CHARLOTTE COULD remember her first kiss with Austin.

She wouldn't call it romantic. The sounds of any and every Bruno Mars song played throughout his room as they had been playing a card game and Austin had been cheating the entire time.

"No!" Charlotte shouted, "You're cheating!"

"I'm not! Draw four, loser."

"You didn't have that earlier! You pulled that from behind your back."

"No, I did not."

Charlotte tackled Austin to the ground and she found two of his cards behind him.

"Cheater!"

"I would have gotten away with it."

Charlotte held her smile as she threw Austin's cards to the side. Austin's hands rested against her thighs as he smiled up at her.

"What?" She questioned.

"Nothing."

The sounds of a new Bruno Mars song blared through Austin's speakers. When I Was Your Man specifically.

"Promise me something?" Charlotte asked.

"Yes?"

"No matter what happens, we will go see Bruno together." She smiled, "I don't care what happens between us. I don't care if you're an international superstar and I don't care if I'm some super genius doctor; we will go see Bruno together."

Charlotte held her pinky finger out and Austin soon laced it with his own.

"I promise."

Charlotte held her pinky with Austin's as she rested their hands on his chest.

They say you know when the moment was right and whether or not that was true, Charlotte knew she wanted to kiss Austin in that moment. So she did.

Charlotte was kissed him. Kissing him like all the ways Austin had imagined kissing Charlotte would be like.

The two inexperienced teens sat on Austin's bedroom floor kissing each other as Bruno Mars blared throughout the teenage boy's room.

They didn't really know what they were doing, but they were doing it together, and at that moment, that's all that mattered.

CHARLOTTE HELD her phone tightly in her hands as she began looking for Austin around the mall. She finally spotted him, standing at a table with Dez.

"Austin!" She called, "Bruno Mars is doing a surprise show at the beach in ten minutes!"

"I know! We have to go." He smiled.

"But don't you have-"

"I have nothing to do with anyone, Dez." Austin cut off.

"Do you have to do something?" Charlotte asked.

"No! No, no. Remember? We said we would always go see Bruno and now he's here we can't miss it."

"If you have something to do I'm sure Bruno will be... back in another year."

"I promise I have nothing to do. Let's go."

Austin took Charlotte's hand and dragged her to the beach, Dez quickly following behind.

They had a wonderful time at the concert... not Dez. He didn't want to see Austin swooning over his ex... again.

They had made their way towards Sonic Boom and saw Trish and Ally standing by the entryway.

"Hey guys, we just went to an awesome concert!" Austin smiled.

"At the emergency room?" Trish asked.

"No, at the beach. I think I still have some sand in my shoe." Dez said, taking his shoe off and pouring the sand out.

"That's a lot of sand." Austin awed.

Charlotte smiled as she pushed her way towards the front, "It was Bruno Mars. Austin and I always wanted to see him live."

"Oh, I knew about the Bruno Mars concert too, but I didn't go because we made a commitment to rehearse at four o'clock." Ally said.

Charlotte faced Austin, "You said you had nothing to do."

"And I didn't! I already missed the time! You can't set a time for creativity."

"Yeah, you can. It was four o'clock."

"Ally, if I knew that you guys had rehearsals I would have never-"

"It's not your fault, Charlotte." Ally smiled, "Austin knew we had rehearsals at four o'clock."

"Well, I'm here now. We can rehearse all night."

"We can't. I have a meeting. I'm tired of always doing things on Austin time. If you won't respect my time, how can we be partners?"

"I'm sorry, Ally."

"I gotta go. Come on, Trish."

Ally grabbed the ends of Trish's scarf and pulled her away.

"You can't do this without her, you know?" Charlotte sighed.

"I made a promise."

"A promise that you could've kept. Bruno Mars could've been anywhere, but Ally isn't going to be waiting for you on hand and foot all the time."

"I know, but the concert-"

"Austin, I promise I would've been fine if we didn't go today." Charlotte smiled, "You need to fix this with Ally."

Soon, Carter came rushing inside. His phone held tightly in his grasp.

"I've been looking all over for you! Did you get my text?"

"No? I was at a concert with Austin and Dez."

Carter pulled Charlotte by her arm and whispered in her ear. Austin's brows furrowed as he watched the two.

Charlotte gasped, "Really?" She quickly faced Austin, "Hey, I've gotta go, but if you need me just call and apologize to Ally!"

Carter didn't wait a second longer as he pulled Charlotte out of the store.

Austin wasn't jealous... okay, a lie, but Carter did appear out of nowhere. As soon as he and Charlotte broke up it was like Carter just magically appeared. He didn't know what it was. Carter always watched the ex-couple when they walked down the school hallways, but never approached them.

If Carter was the only reason Charlotte and Austin weren't together... Austin was going to fix that. ASAP.

