reputation | a doah story

Dancing With Our Hands Tied

 "I loved you in spite of, deep fears that the world would divide us. So, baby, can we dance oh, through an avalanche?" -'Dancing with our Hands Tied' by Taylor Swift

Dixie woke up in her childhood bedroom, the soft light of the early afternoon creeping through her blinds. She had been enjoying the past few days in Connecticut. Getting to see her old friends took her mind off the mishap with Griffin. She was hurt and annoyed with how they left things, he barely apologized to her the next day. She knew she had to have a tough conversation with him when she got back, but for now she was comfortable with the distance of the continental US separating them.

She grabbed her phone off her charger and scrolled through her notifications. A text from Charli said a Dunkin' iced coffee was in the fridge for her; another was from her best friend Kate with plans for their graduation celebration tomorrow. She opened an Instagram DM from Noah of an inside joke meme that made her giggle. Even when she was blue, Noah always found a way to paint everything golden.

A FaceTime from Kate snapped her out of her daydream. "Hey bestie." she answered it, her face only half in the screen. Kate looked nervous and a pit in Dixie's stomach formed. "What's wrong?" Dixie spit out, knowing how to read her friend's mood. "I- I got a DM from a friend. This girl that she knows has been snapchatting Griffin for a few weeks." Kate admitted softly.

Dixie felt her world completely flip upside down. The cheating allegations, the victimization, the avoidance and ditching her had all seeded the doubt, but now it was blossoming into a full-blown panic. "What's her username?" Dixie demanded as she opened up her DMs. She felt the deeply suppressed rage of the last eight months bubbling in her stomach.

"hey lol" Dixie sent in the message to the girl. She was instantly greeted with a story of a two-timing Griffin and a set of screenshots as evidentiary support. Her anger flashed in a prickly, crimson heat across her entire body. For someone who thought they were so smart, he was moronic to be messaging with someone from her hometown. She saved the screenshots and sent them off without a second of hesitation to Griffin with a "??" text.

She instantly got a call back, boiling her rage to a new height. Now was when he chose to immediately respond to her? Did that mean he always saw her texts and purposely didn't answer? "Baby, it's not what it looks like, let me explain." he began pleading as soon as she answered. She bit her lip feeling like he was begging not to lose his clout instead of her. "Is it true?" she replied deadpan, she wasn't going to give into his games this time.

"I sent those but it's not what it looks like. They were just snapchats! I never met up with her!" he rambled on, "She set me up, she egged me on so she could tell you! There was nothing in the world that I could do that would stop it!" Dixie scoffed at his dumb excuses, infuriated that he expected her to believe them. "Griffin, we're done. I'm done with the lying, the ignoring me, the ditching me, and now the cheating. It's over."

She felt sadness replace her rage, tears stinging her eyes as she said it. She had always wanted him despite her deep fears that the social media world would divide them. She sacrificed so much of herself for him and he repaid her with an avalanche. She wondered how the kind Griffin who used slip his hands in her back pockets as he hugged her, had turned into a stranger who's touch she didn't recognize.

It hurt more than any heartbreak Dixie had ever felt before, but it also came with a wave of liberation. She heard a loud smash and the line went dead. Did he really just break his phone in a tantrum? Two could play at that game, she thought as she angrily ripped the locket he had gifted her off her neck and flung it across her room. She was grateful to be on the other side of the country more than ever now.