My Best Friend's Best Friend

Chapter 5: Luau

"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.