One Day At A Time

Chapter Five: Wandering

It's now Saturday and Ava, Rose, and Lucas are all piled in Lilly's car on their way to the corn maze.

The car ride is pretty peaceful, except for the fact that Lucas won't shut up about wanting the AUX cord.

"Oh my god, what do you even want to play?" Rose groans.
Lucas opens his mouth to say something, but they cut him off before he can give his answer. "If it's the 'Newsies' soundtrack for the millionth time, I swear to god-"

Lucas puts his hands up in defense.
"It's not! I swear it's not! I was gonna play some Ben Platt, if y'all are okay with that. Jeez!"
They're all in agreement on Ben Platt, so Lilly has Ava pass him the AUX cord.

Fifteen minutes later, they pull into the parking lot and jump out, heading towards the admission booth.
It's five dollars per person and they all scrounge around in their jacket pockets for the money they'd brought.

The four of them step aside from the booth after they've paid as Lucas asks,
"So, how are we gonna do this? We could do it in teams."
"Teams?" Ava asks.
"Yeah, we can make it a friendly competition."
Lilly looks at him and asks,
"What are the teams?"

He doesn't need to think at all, but he stays quiet for a moment, acting like he's thinking it through.
He looks at Rose and winks.
"Rose and I'll be a team and you and Ava can be a team. How's that?"

His wingmaning couldn't be anymore obvious.
Lilly stares at him for a second with a look in her eyes that says, "I can't back out now, can I?"

She wants Ava to know, but that's the problem, her problem.
She's constantly conflicted between being brave and saying it or backing out and not risking anything going wrong.

Her head turns to Ava, who abruptly and enthusiastically exclaims,
"Come on!"

They all move to the start of the maze and, as Lilly partially expected and prepared for, Ava's hand is holding hers, ready to go.

"You guys ready?" Rose asks the group.
"Yep!" They all reply.
"One... two... three... go!" Lucas shouts, briskly walking forwards into the maze with Rose right next to him.

Ava runs off with Lilly into the maze, making two quick random turns before stopping.
"Okay, we have to think quick." She states, eager to win the friendly competition.
"We don't have to be too quick. This is a big maze, we can take our time." Lilly says, taking a second to catch her breath from the two whiplash-inducing turns.

Ava gives her hand a squeeze.
"I'm sorry, you're right. We've got time."

They can either turn left or right.
Lilly picks left and turns the corner.

"Ava, can I, um, talk to you about something?" She asks, looking up at Ava, who's squinting her eyes at the path ahead of them.
"Mhm." Ava replies simply.

The words are in Lilly's mind, desperately wanting to come out, but her throat closes up and she can't say them.

"I... uh, I- sorry." She shakes her head, pausing herself.
Today isn't the day the words come out.
She can't tell her, she just can't and that pisses her off.

Lilly has had these words in her head for years and she feels awful for backing out every time.

"Are you okay?" Ava asks, absentmindedly running her thumb over Lilly's knuckles.

That admittedly makes Lilly feel better.
She takes a deep breath and nods her head.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine."
"Okay, what did you want to, to talk to me about?"

Lilly thinks quickly on her feet.
"Oh, I was gonna ask you if you have your Halloween costume planned out yet. I'm still working on mine." She says, laughing awkwardly and faintly.

Ava perks up, grinning a bright smile and answering,
"Yes!"

They wander through the maze as Ava explains her costume idea in detail.
Lilly looks at her with her perpetually heart shaped eyes, listening intently.

They get lost in conversation, making random turns without much thought.

There comes a point a little while later, where Ava looks at the path again, nervously asking,
"Are we lost?"

She tugs at the hem of her shirt with her free hand, a nervous stim she's been doing for as long as she can remember.

But Lilly reassures her with a squeeze of her hand.
"We're not lost. It's just a few more turns and we'll be out, alright?"

Ava looks at Lilly for a moment and nods her head.
"Alright."

They actually were lost, but they trudge on, thinking through every turn.

Eventually, they see Rose and Lucas in the distance, standing in the exit of the maze.

"Damnit! They beat us!" Ava grunts.
Lilly smiles with relief and pulls Ava towards the other two.

"Hey, losers!" Lucas taunts. Rose playfully punches his arm and says,
"We were sure you were stuck in there."
"Well, we survived." Lilly sighs.

"You guys won, good job." Ava says after a few seconds.
Lucas smiles cockily.
"Yes we did! I think that's earned us a prize!"
"What do you want?" Lilly asks.
"Do you have any money left?" Lucas retorts.

Lilly takes a second to search her jacket and pants pockets, pulling a lucky ten dollar bill out of her jacket pocket.
"Yep. What do you want with ten bucks?"
"We could get some hot chocolate?" Rose suggests.

Everyone is happy with that idea as they all go back to Lilly's car.

On the way back to the parking lot, Lucas whispers something to Rose, who whispers it to Lilly.
"Did you tell her?"

With a sigh, Lilly shakes her head.
Rose looks at Lucas, shaking their head, giving Lilly's answer to him.

He nods his head silently and sympathetically.

All four of them pile into the car again and drive off to Starbucks to get their hot chocolate.

While they're in line, Ava leans towards Lilly, asking,
"We didn't win. Do we still get hot chocolate?"

Lilly chuckles faintly.
"Yes, we do. We worked hard to get out of that maze."
That makes Ava smile, which in-turn, makes Lilly smile.

All of them are happy as they sit together at a table and enjoy their drinks.
Lilly can try again another time.