Archive of Our Own ^beta

When the stupid matches turned out to be too wet to even light the stupid candles at all, something in her simply snapped.

Oh, it started out as such a great fucking idea. First, that school presentation on "indigenous spiritual beliefs" which basically meant everything that the locals had believed in before organised religion moved in and brainwashed everyone.

And then her excitement about turning 18, not that anyone around her cared.

She'd always hated being from here, hated the backwardness of the place, but the commenters on those blogs and instagram accounts she found during her research made her feel like being born in the Valley was something special, something to be proud of. And they'd all insisted that her birthday and the autumn equinox being so close together meant that she had a uniquely deep connection to the spiritual energies of the Valley and the traditions of her ancestors.

So she'd gotten the candles, even though she had to order them from some stupid speciality store in the city, because of course her dad didn't have any black ones in stock, and she'd found a site with the gemstones she needed, even though she could only afford one of them, and thank god dad did stock those long ass matches that people use for lighting fireplaces, because those were so much cooler than the regular ones. Coolness wasn't mentioned on the list of things needed for a successful equinox ritual, but it was a requirement on her list, so fuck it.

The only thing she hadn't considered was that it was the fucking end of September.

She really should have checked the weather forecast before deciding on the cemetery as the perfect spot for her ritual.

Hurling the soggy, useless matches at the nearest headstone was not nearly as satisfying as she'd thought it would be, since they just flew everywhere. The candles, however, gave a resounding crack when they broke into pieces against the flat stone.

It still wasn't enough to get rid of her anger and frustration. Why even bother? She had a stupid idea, and now it was a mess, just like all her stupid ideas ever. She leaned back against the tree she'd tried to use as shelter from the rain, another stupid idea with how many of its leaves were already lying scattered and rotting all across the cemetery.

And to make matters even worse, her eyes were starting to well up. She wasn't going to cry about some stupid ritual in a cemetery at night, in the middle of a downpour. So fucking cliche. She wasn't the kind of girl to bawl her eyes out over every shitty little thing that went wrong. She wasn't.

She squeezed her eyes shut, balled her fists at her side and took deep breaths to calm herself, and nearly jumped out of her skin when a voice suddenly said, "What the fuck, Abs?"

Sebastian.

Leaning over her, holding up an umbrella.

If the ground would actually cooperate and just swallow her whole, that'd be great, thanks. Fucking hell, could this night get any worse?

At least it was too dark to see the look of pity, or more likely disgust, that Seb probably had on his face. Disgust was usual for him, at least. She didn't think she could bear pity.

But Seb just grabbed hold of her hand and pulled her up.

"You're a mess. Here, hold my umbrella for a mo."

She watched in ever increasing confusion as Seb handed her the umbrella before starting to shrug out of his hoodie, pulling it off over his head and pushing it into her hands.

"You're soaked, you idiot. Give me back my umbrella and put that on. Anything here that you need to bring back home with you?"

She just stared at him, before looking down at the hoodie in her hands. "Uh..."

Fuck, that was eloquent, even by her standards. Probably best to stop trying to make sense of things and simply do what Seb told her to do. She pulled the hoodie on over her head and suddenly couldn't stop shivering, Seb's lingering body heat in the fabric making her realise how cold she actually was.

"Thanks?" she managed to get out through her chattering teeth.

Seb looped an arm around her shoulders and steered her towards the cemetery gate, the umbrella held above their heads.

"Yeah well, I'm going to need that hoodie back asap, so you'd better show up at our game this weekend and not get sick or some stupid shit like that. What the hell were you thinking, sitting out in the rain like that? You're lucky I was on my way home. Why do I have such incredibly stupid friends? I don't know who's a worse disaster, you or Sam."

She leaned into him, grateful for his warmth as well as his annoyed monologue, equal parts supportive and pissed off. That's what being friends with Seb was like. She no longer felt the cold.

"Hey Seb? Can you complain any louder? I don't think the people over in Grampleton got that last part." She grinned at him.

"Fucking brat."

But Seb didn't remove his arm from around her shoulders until they'd finally made it back to her house.

She unlocked the door and looked at Seb. "You're okay getting home like that?"

He shrugged. "I'm fine. That hoodie is probably soaked by now, anyway. You looked like a drowned rat, Abs. Go warm up and get some sleep, or something."

She smiled. "Thanks. Maybe I'll keep your hoodie as my birthday present."

Seb started walking towards the path up the mountain. "And maybe I will kill you in your sleep if you don't start acting like an adult soon. Night, Abs."

Maybe that stupid equinox ritual had been a mistake. But becoming friends with Seb? Best decision she'd ever made.

Next year, she'd just have to check the weather first. Like a responsible adult.