Chaotic entrance

The conversation between Maria and Steve began with Steve saying, "There is someone at the door. Could you go check who it is?". To which Maria responded, "'Someone?' I would think it is Laila with our luggage don't you think?" But Steve didn't seem very convinced as he said, "I wouldn't think so. I would expect Noah to have talked to her by now and you know how protective he gets. There is no way that he would be okay with her dragging your luggage over to my house on a normal day, let alone with her being pregnant. With that being the case, he would have definitely come along with her. So, if he is indeed with her, he would have opened the door with his own code and there would have been no need for him to ring a doorbell like some stranger."

By now Maria was over speculating and discussing who it might be and was instead on her way to find out for herself. She was walking towards the door and as she was walking, she said, "Well, we can't keep that person waiting any longer, otherwise they might think you aren't home and walk away. So, I'll just go and open the door and find out who of us is right." It was this comment of Maria that earned her a chuckle from Laila, who felt that this comment was very her.

As said, as done. Maria walked up to the door and pulled the door open. As she pulled on the handle, she noticed that the door had already been unlocked and was partially open. It was a split-second realization and one that she was too late to act on. She felt a bit startled by the realization and seemed to have braced herself for what she would find on the other side of the door. In her mind, in that small fraction of time, she was thinking about the different possibilities. One of them being the possibility of it being a burglar, checking if the tenant was indeed out of the house by pressing the doorbell before entering the premises.

However Maria immediately calmed back down when she noticed that it was indeed Noah and Laila on the other side of the door, and not a stranger like Steve had said. She let out a quick breath of relief before she flashed them both a big smile and said, "It's you guys. We have been waiting for you." She then added with a chuckle, Well, 'waiting' might be a bit of a strong word as we just arrived ourselves". As she stepped aside in order to clear up the doorway enough for Laila and Noah to enter, she said, "Come in, come in" in a cheerful tone of voice.

But Noah didn't answer in the same way. Instead choosing to reply by making wiseass comments as he said, "Who else would it be if not us? Santa Clause?". Before Maria had a chance to respond, Steve was calling out from the back of the room, asking, "Is that you Noah? Why did you ring the doorbell? I am certain you still remember your code, so that can't be it. Are you suddenly becoming shy now that you haven't been here in a while?" While Noah's attention had shifted in Steve's direction, Maria responded to Noah's earlier words with a sarcastic 'Ha ha. So funny' look on her face accompanied with a glare.

But Noah didn't seem to notice this and responded to Steve's words, while Maria moved her attention back to Laila and gave her a hug to welcome her. Although plenty had happened already, more was about to happen after Noah told Steve, "Well you have Laila to thank for that. She didn't want to make a shy boy like you get too startled and lose your chance at losing your virginity if we walked in at the wrong time. So, she told me to knock on the door or ring the doorbell instead of using my code to walk in."

This comment caused the already chaotic entrance of Laila and Noah to escalate even further as it immediately earned Noah a firm strike from Maria's closed fist. Her fist landed on his arm after a full swing from behind as she had been in the middle of giving Laila a hug when Noah said those words. Her swing ensured her a maximum impact and she had timed it wonderfully because Noah had been at the perfect distance and in the perfect position.

Noah had already taken a few steps inside after passing by Maria with her luggage and his arms were flexed because he had been carrying the suitcases instead of dragging them behind him. Both suitcases had been dragged over the sandy road that they had needed to cross from the car to the building where Steve lived, causing the tires to be covered with dirt. So, in order not to dirty Steve's rug and floors with the tires, Noah had chosen to carry the suitcases into the living room. This made Maria fist land perfectly, her knuckles making full contact with the engaged arm muscles on Noah's arm. Maria's strike caused Noah to let out an involuntary, "Auch. You witch.", before he placed down the suitcases he was holding and began to rub the place her fist had landed as he glared at her over his shoulder.