[ gifs by the amazing, fantastic, talented -illyrian ]

☁︎

WHO THE HELL IS TYLER OWENS?

ELIANNA didn't need Scott to tell her she was annoying — but he did it anyway.

She'd been told all her life by almost everyone she knew. Her fourth-grade teacher. Most of her childhood friends. Even her parents on the rare occasion that they paid attention to her.

So, Eli knew, but Scott still had to make sure. In her first week at StormPAR, which was spent working in the office instead of the field, he'd told her twice every day and three times on Thursday. The day that Javi asked her to go out and get lunch, and she only brought back a meal for the two of them. When he complained, he told Scott flatly that he didn't ask for anything, so how could she know he wanted food?

But even Scott had to admit that Eli was smart. She knew what she was talking about when it came to meteorology. She was top of her class, which he was actually surprised to learn. Apparently, even annoying brats who had an endless supply of sarcastic remarks and obnoxious jokes had brains.

That first week, Javi and Scott took turns teaching her about how the PARs worked, and she soaked up the knowledge like a sponge, storing it away. And clearly, she was excited about the kind of data they'd be collecting, thinking a 3-D rendering of a tornado sounded amazing.

But they didn't have that yet. No, they were still working out the kinks of setting up one PAR close to a storm. Then, they'd work in a second and fine-tune the process before finally adding a third.

And Eli was sort of too impatient for all that trial and error.

So, when she was finally allowed in the truck with Javi and Scott to seek out a storm and put a PAR behind it on the right side, she was groaning and complaining.

"I don't see why we can't just use all three and see what happens," she mumbled from the back seat, her arms crossed.

Scott refrained from rolling his eyes while he studied his tablet. "Because we don't want to risk damaging them or getting inaccurate readings. The scientific method—"

"The scientific method," Eli said in a mocking tone, making Javi snicker a bit. "Like, just do it, you know? If a PAR breaks or flies away, Riggs is gonna pay to have it fixed. He'd so desperate to gentrify the state that he'll pay anything."

"Th - That's not what Riggs is doing," Javi said halfheartedly. "He's just... helping people in a tight spot. Giving them a chance to start over."

Eli just hummed, deciding not to call him out even more. She didn't see why Javi didn't just own up to it. Clearly, he cared about this kind of research, and going through Riggs was the only way he could get it done. That didn't make Javi as much of a dick as Riggs was.

"You know what would be some really cool data?" Eli asked, changing the subject. "If you put a PAR inside a tornado. Just drive inside and drop it."

"Yeah," Scott said sarcastically. "Because doing a dumbass thing like driving into a swirling vortex of destruction is just such a great idea."

"Well, Tyler Owens does it all the time and he's fine," she grumbled, looking out the window.

"Who the hell is Tyler Owens?" Javi asked — Scott was not familiar with the name either.

Eli looked at the two men, her mouth hanging open. "You work in tornado research and don't know who the freaking Tornado Wranglers are?"

Scott glanced at her over his shoulder, his face scrunched up in confusion. "Tornado Wranglers?"

"Oh, my god, just wait," Eli said while digging out her phone. She quickly pulled up a YouTube video and then unbuckled her seatbelt to lean between the two men, holding the screen out for them to see. "Tyler Owens and his crew do stunts in tornados and drive into them all the time as a way to learn about how they form and act."

As a video played of a large truck driving backward into a tornado, Eli kept explaining.

"There's five of them. Tyler is, like, the hot frontman, you know? Then you've got Lily, the engineer who made this sick drone from scratch. Dani does all the marketing and merchandising. The merch is kinda ugly, but the profits go to storm survivors. And Dexter is the science man — he taught us how to make a tornado in a bottle last week."

"What are you? A second grader?" Scott asked, raising an eyebrow.

"What? Are you gonna make me pull a red card?" she shot back. God, Elianna had pulled a lot of behavioral cards in school. She was so glad when the system went away in middle school. "Anyway, the last is Boone. Smoking hot cameraman. He's coming up in a second."

Scott rolled his eyes, looking back at the screen curiously. He watched as the tornado passed, and Tyler hopped out of the screen as the cameraman got out as well and bounded up to him. Then both got in the frame, revealing a pleasing face with a huge grin on his lips.

Tyler was a fairly handsome blonde man in a white cowboy hat, and Eli thought he was alright enough to look at. But Boone with his tanned, smooth skin and beautiful brown eyes had all her attention every time. In that particular video, his long, dark hair was half pulled up, and he was hollering at the top of his lungs in excitement with his best friend.

"He makes my brain go brrr," Eli sighed, gazing at his features.

Javi snickered before looking at her over his shoulder. "He makes your brain go what?"

"You know?" she said with a grin. Then Eli shook out all her limbs and rocked her head back and forth with a goofy grin on her face. "Fucking brrr! You ever met someone like that?"

"I guess," Javi said while still grinning. "Been a while though."

"What about you, Scotty? Got a 'brrr' person out there?" Eli asked him curiously.

"Unless 'brrr' also means someone that is so infuriating you want to rip your hair out and burn their house down with them inside of it, then no," he said flatly while glaring at her.

"Awe," she cooed. "Do I make you go brrr? Don't be embarrassed — you're hot enough to make my brain go brrr just as much as Boone does."

Scott groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose, knowing it was going to be an impossibly long day if she was being like this and it wasn't even lunchtime.

