BUSINESS HAD BEEN A LITTLE SLOW AT THE MYSTIC GRILL, so the manager came up with the idea of hiring a live band to come and play and stir up some business. That also meant that all of the teenagers that worked there had to hang up posters and advertise it at school.

"Hey, Matt, Charlie, JJ," Caroline greeted when she walked up to the three. The Lockwood was holding the pile of flyers while Matt stapled one to the wall, and the Martin girl was just there for moral support. As she skimmed over the poster, the Forbes girl questioned, "Live band?"

"Yeah, business has been a little slow. The Grill's trying to stay afloat," Matt explained, and the couple to their side decided that it would be best if they stayed quiet so as to not get in the way of this very awkward talk between the two.

Caroline joked, trying to lighten the mood, "Aren't we all?"

"Have you heard from Tyler?" was all Matt said in response, and the question was directed to the girl he was talking to and the Lockwood girl.

The werewolf shook her head as an answer. She had had no contact with her brother since he left the letter on her bed, and she had probably called a million times. "Nothing."

"Not a peep," the blonde vampire added before raising her eyebrows at the male. You?"

"No, not since he stopped by the Grill to talk, and I've left messages on his cell phone," he informed them, causing all of the girls to perk up. Tyler had stopped by to see him, and he hadn't felt like mentioning that before then?

Caroline was equally as shocked. "He stopped by to see you? What did he say?"

"Not much, really. I mean...I think to say good-bye without really saying good-bye. I just didn't know it," the Donovan boy explained to them before eyeing the Forbes girl suspiciously and accusingly. "Why? I mean, is there something you want to tell me?"

"Yeah! I...I mean, no, I...it's just not that easy," she answered, and both of the other girls could tell that that was about to turn into a fight of some kind. They tried to back away slowly to get out of the situation and let the couple have their privacy, but it was not really working very well.

Matt scoffed, throwing his hands up inn the air in exasperation. "I don't get it! Since when am I the one that can express himself and you're the one at a loss for words?"

Caroline sighed, "No, you're right, and I'm sorry." Matt finished stapling the flier to the wall before getting ready to leave all of the girls behind in the hallway, taking the stapler with him.

"You know how I feel. So it's your move. Just make a decision or leave me alone."

After she was done with the posters, Charlie had been dragged into a room with Bonnie, Jeremy, and Stefan. The Salvatore man had just finished telling them about how Katherine had somehow gotten out of the tomb and was now running around town, pretending to be Elena.

"She's out of the tomb?" Charlie questioned with raised eyebrows, waiting for confirmation.

"Yeah. We're dealing with it, all right?" the vampire warned them cautiously because they all knew what the doppelganger was capable of. "Just be extra careful. She's gotten a little too good at impersonating Elena."

Jeremy turned to the Bennett girl and told her, "With Katherine still around, we gotta find a way to get your powers back."

"You don't have your powers?" the Lockwood girl questioned pretty loudly because she had not been informed about that, and it was a pretty big deal considering half of the crap that they did involved Bonnie and her spells. They would all be screwed if it weren't for her. When the witch just nodded, the other girl sighed. "Man, why doesn't anybody tell me anything?"

"Listen, I want to get the Martins on our side. I want to figure out a way for us all to work together now that Elijah's out of the picture," Stefan informed them, cutting off the brunette girl who was probably about to start rambling.

Bonnie shook her head in response. "It's impossible. They hate us."

"It's either win them over or somebody's going to end up dead," the vampire pointed out, and Charlie was not very fond of the second option, especially if it was someone that she cared about. "You think you can at least convince them to have a civil conversation?"

"I'll try," the Bennett girl answered with a shrug, and the werewolf and the vampire then started to gather their stuff. Charlie was doing it because she had to get to class, but she had a feeling taht Stefan had more important plans.

"Thanks. Keep me posted."

☾❄☽

CHARLIE WAS AT WORK BECAUSE THERE WERE actually a lot of people at The Grill that night. The live band was actually bringing in a lot of customers, some of which were Jenna, Caroline, Bonnie, and Elena out for girls' night because both Jenna and Caroline were having guy problems.

Elena, who was back together with Stefan, and Bonnie, who Charlie just found out was kind of dating Jeremy, were just tagging along for the fun of it. Back to the thing about Bonnie and Jeremy, the Lockwood girl was not totally sure how that came to be. She found out after she and Stefan left the classroom earlier that day. The door had not completely closed, and she heard a snippet of their conversation. She turned around and peeked through the window to see Jeremy lean in to kiss the Bennett girl. She stopped him, and he said something along the lines of, 'Come on. Elena's not here.'

