Loveable fool

When Steve thought that Maria and Laila were done with their conversation, he pushed open the door to the kitchen and made his way in. He was met with looks of surprise, excitement and a hint of anxious worry on Maria's side, because unlike Laila, she was worried that he might have overheard what they were talking about.

That is why while Laila was busy cheerfully greeting Steve, Maria carefully asked, "Steve, what a surprise. You're awake already? We didn't wake you up, did we?" Steve shook his head and replied with a nothing-revealing smile. A smile that only made Maria feel more anxious because she felt that the smile revealing nothing, meant that Steve was hiding something.

"No, I was already beginning to wake up on my own. Your excited chatter just gave me that final nudge and helped me become fully awake." Then he approached the two of them. He leaned his body against the bar table as he couldn't hold his body weight very well without support yet, and he grabbed the fork out of the still slightly wary Maria, before taking a bite from her pastry. Then, after giving his sign of approval and bringing the fork down for a second bite, he asked nonchalantly, "What were you two talking so eagerly about?"

Maria tried to dismiss the question with a short answer that contained the truth, but didn't bring up any 'unnecessary details'. She stole back the fork from Steve's hand and used it as a motive to avoid his eyes by looking at her plate and thus preventing Steve from potentially noticing anything off about her. Then she replied in a calm, everyday tone, "Oh, nothing much. Just about Laila's company and how I won't be able to join her."

Steve replied, "Oh really?", before glancing over at Laila to see her response to this answer from Maria. But Laila didn't need her friend's glare to know that she should keep her head down and stay out of this one, as she knew what Maria was trying to avoid and what Steve was likely hinting at. She had played enough of these cat and mouse games with Noah and Jake to know what it looks like. However, despite Laila's convincing act of being enamoured with her snack of choice, this wasn't enough to make Steve give up his venture. If not for him already knowing the truth, Laila's silence and avoidance of his eyes, would have made it clear to him that 'nothing' before the 'much' wasn't the correct word for the actual conversation that had taken place.

He nodded while having a skeptical expression on his face. It was as if his face was saying, 'Okay, sure. If you say so.'. But although his face said that, his mouth said something else. "Well, it couldn't really have been 'nothing much', right? Because both of you sounded excited. Why would you both sound excited if all that was discussed, was a rejection? Besides, I am fairly certain I heard you mention a man before I walked in. As one of the few men in your life, I am quite curious who that person is."

Although Laila knew that Maria was busted, and did her best to hold in her laugh, Maria wasn't ready to believe that just yet. So, she attempted denial one more time. "A man? Are you sure you heard that one of us say that?" Steve looked her dead in the eyes and said with unwavering confidence, "I am positive". Maria swallowed hard and said, "I see. And who did you hear mentioning that? It wasn't just Laila talking about her husband, right? Because last I checked he goes through life calling himself a man." This finally broke Laila's restraint, who with a chuckled grin pushed Maria's arm as she said, "Hey! Don't be mean."

But Steve wasn't fooled by this little diversion tactic and said, "No, I do think it was you. I believe you mentioned that he was someone who was working hard to make YOUR dreams become a reality. Who was that man you mentioned? Last I checked you aren't very fond of Noah, so it couldn't be him that you are talking about. So, who could it be?" As he said those last few words, he put his arm under his chin, looking at the horizon with a pensive stare, much like Michael Angelo's 'The David'. Then, after a few short seconds of Maria knowing that the jig is up, and Laila snickering behind one hand, while holding her fork in the other, Steve looked back at Maria. He looked as if he had an epiphany, but his tone was careful while he asked, "Tell me, it wouldn't happen to be me, would it?". He asked this question as if the idea itself was absurd, but this had been where the evidence had led him and he brought it up, just to be sure.

This is when even Maria could no longer keep a straight face and ended the farce. She shook her head as she dropped it slightly and let out an exhaled laughter in response to Steve's act. Then, as Maria raised her head back up and stared into the puppy dog eyes of the man she loved, which contained a cheeky glimmer of knowing what was about to follow, she confessed.

With the words, "Yes. Yes, it was you who I was talking about. You loveable fool.", and a hand on his chin as Maria shook his face from side to side and squished it ever so gently, Steve had obtained the releasing answer he had been waiting for. His quest in obtaining it, had been even more amusing than he had initially anticipated and resulted in him looking proud of the praise he had received, while Laila and Maria were laughing. One from pure enjoyment, the latter from the hoops she had just been through in order to avoid praising a man who deserved all the praise she could give.