perfect an' any otha' day I'd kill teh be wif someone 'alf as lovely as you, bu't I've just gotten out ova serious relationship…" he trailed off, watching as her brows furrowed at him in confusion. "I thought I was ready, bu' I'm no'."

She didn't yell or anything else he'd expected her to do, but she'd definitely been disappointed. She'd walked him to the door and offered him an awkward hug which he'd kindly accepted before apologizing again. After that, she'd handed him his jacket and he'd walked off into the night to find his car. He'd driven Murdoc's red 1961 Cadillac convertible. Considering the older man was currently in jail, he highly doubted that he'd be getting his ass kicked for driving it any time soon. Plus it really was a shame to just leave something so beautiful just sitting there.

The ride back to Spirit House was rather uneventful. In fact, he couldn't really even recall most of it. Before he knew it he was already sitting out front slumped in his seat in defeat. He thumped his head against the steering wheel a few times, letting out a frustrated sound. What was wrong with him? It had been her who had broken his heart. So, why did he feel so guilty? He spaced out a moment, gripping the steering wheel a bit harder than necessary, ignoring it as his knuckles began turning white. He was completely out of control and he knew it, but what else could he do? He'd tried moving on and look at where that had gotten him? He was embarrassed and ashamed of himself for being such a weakling about this.

Finally, he removed himself from the car and faced his home with a bitter expression on his normally carefree face. He nervously adjusted his wind breaker jacket causing it to make a shuffling sound as he prepared himself to enter. Absently, he thought about how that sound could be cool in a song he'd been trying to write, but just as quickly he shook the thought from his head. That was neither here nor there. It was time for him to go face his demons. He couldn't just stand there out in the driveway forever, after all.

"Ah,'D I was just waiting for you," Russ greeted as soon as he walked into the door. He gave the bigger man a strange look, but followed him to the livingroom. Once there, he stopped in the doorway as his brows knitted together in confusion as he looked around the room. Noodle was sitting on the couch with her arms wrapped around her legs looking sullen as she glared at a pile of luggage that had been stacked onto the coffee table. As far as he could tell it wasn't hers because the color schemes were too bland and instead of her signature Kanji, these bags had a bunch of patches from various cities they'd visited throughout the past. The "I LOVE NY" ones seemed to stand out the most in his mind. Suddenly he felt his stomach drop as he realized the implications.

"'D?" Russ called his attention gently. He knew that the singer had been having a very hard time lately and didn't want to set him off, but he needed to talk to both of them before he left so that they'd understand why he had to go.

Noodle's piercing gaze suddenly slammed into him as they locked eyes from across the room. She looked so small and sad again that he almost wanted to go to her. But her eyes flickered to something he must not have been able to see and her expression suddenly hardened causing her to look away and break the spell.

Unsure of what just happened, 2D cleared his throat and refocused his attention on Russ who was looking between them nervously. "Russ, wha's all this?" he asked carefully, hoping he was wrong.

"Wellll," the drummer paused to gather his thoughts. "I just got word that news of Murdoc's arrest has made it back home. He's like the Amy Winehouse to them now or some shit to so they've blown it all out of proportion speculating that he's going to go crazy and go off his rocker more than he already is," Russ sighed in obvious annoyance as he rubbed his forehead a little. "I can't let this spook our features or we don't gotta' new album," he said bluntly.

"Can't you just call them and explain?" Noodle asked, sounding somewhat desperate as she threw a hateful look at the luggage. "I mean, it's not like Murdoc hasn't done stupid shit before."

"Noodle," Russel narrowed his eyes at her sternly. She may be full grown, but he still didn't like her using that tone of voice with him. "Look, I don't really want to go, baby-gurl. But I gotta'," he shrugged, not sure what else to say to her. "I mean, I'll probably stop by home first and check on my company and then I gotta' go to Detroit and Chicago. I'll be back probably around the time Muds gets out."

The nice thing about Russel going back to America, was that since he did own his own label production company and studio in Brooklyn, then he could probably go ahead and sweet talk some of their features into recording early but he needed to make sure their contracts were sound first. Though it sucked that the bigger man had to leave, 2D found that he couldn't argue with the logic behind it.

