My Neighbor Next Door

Silence

Silence

Anonymous Me
Name: Nick Valeo
Age: 28
Gender: Male
Weight: 193 lbs
Height: 6'4"
Coloring: Tan
Eyes: Grey
Hair: Black

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Moving was never much fun. Nick had a new job and it required a move. Stepping into the apartment after he finished the check with the new land lords he sighed. Water pressure was good, lights were all good, heat was acceptable and carpet was alright. Next step was grabbing the stuff out of his truck and the first thing was gonna be music.

The speaker system hadn't been boxed because he didn't have enough boxes, but it sat in the front seat of the truck with him so he went out and pulled the system from the passenger side. Setting the speakers on the counter in the kitchen he hooked his phone up and turned the music on. It was only about 3:15 in the afternoon and nobody should care if he had the music going and door open while he loaded his stuff in. Laundry was all packed in black garbage bags and most of his other stuff was in baskets or boxes stuffed to the top. All of it started as a pile in the living room till he could get to the mattress and the bedding stuff.
 
Name: Emma Paulson
Age: 27
Gender: Female
Weight: 146 lbs.
Height: 5'7
Coloring: White
Eyes: Green
Hair: Brunette (Straight styled)

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Emma sat at her kitchen bar, sipping her afternoon tea while reading an article on her phone that caught her eye in the news section of Google. She was having a pretty good day so far. The Saturday weather was gorgeous outside, it wasn't too hot and it wasn't too cold, either. The sky was a perfect cloudy blue with puffy clouds and yet, here she was. In her apartment with only her kitchen lights and a lamp in the living room beside her on. Yes, she was bored, but she usually worked quite a bit and today was her break day. A day to sit inside and ignore everyone around her.

At least, that was before the music started playing.

"What the hell?" Emma spoke softly to herself as she looked towards the door and set her phone down, shutting the screen off in the process. There were only three groups of people who lived in this building in her apartment complex. There was an older woman in her late 40s who was always gone on business trips below her own room and an elderly man who was deaf in the room right next to her. That's when she remembered the paper she had recieved earlier in the week stating that someone would be moving into the room across from her door. She was actually quite excited to meet this person, but they already started to make a bad first impression with their music.

Standing up, Emma left her phone on the bar and opened her front door to see what was going on. Closing her door, she moved closer to her new neighbors' room and peeked her head in to look around. There was no one in sight, but there was a mess of black trash bags on the floor and a speaker hooked up on the kitchen counter. She looked around more, coming to the conclusion that her new neighbor must have been going to grab more things from the vehicle.
 
Nick wrestled the mattress out of the back of his truck and started to drag it through the front doors of the building and then through the hall. At least it wasn't rainy. However, the pavement didn't do any favors for the mattress. There was some wear and stains on the corner that was usually drug along the ground. Shoving his way through the door he thought he heard someone, but he ignored it for the time and promptly walked the mattress to the bedroom. He had yet to get a frame, but who needed a frame when it was cheaper to flop the bed on the floor?

The next step was to get out some of the black plastic bags and see which ones had his sheets and which one was dirty. Dirty one should be easy to find since it had a mix of stuff and it generally didn't smell like the laundry soap he used. A good part in the music came up and he did a little head banging while he dug through the bags. It wasn't like his short hair would go anywhere, but it was one way to enjoy the music while working on the unpacking.

"Uh huh," mostly talking to himself he pulled out a rolled up bunch of sheets and took them to the doorway of the room before throwing them inside on top of the mattress. Now he needed to find the mattress cover. This was keeping it all fairly simple and then he could start looking at getting something to cook. He had a box full of spices and little things from the previous apartment. "Get a little soup and some crackers before I start my shift." Setting out a box of Pacific Foods Chicken and Noodle soup he then tossed his box of Zest crackers toward the counter and knocked over one of the speakers. "Oh hell." Shuffling into the kitchen he picked the speaker back up and then wandered over to grab his little cooking kettle. There was some dirt in it from the move, but that was easily blown out of the bottom. "Aaaand." Turning slightly he saw the little green eyed brunette in his apartment and he walked over to her to offer his hand, but he realized when he glanced at it that it was black from all the dirt. "Oh well uh...I'm Nick. Nice to meet you. I should uh, probably find the soap before I eat lunch."
 
Emma flinched slightly when the man was suddenly by her side. She was spending too much time looking around othernplaces that she didn't notice him coming towards her. She looked down at his hand and rose an eyebrow, confused as to why his hand was so black. Looking back up at him, she had a slight concerned expression on her face. "Yeah." She replied in a matter-of-factly tone.

Quickly, She took in his appearance. He was very handsome, but he also looked young, about 24, she assumed. Nothing good for her here, and it wasn't like she was going to try anything with him in general. So far, she only received bad vibes from this man. Nastolgic vibes that she did not want. Besides, she was still getting over her breakup that sadly happened two years ago. How pathetic of her. Her friends always told her that she needed to move on and what she really needed was a good time with some stranger, but she wasn't like that. She didn't want to meet someone else yet. Mikey, her ex, was still embedded into her head. Everything about him and the way he lived was.

Emma was doing well for the past few months not thinking about him, but now that she is looking at this new stranger, his apartment, his dirty hand, his appearance, all the memories were flooding back into her head. Sad memories, happy memories. Bad memories of the person she used to be that Mikey made out of her. She spent the longest time changing herself for the better after the breakup and she was proud of herself, but looking at this new man was making her scared and she new she had to get away. She didn't even know or have the slightest feeling that this man was anything like Mikey, he just reminded her of him. His essence, his persona, his soul.

