KATE MIGHT GET JEALOUS.

"SO, TEXAS," Dani said while tossing Rio a beer. "How you liking Oklahoma? Better than Texas?"

Rio had climbed up into the bed of Tyler's truck, sitting with him and Boone since they were out of lawn chairs. She caught the beer and opened it up before setting it on the side of the truck.

"Oh, I'm actually from Florida, so Texas ain't the right nickname," she told them. "And I've been to Oklahoma. Came here for undergrad."

"So, today what'n't your first tornado?" Boone asked her. "'Cause I thought you looked a little nervous when you was in Javi's truck."

Rio grew a bit apprehensive, and Tyler rolled his eyes and shoved Boone, who always had a habit of putting his foot in his mouth. "You don't gotta answer that."

"No, it wasn't my first, Boone," she told him, clearing her throat. "Been through some... pretty big ones. I'm just not as fearless as you Tornado Wranglers."

"Why were you in the truck with them today, then?" Ben questioned. "If you're scared of tornados?"

"Again," Tyler said, sighing, "you don't gotta answer that."

"It's fine, Tyler," Rio said softly. Then she looked at the reporter. "And I just... go where Javi goes."

"He, um, he your boyfriend?" Boone asked quietly, ignoring the amused looks he got from his friends. Lily and Dani were silently smacking each other, knowing they'd get to tease him when Rio left.

"Ew," Rio laughed, shaking her head and unknowingly relieving Boone. "Naw, he's like a brother. An annoying brother that convinced me to get back into storm chasing."

"So, you are a storm chaser," Tyler now said, leaning closer.

Rio raised an eyebrow. "What happened to I don't gotta answer that?"

He chuckled and shrugged. "Can't help the curiosity."

"'Nough about me," Rio said, not wanting to delve too much into her past. "What about you guys? I mean, whose idea was it to shoot fireworks up into a tornado? Because I may have been scared as shit, but that was beautiful."

Tyler smirked and pat Boone on the back, who'd suddenly found his cowboy boots interesting. "Oh, that was Boone, here."

Rio raised an eyebrow, smiling a bit. "I thought you said Tyler was the brains of this operation?"

"I mean, he comes up with the smart stuff. I come up with the dumb stuff," he admitted. "Like shooting rockets into tornados."

"Well, I don't think it was dumb," she said, reassuring him. "And the viewers will love it, I'm sure, even if it's not typically what I watch."

"Hey, don't knock the channel," Lily said, laughing a bit.

"I'm not," she said, putting her hands up innocently. "You're doing better than me. Getting articles written about you and everything."

"Actually," Ben said, pushing his glasses up, "I imagine you've written some articles yourself if you're getting your PhD. I'd love to read some."

Rio peered at him playfully. "You're just tryin' to get my last name."

"Perhaps," he admitted sheepishly. "But what are you studying currently?"

Rio took a sip of her beer first. "My current research is on how moderate warming and more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere may help some plants to grow faster. However, more severe warming, floods, tornados, and drought can reduce yields. Livestock could also be at risk, both directly from heat stress and indirectly from reduced quality of their food supply," she explained, getting confused looks from some of them. Dexter seemed to understand, as well as Tyler.

Boone's head was tilted, and she looked at him, waiting for him to say something. "I ain't got no clue what you just now said, but you sure looked pretty as you said it," he admitted.

Her cheeks heated up as the other five snickered, Boone smiling bashfully, unable to believe that he actually said that out loud and in front of her.

"Well, thank you, Boone," she said shyly, not used to getting complimented. She didn't really hang out around people enough to get called pretty to her face. "And that's okay you didn't understand. I had no clue what you were talking about earlier with Kate."

"I mean, I could - I could teach you about storms," he offered.

"I don't know. Kate might get jealous," she said with a smile. "She kept trying to teach me when I was eighteen, and it just went in one ear and out the other."

"Oh, City Girl will get over it," Tyler said, shaking his head.

