Best Friend's Brother // Doah

4) Beach Disaster

TW: Sexual Assult and Anxiety/Panic Attacks

June 16th (83 days left of Summer)

It had been about a week since Noah's breakup with Nicky and he was handling it pretty well. Dixie had been going over for a few hours everyday to hang with Addison and would have a few conversations with him as well. He felt happy and calm around her, he trusted her. He always wanted to be around her, and he couldn't shake the feeling.

Noah strides down the stairs and into the kitchen where Dixie and Addison were eating cereal. "Happy Friday!" Dixie beamed. "Good morning!" He turns to Addison, "So you remember Blake from college? Well, he and my friend griffin flew home yesterday and they live like an hour away. So I was thinking we could all hang out, like at the beach or something?" Dixie lights up, "I love that idea!" Addison squeals, "Yes! We can invite all our friends to Santa Monica at 6 pm tonight!"

They all high five excitedly. Dixie and Noah look at each other for a moment. Dixie jumps up, "Alright Addi! Let's go get ready!" Noah watches as Dixie scampers up the stairs, grinning from ear to ear. This is gonna be a good day!

5:30 pm

Noah was getting ready while Dixie and Addison were going over who was coming. "Us, Blake and Griffin, Charli, Chase, Avani, and Mads!" "Perfect!" Noah comes downstairs, "You guys ready?" "So excited!" "Yes! Let's go!" They all giggle, grab their bags, and hop in the car.

They arrive at the beach before everyone else and start setting things up. They lay down some towels, umbrellas, and a few coolers. "Oh, that's them!" Addi excitedly runs up to Charli, Avani, Mads, and Chase hopping out of their car. "Charli! Long time no see sis!' "Hi Addi I missed you! it's been too long!" Chase laughs, "you saw each other like 2 weeks ago." "And that is two weeks too many!" squeals Avani as she hugs Addison and Dixie.

Noah heads over to all the girls."Noah!" They all say hello and make small talk. Noah looks away, then turns to Dixie and Addison. "My friends are here! I want you guys to meet them!" Noah hurries over to Blake and Griffin with Addison and Dixie close behind. "Hey Dude!" Blake daps him up. "Sup" Griffin pats his back. "Hey guys! This is my sister Addison and my friend Dixie!"

Dixie smiles. He used to introduce her as Addi's friend, but now she was his friend. That made her really happy, happier than it should have. She was quickly taken out of her thoughts when she noticed Griffin staring at her. Addison waves at both of them, "Hey guys it's nice to meet you!" Blake's smile seems very friendly, "Hello!" Griffin, the other hand was staring at her oddly. Not necessarily in a bad way, just kind of odd.

Mads shouts to everyone, "Let's get this party started!" They all cheer and run into the water, splashing each other. They play in the water, tan, and talk for hours. By now the sun was starting to set, and they decided they'd be leaving in a little bit, once it got too dark to see or too cold to talk, whichever came first. 

Everyone was hanging out in different clusters. Noah, Blake, Avani, and Mads were standing by the water while Charli, Chase, and Addison were laughing by the peer. Dixie was drinking water at the cooler staring out into the ocean. She loved the beach, it was such a calming place for her. The sound of the waves, the fresh smell, and just the overall atmosphere it created for her was so safe and comforting. Kind of like how she felt when she was with Noah.

"Hey, Dixie!" She turns her head to see Griffin running up to her. "Hey Griffin, what's up." "Just wondered if you wanted to go somewhere more secluded." He stepped closer to her. "Uh no thanks, I'm enjoying it right here." He grabbed her hand, "Come on it'll be fun!" "No Griffin." She pulls away quickly and backs up. She glances at Noah. Knowing he was so close made her feel slightly more at ease. "Wow. Noah? Over me." Dixie turns to him puzzled. "Wha.." "I thought you were better than that.." He walks up to her and caresses her cheek. She starts lightly shaking and stays looking at her feet. "Come on Dixie...You know you want to.." He grabbed her waist. 