"Emma. I'll shake another time as I can see whatever is going on here is taking up your time and hygiene. Welcome to the complex." She turned around and disappeared through the door of her own apartment, closing it behind her.
 
Momentarily it looked like the lady was going to have a panic attack. Nick watched her for a long moment and he started to subconsciously count her breaths. She was breathing a little faster. What did she have to be upset about? Was she sick? There was a flu going around and that was the last thing he needed before he started his shift tonight. Nick already saw enough sick people anyway. Being a paramedic wasn't necessarily easy work, but it was one way to pay the bills till he could get himself into a Nursing program or something like that.

"Yeah might be best if you shook my hand later." When she scuttled off he shook his head slightly and then took the kettle to the sink. It only took a little rinse to get the rest of the dust out and then he poured the soup into it to heat up. He'd have to take care of the rest of this stuff later. The next best thing on his list was to close the door and then he could start looking for the soap and shower up before he had to leave for work too.

Normally he showered before bed, but with all the moving he had been sweating quite a bit. "Finally!" Grabbing the box of toiletries and cleaning supplies he triumphantly took them to the bathroom and left the box in the middle of the floor. Taking out the handsoap he washed his hands and then wiped them off on his jeans. He didn't have time to go find the hand towels right now. Dinner was rushed, shower had to be fast and putting on his uniform was just about the same. With his hair slicked back Nick slipped a jacket on and then pulled the apartment door shut behind himself. Maybe he would get time tomorrow to sort out some more of it. Before leaving he locked the door and walked back outside to his truck to drive it down to the Ambulance barn. He had started his 3 days of 12 hour shifts and this time it was nights. He hated nights.

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It was 6am when Nick got back to his apartment complex. Unlocking the front door he wandered down the hall in his jacket and stopped outside his door. He found a note on it from one of the neighbors complaining about the fact that his music played for 3 hours after he left. Just long enough for his phone battery to die. "Not like I can help that I forgot my phone and I was at work." Grumbling to himself he rolled his eyes. He left the house at 5:30 so he could be to work at 6pm. It didn't even run into the designated quiet hours. Someone just had to have a hard on for him or something stupid. Wanted to make it miserable.
 
Entering her apartment again after her very brief encounter with her new neighbor, Emma walked down the hallway to get to the laundry area. The music from across the hall was still playing and it was all she could hear. Turning on her heels, she went back to the kitchen bar to grab her phone and start playing music from it as she did folded her clothes in the laundry room. Though, with her phone on her highest volume, she still could not block out the noise of her neighbors' speaker. Taking in a deep breath, she continued to fold her clothing in neat piles, trying to ignore how angry the speaker was actually making her.

Eventually, the amount of focus she was putting into her chores let her ignore the music from next door as she danced around to her own, swaying her hips and bouncing around as she folded her laundry. She finished after getting lost in her music and afterwards, turning off her phone, she came to realize that Nick's music was still playing. "What the hell?!" Now, she was actually getting pretty angry. She was tired of listening to his vile, annoying music play over and over again.

Quickly, Emma put her clothes away, all the while slamming her drawers shut to try and let out some steam. Once finished with that task, she went to her front door, opened it, and noticed that Nick's door was now closed. And how the hell was that music still so loud? Normally she wouldn't be getting this upset over things, but she enjoyed the quiet that this complex usually offered, but now, with this brute next door, she couldn't have that. She brought her fist to the door, pounding on it, assuming that Nick wouldn't be able to hear her if she didn't do so. She paused knocking for a minute and began pounding again.

"Hello?!" She exclaimed, trying to get the man's attention from inside, but it clearly wasn't working. Turning back towards her apartment, she went inside, snatching a sticky note off of her fridge magnet and scribbling down her complaint about his music with a Bic pen. She placed the note on the door of Nick's apartment and returned to her own, once again, to shower and get ready for bed. It took her an hour of laying down and aroma therapy to get herself to finally relax and fall asleep, but it eventually worked.

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Waking up at her usual 5:30 AM, Emma dressed for her day in her lazy clothing, again, not working today. She wore a pair of light grey sweatpants and a plain light blue t-shirt, finished with a messy bun on the top of her head. The music was finally over, she assumed that Nick went to bed last night way after she did. But, now, she heard footsteps climbing up the stairs outside in the hallway. Assuming it was Diane, her always-travelling-for-business neighbor coming up to greet her return, Emma opened her door and peeked outside, fairly dissapointed to see that it was Nick. Once again. "Your music played all night." She complained. "Next time, why don't you turn it down or at least answer when someone is pounding on your door? Oh, wait, you couldn't hear me!" She wasn't usually this rude, but something about this man pissed her off.
 
It had been a long night and Nick was ready to get to bed. A bed he still had to make and he still needed a shower and he felt hungry after the shift. At best he was going to get to bed in an hour and he had to get up at 2pm at the latest if he wanted to get some stuff done. To make it all worse the note on the door was followed by a grouchy sounding voice. "It wasn't all night. My phone had about 3 hours left on it. Your note says here it played for 3 hours after I left and that means it only played till 8:30 at night. That's not all night." Tearing the note in half he handed it back to her. "I don't have a garbage can yet. Figured you might want your documentation of complaint back."

