"What?" my jaw dropped. I stood there, emotionless, staring at everyone in disbelief. This wasn't happening. We couldn't be losing the restaurant.

"It's true." Dennis looked up from the table.

I shook my head, still unable to believe what they were talking him. "No! We can't be! We've had so much work the past two days--"

"Two days aren't going to make up for entire months, Lou. I'm sorry." Gramps' face fell.

"I refuse to believe it! There has to be a way to save it!" I protested.

"There is one way." Dennis started.

"No." his uncle glared at him.

"Bella is trying to help, okay?" Dennis said angrily.

"So now you're on a first-name basis, huh?" Logan crossed his arms.

"What's your problem?" Dennis sneered at him.

"That's not the damn point!" Jenny slammed her hands on the table.

"Jenny is right." Larry agreed lowly. Jenny raised an eyebrow, proving that they still weren't over the fight they'd had before.

"Dennis, we're not selling off to the Jade Industry, okay? It's the same thing as losing the restaurant. First they tell you you get to keep everything about your property, no matter what that may be. Then they start enforcing small changes that get bigger and bigger. In the end, there will be nothing left of Lila's." George turned his attention back to his nephew.

"Whatever..." he scoffed.

The bell we had over the door to signal us of any customers jingled.

"We're closed!" Jenny yelled.

"Even for me?" a guy I'd never seen before leaned against the door frame, flirtily winking at Jenny. He had blond hair that he'd tried too hard to make them seem messy and twinkling brown eyes. His smirk was flirtier than his wink.

Her gaze hardened. "Henry, I told you I was busy tonight."

Larry's expression went dark when he heard who the man was.

"I wanted to see you." Jenny's boyfriend shrugged.

"I have work to do." she crossed her arms.

"You just said that the restaurant was closed."

"That doesn't mean I don't any have work to do! Just go, I'll call you when I'm done."

"I could wait for you to finish your shift."

"I've already finished my shift, Henry. This is an emergency and I don't know how long it's going to take. Just go." Jenny hissed, looking at him meaningfully.

"I'm not going anywhere without you." Henry crossed his arms.

"I deserve some privacy and to spend time without you. We've been together for two days in a row non-stop. I need to catch my breath." Jenny told her boyfriend.

"Dude, she told you to go. Stop being so clingy." Larry told him before he could stop himself. The waitress glanced at him gratefully.

"Who are you, anyway?" Henry glared down at him.

"I'm a friend." Larry got our of his chair.

"Okay, guys relax." I started to panic at the idea of a fight breaking out.

"Shut up, kid." Henry growled at me.

"Hey!" everyone exclaimed at the same time, glaring at him.

"Thats enough, get out." Jenny pointed at the door.

"I told you, I'm not going anywhere without you." he hissed, grabbing her forearm.

"Henry, you're hurting me." she told him firmly. He didn't let go. "Henry--"

Larry threw a punch in Henry's face out of nowhere, making the latter stumble backwards. Henry touched the edge of his bottom lip, where blood had started to come out.

"She told you that you were hurting her." Larry rolled up his sleeves.

"Henry, or whatever your name is, get out of here right now or I'm calling the police." George intervened, keeping the fight from escalating any further.

"This isn't over." Henry yelled, heading for the door.

"I love to be the bearer of these amazing news, but it is. Don't come anywhere near me ever again, you creep." Jenny told him. As Henry slammed the door behind him, she raised her middle finger and cursed at him.

She then stormed away to the fence separating the floating platform from the water and leaned against it.

"Go! This is your chance!" we all urged Larry, who got up and approached Jenny to avoid our complaining later.

Then the rest of us gathered up at a table and started plotting what to do to earn enough money for the restaurant.

"We could add the restaurant's story to the menu. Like, whoever comes to order can see how much we've worked for Lila's and urge more people to help us save it." I suggested. "Being sentimental usually works, right?"

"Yeah, but we could also add a new recipe to the menu. People like trying new things and we haven't changed or added anything in years." Gramps told George.

"Or we could sell off to Bella--" Dennis tried to say again.

"No." we all glared at him.

"How about you do everything you suggested-apart from the selling off part, I'm just going to ignore that- and have a party about it? Like a Save Lila's campaign or something." Logan shrugged.

"That's actually not a bad idea... It's sentimental, something new and it will get a lot of people to come to the restaurant. It's perfect!" George exclaimed. "We just need a special recipe no one has ever tasted before around here."

"What if we told Larry to spice up Lila's shrimp pasta a bit?" Gramps told him.

"I could help!" I added.

"That's a great idea! That's exactly what we're going to do. We need to make some advertising posters and hang them up around town, then get to work with the new recipe and the menu alterations." George summed up. "Logan, that was so good, I'm thinking I might hire you permanently around here."

"I'd be honored," Logan laughed "but Lou and Gramps did more than half the work with this idea."

"You're too modest for your own good. Do you think you could design the posters?" George asked him.

"Sure."

"Awesome. Dennis, you're going to help him out with that."

"So now you want my help?" Dennis got out of his chair. Jenny and Larry turned around in surprise.

"We always want your help! You just always have something better to do!" I crossed my arms.

