Page 43 of Racing Hearts

“Do you want to watch the movie right away or are you okay to talk for a little?” Ellie asked.

“Talking is cool.”

“Cool,” Ellie responded teasingly.

“What… should we talk about?”

“Hmm. I got it. Which movie villain do you think got an unfair rep?”

That was definitelynotwhat Sierra expected Ellie to say, but she was appreciative they weren’t going too deep. It didn’t take Sierra long to think of her answer and she delivered it with confidence. “Definitely Gaston. He was just trying to save the kidnapped girl.”

“Gaston?” Ellie’s voice was a combination of surprise and disgust. “Gaston has that fragile white male ego. Men like him are the reason I’m a lesbian. Terrible pick.”

“Fine” Sierra tried to make her voice sound annoyed, but that was impossible since it was the opposite of how she was feeling. “Who’s your pick?”

“Definitely Carrie. Her mom was terrible. Her classmates were the worst. Everyone in that movie deserved to die.”

Sierra choked out a laugh. “Wow. That’s dark.”

Ellie simply smirked in return. “I know.”

They continued to go back and forth like this for the next hour, telling each other so much without really revealing anything at all. When Ellie asked if they should start the movie, Sierra thought about saying no since she was enjoying their conversation. She had to admit that a movie also sounded great, though.

She definitely didn’t regret her decision when the movie started and Ellie and her naturally snuggled closer together. There weren’t anyintentionaltouches, but with how tightly they were pressed together, Sierra could feel Ellie everywhere.

“Thanks for agreeing to watch this with me,” Ellie whispered.

“There’s nowhere I’d rather be right now,” Sierra answered honestly.

The smile that confession brought to Ellie’s face caused Sierra’s stomach to somersault. Their hands were alreadyresting against each other, but when Ellie moved her finger the slightest bit to stroke the top of Sierra’s, lighting bolts flashed through her body as if she was in the midst of the most amazing storm.

After a few minutes of continuing this motion, Ellie’s finger wrapped around Sierra’s. Ellie smiled over at Sierra and Sierra smiled back, and fireworks went off around them (at least, that’s how it felt). It was the most innocent thing in the world, but right now, it waseverything.

When Sierra noticed her eyes becoming heavy, she decided not to fight it. As she began to drift off to sleep, Ellie’s head came down to rest against hers. “Is this okay?” she asked.

“It’s perfect.” Sierra could hardly get the words out since she could barely breathe.

Slowly, but surely, Sierra let sleep overtake her and she drifted into the most restful snooze she had in a long time. A few hours later, when Sierra woke up, her finger was no longer intertwined with Ellie’s, but instead, their bodies were. Ellie had an arm and a leg draped over Sierra, and Sierra was leaning heavily into her. The last thing she wanted to do was leave this perfect cocoon they were in together, but she figured it would be awkward if they woke up in bed together in the morning.

She slowly extracted herself from underneath Ellie’s body, careful not to wake her up. She crept across the hall and slowly opened the bedroom door to try to keep the sound from waking up Sienna. She tiptoed across the room and delicately pulled back the covers so she could get into bed. She let out a relieved breath when Sienna didn’t even flinch beside her.

Sierra tried to fall asleep, but she was finding it impossible with the absence of Ellie’s body. She picked up her phone so she could mindlessly scroll through social media, but when she did, she noticed a text had come through from Ellie.

You could have stayed. The bed feels cold without you.

Sierra felt like her brain was short-circuiting as she tried to figure out what to say to Ellie.I didn’t want Sienna to get the wrong idea…

Or was it the right idea? Sierra wasn’t sure at this point.

And what would that idea be? ;)

Sierra really didn’t know what to say to that. When did this shift happen? When did they become the people who sent each other flirty texts? A week ago, Sierra didn’t even know if Ellie was a nice person. Now she wanted nothing more than to stay up all night texting her. Okay, actually, there was one thing she wanted more. She wanted to stay up talking to Ellie, their fingers still intertwined.

Goodnight, Ellie :)

It felt like a safe response. The smiley face still made it flirty without giving too much away.

Same time and place tomorrow?

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