How to combine two resistors with a voltage source
When starting out, your brain is easily tricked by the arrangement in which things are drawn rather than what they actually are. Side-by-side doesn't automatically mean parallel. 

What if I took your "parallel" circuit:







simulate this circuit &ndash; Schematic created using CircuitLab

and just changed it to this. Does it still look like it is in parallel to you? Or series for that matter? Remember, the current can flow into the circuit on those stubs from outside.







simulate this circuit


Parallel = voltage across all components are the same
Series = current through all components is the same


Don't be tricked by how things are arranged on a page.