Two birds with one stone

Maria chuckled and placed a kiss on Laila's cheek. "Oh you wonderful woman. Please never change." Laila was confused and didn't know what had warranted that reaction to her words. "What do you mean? I didn't even do anything" Maria let out another chuckle and said, "You did plenty. You thought about it all before I even had a chance to. You worked hard at calming your crazy friend down and forced her to realize her own feelings, while being a cheerleader for both of us. Even now, you are coming up with ideas and dismissing them all at the same time out of consideration of our potential feelings. How are you even more concerned about all of this than me?"

While Laila was looking for the right words, just mumbling away, saying, "Well...You see...Like-", Maria interrupted her with words of her own. "But never mind that. What do you mean that you and Noah won't be home for dinner? Where are you guys going? Do you have a date? I thought you were going to meet up with Olivia tomorrow. Unless it is a reward for after you are done. In that case I get it."

Laila shook her head with a smile at Maria's rapid train of thought and said with a chuckle, "No, nothing like that. Apparently Olivia does not consider me a good enough friend to want to spend time with me without the chance of spending time with Noah as well. So, I had to throw Noah into the bargain for her to agree. I will go first and he will meet me after work to have dinner at her place. But that reminds me. You two can't go out for dinner tomorrow, unless you don't mind starting dinner late. Because since Noah will be at Olivia's house with me, we will need Steve to help set everything up and keep watch in case we need him. But after everything is placed and ready, you two can do what you want?"

Maria shook her head. "No tomorrow is about you and Olivia. We can't make anymore mistakes. As you saw on the letter, I can go on a date with him whenever I want. So, there is no need to rush it. As long as I manage to give him my answer today, I don't think he will mind waiting a few days to put it into action. If he does, we can have a pre-date right here while we keep a watch out for you two. In fact...I think I might have an idea. You inspired me with the whole date at home plan. Instead of having the cooks prepare something for us, I can kill two birds with one stone by preparing a dinner for him myself. He likes my cooking, I wanted to make some effort myself and that way we can have our date tomorrow as you suggested since I won't be much of a help as he is setting things up."

Laila fell silent and raised her two thumbs up to show her approval of Maria's plan. She thought it sounded great and was the solution to the problems that stood between them having their date and she and Noah receiving the back-up they needed. Having Laila's support on her plan, Maria stood up and grabbed a pen before checking the box for a date tomorrow, before putting the letter back in the envelope it came in and slipping it underneath Steve's bedroom door. With that Maria felt like there was no way back and she clasped her own hand before letting out a deep breath as she turned back around with a satisfied smile on her face.

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A few hours had passed and Noah and Steve were still hard at work, having not seen Olivia yet. Noah glanced at his watch and noticed that it was close to 1 PM, making it lunchtime for him. He was about to get off his chair and head to Steve's office and see if he wanted to get something to eat when he heard a knock on his door. With a calm voice he answered, "Come in." after which his assistant entered the door and said with a bit of an annoyed voice, "Mr. Stephens, a certain miss Olivia Smith is here. I checked and she doesn't have an appointment but she claimed that you were expecting her. Something about her practically being your wife? Though I know that isn't true as I have met Mrs. Stephens before, I thought I should check with you on what to do about her. Should I send her away?"

Noah let out a sigh and said, "No, it's alright. Send her in. Though she is far from being my wife, I do have a little business with her." In a cold voice, that revealed how he felt about both Olivia as well as having to give into her, the assistant replied, "Very well. I will call her in then." He gave Noah a short nod and left the room. Noah dropped himself into his seat and let out another sigh, when he was forced to put on a fake smile the moment he heard a high pitched, cheerful, "Knock, knock!". The sound of a knock was followed by Olivia walking in with a wide grin that went from ear to ear. Letting the first part of the show begin!