One Day At A Time

Chapter Forty-Two: The First Of Many

Two days later, on Monday, Ava goes into the cafeteria with an extra bit of pep-in-her-step.

Before anyone can ask what it's for, she starts off with telling her friends,
"I told my mom everything."

Almost instantly, they all lean in, looking at her eagerly.
"And?" Lilly questions.
"She's really happy for me and, and she's happy with me being queer." Ava answers, grinning.

Lilly wraps her arms around Ava without a second thought.
"Oh my god I'm so happy for you!"
Lucas grins at her across the table.
"I'm proud of you!"

Rose tells Ava that they're proud of her as well.
They then dig around in their backpack for a few moments.
"Well, now I can give you this." They say, handing Ava a bracelet made of glittery beads.
It's in the colors of the queer pride flag.

"I wanted to wait until it was okay to give it to you, but I hope you like it."
"I love it!" Ava tells them happily.

It's her first pride related thing and it's special, because of that.

She goes over to Rose and hugs them, thanking them for the bracelet.

When she's in the car with Lilly after school that day, Ava abruptly asks her while fidgeting with the bracelet,
"Will I be able to get more stuff like this?"

Lilly looks over at her for a second.
"Yeah, definitely. Wait until next month, you'll be able to get plenty of pride stuff."
Ava smiles at that, saying,
"Maybe we can go get some stuff together? Maybe, maybe we could make it a date?"

Lilly thinks about the odd, judgmental look her mom will give her if she comes home with more pride-related things.
The thought of it admittedly scares her.

"I don't know, maybe..."
"Okay. We don't have to get stuff, but I think it would be cool-" Ava cuts herself off, she can see Lilly's shoulders tense up. "Are, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm okay. I just kind of worry about bringing home... stuff like that."

Ava looks away from Lilly for a minute.
"I'm sorry. I, I know that it's a, a touchy, um, subject."

As soon as she says that, Lilly pulls into Ava's driveway and parks the car.
"It's not really a touchy subject, it's fine. You don't need to apologize. I want to buy stuff like that and I want to buy some of it with you, I like the idea of it being a date, actually, but I worry about what my parents will think." Lilly sighs.

Ava looks at her again, reaching over to hold Lilly's hand, and giving it a squeeze, saying,
"I know you worry about it."
"I do, but then, I might just say, 'Screw it' and buy whatever I want."

When Lilly says it, she sounds almost determined.
She's determined to do what she wants.

"Maybe you should do that, I believe in you. I know you could do it." Ava tells her, running her thumb over the back of Lilly's hand and smiling at her reassuringly.

Those words and that sweet smile are enough for Lilly to feel calmer.
"I might just do it. When June starts, you and I are going shopping to get all the rainbow stuff we can get our hands on!"

She sounds even more determined then before.
It'll be a move against her parents, against her mom.
In spite of her mom.

It's partially a stupid idea, buying rainbow paraphernalia in spite of her mom, but she's too determined right now to think about anything else.

She looks right at Ava with a wide smile on her face. "How does that sound?"
"It sound great!"
"Good, then it's settled."

The determination in Lilly's eyes in a beautiful thing to Ava.

She blurts out with a soft smile on her face.
"I love you."
And Lilly smiles and says it back.

Ava kisses Lilly's cheek, per their routine, and she says, "I love you" again when she gets out of the car.

She's happy to see Lilly so determined about something and she is also happy that her bracelet from Rose is the first of many pride-related things that she'll have.