Ifs and buts
As all four of them walked back to the living room to have Steve work his magic, Maria was the last to follow them inside. She couldn't face either Laila or Noah at the moment and she was desperately hoping and praying that she and Steve hadn't messed up everything up. Maria was feeling really guilty. Almost more than Steve. The moment he saw the looks on Noah and Laila's faces, all the happy feelings she was feeling up till then, completely disappeared. She just stood quietly next to Steve and let her guilt wash over for not being there when Laila had needed her. She had told Steve to put his phone on silent and she had turned around her own phone.
When she suggested this, she had only one reason. She didn't want them to be disturbed by incoming emails, notifications and messages. But she hadn't stopped to think that this would also mean that Noah and Laila wouldn't be able to reach them if they needed them. If only she hadn't turned her phone around, if only she hadn't told Steve to turn his phone on silent, if only either of them had realized that this wasn't a small plan, then they wouldn't be in this situation right now.
She was feeling so nervous, so anxious, so guilty, that she had even resorted to biting her nails. A habit she had kicked many years ago. The sole reason she started getting manicures as that would hide her own nails, making her unable to bite her own nails while hoping that she would find the fake nails too pretty to ruin by biting them. Slowly she stopped using fake nails and she managed to grow out her own nails for her manicures. But now all of that hard work was being ruined over a single moment of lacking judgement.
After a few anxious and nerve wrecking minutes, Steve raised his arms in the air and said, "Finally! It's done". Noah patted Steve's shoulder before he squeezed both of them tightly from relief. "Well done you love struck fool. I guess with this I should forgive you for your earlier stupidity. Or perhaps just promise some leniency." Steve was happy that he had managed to correct his mistake and had managed to avoid any real problems.
After this initial exclamation he happily shared another piece of good news with the group. "I should also tell you all that judging from the live feed and the footage from the time between Noah and Olivia's exit from the room until now, Olivia has not yet watched any of the security footage yet. I have not seen her behind her laptop nor was she on her phone long enough to be able to see this much footage."
When Laila heard this she grabbed Noah's arm and squeezed it from glee as she said, "After this piece of good news, I too shall forgive you." Noah chuckled and responded by saying, "Well, since the queen has spoken, I guess the matter is settled." The only person who had not spoken yet was Maria. She was still feeling really bad despite everything turning out alright. As she was standing behind the three of them, staring at their backs as her stomach was on the floor and her heart was beating rapidly.
It didn't take long for Laila to notice that Maria was being awfully quiet. Up until that point she had been far too focused on Steve and him erasing the incriminating scenes of her in Olivia's house but now that this worry had been removed from her shoulders, her mind had freed up to process other signals. One of which being Maria's silence. When Laila turned around, she saw Maria standing a few steps behind them, all by herself and looking on the verge of tears. That is when she let go of Noah's arm and rushed over to her friend's side. She wrapped her arms around Maria and asked in a worried voice, "What's wrong?"
Once she heard those words and looked into Laila's eyes, seeing her genuine concern, Maria couldn't hold it in anymore. She turned around and walked back into the dining room where she let out all the feelings and words that were running around in her mind. Telling Laila how she felt that all of it was her fault. That she was feeling so ashamed. So guilty. "I mean, I am no longer a teenager. This isn't some young love. So, why did I let myself get so caught up in it that I forgot that today was about my friend and her problems. Because of my stupid need to make a gesture, I almost ruined all of your hard work."
With a gentle and kind voice Laila said, "But you didn't." Maria, who had been hiding her face behind her hands during this time, looked to the side and looked right into Laila's calm and comforting eyes. Laila, seeing that she had finally gotten Maria's attention and that she had stopped her stream of self-blame, added, "And isn't that all that matters? You were the one who told me to not think about all the ifs and buts and just focus on the reality of a situation. So, why are you going all bananas on me like that? I was the one who told you to have your date today. If this was your fault, then it is just as much my fault as well. So, stop beating yourself up over this. Everyone makes mistakes. Even you my almost perfect friend."