As she pushed open the door to her room, or—our room, I saw the light. Her queen-sized bed sat in the middle of the floor, across from a flatscreen TV, her dresser, lamp, and about a hundred 35mm pictures.
The room was big—bigger than Charli and I's old rooms combined.
On the right side of her bed, a fluffy rug lay below a small sectional couch, white with snow leopard print pillows. Three tall windows lit up the room with warm stripes of sunlight dancing across the light brown wooden floors.
"Wow," I breathed, taking in a full view.
Her bed was made up perfectly—a puffy white comforter with light pink accent stitching and four huge pillows sitting at the head.
I walked over to the photo wall. Pictures of her college friends, of the Hype House squad, and of her family were hung up with sticky tape. I looked closely at a group photo—there we were—me, Addison, Charli, Daisy, and Kouvr.
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I remembered that day. That was the first time Charli and I had ever left Connecticut. We flew to Los Angeles and went to the Hype House photoshoot. I remember being so overwhelmed; so many pretty people everywhere I turned.
Flashback
"Dixie, can you lighten up? This is finally our time to shine and show everyone who we really are."
"I don't know who I really am!"
"Well, that's why we're in Los Angeles. To find out."
As we walked into the photo studio, all heads turned to look at us.
"CHARLI! CHARLI!" They all gushed.
I rolled my eyes. Just like in Connecticut. Who cares about Dixie! They all want to be friends with Charli.
I gave a few hugs and sat down by the photographer's equipment. I watched from the sidelines as Chase and Tayler swooned over my sister.
"Hi," a soft voice came from behind me.
I turned my chin and saw Addison taking a seat next to me, her light wash jeans comfortably hugging her hips.
I smiled. "Hi."
"I'm Addison. You're Dixie, right? I've seen a bunch of your Tik Toks. You're really funny."
"Addison Rae," I smiled. "I've seen yours, too. You're an amazing dancer."
She laughed.
Sheesh, as pretty in person as she was online, I thought.
"Thank you! So is this your first time in LA?"
"Is it that obvious?" I laughed. "I thought things were going to be different here, but it already feels the same."
"How so?" she frowned.
"IDK, everyone's fawning over Charli just like they do at home. I thought that once I had more than a million followers, I would feel different—special. But I don't."
She studied me for a moment. "You are special, Dixie. I can feel it."
End of flashback
For the rest of the day, Addison had been by my side. We had texted periodically, and I had DM'd her a few tweets, but I hadn't seen her since. Until—
"That was a fun day, huh," her voice beside me pulled me from my thoughts.
"It really was. You were sort of my first friend in Los Angeles. I obviously knew Thomas and Chase, but only through Charli."
"Strangers to friends to roommates. Isn't that a fanfiction trope?" she laughed.
