One Day At A Time

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Day Two

The two of them sleep in late the next day, pressed against each other peacefully.

Lilly groggily wakes up first with Ava's body snuggled into her side.

She looks at Ava for a few moments, taking in the sweetness of her girlfriend's- she's actually her girlfriend now, which is insane and incredible to say, bedhead.

It's a really simple thing, Ava's messy hair from sleeping, but she looks really pretty to Lilly.

Sometimes, really simple things are the most beautiful things.
This, in Lilly's very biased opinion, is a prime example of that.

Sleeping snuggled into her side, Ava looks pretty and sweet, and Lilly doesn't hold back the tired, love-struck smile that spreads across her face.

Lilly alternates between glancing over at Ava or absentmindedly looking up at the ceiling.

Though, her alternating doesn't last too long, because Ava's eyes open a little while later, where she smiles very faintly at Lilly and quietly says,
"Hey."
Lilly says it back to her, adding,
"How'd you sleep?"
"I slept great."

Lilly is more than happy to hear that.
She herself slept great, too, with Ava at her side.

Sooner or later, Ava puts her glasses on and they head out into the kitchen.

And it's another simple thing, having breakfast together.
It brings Ava back to those dreams she had about living with Lilly sometime in the future.

The fact that they're together now means it could eventually happen.

Due to the nature of their impromptu sleepover, Lilly had to borrow a pair of Ava's pajamas.

With Ava being a few inches taller than Lilly, the pajamas are long and baggy on her.

And just how Lilly saw Ava's bedhead as sweet, Ava sees Lilly in her oversized pajamas as sweet, too.

Later that day, they venture out into the cold, but before they do, Donna tells them to bundle up, which leads to Ava insisting that Lilly borrows one of her hoodies to go under her winter coat.

The sleeves of the navy blue, "Renaissance Fair" hoodie go well past Lilly's hands and the hood droops down over her eyes when she puts it up.
It all makes Ava's heart turn to absolute mush.

She's grinning like an idiot, a love-struck idiot.

"What're you smiling about?" Lilly asks her, smiling herself.
"You look really cute and I'm so damn happy right now." Ava answers bluntly.

Giddy and red in the face, they head outside for a walk around the neighborhood.

Ava looks between Lilly's face and their hands, which are so close to each other.
So, so close.

In the back of her mind, she thinks about holding Lilly's hand.

Every once in a while, Lilly's heart flutters when their hands barely touch, she's thinking the same thing that Ava is.

They're a couple, they're allowed to hold hands.
They used to hold hands platonically for Pete's sake!

So Lilly makes a move, so to speak, and puts her hand in Ava's.

Even though they have done this before, it's the change in context that makes it feel special.

Being able to hold her girlfriend Ava's hand as opposed to her friend Ava's hand feels different.
It feels good.

Ava and Lilly look at each other for a second, smiling softly.

A little while later, when they're almost back to Ava's house, Ava squeezes Lilly's hand and asks her,
"Are we gonna tell Lucas and Rose about us?"
"Do you want to tell them?"

Truth be told, telling her friends was one of the first thoughts that popped into Ava's mind after they got together.

She's not quite ready to tell her mom about it, or anyone else for that matter, but Lucas and Rose are two people she really wants to know.

"Yeah, I do, if that's okay."
"It's okay. I want to tell them, too." Lilly tells her.

For Lilly especially, telling Lucas and Rose that she's Ava's girlfriend now will be one of the best moments of her life.

With the plan to tell their friends set in place, they arrive at Ava's house, running up the porch steps and into the warm house.

Some time goes by and, to both Ava and Lilly's disappointment, Lilly's mom texts her, telling her to come home.

But before she leaves, Ava gives her a tight hug that lasts a while.

When they just barely pull away from the hug, both of them lean back in, giving each other a quick kiss that's leaves them both smiling.

Ava looks at Lilly for a second.
She knows she has to, but she doesn't want to let her go.

"You're still wearing my hoodie." She comments.
"Oh, I'm sorry." Lilly says, her face flushed slightly. "Do you want it back?"

Ava's smile widens a bit at the thought in her head.
"No. You can keep it."
"Are you sure?"

Ava nods her head with a hum.
She adores Lilly in her oversized hoodie, it's her current favorite image to look at.

Lilly smiles back at her.
"Okay, then. Thank you." She pulls away completely now, but she lingers in the doorframe for a moment.
"Bye. I'll, I'll see you tomorrow." Ava smiles, waving to her a tiny bit.

Before her feet get glued to the carpet in Ava's doorway, Lilly walks off, waving back to her, saying to her,
"See you tomorrow."

Day two of having a girlfriend went quite well.
Ava goes to sleep happily that night with love swirling in her chest.