"Check this out." Sam looked around before pulling a bottle stealthily out of his pocket. Sebastian glanced down at the label. X-Treme Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce.

"You wouldn't dare," Sebastian said under his breath, checking that no one at the Luau had seen them.

"Oh lighten up," Sam said, nudging him. "I just want to mess with the governor. Since when do you care about a little prank?"

"Since everyone started assuming your dumb pranks have something to do with me. Your mom already hates me."

"Please, she doesn't hate you."

"Well, she definitely doesn't like me."

Sam shoved the bottle back in his pocket and looked out to the ocean nonchalantly—Mayor Lewis was walking by, and he was eyeing the both of them.

"Shoot, I'll never get away with it if he's already on my case," Sam said, then he noticed Penny on the other side of the beach. "I know who could do it for me. No one would ever see that coming! Ha!"

"Wait—" Sebastian started, but Sam had already run off to Penny like a puppy. There was no stopping him when he set his mind to something.

Sebastian watched from afar as Sam pulled out the bottle to show Penny. She shook her head, but Sam was pleading with her. Sebastian groaned to himself when she reluctantly took the bottle. This was not a good idea.

Sam caught Sebastian's eye and shot him a surreptitious thumbs up. Sebastian just shook his head and went to hang out with Abigail.

As the party progressed, he couldn't help but watch Penny hover around the potluck soup cauldron. She was antsy like a kid waiting to give a class presentation. Every time she got near, she'd give up and act like she was going to one of the other tables. She probably had three servings of potato salad. It was painful to witness.

He kept telling himself that it had nothing to do with him, but what kind of asshole could watch this and not feel bad for her?

Sebastian went up to one of the tables and got himself a plate with some kind of roast meat. Then he looked for Penny and walked in her direction. He tried his best to look like he was walking somewhere past her. And then, as their paths crossed, he bumped into her.

Not hard, just enough for her to drop the hot sauce bottle that she'd been trying to conceal between her hand and the outside of her leg. It hit the ground, and Penny froze, mortified.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Sebastian said loudly, starting to redden at his own obvious performance. He bent down and picked up the bottle. "Nice! I was hoping someone would bring hot sauce. Do you mind?"

Penny said nothing, and just shook her head no. He popped open the bottle and sloshed it generously over his plate of meat, before setting the bottle down visibly with the other condiments on the table.

The smell took him by surprise, stinging the inside of his nostrils. He grabbed a fork, and with Penny still staring at him in shock, took a substantial bite of the spicy meat.

Spicy was a hell of an understatement. He was no stranger to heat, but this was on a wildly different level. This was not food meant for human consumption. This was poison. This was some sort of industrial cleaning product or pesticide. This was insane.

"Mmm," he said, tears escaping his eyes. Penny watched agape, then came to her senses and grabbed him a cup of water. It didn't help.

"What'd you do that for, man?" Sam jogged up to them.

Sebastian coughed. "Call it my civic duty." He pushed his plate into Sam's hands and grabbed the water before heading down to the dock. That was enough community engagement for one day.

Sebastian didn't come back up to the beach until it was dark and most of the kids and older folks had turned in for the night. He knew Sam and Abby would stick around and hang by the bonfire, but Maru, Penny, Alex and Haley were with them too. Seeing them, he wished he'd stayed on the docks a little longer, but it would be weird now to turn back around.

"Du-ude, Sebastian," Alex called out. "Did you really keep Sam from spiking the soup? That's so lame!"

Haley chimed in, "Ugh, you should have just ratted on them to Mayor Lewis."  She checked her nails. "The whole thing is childish."

Sebastian shrugged and sat on a log between Sam and Abigail.

"You should have asked me to do it, Sam!" Abigail said, ignoring Haley. "I totally would have. Why'd you leave me out?"

Sam laughed. "You would have done it, but you definitely would have got caught! You're not subtle at all, Abs."

"Hey, I can be subtle." Abby pointed a finger at him. "Mark my words, this time next year, I'm gonna put something absolutely vile in the soup, and you'll never see it coming."

"Uh, yes I will," Sam said. "You just told us."

"And I guarantee you'll forget. I'm thinking...algae. Or a slime egg."

