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xp_logsJono gives Paige the mixtape he made for her.
Jono carefully held the burned CD in his hands and waited to make sure the sharpie on it had dried. It was important that the song titles were all written on the CD itself. Just as important as it was to give Paige the most authentic album experience he could. He'd used some free online software to make a custom 'album cover' for it, and had made a small booklet explaining each song, any interesting trivia about the bands, and lyrics. It felt like a real CD. It reminded him of the EPs he used to put together for the band. He closed his eyes and shook his head, no use in thinking about that when they were an ocean away.
He opened his phone and sent Paige a text. 'Hey, I finished that mixtape for you if you wanna come over or meet up to grab it from me!'
He hadn't yet listened to Paige's beloved Loretta Lynn, but it was on his agenda, he was hoping to get through this next encounter without revealing that he had absolutely no idea who Ms. Lynn was.
Paige put her highlighter down, taking a break from reading over case studies, when she saw the screen on her phone light up. Seeing the text was from Jono brought a smile to her face.
She responded, ‘Sure. I’m in the library if you want to come here, or I can come to you in a bit.’ Who knew people still made mixtapes?
Paige had gotten so busy with her classes and things that she had completely forgotten to look up those bands Jono had mentioned. This would be a good reminder to herself to look them up if she couldn’t figure out how to play the tape.
Jono rolled his eyes fondly when Paige said she was in the library. Of course she was. Two weeks of classes had passed and Jono was surprised she hadn't just moved her bed into the library. 'How long have you been studying without getting up? I can come to you but the lightwriter's a bit loud for having a quiet conversation.'
‘Uh…since I got back from class. Should probably think about getting food or something.’ Paige had been in the zone, which meant time meant nothing. The reminder that she should stretch was probably a good thing. ‘I’ll come to you and then take a break.’ She stood up, stretched, and started putting everything away in her bag.
'Door's open for you!' He texted. He got up and quickly tidied up his room a bit, it was important that the presentation of the CD was perfect....for reasons he refused to examine or name. He once again checked over the song titles written on the CD, they were about as neat as his handwriting could ever be. But the real star of the show was the booklet- Paige had mentioned that her brother was a musician so maybe she was too? He'd included the chords along with the lyrics for the songs he knew by heart just in case she could get use out of them. He really wanted her to like it. Maybe one day she'd ask to listen to his music because she genuinely liked the sound. Wouldn't that be something?
Despite Jono’s text, Paige still knocked on the door before opening it when she got to his room. It was the polite thing to do.
“Hey, what’s up?” She was still impressed by how neat Jono kept his room. Her room was still a disaster zone that was 2/3rds unpacked. Someday she’d get around to finishing that.
"I'm sorry it took so long, it had to be perfect." Jono typed, holding out the CD triumphantly. "I can redo the cover image if you in fact don't like pink. I just- it's been in most of your outfits I've seen you wear and so I thought it might be your favorite colour? I can change the color easily, just let me know I want you to like it!"
“Oh, wow, you made an album cover. It’s nice!” Paige was surprised to see that Jono was handing her a CD case instead of a cassette tape. That should be a lot easier to use.
“Yeah, I like pink. I like most colors, really. You don’t have to change anythin’.” Opening up the CD case revealed Jono’s handwritten track list. She was…going to have to really sit with that later to decipher what it said. “Thanks, I can’t wait to listen to it!”
"There's a book inside!" Jono typed excitedly, pointing towards the inside of the front cover. "It's typed, don't worry. It has song titles, lyrics, some chord progressions, fun facts....I wanted it to feel like a real album for you!"
“Aww, that’s so sweet! I’ll have to put together some recommendations for you. Sorry, I don’t know how to make my own CDs so all I can do is a playlist.” Jono had clearly put a lot of effort into this, Paige didn’t think most albums had the chord progressions and fun facts attached. She’d have to find something to do in return.
"I used to make the EPs for my band." Jono typed, instinctually looking to talk about his band before realizing that he wasn't in the band anymore. Which, rather put a damper on things. "I just-" He paused, trying to figure out how to word this without sounding desperate. "I wanted you to like it. You're the first friend I made here, you're important to me."
Mentioning that Paige was the first real friend he'd had in a while given how his mates had dropped off before he'd ever left England was probably too depressing for a conversation where Paige had called him sweet.
“Aww, Jono, that’s so nice of you. I’m happy we’re friends, too.” Maybe she could plan a trip into the city with him one weekend, since they had talked about it last time. “You know, I’d love to listen to some of your band’s music sometime.” Even if this genre of music turned out to not be Paige’s thing, Jono was clearly passionate about his music and it would be nice to listen to things he had written.
