One Day At A Time

Chapter Forty-Three: The Crack In The Door

The following Saturday, Lilly goes over to Ava's house for a sleepover.

It's been a week since Ava told her mom everything and it's also her first sleepover with Lilly since then.

There's a new look on Donna's face when Lilly steps into the house that Saturday evening, a knowing look.
But a happy look as well.

If her daughter is happy, then she's happy.
Within reason, of course, that is her philosophy.

There came a point where Donna began to worry about Ava and when or if she would start dating.

The fact that she's dating her best friend, someone she's grown with and known for as long as anyone can can remember, admittedly eases Donna's mind.

Ava takes Lilly to her bedroom, but for the first time ever. she doesn't close the door all the way.
"Why'd you do that?" Lilly asks her.
"My mom wants me to keep it open a bit, she said it's for her own peace of mind."

It's only open about an inch, which doesn't seem like the biggest deal to Ava or Lilly, but they respect it nonetheless.
It's the least they can do for Donna.

They sit on the floor in front of the TV, where Ava loads up, "Skyrim".

But she'd forgotten where she left off when she last saved her game, because she starts off with a fight against a dragon.

"Oh, shit, oh shit, oh shit!" She exclaims, firing off arrows as fast as she can in her slight frenzy.

She starts out with panic, but eases into calmness as she fights the dragon.

By now, she has fought a million dragons, but every fight is still as exhilarating.

And watching every fight is exhilarating for Lilly, too.

Watching Ava's face light up with excitement and determination fills her heart up with utter bliss.
It always has.

"Damnit- come on!" Ava groans when she misfires her arrow.
"Come on, you got this, I know you do!" Lilly tells her.

It takes a few more arrows as well as a few more groans, but the dragon eventually falls at Ava's character's feet.

Ava pauses and saves the game hastily, before exclaiming with a huge grin on her face,
"Yes!"

Lilly grins with her.
"Hell yeah! I told you that you could do it!"

In all of her excitement, Ava pulls her into a quick hug.

They're both giddy with the leftover adrenaline from Ava's epic battle against the dragon.

And their giddiness, or more specifically Ava's giddiness, leads her to thank Lilly for her encouragement with a kiss on the cheek.

But they quickly lean away from each other when they hear from outside the door,

"Ew! Mom, Ava kissed Lilly! That's gross!"

Ava jumps up and goes to her bedroom door, yanking it open.

There Andy stands, looking up at her.
"Why were you spying on us?" Ava asks him.
"I wasn't spying! I wanted to play, 'Minecraft' with you guys!"

"What the fuck are you yelling about?" Anne questions loudly, walking across the hall from her room.
Andy spins around and looks at her, pointing his finger up at Ava.
"She kissed Lilly!"

"She what?" Anne asks, looking both extremely intrigued but also extremely confused. She looks at Ava directly. "Did you?"

Ava has thought about telling her siblings about herself and Lilly, but she has never known the right way to phrase it.
Now, she doesn't have to phrase it all.

She looks over at Lilly, who, in her startled shock, is still on the floor, looking at the Graham siblings.

Ava mouths to her,
"Should I tell them?"

Ava's mom knows, that's what really matters to Lilly.
Having Ava's little siblings know about them being together was an afterthought in her mind.

While the approval and opinions of adults very much matters to Lilly, though she's slowly trying to work on that, the approval and opinions of little kids doesn't matter in the slightest.

Lilly shrugs her shoulders, then nods her head.

She gets up off the floor and goes over to Ava, standing right beside her.

"Yeah, I did. Lilly and I are, um... together." Ava tells her siblings.

She can practically see the gears turning in Anne and Andy's head.

"Together... oh my god- Mom!" Andy yells, running down the hallway into the kitchen, where Donna is working on chopping up vegetables for dinner.

Though, Donna instantly puts down her knife when she sees Andy run towards her with Anne, Ava, and Lilly following behind him.

"I heard you yell once, honey. You don't need to yell again."
"But this is different than the first time I yelled! Why didn't you answer the first time?"

Donna chuckles, saying,
"I already knew about them being together, it isn't a big deal worth yelling about."

Andy groans dramatically and Anne quickly asks her mom,
"You knew?"
"Yes, I knew. Your sister told me a couple days ago. I'm okay with it, it's no big deal."

"It's a big deal to us! We didn't know Ava had a girlfriend!" Anne exclaims. "How long has this been going on?" She questions, turning to Ava and Lilly with the most serious expression she can do.

"Since February." Lilly answers.
"You've been together for months! Holy shit!"

Ava and Lilly will probably never understand why it's so mind-boggling to Anne, but her confusion is hilarious to them.
It's hilarious to Donna, too, who lets her younger daughter off the hook with the curse word.

Andy's frustrated groan comes to an end as he repeats to Donna with a quick point of his finger,
"Mom, they kiss. That's gross!"
"It's gross to you, because you're still young. It won't be gross when you're their age." Donna says and Andy scrunches up his face.

"Nope!" He declares. "It'll always be gross!"

And they leave it at that.

Andy is disgusted by the idea of romance, Anne admittedly wants to ask questions about it, and Ava and Lilly feel an odd sense of relief that everyone in Ava's family knows about them.