"Anyway, enough about hotties with bodies," Eli said bluntly. "Check out this video where they take Sal from the 'Impractical Jokers' into a tornado for his punishment."

☁︎

Sometimes storm chasing was close enough that Eli could go home for the night, but other times, they were on the other side of Oklahoma, so she had to stay in the motels that Javi and Scott picked for the whole crew. That was where they were at, some dingy motel that had a grimace on her face.

She couldn't help it. She'd grown up in the closest thing to a mansion that you could find in Oklahoma. She was used to her soft, king-sized bed and the pristine diving pool in the backyard, not the green-tinted one that she walked past on the way to her room. And she swore if she saw one roach, she was leaving.

Scott muttered under his breath that he hoped she saw a roach, and Javi elbowed him in the gut for it.

But when morning came, Elianna admitted that it wasn't that bad — though she'd never stayed in a hotel that didn't serve breakfast before. Then again, it wasn't a hotel. But she slept through the night and there was hot water, which was surprising. And when she got outside to the truck, Javi was waiting with an iced coffee for her, having memorized what she liked after a week together.

Then, since Scott was late, she got to climb in the front seat, which soured his mood as soon as he got outside.

"Move," Scott said to her through the rolled-down window.

"Um, no," she shrugged while looking at her phone. He could hear the TikToks as she scrolled. "I was here first."

"We agreed you'd sit in the back."

"No, you agreed," she said simply. "So, either get in the back or make me."

Scott glared at her, rolling his jaw a bit in annoyance, tempted to make her. But then, with a huff, he climbed into the back seat.

And Scott was banished there all day even when they caught two different storms to get data for. Eli didn't once relinquish the front seat — she had even childishly ran to the truck after they finished lunch.

That in combination with her usual annoyance had Scott on edge all day. So, he was incredibly happy when the end of the day came and he and Javi went to the one place that the twenty-year-old wasn't allowed.

The bar across the street from the motel, where you had to be at least twenty-one to enter.

Scott sat across from Javi in the booth, a beer in hand as he leaned back, trying to relax. But every single thought was on the girl that grated at his nerves.

And it was like Javi could read his mind.

"She ain't that bad," he insisted.

"I disagree," he said simply.

"So, she doesn't make your brain go brrr?" Javi asked teasingly, making Scott roll his eyes. "You gotta admit that was funny."

"Please. You laugh at any hot girl's jokes."

Javi raised an eyebrow, leaning his elbows on the table. "Did you just call her hot?"

Now Scott just glared at his friend. "Not like that."

He just snickered in response. "All I'm saying is—"

"Do not say 'brrr,'" he cut him off.

"I can't help it. That's my new favorite phrase," Javi admitted. God, he remembered when Kate made him feel brrr. He missed that feeling.

"Yeah, well, her abysmal personality sort of distracts from her—"

"Who's abysmal?"

As if talking about her summoned her, Elianna arrived, sliding into the booth right next to Scott. She had a rum and coke in hand and a smile on her face. She'd changed out of the long-sleeved white StormPAR shirt — she always wore it unbuttoned over a tank top and with cut off shorts, not really caring about the dress code, much to Scott's annoyance, especially when Javi didn't say anything. Now, she was on some sort of green crocheted top that actually fit more like a bra than a top, Scott noticed, and a denim skirt.

"You are," Scott said flatly, not even bothering to lie. Then his face scrunched up in confusion — Eli loved when he made that frustrated face. "How did you get in here?"

In response, Eli smacked an ID card down on the table that had a photo of her on it. Javi grabbed it and studied it intently. "Says you're twenty-two."

"Just like the Taylor Swift song, baby," she grinned, snatching the card back. "So, what is the move tonight, my guys? If you need a wingwoman, I'm immaculate at it."

"Is it because everyone else seems like they have a glowing personality next to you?" Scott asked sarcastically.

"Yeah," she beamed. "And my tits are huge, and that makes girls jealous, so."

To Javi's credit, he didn't look. But Scott did, his eyes sliding down, seeing how the triangles of fabric hugged her rather perfect chest. He rolled his eyes at the thought and looked back at her eyes, hating how she was smirking.

"There is no move," Javi told her. "We're just relaxing. But have fun. No storms are reported for tomorrow, so you can let loose."

"Not too loose," Scott said stiffly. "We're here to work."

Elianna groaned and leaned her head dramatically on his shoulder, making him stiffen. "Come on, Scott. Prove you're capable of having fun."

"I'm not convinced he can," Javi said with a teasing smirk. "Nice try though."

"Fine," she said, blowing air out of her mouth. "Your loss. Meanwhile, I'm gonna own that dance floor."

Both men watched as Eli downed her drink before sliding out of the booth, headed to the semi-crowded dance floor with a grin on her face. Scott's narrowed eyes followed the swing of her hips that were already moving to the beat before she even reached it, only for his view to be blocked not thirty seconds in as a man slid behind Eli. He was leaning down to whisper in her ear as he danced up against her.

Eli threw her head back and laughed at whatever he said, and Scott's eyes traced the curve of her neck and the way her face seems to light up when she smiled at the man.

He hated the sight.

He couldn't stand it so much that he had to get up and grab another beer so that he wouldn't be forced to watch. 

"For someone so smart," Javu muttered to himself while sipping his own beer, "Scott sure is dumb."