Plastic Love: Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Meeting Murdoc

The two men stood looking at each other for a few minuets until Araiya's voice broke the silence. She was coming out of the kitchen with a drying towel in her hands.

"Mudz, who's at-" Rei dropped the towel. "Oliver, I thought I wouldn't be seeing you till tomorrow? What are you doing here?"

Oliver looked at his girlfriend. "I thought we'd go out to dinner, but by the smell of it, you're cooking."

"Yeah, I am." Araiya picked up the towel.

"I can go and just see you tomorrow." Oliver turned to leave.

"N-no, come on in." Araiya moved out of the way and pulled Murdoc from the door so the tall man could enter. She closed it after Oliver came in. "Might as well introduce you. Well, Murdoc you know who he his, but Oliver, this is Murdoc....my ex-boyfriend."

The artist looked at the shorter man and saw that he was much older than he and Araiya and guessed he was in his 40s. Then it hit him. This was the same man he saw on the covers of Araiya's Gorillaz CDs. "Wait, you're Murdoc Niccals, the bassist for Gorillaz."

"That's right. So you've heard of my great band."

"Yeah, thanks to Rei." Oliver began to think. 'Can't believe she dated an older man. Surely he took advantage of her....because she wouldn't do such a thing.' He began to think that getting rid of Murdoc would be easy and he and Rei could continue their relationship without any problems.

Rei stood looking at the two men. "Why don't you two sit down. Oliver you want a beer?"

"No, I'll take a glass of water." Oliver sat down in an arm chair.

"Murdoc?"

"I'll take a bit of whiskey love. On the rocks." Murdoc sat back down on the couch.

Making sure that Murdoc's temper was at its low point, Araiya went into the kitchen to get the drinks and check on the food. She bought back a glass of water with lemon in it and a short glass of whiskey with ice in it. She handed the men their drinks. "Dinner will be done in twenty minuets." Araiya went back into the kitchen.

Murdoc got a good look at Oliver when they were standing in the doorway. Corduroy pants, simple leather belt, diamond pattern sweater vest, plain white shirt, and loafers. 'Hm, bloke looks like he's soft. Maybe I won't go so hard on him. Hate to embarrass the kid, but he has no idea what's in store for him....Bah, embarrassing him will be too much fun.' An evil smirk played on the bassist's lips which Oliver didn't notice.

"Rei's told me about you Murdoc." Oliver sat his glass of water down onto the coffee table and sat up straight in his chair.

"What has she told you?" Murdoc leaned back into the couch a bit.

"She's told me about how you both met and that you dated four years ago."

"I see. So she only told you the basics of our relationship?"

"Yes."

"Thought she would. Tiger's not one to go into complete detail about us. Which I can understand. She wants to keep it private."

"Tiger?"

"My nickname for her."

"What made you call her that?"

"She's aggressive like me and sometimes won't let get anything get in the way of what she
wants. Rei doesn't back down from anything unless she's absolutely forced to. Plus she's a tiger in other departments...."

Oliver raised an eyebrow and frowned. "What, do you mean by that?"

"Can't tell ya. Personal matters." Murdoc casually took a sip of his drink. "So, what made you date Rei?"

"She's an exciting person to be around and she's level headed, knows where she wants to go in life. The other women I've dated didn't seem that way. They had too much spunk. I believe a person can overdo their personality."

"And Tiger doesn't have too much spunk?"

"No.She has a perfect balance of everything and her music abilities are superb as well.
She plays the bass and keyboard like a musical genius." Oliver took another sip of his water.

"Never seen her on stage have you?"

"No."

"She know how to let loose when she's up there. Sometimes, she'd almost outdo me." Murdoc smiled. "From my assumptions about you telling me what Rei's told you, she's acting like a house cat who only lets her claws out once in a while. Guess she only fully only opens up to people that she's known for years."

Oliver didn't know what to make of Murdoc's statement because he knew that the green man was right. He had only known Araiya for two years and only been dating her for one. Was the woman he dating truly holding back from coming completely out? But that would change if they married right? He looked at Murdoc who was finishing his whiskey.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Go on ahead."

"Why are you here? Why did you come seek Araiya?"

Murdoc sat up and leaned forward with a straight face. "You really want to know? The truth may shock you."

"I can handle anything you tell me."

"I came back because I still want her. You see, our relationship was  put on hiatus and now that the dust has settled  my plan was to come get her and bring her back to Plastic Beach with me, but seeing as how she's dating you, I can't do that." Murdoc leaned forward closer to Oliver so he couldn't be heard by Araiya. "You're the road block I must remove. You see, I don't stop until I get what's  mine, and Rei's mine. You can try to stop me, but anything you do, won't work." The bassist's hazel eyes bore into Oliver's gray ones.

A chill went down the artist's spine when he looked into Murdoc's eyes. He silently gulped and tugged lightly at his collar. Murdoc sat back just as  Araiya came into the living room.

"Dinner's ready you two."

Murdoc stood up and went into the small dining room and sat at the table. "Looks good
Tiger." Her winked at her.

"I try my best." Araiya smiled and she sat down too.

Oliver came in and sat on the other side of his girlfriend. "This looks delicious dear."

"Thank you. Like I was telling Murdoc, I try my best."

They all began to eat and during the middle of the meal, Murdoc decided to embarrass the man sitting across from him a little.

"Since you asked me a question, can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, what?" Oliver was drinking from his glass.

"Are you a virgin?"

Araiya let her fork drop onto the plate which made a loud clanking sound. Her eyes widened. "Murdoc Niccals!!"

Oliver on the other hand, almost choked on his beverage and sputtered. "W-w-what?" The man began to turn as red as a strawberry.

"You don't have to answer. I mean usually when I meet guys like you I can automatically tell, but you're a bit hard to read." Murdoc put a forkful of pasta into his mouth and chewed.

"I-I'm not telling you that! It's personal!"

"Like I said you don't have to tell me."

Araiya just shook her head in disbelief and the rest of dinner was awkward. Oliver finished first and stood up.

"Thanks for dinner babe, but I have to go. I'll see you tomorrow when I'll pick you up." Oliver gave Araiya a quick kiss goodbye and hurriedly left the apartment.

Murdoc and Araiya looked at each other. Murdoc smirked and he too finished his meal. "That went well. What do you think Tiger?" He looked at her.