reputation | a doah story

Delicate

"Sometimes I wonder when you sleep, are you ever dreaming of me? Sometimes when I look into your eyes I pretend you're mine, all the damn time. 'Cause I like you..." - 'Delicate' by Taylor Swift

Dixie and Noah floated in a a tight embrace in the shallow end of her pool after their make-out session had subsided. Her arms snaked around him and her face nestled in his neck as the moon and pool lights offered a luminous afterglow over them. He rubbed her back under the water as they stood there in the quiet of the night, glimmering in the water. The Pandora's box of feelings finally opened and a lingering uncertainty danced around them over what they had just done.

Dixie felt safe in his arms, his warm skin and soft smell keeping her calm. Noah kept his cool on the outside, but his mind was filled with worried thoughts about what was going to happen next. He didn't want her to regret tonight's events when she inevitably snapped back to her senses. He couldn't bear the thought of losing her.

Dixie detected Noah's racing thoughts as she played with his damp curls in an attempt to reassure him. She didn't want to leave his embrace, but she sensed his discomfort in the silence. "Will you cuddle with me tonight?" Bold Dixie made an appearance again with that question, her face teasing inches away from his. She wanted him to stay and she didn't want to have to share.

Noah, still waiting for himself to wake up from this ridiculous dream, just looked at her in a haze. Unable to form the words that expressed the million yeses that were screaming in his head, he just nodded and gave her what he hoped was a flirty grin. Dixie returned his confirmation with a big smile and a soft kiss on the lips. He had to be dreaming right?

Noah helped Dixie climb out of the pool and grabbed them some towels and robes from the pool house. He wrapped a towel around her shivering shoulders before bothering with his own. Once they were dried off, he worked to turn off the bonfire as Dixie collected the remnants from their s'more making; an event that seemed like it had occurred a lifetime ago after what they had just done. "You have everything?" Noah asked as he finished with the fire. Dixie nodded in response as he wrapped an arm around her robed waist to lead her to the door.

Once inside he admired her dancing around the glow of the kitchen as she finished cleaning up their mess. "Ready?" she asked as she slammed a cabinet door. Noah nodded and Dixie grabbed his hand, intertwining her fingers with his as she led him up the stairs to her bedroom.

Noah aimless wandered around her room waiting for her to emerge from her bathroom where she had excused herself to clean up for the night. He fiddled with the strings of the hoodie he had grabbed out of his car along with a dry pair of sweatpants. He was still at a loss of words for what had happened between them and he was trying to get himself under control before he did something to ruin it.

"You can sit down and stay a while, you know." Dixie's sarcastic tone snapped him out of his negative thoughts. He didn't notice her emerge from the bathroom waving a new toothbrush in his face. "Oh, uh thanks." he said through a smile as he took it and shuffled off to her sink.

He took a long hard look at himself in the mirror when he arrived, commanding himself to snap out of it while splashing some water on his face for good measure. He finished up and walked back out to Dixie already under the covers scrolling through her phone.

He went over to the empty side of her bed hesitated at what to do next. "Um, do you mind if I sleep shirtless? It's not a big deal if makes you uncomf –." Dixie cut him off. "Noah, I like you too, stop making it weird." she snapped, hoping to eliminate his doubts.

"Sorry, I just had accepted a long time ago that this would never happen, and I don't know how to process it now that it is." he admitted. Dixie nodded at him sympathetically while patting the bed next to her as an invitation to get in. "It's okay, it's cute," she reassured him, "We probably have a million and a half things to talk about, but right now I just want to go to bed."