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Daisy never understood love.
The girl was rarely cynical about anything, but that poisonous, rotten thing was an exception. Scratch that — she wasn't that dramatic, per say. But Daisy Clementine had seen and experienced quite a few things that justified that hyperbole of a thought.
One of those things was happening right in front of her.
It was a normal day at Anchor's, she thought as she relaxed on a stool, sipping a cranberry coke mocktail. Jeffrey Jones was messing up a customer's order, leading to a minor scolding. Zach was on the waves, crushing yet another round and rocking those red board shorts.
But what shattered that whole fairytale was the boy sitting beside her — head down, shoulders slumped, dark circles under his eyes from the excessive lack of sleep. He looked utterly miserable.
"Want a sip?" Daisy offered.
Theo merely groaned, back to sulking again.
She knew why he was here. He was waiting for Lenny, who, for the first time in a while, wasn't showing up to work. The first absent day was reasonable, since they all took a break from the manic of the festival. The second was a bit odd, but they'd managed to shook it off, hearing that she needed to help her grandparents with a chore. But a third day?
Daisy had a bad feeling.
A ruckus from the shack, and they both whipped their heads.
Someone had just slipped into Anchor's through the back door, but was clumsy enough to knock off some menus from the counter. They were wearing a hoodie, but even if Daisy couldn't see her face, she recognised her. Small frame, noticeable mannerisms, the way she moved familiarly around the shack — it was Eleanor.
"Lenny!" Daisy called.
The girl froze. And when she looked up, Daisy froze, too.
Her eyes looked reddened and raw, like she'd been crying all day. There was a pale hue casted upon her otherwise normally bronze skin, and her clothes were the most ragged that Daisy had ever seen them. But the biggest surprise out of her appearance, the one that caught her completely off guard, was Lenny's lack of a smile. Not even a hint of it.
