Fractured [SHAWN MENDES]

~6~

Taryn set both of the extra large black coffees she'd brought with her onto the bar and yawned. Today was going to be a rough one. The Good Luck Lounge had steady business the night before, and she'd been run ragged. After a mere four hours of sleep, her alarm had woken her so that she could finish reading about health regulations for breweries before submitting a summary to her least-favorite professor. Now, here she was ready to tackle another long day of tending bar. It was Saturday, and she hoped that meant lots of customers again. Every time she told her mom the numbers, she worried that she'd disappoint her. God knows they had their issues, but her mother was sick and didn't need the stress.

She turned and picked up the stack of CDs Shawn had given her last week. He'd come in for a drink and had placed them on the bar without saying a word.

"What are these?" she asked him.

"You said that classic rock wasn't your thing, and I wasn't sure what you did like, so I made you some mixes of pretty much everything but that genre. I got a little carried away, so there are a dozen total."

"It must have taken you hours. You really didn't need to do that."

His cheeks turned pink which she found weirdly adorable. "I have a lot of free time these days, and quite honestly, having a project like this one was enjoyable."

"Thank you. I can't wait to listen to them," she said before putting the one on top in the old sound system. An unfamiliar song started playing over the bar's speakers.

I'm holdin' onto something
but is it forever?
I don't know,
I'm just tryna hold my way
I'm just tryna hold my way
My body's underground
but I feel interstellar
Should I go, or stay?
Or stay?

"Who is this?"

Shawn grinned. "That's Jon Vinyl. A friend of mine." His smile then faded as quickly as it had appeared. "Former friend, actually."

"He's good. I mostly listen to pop, so it's nice to hear something that's a little different."

"Pop, huh? I don't know why, but I was sure you were going to say you were into indie music."

Taryn rolled her eyes. "Is that the vibe I give off? Did you fill these CDs with obscure tracks?"

"Naw. There's a lot of pop, actually. These mixes are filled with my favorite songs, minus classic rock, of course." He left out that he'd also excluded any of the songs that he associated with his former fiancée. The last thing he needed was to show up at the bar and hear their song.

Since that evening, she'd listened to each disc multiple times. Mix CDs were a lost art now that everyone created playlists on Apple Music or Spotify. Shawn must have noticed that there was no aux outlet when he'd worked on the stereo, and she was touched that he'd reverted to an antiquated way of sharing music with her. He'd written the songs and artists on the CDs and Taryn was fascinated by his handwriting. It was messy, but still beautiful in an artistic way. There were several misspelled words, which added to the charm.

After shuffling through the stack for her favorite in the collection, she popped in the disc and pressed play. Taylor Swift's voice filled the room and Taryn began her daily ritual of cleaning the bar and taking inventory of the liquor. She was a little low on vodka so she went to the back room to grab a couple bottles.

Hours later, the bar was hopping, which put her in a good mood. Zack was cooking up a storm, and she was literally running between the kitchen to pick up food and the bar to fill drink orders. How did her mom handle this?