Chapter 26
Sierra
Sierra couldn’t believe it was finally Sunday and time for her date with Ellie.
She really hoped Ellie liked what she had planned.
She had to get help from her moms and Sienna to come up with the perfect idea.
Of course, none of them were surprised when Sierra let them know she was planning a date for Ellie.
Without her saying it out loud, there was a clear unspoken understanding of what had developed while they were staying with the Finches.
“Where are you going?” Teresa asked from where she was sitting on her bed with headphones on.
Sierra was surprised to hear her voice since it was the first time Teresa had said anything to her (while being sober) since sending that rude text.
“Out,” was all Sierra said in return. Even if she wasn’t going out with the girl she was secretly dating, Sierra still wouldn’t have told Teresa what she was doing. She owed Teresa nothing.
Honestly, Teresa was probably part of the reason Sierra was so sore right now since Sierra had slept on the couch in the common room several times over the past week.
Some nights, she set an alarm and snuck in when she knew Teresa would be asleep, then set another alarm so she could leave before Teresa woke up.
Other nights she stayed there the whole night.
Even with the couch being so uncomfortable, she tended to get a better night’s sleep those nights since she wasn’t waking up to a bunch of different alarms. The only night she actually slept in her room the whole night was Friday night, because she needed to get a good night’s sleep for her track meet.
That plan had kind of backfired when Teresa came back to their place drunk and tried to crawl into bed with Sierra.
When Sierra promptly kicked her out, Teresa insisted she had gotten confused and thought that it was her bed, but Sierra had a feeling that wasn’t the case.
These were the types of games Teresa had played with her throughout the whole first semester.
The only difference was Sierra wasn’t going to let her get away with them anymore.
Even though Teresa “didn’t mean to get into Sierra’s bed,” she had spent the next hour going on a drunken ramble about how Sierra was too uptight.
Teresa made a grunting noise, indicating she was unhappy with Sierra’s answer, but luckily, didn’t say anything else.
Sierra left the dorm and walked the half mile to the parking lot where she was forced to park her car, because she was a freshman.
By the time she reached her car, she could barely feel her hands, but that didn’t matter.
Soon her hand would be wrapped around Ellie’s and that wouldn’t just make her hand warm, but also the rest of her body as well. That was the effect Ellie had on her.
Ellie had let Sierra know that Juniper wasn’t home, so Sierra parked her car close to Ellie’s apartment and walked to the front door to get her.
She didn’t even have to knock before Ellie opened the door and pulled her inside, using Sierra’s body to shut the door behind them.
With Ellie’s body pinned tightly up against hers, Sierra could barely breathe.
As if that wasn’t enough, Ellie immediately brought her mouth to Sierra’s and kissed her hard, as if she needed Sierra to live.
By the time Ellie pulled away, Sierra’s head was spinning, because what the fuck had just happened?
Ellie ran her thumb along her bottom lip as she bit back a smile.
“Sorry, I’ve wanted to do that since yesterday, so I couldn’t resist. You looked so sexy in your uniform, it was fucking killing me to keep my hands off of you.
Then, I didn’t even get to see you after the meet since Juniper wanted to hang out.
Pretty much I’ve been a dam ready to flood ever since, so I’m very sorry about the attack, but I couldn’t help myself. ”
Sierra pushed her ragged breaths in and out until she was finally able to speak. “You never have to apologize for kissing me like that.”
“In that case,” Ellie leaned close to her once again, “should we go for round two?”
As much as it pained Sierra to do so, she had no choice but to push Ellie away from her. “I wish. Trust me, there’s nothing I want more right now. But, unfortunately, if we don’t leave now, we won’t make it on time.”
Ellie smirked and lifted an eyebrow. “Make it where on time?”
Sierra squeezed Ellie’s side and laughed when Ellie yelped and jumped away from her. “You’ll find out when we get there, okay? I’ve told you that so many times.” It wasn’t a lie. Ellie had made a really good effort to get Sierra to spill the beans over the past few days, but she had stayed strong.
“Will you at least give me one clue?” Ellie held up one finger as if she was trying to emphasize her point.
“It’s an hour away from here and starts in an hour and fifteen minutes. That’s your one clue. Good luck figuring it out from that.”
Ellie scowled, but her smile quickly snuck through. “Are you trying to one-up me by taking us fifteen minutes farther than I did?”
“Yep, you caught me,” Sierra said sarcastically while rolling her eyes at Ellie. She playfully pushed Ellie’s chest. “Not everything has to be a competition, you know.”
“Well, where’s the fun in that?” Ellie took Sierra’s hand and led them both out of the apartment. “Dude, it’s fucking freezing out here,” Ellie said. “You’re going to have to hold my hand really tight or I might get frostbite.”
“You know, there is this crazy invention that came out recently called gloves,” Sierra joked. “You should try them sometime.”
“Oh yeah? If they’re so great, why aren’t you wearing them?”
Sierra’s face immediately turned red, because she knew she had to admit the real reason she didn’t put any on. “I didn’t want anything getting in the way of feeling your hand against mine.”
