me & tomfoolery

The Man Next Door pt. 2 | Nic Claxton Short Story

"Your favorite patient is back." Wanda smiled at the younger nurse. "I don't have a favorite patient."

"You know that boy only comes in here to see you. And you don't even log his visits."

Olivia never logged Nic's visits. He never showed up for anything serious. He was playful but never truly harmed. "Why is he here now?"

"He's actually here with someone. No idea, but he did ask if you were in today."

"And you told him I was here, didn't you?" Olivia took off her white coat, placing it on the hook. "What if I didn't want anyone to know I was here Ms. Wanda?"

"Chile hush, it's only Nicolas. Go be nice and say hi before I hop on him myself."

Everyone in the ER thought the young basketball player was handsome, Olivia could admit his looks were on the plus side as well. She had to travel across the hospital to the pediatric unit because that's where he was.

Why the hell did I walk all the way over here?

Finally reaching the room, she knocked before being told she could enter. There were a few players in the room, a nurse and two kids that were very happy to see them. "Hey, sorry to interrupt."

Olivia made sure to check the charts for each child, just to be aware of what they were here for. 

"Olivia, hey. You didn't have to come all the way over here. I was going to come visit after we left here." Nic stood up to give her a hug.

They had never hugged before, but she received it. It was a quick side hug but the dynamics of their friendship would change because of it.

"I heard you were looking for me already so I beat you to it. Hi fellas." She waved to the room. "Tessa, Gordo how are y'all feeling today?"

Both children were masked but smiling with their eyes. "My favorite team came to see me! I'm great." Gordo clapped, he was excited to meet the Nets, Seth and Nic being his favorite on the team.

"They're so nice." Tessa waved Olivia over. In a room full of boys, she knew what that wave meant. "Yeah sweetie, is everything okay?"

"I'm nervous." Tessa admitted. "Why is that?"

"They're all so cute." Olivia laughed, looking around at the players in the room. On their charts it listed Gordo as 12 and Tessa as 14. So her observation wasn't off. "I would agree It's a pretty handsome bunch."

"Especially the one who keeps looking at you." Olivia turned her head to see Nic, staring at her. She noticed Ben laughing and Nic covered his face.

"I'm gonna go see what they are laughing at, I'll be back." Walking over to the guys, she folded her arms over her chest. "And what's so funny over here?"

"Just a few jokes, how are you?" Ben asked. Nic gave him aside eye, "Benjamin, leave that lady alone." Dinwiddie warned.

Smacking his teeth, Ben walked to the other side of the room. Nic had an amused smile on his face, which Olivia wanted to question. Her beeper went off signaling she was needed back in the ER.

"Well, I have to get going. It was nice meeting you guys."
"Let me walk you over there."

Olivia had a bottle of wine out, a filled glass, ruffles and pretzels in front of her. Her shift ended early and all she wanted to do was relax. Her hours for the last two months were all over the place, people were leaving the hospital for better opportunities, left and right. Only a few were holding it down.

It was a little after 10 PM, she surfed through the channels until she landed on the Nets game.

I could watch this, not like anything else is on.

The game had just started, meaning she would have something to do for the next few hours. They were facing the Kings. She didn't know much about the Kings to determine what kind of game it would be, but she would try to keep up.

Nic had 13 points thus far and she could tell this was only him warming up. Him and his teammates were working well together. She considered tuning into more games.

The Nets won and Olivia watched until the very end. The unfortunate thing was, she needed to be up in the morning. As she tried to sleep, the music banging off the walks next door was enough to wake the whole neighborhood.

She planned to nip this in the bud and quick. Tossing the covers off her feet, she slipped on her shoes, grabbed her robe and walked to the neighboring apartment. Banging on the door repeatedly, she awaited for someone to answer. The music must have been up too loud because after five minutes of waiting, she gave up.

The stress of her nosy neighbor and her pending work day was driving her crazy. Olivia spotted her note pad and a sharpie marker, instantly getting an idea.

"Read that message again." Mikal asked lifting his weights.

"I beg of you, the noise after hours at that level have to end. I get everyone has a life but your activities are clashing with the only time I get to rest. Like good neighbor, please keep it down."

"Yeah, that's definitely a woman who wrote that. And she's funny as shit." Mikal laughed.

"Definitely humorous. What are you going to do?"

Nic wasn't sure. Last night he wasn't intentionally being loud. The music was on his system that carried through the whole condo. After a game, he wanted decompress.

"Hell if I know." He shrugged. "We still going out tonight right?"

Olivia yawned, for the fifth time today. She sat at a table on the break room alone, just trying to get some peace and quiet.

"You should've called out Liv. Why do you always do this?" Wanda sighed. "There's other nurses here baby girl."

"I just feel bad leaving y'all in here alone."

Wanda took a seat, "Them young girls do it all the time. You're the hardest working nurse or doctor in this whole unit. Take a break sometimes."

"One day."

"How about tonight. You can go out with the girls and then actually rest on your day off?"

"Are you going to allow me to say no?"
"Absolutely not."