This chapter is dedicated to Willow (BloodSucker2008) her buttkicking, and our new deal. You won this time.

Anyway, I don't own anything in this chapter. Because I'm just not cool enough. Also, I have decided that this will probably be written in mostly Wanda's point of view, because after writing this whole chapter in Ian's POV, I have found out that Ian is much too hard to deal with.

IAN'S POV

Would it be fair to blame it all on Kyle?

It would be the easiest choice. We were moving because of him. His girlfriend had disappeared six months ago, and the local cops had called off the search. His first instinct was to get angry. And his second was to run away.

This was not what he called it, of course. He was relocating. He needed away from the city. All right. I didn't want to fight over it. Though, as we packed up our apartment in New York, and started to move into our uncle's house in quiet suburbia -left empty since his wife had died, and he refused to leave his vacation home, which was somewhere in the tropics- I felt much more the older, mature brother than Kyle. If it weren't for the slight difference in heights, we could have passed as identical. Most people found it hard to believe that he was almost five years my senior. Twenty six, and already convinced he had lost his girl. It made his quick temper even harder to bear.

Us O'Shaes have bad luck with women. Our dad called it a curse, but I wouldn't go that far. It was just that things never seemed to go our way. Our mother had split after seven years of marriage, running off with a pool boy, or something. Maybe that's why Kyle ended up so bitter, whereas I, never having known our mother, don't really have any hard feeling about it.

Curse or not, it's what Kyle blamed for Jodi. I chose not to point out that I had lost my last girlfriend in a completely normal way. She had dumped me.

I hadn't minded. She had ended up being rather boring.

But I've gotten off track. All I wanted to say was that if you want to blame someone, Kyle's the guy.

By the time we had finished moving all of the furniture inside, I was five seconds away from punching my brother in the face.

"I'm leaving!" I shouted over my shoulder, not caring whether Kyle heard me or not.

"Fuck off!" Came the bellowed reply. He had probably managed to drop the TV that I told him to leave downstairs. I could still hear his cursing as I walked down the driveway, and out onto the street.

If I remembered correctly, there was a park somewhere around here. It would be a nice place to go, and one I could get to without taking the truck and giving Kyle even more fuel for his ranting.

The park was closer than I remembered, but I didn't mind. By the time I got there, all the built-up anger I had been holding in disappeared. Maybe all I needed was some fresh air.

Shouting caught my ear, and I followed it, curious. It led me right to a soccer field, and I stopped for a moment, smirk on my lips. A group of young boys chased the ball down the pitch. A tall boy with shaggy brown hair won the race, and brought the ball to the goal, before shooting it over the goalie's head. The ball swished into the net, and there were collective cheers, and moans from the other side. The goal-scorer went and high-fived his own team, before turning towards the sideline.

"See that one, Wanda?" His shout was loud enough for even me to be able to catch every word. "See that?"

If his girlfriend had actually come out to watch, that was just too cute. Though if it were me, my girlfriend would probably be out there playing. I tended to fall for the athletic type. My last girlfriend had long, tanned legs that were just made to run. Thinking about it, her legs were probably her best feature. As I mentioned before, the rest of her was rather dull.

I continued to walk down the winding path, towards the field. Maybe I would stand and watch for a moment, avoid going back to the house just yet.

I didn't even see her until she was right in front of me.

At first, all I saw was her hair. It was so blonde it was almost white, and fell into graceful ringlets over her shoulders. Her hair was the boldest thing about her. The rest of her was tiny. I could tell that, even without seeing her face. She was leaning her head on one small delicate wrist, staring out at the field. This must be that boy's girlfriend. It was obvious now that she couldn't be out there playing, even if she had wanted to.

I took a moment to guess at why she needed that chair. Was it a birth defect? Or something that had happened recently, like a broken leg?

Maybe it was the chair that made her look so- vulnerable. She looked like she needed someone to wrap their arms around her. A protector.

What the Hell? I shook my head, and forced myself to being walking again. Stupid, standing there for so long. Looking like some type of stalker. What was I thinking, that she needed a protecter? She had the boy out on the field, and some parents waiting for her at home. What had come over me there?

I had been hanging out with my brother too much. I needed to go out, meet some people that wouldn't bite my head off for saying the wrong thing.

