Page 5 of Loving Lauren
Her phone buzzed.
Monica:Thanks for tonight! Horror book club soon if you’re up for it. I’ll bring the wine if you bring your Stephen King opinions.
Sierra:It’s a date. But like, not a date-date.
Monica replied with a laughing emoji.
Yeah. This was good. This was right.
She set her phone down and walked to her window, looking at the city lights. Tomorrow she had lunch with Thalia. Her stomach did another flip as she thought about telling her sister.The time for change is now.
Chapter 4
Sierra had rehearsed this conversation maybe thirty times. Maybe more. Didn’t matter now. Sitting across from Thalia at Bean & Bloom, watching her sister methodically destroy a sugar packet like it was some kind of art installation, every practiced line had evaporated.
The café had the same vibes as on any regular afternoon. Like this was just coffee between sisters, not Sierra finally putting words to something she’d been carrying around for way too long.
Her sketchbook lay open on the table, pages full of half-finished charcoal portraits. One face in particular seemed to glare back at her - abandoned, annoyed. She couldn’t look at it. Instead, she wrapped both hands around her latte even though her palms were slick with sweat.
Thalia looked up from the sugar packet massacre, silver hoops catching the light. “So first you’ve been acting all distracted and weird this week, and now you tell me you went on a date with a girl? I thought you were straight.”
Sierra’s stomach dropped straight to her shoes. She tucked hair behind her ear and let out a shaky breath. Her hair was a lighter blonde than the rest of her family, longer too, with a bit of wave that never sat the way she wanted. Their mom had given them the same blue eyes; Thalia’s were vivid as sapphires, but Sierra’s were gentler, like twilight. Same jawline, same chin.
“I get why you’d say that. I mean, there was Josh in high school, and this was my first date with a girl.”
Thalia just waited, which was so Thalia.
Sierra kept going, trying to find words that would help her sister understand. “I’ve never been big on labels. I just connect with people. That’s always been my thing.”
“So, you’re bisexual?”
Sierra met her eyes. “More like pansexual, I guess if I had to put a label on it. I fall forwhosomeone is, notwhatthey are.”
Thalia reached across the table and grabbed her hand. Her grip was warm and sure. “I want you happy. That’s literally all I care about. Whoever actually sees you, that’s who matters. Mom and Dad will figure it out. They love you. Once you tell them, they’ll come around.”
“You really think so?”
Thalia paused, and Sierra caught the flicker of uncertainty in her eyes. “Okay, so Dad’s going to need some time. You know how he gets with anything that doesn’t fit his neat little boxes. And Mom...” Thalia sighed. “Mom’s going to want to research it to death and probably ask a million awkward questions.”
Sierra’s chest tightened. “That’s what I’m afraid of. They’re not exactly... progressive. Remember when our cousin, Jake, brought his boyfriend to Christmas two years ago? The way they kept calling him Jake’s ‘friend’ all night?”
“That was different. Jake sprung it on them without warning.” Thalia squeezed her hand. “But yes, they’re old school. Traditional. They still think happiness looks like a white dressand grandkids. But Sierra, they also drove hours to every single one of your art shows. They love you more than their comfort zone. It might not be immediate, but they’ll come around. They have to. Did you tell Tobias?”
Sierra smiled for the first time since sitting down. “Tobias probably knew before I did. He’s just too nice to say anything.”
“Emotionally mature little shit. So unfair.” Thalia let out a sigh.
“Right? Honestly rude.”
Sierra sipped her latte, finally letting the sweetness and warmth do their thing. The coffee shop buzzed around them, all cinnamon smells and coffee machine hisses, and something tight in her chest loosened.
“I’m glad you told me.” Thalia stirred her tea in slow circles. “After this week of thesis chapters nobody will read and grading essays, talking about something real feels like I can finally breathe.”
Sierra grinned. “Grad school living up to all your dreams?”
“Oh yeah. I’ve been surviving on coffee and pure spite for so long, I’m pretty sure that’s what’s in my veins now.”
They both cracked up. They’d both been missing this.