"Gross. Okay, I'm out-y." Haley stood up and brushed off the back of her skirt before walking up the beach.

"Goodnight everyone!" Alex called as he hopped up and went after her.

"Abby, I think you'd want to get caught," Sam said with a laugh. "To stick it to your dad or something."

She scoffed, but didn't deny it.

"Now the best person to do it," Sam continued, "is Maru. No one would see it coming, and she wouldn't chicken out like Penny over here."

Maru laughed. "I guess I'll take that as a compliment, thanks."

Penny seemed to scrunch up, taking up as little space as possible.

"Yoba, it's a beautiful night," Abigail said. "I was going to say we should pick up our Solarion campaign since we're all together for the first time in a while, but instead, I think we should have ourselves a real adventure."

"I'm not going in those caves, Abby, no matter how many times you ask," Sebastian said.

"I know, I know," she said defensively. "But there are other places we could go. Like the abandoned farm."

"Nice," Sam said. "Like a test of courage? See who gets freaked out the most?"

"Yeah, what do you all say?" Abigail looked around at the rest of them.

"I'm game," Maru said right away. "I guess I've got a new reputation as not-a-chicken to uphold."

Sebastian was surprised by her again; he would have thought it beneath her. Normally Maru didn't like pointless stuff like this.

"I—I don't know. I think I should probably get home." Penny's voice was meeker than usual.

"Pennyyyy," Sam whined. "It's not that late. Don't be like that!"

For some reason, that really rubbed Sebastian the wrong way. He'd already made her do his dumb prank, what was his deal?

"Well, I guess so—" Penny started.

"Don't make her, Sam," Sebastian interrupted. "She can go home if she wants."

"No," Penny said, her voice more firm. "It's fine. I want to come."

"See?" Sam said happily, and Sebastian bit his tongue.

They trooped up the beach and took the road by Marnie's ranch that led to the south of the farm. Abigail took on the role of the director of their little adventure, and swiped some hay from one of Marnie's bales as they passed. She picked out five pieces, leaving one long and breaking four into two pairs of equal lengths.

"There are five of us, so one person will have to go alone," she said happily, obviously hoping to be the one. She held out the hay in her fist, and they each pulled one.

"Yes!" Abigail was left with the longest. Sebastian wouldn't have been surprised if she'd rigged it somehow. He checked his, it was one of the shortest. It matched Penny's, leaving Maru and Sam paired.

He wasn't sure if this was a bad thing or not. Penny would obviously have preferred to go with Sam, but that sort of thing would only make things worse when he inevitably rejected her. No, this was for the best. For her sake, Penny and Sam were better off apart.

"How about this," Abigail said. "We have to go up all the way to the farmhouse, steal something from inside, and bring it back."

"And if we fail?" Sam asked.

"I guess the winners will have to come up with a good punishment. Can I go first?" Abigail was practically bouncing, so they all agreed to let her go. "Wait at least five minutes before the next group starts!"

Without Abigail's concerning level of bravery, the night became spookier when she was gone. The wind rustled ominously in the trees, and owls hooted eerily.

"That's a great horned owl," Maru said suddenly.

"What?" said Sam.

"That's what kind of owl that was. The 'hoot'-ing."

Sam laughed. "That's so random that you know that! That's awesome!"

"Well, I've been helping with my dad's ecological studies around the valley, so you just sort of pick up on that stuff." Maru couldn't help but let a proud grin sneak onto her face.

"That's sick! Can you like, make bird calls and stuff?"

"What? No, I don't think so. I haven't really tried."

"What bird is this?" Sam proceeded to whistle and caw randomly in one of the poorest impressions of a bird Sebastian had ever heard. Maru apparently found it funny though, and she laughed so hard she nearly cried.

"I'll have to record that and compare it with the archives," she said when her laughter subsided. "It's been five minutes, I guess we'd better start."

Sam and Maru disappeared into the dark, laughing and making more bird sounds. Penny and Sebastian were left alone.

Penny hadn't said much all evening. Then again, neither had Sebastian. What was he supposed to say to her? They were acquaintances, he supposed, but not friends.

He cleared his throat. "There's nothing to worry about in there. There are no wolves or anything. But we don't have to go in if you don't want to."

