Loving Dixie

Prolog - White

"She was the first thing I noticed.

Her wild pink hair untamed with rich black roots, her dark leather dress layered with more provocative attire and her vibrant gold eyes.

I remember asking her why she drank so much. She smiled that mysterious half smile, her Dixiest smile, and whispered," You drink for fun but I, I drink to forget".

Then she was gone and I was left mesmerized by the broken girl with pink hair that had stolen a part of me I didn't know I still Had."

- Dixon Gray

"He was different from the rest.

He gave up on his stupid pick up lines, He let his lips rise in more than a smirk, He was loud and objectifying.

But he was different.

For a moment he made me look past the broken girl I was, with a reckless life and a tainted heart.

For a second in time, I was just Dixie and he was just Dixon and I lived in that moment for as long as I could.

Then I remembered I wasn't just some pretty girl in a pub having a half tequila shot.

So I ran, away from the boy in the leather jacket and away from the beginning of something that would have to come to a disastrous end.

I ran"

- Dixie Haven

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

It happened on a chilly October night, a week before halloween.

He came into the run down pub in south Bradford, with his beat up leather jacket and tousled hair. It was no surprise the barista on charge flocked to him, twirling a strand of her strawberry blonde hair between her fingers.

She was sitting at the edge of the pub on a rusted stool that squeaked if she moved. Her pink hair tied in to two buns placed nimbly on each side of her head, her deep black roots shown for at least an inch. Her eye lids coated in thick eyeliner and almost cat-like gold eyes glimmering in the dingy pub light.

At first they ignored each other, Dixon carelessly flirting with the ditzy barista and Dixie downing her fourth shot of tequila, annoyed at its non existing effect.

Then it happened.

"Can I have a fifth?", she asked, her heavy lidded eyes skimming over the blonde haired boy before resting on the barista. The barista paid no attention and kept whispering into Dixons' ear, he nodded absentmindedly while tipping back his beer.

"Excuse me?", she asks again politely, she frowns at the tawny haired barista's lack of attention,"All I want is another shot so can you please pull up your shirt and hitch down your skirt for a second and get me one? You can show off your bra and thigh highs after that".

The strawberry blonde girl gasps in surprise and mutters a trail of profanities before pulling up her white shirt covering up her lace bra cups. She slides Dixie a full shot glass a second later and she downs it in a second.

Dixon watches the pink haired girl in interest, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"It seems like you're drinking to something tonight", he says to her, a simpering smile on his face. She turns to him, her alcohol stained lips pursed," What gave you that impression?".

"Isn't that your fifth drink?", he asks watching her gold eyes gleam in suspicion." I'm guessing you're ditsy friend told you", she says while motioning to the door she had just seen the barista disappear through.

"What are you drinking to?", Dixon questions her after a moment, she looks at him under heavily hooded eyes."To being alive, to forgetting", She says smiling lightly, he can still see the emotions brewing in her eyes.

"So, Pink haired girl, What are you doing in a pub all by yourself at witching hour?, he asks, a deep chuckle leaving his lips. Dixie looks at him for a minute and is surprised by how nice it sounds. Her eyes then flutter to the clock at the back of the pub, to see that it was indeed midnight.

"I had a fight with my roommate", she says slowly, her fingers running along the edge of her empty glass. "Why are you here?", she asks after a minute, the awkward silence making her body fluster with anxiety.

Dixon turned fully towards the leather cladded girl with vibrant pink hair, his mind fighting over whether or not to tell the stranger why he was in a dingy pub by himself.

"I was at my brothers wedding", he murmurs, his voice deep and quiet in the small pub. For the first time all night, Dixie looks alert, her golden eyes shimmering and head tilted.

"I'm guessing it didn't go to well", she says, her eyes wander from his messy blonde hair to his leather jacket and faded jeans.

"I got kicked out", he hisses angrily, Dixon's' forehead creases and he clenches his knuckles. He waits for the stranger next to him to offer sympathetic words or place her hand over his but nothing happens.

Dixie eyes him warily under her eye lashes and sweeps a stray strand of her pink hair away from her forehead.

Dixon looks up, his blue eyes giving the girl at the edge of the bar a once over.

She was attractive in the most unique way. Almost ethereally beautiful, her tan skin, glowing golden eyes and vibrant mauve hair.

"I guess you don't do empathy", he mutters before downing the last of his beer. She smiles, a mysterious half smile, the kind of smile that would make people do crazy things just because she asked. Her dixie smile. Her smile that could start and end wars.

"Empathy is for people that pity themselves more than others", she says, her smile still painted on her lips.

Dixon quirks his head to the side and his hair shines under the pubs' lights.

"What's your name, pink haired girl?", he asks with a laugh. His blue eyes staring into her gold ones, he scratches the light stubble on his chin with his hand.

She smiles her Dixie smile again and he can't help but smile aswell.

"Dixie", she says while standing up and walking towards the pub door.

"My name is Dixie".

Then she was gone, leaving a distraught Dixon behind. Craving the pink haired girl that seemed sad and broken yet strong and together at the same time, the girl in the leather dress with cat-like eyes drinking tequila and hoping to forget her past by drowning it in alcohol.

Dixon craved Dixie.