Listening to his response, she was obviously getting more upset. When he handed her her note, the tips of her ears were beginning to glow a slight red at the tips. "You should still watch the volume of how loud you play your shitty music. There are people here that enjoy how quiet it is in this area and we don't need you ruining that for us. I ought to complain to the landlord, but you're lucky I'm nice since it's still your first day here!" Turning around, she stepped through her doorway and closed the door behind her, but after a few moments, it popped back open and out showed an irritated face throwing the paper of the note back at Nick. "Find your own trash can!" And the door shut once again.

She was right, he probably shouldn't have played his music so loud, but Nick didn't care at this point. He was mad and she was unreasonable. When she shut the door he scrunched his face into a little prissy look and waggled his head while he silently mocked her. It was soo irritating to have someone jump down his throat for something so minor. You'd have thought he started the place on fire. If the other neighbors minded so much he imagined they would have said something. To make it all the more exciting he was disrupted when she poked her head right back out the door again and threw the note at him. Quiet hours were technically till 7am so he stooped to pick up the note. "Oh, excuse me all to pieces for pointing out that you were exaggerating." Mumbling under his breath he shoved the paper into his pocket and unlocked the door. Once he was inside Nick was confronted with all the stuff he still had to put away. The same mess in the kitchen he left. His phone was dead and he felt too tired to do anything.

Being up all day yesterday to get moved and then working all night and getting called to a serious accident had him feeling a little on edge. A warm shower helped and then he made his bed. Making it mainly consisted of putting the fitted sheet on the mattress and throwing the flat sheet and comforter over the bed along with shoving his pillows into the pillow cases. One pillow was balled up in the bottom and he didn't care. Maybe it was better to just sleep, but he felt so hungry.

Nick hated how long it seemed to take to get anything done when he was tired and cooking even a simple oatmeal and eating it took him nearly 45 minutes. With his phone charging by his bed he went to sleep and then woke up at 2pm. There was a maximum of about 2 hours to actually try and put away a few more things after he got up, had lunch, packed dinner, got dressed and was ready to go to work. This time he stuffed his phone in his coat pocket and turned the volume off. There wouldn't be anything for anyone to complain about this time.

Just as he swung the door open Nick was greeted by one of his neighbors holding a sheet of paper toward him and grinning broadly. "Here, I thought you'd like to come to the summer barbeque. Just bring a side dish or something. We all know you just moved in. Mind if I sign you up for chips or salad?"

"Yeah, yeah. Just sign me up for something. I don't really care what you want me to bring." He was going to be late if the lady didn't hurry. When she asked for his name he took the paper from her and wrote his phone number down. "Just text me whatever it is. Ok. I'm gonna be late for work." At least she understood that much and she handed him a little flier that he shoved under the door. "Yep, I'll talk with you later. Bye." Rushing down the hall he ran out the front door of the building, turned on his radio, and then jumped into his truck to get headed to the ambulance barn.

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It was the last night of his shift and the afternoon was going to be a party. Nick thought it would be somewhat nice to get to know a few people in the building other than the very snooty woman across the hallway from him. She hadn't said much the second day or when he left this evening for work. He could almost feel her eyes staring through that peephole on her door at him though.

When he got off at six Nick took himself to the store and checked his phone again. He was bringing a veggie tray and 2 bags of chips. Veggie tray and bags of chips was easy enough to provide and it only took him an extra 20 minutes to get to the store and then back to the house to shower and get to bed after a short meal. It was starting his days off and he wanted to try and get himself back to the usual time frame. Nick got up around 5 hours after he went to bed and had himself going to help with set up for the party at 1pm. A few of the guys were starting to cook the meat and there was beer. "Oooh I'll have a beer and that'll be bribe enough to get me working."

With a chuckle Nick popped the cap on one beer and he pulled the legs out on one of the tables. "There we go." While he was busy taking sips of the beer and setting up tables the neighbor from across the hall came out and he tried not to look at her. He still had big rings under his eyes and he was tired out and feeling close to irritable when he saw she was going to crash the party.
 
Emma had already previously known about the barbeque and prepared a carrot cake with cream cheese icing. Getting ready to leave, she dressed in a flowy white sundress with prints of flowers scattered about the fabric and a short overlapping v-neck. There was a slit that started at her mid-thigh and her hair was neatly curled into slight waves. She felt good today. She felt good about how she looked and about how she felt. Nick hadn't bothered her since their encounter in the hallway and she was happy with that.

Picking up her carrot cake, Emma went downstairs into the backyard where the rest of the residents were chatting about and the kids were playing in the grass. Noticing her friend, Allison, who was handing out fliers for the event, she approached the blonde and gave her a kiss on the cheek in greeting. Allison was a really good friend of Emma's and she was the main person that really helped her in her breakup with Mikey. She, too, was single, but unlike Emma, she actually went out of her way to get the men she wanted.

"Hey!" She exclaimed to Emma after exchanging kisses. "Is that a carrot cake? Yes! I'll come with you to put it on the table." Allison pointed toward the food table and looped her arm through Emma's, guiding her towards the table and leaning close. "So I saw the new hunk that moved in across from you." She began, wiggling her eyebrows. "He's hot - and a paramedic! You should really take this as a chance to finally get over bad-guy-Mikey."

As much as Emma would have agreed that she needed to get over her ex and that Nick was, indeed, hot, she didn't want to. "Trust me, that's not a road I want to take because I already met the guy on a bad start and I already really don't like him or how he acts." She set the cake down on the table and took her arm back to herself crossing both her arms. Allison looked at her with a puppydog expression, pouting her lip and blinking her eyes.

