Something to Talk About

Chapter 4 - The Heist

Stakeouts are usually Sebastian's least favourite part of pulling pranks. Sure, the payoff is almost always worth it, but it's never fun sitting in an uncomfortable hiding spot for an hour – or worse, hours – while Sam complains, and Abigail shushes him every ten minutes.

"My jeans are soaked," Sam whines beside him. "Can't we just distract Marnie while someone sneaks in and steals the shorts?"

Abigail rolls her eyes. "Stop being so impatient, Sam. You guys do this all the time; I thought you would've quit complaining by now."

"It's cold, my pants are soaked, and I can't feel my fingers," Sam continues to complain. "I need my fingers, Abby. I play guitar!"

Abigail shushes Sam. There's the sound of a door opening, and then footsteps crunching through the snow. "That's gotta be her," Abigail whispers, "Shane was just heading into my dad's store when I left."

"Fucking finally," Sebastian mutters.

He moves to stand up from where he's been crouching in the bush, but Abigail grabs his arm, and yanks him back down. "Don't look, idiot; she might see us!"

Sebastian frowns. "How are we supposed to know it's her, then?"

"Who else would it be?" she shoots back. They wait until the sound of footsteps gets fainter, and then disappears altogether. Abigail pokes her head around the side of the bush, and then motions for them to follow her.

A bell chimes overhead as they open the door to Marnie's Ranch. Marnie, who's still at the counter, looks up with a startled expression.

Sebastian swears under his breath.

"Oh, hello there," Marnie greets them, her face settling into a smile. She's got a book in her hand – a romance novel, Sebastian guesses, judging by the shirtless man on the cover that looks exactly like Elliott. Marnie sets aside the book, placing it face down on the counter. "Can I help you three with something?"

"Um," is Abigail's eloquent answer.

Sebastian glances around – maybe there's a problem in the woodwork he can point out? To the right of the shop entrance is the kitchen, and to the left is a fireplace, surrounded by hay and wooden barrels.

Yoba. Marnie's ranch is a fucking fire hazard waiting to happen. Sebastian's mom would have a cow if she saw this – he thinks back to last week, when Demetrius had almost blown up the house with one of his dumb experiments. It'd been super satisfying watching his stepfather get chewed out – his mom's temper could easily outmatch any explosive in Demetrius' lab. Sebastian should definitely mention this to his mom later.

Now's definitely not a good time to bring it up, though. An uneasy silence has fallen in the shop, and one of them needs to come with a non-accusatory explanation, fast. Sebastian decides to ask for a bucket – Marnie probably has some sort of milk pail for sale, and it can't be too unreasonable for them to want one.

"We want to buy a chicken," Sam blurts out, before Sebastian can say anything. Marnie and Abigail both turn to stare at him with matching looks of confusion.

"What do you need a chicken for?" Marnie asks politely.

Sam has a clear look of panic on his face, and Sebastian's worried that he's going to answer with something stupid, like 'dinner', when Abigail jumps in.

"It's for the farmer!" she exclaims. "It's, um, a birthday gift? We wanted to give her something, uh... useful." Abigail smiles.

Marnie beams back at Abigail. "Oh, that's nice! I can definitely help you with that," she agrees, before busying herself with a notebook. "The farmer's really great with her animals," Marnie continues, scribbling something down. "She was here the other day with Shane, looking at his newest hatchlings. Did you know he's been working on a new breed of special chickens? I could send her one of those, if you'd like. I know she'd just love one!"