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The beater that pulled up in front of the Victorian duplex and seen better days, that much was sure. It coughed and rattled, but it ran and it had miraculously survived the trek all the way from New York with sole passenger and everything she owned in the backseat and trunk. It honestly could have fit another person... Sidney didn't have much.

The door creaked as the small Asian girl shoved it open, crawling out of the driver's seat with a groan. Her rainbow hair tossed as she stamped the feeling back into her legs and her sore a**, arching her back to pop the kinks from it. <********> she felt like she'd been on the road for weeks, and slept in her car for most of it. Turning, she leaned back into the car, hips wiggling in her ratty black leggings, and snagged her knitted bag off the passenger seat, the strap thrown over her head. A glance at the paper she'd written the address on confirmed she'd put the right one into her phone's GPS and that matched the number of the house.

A grin of anticipation spread over her face as the short woman trotted around the car and headed for the door, bouncing up the steps.

"EH, WHERE'S THE WELCOME WAGON?" Sidney James shouted as she lifted a fist to pound on the door, her studded bracelets rattling against the wood. As she stepped back, she tugged her slashed up band shirt down around her hips and ran her fingers through her color riot hair to set it to some measure of order.

God, it had been years since she'd seen Rob. His pictures had shown a young boy growing into an adult, his soft child features refining into the man he would become. A hot man, if the pictures did him any justice, but that had never really been an issue when he was 'across the pond'. Would his parents be there too? Man, she hadn't seen them in an age either. It reminded her of happier times and fuzzy soft childhood dreams.

She heard a man shouting at her through the door and Sid couldn't help grinning like an idiot as she bounced on her toes.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING BARMY, WANKER?" She shouted back as he struggled with the latch. Then the door burst open and there was a tall blonde with dreads in the door way, staring at her with his lip ring and his baggy, sagging pants. Sidney squealed as she bounced in place and when he grabbed for her, she threw herself at him, wrapping arms and legs around him as he spun her. She was laughing too when he set her back down on her booted feet and she gave him a shove, magenta eyes shining.

"Oh my god, Rob! What the hell have they been feeding you, you weed! Its been for ******** ever, man!" She grabbed at his shirt and gave it a tug, stepping from one side to the other to get a better look at him. "Those photos just don't compare with the real thing. God, its so good to see you again."

She grinned wide as she let go, feeling bubbly and warm with the feeling of reuniting with an old, old friend. She tried not to think about how long it had been, or what had happened to break up their friendship. Nothing pleasant had happened between leaving the UK and finding Ice, and now even that was tainted. Best not to think about any of it, because her friend was still standing in front of her, looking wonderful.

"Man, I was so surprised to hear you had your own place here in the states. Like, talk about serendipity, right? It feels so good to be out of New York, even if my a** hurts like hell from that drive."

"CURRY? Dude, that is sad." She laughed, giving him a poke in the stomach.

"Its a good thing your mom still feeds you or you'd waste away. The house is impressive though! Owning one all by yourself at twenty... even if it is next door to your parents. I got out of my aunt's s**t hole as soon as I could, man. I'll live in my car before I'd ever go back there."

Sidney grinned impishly as his hands came down on her shoulders, her head cocking to the side at the expression on his face. There was something soft about it, more than just happy to see her. What a sweet goofball. Her arms went around his trim waist when he hugged her again and she laughed, giving his butt a pat.

"Can't keep your hands off me huh, Rob?" She teased him gently. When he finally released her, she hooked their arms together and hugged his against her side. "Why don't you give me the tour huh? Then I can start bringing in my s**t. There isn't much of it, don't worry. I travel light. I'd like to say I don't take up much space, but lets face it, I'm a chick. Most of it is recording equipment and stuff, though."

The smaller woman guided him towards the door again, playing with her tongue ring between her teeth. "You're going to have to learn how to eat pizza, dude. That stuff is the best."

Sidney snorted as they made their way into the house, showing what she thought of his taste in pizza. All pizza was good pizza. He just didn't appreciate it properly.

Clinging to Rob's arm, she let him usher her through the front hall, listening as he pointed out the various rooms.

"I don't care what kind of a housekeeper you are. But I'll try to keep my s**t in my own room at least." She said as she craned her head, looking through the doors she could see from where she stood. It looked about how she expected of a bachelor in a big house by himself, visited occasionally by his Mum. A little cleaner, maybe. Actually, a lot cleaner than she expected. Her own place with Ice had never been this clean, even on her sober days. She'd always decided to clean, but something always came up to distract her.

"You've got a microwave, an oven and a fridge, right? Good enough for me." Sid said as he pointed out the kitchen. As he indicated the stairs, she finally released his arm and stepped away to give him a wide grin. Did she have any questions?

"You still a slow poke?" She laughed as she gave him a poke in the side and then tore off towards the stairs, pounding up them as fast as her short legs could take her. Her boots clattered and her bag bumped against her hip, rattling with the odds and ends she kept in it. As she went, her hand trailing up the banister, using a grip on it to pull herself along.

Sid snickered as he grabbed her hand, securing it in his arm again now that they were upstairs. She let him keep her hand as he went through the explanation of the rooms, but she wasn't content to stand in the hall while he did it. The shorter girl dragged him to the doors and leaned inside to look around, starting with the bathroom, then her room, and the last. She left his, an unspoken agreement to his privacy there. No one liked someone just barging in, you know?

