I was surprised that we had so much work that night. I half-expected it, because summer holiday season started and tourists swarmed in, but in the back of my mind I thought they'd- once again- choose the Seashell over Lila's.

I guess that tourists finally realised that going on a trip meant trying new things, and not eating from the same food chain you can find almost everywhere. Lila's had a certain warmth that generally attracted customers; it was the Seashell's lack of originality that took them away from us. People are willing to follow an advertisement as if it's a shepherd and they're a flock of sheep. I don't blame them, though... When you keep seeing the same restaurant on every single ad both on TV and online, it's going to pique your interest.

Why go to a small, family restaurant when you can go to one literally everyone goes?

It was weird and unexpected, but that night was one of the most profitable that summer and it actually gave us all some hope that we could beat the Seashell and kick Bella out of our beach. Logan, Dennis and I were running all over the place, frantically taking orders from customers and delivering food.

"I'm going to take a break. Can you handle this?" Dennis asked us. Logan and I stared at him dumbfounded.

I wiped some sweat from my forehead and scoffed. "You can take a break later! We're literally drowning in orders and sweat right now!" I yelled to be heard over the lively and loud conversations of our customers.

"Lou, I can barely breathe right now! I'll be back in five." he turned to leave.

"Let him go, we've got this." Logan reassured me.

We didn't. It was hard enough having three waiters stepping over each other to actually do our work- having two of them was impossible. There was no time. My muscles ached more and more with every move, I desperately needed some water and I was afraid that if I ever sat down, I would never get up again. My feet burned every time I took a step and I would give away all of my toes to go for a dive and take a break.

"Where the hell is Dennis? It's been fifteen minutes!" I tightened my ponytail, furiously approaching Logan.

"I don't know, he still hasn't returned." he sighed.

"I'm going to check outside the restaurant. I swear to everything that's holy, if he bailed on us again..." I grumbled, not needing to end that sentence. Logan and I both knew that Dennis wouldn't be making it out alive.

I was about to barge out on the sidewalk, when I heard voices. One belonged to Dennis, which wasn't all that strange because he was supposed to be taking a break.

The other one, though...

"What are you doing here?" I glared at Bella.

"Having a chat." she shrugged.

"We have a job to do! Dennis, you said you'd be gone for five minutes and we can barely breathe back there! Get your sorry butt back to work!" I yelled at my friend.

"Calm down, Lou... It's not like we stand a chance, anyway." he rolled his eyes.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Just because we're having one good night this week, it doesn't mean that we're saved!"

I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down. "Get back to work." I gritted my teeth.

"You'd better do as she says... You wouldn't want to get on the bad side of someone this adorable." Bella smirked evidently under the streetlight. Dennis scowled and went back inside the restaurant.

I flipped Bella off and did the same, as she ignored my rude gesture and walked away as elegantly and bossily as ever.

George immediately ran to us.

"Now is not the time to rest, kids! Logan is the only one actually working and he doesn't even work here!" he yelled.

"Sorry unckie, it won't happen again..." I frowned and rushed back to my spot.

For the rest of the night, I kept glaring daggers at Dennis, who tried his best to ignore me.

When the last customers left, I immediately span around to face him. "What were you thinking?" I crossed my arms.

"We were just talking, why are you making such a fuss about this?" he rolled his eyes.

"Oh, I don't know! Maybe because she's trying to get us out of business?"

"Guys, calm down..." Logan said carefully.

"I'm completely calm. She's the one freaking out." Dennis told him.

"I'm not freaking out!" I protested.

"Lou, can you come here for a moment?" Larry called from the kitchen.

I gave Dennis one more glare before storming away.

"What is it?" I sighed, approaching Larry.

"Don't you think you might be overreacting?" he leaned against the counter.

"Is that why you called me here? I thought you needed help cleaning up."

"I do." he motioned his head towards a few dirty glasses. I went over and started washing them as he did the dishes.

"Maybe I am overreacting, but I have a bad feeling about her. Besides, he ditched us to go talk to her on the busiest night we've had in weeks!"

"You're right about all that, but are you sure that's the only reason why you don't like him talking to Bella?"

"I swear on my life that what you're implying has nothing to do with this." I reassured him, knowing that he was talking about my crush on Dennis. "I'm not jealous of Bella. I'm only worried about her motives."

"Well, then. I guess I'll just have to believe you." Larry shrugged.

"What about you and Jenny?" I blurted out, immediately regretting it.

Larry's face fell. "It's her life, her choices. She can do whatever she wants and as long as she's happy, I won't get in her way."

"She's always happy when she's around you."

Larry didn't reply and did the rest of the dishes in silence.

