Page 23 of Racing Hearts

Sierra furrowed her eyebrows, and the cutest wrinkle formed on her forehead. “Youwere shaken up overmelooking upset, so you called me a bitch?”

“No.” Ellie shook her head back and forth a bunch of times. This really wasn’t going well. “I didn’t want to fight with Juniper at that moment because my mind was on other things.”

Sierra crossed her arms in front of her chest, but her face softened the slightest bit. “What kind of things?”

“You.” Ellie couldn’t believe she had just admitted that out loud, but she couldn’t take it back now. “I was thinking about you, okay? I feel so guilty about the impression you have of me. I’m worried you’re having a shitty freshman year all because of me.”

“It’s not all because of you.” Sierra stared down at the ground and kicked at some rocks. “If I’m being completely honest, most of my problems have nothing to do with you.”

Okay, they were finally getting somewhere. Ellie couldn’t stop a small smile from parting her lips, but she quickly bit it back since she could tell that whatever Sierra was referring to was very upsetting for her. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Sierra shook her head, but still refused to look at Ellie. “I haven’t even talked to my moms about it.”

“So, you do have two moms. I take it that means you’re not actually homophobic, huh?”

A small chuckle escaped from Sierra’s lips, and it was like music to Ellie’s ears. “Quite the opposite, actually.”

Did that mean…? Was Sierra…? Ellie wanted to ask her, but she figured that would be crossing a line. They had come so far in this conversation. She didn’t want to ruin that.

“So, what do you say?” Ellie put on her most charming smile. “Do you think we could have that talk?”

Sierra finally looked at her and her lips twitched as if she was trying to hold back a smile. “I don’t know. I really should shower then go to the library to study.”

“What about dinner? You have to eat.” Ellie wiggled her eyebrows. “I’ll buy. We can get something fast. It beats eating cafeteria food.”

Now, Sierra’s lips did part into the slightest smile. “I guess I could spare a few minutes for some good food.”

“Really?” Ellie’s voice came out at a higher pitch than usual, totally giving away how excited she was over Sierra actually saying yes. She cleared her throat, hoping it would help to make her sound more chill. There was no reason for her to be this excited about a dinner conversation. “I’ll pick you up in about thirty? Will that give you enough time to shower?”

Sierra pulled her phone out of her bag and stared at it for a few seconds before looking back at Ellie. “That should work. I’m in Fraser.”

“Would you… Could I…?” God, why couldn’t Ellie get her words out? It’s not like she was asking a girl for her number. Well, that’s actually exactly what she was doing, but it’s not like this was a date. Sierra was her teammate that she was grabbing dinner with. They were barely even friends. It was ridiculous for her to be so nervous. She took her phone out and shook it in the air like a complete idiot. “Your number?”

Sierra’s eyes went wide, but she quickly recovered and nodded. “Yeah. Of course. That way you can let me know when you’re outside.” Sierra pointed to the phone. “May I?” she asked before reaching for it.

Ellie handed it to her and Sierra quickly typed in her number, then hit the call button. She smiled at Ellie as she handed the phone back to her, and it made Ellie’s stomach somersault. “There. Now, I have yours too.”

“Awesome. Thanks. You should smile more often, by the way.”

Shit. Why the fuck did I just say that?

Sierra’s smile grew even wider. “I’ll think about it.” She turned around without another word, but Ellie could have sworn there was a skip to her step that hadn’t been there before.

Ellie was so excited about their dinner, she sprinted back to her apartment. By the time she got there, she was so out of breath, she had to go into the kitchen to refill her water bottle. As soon as she shut the water off and got her breathing under control, she heard a strange noise coming from Juniper’s room. It almost sounded like crying, but that didn’t make sense since Junipernevercried. In fact, now that she was thinking about it, Ellie couldn’t remember even one time throughout their whole friendship that she had seen Juniper cry.

She walked over to the door and knocked on it, and as soon as she did, the sound stopped. “Everything okay?” she asked through the door.

“I’m good.”

Juniper’s voice sounded anythingbutgood. Ellie brought her hand to the doorknob to test if it was unlocked. Much to her surprise, the knob turned, and the door opened.

When Juniper saw her, she quickly wiped the tears from her face. “I told you I’m good.”

Ellie walked over to her best friend and sat next to her on the bed, placing her hand in Juniper’s as soon as they were side by side. “What’s wrong?”

Juniper shook her head. “Nothing. All good.” She pointed to her face where she plastered on the worst fake smile.

“Good try. I’m your best friend, remember?”

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