"NOAH!" Dixie shouts, relatively calmly. She knew if she called him Griffin would stop. They all knew Noah could pummel Griffin to the ground in a millisecond if he wanted to. Noah flips around so fast he almost snaps his neck. Griffin immediately let go of her and steps back. He rolls his eyes and walks away. Noah starts to walk up to Dixie to check on her. Dixie watches griffin walk away then looks at Noah. Noah froze in place. He could see the terror in her eyes. What happened? Dixie stared at Noah for a moment. She began trembling and her eyes became blurry. Oh no, she thought. Not again.

She starts to choke up. She feels her breath getting caught in her heart as she grasps desperately for air. Her heart began pounding. the sound of its thumps ringing in her ears, becoming louder with each passing second. thump. Thump. THUMP. She felt the blood rush to her head as she began to feel dizzy and light-headed. She looks everywhere trying to focus her eyes on something, anything, but she can't. It feels as if the non-existent walls were closing in. She runs away as quickly as she could, needing to get away. She was shaking so much, hearing nothing but her own heart as she tried to escape. Thump. Thump. Thump

Noah starts to panic. He frantically chases after her. "Dixie!" Dixie, what's wrong?!" She was stumbling into the road. He grabs her shoulder and spins her around. Her face is covered in sweat and tears, her cheeks flushed crimson red. He looks into her eyes. They're panicked, they were glossy, red, and puffy. "I- I Can- Can't Breathe-Can't breathe!" She screams, trying to form a sentence between breaths, but barely having enough air for one syllable. She panics and cries even harder. She felt helpless, she couldn't stop what was happening to her, she couldn't even tell you why it was happening. And that made it more terrifying. "hey, hey it's alright, shhh" He grabs Dixie and hugs her head, petting her hair to calm her.  Her mind starts to calm down but she's still hyperventilating. Noah guides her to the curb and holds her in his arms. "I-I'm co- cold" Noah quickly takes off his sweatshirt and wraps it around her. "It's okay, deep breaths...deep breaths..." Dixie tries to breathe in a few times unsuccessfully, before beginning to calm down. They sit there for a few minutes while Dixie takes deep, slow breathes.

She had stopped crying but was still tense and lightly shaking. "Thank you." Noah squeezed her, "You don't need to thank me." They sat in silence for a few moments. "How long?" "...3 years" "...why didn't you tell me?" She leaned out of his arms and sat up straight, wiping her face with Noah's sweatshirt sleeve. "It's embarrassing" she admits, speaking barely above a whisper. Noah stared at her. "Anxiety is nothing to be embarrassed about, Dix. Especially not around me." She looks him in the eyes. They stare at each other, their lips just inches away. She slowly looks down at her feet. "I had my first one Junior year in my room. I was terrified. I had no clue what was happening. I- I thought I was dying... My mom walked into me sweating and screaming. Her, my dad, Charli, and Adds are the only people who know."

Noah pulls her in for a hug and whispers to her calmly, "You can trust me. I'm glad I was here for you today." "Me too.." Noah holds her for a moment. She rested her head on his shoulder and felt a wave of relief. "Why does it happen?" She sighs. "That's the worst part. I usually don't know. They can come out of nowhere, so I have no way of preventing them. "Well, what about this time" She turns away from him and bites her lower lip. "Dix" He grabs her chin and gently turns it towards him. "What happened?" She looked into his eyes. Her voice trembles and she feels chills through her body as she quietly mumbles her next words.

"Griffin"

----------------------------------------------------------------------

hey bubs! <3

Things are REALLY starting to heat up! Hope you enjoyed this chapter! I know it was a little intense. I wanted to add Anxiety to this story because I know many people struggle with it, including Dixie and myself. Love you all, thank you for reading my story! If you have tips on ways I can handle it tastefully pls comment them! Also, this is just a story and Griffin is not actually a bad person in real life so pls don't spread hate to him. Oh, and sorry for the cliff hanger. How is Noah going to react when he finds out what Griffin did? We'll find out soon! (word count- 1567)

Follow Vote Comment