Nip and tuck barbie

Maria's happy and spirited self turned fiery from learning this piece of news. By now she had gotten up from the couch as she was much too heated to be sitting down and she went on a rant as she paced back and forth through the room. "I just can't believe it. I mean what are the odds of him being there on the day and very moment you get back to town after three years?!"

Hearing Noah's exact words being repeated by her friend, Laila couldn't help but laugh, despite the seriousness of the situation and the mood in the room. Immediately she was reprimanded by Maria. "Why are you laughing right now?! This is not funny. This is VERY serious. I do not want that toxic man anywhere near you. I simply can't have him ruin the happy life you have built with Noah. What did he want from you?"

Laila held up her hand as she tried to compose herself. After her last laughs left her mouth she looked at her friend and said, "I'm sorry. It is just that you said the exact same thing as Noah did and that made me laugh. But I know that other than that, there is nothing funny about this situation. So, instead of that nervous pacing, why don't you sit down so I can tell you what happened."

After filling Maria in on what had happened at the airport and what Jake had said to her, her friend turned silent for a moment to let it all sink in. Then she looked at Laila with a look of worry as she asked, "Did you tell Noah about any of this?" Laila shook her head and said, "I told him that I ran into Jake but I couldn't bring myself to tell him about the rest. So, he doesn't know about Jake asking me out nor his threat of a promise." Maria nodded as her face seemed to be busy planning their next move and said, "Good. No need to make him upset and have him worry over nothing. I will make sure to keep an eye on you during your stay here and after this week I will personally put you on that plane back to him."

Laila smiled and said, "I knew you would protect me and I told Noah just this when he was going off about Jake. But do you really think I should keep it from him? I mean, won't he get more upset if we do run into Jake again and something does happen? It feels wrong to keep something like this from him and I am not sure if I can pretend that everything is okay when he calls me later tonight." Maria scooched closer to Laila and with a confident look in her eyes she said, "Who says you need to pretend. I mean, you made it here safely didn't you?" Laila couldn't argue with that and said, "Well yeah.." But before she could add anything to that and finish her sentence Maria continued. "And so far nothing happened, right?"

Again Laila had to agree. "Right, but.." "No buts." Maria said sternly before Laila could say another word. "There is no use in you telling Noah this. To what purpose would that be? It would only rid you of your feelings of guilt while upsetting the man you love. He won't be able to do what he stayed there for and you won't be able to do what you came here for either. I will be with you every second of every day that you are here. When you go back home and the threat of you running into him is fully gone, then you can tell Noah all about it. As the saying goes, 'It is better to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission.' Otherwise I know for sure that Noah will be on the next flight out to here and who knows what he will do to Jake."

"I guess you are right..." Though Laila didn't feel fully right about it, there was no arguing with Maria's logic. Laila knew that Maria was right. The only reason for her to tell Noah right now, fully knowing what it would do to him, was to rid herself of the guilt of keeping something from him. He knew that they had run into each other and there was a possibility of it staying at that one meeting. In that case she would have upset Noah over nothing. If Jake decided to make good on that promise, then she would let Noah know about that meeting then. Until then, there was no need for him to worry over something that hadn't, and might not ever, happen.

Now that her initial plan of keeping this from Noah had been backed up by her closest and wisest friend, Laila could focus on more important things. "Now that that matter is out of the way, how about we focus on the most important thing that was planned for this trip.." After seeing the look on Maria's face and seeing her cross her arms, Laila quickly added, "aside from us catching up of course." This caused her friend to squint her eyes and lift her eyebrows as she showed her disbelieve of Laila's words with a "mm-hmmm" sound.

Laila let out a chuckle and crossed her fingers as she said, "I promise." Maria uncrossed her arms and just said, "Yeah, yeah, just continue." But this wasn't good enough for Laila, who scooched over and grabbed Maria's arm. She pulled her friend over with one strong pull and hugged her as she said in a cutesy voice, "I mean it. You are my number one priority during this trip. I even left my husband behind to see you. I wouldn't dream of putting anything else before whatever you have planned for us during this week." Maria caved and said, "Fine. I believe you. Let go of me already, you are choking me."

Once Laila had released her friend she said, "But..until the next planned activity, I thought we could talk about our common enemy." Maria sat up straight and with a serious look on her face she replied, "Yes, tell me all about our nip and tuck barbie."