HOLY SMOKES

eighteen. your angel

Magnolia’s hand shook, her lips nestled between her teeth. Her eyes were trained on her laptop as she sat against the headboard of her bed. She knew that they couldn’t drive into the storm without Tyler, but that didn’t stop her worry from nipping at the nape of her neck. 

Kelly, who has been sitting next to Magnolia, reached over and grabbed her hand, giving it a small squeeze.

“He's gonna be okay.”

“I know, I just… the last couple of days have been crazy.” She mumbled before shaking her head and pushing her computer to the side, but she kept it open so she could make sure Boone and the rest of the crew were okay.

“I know, sweetie.”

“So, what are you even doin’ here? You prefer the office.”

“I wanted to make sure you were doing okay after the other day in the truck with the giant fan. But also to get Hunter off my ass.”

“Hunter?”

Kelly nodded, taking a deep breath, “he's pissed about you and Boone, at least that's what I gathered. But he kept texting me, telling me that you were getting distracted.”

“Maybe a little, but I've been working my ass off. Donations are up, we're getting twice as many as we were before. And I've talked to several people about rebuilding these towns. I've got the Oklahoma office getting all the contractors and everything together so we can give the info to these people.

“And, yeah, I've been spending time with Boone and the other Wranglers, but I meet with the team every morning. I always make sure they're okay after every clean up. And I-”

“Maggie, I know.” Kelly cut her off with a comforting hand on her shoulder. “I know you're doing your job, I only came to make sure he was doing his.”

“Oh.” She mumbled, “he's has been, right? Or have I been too distracted to notice?”

“Well, he's doing his job. But he could be doing it better. He has a crush on you, Mags, and I think that since you and Boone got back together he's been distracted. All of his posts have been lacking information, he sometimes forgets to add the link to the fund. And it seems that he's doing everything possible to leave out the Tornado Wranglers.”

Magnolia let out a long sigh, leaning back against the headboard. She really had been distracted, but she never thought that Hunter would let something so silly interfere with work. He loved his job, at least he claimed to.

“I have to talk to him, don't I?”

“Yeah, sweetie, I think you do.” Kelly nodded and Magnolia let out a groan as she covered her face with her hands. “You usually don't have a problem talking to people, even about the hard stuff. I know you don't like it, but...”

Magnolia’s cheeks flamed as she twisted her ring around her finger, “The night before Boone proposed, Hunter had the room next to ours and… he heard, well, he heard us. And we weren't exactly quiet.”

Kelly's eyes went wide, a smirk tugging at her lips, “you sure he heard everything?”

She nodded, “he texted me and told me congratulations on my engagement. We had only told Tyler at the point so I was confused until he told me he heard Boone propose. So, if he heard that then he definitely heard everything else.”

“I'm gonna need a run down of everything else.” Kelly nodded, her curiosity peaked. Magnolia has always been a little shy when it came to talking about sex, even with Kelly, who wasn't so shy about it.

“I'm not telling you,” Magnolia mumbled, glancing back at her laptop to see them finishing up the video. “Now, I gotta go talk to Hunter.”

“Want me to come with you?” Kelly asked as the blonde pushed herself up off the bed.

“No, I need to do this one alone.”

>>>>> • <<<<<

It was awkward. Even the waitress who had taken their drink order knew that it was awkward.

Magnolia sat at a booth with Hunter. He kept his eyes glued to the table as he drummed his fingers against the surface and Magnolia spun her ring around her finger, it was quickly becoming a nervous habit.

After the waitress brought them their teas, Magnolia took a breath, deciding it was better to get it over with, “I talked to Kelly.”

“Oh.” It was all he said, looking in her direction, but not at her.

“If you have a problem with me, bring it to me. Don’t go around me, especially since it’s my company. I’m your boss and if you have an issue you should talk to me about it.”

“I don’t have an issue,” he shook his head, his brows pinched slightly. “I only called Kelly-”

“You called Kelly because you don’t think I can do my job right because of Boone.” She cut him off. “If you have a problem with what I’m doing, work related, you should come to me. And you clearly don’t understand just how much just a few appearances on their channel has done for the relief fund. Donations have doubled, and they’re still rising. We’re gonna be able to rebuild four towns, including the damage that storm caused in Stillwater.”

“I know that, I just… You’ve been distracted.”

“I have,” she nodded. “But I make sure I talk to y’all everyday, once before the day starts and once when we call it a day. I check in with everyone, I make sure they’re all handling things and that they have what they need if they’re not. I’m also runnin’ several social media pages, yes, you do help with the one specific to the tornado relief fund but I’m also running our main profiles.

“And Kelly has taken on a huge chunk of the responsibilities in New York, but she and I have almost daily meetings and I’m helping others on assignments all over the world. I’m also working with the Oklahoma branch to get contactors booked and paid for so when storm season is over, they can start rebuilding. I’m doing a lot that you don’t see and it’s disrespectful for you to go around me.”

He looked like a deer in headlights, his eyes wide and his entire body frozen. Then after a few long seconds, he swallowed hard, “Maggie, I was just… I-I was worried.”

“About what? The non-profit? Or about my private life?”

“B-both.”

“I appreciate that, but I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself.”

“You’ve almost died… twice. You can’t blame me for being worried about you, we’re friends.”

