Broken (A Zach Bryan Fan Fiction)

Chapter 8

I woke up to the light filtering through he window into my room, I groaned and rolled over, my head was killing me. I heard my phone buzz under my pillow, I grabbed it and suddenly realized the time.

"Shit" I mumbled to myself.

I'm going to be late for work. I quickly threw on some clothes and a pair of shoes and brushed my teeth before running out the door. I made it through the door of the diner just on time.

"I'm so sorry Grace" I said breathlessly

She turned and looked at me "It's all good, I was just about to open up anyway!"

Grace and I chatted at the counter as we waited for the morning rush to start coming through the door. I had told her about going to the bar last night to watch Zach play.

"See, I told you!" Grace exclaimed "he has a crush on you"

"Not a chance" I scoffed "there are so many beautiful woman that tried to throw themselves at him"

Grace shook her head at me, she opened her mouth to reply but the bell on the diner door jingled. It was Mr. Bryan.

Grace turned to me "I'll get him seated if you can grab his coffee"

I nodded and poured his coffee as well as inputted his order with Ben in the kitchen.

As I approached the table with his coffee I could hear Grace whispering

"Did your son do something to her? Or does he know what happened?"

"What do you mean?" Dewayne replied.

"Her face, it's covered in healing bruises and what seems to have once been cuts or scrapes"

"Grace, I can assure you, Zach would never lay a hand on anyone, but I can see if he knows anything"

I cleared my throat and Grace immediately stood up straight and walked away. Dewayne smiled at me as I set his coffee down. I couldn't help but see the concern in his eyes.

"You know you can always ask me directly" I said to Grace as I approached her at the counter.

"I'm sorry Brynn" she said looking ashamed "Are you okay? What happened?"

"I'm okay" I half heartedly smiled back at her.

"When I was packing up to move out here I tripped over some boxes and fell headfirst down the staircase." I lied "it was a wood staircase so I got pretty beat up, but I'm okay. Just didn't have time to apply any makeup this morning."

"That sounds awful!" Grace replied, believing the lie I told her.

I nodded in response and headed back to the kitchen to give Ben a hand.

"Hey Brynn" he said as he looked up from the stove top "how are you doing?"

"I'm doing alright Ben, how are you? do you need help with anything?"

Ben shook his head "I am doing great Brynn, but thanks for asking!"

I stood there and waited for Dewaynes meal, once it was plated I walked it over to him.

"Hey Brynn, do you mind taking a seat for a moment?"

I sat down across from him in the booth, Dewayne and I had gotten pretty close over the past week that I have lived here.

"What can I do for you Dewayne?"

"I just wanted to know if there was anything I could do for you?" he replied.

"What do you mean?" I asked confused by his statement.

"Is there anything you need to talk about? How are you adjusting to living here? You know if you ever need a home cooked meal my door is always open."

"Oh, Dewayne, I am doing just fine!" I lied "your son was kind enough to show me around town a little...you know, he's a really talented singer"

"I know" Dewayne chuckled "just let me know if you ever need anything.

I thanked him and walked back over to the counter.

The diner was slow so I figured I would check my unread messages.

Hailey - Hey girl, just wanted to check in and see how you're doing? You were pretty drunk last night

Zach - Hey B, just wanted to see how you're feeling

Zach - You were pretty drunk last night, so if you need anything I can swing on by

Zach - Also, I think we should talk about last night

I choked reading the last text. What does he want to talk about? Is he embarrassed by me? Does he never want to see me again? Is he going to want to talk about what he saw?

I decided to just reply to Hailey for now.

Hey Hailey, yeah I'm good! Sorry about that, I'm not normally like that.

I busies myself around the diner until my phone went off again

H - I totally get it! We all have nights like that. Do you want to grab a coffee with me today?

B - Sure! I get off at 4

The rest of my shift dragged on, but I was thankful to have someone to meet up with afterwork. I headed on over to the coffee shop Hailey had asked me to meet her at.

My phone buzzed and I wondered if it was Hailey telling me she couldn't make it anymore.

Zach - Everything okay?

I replied, letting him know I was okay and put my phone away as I entered the coffee shop.

"Hey!" a familiar voice rang out "over here, I got us a table"

I headed over in Hailey's direction and sat down across from her. She had already ordered us each a slice of cake and a coffee.

"How are you doing?" She asked.

"Pretty good, much better than yesterday" I chuckled.

"What brought you out to the bar? That was your first time there right?"

"Yeah, it was my first time. My friend Zach invited me"

"Zach?" she asked shocked "as in Zach Bryan?"

"Uhm...yeah" I responded.

"You're friends with him?" she asked "he's kind of famous around here, I grew up with him, but we haven't talked in years."

"Yeah, I met him when I was at work, his dad is one of the regulars at the diner I work at"

We continued to chat for what felt like hours. I had learned so much about Hailey, she grew up here, and works full-time for her parents while taking online college courses to get a degree in marketing.

"We should do this again" she called out as we parted ways

"Yeah, we should, I had fun" I replied as I headed home in the dark of night.

~whisperingspring