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Arielle Toro glared out the window of her dad's white pick-up truck, trailing behind a large moving van.

The sun, she decided, was too bright here.

"Remind me, dear parents," she said, her voice thick with contempt, "Why have we moved across the country? I liked Chicago." She brushed her brown hair out of her face, and its highlights glimmered in the Nevada sunshine.
"Sweetheart, the sun won't kill you," her mother said, catching her glare. "All that smog could have."
"What?" her father shouted. "Who's trying to kill what?" "No one," her mother sighed. "She's just being a crybaby again."
Arielle just huffed and straightened the ring on her index finger. "Took me forever to make the friends I had in Chicago.." she grumbled.
"I didn't like you hanging out with those boys anyways, Ari," her mother snarled. "HEY! Don't talk bad about Mike and William! Those guys are.. amazing." "Slut," her father said, without skipping a beat. "Dad!" Ari shouted. "We were just friends! I mean that they were amazing, musically."
"There's the new house!" her mother chimed cheerfully, before her husband could speak again. Ari blinked in disbelief at the Pleasantville, white-picket fence, fake-grass house. As soon as she could, she grabbed her bags from the truck bed and went in to find her room upstairs. Sure, it was almost twice the size of her old one, but the walls were painted a cheerful yellow. She appreciated that her parents didn't care what she did to her room, and started putting up reams of paper and various pictures. She stopped half-way through the first wall, since her parents called her downstairs. "Ari! Go and get the towels from the truck bed!"
She walked outside, shielding her eyes from the sun and wondering why the towels were in the truck and not boxed up. Grabbing the towels, she spun on her heel, trying to turn towards the house. Instead, she just spun a little further and fell, the towels flying everywhere. She laid there for a second, hoping no one saw her little spill. There were towels all over her, including one covering her face. When she pulled it off, she nearly screamed.
There was a tall, lanky teenage boy standing above her with a plate of Rice-Krispy squares. "Are you alright?" he asked. "Umm, yeah," Ari said, blushing. She sat up and started collecting the scattered towels, and the boy helped. "Oh, you don't have to-" she started, standing up. She hadn't really gauged where she would end up standing, and was nearly nose-to-nose with him. There was a near-uncomfortable silence as they stood, inspecting one another. After a minute or so, Ari remembered something suddenly. "Sorry," she said swiftly, taking a step back. The boy laughed. Arielle took the towels from him, and thanked him. She started walking up the long driveway, and he followed. "So you just moved here?"
She glanced at him. "Yeah." He frowned a little, trying to get her to open up. "Um, I'm Brendon," he said hopefully, trying to get at least a name from his pretty new neighbor.
"...Good for you," she replied. She opened the door and went inside.
"who's this?" her mother asked, pointing at Brendon. "Uh, I dunno. Neighbor?" Ari said, dropping the towels on the table. "I live across the street. My mom was making some of these square.. things.. and she saw the moving van. So she sent me over with a few." He gestured towards the plate in his hands. Ari's mom took them, saying "Well, isn't that sweet, mister..?" "Urie. Brendon Urie." Ari chuckled at the Bond introduction. "Well, Brendon, I'm Mrs. Toro. And that's my husband in the other room there." Muffled curses came from the other room. "God-damn lights."
"Ari, maybe you should leave for a while? Go see the town? But, change your clothes first.. I don't want you dying of heat stroke out there.
Ari sighed. "Alright. Brendon, I assume you'll be showing me around?"
He nodded, and followed her upstairs to her new room.
She went through her bag, and pulled out a black tank top with a yellow duck in a white top hat on it. Fully aware of Brendon, she started unzipping her hoodie. She tossed it behind her, going for her shirt. She had it half-way off when she heard Brendon. "Uhh..."
Ari turned crimson. "Omigosh! Brendon, I'm sorry. I'm so used to the guys in Chicago, I'm not entirely adjusted.. If you're uncomfortable.." "No, no.." Brendon said quickly, and Ari laughed.
"Well," Brendon thought. "That's the most words I've heard her say so far.. I guess you can't really open up to someone until they've seen you half-naked..."
"So you moved from Chicago, huh?" he said, trying to break the awkward silence. "Yeah," Ari said. "I had some really great friends there, and now.. they're a bazillion miles away.." She smiled, remembering her two favorite people. William, the amazing vocalist, and Mike, the guitarist (and nearly Ari's boyfriend), of a band, just starting out- The Academy Is...
"I miss him.." Ari said, then stumbled over her words. "Uhh, them! Them. I miss them. Not 'him' in particular. I mean, there isn't a him.." She blushed. "I'm afraid I may have not given a proper introduction. I'm Arielle. But you can call me Ari," she said with a smile. "And, if it's not wierd to say, I feel really comfortable around you, you know?" Brendon smiled, and Ari gestured towards the stairs.
"Shall we see the sights then?"


[[reviews please! my fragile ego needs them.. :D -Emily]]