"Well, anyways I better go. My plane leaves in a couple of hours," Russ was saying as he moved over to pick up one of his bags. He didn't even have to ask as Noodle and 2D silently helped with the rest of them. A taxi was already outside waiting and they quickly helped their friend load everything in. Before leaving, Russel gave Noodle a great big hug. She clung back with all her might and gave him a kiss on the cheek after whispering something in his ear. After releasing her, he turned and gave 2D a friendly hug as well.

Looking between their faces, it was easy to tell that they were not taking this news very well. Noodle's eyes were glassy and her face was scrunched in an unhappy pout. 2D wasn't much better as his shoulders were sagged down imitating a kicked puppy and his eyes looked tired as ever. Russel reached forward and grasped them both by their arms, giving them what he hoped was a comforting look. "I'll be back soon, I promise. Take care of each other, okay? I know you both been down lately, but we all family and you all need to stick together. I'll call every couple of days, I promise." He gave them each a final squeeze before letting them go and getting into the cab. He looked troubled even as the car pulled away leaving the two estranged band members behind.

2D came back to reality when he heard a small sniffle beside him and turned to see that Noodle was already turning to go back inside. He was surprised though when she paused and gave him a searching look. At first he thought that she would turn away again without saying anything, but she startled him by speaking again. "I'm willing to stay, but I don't want…" she trailed off, looking distant a moment before focusing on him again. "I know you've probably moved on, but please don't bring them here," she said quietly, looking like she'd wanted to be anywhere but there.

"W-wot do you mean?" he replied in surprise, his eye brows disappearing into his hairline. How could she have possibly known that he'd nearly been with someone? He watched as her eyes seemed to fixate on his neck and he gasped slapping his hand there without even thinking about it. He let out a slight yelp, realizing he must have just smacked a rather large hickey on his neck. Instead of giggling at his turmoil like she might have in the past, she pursed her lips and moved to walk away again.

"Noodle, wait!" he exclaimed in a hurry, stepping forward a couple of steps. He watched as she paused, but didn't turn to face him. "I, uh, won't. I won't bring anyone 'ere," he promised, unsure of why he felt it was so important to assure her. "I don't fink I'll be seein' anyone soon anyways…" he muttered to himself.

He could tell she'd heard it though from how her posture had stiffened. But she made no comment as she quickly walked back into the house leaving him alone with his thoughts again. Sighing, he looked up to the stars as if they could offer him any help, but was disappointed to only see a skyline of gray unforgiving clouds. A raindrop hit his nose followed by another on his forehead and another and another until he was drenched and sopping wet. But he stood there unmoving as he let the water mix with his silent tears and wash away at his lonely heart.

A/N: In the next chapter, what will happen when 2D runs into lil' Jordi at the bar? Will he listen to what really happened? Will he be able to finally forgive Noodle? And poor Noodle, will she be able to accept him back after so much heartache? Stick around!

I made a couple of references in this chapter. The car 2D was driving is the same care that was in Saturnz Barz. I am aware that the Spirit House is based off of a house in Detroit, but I think I've been pretty clear in this story that it takes place in England, so hopefully there was no confusion there.

Also, in this chapter, 2D was playing with his jacket and thinking about how it would sound in a song. That's actually exactly what Damon Albarn did in his travels and if you listen to the intro of She's my Collar, you can actually hear the sound of him adjusting the hood of his jacket.

So, for you all that are lucky and are in the correct country, how was the festival? Lol, on the Gorillaz ap I found out you could get tickets to it if you dug around in 2D's room, but sadly I couldn't go for obvious reasons. I bet it was super cool though. I loved the idea of the 360 performance that was aired this week too. It makes me super excited for September when they come to Kansas City. I'm faaaaairly certain that my husband is sick of me yammering about it constantly. I think he might invest in a muzzle soon.

Anyways, let me know what you think and I promise you will not be disappointed in the next chapter.