Ellie leaned in and gave Sierra a kiss on her temple. “I guess great minds really do think alike.”
Once they were in the car, Sierra put on the new playlist she had made on Spotify that was made up entirely of songs by blonde female singers.
Sierra smirked when an idea popped into her head.
“I’ll make you a deal. As soon as you figure out what all of these songs have in common, I’ll tell you where we’re going. ”
Sierra was sure there was no way Ellie would figure it out, but Ellie was eager to try, so she listened to the songs and verbalized notes about each one. After five songs, she snapped her fingers. “I figured it out. These are all blonde singers.”
To say Sierra was shocked would be an understatement. “How the hell did you do that?” she asked.
“It was actually pretty simple. I knew who was singing each song we listened to so far, and because I think they’re all hot as hell, I obviously know the color of their hair.
Add on top of that, with how fucking adorable you are, it was no surprise that you’d take something I told you on our first date and make a playlist based on that. ”
“You think I’m adorable?” Sierra’s cheeks warmed from the compliment.
Ellie laughed as if it was ridiculous for Sierra to even ask that. “Of course I think you’re adorable. I wouldn’t try to kiss your face off every time I saw you if I didn’t.”
“That’s good, because I happen to like it when you kiss my face off.”
Ellie cleared her throat. “As much as I love this flirting we have going on here, I believe you made me a deal.”
“You’re right. You definitely earned it.
” Sierra took a deep breath. Even though she had worked hard to plan the perfect date, she still worried about whether or not Ellie would like her idea.
“We are doing a cooking class. I guess it’s also kind of a baking class, because they help us to make a full meal—appetizer, main course, and dessert.
When we’re done making it, we get to sit down and eat it there.
It’s supposedly a really romantic setting, but I’ve never been there, so I can’t confirm that. ”
“Are you serious?” Ellie asked.
Sierra couldn’t decipher her tone, so her nerves got even worse. “Yeah. I’m not sure if you’re into that sort of thing, but I thought it could be cool since we had so much fun baking cookies together.”
“Sierra, that’s more than cool. It’s fucking amazing. Aren’t those things super expensive, though?”
Out of all the questions for Ellie to ask, why did she have to ask that one? “Yeah… about that. My moms actually gave me the money to pay for it. I think they want this date to go well just as much as I do.”
“Your moms know we’re dating?”
Shit. Why did I say that out loud? “Yeah. I’m sorry. I know we agreed to keep it a secret, but they were kind of there as it was happening, and they figured it out.”
“I get it. So did my moms. And, just for the record, they definitely approve of you as well.”
“I guess we made much better first impressions on each other’s parents than on each other, huh?”
Sierra wasn’t sure if they were at the point where they could joke about that, but the way Ellie laughed told her they were. “That’s for sure,” Ellie said in the middle of her laughter.
They arrived at their date location just in time to get the rundown and set up their cooking area before beginning.
There were three choices for each course, so Sierra and Ellie decided to do Italian Wedding Soup for their appetizer, Steak and Garlic Mashed Potatoes for the main meal, and Chocolate Chip Cookies for dessert.
The two other desserts were much fancier, but Ellie convinced Sierra they had to make cookies since it was the first (and only) thing they ever made together.
The two of them trying to cook together was just short of a disaster.
Neither of them had any clue what they were doing, and more food ended up on themselves and the floor than in the recipe.
By the end, the woman running the class was doing most of the work while Sierra and Ellie laughed about how pathetic they were.
By the time their cookies were in the oven, their soup was done, so Sierra and Ellie cleaned themselves off and sat down to eat. The reviews hadn’t lied. With the low light and candlelit tables, it was a very romantic atmosphere, and Sierra could feel herself falling for Ellie even more.
When they were done eating, Ellie leaned back and patted her stomach. “I gotta hand it to us. We did a great job. That food was amazing.”
“I hate to burst your bubble, but I’m not sure how much of that actually had to do with us.”
Ellie laughed and held her glass of water up to tap it against Sierra’s. “Touché.”
Sierra was sad when she noticed all of the other pairs starting to clear out, because that meant they would be expected to leave too. She was having such a good time with Ellie, she didn’t want it to end. It definitely didn’t help that she would be leaving Heaven to return to Hell.
The hour drive back to school went by way too fast and Sierra could feel her stomach twisting the closer they got. “Do you have any plans for the rest of the day?” Sierra asked in the hopes she could prolong this date a little bit longer.
Ellie let out a loud, exaggerated sigh. “I already have a test tomorrow. I’m going to be spending the rest of the night studying.”
“Oh. Yeah. Of course.” Sierra tried to hide the disappointment from her voice, but the look on Ellie’s face told her she hadn’t done a very good job.
“How would you feel about continuing this date in the library? I can meet you there in a half hour or so. I just have to gather all of my study materials together.”
Sierra felt fifty pounds lighter from hearing Ellie’s idea. “I would love that.”
“I was hoping you would be down, because I plan on asking for a reward for all of my hard work. Think we can find a dark corner in the library?”
Sierra’s body hummed in anticipation. If they couldn’t find a dark corner, she would fucking make one.