YOU JUST STARE AT COMPUTERS ALL DAY INSTEAD OF CLOUDS?

California was nice but it was also terrifyingly different from Alabama, Dakota quickly learned. But after four and a half years there, she'd adjusted. She learned to love Santa Monica.

After dropping out of college, leaving behind her love of experimental physics and engineering, she found work as a mechanic. Despite her age, it was easy to find a job working on cars and boats at a family-owned business. If a vehicle was destroyed in a tornado or tsunami or forest fire, it at least wasn't the end of a life.

Dakota had changed after that last storm. Sure, she was still a genius, but she'd given up everything she truly loved, even her remaining friends. And sure, she was friendly with those she'd met in California, but no one could unlock her tragic backstory.

And despite having no one that she was truly close with in California, she still went out every night, partying or just drowning herself in beer while watching a football game with the guys from work. She took up surfing and skateboarding and fishing, just trying to keep her mind off what it was always on.

Addy and Praveen and Jeb.

Because any time she started to make a new friend, there'd be something about them that reminded her of one of the three, and Dakota had no choice but to cut them out of her life. It just still hurt too much.

And god forbid she meet someone that was like Kate — though she was so special that it was rare.

Dakota fell out of contact with Javi and Kate after everything that happened. It was pretty mutual on all sides, it just too painful to be around each other. All of them in their own way felt like it was wrong for them to survive while the others didn't.

So now, Dakota was as alone as she'd ever been, wasting away in California, just as hungover as Javi always was as she worked underneath a Jeep in the mechanic shop. She had country music blaring so loud that she could barely think as she cursed out her boss.

She hated working on Jeeps, as they were horribly unreliable. Not to mention Mr. Newton had his in all the time and was a terrible tipper. She wished he'd just buy a new car so they'd never see him again even though it'd lose business.

"Stupid leaking differential pinion seal," Dakota muttered to herself. "Stupid Jeep. Stupid fucking Mr. Newton—"

"If you're done cursing out our most loyal customer, you've got visitors, Dakota Mae," her boss spoke up. His name was Harry — never told her his last name. But he was an older man who was impressed that he could still learn things about cars from Dakota given her age.

Dakota was all too happy to drop her wrench and roll out from underneath the Jeep. Her arms and overalls were covered in grease and grime, which she began wiping off with a rag before getting up.

"Alright, where they at?" she asked, looking to Harry. She was surprised she hadn't yet lost her thick Alabama accent yet, but that was something she was thankful for, deep down.

"Break room."

She nodded and tucked the rag in the side of her overalls before heading that way, moving to turn down her stereo as she did. Harry hated her country music, so she could at least spare him from it for a few minutes.

Though she kept whistling the Toby Keith song to herself as she went to the break room. But she fell silent as soon as she opened the door, seeing the last two people on earth that she expected.

Javi stood there, his once long and unruly hair cropped short and in a dress shirt of all things. And beside him was Kate, her dyed blonde hair pulled back in a nice-looking blouse that one would wear in an office.

They both looked far more put together than the grease-stained girl in a crop top and overalls with oily hair.

"Well, I'll be damned," Dakota said, forcing a smile to hide how sick at her stomach she was. Because why in the world would they have tracked her down in California when she knew for a fact Kate was meant to be in New York? "What'd I do to deserve all this?"

"We thought we might take you out to lunch," Javi said. "My treat."

Dakota eyed him before looking at Kate, who had a timid smile on her face. Though she could see the raw sadness that still lingered in her once best friend's eyes.

"Well, only since you're payin'."

✵︎

Rather than a restaurant, Dakota took the two to her favorite food truck on the pier, which sold tacos. Then she led them to a picnic table and dug in.

"Thought you hated beer?" Javi asked, watching her twist off the top.

"Thought you were allergic to anything but beer," she shot back, nodding to the bottle of water he had ordered.

"Fair point," he chuckled.

"So," she said, looking between the two. Her mouth was full, but she didn't care. "What have you guys been up to?"

"I've, uh, been working in New York as an Operations Officer for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration," Kate informed her.

Dakota let out a low whistle. "Impressive. So, you just stare at computers all day instead of clouds?"

"Pretty much," she mumbled.

Then Dakota nodded to Javi. "What about you?"

"Went back home for a while then joined the Army—"

Dakota choked on her taco and had to turn her head, spitting a mouthful on the ground. Then she looked at him in shock, making Kate laugh. "You? The Army? Hell nah. They'd never take your ass."

"Damn, you sound like my Mama when I told her," he chuckled. "But now I'm working for a company called Storm PAR. We're working on tornado tracking and detecting."

At the mention of tornados, Dakota's smile instantly fell. She slid her gaze back to Kate. "Don't tell me you're chasing again."

"I'm... not," she said. "I'm just... helping out for a week."

"Helping out with what?" Dakota asked, raising an eyebrow. "What is Storm PAR?"

"This is what I worked on in the military," Javi said, passing her his phone. She looked at the photo of a bulky piece of equipment.

