Page 17 of Racing Hearts

“Wait. You and Harrison talked about me and Teresa?”

Harrison was Sienna and Sierra’s older brother. He was also adopted and ten years their senior. Even with the age gap, Sierra was pretty close to him, but they had never been close enough to discuss their love lives together. It had taken almost a year for Sierra to meet her brother’s now-wife after they started dating.

“Only briefly. He asked me about you two after he visited for Christmas last year and saw you together. I told him I was pretty positive you were dating, but I didn’t think I was a fan of the relationship. He told me I was jealous, because you were so close to someone other than me.”

“Well, I’m sure you’ll be happy to hear that you were right.” Sierra laughed through her tears. “She completely shattered my heart, Sienna.”

“Oh, honey, I’m not happy to hear that at all. What can I do? Should I drive to West End this weekend? Do you want to meet up at home? Seriously, whatever you need, tell me, and I’m there.”

Sierra wanted to tell her sister to hop in her car right now and come to see her, but there was no way she could ask her to do that. “That’s not necessary. Seriously. I’m sure you’re busy. Plus, we’ll see each other soon for Thanksgiving.”

“As long as you're sure. I hate the thought of you going through this alone. Do you have friends from the track team you can talk to? Or at least, hang out with to take your mind off of things?”

Sierra laughed again. She was starting to get closer to some of the underclassmen sprinters, but the track team wasn’t exactly a safe space for her right now. Since she was being honest, she decided to tell her sister about all of those troubles as well. She let the whole story spill out, barely taking a breath between words.

“Let me guess,” her sister said after Sierra finished. “Ellie Finch is hot, isn’t she?”

“Wait. What?” After everything Sierra had just told her, she was confused how that was what her sister had taken from it. Elliewashot. Sierra couldn’t deny that, no matter how much she wanted to. But that had nothing to do with the story she had just told her sister.

“I don’t know. I just figured this girl must be hot if she has you this frazzled.”

Sierra shook her head as if her sister could actually see her. “She has me this frazzled because she’s made my first semester a living hell.”

“Hm.”

“What?” Sierra let out a long sigh. She hated when her sister gave her a non-response like that.

“It sounds like her best friend has done even more to make your first semester hell, but youbarelyfocused on her.”

That wasn’t true. Okay… it kind of was. But Sierra had a perfectly good reason for that. “Ellie drives me crazy, because there’s random moments where she’ll suddenly act like she cares. I think it would be easier if she just flat-out hated me like her friend. The back and forth gives me emotional whiplash.”

“Plus, she’s hot,” Sienna said with a laugh. “I just looked her up. This is the girl you used to be obsessed with, right?”

“Obsessed with?” Sierra had no idea what the hell her sister was talking about. She was neverobsessedwith Ellie Finch.

“Oh, come on. Don’t act like she’s not the whole reason you chose West End. You used to get a lady boner just from talking about how fast she was. It’s part of the reason I knew you were gay.”

Sierra wanted to deny it, but she knew her sister was right. When Sierra started considering what school she wanted to go to, she took notice of Ellie right away. Obsessed might be too strong of a word, but she’d be lying if she said Ellie had nothing to do with choosing the school she did. “Okay, whatever. You’re right. I guess that’s why they say you should never meet your heroes.”

Sierra cringed when she pictured Ellie’s face after saying those exact same words to her. There was so much pain in her eyes, Sierra almost felt guilty about it.Almost.This girl was part of the reason her freshman year wasn’t going anything like she planned, so she couldn’t get herself completely in knots over it.

“I’m sorry she disappointed you. You could definitely do worse, though. I mean, youhavedone worse. Teresa is a cunt.”

Why was her sister acting like Sierra was actually consideringdatingthis girl? She was trying her best not to kill her. Dating her was thelastthing on her mind. “What am I supposed to do?” Sierra asked Sienna as if she could wave a magic wand and make everything better.

“The first thing you need to do is request to switch roommates for next semester. You can’t keep living with Teresa. It’s awful for your mental health.”

Even with everything going on between them and how miserable it was to share a room right now, the thought of switching roommates had never crossed Sierra’s mind. Switching roommates felt sofinal. It was like she was giving up on Teresa, and she wasn’t sure if she was ready for that yet. “I don’t know. If I switched roommates, moms would start asking questions.”

“Who cares? I don’t think ourtwo momsare going to be super disgusted that you like women.”

“No, but they will probably be upset that I lied to them so I could live with the girl I was dating.”

“Eh, they’ll get over it. You know the most important thing to them is that we’re happy. They wouldn’t want you to be struggling.”

“I’ll think about it.” Even as she said the words, Sierra knew it was a lie. If she switched from her room with Teresa, the two of them wouldn’t have any reason to see each other anymore, which means Teresa would be completely out of her life. Even with all of the pain Teresa had caused her this year, Sierra couldn’t imagine losing her completely. “Any other suggestions in the meantime?”

“Just get through these next few weeks. Call and text me anytime you need to. Keep reminding yourself that soon you’ll be home with the people who love you the most.”

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