"CD first." For a number of reasons, including but not limited to how crushed he would be if Paige hated the sound of his music. "Do you have any favourite Loretta Lynn songs? And I'm sorry I've forgotten the others you mentioned."
“Coal Miner’s Daughter,” Paige immediately responded. “Old Kentucky Home, Wildflowers, Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man, You Ain’t Woman Enough, Blue Kentucky Girl…you know, just let me make you a playlist, otherwise we’ll be here all night. My family always says I can really go on for a while when I start talkin’ bout Loretta. Oh, I also mentioned Dolly Parton, Reba McEntire, Johnny Cash, Tyler Childers is also good. I’ll put something together for you.” He was definitely from one of those New England Birminghams then, not Alabama.
Jono wrote them all down quickly on a notepad. “I’ll make sure to listen to them. I didn’t mean to blow them off I just wasn’t raised on country music, my parented listened pretty much only to rock and pop. I’m sure I’ll like it…. And you’re welcome to talk as long as you like. I like listening to you.”
“What? No, you’re fine. We can both try some new things this week.” Paige went a little pink at Jono’s final comment. “Sure, but me listing song titles can’t possibly be that interestin’. But, uh, thanks for the CD. I’ll let you know what I think of it. You’re welcome to join me while I grab dinner.”
“I can’t eat but sure.” Jono typed, feeling heat rise to his cheeks and hoping the scarf was hiding it. “You could tell me a story about paint drying and I’d pay attention, talk to me about anything you like.”
“Yeah, sorry, I should have guessed that was a sore spot.” Paige awkwardly played with the ends of her hair. “You don’t have to come, I just thought it might be nice to keep hanging out. And you could have some proof that I actually took a break from studyin’ like I said I was gonna. But I understand if you don’t wanna. And you could always tell me about the bands you like. The Smiths or…Bowl? Roll? Somethin’ like that.”
"Hole?" Jono typed, and then blinked multiple times, hoping that sounded less terrible than it did in his head. "The band, I think you're talking about is Hole. And I'm happy to get dinner with you, I just won't be eating anything."
“Yes, Hole! You’re into Hole. I will remember that next time.” Paige scrunched her nose up. “Maybe I should have rephrased. But yeah, dinner. And don’t worry about the food. My microwave meals only feed one person anyway.”
Jono’s face went red and he blinked at her slowly. “I’d love to hang out and I wouldn’t expect you to cook for me anyway…..oh I forgot to even ask if you have a CD player.”
This was going well, probably about an hour more and then he could faceplant into his pillow and pretend he hadn’t somehow managed to put his foot in a mouth that didn’t even exist anymore.
“Well, that’s good. I’m a bit of a disaster in the kitchen. Sam does most of the cooking. Uh, I think there’s a CD drive on my laptop…or I can see if the library has one.” Paige started to head for the door. She wasn’t sure how she had managed to phrase that sentence about the band Jono liked so poorly it was now awkward between them, but maybe if they moved to the kitchen it would get better.
“You don’t cook? I used to love to cook, maybe I could teach you?…… we could also listen to the CD here. I have a CD player. Only if you want to though.”
We’re just friends. He thought purposefully. It’s not a date, it’s not romantic, it’s just hanging out. This is fine.
“Sure, we can listen to it here. Let me go make my food and I can come back. And thanks for the offer, but I’m pretty hopeless in the kitchen and it wouldn’t be fair to force that on you.” It was really sweet of Jono to offer, he was a good friend, but Paige burned eggs all the time and it felt a little unfair to make him teach her to cook when he couldn’t eat anymore.
Jono shook his head. “I offered. But okay, I’ll see you in a few- I can get the CD player set up?”
Paige was going to sit in his room, listening to a mixtape he made for her, that included songs about how dying next to her would be a great way to go. Surely, absolutely everything was about to go wrong.
“Yep, be back in a bit.” Paige dropped her bag by Jono’s desk and walked to the door. “Don’t start without me!” Closing the door behind her, she walked quickly toward her room. It shouldn’t take her too long to grab food and get back, but she didn’t want to make Jono wait longer than he had to.
Jono waited, somewhat anxiously, for Paige to come back. He got his CD player set up, attempted to tidy up his already tidy room, and waited, hoping that she would like it. He really really hoped she'd like it. He thought about going ahead and pulling up some of her musical artists on his phone to listen to, but that felt....desperate almost, especially if she caught him. So he waited, foot tapping on the floor, for her return.
