Something to Talk About

Chapter 2 - The Spa

It takes them thirty minutes to actually leave the house, ten of which Sam spends coaxing Sebastian into his denim jacket. The other twenty are spent rounding up Sam's house keys, his wallet, his backpack, and one of his boots.

They finally make it out Sam's front door, and then the trek up to the spa takes them about forty minutes, because Sebastian insists on walking through the outskirts of town. He claims it's because he doesn't want to have to stop and make small talk with anyone on the way there, and Abigail figures it's actually because Sebastian doesn't want anyone to notice that he's holding Sam's hand.

Abigail loves her friends – really, she does – but taking an hour to get to the spa is just excessive.

"That's the longest walk I've ever taken to get here," she complains, once they've finally inside the chlorine-scented entrance of the spa.

"Not my fault Sam's an idiot who can't keep track of his things," Sebastian retorts. "The only thing he hasn't managed to lose is his virginity."

Sam elbows Sebastian, without letting go of his hand. "Fuck off, Seb; you're a virgin too."

Abigail rolls her eyes. "Thank Yoba I have something over you two losers."

"Wait. You're not a virgin?" Sam asks. "How'd you get laid before either of us? We clearly have better hair."

"I bet she tried to fuck a ghost," Sebastian mutters to him, and Sam fails to stifle his laughter. In a louder voice Sebastian asks, "Hey Abby, have you ever used your spirit board to sext a ghost? I bet you have."

Abigail glares at them both. "Shut up, idiots," she says, pushing open the door to the men's change room. "Don't be jealous."

Inside the change room, the three of them dump their jackets on one of the metal benches, along with Sam's backpack. "Sam, you're going to help me check the lockers," Abigail announces, as she unwinds her scarf, "and Seb... you get to look in the toilet stalls, that's what you get for being a dick."

Sebastian sighs.

"No dicking around," Abigail warns Sam, as Sebastian disappears around the corner, presumably to do anything but search the stalls. She makes a mental note to check them herself before leaving.

Abigail opens the first locker door with ease; one of the perks of living in a town with a population of less than fifty is that no one actually bothers to lock their locker.

Sam pulls his shirt up over his nose. "Yoba, that smells terrible." he says, his voice muffled by fabric.

"If you think that's bad, you should smell my locker," Abigail replies, smirking.

He reaches over her shoulder, and pulls a moldy sandwich in a clear plastic bag out of the locker. "Hey Seb?" Sam calls. "Get back here, I dare you to eat this sandwich we just found."

Abigail smacks the plastic baggie out of his hands. "No," she scolds, "absolutely not.

Sebastian wanders back into the locker area, and studies the sandwich on the floor with a look of disgust. "Are you trying to kill me?"

She moves on to the next locker as Sam and Sebastian argue over what to do with the sandwich. The first two lockers on the bottom row are empty, and Abigail wonders how many of the town's residents actually use the spa. Alex does, for sure, and whoever owns the disgusting sandwich. Gus, maybe? She can't really see Gus disrespecting a perfectly good sandwich by leaving it in a locker, though.

"No, I think we should try to flush it," Sam insists. "How many do you think it would take? Probably two."

The next locker proves to be more interesting; there's a pair of suspenders, a bottle of homemade truffle oil, and a box of condoms. Extra small. Abigail grabs the condom box out of the locker.