"Well, we'll see how the week goes," Rio told Boone. "But I figure Storm PAR would appreciate it if I knew about the bare minimum of how tornados form."

"Great!" Boone said, getting excited. "Well, um, we'll get started tomorrow, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"You know," Dexter spoke up, "you don't really seem the type to work for Storm PAR."

Rio looked over at him with a confused frown. "What do you mean?"

"Just, you're an environmentalist, right?" Tyler asked, getting a nod from her. "But you're working with someone throwing their hat in with Marshall Riggs."

"Who's Marshall Riggs?" she asked, unfamiliar with the name.

"He comes in after storms and buys destroyed land for cheap," Dani said with a scowl on her face. "It's fucked up. And he's doing it so he can put up shitty housing developments to gentrify the state."

Rio's frown deepened, and she shook her head. "No way. Javi wouldn't work for someone like that."

"Well, that's where the PAR data is going," Lily shrugged. "Pretty sucky."

For a moment, Rio felt about two inches tall, realizing what she was helping by being there. It made her want to hop back in her Jeep and drive right back to Texas. But she owed Javi a chance to explain himself. Besides, she didn't want to leave Kate behind now that they had reconnected.

"Hey," Boone said, seeing the troubled look on her face, "but it ain't your fault or nothing. You didn't know."

"Yeah, but Javi said he wanted me to help analyze the effect of the tornados on the land. If I do that, he's just giving that data to Riggs so he knows where and where not to build," she said, feeling horrible. "This fucking sucks."

"Well, hey," Tyler said, nodding to her. "How about I make you feel better. Free t-shirt on me."

Rio has to bite her lip hard to keep from laughing. "No thank you. Really, I don't wanna cut into your profit margins."

"Oh, we don't have profit margins," Lily said. "The money we make off the merch goes toward buying food and water and supplies for tornado victims."

Yet again, Rio was surprised by the crew, finding them much sweeter than she originally thought. Guess she didn't need to judge a book by its obnoxiously large truck that was killing the environment one tank of gas at a time.

"Well, in that case," Rio said, digging out her wallet. She pulled out a couple of twenties and handed them to Tyler. "This is me paying you to not give me a shirt. Wouldn't be caught dead in something so tacky."

"Hey!" Boone said, grinning. "We ain't tacky."

"Oh, don't worry. I'm from Miami. I've seen tackier," she teased.

"So, what do you do in Miami for fun?" Lily asked her, opening up another beer.

"I ain't been home in a while," she admitted. "But Javi and I would usually go to the beach or dancing or something."

"Ooh, you like dancing?" Boone asked, brightening up. Then he nodded past the truck. "They've got line dancing over where the band is playing."

"I don't know how to line dance," she said, shaking her head.

Boone sat up, his eyes wide. "What do you mean you don't know how to line dance?"

"He's right. You've been in Texas for how long and don't know how to line dance?" Tyler asked, raising an eyebrow. Then he shook his head. "Disgraceful."

Rio just chuckled. "No one offered to teach me."

"Ty, hit the radio," Boone said, putting his beer down. "We gone dance."

"What?" she asked, laughing as he offered her his hand. "No way."

"Come on, Darlin'," he said, flashing that crooked smile. And for some reason, she found herself smiling just because he was. "It ain't gone kill you."

Rio bit her lip and stared into his deep brown eyes. Then she found herself caving, slapping her hand into his. "Fine."

His smile was blinding as he helped her climb out of the bed of the truck, both missing the amused looks everyone else shared. And Tyler hopped out of the truck and reached around, turning on the radio. Then he plugged his phone in and started playing Boot Scootin' Boogie.

"Oh, perfect song, T," Dani told him, getting ready to watch the show.

"Okay, we gone do something simple," Boone said, pulling Rio to stand next to him. "Some heel touches, stomps, some grapevines, and then just step back and forward."

"That don't make any sense to me," she said uneasily, not wanting to embarrass herself.

