Since it was Friday, Sean's mom and Anna were both at the salon. His mom had started up her own little business cutting and styling hair when she was twenty, so naturally, she was thrilled when Anna wanted to apprentice under her. Before she'd even finished high school, Anna had already amassed her own list of regular customers, so now that she was twenty, she was already well set on her career.

"Hi, Hun!" Sean's mom called from the other side of the salon as he entered.

"Hey, Sean." Anna waved with a comb in her hand.

"Morning," Sean replied.

His cousin patted the chair at her station with her free hand and he caught a concerned glance between the two women as he sat down.

"Is everything okay?" Anna asked.

"Yep."

Was he just a dick? Was that why things hadn't worked out with him and Jesse? He swiveled the chair around to look at himself in the large mirror.

"You look puzzled," Anna whispered, grinning when Sean looked up at her. "That or constipated."

"Thanks. I'm neither," Sean said with a wry smile. "Just thinking."

"I'll let you know if I start smelling something burning then," she stated, unwrapping a stick of Juicy Fruit and popping it in her mouth.

"Are you and your bae still pretty close, even though he's gonna leave for school soon?" Sean wondered.

Anna tilted her head slightly before moving behind him and tousling his dark mess of brown hair.

Sean's gaze focused on her reflection, and the way her darker skin contrasted with his own.

"Yeah, I guess," she replied before adding, "I mean we aren't attached at the hip or anything. Why?"

Sean itched his forehead just above his brow. He stared back at his reflection, trying to imagine himself fifty years from now...like the Gibsons. Maybe his hazel eyes would be a little duller, his thick, wavy hair white or gone, even... and he tried to imagine who would be with him.

"No reason," he finally said, though he'd immediately felt disappointed in himself for pussing out, and not saying what was in his head. But... maybe he was thinking too much about the breakup.

"You should let me do something with your hair. Your undercut's getting long."

"I like it a little longer," Sean defended. Maybe him and Jesse had just needed to be together longer as well...

"Then let me color it?"

...or maybe not.

"I don't want it blond." His immediate and firm response made his cousin laugh. "I'm headed to the Book Barn, actually. Was just stopping in to say hi on my way."

"Are you sure? I could do a balayage. That would look good on you."

"A bala-what?" Sean shook his head. "Maybe just a trim later."

Anna rolled her dark eyes. "You're so basic, Sean."

"Yeah, well... Trying too hard to look cool never seemed very cool," he said with a wide grin as he hopped out of the chair.

"Hey, could you do me a favor?" Anna said, shielding her eyes from the sun as she stepped outside with him. "Before they get any busier, could you run across the street and grab me something?"

La Petite Cafe sounded French, but the owners, Mr. and Mrs. Peters were definitely not. Sean was pretty sure the spelling wasn't even right, but the food was good at least.

"I guess so," he said before the loud, rippling roar of motorcycle engines interrupted the otherwise quiet main street.

The leather-clad pack of bikers parked in front of La Petite and removed their helmets. Sean watched as two went inside, while the other three stayed with their bikes out front.

It wasn't that uncommon this time of the year to see people enjoying a ride up through the mountains. Motorcycles looked fun, but even though he already had his license, Sean was in no hurry to get more comfortable driving much of anything.

"Can I wait a little bit before I do?"

"Why? Those bikers? They're not gonna jump you, just go grab me a sandwich and a coffee," Anna insisted, handing him her card before stepping back inside. "Aunt Maddie, do you want anything from Petite's?"

Sean faintly heard his mother's reply. "No, I'm good, hun."

"I'm paying," Anna clarified.

"Oh, I could use a coffee!"

Sean snorted as Anna stuck her head back outside to address him.

"A chicken salad sandwich, a large regular coffee, and a medium caramel iced coffee. Got it?"

Sean glanced at Trevor. "And what about you, Trouble? Need anything from the errand boy?" he asked the tabby before noticing that Annalise had already gone back inside.

"I'll just go with you," Trevor replied as he started across the street with Sean right behind him.

"Pretty sure they don't want you in there after last time," Sean teased, but it was moments just like this, when they were doing normal, everyday things, that Sean missed seeing Trev walking next to him the most.

Not a cat, but Trevor, in his favorite blue jeans and old plaid shirt that had holes around the sleeve cuffs... his amber eyes and infectious smirk. Sean's best friend since he was old enough to decide whether he had friends or not.

"Nah, they love me," Trevor retorted, "Besides, you'd get my order wrong."

About ten minutes outside of Aspenview, the five bikers gave a little extra room to a red Ford pickup with a Wyoming license plate traveling in the opposite direction. You could never be too careful driving on these winding mountain roads.

The pickup's windows were down, blasting heavy rock as it passed the bikers on its way to town. In the passenger's seat, Nate shifted in an attempt to put his legs in any position other than the one they had been in for the past 5 hours.

He watched the scenery fly by outside the truck. His side had a fantastic view of a rocky fifty-foot drop to a small river below. Kaiden's side had nothing to look at besides oncoming traffic and a wall of mountain rock.

Nate imagined what it would be like if Kaiden didn't turn with the road and instead just drove off the side through the barricade. There would be no chance anything would survive that. Their little pickup would be shredded like paper on the rocks before it even reached the bottom.

"Hey!" Kaiden's voice shouted over the radio that drowned out everything but the engine, and he glanced several times in Nathan's direction, indicating that this wasn't the first time he'd attempted to get his cousin's attention.

Of course, turning down the music during a guitar solo was sacrilegious, even if it did take Kaiden twice as long to hold a basic conversation because of it. But everything about Kaiden screamed classic rocker, from his long, black hair, to his ripped jeans, leather boots, and heavy eyeliner. That was why Nate liked him—they were kind of rebels, into most of the same things, and more like brothers than cousins in many ways.

"Still awake? We're almost there!" Kaiden yelled, taking another drag from his cigarette before glancing back at Nathan, who had shifted back in his seat enough to rest both boots on the dash.

"Drive faster," Nathan yelled back, getting a smirk from his cousin, who popped open another energy drink while his cigarette was between his lips. "I need to piss!"

Kaiden had already been pushing ten over most of the drive, but he didn't have any issue leaning into the gas a little bit more and passing the van that he'd been stuck behind for the past thirty minutes. The moment he did, a semi came around the corner, going the opposite direction. Nate's heart leaped into his throat as his fingers dug into the armrest.

"Kaid!" Nate shouted, and to his dismay, he heard the little truck's engine rumble with protest as Kaiden hit the gas harder. They swerved out of the path of the semi and narrowly in front of the van with a sudden jerk. Both vehicles blared their horns as Kaiden started to laugh.

"Fuck," Nate breathed as he relaxed back into his seat.

"Scared?" Kaid asked with a smirk as he dodged a swing from Nate.

"Jackass! Can you just get us to gran's house in one fucking piece?"

"Sure, sure! Next stop, Aspenview!"