AUSTIN COULDN'T fix it ASAP. He had invited Charlotte and Dez over to watch him set up the present he was going to give Ally.

"Remember, you can't tell anybody about the guitar."

"Your secret's safe with me." Dez smiled.

"I didn't agree to any of this." Charlotte said.

"But you said if I needed any help that you would help me. This is me needing help." Austin said.

There was a sudden knock on the bedroom door.

"Austin, it's Ally."

"One second!"

Austin shoved the guitar in his closet and faced the two, "Be cool."

"Got it. Cool."

As soon as Austin opened the door to let Ally inside, Dez quickly screamed and ran out of the room.

"So, what's up?" Austin asked.

"Nothing. Just wanted to talk."

"Do I need to leave?" Charlotte asked.

"No!" They both replied.

Austin sighed, "Are you still mad about me being late?"

"Why? Is there something else I should be mad at you about?"

Ally began walking towards the two. Charlotte's back pressed against Austin's chest as Ally approached.

"No, just the late thing."

Ally turned. Charlotte's back still pressed against Austin.

"You got a lot of nice instruments in here. Get any new ones lately?"

"No."

"Oh." Ally chuckled, "Then what's this?!"

She turned and ripped the blanket off of Austin's bed.

Austin sighed, "That was my made bed. Now I'm not gonna get any allowance. Thanks a lot."

"Sorry. You sure you don't have anything you wanna tell me, like a, some big secret?"

"His middle name is Monica." Charlotte said.

"Charlotte!"

Ally furrowed her brows, "What?"

Austin quickly slapped his hand over Charlotte's mouth.

"Nothing!" He shouted, "Look, from now on whenever you need me, I'm available. Just not right now. I'm not available."

He removed his hand from Charlotte's mouth and dragged Ally out of the room.

"Wait. Hold on!"

Austin's quickly shut and locked his door. He faced Charlotte.

"Really?"

"She was onto us!" She said whispered, "Besides my middle name is James, it's not that bad."

"Yes because Austin Monica Moon sounds way better than Charlotte James Taylor."

"I don't know. I panicked! You have to return the guitar. I can't go to jail for you."

"You're not going to jail."

"You're right. You are."

"I'm not going to jail either. Look, I've got it all planned out. Do you trust me?"

Of course, Charlotte trusted Austin. If she couldn't go to Carter, Austin was always right there. Though the two of them weren't together, Charlotte knew she could always go to Austin when she needed it. Same vice versa.

"Yes."

Austin smiled, "Then follow me."

THE DUO walked into Sonic Boom. Austin holding the guitar close.

"Hi, Ally." He smiled.

"You're going to jail."

Trish pulled Ally away, "You have some nerve. Do you have any idea what you've put us through? We've had to sit through boring mall meetings for you, collect rewards, and Charlotte... you're a willing accomplice..."

Ally grabbed the white blanket and threw it over Trish's shoulders. Instantly causing the girl to fall to the ground and start snoring.

"So, you're returning the guitar because you felt bad about stealing it?"

"I didn't steal it." Austin said, "I just borrowed it to get it autographed by Bruno Mars. I know how much you love him and I felt bad about being late, but I had always promised Char that I would go see Bruno with her."

Austin passed the guitar over to Ally.

"Austin, that's incredible."

"He had to wait to get it autographed. We had to stalk his social media to see if he was still in Miami." Charlotte smiled.

"I wish I knew this before. The mall association... think that you're both thieves."

"What?!" The two exclaimed.

"Relax. I'll clear this up." Ally laughed, "The employees of this mall are some of the most rational and understanding people I know."

Charlotte relaxed her shoulders, but the relaxation quickly stopped when they heard a crowd chanting how they "want Austin and Charlotte".

"You two better run."

Austin grabbed Charlotte's hand and dragged her into the music room. This is exactly what Charlotte didn't want. She was going to go to jail. She was going to get arrested. Her parents were going to kill her. She was going to kill Austin.

"Stop pacing!" Austin said.

"Stop shouting! There's an angry mod after us because they think we're mall thieves!" Charlotte shouted.

"We're not thieves!"

"Do you think the angry mod downstairs is going to listen to what we, two alleged mall thieves, have to say?" Charlotte asked, "I'm going to lose my job. Nelson is probably going to get another babysitter. I'll never go to college-"

"Charlotte." Austin rested his hands on her shoulders, "Breath. Ally is going to fix this."

Charlotte nodded quickly, "Right. Right. Ally has our backs."

"Exactly." Austin smiled, "The mod should be gone by now."

Austin cracked the door open and saw Trish, Ally, and Dez standing alone.

"Come on."

The duo left the music room and headed downstairs.

"So, how'd it go with the mob?" Austin asked.

"You told them everything, right? How we're not thieves and how I'm a bright girl with a future in science?" Charlotte added.

