This is getting ridiculous.

Like, really.

Oliver and Kate were carrying the parcel back to the apartment, and when they reached the elevators area. They had been out of order. Such luck...

So, they had to walk all the way up to 12th level by stairs. And this is how it went.

"I'll take walking backwards," Kate had said.

"No, I'll take that. You'll fall," Oliver said.

Kate rolled her eyes, "And you won't? Besides, I have practice."

"Whatever that means, I don't really care. I'm walking backwards," Oliver argued.

Kate just went ahead and positioned herself so that she was the one walking backwards.

Oliver glared at her while she grinned and said, "Get movin'!"

He gave up and they started moving.

Kate was climbing up the stairs backwards like it was completely normal, while Oliver had a thoughtful look on his face.

When they reached the seventh floor, Oliver decided to speak.

"Hey, Kate?"

"Yeah?"

"Why aren't you the slightest bit tired?" It was slightly noticeable that Oliver was breathing a bit hard and sweating a bit.

"Because the stupid elevators of this apartment complex are always out of order, and most of the time, I use the stairs," Kate wasn't even the sweating a little bit, and Oliver looked like he just ran a marathon by the time they reached the eighth floor.

"Could we *pant* please *pant* rest here *pant* for a bit?" Oliver muttered out and collapsed on the stairs, after putting his side of the box on the railing.

"Wow... I thought you did sports. I don't even do sports and I'm perfectly fine," Kate commented.

Oliver was still breathing hard but he replied, "I stopped after middle school, since I got pneumonia when I was young, breathing is hard for me while doing sports. it got worse as I grew older. I got a B- in gym."

"Wow... I got a C."

After a few seconds of silence, Oliver let out a chuckle. Then, he was bursting out laughing.

Kate looked at him weirdly but couldn't help but laugh along.

Seconds later, both of them were laughing like something crazy funny happened.

"Why are we even laughing?" Kate questioned after the laughter died down a bit.

"I don't even know... We should get moving."

"Yeah." They reached floor nine and someone came through the door from the room area to the stairwell. The man was in a phone call.

Kate and Oliver were standing right behind the door, and the man was turning the other way, so they weren't in sight.

Neither of them moved. They were too scared to get caught listening in. The phone call sounded like a really embarrassing one and the person looked a bit intimidating.

"Do you want Stayfree or Safety? Just pick one! Don't make me do this, do it yourself then... I don't care if you're in the bathroom, stuck... Fine... Alright, I'll get a bunch of chocolates for you... What? NO! Please don't tell Anna! You are evil, Maddie... evil..."

The two teens glanced at each other when the man starting rambling right at the door of the stairs.

"What the hell, Maddie? Why do I have to do this and not Maggie? And I'm the only male, now that Darren isn't home..."

Kate couldn't hold it in. She let out a 'pffft' sound, causing the man to turn around and look at them.

The man had his eyes wide in realization that two kids just heard a conversation with his sister about pads. Well... that's embarrassing.

"Run." Oliver whispered, nudging Kate with the box.

They sloppily ran up the stairs (with a lot of difficulty) and hid from the
man's sight.

The man was too embarrassed to even chase them, it seemed. Kate and Oliver could hear him saying something like "Two teenagers just heard me complaining about you... Now what are they gonna think... This sucks... You suck..." into the phone.

They could hear high pitched laughing coming from the other end as the man went down the stairs.

Kate and Oliver took a sigh of relief and continued going up. Two more floors, four more flights.

"I wonder why the person didn't even complain about the elevators..." Kate pondered randomly while they were slowly making their way up to the twelfth floor, so that Oliver won't tire out much.

"I dunno... Maybe cause he's afraid o' elevators or som'n."

"Maybe... and why are you talking like that?"

Oliver grinned, "Why not?"

Kate rolled her eyes and the two kept going.

After they reached the floor, they had a hard time opening the door...

"My hands are taken, you should open it."

"My hands are taken too, if you didn't notice."

"I can't, if you didn't notice, since this parcel of yours is pretty big..."

"Then... how are we going to open this door...?" Kate questioned.

"How should I know, this is your apartment building."

"Well, you were the one who decided to help."

"I... actually have nothing to counter that. Nice win."

"Thank you, thank you," Kate tried to bow but couldn't... the reason was kind of obvious...

"Now that that's over... how are we really going to open this door...?" Oliver asked.

"By using our hands, you idiot."

"As we both know, our hands are taken," Oliver countered.

Kate gave him the 'Are you stupid?' look and then asked, "You or me?"

He was confused, "Uh- you?"

She beamed, "Great."

She moved her hands so that she could hold the whole box and said, "Remove your hands and open the door."

"But- I should hold the box-" Oliver started.

"Just get the frickin' door," Kate said with exasperation.

He stumbled a bit, but opened the door for Kate to pass through.

Then they went back to the way they were before.

"Why did that take us so long?" She asked on the way to her door.

"'Cause we're awesome, that's why," Oliver responded with a grin.

Kate snorted, "Best reasoning ever."

"Of course."

It didn't take them long to reach Kate's apartment. They got help, since Levvy was home enjoying his breakfast pancakes.

They brought the package in and set it on the coffee table.

"What's in it?" Levvy asked, with pancaked still in his mouth.

"No clue. Uncle just sends me weird, random stuff. Last time, he sent me a lamp in shape of a tiger and an odd designed plate holder thingy... Although, they were really cool."

"Maybe you'll get something really cool this time, too?" Oliver questioned. "Just open it. I didn't go through all the pain of climbing up twenty four flights of stairs for nothing."

"Alright, alright."

Kate cut the tape and opened the box.

What she saw inside made her smile in delight.

"Oh, hell yes."