A subtle request

Maria and Steve continued to talk to each other until well into the night. Once the main topic had been dealt with, they fell back into the ease from before Laila and Noah had walked in. They chatted, they laughed, they fell deeper and deeper in love. The more they got to know each other, the more Maria felt like she had known Steve for years instead of weeks and Steve seemed to feel the same way. They had so much in common and that which they didn't, they seemed to appreciate in the other. Things were going so well, that Maria had reached a level of comfort around Steve. She felt so at ease, so blissfully happy with him in that moment, that she felt her body go nearer and nearer to where Steve was sitting.

They were only inches apart when she suddenly registered the chiming of the clock, letter her know that it was two o'clock in the morning. She turned around and confirmed this realization with her eyes. Steve, who followed her glance, said, "Oh boy, did it become 2 AM already." With a wink he added one of his corny lines, saying, "Time sure flies when you are having fun, doesn't it?" Before he said, "I guess we should head to bed. Any later and I won't be able to do anything useful tomorrow."

Maria was a bit disappointed that their date was ending, a reaction she herself didn't expect to have, but she agreed that it was time for them to go to sleep. Especially for him, since he had work in the morning. She didn't expect for things to go so well between them today and Maria was happy that she had decided to organize this date for them today. It had brought them much closer and had made her feel more sure of wanting to give this thing with Steve a chance. As they made their way to the stairs, Steve said a similar thing.

"It sucks that I have work in the morning. I really didn't want our date to end yet. But you must be tired and I am keeping you up with my want to stretch this evening as long as possible. Somehow today has made me feel that we have known each other for much longer than we actually have. I felt closer to you than ever and it has confirmed for me that I have made the right decision in going all in with you. I really think we have something here that can go the distance and I can't wait for you to see that too."

After placing his foot on the first step of the stairs, he let out a little sigh as he turned sideways to look at Maria. Maria looked back into his hopeful puppy eyes as she wondered what had caused him to stop and sigh like that. But her question was quickly answered with Steve beating around the bush at first before telling her what was actually on his mind. He started by saying, "It feels so strange to end a date like this, one that went so well, in such a cold manner. Just us two getting to bed because it is getting too late. Each heading to our individual rooms." Then he showed a little smirk, a cheeky smile, as he said, "Too bad you aren't where I am yet and that I have prided myself in being a gentleman, otherwise I would have definitely stolen a hug."

Maria, after fully comprehending what Steve had said and what he was asking, burst out into laughter. Doing her best to not hurt Steve's feelings but being unable to fully hold it back. Never had she imagined that Steve, a person she imaged to be a player of all kinds, to ask for a hug of all things at the end of a date. She had wondered where he was heading with his build up, calling himself a gentleman and all that, talking about them heading to their own rooms, but having something as innocent as a hug at the end of that sentence? That was a plot twist her laughing muscles hadn't prepared for.

Once she was done laughing she apologized before she said, "I didn't mean to laugh at you. Your words were just very unexpected. I am sorry that this wasn't the ending to your date that you had been imagining but with one step at a time we will get there. Don't worry. For now, we can make this goodbye a little more special, a little more lasting, if you close your eyes and wait for me to head up the stairs first. That way we can have that romantic goodbye moment of you looking at my back as I take those final steps, me turning back for one last look, our simultaneous wave goodbye. That exceeds us just saying goodnight at the door as we disappear into our rooms, doesn't it?"

Though Maria's suggestion wasn't the ending Steve had in mind, it was better than the alternative. So, while hiding his disappointment that Maria hadn't okayed his 'subtle' request of a hug, he went along with what she had proposed and closed his eyes as he patiently waited for her signal to open his eyes. But the signal he had expected, never came. Instead his eyes were opened much sooner and by a much more shocking event. Because after he had closed his eyes and Maria had climbed up the first two steps, he was greeted by the scent of Maria's perfume, getting less and less faint, before he suddenly felt something soft touch the side of his face. By the time he had opened his eyes and registered what had happened, Maria was already halfway up the stairs, trying to escape his gaze as she was running from her own feeling of embarrassment.