Weathering Stormy

by Auburn J. Kelly

  River! She tossed the blanket aside—the one that had magically appeared as she slept—and limped down the hallway. Her ankle had gotten stiff and sore, and she was wishing she’d brought her ibuprofen with her. She paused at the doorway of the spare bedroom where River’s tiny form slept soundly. His eyelids fluttered and his little fingers twitched. He was smiling in his sleep, obviously in the middle of a nice dream.

  But where were Brylan and Lily?

  The back porch light was filtering through the curtain covering the glass-paneled back door at the end of the hall. She figured they must be out on the patio. As she got closer, she could hear a muffled conversation going on. She put her hand on the doorknob, but then she heard her name and froze.

  “Stormy’s a sweet girl, Brylan. And I’ve seen the way you look at her. I don’t see what the problem is.”

  It was Lily’s voice, and she sounded aggravated.

  “Come on, Lily. You’re a smart person. Why can’t you see it?”

  “See what? You like her. She obviously likes you too….”

  Stormy’s heart sped up. It was like a hummingbird flittering around in her chest. He likes me? She pushed the little curtain aside, just enough to get a glimpse of him chugging back a beer and setting it on the makeshift table that looked like an old whiskey barrel. He set his elbows on his knees and put his head in his hands.

  “Ughhhh….Lily…. It doesn’t matter. None of it. It’s just too…screwed up…. I can’t afford to screw up my career. Hell, I just barely started it.”

  Confused and hurt, Stormy let go of the curtain and quietly made her way back to the living room. She didn’t want to hear any more. The words were true, but that didn’t make them sting any less. A few days ago she was fine. She’d made up her mind that they were nothing more than friends. She had made peace with the fact that there could never be anything else between them.

  And then today happened.

  Somewhere between feeling sorry for herself at the park and playing with Brylan and River, a change had taken place inside her. She’d let her guard down and hope had managed to sneak its way into her heart.

  It was a costly mistake.

  She felt the threatening sting of tears, but she didn’t want them to fall before she had a chance to get out of Brylans’ house. She grabbed her jacket, felt for the keys in her pocket, and slipped quietly out the front door.

  Chapter Seven

  February, and Brylan was soaked to the bone in his own sweat. Good ole Texas weather. The only thing you could predict about the weather was that it was unpredictable. The weatherman had said to expect mild temperatures, which is what compelled him to move the last of his belongings from his dad’s house in the first place. What the forecaster didn’t say was that the humidity would be at eighty percent, making the seventy-five degree temperature feel like ninety. It was hard to believe that just a week ago they’d all been bundled up in coats.

  His thoughts drifted to the day he’d taken Lily and River to the park. It had been a damned good day. Lily and Stormy had gotten along like two peas in a pod. Seeing them laugh and talk with each other had been such a relief to him because it was something they both needed. Granted, most of the laughing was at his expense thanks to Lily’s embarrassing childhood stories, but it was worth the humiliation to see them both look so happy. And Stormy with River…his heart ached at the memory of her rocking him to sleep. River had conned her with his toddler charm—the big, pleading eyes and pouty little mouth—and Stormy hadn’t been able to refuse him.

  Of course, Stormy had her charms too. River had been transfixed by her as she read the first few pages of The Bear Snores On. Ten minutes of watching her and listening to that silky voice while he twirled her chestnut hair around his chubby little finger…he was out like a light. And so was she. He’d been a little startled, however, when she’d left the house without saying goodbye. He guessed that she must have awakened from her nap and figured everyone else was sleeping.

  Brylan drained the last of his water bottle and looked at the sky. There wasn’t enough daylight left to sit and reminisce, so he climbed back up into the bed of Cooper’s truck, the one that he borrowed, and stared down at the overwhelming amount of stuff that still needed to be unloaded.

  As he bent down to retrieve one of the many boxes, he heard the unmistakable scrape of a skateboard rolling down the sidewalk.

  “Hey, Coach! Need a hand?”

  At first, all he could see was some shaggy hair poking out from the rim of a baseball cap. As the guy got closer, he recognized it was one of his students, Joshua.

  “Sure, I could use a hand…but you can’t call me Coach just yet.” Then it struck him. “Hey, how did you know about that anyway? I just got the offer yesterday, and it’s not even official yet.” Cooper had been offered a spot as Head Coach in the next town over, leaving a spot open for assistant coach. He knew about Brylan’s baseball history. Apparently, he’d thrown Brylan’s name in the hat as a replacement. There were still a lot of hoops to jump through though. Principal Flint had yet to sign off on it so Brylan wasn’t counting his chickens.

  “Word travels in a small town. You should know that by now.”

  “I guess it does, Joshua.” he chuckled lightly. “But let’s hold off on the new title until it’s a sure thing. You might jinx me.”

  “Well, in that case, you should call me Nozz.”

  Brylan cocked an eyebrow and eyed him suspiciously. “Why in the world would I do that?” If that was a nickname, it was an odd one.