Speaking of which, Kyle had been given plenty of time to rant. I sighed, and took the path that would lead me back toward my new home.

Kyle had calmed himself down a bit, just like I had hoped. He was occupied with arranging furniture in the living room when I got there, and waved at me distractedly as I entered.

"TV's upstairs," he grunted in way of greeting. "Ignore that dent in the wall."

I nodded. "Fair enough."

He put the armchair he had been carrying done, and turned to glare at me, frowning. "Where'd you go?"

"On a walk." I went into the kitchen, and began shuffling through the cupboards, looking for something edible. "We need food."

"Obviously." Kyle had followed me. "We can go shopping tomorrow."

I grabbed a bagel that we had brought with us, and bit into it. It was stale, but after not eating all day, it was better than nothing. "And what about tonight?"

Kyle reached past me, snatching the last bagel before tossing the empty bag into the trash.

"Well," he said, mouth full as he leaned against one of the counters. "There's always the pub."

--

By the time we got to the pub, it was already dark. Kyle laughed as I was held up at the door and asked for id. I glared at him as I showed the bouncer my license, before stalking over to the bar. Kyle followed me, a stupid grin still on his face.

I ignored him, instead ordering whatever was on tap. I felt Kyle take the stool beside me and double my order.

"Hey!"

The call came from my left, from a girl who could easily pass for gorgeous. My mouth went a bit dry, but I smiled, letting my eyes take in the fact that the short white skirt she was wearing was a perfect accent to her long, deeply tanned legs, and that her mahogany hair reached down to her flat stomach, shown off by the tight- but not tight enough, by some standards- tank top she was wearing.

She tucked her hair behind one ear as she spoke, so I had the opportunity to admire her face as well.

"You're new in town, right? Just moved into a house on Willow Avenue, right?"

I nodded, as my brows knotted in confusion. The girl laughed at my expression.

"We saw the moving van. I live right across the street, in the house with the green door." She leaned towards me, and put out her hand. "I'm Melanie Stryder."

"Ian O'Shae." I shook her hand, then jerked my head towards my brother, who had drifted off to talk with the bartender. "That's my brother, Kyle."

"Well, nice to meet you," she sat back on her stool, as a tall guy with a tan to match Melanie's approached, and wrapped his arms around her waist, bending down to kiss her neck. She giggled, and I stiffened. So. She wasn't available anyway.

You lose again, O'Shae, my mind whispered, though why I had expected such a beautiful woman to not already have a man in her life, I didn't know.

"Jared," Melanie said, her voice unconsciously caressing the name in such a way that made me feel as if I had interrupted something. "This is Ian. The guy that moved into Julie Rauden's old house."

Jared nodded, lowering himself onto the stool beside Melanie, still keeping one arm around her. "Oh. Did you just buy it, then?"

I shook my head. "Julie was married to my uncle. He gave me and my brother the house when he moved."

The couple nodded simultaneously, before Jared leaned down and whispered something in Melanie's ear. Her eyes lit, and she gave me one last smile as she let Jared pull her to her feet.

"We'll see you around, then."

"Nice to meet you," was my witty reply.

The rest of the night got blurry after that, memories smudged by beer and pool and food and beer. I think I beat Kyle, though he swears it was me that did all of the losing.

One of us must have called a cab at some point, because I woke up on my own living room floor, with Kyle snoring on the couch beside me.

I wasn't surprised to see that is was already eleven o'clock when I stumbled into the kitchen. At least Kyle had gotten the clock up and set yesterday. I had no idea where my watch had ended up, in all of this post-moving mess.

"Shit!"

That was Kyle. He dragged himself into the kitchen, holding a small white bottle in his hand.

"Why the fuck did we bother bringing an empty Aspirin bottle with us across the country?"

I shrugged, trying to ignore my own splitting headache. "I'll go get some," I muttered.

"Get some food, too." A couple twenties hit me in the back, curtsey of Kyle. "I have to find out if that job offer I got still stands." He sighed, then lumbered out. "After I go sleep."

I mumbled something under my breath that even I didn't understand, before going to search for my keys.

But before I even had a chance to look, the doorbell rang.

"Fuck!"

Ohhh! What a horrible cliffhanger. Any guesses as to who is at the door? Virtual brownies to anyone who guesses right.

Gah. I should not be allowed to write author's notes after 10 pm...