“My friend would’ve come to me.” She started and he gulped a little, his leg bouncing, shaking the table a little. “Anyways, it’s also come to my attention that you’ve been a little lax with your posts. I’m not asking for paragraphs or anything, but you have to say more than just latest storm aftermath. Kelly and I built this company on heart, and that isn't heart. All socials have to have heart or this isn’t gonna work.

“You have to actually care about the people and the pain they're going through, if not then why are you here? How are people gonna know just how much this sucks for these people? A few pictures show what it looks like, but the words you use describe how the people felt when it happened. And if you can’t do that, I think it’s time you head home. Find another assignment.”

“I can do my job.” He argued. “I have been. I’ve been leading this team for weeks before you got here.”

“So you slacking is my fault?”

“No, that’s not-”

“Kelly thinks that you like me,” she started cautiously and when he just stared at her blankly, she continued. “I’m sorry, but I don’t feel the same. I’m with Boone. And if that’s gonna affect your ability to do the work you need to, then I think we should find someone else.”

“You’re firing me?”

“No, I’m giving you an option. Put your feelings aside and do the job, or go home. It’s up to you.” With that she pushed herself up and turned away from the table, stopping when she saw Boone and the rest of the crew sitting at a nearby table.

She made her way towards them with a smile. Boone grinned up at her, sliding over to give her some room to sit, “hey, angel.” He leaned over and kissed her cheek once she was in the booth next to him.

“That sounded intense,” Dani mused, sipping on her tea.

“Had to be done.” She shrugged a little, a weak smile tugging at her lips. She hated having to have those kinds of talks, she’d never like having them even when the person needed to have that talk. And she’d had to have a lot of them when they finally had enough to actually start hiring people.

Boone, being himself, noticed how it didn’t reach her eyes and wrapped his arm around her, pulling her into his side as he pressed a kiss to her temple, “you okay?”

“Yeah, just don’t like havin’ those kinds of talks,” she leaned into him. “When did y’all get here?”

“We haven’t been here long, but we didn’t want to interrupt.” Dexter told her. “Lily had to hold him back.” He joked, making the girl laugh as she looked up at her fiance.

“Did not,” Boone huffed, his cheeks just the faintest hint of pink.

“Yes, yes, she did.” Dani added, making Magnolia laugh harder. “She had to shove him into the booth and hold him there.”

“Where is-”

“Hey, Mags,” Lily smiled, pulling up a chair from an empty table. “What was that little talk about? I had to take a leak, so I missed some of it.”

“Oh, nothing really.” She shrugged, reaching for Boone’s tea. “Just work stuff.”

“She told him she was my girl and to back the hell off.” Boone mused, a content smile playing on his lips as he tugged her closer to him.

“It was more so her telling him to get over himself, but yeah, that too.” Dani added.

“So not just work stuff?”

“No, it had to do with work.” Magnolia nodded, but before she could elaborate, the waitress came over to take their order. And once she left, they started talking about the tornado they had chased, Lily excitedly explained how huge it was, even standing up from her chair and using her arms as if to paint a picture for the blonde.

>>>>> • <<<<<

Boone pulled Magnolia's Bronco into the empty parking lot of a small white church that sat just on the edge of the town they had been staying in.

They didn't have Boone's truck, it wasn’t their spot, and they weren't two teenagers hiding from her parents in the one place they'd never look.

But it felt awfully similar as they sat on the tailgate of her Bronco.

Boone had even gotten food from the diner and put it into a little basket.

“You really okay with leavin’ your job?” He asked after a while of just watching the sun sink, setting the sky in pink and orange hues.

She sat her Sunkist down before turning, pulling one of her legs up into that tailgate so she was facing him.

“I told you, I ain't leavin’ my job.”

“But you're steppin’ down. You ain't gonna be the boss anymore.”

His hand rested on her thigh, his thumb sliding over her smooth, soft skin.

“I prefer field work anyway. I like doin' the work, gettin' my hands dirty. Actually makin' a difference first hand. That's how it started out, just me and Kelly fundraising for a local women's shelter in New Jersey. It had been for a class, but we fell in love with it.

“My favorite part was talkin’ to the women, hearin’ what they needed and helpin’ them. The business part of it, though it helps just as much, was just somethin’ that had to be done. Especially when we expanded.”

“How'd you get the money when you started out?”

“Kelly invested a lot, and when my grandpa passed he left me some money. And for the first year we ate nothing but ramen and worked out of the little studio apartment we shared.”

“You really are an angel,” he mumbled, his warm brown eyes soaking her in like he was trying to memorize everything about her.

She smiled, her eyes crinkling around the edges, “I'm just a girl that-” her own yelp cut her off when she grabbed her waist and pulled her into his lap.

“You're an angel,” he repeated more firmly. “Always have been. I knew from the moment I looked into them pretty blue eyes that you were an angel.”

“I'm your angel.”

“Damn right,” a proud smile pulled at his lips and she giggled as she leaned in, softly brushing her lips against his. “All mine.”

He laid back, keeping her with him, before he rolled, pinning her below him as he trailed his lips down the side of her neck.

Her hands gripped at his hair, pushing the bandana from his head as she panted, her eyes squeezed closed and her lips parted in a quiet moan.