"Thanks, but I'll be fine. I'm not scared of the dark."

"But you're scared to put some hot sauce in some soup?" Sebastian cocked an eyebrow.

"That—that's different!" she sputtered defensively. "Wolves don't scare me. But people..."

Sebastian could understand that well enough. "Do we even have wolves in the Ferngill Republic?"

Penny relaxed into a smile. "Not unless you travel back in time a hundred years."

"Oh, have you read The Time Skipper?" Sebastian asked.

She brightened as soon as he said it. "Yes! It's one of my favorites. I had to wait forever for the library to get a copy."

"Have you read the sequel?"

"No! I didn't know it was even out yet."

"I had to pre-order it to get a copy. It's even better than the first; you're gonna love it."

"How could it be better?" Penny asked incredulously.

"Just trust me. I'll lend it to you."

"Thanks!"

They were totally absorbed in their book discussion, until Abigail emerged from the woods holding a chipped decorative bowl. "You guys haven't started yet?" she asked.

"Oops," said Sebastian. "Come on."

They entered the dark forest and fell into silence again. Everything was overgrown. The ground was strewn with jagged rocks and tangled weeds, making walking nearly impossible without concentrating. Penny shined her phone's flashlight in front of them and Sebastian helped her hop some logs when needed. Her hands were soft and warm, even though the Summer nights in Pelican Town could get chilly.

Still holding her hand, Sebastian thought, "You'd probably rather be here with Sam." Except he hadn't just thought it, he'd said it out loud.

Oops.

He let go of her and tried to back pedal. "That's not what I meant, I didn't—I just meant, since you know him better, and you..." 

If anything, he'd made it worse.

Penny stopped in her tracks. "And I...?" Her forehead creased in concern.

"Nothing. I didn't mean anything," Sebastian said quickly. What is wrong with me?

She rubbed her head anxiously and said quietly, "Please just tell me."

"You...like him." Sebastian finally said. "Am I wrong?"

Penny pressed her face in her palms.

"I shouldn't have said anything. Just forget it." He wished he could turn back time to a minute ago.

"Is it that obvious?" Penny asked.

"Um...I guess. I'm not usually great at noticing that sort of stuff..."

"Does Sam know? Did you tell him?"

"No! No, of course not," Sebastian said. To be entirely honest, he had been hinting about to Sam, but of course Sam hadn't put two and two together. And maybe that was a good thing.

"I know it's pathetic, but could you please not tell him?" Penny was staring intently at Sebastian. He nodded, and Penny started walking again.

After a while, Sebastian blurted, "It's not pathetic. I don't know much about this sort of thing, but feelings are never something to be ashamed of...I think."

Penny didn't respond, but after another minute of awkward silence, Sebastian couldn't stop himself from rambling more. "Sam's a really good guy. I mean he's kind of a goof sometimes and kind of annoying but he's a really good person. I mean, you probably know that..."

"Thanks, but can we please not talk about this?" Penny said. "Let's just go in." Sebastian realized they had reached the farmhouse.

"Right. Sorry."

They pushed open the door—Maru and Sam must not have shut it properly. It was creepy to be in complete darkness, but as they looked around, it was obvious that the farmhouse was in better condition than they'd assumed. Sebastian had been expecting a total dump.

"It feels wrong to take anything," Penny whispered. There was no reason to whisper, but it seemed appropriate.

"I know, it's like the owner could walk in at any second."

They looked around for anything that looked like it wouldn't be missed, but the cottage was remarkably tidy. Then Sebastian spotted a small houseplant that was on its last legs.

"Here." He picked it up. "If we take this, we can water it, and then it's like we're doing the future owner a favor."

Penny seemed to like the idea. She smiled and took the little plant. "And if someone ever comes to live here, we can just bring it back."

They shut the door behind them when they left, and walked quickly back to where their friends must have been waiting for a while.

Sam and Maru very proudly showed off a rug that looked like it belonged within a foot of the door. They must have gotten a little spooked after all.

Still, everyone succeeded in the mission, so there were no punishments to be doled out. They walked back to town, and Sebastian and Maru headed up the mountain.

"That was the best Luau in years," Maru said.