Sean had been staring at the faded, plastic glow-in-the-dark stars stuck to the ceiling for the last five minutes.

"Sorry," he finally mumbled to the boy next to him, but his voice sounded out of place swimming in the silence between them.

"Me too," Jesse said, sitting up. "Do you wanna try again?"

"I think we should take a break."

They both stared at each other a moment.

Jesse's eyes searched Sean's. "Like...break up kind of break?"

"...Yeah," Sean breathed as he climbed out of bed and started pulling his clothes back on. In a weird way, it felt like a weight had lifted off his chest.

"Wait, what did I do wrong?" Jesse said defensively.

"Nothing," Sean paused. "It's not you."

"Really, Sean? You're gonna pull the 'it's not you, it's me' thing on me?"

"Well-"

"It's always the other person when people say that."

Sean shifted uncomfortably before leaning down to put his shoes on. He didn't know what to say. He just didn't want this to be a thing.

"So just because I don't want to beat you like some sicko when we're—"

"Wait, what?" Sean snapped. "How do you even make that kind of a leap?"

"I just don't know what you want from me," Jesse said, throwing up his hands as he drifted closer to the door with a dejected expression.

...That weight that felt like it had been lifted? Yeah, that came crashing back down like an old box tv on a stand bought from Walmart. He'd just wanted a little more... something. Passion, maybe?

And worse still was that now Sean's chest was aching like he wanted to go home. But they were in his bedroom... with his books, and posters, and crystals, and altar, and the lingering scent of palo santo... Yet somehow Jesse had made him feel like he wasn't welcome in his own space.

A break. That was all Sean wanted right now. He sighed, as he finished lacing up his high-top sneakers.

"Sorry," he repeated, and he meant it, even though he wasn't sure if Jesse heard him.

A few moments later the screen door slapped closed behind Sean as he cleared the front porch just behind Jesse. He didn't think to lock it. Nobody in Aspenview really locked their doors.

"There you are. Was wondering when you two were planning on showing up for supper," Sean's cousin, Annalise, said from the sidewalk.

Jesse blew past her without a word, and climbed into his Jeep.

"Okay, 'hi' to you too," Anna said, before giving Sean a raised brow.

"My mom and dad at your place already?" Sean asked as Jesse drove off, barely tapping his breaks at the stop sign at the corner of their street.

Annalise nodded. Her dad was an interstate trucker, so he wasn't home much. But when he was, it was tradition for the family to come over for 'Tyron Erikson's famous gumbo'.

Sean couldn't begin to tell anyone what all his uncle put in it, aside from the Cajun holy trinity, but he could easily eat his weight in the stuff, and too much comfort food sounded perfect right now.

"Sooo... we just not gonna talk about that?" Anna wondered, motioning towards the now vacant curb.

Sean shook his head and started towards her house. A few minutes into their walk, Annalise pulled Sean's attention from the pavement beneath his sneakers to the line of trees on the right side of the road. "That looks cool."

It had been humid and rainy the last couple days, and Sean managed a grin as he observed the fog hugging the slope of tall, skinny aspens.

"That does look cool," he agreed, spotting glimpses of the Gibsons' house nestled back in between the trees.

Anna nudged him. "You know, Mrs. Gibson was at the salon today. They're celebrating their golden anniversary soon."

"Damn," he breathed, "that's fifty years, isn't it?" Fifty years... Sean could hardly imagine that. He'd only been dating Jesse for two, even though it felt like it'd been much longer.

"Yeah. Some of their kids and grandkids are coming up this weekend to visit with them."

The idea brought a genuine smile to Sean's face. "I bet they're excited."

He imagined it would be hard having your children and grandchildren living out of state like the Gibsons did.

His grandparents on his mom's side lived in town and Annalise's place was only a ten-minute walk from his. He'd grown up with his cousin feeling more like an older sister, and had a great relationship with his aunt and uncle. Just the idea of being away from his family, or the coven in general, for college filled him with anxiety.

When they got to his cousin's house, his dad was sitting on the front porch with his uncle. Each had a beer in hand and broad smiles on their faces.

"Hey, there they are!" his dad said, waving as Sean and Annalise came through the front yard.

"You both better get in there and get ya something to eat before it's gone," Tyron added.

Before he even breached the front door, Sean was hit with the familiar smell of his Aunt and Uncle's house.

His mom grew the herbs in her garden, then gave them to her sister, who dried them out for use. So, their house permanently smelled like sage, mint, lemon balm, and lavender.

The moment he got the front door open, a small form trotted past Sean's legs, and led the way into the kitchen.

The fluffy tabby cat announced himself with a few quick meows, tail held high, clearly expecting to get some sort of treat.

