Girl On Fire → Erica Reyes; Stiles Stilinski & Scott McCall

Living On A Latte (And A Prayer)

Arianne Martin left Beacon Hills with her dad when she was just ten years old. A youtube video went viral, she got a recording contract, it was her dream come true. But when her big sister is attacked and left for dead, neither hell nor high water will keep her away. What's supposed to be a short, relaxing visit soon becomes anything but, and clearly Arianne has to figure out exactly why those two dorks in her sister's class keep whispering about her with her best friend–and now there's an inhumanly attractive clique in leather jackets taking an interest too? What happened to the Beacon Hills that she knew, and why does LA suddenly seem calm in comparison?

Fic title is from Girl On Fire by Alicia Keys, chapter title is from Just Another Day from Next To Normal, and the lyrics in this chapter are all from Avril Lavigne's Keep Holding On

Girl On Fire

Living On A Latte (And A Prayer)

             Arianne shifted in her – first class, of course – seat, turning up her music in a futile attempt to drown out the plane's engines. She had been doing the same ever since the start of her hour long flight and, thirty minutes in, she was sure that everyone else in first class was ready to kill her.

             But, proper place etiquette or not, Arianne couldn't bring herself to care. She couldn't bring herself to care about anything except–

"There was an attack at the school, Lydia is in the hospital."

             Arianne had barely been able to breathe since she got the call late last night. Her sister had, apparently, been attacked on the football field during a school dance and hadn't woken up since. As soon as she got the call, she had booked herself on the next flight to Fresno – the nearest city to Beacon Hills. She had stayed up all night packing and worrying and calling her mom every hour for updates, and had spent four hours in the first class lounge trying to waste time until she could board, but she still couldn't fall asleep during the short flight. Instead she shifted again, took a sip of the vanilla latte that she'd gotten before boarding, and unlocked her iPhone.

             She switched to her classical playlist, her favourite for songwriting, and opened her notes app. Wiping tears from her eyes before they could ruin her makeup – the last thing she needed was the paparazzi getting a picture of her looking as awful as she felt and landing her on the front page of every trashy gossip rag - she returned to the lyrics that she had been working on ever since she got the phone call

So far away
I wish you were here
Before it's too late
This could all disappear

             Before she knew it, a gentle hand was settling on her shoulder, and the flight attendant was signaling for her to remove her headphones and prepare for landing.

             She took a final sip of her latte before tossing the empty cup into the offered garbage bag and pausing her music. Her headphones were tucked neatly into their case and into her iconic red Céline purse – a 'Luggage', of course, she took her fashion very seriously. She slid her feet back into her red Louboutin heels and prepared for landing, tangling her red painted fingers together for lack of anything else to do with her hands.

             As soon as the plane touched down, Arianne was grabbing her purse and straightening her white skirt and blouse, standing as soon as the seatbelt sign took off. Her only other luggage was her checked Goyard suitcase, so it was easy to be the first person off the plane, swallowing her anxiety and walking through the familiar airport as if she owned it.

             There was a Starbucks right before the baggage claim, and she had some time before the plane would be unloaded, so she lined up and ordered herself a venti vanilla Frappuccino with extra whipped cream – she knew that the press would talk if they saw the normally health-conscious starlet with such a high calorie drink but she thought that she deserved the indulgence.

             She made her way to the baggage claim, heels clacking loudly on linoleum floors, and positioned herself by the carousel to wait. As she stood, tapping her foot impatiently, she sent out a few texts. Red painted fingers moved quickly across the screen as she informed both of her parents that she had landed safely and would be in Beacon Hills within two hours, filled her manager in on the entire situation, and quickly updated her various public social media accounts with a claim that she was returning home to focus on writing and to spend time with her family after missing the holiday season; not entirely true but she hoped it would be enough to quell the craziest of rumours.

             She looked up when she heard the carousel turning on, and was pleased to see that her bold red suitcase was the first bag coming down. She put her phone back in her purse and lifted the bag with ease, pushing through the crowds and doing her best to smile at excited fans until she reached the limo station. She gave her name to the man in the booth and moments later the limo that she had booked the night before was pulling up. It wasn't a big Hollywood limo, not for Beacon Hills, just a sleek black car with water bottles and a driver who rolled up the partition as soon as he had confirmed the destination.

             Sliding into the car, Arianne sunk into the plush seats, exhaustion seeping through every pore. She fought the urge to rub at her eyes, not wanting to smudge her carefully applied makeup, and dug out her phone and headphones. Her eyes drifted shut as she resumed her classical music from the plane, and although she didn't sleep, it was the most rest she had gotten since her mom had called her.

             She jolted as the taxi came to a stop, looking out the window. Her heart clenched in her chest at the sight of her childhood home, and she was quick to pass the driver her house key, watching passively as he unlocked the door to leave her suitcase in the front hall. It took only a couple of minutes, and soon he was back in the car and passing her back her key, taking off down the familiar streets.

             Knowing that the hospital was only fifteen minutes away, Arianne refused to drift off again. Instead she took another sip of her almost empty Frappuccino and went back to her lyrics.

Before the doors close
And it comes to an end
With you by my side, I will fight and defend

             She lost herself in her lyrics and was surprised to find that she had an almost complete song by the time they reached the hospital. Digging through her purse for her wallet, she paid the driver and made sure to tip generously, before dropping her wallet, phone, and headphones back into the bag. She stepped out of the limo and closed the door behind her, and tried to pretend that her wobbly legs were from the high stiletto heels on her feet.

             Finally, she shouldered her purse, tossed her red hair over her shoulder, and took a deep breath, pushing open the hospital doors.

---FIN---

Thanks for reading! I really hope you enjoyed the prologue! I've been working on Arianne for ages but only just started to actually write for her! That said, if you're curious about her, feel free to visit me on tumblr @ Randomestfandoms-ocs and/or ArianneMartin

And now that this fic is finally started, I need to thank a few of my friends from tumblr. @stallisaacshoe, @perfectlystiles, @seaweedhufflepuffocs, @katiesocs, and @dancerdramatic14, who have been Arianne's biggest fans and have loved her even when I didn't. Without their endless support and enthusiasm, I never would have started, let alone finished, this chapter. From the bottom of my heart, thank you guys for everything, I really hope that you love this chapter.