A Problem Like Maria

Chapter 19

After Gretl's birthday was over Valentine's day excitement filled the whole house. On the day itself Maria agreed to stay extra long with the kids so Georg could take Ellie out for a proper date, without Max. Also Helen made plans with Leon because she wanted to channel her inner "Golden Girl".

Liesl also had a date planned with Rolf and was going to be the first to leave. When Rolf's car pulled up all the little kids scrambled to spy from the window.

"You look great!" Maria squealed, even if she didn't like Rolf she could still hype up her friend.

"Do you think he'll like it?" Liesl looked down at her pink dress. She seemed a tad on edge and looked for assurance from her friend and siblings.

"Of course" Louisa agreed and Friedrich merely shrugged.

"As long as you feel comfortable in it, that's what matters." Maria added and Georg nodded in agreement.

"Well I better go" she beamed

"No funny business" Georg pointed a finger at her and she nodded in understanding and slipped through the door. The younger kids left the window now that their targets were gone.

Maria, Georg, Friedrich and Louisa remained by the door, to watch Liesl get in.

"Friedrich? You never told me who your Valentine was." Louisa started picking on her brother and watched his ears turn red.

"No one" he mumbled and tried to walk to the family room only to be followed by his little sister who was bombarding him with questions.

Maria was excited for Liesl, a tad worried, but she knew the teen could hold her own. She then looked at Georg who felt equally, if not more nervous for his sister.

"I wish they'd break up" Georg shook his head as made his way to the coat closet in the kitchen.

"Georg!" Maria was shocked "You can't just say that!"

"Why not?" He continued ahead as Maria followed him through the kitchen.

"Becuase...well..because..." She couldn't verbalize what she was thinking. He made her flustered.

"Sounds like an excellent point." Georg responded dryly as he yanked a coat off the hanger and began putting it on.

"Shut up" she rolled her eyes. "What I mean to say is that you can't, like, prevent that. People have flaws, so do relationships. I mean we didn't exactly get started off on the right foot. Not to mention do you really believe the kids like you and Ellie all the time?" Maria realized she could be misunderstood and quickly corrected her statement "I mean when you guys kiss in front of them and stuff." She used her hands and Georg shut the closet.

"They're little, the older ones don't care, they're fine." He rolled his eyes "I should be able to kiss my girlfriend whenever we want." He shrugged "that's different than me being a straight up jerk" he explained. He knew the kids didn't always like Ellie, she wasn't awful, she just didn't click with kids easily.

Maria knew the argument wouldn't go anywhere and sighed in defeat. "Well at least you look nice." She mumbled.

"What was that?" Georg asked sarcastically as he held up a hand to his ear. "Did you really just pay me a compliment?" He smirked.

"This is why I don't compliment you" Maria crossed her arms "your ego can't possibly get any bigger without your head exploding." She teased.

Georg tutted his tongue "wrong you are"

"Stop talking like yoda" Maria replied sassily and walked away.

"Don't wait up" he yelled as she exited the kitchen and received a "too bad" in response.
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