Secret Love (A brother's best friend romance)

Dixie - 1

"I can't believe I have to move for this job and the only people I know is my brother and his best friend that lives with him." Dixie groaned on the phone with Mia, her best friend while packing the last of her bags. Her flight is set for tomorrow at six forty-five in the morning. Moving from North Carolina to Florida.

"Did you already send a lot of your stuff to your apartment? Like your bed and dresser?" Mia was away at college so she couldn't be there to help Dixie pack her things and ship it away.

"Well, considering I've had a knot in my neck from the air mattress and have worn the same outfits for the last six days then yes." Dixie zipped closed her suitcase and rolled it toward her door. "My brother and his roommate just put it all in my apartment and they live across the hall from me."

"Eww, Jared lives across the hall. Won't that be weird if you bring any guys home?" Mia giggled at the thought of Jared, Dixie's brother- walking out as she's bringing a random man into her apartment."

"Yes but I'm 26, he should understand... Plus, I'm sure I'll witness some girl doing the walk of shame because of him or Travis, his roommate. Now, I have to go to bed, I have to be at the airport at five in the morning." Dixie laid down on the air mattress and pulled the covers over herself.

"I wish you sweet dreams, bad bitch." Mia sighed, and the call ended.

-

The next morning, Dixie rolled off the air mattress and got dressed. Grabbed all her things, and locked her apartment for the last time. Dropped the keys into the apartment's key dropoff box and called an Uber to take her to the airport.

Once there, she got her bags checked and went to security, once that was done, it was a game of being bored out of your mind and waiting at the terminal for her flight.

"The 6:45 flight 45A to Florida has been delayed one hour and is now set for 7:45" the PA system boomed over the busy airport, Dixie groaned and slid deeper into her seat.

As the hour went on, Dixie, paced back and forth, counting every ceiling tile.

"Now boarding flight 45A to Florida."

Dixie grabbed her carry-on and rushed to her gate, boarding and finding her seat.

-

After a two-hour flight, the plane landed. Dixie got off, got her bags, walked out of the airport, and looked around for her brother's red Toyota but didn't see it, instead a sleek black Challenger rolled to a stop in front of her, the tint was so strong, she couldn't see who the car belonged to... Until the passenger side window slowly rolled down.

"Are you gonna get in or not? Throw everything in the backseat." a deep but euphonic male voice spoke from the driver's side and it wasn't Jared, it was Travis. Dixie felt like all the air in her lungs travel to her throat and form into a ball. She knew she had to see him but she didn't brace herself for it to be this early in the day. Dixie took a deep breath, opened the door to the backseat and placed her suitcase and bags inside and shut the door, then slid into the front passenger seat.

"Hi, Travis." Dixie looked at the brown-haired and green-eyed man in the driver's seat and smiled. Travis nodded, smiled back, and put the car into drive, heading toward their apartment complex.

"Your shithead of a brother forgot that he had to work the day you were arriving and asked me to pick you up." Travis held the steering wheel with one hand and the gear shift with the other.

"Doesn't surprise me, he's been busy detailing cars and whatever else you do as a professional car painter... dude. Thanks for the lift and for everything else with helping move my stuff into my apartment."

Travis nodded. "You're welcome. We're here." He put the car into park and got out, opened the backseat, and grabbed her suitcase.

Dixie stepped out of the car and stared up at the building for a moment. "Home sweet home." She grabbed the rest of her bags and followed Travis into the building, up five flights of stairs; 'please tell me there's an elevator somewhere, this is gonna be awful when I go to the store' she thought to herself.

"There's an elevator but it's not working right now, they're servicing it." Travis, spoke with a matter-of-fact tone while he carried her heavy suitcase.

"Of course they are." Dixie, annoyed, rolled her eyes.

Upon arriving on the fifth floor, they stood at her apartment and Travis handed her the key. Dixie unlocked the door and opened it to reveal an open living room with a balcony door, a dining room, a kitchen to the left, and two doors that she assumed led to the bedroom and bathroom. Boxes were scattered around the floor and Dixie groaned, thinking about all the unpacking she'd have to do.

"Well, I'll leave you to unpack. Jared should be off in like three hours so he'll come by." Travis rolled Dixie's suitcase further into the apartment, turned on his heel, and left the apartment, entering his.

"Alright." Dixie grabbed her suitcase while her other bags were still in her arms and opened the door to her bedroom. Seeing her queen-sized bed.

"Momma is home!" She dropped her bags and flopped onto her bed and automatically relaxed to the point she fell asleep.