The air smells different. Wow, she never realized that the smell of the air can make her feel weird about the place. An odd feeling of warmth. Yeah, warmth. Darla has always been a fan of small towns but actually being in one doesn't seem like the best idea. 

She knows how small towns are, she has watched too much of Gilmore Girls to know that in small towns, everyone knows everyone. There were nearly 20 people who waved Dean hello, while we passed by the little shops, parks, or just the roadside benches. "why does everything smell so vanilla?" 

"Lot of bakeries around here. This part of Hartford is famous for it's baked food." 

Dean on the other hand never liked staying in a small town. He has always been the big city bro. Always going out, looking out for big opportunities, moving in huge groups. For most of my childhood I've barely seen him home on weekends. And when he did stay home he had 10-15 of his class mates. But the good thing about those days were that Darla got to hang out with his bunch and IT. WAS. THE. BEST. Everyone treated her like she was the baby of the group. Getting her chips, snacks literally anything she wanted. One summer they just took her to Disney land, just cause she missed some Hanna Montana Episode. Best night! Period. Darla's brother and his friends spoiled her for good. They even humbled her from time to time. They took good care of her. They were more parents to her than her real ones.

The breeze fell on her skin and flattered her semi greasy dark brown hair when she tilted her head slightly outside the window. Pretty little buildings. Almost everyone knows everyone. Benches on the sidewalk where people are reading. Small houses, small cafes, small shops. 

They passed a museum on the way and Darla knew that she was gonna visit it pretty soon. Just something about museums she can't understand. As if they were built for her to visit. This probably doesn't happen to everyone who visit but she felt everything around her going numb every time she indulged herself in all those art. Like nothing mattered because nothing was as important as those strokes on the canvas, those curves on the sculpture, those platters of colours on the picture. Nothing was as beautiful compared to all these emotions spread across the canvases. 

Darla looks back at the houses and the museum as it gets left far far behind her. A shadow of disappointment washes over her face when she realises that she's so far away from home. From all her friends. From that familiar kitchen, bedroom, couch. So far away from the view she saw every morning right above her head. So far away from Milo. His smile, his eyes, his hands his dark hair parted from the middle. 

Darla swings her head back inside the car and gently slams it against the back seat. "How long?" She asks the man driving the car, her brother. Dean looks at the mirror to find his sister unattentively looking out of the window with a face that clearly says 'I'm already homesick.' 

"Almost there." He knows it's tough for her. Specially when she had to leave all her friends thousands of miles away for at least the next 5 years. He went through the same thing, years ago. But this place has grown on him. And Dean is sure it'll happen to Darla as well. At least he had his best friend here with him. 

The car stopped after 6-7 more minutes. Dean pulled up in the drive way of a really nice place. She wasn't surprised that her dad arranged such a nice place for Dean and her. They only way he ever showed affection was with expensive gifts. Darla smiled knowing that maybe she was away from home but it wasn't the worst thing possible. If anything this place looked quite similar to her home, and yet nothing like it. Feeling partially grateful for her father's wealth Darla stepped inside.  

It took Dean like 3-4 minutes to park the car in their garage and take out all of Darla's belongings. 2 suitcases and a one big leather bag. And that's how long it took Darla to look around and realize that the neighborhood wasn't half bad. She remembers Dean speaking about the neighborhood. A lot of them brought him welcome gifts as soon as he moved to this house. They even took care of the little rescue dog that he had adopted, at times when he went back to his hometown. They are warm and welcoming. Like a small town neighbourhood usually is. He knows that Darla loves the small town vibe.   

It was decent. Even though this place is very much a city, this particular area of Hartford has a small town vibe. "Nice..." She mumbles under her breath. 

Dean who wasn't intended to hear it heard it and felt nice. The corner of his lips tugged up in a smile very subtlety that Darla didn't notice. "Come on." Darla follows her brother inside. 

With every step inside the house Darla realises that she'll be here for a pretty long time. The shoe cupboard on the right side of the entrance, a square mirror in top of it. Another white door that gives entrance to a pretty spacious foyer, a big white mat, an olive green couch. A flat screen TV on the wall right before the couch. A narrow black slab below the TV. A small plant on the right corner of the room. A bean bag below the window on the left side. 

Then there's the kitchen. It's not that big but it's pretty. She wasn't surprised that Dean had kept things so clean. He has always been the clean guy. Darla on the other hand sometimes keeps the surrounding messy. But she would sit one day and take care of everything that is out of place. that usually happens on the weekends. 

She's used to keeping herself busy. So she would literally micro manage everything that should be in it's place, or cleaned or adjusted or even repaired. She takes care of everything and doesn't rest until it's done. 

As soon as Darla enters the kitchen she, notices the casserole that is sitting right in the middle of the Almond Mauve kitchen slab. Dean notices it too and looks around to see if Darla was wondered what that was. "It's probably from pogo."

"who?"

"Sorry- Paige. We call her pogo."

"mmhmm...." Her sarcastic tone gets Dean again and he rolls his eye "We call her? or you call her."

"It's nothing like that Darla. You know I don't do girlfriends."

"I do.... And that's not a brag" This wasn't new. And she doesn't blame him. For as long as she's seen Dean with girls, she's seen no consistency what so ever. It's not new to Darla that Dean isn't very good with relationships. He's always investing just the right amount of time that is needed to get a girl. And once that's done, he's done. That's the only thing about Dean that annoys her. 

Dean doesn't answer to that and walks up the stairs after giving her a tour of the guest com pool-table room. Up the stairs it's her room, two attached washrooms, a Common balcony and Dean's room. She finally steps inside her room and she likes it. She actually likes it! It's small, cozy. Lots of sunlight, which is not bad, it'll remind her of home. 

