Maria woke from her slumber with the morning light gently piercing through the gaps in her curtains. Looking over to her side in the dimly lit room, Chris was still sleeping. Though as Maria thought to herself, he could sleep through a car crash. She could probably roll out of bed, play some loud music next to him and he'd stay asleep the whole time.
Slipping out from under the covers, she felt the cool breeze in the room hit her barely covered body. Sleeping in a lacey nightie that only just came below her bottom was the closest she would come to wearing anything in bed, instead preferring to feel the sheets against her in the night, and on occasion, being able to press herself up against Chris if she ever needed a little fun.
She made her way through the hallway to the bathroom where she sorted herself out to get ready for the day ahead before returning to the bedroom to get dressed. As she walked in the door, Chris was sitting up in bed obviously laughing and texting someone on his phone.
"Who's that?" asked Maria.
"Ah! It's Liam and Rob. The two arseholes are in town for a few days" replied Chris.
"Weren't they the ones you were mates with back in Uni? The ones that joked around and teased you all the time?" Maria asked quizzically whilst fishing through her drawers for some clothes for work.
"It was all just good fun!" Chris laughed as he continued texting his mates. "Hey, would you mind if we invited them round for dinner this weekend? They're heading home on Sunday night and it would be great to catch up."
"Of course, as long as you're sure. Can we do Saturday night? It gives me a few days to go shopping and I can rest after work on Friday as well then" replied Maria.
"Sure! Thanks! You're the best!" exclaimed Chris as he climbed out of bed and walked off to the bathroom himself.
As she pulled on her blouse for work, Maria realised that she couldn't even remember what Liam and Rob looked like. Making a mental note to do some stalking on facebook later, she went and had her breakfast, picked up her bag, said goodbye to Chris will a quick peck on the lips and left for work.
Unfortunately today Maria had to work through her lunch so all her colleagues had already gone back to their desks by the time she made her way to the canteen in her office. Sitting alone on a table, she pulled out her lunch and started mindlessly scrolling through her phone. Remembering the conversation she'd had with Chris that morning, she decided to look up his friends that would be coming over on the weekend. Finding Chris' Facebook profile, she scrolled through the names until she found Liam.
His profile pic showed a man with dark hair, sitting in a short sleeve shirt on a beach with the ocean behind him. The smile lit up his face as she stared at him feeling like he was smiling just for her. Maria scrolled down to his gallery and started flicking through the pictures seeing holiday snaps and selfies taken fairly regularly. Heading back to his home page, she sent a quick friend request to him thinking she could get to know Chris' friends a bit better.
Heading back to the search, she went looking for Rob, finding him only a few moments later. His profile pic showed a fairer haired guy with some mountains in his background and a rather large backpack on his back. Flicking through his gallery she could see that he was very active, getting out for hikes and runs every week. He was a bit shorter, she supposed, but she could tell from his body that he could probably lift her up above his head without a second thought. Also sending a friend request to Rob, she finished up her lunch and headed back to her desk for the afternoon.
Mid way through the afternoon, Maria glanced at her phone to see a few messages waiting for her. Opening her phone, she saw messages from a couple of her friends, as well as Chris, and his 2 friends that she had reached out to at lunch.
Opening Chris' message first, she read.
Chris: Hey, the guys have said that they're up for dinner this weekend. I said to them to come over at about 7, hope that's ok with you..?? Luv ya!
Maria typed out a quick reply agreeing to the time and scrolled back through her phone to see Rob's message to her.
Rob: Hey, thanks for inviting us over this weekend. It'll be great to see you guys again. Still don't know how Chris landed a catch like you, good looks and a chef! I hope he knows how hard he has to work to keep you. Need me to bring anything?
Maria: Thanks! I guess he just got lucky and found me before anyone else. No need to get anything, but what sort of things do you like?
Maria blushed reading his message and even read it again twice smiling and giggling quietly to herself like a teenage girl in class. Opening Liam's message next she read.
Liam: Yo, good to be able to meet you again. It's been a while. Thanks for the invite. Hope Chris has actually learnt how to handle a lady by now, if not tell me and i'll have a chat with him on Sat! P.s. is that really you on the beach last summer in your fb pics?
Maria: Haha! Chris is still learning but he's pretty good don't worry. Yes that's me, but I hated those pics. I need to delete them but I keep putting it off. By the way, is there anything in particular you like or don't like for Sat?
Her head nearly spinning off her shoulders, Maria was giddy with embarrassment. He'd gone and stalked her on her facebook page, though she did admit that she had done it first.
Quickly reading her other messages, she tried to turn her focus back to her work, though it was a short lived effort as her phone pinged on the desk. Looking down, she could see that Liam had already replied;
Liam: I'm easy with food. What's wrong with the pics?
Maria: I hate my tummy in them and I needed to lose a little weight. Just don't look at them lol.
At the same time, Rob's texts also came in;