Page 50 of Loving Lauren
It wasn’t perfect. It wasn’t the acceptance she’d dreamed of. But it was a start.
Her hands were still shaking from the adrenaline of saying the words out loud to her parents. Sierra was about to call Jett on her way home before she decided to just go see him. She needed to see him in person.
After everything they’d talked about, after promising to debrief immediately, a phone call didn’t feel like enough. She needed a hug from someone who understood exactly what she’d just been through.
The drive to Jett’s apartment was a blur of streetlights and nervous energy. She pulled into his complex and hurried up the stairs, her heart still racing from dinner.
As she approached his door, she heard what sounded like... groaning? And a thud against the wall.
Sierra’s blood ran cold. Was Jett hurt? Was someone attacking him?
She pressed her ear to the door and heard more sounds. They were definitely distressed noises, maybe struggling. Without thinking, she reached for the spare key Jett kept hidden under the fake rock by his door (the world’s most obvious hiding spot, which they’d all teased him about).
“Jett?” she called as she unlocked the door. “Are you okay? I heard—”
Sierra froze in the doorway.
Jett was very much not hurt. In fact, he was very much occupied with Ellis against the living room wall, both of them completely naked and very obviously in the middle of something intense and passionate.
“Oh my GOD!” she squeaked, immediately spinning around and covering her eyes. “I’m so sorry! I thought you were hurt. I heard noises and I just—”
“SIERRA!” Jett’s voice was strangled with a mixture of mortification and breathlessness.
“I’m leaving! I’m leaving right now! Pretend this never happened!” Sierra practically ran out of the apartment, slamming the door behind her.
She sat in her car for a full five minutes, face burning with embarrassment, before her phone rang.
“Before you say anything,” Jett’s wry voice came through the speaker, “Ellis is never going to look me in the eye again.”
“I am SO sorry! I heard what sounded like someone getting hurt, and I panicked. I should have knocked louder or called first or literally anything other than barging in with a spare key.”
“It’s fine. I mean, it’s mortifying, but it’s fine. How did the dinner go? Please tell me it went better than this did.”
“Well, I didn’t accidentally walk in on any family members having sex, so yes.”
“Details. I need details to distract me from my shame.”
“I did it. I did it.” Sierra settled back in her car seat. “I told them everything. About being pansexual, about Lauren, all of it.”
“Wow! How did it go?”
“It was rough. Really rough. They’re struggling with it. Mom’s worried about what everyone will think — from family, the neighbors, to church. Dad feels like I’m making my life harder for no reason. They need time to process, and I can tell they’re disappointed.” Her voice cracked a little. “But they said they love me, even if they don’t understand. It’s not the reaction I wanted, but at least they’re still talking to me. How did it go with your mom?”
There was a long pause. “Not great.”
Sierra’s heart sank. “Oh, Jett.”
“She hung up on me.” His voice sounded flat. “I told her about Ellis, how awesome he is, how he treats me. And she goes,‘You’re being stupid! That white boy’s just messing around with you; he’s gonna break your heart’.”
“God, Jett. That must have been awful.”
“The thing that kills me is I could tell she was scared, you know? It comes from a place of love. She’s just trying to protect me. Under all that anger, she’s just terrified someone’s gonna hurt me. But she wouldn’t listen when I tried to explain that Ellis isn’t that guy.”
Sierra’s eyes started burning. “So what now?”
“I don’t know. Maybe give her space. Keep being happy and hope she comes around. But I’m glad I told her, and I’m really glad you told your parents, too. We did the scary thing.”
“We absolutely did the scary thing, and whatever happens next, we’ve got each other.”
