Dixison: Roommates

Keep Me a Secret

Dixie's POV

I was eating a bowl of cereal, watching Saturday morning cartoons in the living room with the boys, waiting for Addison to get out of the shower.

"Dixie!" Addison whisper yelled as I picked up her Facetime call. "Come upstairs."

Bet, I thought. My guilty pleasure—Addison, wet hair, fluffy white towel wrapped around her torso, tan arms reaching for me, smelling like roses and—

"Now!!" Her worried eyes ripped me out of my thoughts.

"I'm coming," I said, hopping up from the couch. 

When I opened the door to our room, I found Addison ripping apart the dresser, throwing shirts and pants over her shoulder.

"What did I just walk in on?" I laughed.

She turned to me, face flushed. A blotted, purple-red hickey graced the pulse point of her neck.

My mouth dropped open. 

She looked like she was about to cry.

"Okay, it's okay," I rushed over, "We need a cold spoon and some concealer."

"Get Avani,"  her voice shook, hand coming up to cover the mark. 

"No, she'll know it was me!"

"EVERYONE will know!" she wailed, frantically searching through her makeup drawer.

My heart beat faster in my chest. "Adds, I promise it'll be okay, I'll fix this,"  I said, my hand cupping the back of her head, before sprinting out of the room and down the hall.

"Avani,"  I said, tumbling through the door of her room. "I need your help."

"Let me guess—you gave Addison a hickey and now it's all bruised and obvious, sticking out like a sore thumb, which will inevitably be drawn attention to at the meet and greet today, and you want me to give her the good beat."

Charli tilted back in the desk chair, looking sheepish.

"I don't even have time to care that you told her, come with me,"  I said, pulling Avani from the room.

Addison sat at her desk, eyes wide, inspecting the abrasion in the mirror.

Avani came up behind her, a determined look settling on her face. "I need a beauty blender, a brush, primer, concealer, foundation, and setting powder. Let's get to work."

2 PM

Addison's POV

We had arrived on time, piling out of the van and through the packed mall in an unorderly manner. 

I felt anxious, heart beat spiking as I watched hundreds of eyes turn to look at me. 

I pulled at the collar of my shirt, praying that Avani's make-up job had covered the marks of our cladenstine act.

We sat down at the tables, fans coming up to say hi and take photos. Dixie sat beside me, watching me from the corner of her eye.

"Are you okay?" she whispered as I signed another autograph.

"I don't want to talk about it," I snapped, instantly feeling terrible at the sight of her crestfallen face.

I checked my neck in everyone's front camera, making sure the angles and the lighting didn't expose my little secret.

"Addison!" Bryce called from down the table.

"Yeah?" I forced a smile, watching the two girls he was with squirm in excitement. 

"Is Dixison real?"

A ringing sound filled my ears and my gaze moved slowly across the crowd, all eyes staring at me, my head turning until I locked eyes with Dixie.

She stared at me, eyes wide, chest rising as she inhaled a deep breath.

"No—of course not."