Who: Brianna and Sebastian When: Early evening, Tuesday, October 24th Where: Home Status: Complete
Brianna and James had returned home from their trip that morning, after Sebastian and Ophelia had already left for school. It hadn’t taken her long to start searching through the house, looking for any sign of a party. She didn’t think Sebastian would have disobeyed the rules, but Brianna had been seventeen once as well, so she knew better than to assume her son was a saint. But the house looked to be in order which told her he had listened to his parents instructions, or he had just done a really magnificent job in cleaning up. Either way, Brianna pushed it out of her mind as she sat down at her laptop to check in with work and catch up on her emails.
As it got later in the day, Brianna eventually ventured into the kitchen to start dinner. She knew Sebastian was practicing with the team after school again, now that the doctor had cleared him to play. But she expected her children home for dinner, at least, given they hadn’t seen Brianna and James in several days. She had begun chopping a pepper when she heard the front door open, but she didn’t call out, fully expecting whoever it was to pop into the kitchen to at least greet her.
While Sebastian hadn’t had so many people over that it could really be considered a party, there had still been some clean up to do before his parents got back. He’d washed his sheets, plus those in the guest room, then cleaned the guest bathroom so that it looked completely unused. There wasn’t as much to do as the girls had done a fantastic job of cleaning up, had even stripped the sheets for him, for which he was thankful. He’d checked to make sure there wasn't any sign that the girls had gotten high on the back porch, and stopped just short of vacuuming the game room. There was such a thing as being too clean.
He’d thought the last week was hard, seeing Hunter in the halls and not being able to really interact with him, but this week was worse. The weekend had been such a high, being with Hunter, being himself, that it was almost suffocating to stuff himself back into the role that he’d setup for himself. It stressed him out, even when things were technically back to normal. Even being around his parents put him on edge, but he couldn’t ignore them. That would make things worse. When he got home from school on Tuesday, he headed for the kitchen before taking a shower, feeling like he at least needed to say hello after they were gone all weekend. “Hey,” he smiled at his mother, backpack still on his shoulder. “How was your trip?”
Brianna looked over as Sebastian entered the kitchen and she gave him a smile while scooping up the peppers with the knife and dumping them in the pan on the stove, where they sizzled. "Hey there," she said, sounding quite cheerful, as she usually did after a long weekend away. "We had a good time. Your father is exhausted, so he's taking a nap before dinner. How was school?" He looked happy enough and Brianna's smile widened as she continued, not bothering to wait for his answer as she went back to adding spices to the pan. "Margaret Cooper sent me a couple photos today that she took of you and Jules from Homecoming. They're gorgeous, Bash. We should frame one for the study."
Sebastian nodded and was just about to update her on school when she brought up the Homecoming photos. “Eh, that might be a bit much,” he laughed a little, not sure a picture of him and Jules deserved that kind of attention. ‘Gorgeous’ was probably an exaggeration, an expectation tacked on to a false reality. “I mean, we’re not dating. We’re just friends,” he added, hoping that he could drill that point home. At some point it would get around to Margaret Cooper that her daughter was dating Jasper Lucas, but it didn’t sound like that time had come yet. “Can I see ‘em though?” he asked, curious anyways. They were still friends, for which he was thankful.
"Oh, it's not a bit much," Brianna admonished. "It's your senior year. These are important moments." She ignored Sebastian's claim that he and Jules were just friends as she wiped her hands on the nearby dish towel and picked up her phone to open up Margaret's text messages so she could show Sebastian the photos. "You two look so lovely together," she said as she handed Sebastian the phone and went back to what she was doing. "Margaret keeps hoping you'll wake up and give Jules another chance. That girl needs a bit of direction in her life and you two always seemed to have such a good time together." Brianna grabbed a spatula to push around the vegetables and chicken. She considered it a good sign that he wanted to at least see the photos.
“We did. We do,” Sebastian said, smiling as he flipped through the pictures. They were good pictures, and they did look good together. But appearances weren’t everything. They looked good on paper, and in pictures, but they didn’t work and never would. But it was still nice to capture the night. Everything about that night made him smile. “It’s not that I won’t give her another chance,” he said, looking up at his mom as he handed back the phone. “I’m just not into her like that. We’re better as friends.” It felt like a sensible answer, even if he had been straight. The only problem was that every single straight guy he knew was into her like that. All guys had chemistry with Jules, except him.
Brianna hummed a small noise of acknowledgment, although not quite acceptance, as she took her phone back and set it to the side. She decided not to fault him too much for his decisions. Sebastian was young, and he was a senior. She couldn't blame him for wanting to be single and enjoy his last year in high school. And then college would come and Brianna could only imagine how many different girls he would be bringing home on the holidays. The right one would come along eventually. Hopefully she wasn't a complete disaster. "So, you never said, how was school? Practice? Are you feeling alright? No headaches?"
Sebastian breathed easier when they got off the subject of who he was dating, glad that she wasn’t in the mood to push. He was so tired of lying and it felt even worse when it was his mother because he knew she cared about him. He just also knew she wouldn’t be happy with his choices. “School’s okay. Got my grade up in physics, and aced the MacBeth test. Last week’s game sucked ass ‘cause so many of us were benched, but I think we can make up for it this week and head to the finals.” Greg’s optimism was clearly rubbing off on him. “Feeling good. No more headaches. I’m cleared to play this Friday.”