"No." Emma responded and almost immediately she realized what she did wrong as soon as Allison's mouth began to open. "No! Alli, no, sto-." She kept trying to cover her friends' mouth before she spoke, but Allison grabbed the hand and brought it down to her side long enough to announce: "Alright, everyone, it's time for yard games!"

Emma looked down, sighing heavily at her defeat as Allison bounced up to the gazebo and taking the microphone. "If everyone can come up, we'll start with a three-legged race! As usual, we will set up partners for you!" Allison began to list partners and a man next to her handed out strips of rope to tie participant's legs together with. Emma took a few glances over at Nick, watching him drink his beer. "Men." She muttered under her breath as she looked back.

"And last, but certainly not least, Emma Paulson and Nick Valeo!"
 
The set up was done easily in half hour and that meant that Nick could sit down in one of the chairs. He didn't have that much time till the party started and people were already showing up, but he had the only the one beer. Just sipping was all he wanted cause if he got too much he would get a little wired and then he wouldn't even get a simple nap before bed. Whoever the lady was that happened to be arranging the whole thing kept flashing him smiles and he just sipped away at the beer and wandered over to get a chip or a piece of celery.

For the most part it was relaxing and Dominic was ready for his nap now. The first day after the 3 twelve hour days was usually the laziest day of the week. As the party was getting started he figured they would eat first. Instead she announced games and ended with him paired to Emma. Nick glanced at his beer. It was close to being done so he finished it before wandering over to take the ribbon to tie himself to Emma.

Kneeling next to her he set his boot next to her little sandals. "Hmmm those are pretty." Snugging the ribbon to her leg and his, Nick finished the knot and started with the first step, but her legs proved to be shorter than his and they both started stumbling before they even got to the line. Why did he get paired with a short person? With a grunt he hit the ground on his knees and then glanced at her. "Sorry." This time he let her start off with the step and it was a little more smooth.

Now that the race was about to begin he cautiously put a hand on her waist. "Might be less likely to tip over if you let me hold your waist. Not anything inappropriate intended." Nick didn't think that they could be considered to be doing well, but at least they weren't last. As soon as they were done with the race he untied their legs and started to try and head back to the beer cooler. He just wanted to get one more drink.
 
Emma waited for Nick to approach her with the ribbon, her arms crossed, really not enjoying what her friend just set her up for. She didn't say anything as he keeled down to tie their legs together, but instead, looked up toward Allison, mouthing "I am going to kill you." At Nick's compliment, she made a purposely snotty smile. "Thanks, I know they are." In the very back of her head, she wondered what it would be like to just kick him while he's down there. But, the good person she is, she wondered what was wrong with herself and why was she being so rude to this man.

Yeah, Nick made a wrong move with the music, but that was all he did wrong and why was she treating him so badly still? He seemed to be a pretty nice guy, but she couldn't help but be mean to him. Was it because he brought up thoughts of Mikey? Who knew.

After making the step and falling down, she scraped her dress on the grass, rubbing a stain onto the white chiffon. Cursing to herself, she knew that was going to be one hell of a stain to get out. Though, right now she was too busy focused on winning. Again, pathetically, she always felt like she needed to win everything. Emma knew she was a competitive person and she didn't even mind it herself. "Issue we'll deal with later." She grunted as they stood up again. "Let me start." She suggested and as they took the walk over to the line smoothly, she smiled inside a little, happy with her achievement.

She was ready for the race to start when there was a sudden touch on her waist and she flinched, feeling a warm sense of content. That was, until she realized that it was Nick's hand who was on her waist and she shot a look at him. "What th-." But was cut off when he spoke to clarify his action. She was kind of glad that he was on the same page as her for winning.

They ended in third place, the first place winner being a pair of seven-year-old boys. As much as she wanted to win and as much as she hated losing, she loved seeing kids be so happy about winning for themselves. But, as soon as she didn't feel a leg tied to her own anymore, she was brought back to reality about the stain on her dress.

She trotted up to meet with Nick as he was walking away, slipping herself ahead of him. "I think you owe me a washed dress. Or at least stain remover." She stated, crossing her arms. "Look, I would like to get along with you, but so far you aren't making too great of an impression." What the hell was she saying? Was she really being this petty over a dress stain? This wasn't like her. None of how she acted since Nick arrived was like her.
 
Whatever got into the woman Nick wanted nothing to do with it. He'd left his phone on one night for 3 hours after he was gone from work before the battery died. She couldn't even take a sincere compliment about her sandals. Perhaps that wasn't the case and she was just agreeing with him. They were barely done with the race and the woman was demanding he wash the dress or give her a stain remover of sorts. "I think hand soap works just fine on the stains. Its what I use."

He wasn't really sure what else she wanted him to do and in some ways he was more nervous about trying to get a stain out the ruining the fabric. She wasn't even looking impressed at his suggestion and Nick sighed. "I don't know what you want me to do. Ok?" Getting in line for the food he flopped a hamburger on a bun and squirted some mustard on it then plopped a few pickles on the burger too. "Look, I don't know what to do with that kind of fabric and I'm pretty sure that whatever I use would ruin it. I don't want to ruin the dress too. So you just wash it or whatever."

