A different approach

While Steve and Maria's date was going great, both of them in a way hoping that it would never end, over at Olivia's house Laila and Noah were feeling the exact opposite. They were feeling so annoyed and had held back their real feelings for so long now that they didn't know how much more they could handle. But since Noah still needed to get the information from Olivia's phone and he hadn't found a moment to be alone with it, they couldn't leave yet.

For them to get all her messages, emails, calls and text messages, both from the past and the future, they needed access to her phone. This way they would at least have ears inside and outside of the house. This should help in many cases. Depending on what type of phone Olivia had and how long their software could run, they could even gain control over her phone instead of just mirroring it. That way they could turn the microphone of her phone on whenever she leaves the house or is in a room that hasn't been bugged and still know what she says.

Noah and Laila were exchanging looks in order to communicate with each other but neither of them saw a solution where Noah would be the one placing the device in Olivia's phone. There had been several attempts but none of them had been successful. By now dinner had been finished and they had gone back into the living room. Since the evening wouldn't last long anymore they had to think of something soon otherwise the opportunity would be lost. So, after a few pensive minutes Noah decided to use a different approach.

The moment he spotted Olivia placing her phone on the coffee table, he slipped something under Laila's thigh before he suddenly said, "Olivia, could you show me that Odditch painting of yours once more. I was really fascinated with it and I want to see if my art dealer can find me a similar piece, so I want to take a picture for him as a reference." When Olivia and Laila heard his suggestion, they both responded almost immediately. Olivia sounded a bit surprised but she of course happily agreed. Laila on the other hand, reacted like any other wife responded in that situation. Especially one trying to pretend that everything was fine between her and her husband. She did this by saying, "Oh yes, that kind of painting would indeed look great in our house. I don't mind taking a second look."

However, Noah was still pretending to be upset with Laila and had used that reason to mostly ignore her and act cold towards her ever since dinner. He had even turned his body away from her as he was sitting next to her on the couch. This not only gave him an excuse to focus all his attention on Olivia and keep her pleased, it also allowed him to not seem suspicious in wanting to go upstairs with Olivia without Laila. Since that would leave one of them behind with Olivia's phone. So, when Laila offered to come along, Noah sniped back with another set of cold words. "I think Olivia and I can find the painting just fine without your help. You can just stay here and reminisce about the past since you like being there so much." After saying those harsh words, Noah looked away from Laila and turned back to Olivia and said, "Come on Olivia, let's go."

At that moment both Laila and Olivia were in shock over Noah's words. While Laila was just acting and had mixed her shock with a look of hurt, Olivia seemed to enjoy every moment of it. Her look of shock equalled that of a popular mean girl in a teen movie. She even hid her mean smile behind her hand as Noah guided her out of the door, just like many mean girls in movies have done before her. But that look on Olivia's face was worth her momentary embarrassment because in her moment of joyful shock she had done what they had hoped she would do, which was forgetting her phone.

While Laila jumped for the phone and did what she had been instructed to do, Noah kept Olivia from turning back when she realized she had left her phone behind. Shortly after they had made their dramatic exit from the living room Olivia stopped in her step and said, "Oh no, I forgot my phone. Let me go grab it for a quick sec." In a panicked reflex Noah grabbed her arm and this time he didn't make the mistake of grabbing her by the hand. Instead he had held onto her wrist and this was enough to make her turn around with hopeful eyes.

With his best charming smile and tactical words he said, "What do you need your phone for when you have me by your side? Aren't I more interesting than a piece of electronics? I hope so at least since I wanted to talk with you some more. You have such an interesting view on art and I was actually thinking about asking you to find some art for me." Olivia appeared to be shocked again and again by Noah's words, only this time for a very different reason. With a look of disbelief she asked, "Really? Me?" Seeing that his tactic was working Noah doubled down and said, "Yes, of course you. You have such great taste and you have managed to find such unique pieces. I was also think that while we shop for art, you and I can work on that friendship you were talking about. Unless you weren't serious when you said that?"