"Good, good," Brianna murmured absently as she flipped the chicken in the pan. Sebastian was a smart kid, so she rarely worried about his grades. That was one of the only things he and Ophelia seemed to have in common. They both knew if they wanted to get into a good school, they would have to work for it. Brianna and James could afford the tuition, but what kind of parents would they be if they just handed their children everything they wanted in life? Brianna had to work hard to get where she was. She expected the same of her children. "What did you do this weekend?" She looked over at him then, as if expecting to see details of his time at home without his parents shining in neon on his face. "Did you do anything fun?"
Though he knew she would ask, Sebastian still felt unprepared. He had never felt like a good liar and would’ve said he was bad at it if he hadn’t successfully played at being straight for as long as he had. He’d found the easiest way to get away with it was to say as much truth as possible. “Greg and I went to the festival,” he said, pretty sure if she read any guilt on him, it could be attributed to that. He knew he was supposed to stay away from all things witchy, but ninety percent of that festival was just touristy bullshit. “Then came back here, played video games, and ate our weight in pizza. Pretty lazy weekend. Phee and I cooked Sunday night. That was fun.”
Brianna had known the witches festival was going to take place the weekend before, which was part of the reason she had wanted to get out of town. It was a mockery of her heritage - even if her children didn't know that - and she always felt like the witches in town who took part should have been ashamed of themselves. She wasn't pleased to hear that Sebastian had attended it, even if it was mostly touristy bullshit. "Bastian," Brianna said with a sigh as she turned to him. He would know what the look of disappointment on her face was for. With one hand gripping the counter and the other resting on her hip, she studied him carefully, looking for any sign that he might be lying to her. "You didn't buy anything from the festival, did you?" It had been a very long time since she had searched his room while he wasn't home, but the urge to do so again was starting to rise.
Sebastian sighed dramatically and rolled his eyes in annoyance. Yes, he’d bought stuff. No, he wasn’t going to tell her what. Except it was better to tell her something than have her go snooping. He’d yet to figure out where he could keep his stuff for spells and the last thing he needed was her coming across his ingredients for hex bags. “Just a braided leather band and a hot dog. Hot dogs seemed safe,” he said with a little snort. “It’s mostly just crap. Palm readings, crystals, and talismans. Half of it says ‘made in China’ on the bottom.” He drummed his fingers on the counter for a second, then forced himself to stop. “I wouldn’t invite anything evil into our home. I’m not stupid.” He sounded like a petulant child, but that was kind of the point.
Brianna pursed her lips briefly. Sebastian was generally a mature young man, but sometimes he seemed to go out of his way to remind her that he was, in fact, a teenager. "Don't roll your eyes at me and watch the attitude," she warned. "I never said you were stupid, but sometimes people sell things at those festivals not understanding what they really are. You know how I feel about this, and I would appreciate it if you didn't make light of it." Really, she should have known he would be tempted to go to that abomination and Brianna was wondering if she should have just stayed home to keep an eye on him. "What about Phee?" Brianna asked. "Did she go too?"
Sebastian instantly thought of the Ouija board and Sabrina thinking it would be a fun party game. The difference was that he knew about those things and felt like he could make a good judgment call. Plus, if they’d been properly taught, maybe they could feel the magic in something for themselves. “I’m not making light of it, I just mean… going to the festival isn’t any more dangerous than living here.” It was probably not a good time to mention he’d gone on the witches tour. He had the feeling that would get him grounded, but at least this was nicely distracting from the rest of his weekend. “I don’t think so. It was just me and Greg. I think she stayed home and read.”
Inhaling slowly through her nose, Brianna released the breath between her lips to calm her temper. She had been gone several days and now she was home with her children and she didn't want to ruin it by getting angry. "I want to see what you bought," Brianna said simply as she turned back to finish dinner, as though there was no room for argument. "Your father will take a look and make sure it's all right to keep." If there was any hint of magic in that braided leather band, she was going to burn it. "Go get cleaned up and tell Phee dinner will be ready in about twenty minutes. I expect to see you both at the dinner table tonight."
“Sure,” he said, not thrilled with the idea, but he supposed it was better now than later. Let her check the band before he set it up to contain his backlash. Then she wouldn’t have any reason to check it out in the future. “Just don’t let him break it. I like it.” He’d bought it with his own money and that made it his. “Kay,” he nodded, hefting his bag back on his shoulder. “Just gonna shower real quick.” And make sure everything he was even remotely worried about his mother finding was hidden securely away. He didn’t think she snooped around, but he wouldn’t put it past her. Better to be safe than sorry.
"As long as it's clean, you won't have to worry about anything happening to it," Brianna said over her shoulder. And by clean, she obviously meant clear of all traces of magic. The last thing she needed was some magical trinket from a witches festival to ruin or expose everything she had worked so hard to keep safe, including her children. "Twenty minutes," she called as she focused on cooking now, determined to leave the conversation behind them. She would wake up James to check Sebastian's bracelet and then move on from there. There was a horrible suspicion sneaking inside of her that she should check his room, maybe tomorrow when he was at school, but Brianna tried to push the urge away. She wanted to trust her son, and Sebastian had given her no reason not to. At least not yet. But he was getting older, and probably more curious, so Brianna realized she needed to stay more alert to what he was getting up to.