Maybe that wasn't the kosher way to deal with things, but it was the truth. "I don't even have a decent place to put a dress like that." He didn't have time to actually unpack and clean stuff up seriously. Dropping some veggies on his plate and dumping a few chips on it he wandered over to one of the tables to sit down. Another beer sounded good and he took a whole hour for the first one so he was more than safe for another. Nick got up and opened the cooler to get a beer for himself. Even if he didn't sound concerned about the stain on the dress he still felt bad about it. "You want anything while I'm over here?" This was the last chance he was going to take at extending the olive branch for now. Aside from that he intended on flopping out on his messy bed and watching a few movies before bed and then he would get up and make himself useful tomorrow. Needed to get things put away and clean up the apartment.
 
Emma stayed quiet as he responded, moving her arms so she was grabbing one that hung down to her side with the other hand. He seemed to feel bad about her dress and she felt bad about how she was treating him. It wasn't like her. She let down her guard and let out a sigh. "Well, for one, hand soap would definitely not work." She responded in her normal, calm tone. She followed him to the barbeque table, picking up a hamburger, hotdog, pickle, and a few veggies. Watching Nick walk over to the cooler, she took a bite of her carrot stick and responded after she swallowed. "I'll take a beer." She requested as she walked over to meet him, taking the can from his hand and leading him over to a blanket on the grass.

"I'm sorry how I've been toward you." She apologized. "But, I really do like my peazce and quiet and this is one of my favorite dresses." She stirred a piece of celery in her ranch dip. She wasn't going to tell him the real reason why she had acted the way she was the whole weekend. That wasn't his business. It was none of his business and she didn't plan on ever telling him.

"Although, if you do accept my apology, I would be glad to help you clean up around your place and get you situated." She offered. "As a good neighbor should be." Maybe after this whole mess is sorted out she can sit in her living room and not have to deal with him ever again while not feeling guilty for how she treated him. That was, as long as he didn't pull a whole speaker issue again.
 
She wanted a beer and that was easy enough to get for her. Nick set her beer in front of her and then wandered back to get his own. He had no idea why he couldn't have used both hands, but he was tired and that was about all there was to it. Carefully he nodded when she started to talk about the way she'd been treating him. There wasn't a whole lot he could say so he just kept it quiet. "Hmmm...yep." Sometimes that was the best answer even if it wasn't quite appropriate to answer her statement about her dress that way.

The food was good and Nick was considering having another hamburger. First he needed to finish the chips on his plate and the last stick of celery and make sure everyone had their first serving before he had another. As if in answer to his mental question of the men at the barbeque yelled out that the first round was finished and everyone could come up for seconds. Nick was just starting to get himself up for seconds when the girl asked if he wanted help cleaning up and he shook his head. "Nah, I'm just gonna be lazy the rest of the day. Got off my 3 twelves of night shift and I don't usually do anything the first day."

He didn't really want help and he doubted that she would want to try digging through his stuff. It was always awkward trying to help someone move in and he hated to admit that he didn't particularly have a plan for moving in anyway.

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After the picnic thing was done Nick helped clean up a few of the tables and load them into the back of the one man's truck so they could haul it to his storage unit. Nick had some left overs set aside by one of the ladies for dinner and that was nice. He didn't mind left over burgers for dinner and it would be great since it was already getting close to 4 by the time he got to his apartment.

Laying on the bed with his paper plate of food resting on his bed and propped up on one elbow he turned Netflix on and started to watch one of the shows he saw a recent advertisement for. Frontier was about as predictable as they came, but it wasn't so bad. He liked it enough to watch a few episodes and fell asleep before the season was over. When he woke up it was about 10am the next morning and he was starving. Nick had a little bit of mac and cheese and he had some milk and butter to make it happen so he dumped the noodles into the pan to let it start boiling and then he walked off. He needed to get some of his clothes away or at least in the bedroom. Stuff besides his work uniform.

Moving across town in a day was something he learned the hard way didn't turn out well. Wandering out into the empty living room he saw a few spots of dirt in the carpet and he sighed. He needed a vacuum cleaner again cause the last one he broke during the move. It was a cheap thing anyway. There was broom somewhere from the move, but it was still behind the seat in his pick up. That would work for the time.

Leaving the door open to his apartment that was still strewn with the black bags and various boxes that had been torn open thus far he jogged out to his truck. When Nick returned the hallway was filled with smoke and his apartment smoke detector as well as the 2 in the hall were blaring. Nick charged into the apartment to find all the water gone out of the pan and the noodles sufficiently burnt. In fact a few of them had burst into flames and he tore the pan off the burner, turned the burner off, and then ran water into the kettle. So much for mac and cheese.
 
Emma pursed her lips at his response to her offer. "Okay, if that's what you want." After finishing her food and watching Nick walk off to go get more, she got up to go help Allison start to clean up the yard games. The barbeque turned out great and she was happy with herself for apologizing for how she had previously acted towards her new neighbor. When the backyard was clear and residents were returning to their apartments, she approached Allison and thanked her for everything.

"Oh, you know it's no problem, hun. Everyone had a great time." Allison gave Emma a hug, but before the brunette could pull away, the woman kept her close. "Don't forget to sleep with the hottie for me, okay?" She whispered. Emma pulled away, her face flushed a slight red. "Alli!" She scolded, all the while laughing with her friend. "What?" She responded. "Trust me, it'd do you good. How long has it been?" Allison waved a finger up and down towards Emma's body, raising her eyebrows.

Emma did not want to talk about this right now. Yeah, it's been two years, but she still wasn't ready. After what happened with Mikey, she didn't want to do anything until she felt like she met the love of her life. And until then, she wouldn't do anything.