15 minutes later, Paige returned sans school bag but with a reheated chicken and vegetables dinner dumped in a bowl. “I’m back! You can start it whenever you’re ready.”
Plopping herself into Jono’s desk chair, she balanced her bowl in her lap and picked up the booklet Jono had made. It was typed up and stapled together carefully. Paige could tell how much effort he had put into this, and it was very impressive. Regardless of if she liked the music, she was going to find somewhere to keep this where it wouldn’t get lost in her room. Keeping the book on the desk while she ate (to avoid spilling food on it), she continued to flip through all the lyrics and new fun facts.
"Ready for me to turn it on?" Jono asked, feet still tapping anxiously at the floor as he sat on his bed. "Most of it's the Smiths because they're my favorite but I have loads more women fronted bands I can recommend if you end up liking this kind of music."
He'd started the mixtape off with Blondie for a reason, afterall.
“Ready!” Paige had started making her playlist of recommendations for Jono while her dinner heated up, and judging by the booklet, it was going to be a bit longer than his CD. Oh well, at least he’d know a lot of Loretta this way. “It’s probably easier to start with one band, so I don’t mind. You can always send me more stuff!”
Jono hit play on the CD player and his eyes crinkled in a smile at the opening drums to Call Me. "I used to have the biggest crush on Debbie Harry, the lead singer of this band."
He had barely been able to stop himself from saying what exactly he'd let Debbie Harry do to him, but he figured....Paige probably didn't want to know that.
“I think I’ve heard this on the radio a few times. It’s good!” Paige bobbed her head along with the music. Off to a good start. “Oh yeah? I’m not sure I really had a childhood crush.”
"Debbie Harry, Joan Jett-" And with a start he realized that he'd been about to type, 'and Kurt Cobain.' That was later Jono's problem. He paused and shook his head before adding. "I liked a lot of musicians, I wasn't so much into movie stars. But I always fell for their music first. You learn a lot about a person by the music they listen to or make."
“Oh yeah? Then you definitely have to let me listen to your band sometime.” Paige winked at Jono, smiling.
Heat rose to his cheeks and he knew that the scarf wasn't doing much to hide the blush. "Let's see how you like the mixtape first." He typed.
Jono carefully held the burned CD in his hands and waited to make sure the sharpie on it had dried. It was important that the song titles were all written on the CD itself. Just as important as it was to give Paige the most authentic album experience he could. He'd used some free online software to make a custom 'album cover' for it, and had made a small booklet explaining each song, any interesting trivia about the bands, and lyrics. It felt like a real CD. It reminded him of the EPs he used to put together for the band. He closed his eyes and shook his head, no use in thinking about that when they were an ocean away.
He opened his phone and sent Paige a text. 'Hey, I finished that mixtape for you if you wanna come over or meet up to grab it from me!'
He hadn't yet listened to Paige's beloved Loretta Lynn, but it was on his agenda, he was hoping to get through this next encounter without revealing that he had absolutely no idea who Ms. Lynn was.
Paige put her highlighter down, taking a break from reading over case studies, when she saw the screen on her phone light up. Seeing the text was from Jono brought a smile to her face.
She responded, ‘Sure. I’m in the library if you want to come here, or I can come to you in a bit.’ Who knew people still made mixtapes?
Paige had gotten so busy with her classes and things that she had completely forgotten to look up those bands Jono had mentioned. This would be a good reminder to herself to look them up if she couldn’t figure out how to play the tape.
Jono rolled his eyes fondly when Paige said she was in the library. Of course she was. Two weeks of classes had passed and Jono was surprised she hadn't just moved her bed into the library. 'How long have you been studying without getting up? I can come to you but the lightwriter's a bit loud for having a quiet conversation.'
‘Uh…since I got back from class. Should probably think about getting food or something.’ Paige had been in the zone, which meant time meant nothing. The reminder that she should stretch was probably a good thing. ‘I’ll come to you and then take a break.’ She stood up, stretched, and started putting everything away in her bag.
'Door's open for you!' He texted. He got up and quickly tidied up his room a bit, it was important that the presentation of the CD was perfect....for reasons he refused to examine or name. He once again checked over the song titles written on the CD, they were about as neat as his handwriting could ever be. But the real star of the show was the booklet- Paige had mentioned that her brother was a musician so maybe she was too? He'd included the chords along with the lyrics for the songs he knew by heart just in case she could get use out of them. He really wanted her to like it. Maybe one day she'd ask to listen to his music because she genuinely liked the sound. Wouldn't that be something?