"It's a phase array radar," Dakota said, familiar with it even though she'd never worked on one. "You working with missiles?"

"Yeah. But then I thought about all the good it could do when used in other ways. Maybe on a tornado."

"That's as big as a tank, Javi, and not mobile. You can't point that at a tornado," she said, handing the phone back.

He smirked at her. "Well, just so happens I got my hands on a few prototypes for portable PAR units. And I bet someone like you would just die to check it out."

Dakota scoffed and shook her head. "Pointing one of those at a storm ain't gonna do shit."

"Not just one," Kate said.

Then Javi grabbed Dakota's beer bottle and a three hot sauce packets. "This is the tornado," he said, setting the bottle down. "My team drives up behind with the portable PAR. Now, it's giving incredibly high resolution images."

"But it'll still be flat—"

"Let me finish, woman," he said with an amused smile. Then he made a triangle of sauce packets around the bottle. "So, we set up two more. Now, we have a 3D scan. A perfect scan of a tornado."

Dakota leaned in, a little bit more intrigued now. "But you'd have to put one in the path of a tornado. How're you gonna get close enough?"

"That's where Kate comes in," he said, nudging Kate's shoulder. "She's the only person that can get me close enough to do this. Then we use the data to save lives."

"It's... impressive," Dakota admitted. "And crazy enough to work. But you still haven't told me why you're here."

"Because you know Kate wouldn't do this without you approving the equipment and the models," he smiled.

Dakota looked at Kate sadly, who was looking at her hopefully.

"Look," Javi said, still trying to convince her. "Oklahoma is in a once in a generation outbreak. Tornadoes are tearing up towns left and right — ruining lives. I've got a good team, but it's missing the two of you. And honestly, I don't want do it without you guys."

Dakota sighed and stood up from the table. "Kate, can we talk for a second. Just us?"

"What'd I do?" Javi asked innocently, wondering why he was excluded. Dakota just rolled her eyes and tossed a sauce packet at him before walking to the side with Kate.

"You can't be seriously considering this," Dakota said to her old friend. "Not after everything."

"I know, but Javi—"

"Javi wasn't there, Kate. Not really," she said, her throat feeling tight. "He doesn't know what he's asking you to do."

"He's asking me to save lives," she said. "And I'm asking you the same. I won't do it without you."

Kate could see the hesitation in her eyes and kept going. "Don't tell me you're scared of a storm."

"Maybe I'm not, but what about you? I'd be worried about you the whole time," Dakota said. That was her flaw. She wasn't ever scared for her own life. Just the lives of others that she cared about.

"I - I can handle it," Kate said, though even she didn't sound so sure. Then she reached for Dakota's hand. "Please, Kota. I can't go back there without you. I can't. And Javi needs me."

As Kate widened her deep brown eyes, Dakota groaned. "Don't look at me like that, Kate."

But Kate just tilted her chin down and blinked sadly, making Dakota scoff. "Oh, fuck you."

Kate's grin was blinding, and Dakota forgot how much she loved her friend's smile. "So, you're coming? It's just for a week."

"Fine," she caved. "But you have to buy me another taco."

"Oh, how will my wallet ever recover?"

✵︎

"When was the last time you went home?" Dakota asked Kate from the backseat of the truck as Javi drove down the interstate in Oklahoma. They still had a long drive.

"Been years. What about you?" she asked. "How's Alabama?"

"Went at Christmas. Mama barely noticed," she mumbled. "She never notices. Not since Daddy."

They were in silence for a good while longer, and Dakota just stared out the window as they passed dairy farms and wind farms, taking in the familiar sights.

And she felt sick at her stomach when they drove under the overpass where Jeb, Addy, and Praveen had died. It didn't even look the same after five years.

"Not gonna lie, I didn't think you'd both come," Javi admitted with a smile on his face. Dakota didn't know how he could pass the bridge without thinking of it. Instead, he just nodded to the nice computer attached to the dashboard. "Nice upgrade from the old van, right?"

"This truck is nice as hell," Dakota admitted. "I can't wait to see the rest of the equipment."

"How are you paying for all this?" Kate asked, looking in the back at the other stuff that was crowded around Dakota. She could remember how they had to work and save all their money for the Tornado Tamer project, as no one was willing to invest in their crazy idea.

"I've got investors, you know?" he smirked. "Storms are getting more erratic. Lot of new housing developments going up, so the developers, they wanting full-time weather data. Any time a new building goes up, I want a Storm PAR radar right there letting the people know exactly what the storm's gonna do. I'm telling you, I really feel like we're gonna change the game, guys."

Dakota and Kate just looked at him, a little impressed and in awe as he spoke about this project with passion. And he noticed right away, feeling a bit self-conscious.

"What?"

Kate laughed and looked back out the window. "No, it's just, um, business entrepreneur was not how I saw your future. I mean, we used to feel lucky if we could get you to wear pants."

He grinned brightly. "Well, that hasn't completely changed."

"Good," Dakota chuckled. "I'd be horrified if you weren't at least part of the Javi I remember."