Steph's Holliday Break

Flying

"It's here!"

Steph was giddy with excitement as she made her way to the concierge desk to pick up her package.

Not wanting to wait for the elevator, she opted to take the 9 flights of stairs, running down and skipping steps when possible. She was going at a pace where falling would seem to be a slower descent.

Once she landed on the ground floor she paused to regain her composure and took a deep breath. She pulled out her phone to double check the confirmation email she received. 

"Good, delivered, not shipped" she thought to herself.

She walked to the counter feigning nonchalance. "I have a package to pick up. Stephanie, Lee". The person behind the counter checked his list and excused himself into the storage room. 

"Hey Steph!" 

Steph turned around to see Rick waving. Rick was her boyfriend's roommate, and also her roommate's boyfriend.

"Hey Rick!" she waved back. "Coming back from work?" 

"Yeah, I had the lunch shift today." Rick smelled of food and looked quite exhausted. "What brings you down here?" 

"Picking up a package." Steph said trying to contain her excitement. The concierge emerged from the room with a large cardboard box and asked for her ID and signature to confirm her pickup. 

"Woah, Christmas came early" Rick said noting the size of the box. "No wonder you're excited."

Steph chuckled nervously. "Yeah..." 

"Let me help you with that." Rick picked up the package from the table "woah, that's pretty light. Maybe they forgot to put whatever it is in the box?" Chuckling at his own joke. 

Not wanting to walk up 9 flights of stairs, they opted to take the elevator; they had the space to themselves.

"Do you and Vic have any plans tonight? She's flying home tomorrow, right?" Steph asked.

"Well, she wanted to eat at where I work, since she's never been." Rick replied. "Other than that... Probably spend the night together. Were you and Jason able to find another ride back?"

"Yeah. We found one this morning. We're gonna catch a Greyhound bus tomorrow night."

"Night? Ouch, isn't it like, a 4 hour ride?"

"Yeah, but seeing as how our other ride cancelled yesterday, I'm just glad we were able to get something so soon." Steph's showed so much excitement that Rick couldn't help but feel the same.

"That's true" he said chuckling. "Glad you could be happy for it. You're always so positive, I'm envious."

While Steph was indeed happy about her current ride arrangement, but the excitement she showed was actually driven from the anticipation her unopened package.

"Aww thanks Rick. There's always something to be thankful for." She said giving him a side hug.

The elevator door and Rick handed Steph her package at her door. They said their goodbyes and she entered her apartment.

Victoria was in her room cleaning and packing in preparation to her flight back for the holidays. Her clothes were laid out on her bed, each neatly folded and organized by type. It was easy to tell that the clothes were laid out in how they paired and matched. 

"Knock knock!" Steph said entering her room.

"Hey! You left really quickly just now everything okay?"