reputation | a doah story

King Of My Heart

"Late in the night, the city's asleep; your love is a secret I'm hoping, dreaming, dying to keep. Change my priorities, the taste of your lips is my idea of luxury." - 'King of my Heart' by Taylor Swift

"I'm perfectly fine!" Dixie was trying to convince her friends that she didn't need to be babied. Noah and Curtis had come over the afternoon that she had gotten back to LA with the promise to cheer her up, but they were walking on eggshells around her. "I'm even looking at apartments so I can live on my own," she continued as they stared at her unconvinced, "I'm better off being alone!"

"Okay, Dix you have persuaded us." Curtis sarcastically said while rolling his eyes. Before Dixie could interject with her defense again, he cut her off. "Let's play a card game or something since Miss 'Perfectly Fine' doesn't want to go out anywhere." "I'll pick one out." Charli said, happy for the excuse to get away from the weird tension for a minute.

Unlike Curtis, Noah didn't mean to be treading lightly around Dixie. He believed her when she said she was ok; it was himself that he didn't know how to handle. Griffin was the only buffer he had that was keeping their strictly friendship intact. He was worried that he was going to overstep some boundary and ruin everything.

"Let's film a Tik Tok at least." Curtis offered while they waited for Charli to return. Dixie scrunched up her nose, "No thanks, I'm not ready to show my face yet." Curtis shot her a death glare. "Okay Miss Perfectly Fine, you can be our cinematographer." he signed as Noah passed her his camera ready to film.

"Let's do the dance on the pool ledge." Curtis offered, dragging Noah by the arm to the location. Dixie set herself up in front of them. Noah swung his hips to the beat, appearing to smile at the camera but really, he couldn't smiling at her.

The music ended and he snapped out of it. She passed his phone back to him so picky Curtis could give it his blessing just as Charli was coming back with Uno. "It took you that long to pick out Uno? How basic!" Curtis faked anguish as Charli began to pretend fight with him back. Dixie giggled at their exchange and Noah smiled because she had finally laughed. It made him feel at ease.

After a couple of hours of games, the group decided they were hungry. Charli and Curtis bickered over where to order take-out. Dixie and Noah happily resolved to accept the winner so they didn't have to get involved. Noah had a lot of other things on his mind anyways. He had sat next to Dixie at the table the entire game; her arm brushing against his when she adjusted her seating, her body reaching across his to grab more cards.

They continued hanging out well into the night and by the time they were ready to say their goodbyes Dixie felt like a new person. The weight of her situation had begun to lift off her conscious and she felt herself slowly putting the pieces of her heart back together.

Curtis and Noah were saying their farewells after they agreed to call it a night. She fell into a long, quiet embrace with Noah as Curtis and Charli nosily eyed the two from a distance. "Thank you again for everything." she said nuzzling her head into his chest. "Anytime Dix." he simply replied hugging her in closer. "I have to ask," she said looking up at him. His heart stopped fearing what was coming next, did she know how she made him feel?

"Is our friendship going to put a strain on your relationship with Sway? I don't want to get in the way of anything or cause any more drama than I already have –." Noah cut her off shaking his head and laughing in relief. "Dixie don't worry. You're not ruining any of my relationships that I want to keep. I promise you everyone is on your side anyways, but I have your back regardless."

He knew bro code was important, but she had changed his priorities. She gave him a small smile and another tight embrace before pulling away to put her hand up to demand their handshake as a promise that his words were true, which he happily returned.