me & tomfoolery

The Man Next Door | Nic Claxton Short Story

I heard the gworls liked Claxton.

Olivia groaned at the loud moans coming from her neighbor's apartment. The way the floor plans were set up, she could hear almost everything in his place from anywhere in her home. It was only her second night home in a week span. It seemed like this particular neighbor hates her.

It didn't happen all the time when she was home, but when she needed rest, there was always noise coming from next door.

"He's gotta be fucking joking!" She mumbled, covering her head with a pillow. Whoever he was fucking was having a time and Olivia could admit, she was jealous.

After another hour, she was able to close her eyes and hear nothing but her thoughts. In a blink it was time for her to wake up. She was annoyed that there was another 16 hour shift ahead and no release of the tension on her mind, body and soul.

"Liv, they want you in ER 3. It's a repeat patient." Picking up her rolling cart. Olivia walked down the hall to emergency room 3. Behind the current was a regular in here.

"Hey Nicolas, looks like you're back." She shook her head at the center who played for the Nets.

"Yeah, umm I got another crook in my neck." It was comical that Nic would come into the ER for a neck crook when he had team doctors.

"You need a masseuse. Not the emergency room." He smiled, attempting to shrug, but ultimately winced as the pain shot up his back. "Doesn't your job have doctors for this?"

He chuckled as he watched her grab lidocaine patches from a drawer. "Yeah, they do. But it's kind of embarrassing to explain why."

"And why is that? You don't explain when you're here." She placed the patch on the back of his back, catching a glimpse of him staring at her before turning to throw away to wrapper.

"Cause you're gonna joke about me coming in but you'll also treat me."
"You could get these patches at the drug store." She pointed.

"I like coming in here."

"Have a good day Nicolas, I don't wanna see you in here anytime soon. We've got real emergencies to tend to."

Olivia walked out of his exam room without giving him a chance to say anything else. She knew it was a long day ahead of her. There was already a swarm of people in the emergency room.

Nic laughed at a joke that Cameron Johnson made. There were adjustments to the new team but, they were positive ones. The guys decided to spend some time together, just trying to get the chemistry to arise off the court.

"I'm serious man, how does it work out here?"

"Women are more forward in New York, I can tell you that one." Cam Thomas added. "I can't tell you how many times, I was minding my business and someone said something to me. Tuh, both positive and negative."

"Nigga why you got a patch on your neck?" Dorian stood over Nic which gave him the opportunity to see the patch. "Now, why you in his business?"

"He don't have shit like this in his place, I've been there." Ben added. "Did you go see Nurse Bae again?"

A few members of the team knew that Nic had a crush on the emergency room nurse at University Hospital, Brooklyn.

"I did."

"You got a nurse? How you swing that?" Mikal rose his brows. "He didn't, he still ain't ask her out yet." Seth laughed.

Nic had his reasons for not asking Olivia out. She always seemed to be somewhere else mentally. But then again, she worked in a hospital and he would only communicate with her at work.

"I'll ask one day, let's not keep talking about her though. I gotta tell y'all how my night went."

Nic proceeded to fill them in on the wild night he had with a bartender from Sei Less in Midtown. Ultimately explaining how he got the crook in his neck. "I lie to y'all not, I couldn't breathe she had her legs locked around my neck so tight, y'all would've needed to put me on a shirt."

"Nah man, you had unknown legs on your shoulders, being reckless does not get you to the promise land." Seth reasoned.

"You Curry's are righteous as hell. You got lucky with being married. That nigga Nic is like 18, let him have his fun." Dinwiddie groaned.

"My bad for being practical." Seth shook his head, "Not my fault Nic neck is locked up"

"18 is pushing it." Nic rolled his eyes, "I'll call it an occupational hazard."

"The occupation of what?" Thomas cackled.
"LLCN" Nic shrugged.

"Not this again." Seth snorted.
"Not what? Fill me in." Johnson looked around.

"Ladies Love Cool Nic. The worst nickname you could give yourself cause ain't nothing cool about him, he from South Carolina."

As the team laughed at the expense of Nic, he began thinking on what really goes on in his private life. Of course the young man could have someone different every night, but he didn't have that much time to spare for any more one night stands. It was getting a little exhausting.