Page 48 of Racing Hearts

Ellie closed the little bit of space between them and when she was toe to toe with Sierra, she pointed to a spot on her face. “You’ve got a little something right there. Do you mind if I—” Ellie placed her hand below Sierra’s chin and once Sierra nodded in response to her unspoken question, Ellie wiped the side of Sierra’s mouth with her thumb.

Sierra tried to figure out what had been there, but she couldn’t see traces of anything. “Get it? What was it?”

“There wasn’t actually anything there. I’ve just always wanted to do something cheesy like that.”

The proud smile on Ellie’s face shouldn’t have been so endearing, but it was. It really, really was. So, Sierra had no choice but to lean in and give her a quick kiss on the lips. It was a kiss that had her toes curling even with how short it was. Because, honestly, who was this girl who opened doors and faked cheesy moments? Was any of it real, or was this just the magic of the holidays sweeping them away?

Either way, Sierra was going to enjoy it. After the baking extravaganza, they spent the rest of the night playing board games and watching Christmas movies with their families. When it was time for bed, Sierra stayed close to Ellie’s side, even though the invite to spend the night in her room hadn’t come yet.

Sienna waved a hand at them when they got to the bedroom doors. “You two have a good night. Merry Christmas Eve.”

“Merry Christmas Eve to you too, Sienna,” Ellie said before wrapping her arms around Sierra and pulling her into her bedroom.

“Bold of you to assume I’d be coming to your room with you,” Sierra muttered against Ellie’s lips between kisses.

“Feel free to go,” Ellie said, but it was clear by her continued kisses that she already knew what Sierra’s answer was.

They fell into bed together and switched between making out and talking until midnight came and Ellie wished her aMerry Christmasbefore kissing her one more time before they fell asleep.

There was no gift-giving on Christmas morning, but the daywasfilled with stolen kisses, holding hands under blankets while watching Christmas movies, and lots of laughter. They laughed as they played Christmas charades and sang Christmas karaoke with their families. They laughed when the dinner that they all chipped in to make didn’t come out as expected at all, and Brinley had to run out to buy everyone Chinese food. They laughed between kisses as they stumbled back into bed that night.

Sierra couldn’t remember ever laughing that much with Teresa, even when things were at their best. She knew she shouldn’t be comparing the two though. For all she knew, thiswas just a fleeting moment with Ellie. Nothing more than a Christmas fling.

“I hate to kill the mood, but with you leaving tomorrow, I feel like we should talk about what this is and where it’s going,” Ellie said after an especially hot makeout session.

“Okay. What are your feelings? What do you want?” Sierra asked. After everything that had happened last semester, there was no way she was going to allow herself to be vulnerable without knowing where Ellie stood.

“I really like you, and I’d love to see where this goes.”

Sierra wanted to grasp on to Ellie’s words and run with them, but she had so many reservations. It wasn’t that easy for her. “I like you too, but how does that even work? I live with my ex. Your best friendhatesme. If anything goes wrong, it could completely fuck up our season.”

Ellie grabbed Sierra’s hands and squeezed them. “No offense, but do you really think I’m going to let anything get in the way of my last season of track?” When Sierra shook her head, Ellie rewarded her with a kiss. “Good. I think we’re both serious enough about the sport to separate our personal lives from our performances.”

Sierra sighed. She wanted this to be easy, but no matter how hard she tried to make it that way, it couldn’t be. “I just really don’t know if I’m ready to jump into anything.”

“What if we hop into it?” Ellie asked as she stared into Sierra's eyes as if she could find the answer to every question in them. “We’ll take things slow. We don’t have to make any big decisions now. We’ll just enjoy ourselves and see where things go.”

Sierra liked the idea ofhopping,but she was still hesitant. There was a voice inside her head telling her this might all be temporary, and after she left here, things would never be the same. She didn’t want to leave filled with promises that couldbe ripped out from under her. “What if we take the rest of break to really consider and decide what we want, and we’ll check in with each other when the next semester starts to see if we’re still on the same page?”

Ellie nodded. “I can work with that.” She kissed Sierra slowly and sensually, then pulled away to gaze into her eyes with a passion that took Sierra’s breath away. She continued to stare as she pushed a piece of hair behind Sierra’s ear. “My favorite color is the color of your eyes, by the way,” she whispered into the room.

It was official. After only spending ten days in a house together, Sierra was done for. She had done the thing she swore she wouldn’t after Teresa broke her heart. She had fallen head over heels for someone new. Someone who had the power to break her heart just as much, or even more, than Teresa had. But, something about the way Ellie held onto her as they drifted off to sleep made her believe maybe Ellie wouldn’t. Maybe Ellie would be the one to save her.

The next day, after a long goodbye in the privacy of Ellie’s room, they said a short goodbye in front of their parents. Sierra gave Ellie an extra squeeze before she finally forced herself to let go and head out to the car. Ellie leaned against the open door frame watching them as they threw their final items into the trunk and got in the car. She stayed there as the car pulled out of the driveway. Sierra watched her through the window and gave her one last subtle wave before the house, and Ellie, disappeared behind them.

A newfound confidence swept through Sierra as she thought about everything that had happened in the past week. “I need to tell you all something,” she spoke out loud into the car. “I’m gay.”

Sienna chuckled beside her, and her moms smiled at each other rather than at Sierra. “We know, sweetie.”

“Everyone who was in that house for the last week knows you are,” Sienna added with another laugh.

Sierra couldn’t stop herself from laughing along with Sienna. She was so happy, nothing could ruin it. She had no clue where this was going to go with Ellie, but for now, she was just appreciative she wasn’t faking her smile any more.

Chapter 23

Ellie

In the week following Christmas, Ellie and Sierra texted constantly and talked on the phone most nights. Their conversations were about their days or funny things their family members did. They didn’t broach the topic of what this was or where it was going, but if this week had shown Ellie anything, it was that she really wanted to pursue this further. She was pretty positive Juniper wouldn’t be too happy about this development, but she had already decided she needed to wait to see what came of it before she told her best friend. There was no use in pissing Juniper off if Sierra decided this wasn’t what she wanted.

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