  “I dunno, it’s just what everybody calls me,” he said with a shrug.

  Brylan sensed a slight change in the kid’s demeanor. He was curious as to why, but he let it go. He didn’t know him well enough to pry, plus they were burning daylight. He needed to get his junk unloaded before dark.

  ****

  It had taken about two hours to unload the truck and Nozz had proved to be pretty good help. Brylan figured he owed the guy a meal at least. “Hey, Nozz? You want to stick around for some chili? I’ve had it simmering all day on the stove. It’s the least I can do for all your hard work.”

  “Sounds good. It’s been a while since I’ve had homemade chili.”

  Halfway up the sidewalk to the house, Nozz stopped. Alarm flashed across his face as he looked down at his watch.

  A crease formed between Brylan’s eyebrows, “Everything okay?”

  “Yeah, but I can only stay for about an hour.”

  “Hot date?”

  Nozz scowled. “Yeah, right. I wish.” The words came out a little harsh, harsh enough to make Brylan flinch. Seeing Brylan’s reaction, Nozz’s expression softened, “Sorry. I’m just a little uptight, that’s all.”

  “Okay.” Brylan sensed that there was more to it, but he decided to let it drop.

  Once inside, Brylan scooped out the chili and set two steaming bowls on his tiny kitchen island. It was obvious that something was bothering Nozz by the way he’d gotten so quiet. Nozz was the biggest prankster in his class, so Brylan knew that silence was out of character for him. He could almost see the wheels spinning in his head. He started to ask him what was bothering him, but then decided against it. He didn’t know the guy that well and he didn’t want to pry.

  “Hey, Nozz…I heard about an incident in the biology lab today, but I only got bits and pieces of the story. Care to fill me in?” He hoped that some mindless conversation would draw the kid out of his funk.

  “Okay,” Nozz said, “but first you have to tell me something…like what in the world did you do to this chili?”

  “What do you mean? You don’t like it?”

  “Dude. Did you make it with roadkill or something? Not to be mean or anything, but it tastes like ass.”

  “Damn, Nozz. Don’t sugar-coat it. Tell me what you really think.”

  A laugh erupted from Nozz, causing his floppy hair to fall down over his eyes. Brylan couldn’t help but chuckle too. “Hey, I offered you a meal. I never said it would be
a good one.”

  “You’re right. I’m sorry,” Nozz said, still sniggering. “Beggars shouldn’t be choosy and all of that…but maybe next time we could order a pizza.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Now tell me about what happened in biology.”

  Nozz’s face lit up with excitement. “Oh, yeah! It was epic!” he started, “You see, today we dissected rats.”

  “Rats?” Brylan cut in. “When I was in high school we dissected frogs.”

  “Yeah, we did frogs already. It was boring,” he said glibly. “Anyway, so we were sitting in class when Ms. Knoll brought in a bucket of live rats. Then she went into the storage room to ‘do the deed.’” Nozz made air quotes before continuing, “And while was gone, someone—I won’t name any names—started telling a story about last year’s biology lab, and how one of the rats was still alive after being cut open. Its heart was still beating and everything….”

  By the way Nozz was grinning, there was no doubt as to who started that story. Brylan propped his head up on his elbow and gave Nozz his full attention.

  “So, by the time the teacher got back, everybody in the class was a little freaked out already. Then Ms. Knoll put a freshly killed rat on each lab table—one for each group. Then everybody started arguing about who had to make the first cut, because nobody wanted to be the bad guy.

  Anyway, as soon as that was all settled, we made the first big cut. The room was really quiet because everybody was so focused on what they were doing. And then, all of a sudden, we all heard this little squeaky noise. Everybody got all wide-eyed and started looking around.”

  Brylan’s eyes widened too. He was totally captivated by Nozz’s animated storytelling. “And then what?” he asked eagerly.

  “And then the most awesome thing happened. This rat—alive and well—comes scurrying across the table, right in front of Marissa—who happens to be a girl I can’t stand by the way—and she starts shrieking at the top of her lungs, ‘It’s alive! It’s alive! Somebody do something! It’s alive!’”

  By that point, Nozz was laughing so hard he could barely get the words out. “Oh, but that’s not the end of it,” Nozz said through the cackles. “Marissa ended up falling off her stool, backwards, with her legs stuck up in the air…and when she finally scrambled to get up, she took off running. She was so busy screeching and looking at the rat—which was still running around all over the table—that she slammed right into Ms. Knoll’s life-sized plastic skeleton…and then she started screaming again.”

  Brylan’s side hurt from all the laughter and his eyes were watering.

  “So, what ended up happening to the rat? The one that got a stay of execution?”

  “Oh, he’s fine. Whiskey was never on the chopping block,” Nozz admitted.

  “Whiskey?”

  “Yeah. He’s mine. I brought him from home. I just wanted to get back at Marissa for being such a bi—uh, mean person.”

  “What did the girl ever do to deserve all of that? Poor thing may never recover.”

