Someone Like You by Kathryn Shay Page B

was permanent.
    o0o
    It was dinner time and Nick went looking for Matt. He wasn’t in the house so Nick checked outside. The air was chilly now that it was November. Usually, he loved this change of season, but he didn’t this year. Nothing was enjoyable, even his football team making the sectionals.
    He heard piano playing when he got to the side of the house. Jesus Christ, the kid went over to Brie’s every day after school to play. And he was unbelievably talented. The first time Nick had heard Matt pound out a song at school, he’d been stunned by the boy’s talent.
    Nick was drawn to the window where the music drifted out of. Through the glass, he could see Matt at the keyboard and Brie’s little girl right next to him, enrapt. Matt had said Cella treated him like a big brother and he loved it.
    Then Brie walked into the room. She wore stretchy black pants with a sweater and every fucking curve she had was revealed in the outfit. His entire body tensed as she dropped down on the couch and curled her legs under her. She smiled at Matt and Cella.
    Nick felt like somebody had ripped his heart out of his chest and stomped on it. He wanted so bad to be in that room with all of them. The notion shocked him. When he recovered, he turned and headed back to his house. He’d keep supper warm and wait for Matt to come home. No way did he trust himself to go into Brie’s house and face her, given how he was feeling right now.
    o0o
    Nick entered the teachers’ cafeteria and was confronted with the sight of Ian Lancaster and Brie huddling in the corner. They were staring down at some papers and smiling broadly. He didn’t realize he was standing there and staring until Delaney Dawson socked him on the shoulder.
    “Hey, Corelli, what are you doing?”
    He liked the young teacher who’d replaced Annie. She was brutally honest, outgoing, sometimes brash and the kids adored her.
    “Hey, Delaney. I’m doing nothin’.” He scanned her clothes. She was a crazy dresser. “I like the black boots, kiddo.”  She wore them with skin tight leggings and a striped shirt to her knees.
    Delaney nodded to the corner. “They make a cute couple, don’t they?”
    “Who?”
    “Brie and Ian, silly. I hear they’re dating.”
    He crumbled the paper he was holding. “Well, Ian’s a nice guy.”
    “Yeah, too bad you and Brie never got together. The kids told me you’d been hanging in her room a lot a few weeks ago. I thought you’d make fireworks together you’re so different.”
    Nick had to bite his tongue. They’d made fireworks, all right. And he’d gotten burned.
    Luckily Delaney was leaving the cafeteria so he could sit alone, away from everybody else, and read the newspaper. When the bell rang, and he headed out, he refused to check to see if Brie was still there with Ian.
    As he walked down the hall, a few kids stopped him to ask questions, so he was hustling to get to class when he saw a crowd gathering in front of Brie’s room. Goddamn it. Another fight? He muscled his way through the kids and found Delaney holding onto Stephanie Grayson, a troubled girl Nick had in class. Opposite them was Brie, corralling a second female student Nick didn’t know.
    “Stephanie, stay back,” Delaney shouted just as Steph broke free and lunged for the other girl. Both Brie and the second girl were thrust backward and slammed against the wall of lockers. Nick dove in, grabbed Stephanie and yanked her away from everybody.
    Teachers fought their way through the crowd and finally got the kids dispersed; the two perpetrators were hauled off to the office—Delaney went, too--and Dylan, who’d come late to the party--approached Brie. 
    “Are you all right?” he asked.
    Her hair was mussed and there was a rip in the sleeve of her blouse. “My back hurts a bit. I’ll take some Tylenol.”
    “Well, if it keeps bothering you, go home.  Later, you can fill out a workman’s comp form.”
    “I will. I’m free now, so I’ll rest for