"See you tomorrow, Lou. Goodnight." he said once he was done, and walked out.

"Goodnight..." I sighed and sat on the counter. I wasn't ready to go out and face Dennis again, or anyone for that matter. I needed to think it over.

Just as I was pondering on that, the kitchen door opened and the person I least wanted to see walked in.

"We need to talk." Dennis told me.

"I don't want to talk right now." I gritted my teeth looking away.

"When do you want to talk? Because a while ago you were hell bent on having that fight."

"I wasn't in the mood for a fight! I was mad because you left us to work and took a break to talk to the competition on our busiest night! That was a bad move and you even tried to put the blame on me! I'm trying to save the restaurant, but you act like you couldn't care less."

"I know a lost fight when I see it."

"You can't just give up!"

"I'm not giving up, Lou, I'm just saying that you should start looking for what to do if Lila's closes up for good."

"It's not going to close up if we fight for it."

Dennis ran a hand through his hair. "I'm just tired of fighting a fight I know I'm going to lose. It's just wasted energy for me!"

"You may have decided that it's over for you, but don't let it end for the rest of us too. If you want to stop trying, do it in a way that won't bring everyone else down."

"Fine, you're right. I'm sorry I ditched again. I won't do it again. Happy now?"

"No, because I know you're lying! You're not sorry, Dennis." I jumped out of the counter.

"Dammit, Lou, I apologised! What else do you want me to do?"

"I want you to mean it!" I grabbed my bag and ran out of the kitchen.

"Wait--"

"Come talk to me when you've realised the mistake you made tonight, because I'm not talking to you until you do." I slammed the door behind me and right in his face.

"Everything okay?" Gramps asked me. George kept glancing at the kitchen worriedly.

My expression softened. "Let's just go home...", I undid my ponytail and picked Mary up.

I bid everyone else goodnight and left the restaurant with my grandpa and sister. Once we returned home, I carried a half-asleep Mary to her bed.

"Why are you and Dennis fighting?" she asked me.

"I don't know, sweetie... I wish I did..." I frowned.

"I hope you work it out. You're really good friends and you're always smiling around him."

I smiled and pecked her forehead. "Goodnight, Mary."

"Goodnight!"

When I returned to the living room, I saw my grandpa get off the phone with a worried look.

"Gramps? Everything okay?" I asked him.

He looked up in surprise. "Yeah, everything's fine. Don't worry about it."

"Are you sure? You seemed pretty concerned..."

"Let's leave this talk for another time, shall we? It's late. George said that Dennis is going to come over early in the morning to talk to you." he changed the subject.

"Am I overreacting about his behavior?"

"No, you're not. You're doing your best and that's what counts. Dennis is going through his own stuff right now. Teenagehood is weird, let him be him and if he ever steps out of line... Well, you can handle him."

"Are we going to lose Lila's?"

"I hope not..." he frowned. "Get some sleep. We can talk about this tomorrow."

"Okay..." I turned around to leave.

"Oh, and Lou?"

"Yeah?"

"Remember the first time Mary came to the restaurant?"

"I do." I chuckled at the thought. "She almost set the kitchen on fire, but what does that have to do with anything?"

"Oh, nothing. I just reminded you of a happy memory so you can end this day on a happy note. You should never go to sleep with dark thoughts."

I nodded gratefully and went to my room. I didn't knosw how the next day would go, but I was going to face it head-on like every other one.

The next morning I woke up when someone rang the doorbell. I got out of bed and went ahead to open the door.

Dennis was standing right outside, holding an enormous chocolate.

"What's the occasion?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Consider this an apology gift. I thought things over last night and had a very insightful conversation with my uncle. You were right."

"Gee, thanks for noticing." I rolled my eyes.

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry and I'm going to avoid talking to Bella from now on. I'm keeping things professional with the competition." he looked away.

"Okay, you can come in now." I told him, grabbing the chocolate.

"Thank you! Where's Gramps?"

"I don't know, I just woke up. He must have gone at the restaurant. What time is it?"

"Noon."

"What?! Oh my God, I have to get ready! Wait here." I ran to my bedroom and rummaged my closet for a pair of shorts and a clean, pink t-shirt.

After I was dressed I woke Mary up and ushered her to the kitchen to pour her some cereal.

"Goodmorning, Dennis..." she muttered, rubbing her eyes.

"'Morning, little one."

"Are you two friends again?" she asked hopefully. I glanced at Dennis.

"We never stopped being friends, kiddo. We'll always be friends."

The friendzone stung my heart a bit, but I was used to it by then. After Mary was done eating, we left the house and ran to Lila's for another day of work.

One more day of trying to save it and one more day full of surprises. What can I say? That's life.