“What I want you to do is help me find these people and narrow down who the party legend is. We need to throw the sickest, most Rudy-friendly party ever so that he knows what high school with us could be like.” 

“Oh, that’s perfect,” Millie said, rubbing her hands together almost maniacally. 

“Are we still going to use Millie’s Cloe angle?” 

“Yes. Once we find the one who threw those parties, we’ll invite everyone, including Cloe,” she said in an annoyed tone. She continued to lay out the plan and assigned each of them a person to track down. Once they left the hideout, Louise pulled out her phone to search for Jacob and Jenna Nolen, a set of twins linked to many after-school groups but somehow flew under the radar. It was either a ruse or the source of their interconnectedness with the other teens. 

By now, they must be in college or something. I wonder if they’re still in town. Louise thought as she used a person finder site. Multiple results popped up but only one was in town. 

“Too easy,” she whispered to herself, clicking on the name to reveal an address. She planned to go in the morning. 

Back at the restaurant, Bob and Linda slowly swayed to the tune of Gene’s music. He had really gotten good at his craft, when he was first committing himself to it everyone was shocked thinking that he’d drop it in a few weeks to a month or so. They were wrong. He played every day, even on Tina’s moving day, he sat up at the door and played as she went in and out of the house with boxes. 

“Gene really has become a little Bethoven.” 

“I think he did classical music, Lynn. 

“Like I'm supposed to know, he died, like a hundred years ago.” 

“Right,” he sighed. Continuing to sway to the new slow song Gene had written. He secretly wrote it about Kourtney but the chances of them getting back together were long gone since Kourtney became a vegan. She refused to date anyone who ate meat and Gene just wasn't ready to give that up. Still, he longed in silence and wished her well out loud, like the true friend he was. As the band played on, a guest walked into the restaurant, slowly approaching Bob. 

“Uh, hello. Can I get you a menu? I’d like to recommend our burger of the day, the-” 

“Actually, I wasn’t looking to eat. I wanted to talk business.” The man stood confidently, dressed in the finest suit the family had ever seen. Cologne filled the nose of everyone within a 5-foot radius and enchanted all those with the privilege of coming into proximity. 

“Oh, business. I don’t really talk much about business- I mean, I technically do but I-” 

“Listen, I see what you’re doing here, and I really like it.” 

“I appreciate it but I’m not looking to sell-” 

“Of course not, wouldn’t dream of it. I want to help you expand.” 

Linda smacked her hands on her checks and let out a loud gasp, “OH MY GOOOOD!” 

“Lynn. Please.” 

“We’re being discovered, Bod! Bob! Oh my god.” 

“Oh my god.” He placed his hand on his face in slight embarrassment.  

The young professional stood in wait, keeping a charismatic smile on his face as he waited for the excitement to calm. He watched as Linda silenced herself by covering her mouth with one hand and waving for him to continue with the other. 

“I wanted to offer you the opportunity to franchise your restaurant. You’d of course remain in control of this shop, but I want to give others the opportunity to run their own Bob’s burgers restaurant all over the bi-state area.” 

“Wow, that’s... That’s amazing, but I don’t know how-” 

“Don’t worry about the details, all we need is the okay from you.” 

Linda slowly walks towards Bob from the water station and places a hand on Bob’s shoulder. 

“Could we have a moment?” 

“Of course.” 

“Bob, a word?” 

“Uh, yeah.” 

His face- stunned and unmoving. He slowly walks to the back as Linda gently pushes him from behind. Leaving the businessman to fiddle with his fingers as he waited, keeping a confident smile the entire time. It’s a bit off-putting but oddly friendly, Bob can’t help but peek at him through the pass-through, 

“Linda, I don’t know about this.” 

“Bob, listen to me. We’ve got a real opportunity here. Our future could be secure, and we wouldn’t even have to do anything! Last time you were upset about changing the restaurant, but now we can keep the store, and nothing has to change, and we could get a lot of money. It’s a win-win!” She laughs triumphantly with her hands raised. 

“Lynn, we don’t know this guy. He could be lying or something. What if no one wants to buy a franchise and there’s no money-” 

“BOB.” she barks, grabbing his face to make eye contact, “We have an opportunity of a lifetime, we had it once, but you gave it back with a cashier's check. We could retire. The kids could go to a university- well, Tina could transfer, and we could buy a new house or something. Even if it doesn’t work out, we won’t be affected! WE CAN’T LOSE!” she shakes him roughly. He promptly pulls her hands away, 

“You’re right, but-” 

“Bob, you tend to self-sabotage, and I know you don’t want to hear this but if you ruin this- I don’t know what I’d do but I won’t be happy. Maybe no sex for a month.” 

“Lynn.” 

“I’m serious, Bob. You will not let this chance pass us by. I wanna retire! I wanna give the kids a chance to put us in a nursing home! So, just say yes. Okay?” 

“Okay. You’re right, Lynn, let’s do it.” 

“Alright!” she quietly cheered. 

They both walked back to the front of the house more confident and excited about what was to come. 

“Good news, I hope.” That same smile was stapled across his face. Before Bob or Linda could say anything, Mort walked in. 

“Burger of the day, Bob- Oh, was I interrupting something?  

“Oh, Mort, this lovely man just asked us to franchise the restaurant! Isn't that amazing?” 

“Wow, I hope you say yes, Bob. We all know how you self-sabotage.” 

“We? Does everyone know this but me?”  

“Yeah, kinda.”  

“Okay, well. Let’s do it, let’s franchise the restaurant.” 

“Brilliant.” The man places his high-quality leather covered briefcase onto the countertop to pull out a small pile of paperwork for Bob to review and sign. 

“Just read though the contract- terms and conditions and of course the revenue agreement, trust me though, you make off with a hefty cut given the projected income over the next year. I assure you, everything is on the level, and I promise you won’t walk away with nothing; you are a gold mine that needed the right miner to pick at these dust-covered walls-” 

“Our walls aren’t that dirty, right?” Bob questioned. 

“Noooo. Well, maybe that spot could use a wipe down.” 

“Oh God, how have I never noticed that before?” 

“Yeah, it looks like the back of Teddy’s neck, ugh.” She ran off to grab a rag while Bob stayed to read through the paper as the businessman continues to smile looking around at every part of the restaurant. It was making Bob a bit nervous, but the more he read the papers, the better he started to feel. There were truly little to no downsides on their end. Bob never felt more confident about making a decision, and that was the part that scared him most, but even still,l he kept reading, readying himself to sign over the right to mass market and franchise everything that he had worked fo,r but one thing stuck to the back of his mind.