Chapter 17
Ellie
When Ellie woke up the next day, she was happy to find that the snow hadn’t let up at all. She took out her phone and discovered that they had over a foot already and even more was expected. There was a warning out that people shouldn’t be on the roads unless they absolutely had to be.
Ellie looked out of her window toward the driveway. Even if Sierra’s moms decided to try to drive in this for whatever reason, they would have to dig their car out first, which looked like it would take hours.
Ellie was still struggling to figure Sierra out.
Any time she felt like they might be making some progress, Sierra pulled away from her.
It happened after they got to the house yesterday and then again after dinner when everyone stayed awake to play board games, but Sierra went to bed.
Ellie knew it was an excuse to get away since she had already napped for hours before dinner.
Sure, the track meet was tiring, but it wasn’t that tiring.
Ellie did know one way to get Sierra to hang out with her, which she knew Sierra wouldn’t be able to resist. She pulled up her and Sierra’s text conversation (which had ended after Ellie canceled their dinner plans) and sent her a quick text.
I know it’s going to be hard to actually do anything, but do you want to try to get some sort of workout in with me this morning?
It was no surprise when Sierra’s text came back almost immediately. That’s a good idea. What did you have in mind?
Ellie couldn’t stop the smile from parting her lips. I have some free weights and a treadmill down in the basement. I’m sure we could come up with a circuit or something.
Cool. Want to meet downstairs in 15 minutes?
Works for me!
When a text came through a few minutes later, Ellie figured it was Sierra texting again. She was surprised when she saw Juniper’s name pop up on the screen. She hadn’t thought about her best friend or what she would think about Sierra staying at Ellie’s house.
Hey! How’s it going? Pretty big snowstorm, huh? I hear you are getting it even worse in Jersey. Most of our teammates were smart enough to drive home after the meet. I didn’t, so now I’m stranded at school.
You’re not the only one who is stranded, Ellie thought to herself.
She considered not telling Juniper, but she felt bad lying to her.
She also felt guilty keeping Sierra a secret.
If she was trying to prove to Sierra that she had gotten the wrong impression of her, hiding the fact that she was at her house wasn’t the way to do it.
Instead of trying to explain the situation over a text message, Ellie decided to call Juniper instead.
“Oh god, are you dying? Were you kidnapped?” Juniper asked after picking up after a few rings. “Why the fuck are you calling me?”
“I’m fine. Calm down. I just thought this was something I should tell you over the phone.”
“Oh my god, you really are dying.”
Ellie laughed at her best friend, but the sick feeling in her gut remained. “I’m not dying, but you might want to kill me after you hear what I’m about to say.”
“Juicy. What’s up?” Juniper sounded much more excited than she should for what Ellie was about to reveal.
Instead of wasting any more time, Ellie blurted out the whole story about her mom getting called into work and how it ended up being Sierra’s sister who was hurt.
She purposely let out the part about how she begged her moms to let them stay and told Juniper that her family decided to host them so they didn’t have to get a hotel.
“Your moms are way too nice,” Juniper said. “I can’t believe they are actually letting someone who hates gay people stay at your house. I’m surprised Sierra’s family even agreed. Is she the only one who’s homophobic?”
“That’s the thing. Sierra also has two moms.” Ellie didn’t think that was a big secret Sierra was keeping, so she figured it was okay to share that information with Juniper.
“Does she hate them?” Juniper asked, as if that was the only logical explanation.
Ellie shook her head even though Juniper couldn’t see her. “I don’t think she’s actually homophobic.” There’s a chance she might even be gay.
“That doesn’t make any sense. Why would she have been so weird about you crushing on her friend if she didn’t have a problem with it?”
“I…” The answer hit Ellie like a ton of bricks.
If Sierra was gay, maybe she had a crush on her straight friend, and that’s why she was so defensive over her.
That’s why it hurt her so badly when Ellie joked about getting with her.
Shit. “I’m not sure.” It wasn’t a lie since the conclusion Ellie had come to was purely speculation.
“But I think we should give her a chance.”
Juniper sighed. “Just like your moms. Always looking for the best in people.” She sighed again.
“Fine. I’ll make you a deal. If you still think she’s okay after being stuck in a house with her, I’ll give her a chance.
And by that, I mean I won’t be a bitch unless it’s warranted. I’m not going to be her best friend.”
Relief swept through Ellie’s body. “I wouldn’t ask you to. You already have one of those.”
“Exactly. Be careful. Text 9-1-1 if you need me to come save you.”
“All right. Talk to you later, June.”
“ Text me later. No more of this calling bullshit.”
“You got it. Text you later.” Ellie chuckled as she hung up the phone. She was pleasantly surprised about how well that conversation had gone, and now had a new pep to her step.
She ran down the two sets of stairs into the basement and found Sierra sitting on a stool by the bar. “Sorry it took me so long. I was talking to Juniper.”
“No problem.” The way Sierra said the words through gritted teeth with a deep scowl on her face told Ellie that she didn’t actually mean it.
I really need to figure out a way to make these two get along.
That was a problem for another day, though. For now, they needed to work out. After discussing what made the most sense, Ellie and Sierra got to work. After an hour and a half, they were both sweaty and exhausted.
Ellie lay down on the floor and stared up at the ceiling. “I don’t think I’m ever going to stand again.”