Despite Jono’s text, Paige still knocked on the door before opening it when she got to his room. It was the polite thing to do.
“Hey, what’s up?” She was still impressed by how neat Jono kept his room. Her room was still a disaster zone that was 2/3rds unpacked. Someday she’d get around to finishing that.
"I'm sorry it took so long, it had to be perfect." Jono typed, holding out the CD triumphantly. "I can redo the cover image if you in fact don't like pink. I just- it's been in most of your outfits I've seen you wear and so I thought it might be your favorite colour? I can change the color easily, just let me know I want you to like it!"
“Oh, wow, you made an album cover. It’s nice!” Paige was surprised to see that Jono was handing her a CD case instead of a cassette tape. That should be a lot easier to use.
“Yeah, I like pink. I like most colors, really. You don’t have to change anythin’.” Opening up the CD case revealed Jono’s handwritten track list. She was…going to have to really sit with that later to decipher what it said. “Thanks, I can’t wait to listen to it!”
"There's a book inside!" Jono typed excitedly, pointing towards the inside of the front cover. "It's typed, don't worry. It has song titles, lyrics, some chord progressions, fun facts....I wanted it to feel like a real album for you!"
“Aww, that’s so sweet! I’ll have to put together some recommendations for you. Sorry, I don’t know how to make my own CDs so all I can do is a playlist.” Jono had clearly put a lot of effort into this, Paige didn’t think most albums had the chord progressions and fun facts attached. She’d have to find something to do in return.
"I used to make the EPs for my band." Jono typed, instinctually looking to talk about his band before realizing that he wasn't in the band anymore. Which, rather put a damper on things. "I just-" He paused, trying to figure out how to word this without sounding desperate. "I wanted you to like it. You're the first friend I made here, you're important to me."
Mentioning that Paige was the first real friend he'd had in a while given how his mates had dropped off before he'd ever left England was probably too depressing for a conversation where Paige had called him sweet.
“Aww, Jono, that’s so nice of you. I’m happy we’re friends, too.” Maybe she could plan a trip into the city with him one weekend, since they had talked about it last time. “You know, I’d love to listen to some of your band’s music sometime.” Even if this genre of music turned out to not be Paige’s thing, Jono was clearly passionate about his music and it would be nice to listen to things he had written.
"CD first." For a number of reasons, including but not limited to how crushed he would be if Paige hated the sound of his music. "Do you have any favourite Loretta Lynn songs? And I'm sorry I've forgotten the others you mentioned."
“Coal Miner’s Daughter,” Paige immediately responded. “Old Kentucky Home, Wildflowers, Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man, You Ain’t Woman Enough, Blue Kentucky Girl…you know, just let me make you a playlist, otherwise we’ll be here all night. My family always says I can really go on for a while when I start talkin’ bout Loretta. Oh, I also mentioned Dolly Parton, Reba McEntire, Johnny Cash, Tyler Childers is also good. I’ll put something together for you.” He was definitely from one of those New England Birminghams then, not Alabama.
Jono wrote them all down quickly on a notepad. “I’ll make sure to listen to them. I didn’t mean to blow them off I just wasn’t raised on country music, my parented listened pretty much only to rock and pop. I’m sure I’ll like it…. And you’re welcome to talk as long as you like. I like listening to you.”
“What? No, you’re fine. We can both try some new things this week.” Paige went a little pink at Jono’s final comment. “Sure, but me listing song titles can’t possibly be that interestin’. But, uh, thanks for the CD. I’ll let you know what I think of it. You’re welcome to join me while I grab dinner.”
“I can’t eat but sure.” Jono typed, feeling heat rise to his cheeks and hoping the scarf was hiding it. “You could tell me a story about paint drying and I’d pay attention, talk to me about anything you like.”
“Yeah, sorry, I should have guessed that was a sore spot.” Paige awkwardly played with the ends of her hair. “You don’t have to come, I just thought it might be nice to keep hanging out. And you could have some proof that I actually took a break from studyin’ like I said I was gonna. But I understand if you don’t wanna. And you could always tell me about the bands you like. The Smiths or…Bowl? Roll? Somethin’ like that.”
"Hole?" Jono typed, and then blinked multiple times, hoping that sounded less terrible than it did in his head. "The band, I think you're talking about is Hole. And I'm happy to get dinner with you, I just won't be eating anything."
“Yes, Hole! You’re into Hole. I will remember that next time.” Paige scrunched her nose up. “Maybe I should have rephrased. But yeah, dinner. And don’t worry about the food. My microwave meals only feed one person anyway.”