The brunette girl had put two and two together and realized that they had been dating in secret, and obviously, they had not told Elena about it. Charlie knew that it was none of her business, but she could not ignore the feeling of her stomach dropping when she saw them in that classroom.

"Hey, can I get another water?" the man sitting in the booth asked her, and she realized that she had been staring at the group of girls that were her friends. She snapped out of her trance and looked at the man that she was supposed to be waiting on.

She nodded quickly before going to the bar to get what he requested. After she got back and gave it to him, she went over to Bonnie, Elena, and Caroline just as Jenna went to the bar to get something to drink. She smiled in greeting, "What's up, guys?"

"Hey, Char," Caroline responded while the other two smiled and waved. The blonde girl then stood on her toes and looked over Charlie's head for something, causing the girl to furrow her eyebrows at Bonnie and Elena. The Gilbert girl mouthed, 'Matt,' and everything made sense. The blonde girl questioned, "Have you seen Matt?"

"You mean the Matt standing right behind you?" the werewolf questioned with raised eyebrows, and she pointed to a spot behind the Forbes girl.

Caroline's eyes widened, and she perked up as she whipped around to face the blonde boy. "Hey, Matt." He did not respond, barely even sparing her a glance before walking off and back toward the bar. The vampire's shoulder slumped once again in sadness.

"Things just got real awkward," Bonnie muttered as they watched him retreat. She turned to her frowning friend with a sigh before reminding her, "He said the ball's in your court."

"Yeah, but I can't do anything about it," the blonde girl informed them.

Charlie questioned with a confused expression because all her best friend had talked about for the last couple of weeks was Tyler and how much she loved Matt and wished he would forgive her and take her back. "Why not? All you do is talk about how much you care about him."

"Yeah, but I am still keeping so many secrets," the other girl pointed out. It was true. She had been keeping a lot of secrets from Matt, and Charlie was kind of proud of her because of that. As much as she loved Caroline, the girl could not keep a secret until now apparently.

"Alaric's in the same boat with Jenna and maybe that's our mistake. We're trying to protect the people that we love by keeping them out of it, but in the end, we're hurting them anyway," Elena told her, and Charlie thought about that for a second because that was pretty much exactly what happened with Tyler. The song that the band was playing ended, and Caroline took her jacket off and handed it to the Gilbert girl. "What are you doing? Where are you going?"

They watched as she walked up the stairs onto the stage and took the microphone from the lead singer. The younger brunette girl watching muttered, "Oh, no. What's happening?"

"Hey, everybody. Let's hear it for the band! Weren't they awesome?" the Forbes girl announced into the microphone. She started clapping and everyone else joined in. Once the noise lowered, she spoke again. "So there's this guy, and, uh, he told me to tell him how I feel about him. Like it's so easy. Um, you know, just 'cause I talk a lot doesn't mean I always know what I'm actually talking about. Ah, like now, I'm feeling loopy and I don't really know how to express myself." The lead singer went to gently take the microphone away from the girl, but she resisted. "I can sing. Yeah! Yeah. You know what, I'm going to sing."

"Sing?" Elena exclaimed, looking to the other two girls beside her in shock as Jenna joined their sides again with a confused expression.

Since he was kind of close to the microphone, they could hear the lead singer guy order, "Come on, off the stage." The blonde girl whipped around so that the crowd could not hear them, and it was obvious that she was compelling the guy. After a second, the guy smiled and asked, "What'll it be?"

She then whispered something in his ear, and he told the rest of the band. The music started to play, and Charlie smiled, not only because she had heard the blonde girl sing but also because she had heard her sing the song. It was Eternal Flame by the Bangles, and she was an amazing singer.

"She's good!" Jenna called to them a couple of seconds into Caroline singing.

Elena nodded and looked back up at her friend in surprise, so shocked that she could sing that well. She muttered, "Yeah." Later in the song, Matt looked over at Elena, and she smiled and nodded at him, letting him know that he should forgive the Forbes girl.

Once she finished the part that she was singing, Matt joined Caroline on the stage. She turned to him and, ready to apologize once again, said, "Matt...I..." He cut her off by kissing her, causing everyone to start screaming and laughing.

"Woo!" Charlie yelled, clapping her hands together excitedly. She felt two arms wrap around her and looked to her side just in time to see her girlfriend rested her head on her shoulder. She grinned and put her hands on top of hers.