The curtains are dark violet which are exactly how it was back at home. Dean tried to make it feel exactly like home, even though it isn't. Everything feels different, even the air the trees, the sunlight, the sidewalks, everything. But he tried to make it look like home. "Thanks for trying."

"It will grow on you, I promise." She doesn't say anything because she doesn't really believe that. Dean sets all her bags by the bed. Beautiful fresh beige and brown bed sheets were too welcoming. But she didn't wanted to get up on the bed just yet. As much as she was tired and just wanted to crash for a two hour nap she wanted to get rid of her travel cloths and get into something comfortable. "I'm gonna buy something for lunch and dinner, will you be fine alone?"

She nods. She actually wanted to be alone for a while. Just soak it all in. Make herself comfortable in this new, weirdly warm house. That almost feels like home. Dean closes the door and heads outside. 

Darla wastes no time, and get's changed into her big white Spider-Man top and grey shorts, after showering. Even with all this shifting the one thing she likes is to arrange the things in her room. It was never surprising to her parents when they found her rearranging her room at 3am in the morning.  

After putting up all the books on the shelf in an orderly manner of Fantasy first, then romance, then the two self help books that weren't of any help. All the clothes are done hanging in the closet, the shoes just beneath it. Whatever few cosmetics she had were nicely arranged on the thin white slab in front of the round mirror.

After getting everything at it's correct place, she looks around and realises that she is happy with the room. She is happy that it looks clean and organised and a little bit like home but the ick in her chest just won't stop reminding her that this place maybe familiar to home but it isn't really home.

It's been almost half an hour since Dean has left. Just when she's about to go to Dean's room to properly take a look, the sound of a car entering their driveway diverts Darla's attention. She decides to balcony to see who pulled up. Because it wasn't Dean since he didn't take the car.

Darla wasn't very psyched about some stranger pulling up in their driveway when she was alone. But comes out of that car was a really cute girl, long brown hair tied up in a pony tail. Few streaks of Burgundy on the sides, a brown cropped top that complemented her smooth honey like skin tone, high waist dark blue jeans and a white purse. 

She steps out- no, almost jumps out of the car with a bright ear to ear smile and looks up. She notices Darla and even though she covers her mouth in excitement the high pitched scream wasn't unheard. In fact, probably the whole neighbourhood heard it. 

Darla didn't broke out a chuckle because she was happy to see her or something, she just haven't seen such a person before. Someone so shiny. So bright. 

"I am. In love with your shirt!" She points at the loose tee that was wearing Darla and not the other way around. Dean comes out of the car with a bag full of groceries and the car moves a little ahead so that it doesn't block the gate. There's another person inside the car. 

Darla runs downstairs to open the door for them, Dean lets the very excited girl in and hug Darla like she was her long lost love. Darla hugs her back with hesitation but a feeling of warmth shimmers down her body because she's so welcoming. "Did you eat the pancakes I made you?"

"Not, yet. I...." She had no idea what the girl was talking about but tried to play along. 

"That's alright, you have plenty of time. I am Paige, you can call me Pogo." OH! The casserole. 

Dean sets the groceries on the kitchen table, when Darla notices another guy coming in. Very tall. Even a few inches taller than her brother. Or maybe it's just his arms and shoulders that are making him look bigger than Dean.   

Plain white shirt, off white joggers and a strangely familiar smirk. That smirk nudged a little something in Darla's stomach which was weird since she had never met this guy before and he looks vaguely familiar. He steps forward and falls lazily on the couch. " You should try Pogo's pancakes. They're awesome."

"Shut up Beck. That's for her to decide." Beck. BECK! 

"Oh my god Beck!"

"Damn girl, you really forget me quickly huh?" She did. So she chose not to answer that question. If Pogo hadn't taken his name she still wouldn't have known. How does he change so much every time she sees him. His voice, even deeper than before. 

She gulped the seed in her throat and headed over to the kitchen. Pogo followed her. Darla took out 2 pieces of pancakes one for her and one for Pogo and took a big bite. The minute she chewed them, her taste buds thanked her for having something so good. 

She has had a lot of pancakes in her life but none of that compared to this. It was extraordinary! She wasn't aware that pancakes were capable of making her eyes shut with it's taste. "Are you kidding me?!" Pogo's hands paused mid air "These is so good!" She made all sorts of tasty sounds and kept saying "unbelievable."

Dean and Beck turn on the TV to watch some basketball game. Pogo and Darla decided to go upstairs to chat. Pogo seemed more than happy that Darla invited her to give a tour of her room. 

Once they settled down on Darla's bed and Pogo was done gawking around in amusement she complemented Darla about how nicely arranged her room looks. "You're the clean type, huh? My mom would've loved a daughter like you. She's always telling me to clean up my room. 'Paige! How do you live like this.... So much mess.... Try cleaning your room once in a while.... Blah blah blah...'" Darla laughs at the mimicry. 

"Alright, so tell me how do you know Dean? Like he told me you're my age, right?"

"Yep. Well technically I know Beck. And he knew Dean so now we all know each other. Beck was here before Dean. Since his was a freshman, in Eastern Heavens Academy. So Beck's ex girlfriend, is.... My ex best friend. Real bitch. She cheated on Beck and was lying to him and I didn't take her side, so she got mad told everyone that I slept with Beck and it was a whole big mess."

The thought of Beck having a girl didn't quite sit good with Darla. And the fact that she hurt him was even worst. She has known Beck since she was a child. He's nice. And he's almost like a brother to Dean. 

"Ex-girlfriend huh?" Woah. What? That's not something Darla had on her mind. Nope. That's the last thing that could be on her mind. It was the last thing she remembers from the conversation. But then, there it was. Out in the open. Out of her mouth and all over her eyes. 

~*~*~*~*~*~

Thank you for reading <3

Next chapter coming up on Tuesday(IST)