But Rio did her best, keeping her eyes on Boone's feet, copying his movements just a beat behind. Both found themselves laughing every time she bumped into him. And eventually, she got the hang of it, able to keep up with him even though her movements were clumsy.

All the while, Tyler had Boone's camera pointed at them just in case they could use the footage on their channel — and to make fun of Boone later, as it was his duty as his best friend.

By the time the song ended, Rio felt a lot lighter, unable to remember the last time she'd had so much fun. Maybe she had been missing things like this ever since the storm tore her whole life away from her.

"We'll make a proper cowgirl out of you yet," Tyler said with a smirk, setting the camera down, the next song playing.

"You what'n't half bad," Boone said, grinning.

"Well, it isn't how we dance back home," she said with a shrug.

"How do you dance back home?" Dexter questioned.

Rio beamed and stood a little straighter. "We salsa," she said. Then she looked at Boone. "Come on, Boone. Let me see how those hips move. It's only fair."

"No way—"

But it was too late as Rio reached for his hand, pulling him closer. Even though country music was still playing, it was a fast enough beat to dance to. Boone laughed a bit before trying to copy her movements, it now his time to feel embarassed.

Though he'd never complain about how close Rio was as she danced with him. He carefully put his hands on her hips, testing the waters, and he was thrilled when she didn't push him off.

"Come on, Lily," Dani said, hopping out of her lawn chair. "Let's show Boone what real rhythm is."

Soon, half the YouTubers were up dancing, only Ben and Tyler staying to watch. Once the song ended, they went back to line dancing, wanting to make sure Rio had it down pat.

"Rio?"

At the sound of Javi's confused voice, she stopped dancing and turned around, pulling away from Boone, who'd had his hands on her hips from behind. Her friend was looking at her with a frown on his face, his hair wet from his shower.

"The hell are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm just hanging out," she said as Tyler turned the music down.

"I asked you to hang out and you said no."

"No, you asked Kate to hang out," she reminded him.

"Come on, Javi. Grab a beer and let loose. Rio's certainly good at it," Tyler said, trying to keep the peace.

"Rio's not exactly the kind to let loose anymore," Javi said, narrowing his eyes at Tyler. He didn't want Rio anywhere near these people, still feeling protective of her even though it'd been years since he was with her. Then his eyes slid to Rio. "Come on. We're starting early tomorrow anyway. You should get some rest."

Rio's mood had deflated, and she nodded solemnly. "You're right." Then she turned to the others, shooting them a small smile. "Thanks for letting me crash your party."

"Well," Boone spoke up, "as Luke Bryan says, baby, you can crash my party anytime."

It made Rio laugh and roll her eyes playfully, which was what he'd been aiming for. Then she waved goodbye and went to Javi's side, who didn't even look back at them as he led her away.

It was silent for a moment, both walking up the stairs to the second floor. But finally, Javi broke it while shoving his hands in his pockets.

"So, what are you doing hanging out with the Beverly Hillbillies?"

Rio rolled her eyes with a smile at the nickname. "First off, super old reference, Javi. Second, I don't know. They asked. I said yes. They aren't so bad."

"Well, just be careful around them. They're all rowdy and irresponsible. And not to mention dangerous."

"You used to be all those things too," she reminded him softly. Then she looked at the ground, a frown on her face. "They're like a little family. Like we were... before. And I miss it. How we were before."

"So do I, Re," Javi told her. Then he sighed heavily. "Fuck, I really miss it. That's why I chased you and Kate down, you know? I hope that this will be good for us. That maybe we can stay reconnected this time even if you both don't stay in Oklahoma."

"You know I can't—"

"You could," he cut her off. "I mean, this branch of research is related to what you're working on, in a way. You could get permission to finish out your PhD here, working for Storm PAR."

"I'm not working for Storm PAR," she said quickly. "I'm working for you."

"Same thing," he shrugged.

But Rio thought back on what the others had told her. About how he was working with someone that went against nearly everything she believed in.

"No, it's not."