"What are you talking about?" Dennis asked me, obviously hurt by that comment.

"I'm talking about the fact that you're always disappearing whenever we need you! Most recent example? Two nights ago, on that one busy night when you decided to take a break and let us drown in our own sweat!" I replied. "Not to mention the promise you broke." I glared at him, making him realise that I'd seen him with Bella.

"I... I'm sorry. I didn't know you felt that way. Same goes about the promise, I just couldn't help it." he frowned.

"I'm not falling for that again." I shook my head.

"I told you that I'm sorry! What else do you want, Lou?" he snapped.

"For you to earn your forgiveness, not just wait for me to give it to you like I have a million other times! I'm done with all that!" I yelled back. "If you want to be forgiven, fight for it! Don't just throw a sorry when you get tired of fighting just to stop the fight and then go back to doing the same thing all over again!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" he asked me again, clearly annoyed by my reply.

"I'm talking about how you're always taking everything for granted and you know it. That's why you keep taking advantage of almost everyone in here, but you know what? I'm done giving you what you want!" I shouted, angry tears spilling out of my eyes.

"Lou, calm down." Logan wrapped an arm around my shoulders. I immediately relaxed a little, but I wasn't done with Dennis.

Soeaking of Dennis, he eyed us suspiciously, before hardening his glare. "I see how it is."

"What the hell is the matter with you?" I yelled again.

"You're all about saving the restaurant, but you still have time for dating? And then you're judging me for spending some completely friendly time with Bella."

"This is different, because Logan isn't trying to get us out of business! On the contrary, he's trying to help- much unlike you! My love life is none of your business, Dennis, and yours is none of mine but when you're getting so close with someone that only wants to hurt all of us and our jobs, it becomes something to be handled, okay? And apart from that, I have a life to live. If I want to date, I'll date. I can make my own choices and I know how to balance the time I spend with my boyfriend and the time I spend working, got it?"

He scoffed and rolled his eyes. "All I have to say is that you're a damn hypocrite."

"Are you even listening to me or are you too busy trying to get yourself out of getting the blame you know you deserve?"

"Why would I possibly deserve the blame?"

"If you'd payed any attention to what I've been telling you for the past few minutes, you would have known the answer to that, but once again, you only care about yourself. I can't deal with you right now." I shook my head and attempted to storm out.

"Don't bother, I'm leaving." he interrupted me and left the restaurant.

"What the hell just happened?" George stood shocked, staring wide-eyed at the door.

"I definitely wasn't expecting that..." Gramps said, somewhat sarcastically.

"I need some air." I ran a hand through my hair and went out to sit on the sand.

I had been sitting there for a few minutes, hugging my knees with my fingers tangled in my hair and trying to understand when everything went wrong.

Dennis used to be a good guy, but he'd started to change for the worse. Logan had always been a great guy and he was only getting better. Lila's was always the best restaurant in town, but that had stopped being the case.

I hated change, especially when it was so drastic and quick. Everything was happening so fast that my lungs felt empty of air. No matter how deep breaths I got, I needed more oxygen. The salty air of the beach no longer helped me relax.

Why was any of this happening? Life was the best it could be up until the Seashell opened.

I wanted to blame Bella for all of it, I really did, but I knew it wasn't her fault. She was just doing her father's work. She was just another seventeen-year old that wanted to prove that she wasn't as spoiled as people made her out to be, and I could see that. I understood her place.

I knew she only took charge of the restaurant to prove to her father she could handle it. I knew she wanted to work for what she had. I just didn't understand why it had to be at Lila's expense.

Why did everything have to be about money?

The thought that everyone was changing and I was remaining the same made tears we'll up in my eyes again.

Why was I still the same, after all those years?

Why were things only getting worse and worse?

Why was I the only one staying behind while everyone else got ahead of me? It was as if I was running in a race being, first for all laps, but when the final round came everyone surpassed me.

And I knew why that was.

I put all my energy in being ahead of everyone else and I exhausted myself. Such a small thing that came make you seem so stupid and slow.

One mistake and everything you've worked for goes to waste.

That's exactly how I felt, sitting on the sand of an empty beach, bawling my eyes out and sobbing on my own.

Someone laid a comforting hand on my shoulder and sat down next to me. I looked up, but it took me a while to recognise Jenny's signature ginger hair in the dark with my blurry eyes.

"I know it's hard right now and that you feel like you've got a huge responsibility but, please," she frowned, rubbing my back "take a break. This isn't up to you. You should be thinking about what you're going to do when you go to college in a few weeks, not about stuff like this. You're a kid, and I'm not saying this as if it's a bad thing. Enjoy your summer while you still can... Let the grown ups worry about this."

"No! I grew up in this restaurant, I'm bit going to stand idly and do nothing to save it."

"Maybe it can't be saved." her voice cracked.

"But maybe it can and I'm willing to try."

"Okay then... Get up and let's go back there. Wipe your tears and prepare for a long night of brainstorming. You can cry if we lose Lila's, save those tears for when all hope is lost. Don't waste your time when you can still keep trying."

I nodded and did as she said. I dusted the sand off me on our way back to the restaurant.

Jenny was right. There was time for crying later.

You can't mourn for something you haven't lost yet.