Her view of the ceiling was blocked when Sierra walked over and stood above her. “You need to, or your legs are going to cramp up.” She held her hand out toward Ellie. “Here.”
Ellie accepted Sierra’s help as she stood. Yet, even with her feet planted firmly on the ground, she couldn’t get herself to let go of Sierra’s hand.
She looked in front of her where Sierra had beads of sweat running down her forehead and across her chest. Her heart beat faster as her eyes followed the trail into her cleavage.
It was wrong for her to be checking Sierra out like this, so she forced her eyes up.
That proved to be a mistake, though. Sierra’s deep blue eyes were boring into hers, and for a moment, Ellie forgot how to breathe.
Really, she forgot how to do anything. She was frozen in place, barely breathing, and her heart was beating out of her chest, but she didn’t want it to stop.
She wanted to stay lost like this forever.
When Sierra’s hand fell away from hers, reality came crashing in around Ellie. What the hell just happened? It felt like something Ellie was very familiar with, but that couldn’t be the case. There was no way Ellie had a crush on Sierra.
“So, um, do you want to hang out?” she asked dumbly. Out of all the things to say, those were the words that decided to come out of her mouth? Really?
Sierra stared at Ellie as if she had no idea what to say. After a few seconds, she pointed toward the stairs. “I need to shower, and I should probably spend some time with my moms.”
“Of course. Yeah.” Ellie should probably spend time with her moms too.
She waited a few minutes to go upstairs, because her moms could read her like a book. If she didn’t take the time to get her emotions under control, they would immediately know there was something up with her.
“Hey, sweetie!” her mama said as soon as she walked through the door from the basement. She was sitting at the kitchen table with Ellie’s mom, both sipping their coffee as if they had nowhere to be.
“No work today?” Ellie asked.
Her mom chuckled. “Have you looked outside? At this rate, I’d say we’ll probably end up closed through Christmas.”
Ellie looked outside and was surprised to see how much snow was still coming down. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen this much snow.”
Her mom nodded. “This is definitely some pre-global warming shit going on right now. They are saying it’s a blizzard. We haven’t had one of those in ages.”
A blizzard? Wow. Ellie didn’t think she would ever see one of those with how all of the winters she could remember had gone. Normally, it didn’t snow until January or February, and it was nothing like the extent of what was coming down now.
“So, what are we doing today?” Ellie asked.
Her mama smiled at her mom before looking back at Ellie. “We’re doing housework and catching up on bills. Do you want to join?”
“I’ll pass. Where are Sierra’s moms?”
“Up in the guest room doing some work.” Her mama raised an eyebrow at her and smirked. “Looks like you, Sierra, and Sienna will have to find a way to entertain yourselves today.”
After talking to her mom for a few more minutes, Ellie went upstairs to shower.
She got dressed into sweats and headed across the hall to Sierra and Sienna’s room.
She paused for a moment before knocking as she thought back on the feelings Sierra had stirred up in her earlier.
Maybe hanging out with her wasn’t the best idea, but what else was Ellie supposed to do?
She couldn’t make her guests stay in their room all day.
“Come in!” Sienna shouted after Ellie found the strength to knock.
Ellie walked in to find both Sienna and Sierra lying on the bed.
Sienna was scrolling through her phone, and Sierra was completely entranced by the book she was reading.
Ellie had to fight the urge to stare at her, because she looked so damn cute with her eyebrows furrowed and lips tipped up in the slightest smile.
“Anything we can do for you?” Sienna asked, the amused tone to her voice telling Ellie that she had most likely been caught.
Ellie cleared her throat as she looked from Sierra to Sienna. “I was just wondering if you two wanted to watch a movie or play a game or something.”
“I’m down.” Sienna threw her phone onto the bed and slowly stood up, placing all of her weight on her good leg.
Sierra looked up from her book and blinked over at Ellie as if she had just noticed she was there. “I think I’m just going to read.”
“Okay.” Ellie tried to keep the disappointment out of her voice, but she was pretty sure she didn’t do a very good job of it. “We’ll go over to my room so we don’t bother you.”
After a movie and two card games, Sierra still hadn’t joined them.
It wasn’t that Ellie wasn’t enjoying her time with Sienna, but it was the other sister she was trying to win over.
Ellie instinctively looked toward the door for what had to be the hundredth time in the hope that Sierra would walk in the room.
She felt a set of eyes on her and looked over to find that Sienna was staring at her. “You know, I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about you given everything my sister has told me, but you’re cool. If she’s a little standoffish, it’s only because she’s a little jaded right now.”
Ellie hated the thought of Sierra talking to her sister about her, especially since it didn’t seem like she had much positive to say. “I got the wrong impression of your sister, and I didn’t handle it correctly. I really regret how I acted.”
“I know. I can tell. It’s pretty obvious you like her.”
Ellie swallowed hard. What exactly did she mean by like ? She wanted to ask, but she was afraid that would make her feelings more obvious. “Too bad she’s not my biggest fan.”
“It’s not you. Trust me. Some of the stuff you did was a little shitty, but it sounds like Sierra also hasn’t been the most likable person in the world these past few months. She’s…” Sienna hesitated. “Well, she’s just been going through some stuff.”
“I kind of figured that. I’m guessing you can’t tell me what that stuff is.”
Sienna shook her head. “It’s not my story to tell. Just don’t give up on her, okay?”
“I won’t.”
I don’t think I could if I tried…