One Day At A Time - Revised Edition

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

It's been a week since Ava told her mom everything. There's a new look on Donna's face when Lilly steps into the house that Saturday evening: a soft, knowing look. (If her daughter is happy, then she's happy.
Within reason, of course. That is her philosophy.)

Donna doesn't stress on it too much, but she occasionally worried about how Ava would navigate dating, ready to help her with anything she didn't understand.

The fact that she's dating her best friend, someone she's grown with and known for as long as anyone can remember, admittedly eases Donna's mind. (There's nothing strikingly new for Ava to navigate; Donna can step back.)

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?" It's something new, Lilly can't help but be curious.
"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, who can step back, but not too far back.

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

Though, 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 fires off arrows as fast as she can in a slight frenzy.

She has fought a million dragons by now, but every fight is still as exhilarating. Watching every fight is exhilarating for Lilly, too.

And watching Ava's face light up with excitement fills her heart up with utter bliss. (It always, wondrously, has.)

"Damnit- come on!" Ava groans when she misfires her arrow.
"Come on, I know you got this!"
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.
In all of her excitement, Ava pulls her into a quick hug.

They're both giddy with the leftover adrenaline from Ava's epic (albeit short-lived) battle against the dragon.

Their giddiness- 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,
"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 hell 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 looks extremely intrigued and extremely confused at the same time. 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 and curious shock, is still on the floor, looking at all three of 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. 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 heads.

"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! Why didn't you answer the first time?"
Donna chuckles,
"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 am more than okay with it. Again, 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 dead-serious expression she can muster.

"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. (She nips it in the bud after that, no less Anne becomes a sailor mouth.)

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 and Anne wants to ask questions about it. But above all, Ava and Lilly feel an odd sense of relief that everyone in Ava's family knows about them.

Little by little, more people know.