Shenanigans

A short twenty minutes later Laila and Maria had arrived at the mansion. Though the drive hadn't been long in the first place, it felt even shorter because the two of them had spent the entire ride chatting and laughing, proving the old saying right that time goes by faster when you are having fun.

When the car came to a stop, Damian hurriedly circled around to each side of the car to open the passenger doors for the both of them. While they thanked him and headed to the door, Damian went onto the trunk of the car to carry out Maria's luggage. By the time Laila and Maria had reached the front door, Damian had caught up with them with Maria's suitcase. After carrying the piece of luggage up the stairs and leaving it next to Maria, he tipped his hat as he said his goodbye and walked back to the car in order to bring it back to the parking garage.

While Laila and Maria were busy waving Damian goodbye, the door was opened to let them in but when they turned around to see who it was, expecting to see Garry, they were both surprised as they were greeted by none other than Steve. "Hello my beauties, you are here at last." Maria immediately jumped back upon seeing Steve and let out an involuntary "Ugh" as her face twisted in an expression that either revealed shock or disgust. But Steve was not bothered by Maria's reaction at all and cheerfully continued talking. "I have been waiting so long for you two to get here but now that you are here, we can start bringing out the drinks and snacks I had the kitchen prepare for your arrival."

After saying what he wanted to say, Steve ushered the both of them inside as he grabbed the handle to Maria's suitcase and closed the door behind him. As soon as the door was closed, Steve left the suitcase by the door for the staff to take upstairs to the room that had been prepared for Maria. After that he himself sped off to the kitchen, assumably to let the kitchen know that they could now bring everything out. With shocked expressions Maria and Laila went along and followed Steve towards the kitchen and as they walked Maria whispered to Laila, "What is he doing here?!"

Laila shrugged her shoulders as she said, "I am just as surprised as you are. He must have been too excited to see you to wait until tomorrow and decided to come today. We were supposed to discuss the whole Olivia matter tomorrow and he has some important information regarding the backer but I guess that he wanted to spend some fun time with you before all the serious stuff starts." With a chuckle she added, "I wonder how long he has been waiting for us here." But the reaction she got from Maria was less amused as she said, "Why do all your reasons revolve around me?! I don't know what you are planning missy but you had better stop while you are ahead."

Laila shrugged once more but this time with a touch of innocence as she said, "I don't know what you are talking about. All I see is a good friend of my husband, who is also his business partner, coming to our house to welcome my closest friend. It just so happens that both of them are good people, handsome and single, and apparently I am 'ahead' in some way or another. Who am I to question life's coincidences. Sometimes a touch of fate is at play."

With narrowed eyes, a sharp glare in Laila's direction and a hissing tone Maria replied, "And sometimes it is the touch of a meddlesome friend. I am warning you, no funny business or I will get back at you." But her warnings had landed on deaf ears because Laila didn't plan on listening to her friend's protest at all. She had a mission at hand and a plan in mind to make it succeed. For that she needed to be strong and not let herself get waivered at the first sign of resistance. So, she simply responded with an unimpressed tone. "I got it. I shall proceed with caution."

Hearing Laila say this, in the tone that she had, Maria stopped in the middle of her step and stared at Laila in disbelief. When Laila's expression did not change at all and she continued to look at Maria with an innocent look on her face and clueless eyes, Maria decided to give up as it was clear to her as well that she was getting nowhere. She figured that if her protests were going to be ignored, she might as well just let Laila have her way. It was clear that she was having fun with whatever she had planned on doing to get her and Steve together during her stay at Noah and Laila's home. No need for her to spoil it on her first day. She would intervene if and when Laila had actually taken matters too far. For now it was innocent play that didn't surpass that of the shenanigans of a teenage girl helping out her friend with her crush. After coming to that decision Maria rolled her eyes and let out a sigh before she followed behind Laila into the dining room.