She even hauled him over to the attic door, leaning forward to crane her neck up the stairs.

"Ooo, Spoopy." Sid laughed as she pulled herself back out and shoved the door shut, turning her eyes on her friend at last. "It really is a nice place, Rob. And hey, um. Thanks, again. For letting me move in here. Kind of a life saver, you know? I was at the point of thinking about crashing at my friend Tony's place and he's like, got a wife and two kids so it would have been... hella awkward sleeping on his couch."

She squeezed his arm, her laughing smile replaced with something a bit more serious this time, just for a moment. Then it was back and she was hauling him towards the stairs.

"Okay, lets go get my s**t! I want to see that recording studio you were talking about. I'm ******** excited about that part. I'll need to go to the store, like, tomorrow or something, because I honestly didn't bring a whole lot of anything." Sid said on the way down.

Outside, the Chevy Impala remained patiently waiting and Sid trotted over to unlock the doors and begin loading up the duffle bags full of clothes. Those seemed to be primarily what she'd brought, along with some heavy-duty cases, which she pointed out to Rob were her recording stuff and she'd happily kill him and bury his body under his house if he broke any of the expensive equipment. There was a box or two that she identified as 'keep sakes', which went up to her room with the clothes. Most of the recording equipment could go down to the studio, save a couple of cases she stored in her room with the other stuff. All in all, it only took a couple of trips, nothing major, but Sid was ready for a little something by the time they were done.

"So, do you have anything to drink in this place?" She said cheerful as she came out of her room, the last bag on the floor inside. The short girl took the stairs at a bouncing pace, jauntily wandering from side to side as she went. She still had her knit bag on her, bumping against her hip. "Also, do you want me to, like, smoke outside, if I do? For that matter, do you got any house rules I should know about? No sex, drugs or wild parties? Because I might have a problem with at least two of those."

She said them with a teasing grin as she dropped off the last step, her hands braced against the small of her back.

"OH THANK GOD." Sidney burst out, throwing her head back as she slouched and slumped her shoulders in an over dramatic showing of relief. Even her knees bent, making her even shorter than before. "I thought for sure I was going to have to hide my weed from you. Crisis averted!"

She was laughing as she straightened up again and she threw an arm around her friend, hooking his neck in the crook of her elbow to pull him down to her level. Sidney pressed a firm kiss to his cheek before she began to drag him towards the kitchen, her steps wandering in a wobbly path.

"Lets celebrate with beers out back. I'm ******** thirsty after all that, and I need a smoke. So." Sidney released Rob as they sauntered into the kitchen area, her pink eyes sweeping the room to get a feel for the layout. "What have you been up to, anyway? Holding down a job or being a bum? I've got a gig lined up with one of the clubs here, 'cause I knew a guy in New York who's married to the owner's sister, but I'm going to have to hit the pavement hard if I want to branch out any. It doesn't do any good to always play at the same place all the time, especially if I want to get any sort of recording deal. New York was so tapped out on that front... no one wanted my demos."

There was a bee-line to the fridge and soon she had the door open and had bent to poke around inside, swiping two of the beers he had mentioned before she came back out again. The shorter woman offered one to her friend as she rejoined in, hooking her arm in his this time as she urged them towards the back door.

The attempt at a garden was charming and reminded her of things she had seen years and years ago, back when she had had things like a family and a stable life. It was nostalgic and she liked it instantly, even with its beds going to weed.

Sid released her friend to flop down into the free chair, her thing legs pulled up and crossed under her. She was thin enough to manage it easily and her lap made for a good hollow to drop her purse into, finally removed from where it had been slung over her shoulders all this time. The young woman dug through the bag with one hand as she set her beer down on the table, most of her attention on what she rummaged for while she listened to Rob's recounting.

"Yeah, I got it!" She reassured him when he asked about the CD, her mind calling up its location among her other albums and records in one of the heavy duty cases down in the studio. It had been pretty awesome to get something made by a friend, and especially this friend. It had surprised her, the music he had chosen to make, but it was still Rob's voice.

As Sid listened, she finally found what she had been searching for in her bag and satisfaction filled her face as she brought out a glass piece with a fat, round end and a much smaller bit connected to it. The glass itself was lovely... mostly clear, but swirled with a rainbow of colors. She turned it upside down and tapped it gently against the arm of her chair before pulling an old film canister from her bag as well. The contents of the canister went into a depression in glass piece and in moments, she was lifting it to her face and setting flame to it with an old, cheap Bic lighter.

Sid breathed deep and held it as she settled back into her chair, looking content and comfortable. Slowly, she blew smoke from between her lips and with it went whatever tension she had still been carrying, relaxing her gaunt form.

"I certainly hope so. It would suck to come all this way and just end up with the same stupid problems as before." She said as she coughed, tucking her bic into the hand that held her bowl. After a moment, she held it across the table, giving the whole package a little wiggle.

"Want some? Little 'welcome home' smoke." She smiled as she stared out into the garden, her mind already wandering to what she wanted to do tonight to celebrate the move. She was tired, but there was always enough energy for a little celebration.