Jono’s face went red and he blinked at her slowly. “I’d love to hang out and I wouldn’t expect you to cook for me anyway…..oh I forgot to even ask if you have a CD player.”
This was going well, probably about an hour more and then he could faceplant into his pillow and pretend he hadn’t somehow managed to put his foot in a mouth that didn’t even exist anymore.
“Well, that’s good. I’m a bit of a disaster in the kitchen. Sam does most of the cooking. Uh, I think there’s a CD drive on my laptop…or I can see if the library has one.” Paige started to head for the door. She wasn’t sure how she had managed to phrase that sentence about the band Jono liked so poorly it was now awkward between them, but maybe if they moved to the kitchen it would get better.
“You don’t cook? I used to love to cook, maybe I could teach you?…… we could also listen to the CD here. I have a CD player. Only if you want to though.”
We’re just friends. He thought purposefully. It’s not a date, it’s not romantic, it’s just hanging out. This is fine.
“Sure, we can listen to it here. Let me go make my food and I can come back. And thanks for the offer, but I’m pretty hopeless in the kitchen and it wouldn’t be fair to force that on you.” It was really sweet of Jono to offer, he was a good friend, but Paige burned eggs all the time and it felt a little unfair to make him teach her to cook when he couldn’t eat anymore.
Jono shook his head. “I offered. But okay, I’ll see you in a few- I can get the CD player set up?”
Paige was going to sit in his room, listening to a mixtape he made for her, that included songs about how dying next to her would be a great way to go. Surely, absolutely everything was about to go wrong.
“Yep, be back in a bit.” Paige dropped her bag by Jono’s desk and walked to the door. “Don’t start without me!” Closing the door behind her, she walked quickly toward her room. It shouldn’t take her too long to grab food and get back, but she didn’t want to make Jono wait longer than he had to.
Jono waited, somewhat anxiously, for Paige to come back. He got his CD player set up, attempted to tidy up his already tidy room, and waited, hoping that she would like it. He really really hoped she'd like it. He thought about going ahead and pulling up some of her musical artists on his phone to listen to, but that felt....desperate almost, especially if she caught him. So he waited, foot tapping on the floor, for her return.
15 minutes later, Paige returned sans school bag but with a reheated chicken and vegetables dinner dumped in a bowl. “I’m back! You can start it whenever you’re ready.”
Plopping herself into Jono’s desk chair, she balanced her bowl in her lap and picked up the booklet Jono had made. It was typed up and stapled together carefully. Paige could tell how much effort he had put into this, and it was very impressive. Regardless of if she liked the music, she was going to find somewhere to keep this where it wouldn’t get lost in her room. Keeping the book on the desk while she ate (to avoid spilling food on it), she continued to flip through all the lyrics and new fun facts.
"Ready for me to turn it on?" Jono asked, feet still tapping anxiously at the floor as he sat on his bed. "Most of it's the Smiths because they're my favorite but I have loads more women fronted bands I can recommend if you end up liking this kind of music."
He'd started the mixtape off with Blondie for a reason, afterall.
“Ready!” Paige had started making her playlist of recommendations for Jono while her dinner heated up, and judging by the booklet, it was going to be a bit longer than his CD. Oh well, at least he’d know a lot of Loretta this way. “It’s probably easier to start with one band, so I don’t mind. You can always send me more stuff!”
Jono hit play on the CD player and his eyes crinkled in a smile at the opening drums to Call Me. "I used to have the biggest crush on Debbie Harry, the lead singer of this band."
He had barely been able to stop himself from saying what exactly he'd let Debbie Harry do to him, but he figured....Paige probably didn't want to know that.
“I think I’ve heard this on the radio a few times. It’s good!” Paige bobbed her head along with the music. Off to a good start. “Oh yeah? I’m not sure I really had a childhood crush.”
"Debbie Harry, Joan Jett-" And with a start he realized that he'd been about to type, 'and Kurt Cobain.' That was later Jono's problem. He paused and shook his head before adding. "I liked a lot of musicians, I wasn't so much into movie stars. But I always fell for their music first. You learn a lot about a person by the music they listen to or make."
“Oh yeah? Then you definitely have to let me listen to your band sometime.” Paige winked at Jono, smiling.
Heat rose to his cheeks and he knew that the scarf wasn't doing much to hide the blush. "Let's see how you like the mixtape first." He typed.
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Date: 2024-02-06 05:21 am (UTC)