The next day, Steve knew Laura would beat him home because her classes ended early on Wednesdays, and she was surely still feeling guilty about standing him up the night before. He walked into the apartment and glanced at the key hooks to his right. Her keys were there, he noticed in relief. He hooked his keys up beside hers and stepped inside. "Honey, I'm home!" he called. When he didn't get an immediate response, he headed for the bedroom, but then he heard laughter in the office. He paused and changed directions. He opened the office door and stepped inside. There was Laura, seated comfortably on the futon with practice LSAT books surrounding her, sitting across from a handsome, muscular, dirty blonde, white man. "Hi, Sweetheart," Steve began casually.

Laura looked up at him. "Hey, Baby," she grinned. She opened her arms but didn't stand. "I'm covered in books and can't move. Come kiss me," she purred.

Steve walked over to her, eyeing her study buddy suspiciously. He leaned down to her and Frenched her passionately.

"Mmm…" she moaned as he pulled away. "I needed that," she purred as she began to stretch. Her muscles were all stiff from hours of studying.

Steve looked at the man again. "Who's your friend?"

Laura looked across from her, almost like she'd forgotten he was there. "Oh, this is Alex. He's taking the LSATs with me."

"Oh," Steve nodded awkwardly, "so this is who you were with all last night?"

Laura furrowed her brow at him. "Him and a few others," she replied.

Steve turned to the intruder and extended his hand. "Hi, Alex. Steve Urkel."

Alex shook his hand. "Hey," he said. That was all he said.

Steve stared him down for a long moment, asserting his dominance, and then turned back to Laura. "So, Sweetpea, I was gonna make us dinner again tonight. Are you gonna eat with me?"

"Yeah, Baby, but it's my turn," she replied. "Give us fifteen minutes to finish grading each other's practice tests, and then I'll be right out."

Steve hesitated for a minute. "Sure," he replied. "I'll just… leave you two alone," he said, stepping back toward the door. He nodded at Alex and walked out of the room. He deliberately left the door open behind him, even though he'd found it closed.

"Where were we?" Laura prompted.

Suddenly, Alex became Mr. Talkative. "We were in the logical reasoning section, and you were trying to explain how you could have possibly gotten D for 14."

"Because D's the right answer. Look at the book!"

"I know. I'm just too dumb to understand why!" he laughed

"Me too, actually," she admitted. "I guessed."

He laughed loudly. "Cheater," he scolded. "You were just gonna let me think I was studying with a genius?"

"I'm a genius compared to you," she teased. There was a slight pause. "Alex, could you shut the door?" she purred.

Or maybe she didn't purr. Maybe she said it normally, but to Steve, it sounded like she was about to bend over the desk. He cringed when he heard it slam, followed by their continued, muffled laughter.

When they were done, twenty-seven minutes later, Laura came out and walked Alex to the door.

"So, are you meeting us at the library again tomorrow night?" he asked.

"Yeah. Of course," she agreed without hesitance as Steve sat in silence in the chair, trying not to look up from his own textbook.

"Cool. Thanks for all your help today," he smiled.

"No, thank you," she insisted. "Next time, though, we need to stay on topic," she scolded.

"I'll try," he agreed. "See ya," he said as she opened the door.

"See ya tomorrow," she said, opening her arms for a hug.

He hugged her tightly and stepped out the door.

When she closed it, she turned back to find Steve staring at her with an accusatory look in his eye. "What?" she asked, legitimately surprised by that look.

"Did you have a nice study date?" he asked.

"Seriously, Steve?" she scoffed. She shook her head and walked into the kitchen to begin their dinner.

"What?" he prompted. "You expected me to be completely fine with coming home to find you alone with another man?" He stood and joined her in the kitchen.

Laura froze as she pulled out the chicken breasts she had been marinating all afternoon. "Yes," she said flatly.

"Why?"

"Because I thought you were mature enough to recognize and accept the difference between a guy who is my friend and a guy who I'm into. I get why you were uncomfortable with me being alone with Eric at first because he and I were flirty, but you adjusted to that. I didn't think me having male friends was a problem anymore."

"Laura, no guy is just your friend," Steve corrected urgently, desperately wanting her to see his side of it for once.

"What?"

"You may be just friends with him, but no guy thinks of you as just his friend unless they're related to you."

"What?" she asked again.

"He's into you, Laura!" he exclaimed.

"No, he's not," Laura said with an eye roll, turning back to their meal.

"Oh, you are so naïve," Steve scolded with disgust.

Laura scowled at him. "Honestly, Steve, just drop it. We were supposed to have a nice night."

"Oh, you mean because you blew me off last night to hang out with Alex?" he retorted.

"We were studying, and yesterday, we were in a group, and-" She froze. "No. No. You know what? I'm not doing this. You can either drop the attitude right now and apologize to me for being so disrespectful as to accuse me of being on a date, or we can cancel this whole make-up romantic evening," she challenged.

"Laura, I just think you need to be more careful. It's not-"

"Nope," she interrupted immediately. "I told you I'm not doing this. I have to study anyway," she said, tossing the chicken in the sink and retreating back into the office, slamming the door behind her.