Page 22 of Racing Hearts

Chapter 11

Ellie

Ellie sighed as she walked with Juniper toward the building that held the Athlete Academic Advisor. Ellie’s meeting wasn’t scheduled for another half hour, but since Juniper’s was right before hers, she figured they might as well go together. She had been dreading this meeting all week. It was a requirement for all senior athletes to make sure they had plans for the future and realized that life went on after college athletics.

Ellie obviously knew that was the case. She wasn’t naive enough to believe she would be going to the Olympics one day, but she also wasn’t worried about deciding her whole life at the ripe old age of twenty-one. She was pretty sure she wanted to do something that involved the impact of the environment on animals, but she wasn’t sure exactly what that looked like or if it was even what she definitely wanted to do. It was just a fleeting idea, along with a million other ideas she’d had throughout the years. It’s why she wasn’t in any hurry to choose a permanent area of study. She couldn’t imagine enduring years of medical school like her mom had and finding she completely hated it. Luckily, that hadn’t been the case with her mom, but Ellie didn’t want to take that sort of risk.

She was sure the advisor wouldn’t like that answer and would see Ellie as one of those athletes who comes to college strictly for the sport. Athletes like that apparently make the school look bad since it gives them one less person to brag about in the school newsletter.

Throughout their walk, Juniper had been rambling about who knows what, but Ellie couldn’t bring herself to listen. She nodded along, which seemed to be all Juniper needed. Elliewas about to open the door to the building that housed the advisor’s office when the door flew open on its own.

Well, it wasn’t exactly on its own. A person had opened it. Not just any person. Sierra.

Before Sierra noticed Ellie, she ran right into her. When their eyes met, an odd chill ran up Ellie’s spine, causing the hairs on her arms to stand up. There weren’t tears in Sierra’s eyes, but they were glistening as if they were threatening to fall. Ellie opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out. She wanted to ask Sierra what was wrong. She wanted to know why she always looked like the weight of the world was on her shoulders. She wanted to take that weight from her.

Wait. What the hell?Where were these thoughts coming from?

Before Ellie had a chance to really consider what was going on, Sierra growled and pushed past her.

“Wow,” Juniper said with a laugh as they both watched Sierra storm away. “Could she be a bigger bitch?”

“Yeah, I know. Right?” Ellie forced out a laugh as well. When she looked over her shoulder, she was happy to see that Sierra was far enough away that she most likely didn’t hear either of those comments.

Ellie was in a haze as they walked through the building. She was pretty sure Juniper was still complaining about how rude Sierra was, but she couldn’t be certain. All of her focus was on Sierra and that look in her eyes.

Ellie didn’t want to have to wonder about her anymore. She had less than two weeks until Christmas break and she was going to make it her mission to get Sierra to talk to her before they were apart for the month.

***

Ellie sent a silent thank you out to the universe that night at practice when her coach asked her and the other three members of the relay team to stay after practice. “With next week’s practices being optional because of finals, we need to get some good handoff practice done tonight. I promise not to keep you too long, since I’m sure you have a lot of studying to do. Jefferson and Rossi, you’ll still be legs one and two. The Fins are three and four.”

Ellie nodded and tried her best to suppress her eye roll. Thank God Ellie had finally looked up Sierra’s last name so she could understand her coach’s lame ass joke. Ellie lined up on the track beside her teammate, Kate, who was the second leg of the relay, while Sierra and Jane stood about fifty feet from them.

When Coach gave them the signal to go, Ellie studied Sierra’s every movement as she ran toward her. With Juniper, she had to count every step to try to leave at the right moment, but it wasn’t the same with Sierra. Some innate feeling told her when it was the right time to leave, and her feeling must have been right. As soon as she held her hand out to grab the baton, it easily passed from Sierra’s hand into hers. Meanwhile, Kate and Jane, who had been in those same positions all of last year, fumbled with their hand off.

Coach had them do a few more, and with each one, the pass between Kate and Jane became more smooth. Ellie expected herself and Sierra to trip up at some point, but every single one of their handoffs remained perfect. She thought maybe it was just Sierra being perfect at everything she did, but when Coach Kraemer asked her and Kate to practice handoffs as well, they also struggled.

When everyone was done, Coach Kraemer once again mentioned the chemistry between Ellie and Sierra. Even though she knew he was only referencing their hand offs, it still sent a shiver down her spine.Chemistry.Was that what this wasbetween them? Was it the reason why Ellie sometimes stayed up at night thinking about those deep blue eyes? Was it why her body ached to learn more about Sierra even though there was no reason for her to be interested?

Ellie was so caught up in her own thoughts, she didn’t notice the rest of her teammates packing up their things and starting to head out. She threw her things into her bag and ran after Sierra.Why am I always chasing this girl?

“Hey, Sierra, wait up!” she yelled once she was closer to her.

Ellie expected Sierra to completely ignore her, but much to her surprise she stopped while Ellie closed the space remaining between them. Well, the physical space. If the look in Sierra’s eyes was anything to go by, the two of them were still worlds apart in every other way.

“Could we talk?” Ellie asked her. “I know I’ve said that multiple times now, but I’d really like to clear the air between us. We are teammates, after all. I don’t want anything to get in the way of us winning a championship this year.”

“I don’t let my personal life affect my performance on the track. Don’t worry,” Sierra answered seriously.

“I’m glad to hear that, but it’s not just that. I…” Ellie wasn’t even sure where she was going with this, but she knew she had to say something. “I really think we could be friends. I want to be friends.”

Sierra stared at her for a long time, and Ellie felt like she might melt under the intensity of those blue eyes. After a few seconds, Sierra averted her gaze and rubbed her temples. “I don’t get it. You called me a bitch just the other day.”

Ah, shit. She did hear that.“That wasn’t me. It was Juniper.”

“So, you weren’t the one standing beside her who agreed with her right after she said it? That’s strange. It sure looked like you. Maybe you have a twin.”

Ellie sighed. She had her there. There was no point in denying what Sierra had obviously heard. “Okay, I did, but I didn’t actually mean it. I was shaken up, because you looked so upset.”

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