The deal is off

As soon as Maria ended the call between her and Laila, she felt a pair of glaring eyes on the back of her head. She turned around and saw that Steve looked far from amused. Maria, being oblivious of the reason for this sudden change in his mood, asked accordingly in a tone that matched that unawareness, "What is wrong? Why are you glaring like that?".

In slow, long strides Steve approached Maria in silence before asking in a serious tone, "Can you tell me why you would think I would be okay with you privately meeting with Jake and exchanging numbers with him?" Maria didn't understand Steve's reaction. She didn't think that he would have a problem with this. Much less take it this seriously, but his face and tone showed her that she had thought wrong.

"What are you talking about? I didn't 'privately meet up' with him, I simply ran into him while I was at the mall. And yes, I did exchange numbers with him, but I feel like you are making this in more it is." But Steve wasn't satisfied with this answer and said with cold eyes and pressed lips, "Am I really? You tell me. Is it normal for a woman in a relationship to give her number to the ex of her best friend. Just because they ran into each other at a mall."

Maria felt herself get a bit annoyed at what Steve seemed to be insinuating and said, "Do you really think something will happen between me and him?? Did you forget that I hated his guts until just a few weeks ago!? Even now I am not fond of him. It is just that I feel bad for him. That is all. So stop trying to accuse me of things I am not guilty of."

Steve corrected her as he said in a now equally annoyed tone, "Not guilty of YET. But there is a very fine line between hate and love. One little thing can tip a situation over from one side to the other. And I for one, don't feel like waiting to find if your situation will tip over TOO. You already feel pity for him. What's to say that more contact with him can't change pity into something more?? That pity can slowly turn into care, care can turn into affection and affection can turn into love. I don't see any reason for you to be in private contact with a man who has shown what type of character he has when it comes to his relationships with women. Heck, you would barely look at me when you thought I was a player, but you are okay with being friends with a confirmed cheater?! How does that make sense?? How am I supposed to accept that!?"

Maria had no comeback for that and was silenced for a moment before she could find any words to say. She ended up sighing before saying, "Well, what else was I supposed to do in that situation. Noah isn't ready to let Laila have any contact with Jake and he was standing in front of me. Being miserable. Was I just supposed to ignore it all and let him suffer in silence without doing anything to help the situation??"

Steve felt himself becoming a bit frustrated. Being unable to get his point across and seeing their misunderstanding grow as the argument got more heated. "No, that is not what I am saying, but why did it have to be you who had to become his friend. Why-" But he couldn't finish his next sentence as Maria continued defending her stance in the situation. However, her approach had changed. Instead of fighting fire with fire, she tried finding a solution that could work for both while explaining her thought process.

"I already told him that it was a temporary situation until Noah comes around. After that I will not keep any contact with him, nor do I have any desire to. All my contact with him will be limited to talking about Laila and nothing else. The moment he changes the topic, I will be sure to enforce the boundaries. If it will make you feel any better, I will let you read any and all messages in my chat with him. If your schedule allows it, you can also come with me when I meet up with him. As us meeting alone is not something that has been set in stone. I just didn't think anyone else would be interested or able to go along. But I certainly won't stop you or hold you back if you want to."

Maria was quiet for short moment after this last sentence, but before Steve could respond, she added in a bit of a hurt, disappointed tone, "But if you ask me, it does come down to a level of trust in me and a level of confidence in yourself. Both things I thought you had plenty of. Hence me having not a single doubt that you would be okay with this arrangement. But just like Laila puts Noah's feelings first in this situation, I too will put your feelings first. So, if you are a 100% against this, I will contact Jake and let him know that the deal is off."