After chatting a little more with Allison, Emma made her way back upstairs to her apartment. Her cake was all gone so she didn't have to worry about having any leftovers of that in her fridge. She went into her bathroom, turning on her faucet to get the water heating up as she undressed, setting the spot of the grass stain on her dress onto the sink counter and inspecting it closer. It would take some stain remover, but she could get it out.

Emma showered and got ready for bed, taking off her makeup and dressing in a pair of black boyshorts and an orange "live, laugh, love" shirt. Walking into the kitchen, she grabbed a sticky note and reminded herself to get stain remover her next time grocery shopping, sticking it to the fridge. She walked back into her bedroom, turning on her essential oil diffuser and settling into bed, falling asleep quickly.

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She woke up at 5:30 the next morning to her alarm. Getting ready for work, she put on a pair of her usual blue scrubs. She had other kinds like one with dogs scattered about it, but that one was currently in the laundry. Emma walked into her bathroom, brushing her teeth and putting her hair up in a neat donut bun. Her shift didn't start until 11 o'clock, so she decided to sit on the couch and turn on Netflix to watch Friends for a little while.

Everything was going rather great and peaceful until a shrieking broke the silence of the building. Sighing, Emma stood up and opened the door, noticing the smoke coming out of Nick's apartment with his door wide open. Wide eyes, she rushed over to check what was going on and saw Nick cleaning his kettle.

"What just happened?" She exclaimed, running into the apartment to see the kettle. She knew she was busting in without his consent, but there were three alarms going off. Gradually, one by one, the automatic alarms did stop in a few moments and Emma was relieved to not have to hear them anymore. She looked into the pot, very confused when she saw burnt noodles inside.

"How did you burn noodles inside of water? I don't think that's physically possible." She propped herself by one arm on the counter while the other hand rubbed the top of her nose, her eyes squinted. With another sigh, the woman looked up at Nick. "I'm helping you clean up in here. You obviously need it." She looked around the apartment with black trash bags scattered around. "I get off work at seven o'clock. It's either you clean up before I get there or I'm coming in and helping you. Whether you like it or not."
 
Nick was trying to let everything air out while he scraped the noodles out of the bottom of the pan. Only a few minutes later the woman from across the hall came barging in and he glanced a her as she helped herself to peering inside the kettle and criticizing his attempts at cooking. "Technically I think it is called I burned the water first and then when the bottom of the kettle was dry I burned the noodles too. Even found a few of them on fire." While he was busy scrubbing away he tried to think of anything else he could try to make for lunch. Maybe if he stayed and watched what he was cooking it wouldn't burn, but that would be a waste of time.

It was slightly embarrassing for the woman to tell him she was going to help clean up and Nick raised his eyebrows. "No, I'm gonna take care of it." Emma was rather insistent and for Nick that just meant he was going to have to lock his doors from now on. He couldn't just leave the doors open like he had without someone coming in and being all nosy. He sort of found it annoying that she barged into places. Still it was best that he didn't say anything to her. It was just going to be a locked door from now on.

Cleaning the rest of the kettle up he rinsed his hands and walked with her to the door. "Thanks for the offer. I'm fine. Got the next few days off and I'll get it all cleaned up and put away." At least he knew that she was going to be back at 7 and that meant he needed to lock his door at seven.

That night Nick heard the alarm go off on his phone and he went over to his door to shut it and turn the lock and deadbolt. She wasn't coming in to dig through his stuff. Shoving most of the clothes into his bedroom he started with unloading the boxes and setting out a few things besides his small dining room table that he reassembled and the chairs too. They were outdoor furniture, but sturdy, and cheaper than buying real indoor furniture. He finished setting up the table and putting his kitchen together in the first day. Only thing left was to shove some of his clothes into the closet and buy a dresser when he had some money for the rest of it. Otherwise he had some of those cheap cubicle things to shove his clothes in for the meantime.

Part way through washing out his last pan Nick heard a knock at the door and he ignored it. There was no need for Emma to come in here and be intrusive. He had his stuff and his way of living. He'd had enough of someone trying to tell him how to sort things out and where to put it all.

****************************************************

Days off work went fast when he spent them cleaning, putting the apartment in order and cooking a few meals that set off more alarms and then some successful ones. What really sucked was the fact that even after he'd cleaned it all it was impossible to tell. He already had a garbage bag slumped over in the kitchen cause he forgot to buy a garbage can, had a pile of dishes in the sink and heap of clothes in his room. It would all get sorted out after he got off shift again. This was the last week of nights. He got two weeks of night and then then two weeks of day. At least the 3 twelves weren't so bad.

The only thing he hated about the weekends were the fact that there were drunks everywhere, people were travelling in excess and there were more accidents then ever. Holidays would be sneaking up in a few months and then it would be worse. Sitting in the ambulance with his buddy he listened to the radio. There was another accident, but it seemed that just an older man had gone off the road. "Well, I guess here we go."

Nick moved to sit in the back and he started to prep some of the equipment. He already had the bag for the accident and got out a small pad to take notes as they went along. Firemen were already at the scene with the jaws of life. Probably wasn't going to be a pretty one.

**********

"Hey Nick get me an extra oxygen tank!" One of the other crew members from the ambulance called out and Nick ran back up the ditch. They had the lights flashing on the ambulance, but that didn't mean that it always worked. Unfortunately drunks were drawn to the light. Walking around the side of the ambulance Nick heard tires screech as a car wildly out of control whipped around the road and came straight for him. He tried to dodge out of the way, but the car clipped him and ran off into the ditch. Nick could feel the car roll over him and his leg cracked loudly just before he passed out.

