Bribe

When Laila rang the doorbell to Steve's house, Maria was in the middle of reliving last night's events. She could still remember softness of Steve's lips and feel the warmth of his breath against her face. If she had let things continue any longer, she was certain she would have woken up next to him on the couch, but him still being injured had saved her from that. A single wince of pain caused Maria to be pulled back to reality and stop what they were doing. She sat up from the couch, cleared her throat to hide her embarrassment and straightened her shirt. Before walking to the kitchen, with her back still turned towards Steve, she asked him "I am making myself some tea. Do you want any?"

Steve let out a soft sigh, as all his instant "I'm fine" callings had been ignored by Maria, and accepted the only alternative he would be getting for the remainder of this evening. "Yes, thank you".

While Maria cooled her face in the kitchen, Steve began his introspective analysis of the situation. He crossed his hands into each other until they were locked, each finger being accompanied by the same finger of his other hand, and stared at the ceiling as he let his body slide down the couch until he was lying flat on his back. Then, as he recalled what kind of moment his injured body had ruined, he lifted his head off the couch and dropped it back down with a bit of force as he said, "You idiot. Why did this stupid body of mine have to start feeling pain in that very moment!?" Then he began addressing the party he blamed for the sudden ending of his rare 'affectionate' moment with Maria, namely his body.

"You could have at least not let her know you were in pain you know?? After all, I did it for your own good as well. You know just as well as I do, that you have wanted to be in this position with her since the day you met her. Now that it was right in front of you, you waste it all because of a bit of physical discomfort!" No sooner was he done with the scolding or did Steve move on to finding the cause and solution. "It is clear that I have been neglecting my training this past year. I would have never let something like broken ribs get in my way in the past."

By the time that Maria returned from the kitchen with two cups of steaming hot tea, Steve had returned to being all smiles and was sitting up as if nothing had happened. They both returned to watching the movie that had started it all, but now with a little bit more distance between them. Both literally and figuratively.

This caused a certain tension in the air, neither of them knowing quite what the right course of action was from the situation they were in before to the situation they were in now. It only took two awkward moments of stealing glances, before Steve took matters in his own hands and put his arm around Maria before pulling her against him. Maria looked up at him first, but when he didn't look back and just kept his eyes on the tv screen, she too let her awkwardness melt away and snuggled up against him.

As she smiled thinking about that moment, she was awoken from her daydream by the sound of the doorbell. She immediately shot up because Steve was sleeping next to her on the couch as he hadn't been able to sleep well last night and the pain meds tended to make him a bit drowsy. Fortunately it seemed that he was sleeping pretty deep and hadn't been disturbed by the sound. Maria rushed to the door to see who it was, because neither of them were expecting anybody, and because she didn't want whoever it was to ring the bell a second time and risk Steve not sleeping through it.

When she opened the door, Maria was pleasantly surprised as she saw that it was Laila who had come to visit. Maria whispered, "Come in, come in" after giving her a hug. Laila was a bit confused, but stepped inside and took her shoes off as she asked, "Why are we whispering?". Maria pointed at Steve laying on the couch. After Laila's eyes followed the direction of Maria's finger, and she saw Steve, vast asleep, breathing softly, Laila let out a stretched, "Ooh"; still whispering every word and sound, before tip-toeing after Maria into the kitchen.

Once they were through the parting door, and Maria put on some water for tea, she noticed the bag that Laila was holding. She pointed at it and asked, "What's that?". As she moved her eyebrows up and down, and a cheeky grin appeared on her face, she asked, "Is that for me?". Laila chuckled and reached the bag over the bar to Maria before saying, "It is. Although I hope it can be for us both. I brought along some pastries and thought that we could share it. There should be enough for today and for you and Steve to have tomorrow."

Maria grabbed the bag from Laila and said, "I will see what I can do" before glancing down and letting out a squeal of excitement, which was immediately followed by her covering her lips as she looked behind her for fear of waking Steve up. She cracked the door open a bit and glanced at the couch, but Steve again seemed to not have noticed a thing. Maria let out a breath of relief before continuing what she was doing. As she asked Laila for the reason for her visit, Maria reached in the cupboards for two plates for the pastries and two big mugs for a good dose of tea. While Laila thought about her answer, Maria filled both mugs up with boiling water before placing one in front of Laila, along with a wooden box with different tea flavours and the pastry she thought Laila would most like.

Laila hesitated for a second and then said, "Well, I actually came here with a reason. I hope you can hear me out before you give me an answer." As she pointed at the chiffon cake that Maria had picked for herself, Laila added, "You can consider that my bribe." Maria wasn't too sure what this was about, but she was always happy to listen. Something which she told Laila as well, while she sat down at the corner of the bar and gave Laila her undivided attention. Laila took a deep breath and started the conversation like she had practiced.