Page 44 of Racing Hearts

Sierra smiled down at her phone.I’m in.The smile never left her face as she closed her eyes and drifted back off to sleep.

***

The next day was similar to the one prior. They shoveled (mostly alone), spent the rest of the day with their families, and fell into bed together to watch a movie and talk until they couldn’t keep their eyes open anymore. When Sierra woke up in the middle of the night again, she thought about staying, but it felt like a bad idea with so many unanswered questions between them.

Before getting out of bed, she pushed a piece of hair behind Ellie’s ear and watched her sleep. She didn’t want Ellie towake up and find Sierra staring at her, so she forced herself to get up and walk out of the room.

“Same time and place tomorrow,” Ellie said sleepily as Sierra was slipping out of the room.

As requested, the next night, they found themselves in the exact same position. “How would you feel about skipping the movie tonight, so we can talk more? I’m really enjoying getting to know you better.”

“Having fun learning about all of my thoughts on book and movie characters?” Sierra teased.

“You’re right. Our conversations have been much more surface level these past few days. Tell me something deeper.” Ellie wiggled her eyebrows. “Or juicier.”

This didn’t feel like the safe little bubble Sierra was trying to keep them in, but with Ellie looking at her that way, she forgot why she needed to protect herself. “What do you want to know?”

“Hmm.” Ellie tapped her chin as if she was thinking. “Let’s start easy. What’s your middle name?”

“Thatiseasy, because I don’t have one.”

“You don’t have a middle name?” Ellie scrunched up her nose. “I thought everyone had a middle name.”

Sierra shrugged. “Not me and Sienna. Our birth parents apparently didn’t find them important.”

“Interesting. Sierra No-Middle-Name Finnegan. I like it.”

Sierra waved her hand in a go-on motion. “And now it’s your turn. What’s your full name?”

Ellie cringed. “I guess I walked myself into that one, huh?”

“You kinda did.”

Ellie sighed. “Fine. I was named after two of my great grandmas, so my full name is Eleanor Patricia Finch.”

Sierra pinched her lips together to try to keep from laughing. It really was an old lady's name. “I can see why you go by Ellie.”

“Hey!” Ellie grabbed a pillow and hit Sierra with it before she could duck away. “Since you decided to be mean, I’m not going to take it as easy on you with this next question. How many people have you kissed?”

Sierra swallowed hard. “Just one.” Talking about kisses made her think about the person she didn’t want to be thinking about right now. “How ’bout you?” she asked before Ellie could ask any follow-up questions.

A small crease formed on Ellie’s forehead as she thought about Sierra’s question, and it took all of Sierra’s willpower not to reach out and run her finger over it. “Ten to fifteen maybe? Some of them were girls I made out with at parties, so does that even count?”

Sierra’s heart clenched. That definitely counted. Until this moment, Sierra had let herself forget about what happened at that track party. Now, it was all she could think about. Part of her wanted to run away again and another part of her wanted to call Ellie out for what she had done. There was a third, much smaller, part of her that wanted to crash her lips into Ellie’s to prove to her how much more chemistry they had.

“Like Teresa?” she asked. Apparently, her mouth had decided she was going with the second option.

Ellie looked genuinely confused by Sierra’s question. “Who’s Teresa?”

It was strange that Teresa was the person who had torn Sierra’s whole world apart and Ellie didn’t even know her name. Maybe that wasn’t the weirdest thing since it was a random hookup at a party. “My roommate. The redhead. The one you have a big crush on and made out with at that track party.”

Now, Ellie looked even more confused. “I didn’t realize that girl’s name was Teresa, but just for the record, I didn’t make out with her at that party.”

“You didn’t?”

Ellie shook her head. “No. This was really bitchy of me, but I only said I was going to because I thought it would piss you off since I was convinced you were homophobic. Once you stormed out, and I felt like I had accomplished what I wanted to, I told everyone it was a joke. I had no interest in kissing her. She’s not my typeat all.”

It made no sense. Why had Teresa made it sound like they had made out when they actually hadn’t? Did she just want to hurt Sierra even more? Also, why was Ellie saying that Teresa wasn’t her type when she had been caught checking her out multiple times? “Really? Then who’s your type?”

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