****************

A nurse caught up with Emma before she left from the night shift. "Yeah we got a patient in room 8. Got a concussion, tore his back a little and managed to bust both his legs. Little bit sleepy right now, grouchy, and all that you can expect from a patient. Other than that all the usuals are still on your rotation. Have fun." Just as she was about ready to leave she pointed to a chart. "Forgot to tell you that he's due for more meds in about an hour."
 
Emma wasn't too happy that he was refusing her help. She was a good interior decorator and she was pretty damn good at cleaning. As he walked her to the door, she turned around to offer help again, but was cut off by him insisting that he would do it. "Alright." She returned to her apartment to finish getting ready for work and soon left, going downstairs to the parking lot and starting up her car, driving off to the hospital. During the car ride, her mind slightly drifted to the thought of Mikey. Why was he like that? Why did he change her? Why was she so into him? Why did he do what he did to her?

A quiet tear slipped from her eye and she took a deep breath in as many memories flooded through her head. "Nope. Nope. Not happening. I don't need this happening right now." She reassured herself, wiping the tear with the sleeve of her scrub shirt. Nick reminded her so much of him. She hated it. She hated looking at Nick and thinking about Mikey in the back of her head. She hated Mikey. She hated everything about him and she had a slight hate for Nick for reminding her of him.

******************************************

Returning home from work, Emma changed into her normal lazy clothes and went across the hall to knock on Nick's door. She knew he said he didn't want help, but she really wanted to help. Her emotions were all over the place since Nick arrived and she was determined to get to know Nick for who he was instead of who he reminded her of. Knocking on the door again, there was no answer. She reached down to the door handle and attempted to open it, but it was locked. "Okay, fine, lock me out." She called to him, knowing he was inside.

******************************************

As time passed, Emma spent her time working, picking up extra shifts and extra hours, and hanging out with Allison. Again, her best friend kept insisting she try to sleep with Nick and again, Emma was still not buying it. Eventually, Allison's comments slowed and stopped, knowing that Emma was still sore over Mikey. They spent some nights on the couch together, binging chick flicks and rom-coms as they sat on opposite sides of the couch, sharing a blanket at their feet.

Emma did occasionally heasr the smoke alarms go off from Nick's apartment, but each time she went to go check on him, his door was still locked and he refused to open the door for her. Honestly, it was making her feel a little hurt.

******************************************

Emma was working an extra shift at the hospital, deciding that she was bored enough to work more. As the nurse passed her and told her what was going on, she nodded. "Alright, got it." She responded and made her way to room 8, expecting a normal patient, but of course way more torn up. This one would be a little bit of work for her physically, but how the other nurse had described the patient's mood, it was fairly normal.

Walking into the room, she froze for a moment, noticing who was laying in the bed in front of her, bruised and beaten. "Holy shit." She muttered under her breath. Her heart yearned for him to be okay and she felt a great relief that he was still alive. He seemed lucky to be alive looking at his condition now. She straightened herself up, reminding herself that Nick was still a patient that she had to treat like a normal patient and not question him or anything.

"Hey, there, neighbor." She greeted with a smile as she walked over to the counter to grab his file as she flipped through it to find out what was going on with him. "Do you remember anything that happened to you?" She asked, looking up and waiting for an answer.
 
Nick woke up in a hospital room some time later. He vaguely remembered the few seconds before he passed out and then the odd moment he was staring at the ceiling of the ambulance. Most of the rest of it was sort of a blur. A nurse had come in and told him not to be grouchy. For all he remembered he hadn't even said a word to her and she was already scolding him. "Leave me alone." Grumbling at the woman he tried to move and that hurt too.

His left side was a little rougher for the wear. Nick had some broken ribs, both tibia were broke and the left femur was broke too so he had a full leg cast there and then he had some sort of strange little thing on his hips. Apparently he busted his pelvis too. Ironically it was the right arm that got broke instead of the left one and his back felt like it was on fire. Turned out he had to have L3 and L4 fused together. Grumbling a little he tried to readjust the pillow under his head and go back to sleep. It was a little hard to sleep when there was a constant bleep from a machine and he couldn't really turn in the bed. He liked sleeping on his side and he couldn't even do that.

While he was drifting in and out of sleep he wondered a few times about his insurance, but there wasn't a whole lot he could do about that. Nick was an employee of the hospital and he ran on their Ambulance's, but he'd never had this kind of an insurance claim before. Last thing he wanted to do was fight his insurance on this. Then he remembered his phone was somewhere in the ambulance with his lunch. There were a few things that had come to mind when he woke from his fitful sleep. It felt like he was just starting to get some decent sleep when the voice sounded in his room. Peeling the one eye that he could open he slowly turned his head toward the sound of the voice and he realized it was his neighbor. She'd turned the light on and he was trying to sleep.

The most natural question popped out of her mouth and he knew he shouldn't be annoyed, but he felt annoyed anyway. "Yeah, I got hit by some crazy driver when I went to walk over to the ambulance to get oxygen for someone else that went off the road." Adjusting himself in the bed as best he could he winced a little and laid back again. "Mind turning off the light so I can sleep?"
 