  Nozz took another bite of chili and made a face. It was a small blow to Brylan’s ego, but he took it in stride.

  “She had it coming,” Nozz continued. “She’s been picking on this girl that I kind of like. You might know her. Stormy Black?”

  Oh shit.

  Brylan could feel all the blood drain from his face and he felt like he had been punched in the gut. It took him a minute to figure out why he was having such a visceral reaction to Nozz’s statement. It was something that he didn’t want to admit to himself. But it was there, the glowering, green-eyed monster.

  Jealousy.

  He swallowed his discontent and tried to keep his voice nice and even as he spoke. “I know Stormy. We met a couple of weeks ago. She hurt her ankle on the track and I just happened to be there. I gave her a ride to the hospital.” He decided to omit all of the other details. No need to stir up a hornet’s nest.

  “Oh, okay,” Nozz said simply. “All she told me was that she sprained it when she was running. I didn’t know that you two knew each other.”

  “We didn’t. Not until that night. I’ve never seen her around school so I didn’t even know she was a student at first.”

  Nozz twirled his spoon around absently. “I think she tries to lay low, being the new girl and all. I can’t really blame her. People tend to give the new kids a hard time at our school.”

  “Is that why that girl picks on Stormy? Because she’s new? That doesn’t really seem fair.”

  “Nah. Marissa’s problem, other than being a snobby, spoiled, brat, is that she’s jealous. She can’t stand it when guys pay attention to anyone besides her.”

  Brylan gnawed on that bit of information for a couple of minutes. “So Stormy gets a lot of male attention, huh?”

  “Um…duh. Have you seen Stormy?” Nozz stared at Brylan as if he had antlers growing out of his head. “She’s smokin’ hot. And she like, doesn’t even have to try. She doesn’t cake all that goo on her face or wear fancy clothes… She’s just Stormy. Ya know?”

  Yeah. He did know. But he couldn’t tell Nozz that. He was in dangerous territory, and he needed to change the subject. Fast.

  “So, Nozz. How are things on the college front? Where are you planning to go?”

  His smile disappeared and he mindlessly picked at a loose piece of formica on the countertop. “I’m not going to college.”

  Surely he didn’t hear him correctly. “Did you say you’re not going?”

  “Yeah.”

  “With your grades? You gotta be kidding me.” Brylan was astounded by the revelation. He’d heard the other teachers in the lounge talking about Nozz, and the general consensus was that he was an excellent student with really good grades. He was a bit of a jokester, but he also bordered on genius. His state test scores were off the charts.

  Nozz went rigid and his gaze shifted to the floor. Apparently college was a touchy subject. Brylan was sorry for bringing it up. “Well, college isn’t necessarily for everybody, Nozz. I’m sure you’ll figure out what you want to do.”

  “Yeah. Maybe. But right now what I need is a job. I really don’t want to flip burgers, but there aren’t a whole lot of options around here.”

  “Hmm.” Brylan tapped his knuckles on the counter while he formulated a thought. “Hey, you know anything about carpentry?”

  Nozz looked at him curiously. “I can swing a hammer. Why?”

  “Because I have a garage apartment that needs a lot of work. You interested?”

  The answer was plastered all over Nozz’s face. “Hell yeah.”

  “Alright then. You free to start tomorrow morning? Around nine?”

  “Yeah, sure.”

  “Okay, I’ll pick you up on my way to the hardware store.”

  His face fell again and Brylan could see the gears turning. “No. How about I meet you there? I’ll ride my skateboard to the store and then ride back here with you.”

  “Okay. That’ll work.”

  Something was fishy. The cryptic behavior was driving Brylan nuts. But he still didn’t feel it was his place to butt in.

  What he really needed to worry about was his own situation. He was already on shaky ground with Stormy, the girl that had him twisted up like a damn pretzel on the inside, and now he’d gone and offered Nozz a job.

  So much for the no fraternization rule. He was practically begging Flint to fire him.

  Chapter Eight

  Stormy pushed a button on the ancient cash register and the cash drawer popped open with a ding. She handed the elderly patron her bag and smiled. “Have a nice day.” On the inside, she was snickering though. Glitter nail polish and zebra print underwear seemed like an odd purchase for someone with that many wrinkles and liver spots. She suspected—or rather hoped— that the items were a gift. For a granddaughter maybe. However, that hope went down in flames when the woman turned around and she caught the slogan on the back of her pink tee-shirt: Sexy Senior.

  Oh my.

 
The cowbell clanked as the lady exited the store and Stormy stared after her through the windows until she disappeared from sight.

  “Whatcha lookin’ at?” Trudy rounded the end of the checkout counter and started digging around for something under the register.

  “Oh, nothing.” She was a little embarrassed and she internally scolded herself for the thoughts she was having. It wasn’t her business what other people did with their time. “Whatcha looking for, Trudy?”

  “Ah. Found ‘em.” She held up a couple of white ceramic cherubs. “I think these will be cute in the window. Don’t you?”