"Sean," his aunt called from the sink.

"Sorry, Aunt Debby," Sean said, quickly scooping the tabby up into his arms. He knew his aunt didn't particularly care for animals being in the kitchen.

"It's fine, hun, I'll open a can of something for him in a second," she said while Sean's mother pulled out bowls for him and Anna. "You can put it out on the porch."

"Thanks," Sean called, heading back towards the front door.

The orange and white cat had been an almost constant companion of Sean's for the last four years, and no one really gave him any grief over it. 'Trouble' had belonged to Sean's late best friend, so it wasn't hard for anyone to understand why he'd be so attached to the cat.

What no one else knew though, save for the man who'd helped Sean do it, was that the spirit of Trevor Hennessey was the only thing inhabiting the feline body.

Trouble was Trevor.

No one else could hear Trevor except for Sean, because he was the one who performed the ritual. Voodoo wasn't a practice their community condoned. So, no one, especially his parents, could ever find out what he'd done.

"Here's an idea, Mrs. Erikson, this time you eat on the porch, and I'll eat at the table," Trevor's voice suggested in place of 'meows'.

The tabby scowled towards the kitchen before looking at Sean, who snorted at the comment but didn't reply.

It'd been a rough adjustment—talking to a cat. He'd made the mistake one too many times of conversing with Trevor regardless of who was around at first.

People thought he'd lost it. His mom had even dragged him to Denver a couple times to see a shrink. Those few months were awful, but he learned to save their conversations for when they were alone.

Sean sat Trevor down outside the screen door and returned with the small can of tuna his aunt had parted with.

Once Trevor had begun eating, Sean strode back inside to get himself some food. The gumbo was incredible, as always, and he and Anna both ate until they were miserably stuffed.

Not long after his dad and uncle came inside, Sean's grandparents arrived to eat and play poker as well.

Despite getting a few good hands early on, Sean wasn't very focused on the cards. His thoughts kept stubbornly drifting to the Gibsons' house.

After several rounds of Texas Hold 'Em, Sean went with Anna to hang out in her room. He was feeling a little better, but since he wasn't constantly texting with Jesse, Sean didn't know what to do with his hands without his phone in them.

So, he sat on his cousin's bright, teal comforter, playing with a claw hair clip that looked like Predator's mouth when it opened and closed. Maybe it could eat his problems...

"You low-key should stop focusing so much on this," Anna suggested as she leaned over, bunching up her tight, kinky curls close to her forehead.

"Breakups are kind of a big deal."

"This one isn't that big of a deal, trust me." She paused, twisting her hair. "We all kinda knew you two only started dating because of what happened."

Anna folded the twisted ponytail back to create a sort of modified pineapple. Sean felt like she might as well have been twisting his stomach too.

"What's that mean?"

"You know what I mean, you went through some shit." She blinked at her nightstand.

"Trevor's passing had nothing to do with Jesse," he argued, watching her look around for something.

"Look, it's nothing to be ashamed of, Sean," she said, before turning and spotting the clip in his hand.

Realizing that had been what she was looking for, he handed it over, and she continued.

"Hooking up served a purpose for a while, but you're ready to move on."

Was that it? Was he just broken after what he'd gone through to keep his best friend? Did he only start dating Jesse so he could feel like someone would pick up his pieces? Sean cringed. That sounded awful...

"You know what I think you should do?" Anna asked.

"What?"

"Stop worrying about boyfriends and relationships for a little while," she recommended while securing her hair with the clip.

Sean rolled his eyes. He was eighteen—finding a boyfriend or girlfriend wasn't exactly a top priority thing, of course, but it still felt pretty important to him.

"Meditate, practice some spells, spend some time alone..." She trailed off as she focused on his reflection in her vanity mirror. "Get back to doing you for a while."

Sean grinned, despite himself. "I'm single, isn't that part kind of a given?"

She smirked as she pulled out a cigarette and lit it.

"You're still going to the party at the creek Saturday night, right?" Sean asked as he watched her take a drag.

"Bet." Anna nodded, the smoke rolling lazily past her high cheekbones.

"I might still go." Sean leaned back on his hands. "Maybe I'll meet a handsome rebound."

Anna laughed. "That doesn't count as alone time."

"Yeah," Sean drawled, snickering at himself.

He was joking, of course. He may have been emotionally ready to let go of Jesse, but adjusting to being alone was still frightening.

Sean admittedly hadn't thought about how drastic of a change it would be going from constant texting, and talking, and hugging, and doting, to just... nothing. It hurt. But he knew it was needed... for both of them.

And when social situations or cat naps prevented Sean from conversing with Trevor, Anna was always cool with chilling and talking. And she was certainly never shy about telling him what he needed to hear.