Emma nodded as she read the description, approving of what he came up with. "That's good that you remember." She sighed, immediately following the breath with a smile. "Means your brain didn't get messed up. You're lucky." She tapped the side of her head as she spoke of his brain before standing and walking to the counter, pulling a pair of gloves on her hands. Opening multiple containers of pills and other medications, she began to assemble Nick's treatments.

Turning her head over her shoulder to Nick as he complained about the light, she shook her head. "You've gotta take your meds." She picked up the two small paper cups that each held about three pills in one hand and a syringe in the other. "Believe it or not, either, in your nurse for your stay here." Emma set down the cups and syringe on the bedside table. One of the other nurses already gave Nick a styrofoam cup of cold water in which she picked up and handed the cup and three of the pills to him. "Drink up."

After he finished taking each of the pills and she injected the syringe of numbing medication into his hip, Emma cleaned up and pulled a chair from the side of the room next to Nick's bed, sitting down. "Are you okay?" She asked in a gentle voice. She felt bad for the guy. He seemed to be through enough lately. A move to an apartment complex already showed that he was going through quite a bit before she even knew the guy's name. And then, she was a complete bitch to him and now he was in the hospital with major injuries. "Do you need anything? Water? Food?"
 
Taking meds was the excuse that he couldn't sleep? Momentarily Nick felt a surge of irritation rise again. Then she should hurry up because he hurt all over and he just wanted to sleep. Taking the medications and holding a cup at the same time was too complicated right now. Setting the cup down again he took the pills from Emma and dropped them in his mouth one at a time then took a sip of water from the cup. It was a little uncomfortable when a pill went down sideways, but that couldn't be helped.

While he was doing his best to stretch and put the cup back on the little stand next to his bed he felt a sharp poke right in his hip. "Ow!" Turning his head stiffly he looked at her. "Why did you do that?" It was almost stated as an accusation rather then a question. It was just rude to pull up the blankets push the hospital gown to the side to jab a needle in an already sore and bruised hip. Not to mention it created a significant breeze in the nether region. Impatiently he pulled the blankets back down as soon as she pulled the needle out.

As if to make him even more aware of his situation she had to ask if he was ok. Nick's eyes got slightly wider. Even the black eye opened a slit and he glanced at her. "I don't think so." Wasn't it obvious enough he wasn't ok? When was it ok to get hit by a drunk driver and have their stupid car roll over your body and wake up in a world of hurts and in a hospital? Nick just wanted to go to sleep and she was here trying to talk to him. "No, I don't need anything. Just let me go to sleep." The more he thought about it the better another blanket sounded and he decided to ask her for one. "Hey Emma, could I get another one of those hot blankets?"

It felt good when the hot blanket was laid over the top of the others and slowly heated him up a little. Nick gradually started to get a little more relaxed and he fell asleep for a few hours before he woke up again. The shades were open in his room and he stared at Emma for a moment before it registered in his mind that he was in the hospital. "I'm hungry now."
 
Emma took in a deep breath through her nostrils and exhaled out of her mouth. He really was grumpy. Normally, she wouldn't care if patients were acting like this towards her, she didn't blame them. But, with Nick doing it, she couldn't help but feel a little hurt. Not to mention the fact that all of this followed after he locked her out of all conversation for an entire week. It did hurt, but she just had to remember that he was a patient and she couldn't blame him for being upset.

"I'm doing my job, Nick. My job is to give you your medication and make sure you live and that you're comfortable while living in this hospital's care." She stated as she put away everything. "Don't get startled because a female pulled up your gown to give you a numbing shot so you don't feel a shattering pain in the entire lower half of your body."

Sitting down in the chair, she continued. "My job is also to make sure that you are okay. To ask you if there is anything I can do to make your stay more comfortable." All this time, she spoke in a soft tone, but blank of emotions at the same time as if she had recited it before and was reciting it again. She leaned back in her chair, watching the man as he tried to sleep. Really, she felt bad for him, but she could only do so much to make him feel better which was why she felt a jump of happiness inside when he asked her for a blanket. "Of course." The woman responded, standing up and telling him that she would be back in a few moments.

She returned with another blanket that she grabbed from the linen room down the hall, unfolding it and laying the covering down over Nick's body. She took a step back and let him relax under the weight, feeling a sense of accomplishment that he was comfortable. As Nick drifted off to sleep, Emma left the room to go clock out of her extra shift and returned to the room so she could spend time with him when he woke up. He didn't have any family that was coming around to see him and it didn't seem like his family even knew. Did he even have a family?

Early morning sunlight peered through the blinds on the windows when Nick woke up. Emma was sitting in the armchair on the other side of the room, watching him as he slept. He looked peaceful for a man who was just hit by a car the night before. It was this first time that she looked at him and wondered why he moved here and where his family was and she wanted to get to know more about her mysterious neighbor. She wasn't paying attention when he woke up, too focused on her thoughts that her eyes were staring right at him with a concerned expression.

When he spoke, she jumped slightly, not expecting him to wake up. "Of course." She took a deep breath to try and calm the heat she could feel coming from her cheeks. "I'll be back in a few moments." Leaving the room, she went down to get his food for him and returned with a tray of shredded chicken in mushroom gravy and white rice and another cup of water. It was the perfect meal since he didn't have to chew very much. She just hoped he liked mushrooms. Emma pulled her chair up to his bedside once again, dipping the fork into the food and picking up a little bit of everything on the plate. "Do you want to eat it on your own or I can feed it to you if it's too difficult." She offered kindly.
 
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