"I told them the truth, but they didn't believe me. They still think that you guys are the mall thieves."

"Wait a minute," Trish said, "they aren't the thieves? I never doubted you."

"We need to clear your names." Ally said.

"All we need to do is find the real thief... and fast." Dez said.

"Oh, but not too fast. I still have to cash in some rewards." Trish smiled, "Come on, I'm not gonna throw away a coupon for free hair extensions."

Charlotte rolled her eyes, "How are we supposed to find a mall thief if there's an angry mob after Austin and I?"

THE GROUP of five stood in the music room. Trish indeed cashing in on her free hair extensions.

"Can we just get back to trying to find the thief?" Ally asked.

"Okay, here's what we know." Austin said, standing by the whiteboard, "So far the thief has stolen an air conditioner, a boogie board, a cowboy hat, some-"

"I got it! He's a sweaty cowboy who loves to surf! Or he's a sweaty surfer who likes to ride horses. Either way, he is sweaty." Dez smiled.

"Ignoring Dez. It looks like the thief is stealing things in alphabetical order." Charlotte said.

"He's the alphabet bandit. If anybody asks, I came up with that." Austin said.

Trish quickly replied, "No one is gonna ask. Okay, so what was the last thing he stole?"

"An octopus from the pet shop." Ally answered, "That means he's up to the letter "p"."

"Oh, no!" Dez exclaimed.

He rushed towards his bag and pulled out his giant, yellow P.

"Oh, thank goodness. My "p". You're still here."

"We need to set a trap." Austin said, once again ignoring Dez.

"Oh, I've got it! Can everyone be back at the store tomorrow night at nine?" Ally asked, "That means nine real time, not nine Austin time."

"I'll make sure he's here, Ally. It's the least I can do after he dragged me into this mess." Charlotte smiled.

"Okay, here's the plan. We'll advertise a sale for everything that starts with "p". Piccolos, pianos, pan flutes. The thief won't be able to resist and we'll catch him." Ally explained, "It'll be the last "p" he ever takes."

The plan had been set... except Austin had dragged Charlotte into another situation that she couldn't have expected.

The two of them, somehow, fit inside the large piano and soon felt themselves being moved.

As Austin opened the top, he had hit the thief in the face.

"Ha, gotcha!" Austin smiled.

Charlotte squinted, "You're the delivery driver. You're the thief?"

"Why did you steal all this stuff?" Austin asked.

"Because nobody in the mall tips me. I should've gotten a job at the coffee shop."

"You should've reconsidered life choices." Charlotte said.

The delivery driver soon passed out and Austin jumped out of the piano, helping Charlotte get out also.

Soon, Trish and Ally appeared... stuck in a large cage.

"We caught the thief. It's the delivery guy." Austin said.

"How did you get him? Where were you two?" Ally asked.

"We hid in the piano." Charlotte answered, "We got to the store at eight."

"Wait a minute, Austin wasn't late? Told you, Trish."

"Why didn't you come out of the piano earlier?" Trish asked.

"It's a very tight space in there. Plus, Austin found your blanket and fell asleep instantly."

"I know right."

"I'm just glad we caught the alphabet bandit. Now, all we need to do is get out of this cage, clear your names with the mall association, and get a giant bucket of glue remover." Ally said.

"Glue remover? What for?" Austin asked.

Dez soon joined the four, his body stuck to a trap, "What did I miss?"

THE NEXT day rolled around and Charlotte had been seated at one of the tables at the mall. She was reading a book and trying to ease herself from last night's escapade.

"Hey."

She looked up and smiled, "Hey, Austin."

"Here."

She held her smile, her brows knitted in slight confusion as she grabbed the CD case from his hands.

"What is this?"

"I was planning on giving it to you before we... you know, but we finally saw Bruno Mars together and I had the opportunity to have him sign the CD I made for you. I'm singing your favorite songs."

Charlotte's smile grew as she opened the CD case and there inside was Bruno Mars' signature.

"Austin." She gushed, "I'm... speechless. Thank you."

She stood from her seat and wrapped her arms around Austin's neck. His arms instantly wrapping around her torso.

Dez, Ally, and Trish soon came into Austin's view, approaching the two with a cart full of rewards that Trish was going to share (not really) with the others, but Austin waved them off.

He could feel himself getting back into his relationship with Charlotte. It was like it was at the tip of his tongue. He was going to get his girl back. He was sure of it.

- lucy has something to say!!

hey... how y'all doing?

i'm sorry 😔 i'm back on my grind with this story 🤩

seriously thank you for patience with me (not everyone lol) i write a lot differently now so also bear with me on that lol. i'm going to start publishing more chapters of this story so once again thanks for liking this story even when it was only 3 (now 4) chapters 🤩

bye :))))