WHAT'S SO BAD ABOUT THIS MARSHALL RIGGS GUY?

TWO NIGHTS IN A ROW. That's how many nights of meeting outside the motel in the late hours of the night that it took Scott to finally acknowledge Kennedy in public.

It was a small moment inside the diner at the truck stop. All of the Tornado Wranglers were sitting at one huge table, eating breakfast together as they talked emphatically about how many storms they'd probably see that day.

Tyler had his arm slung around Kennedy as always, who leaned into his side pathetically — because god help her, she still craved him so much of him most of the time.

Dani was praising Tyler and Kennedy, telling them how amazing the viewer turnout was for their video from yesterday where Tyler gave his 'lesson' to Kennedy about outbreaks.

And it wasn't her only lesson of the day. Later that night, when everyone was asleep, she met Scott by the pool again. She was the first one there and had anxiously waited for five minutes, wondering if he was going to show or leave her waiting all night.

Not that she cared if he showed or not.

But she also would've waited all night for him.

When he did show, he was still in that StormPAR shirt, making her wonder if he owned anything else. She even joked about it, which made him smirk. He had dimples, she realized then. And they made his already beautiful features somehow more perfect.

It wasn't that Kennedy cared that Scott was beautiful — but she wasn't blind. Even she knew he was the handsomest man she'd ever seen, Tyler included.

That night, Scott led her to his truck, showing her the PAR. With a screwdriver in hand while she sat on the tailgate, he showed her all their different equipment in the dim lighting, teaching her all about it as she listened intently. Then when she asked what 'Lion' meant as is was airbrushed on the back of the particular truck, he explained that the others were all Wizard of Oz themed, which Javi had fought for.

She thought it was terribly adorable of Javi to insist on naming them that.

Now, Kennedy was leaning sleepily against Tyler, not even regretting that she stayed up so late because she wasn't miserable when she was with Scott. He took her mind off of so many horrible things.

Unfortunately, someone noticed her tired state

"You look exhausted, Kenny," Boone noted. Then he smirked at her, leaning in close. "Tell Ty to let you get some sleep sometime."

Kennedy forced a laugh as Tyler smirked as if he was the reason that she was so exhausted. She hated it. She hated lying to their friends — it was like Tyler was playing them for fools along with all their fans.

And a minute later was when the StormPAR crew came in for their own breakfast meeting. A sea of men Kennedy never met in blue polos walked past, and then she saw Scott and Javi.

Scott's blue eyes caught her tired gaze, and he simply nodded to her in greeting, which was a lot coming from someone as chatty as him. She subconsciously leaned away from Tyler as she did so.

Then, Kennedy smiled a real smile and waved to the men. "Hi, Scott. Hey, Javi."

"Morning, Kennedy," Javi said with a smile before heading to his table, Scott following after looking once more at Kennedy.

When Kennedy looked back at her table, she froze, seeing all eyes on her in confusion. "What?" she asked innocently.

"Nothin'," Boone shrugged. "We just ain't got no reason to be friendly."

"Other than being nice is nice," she chuckled.

"Well, they ain't nice," Tyler said lowly.

Kennedy looked at him in confusion. "When have they ever done anything to us?"

"It's their work that ain't nice," Dani told her.

"What's so bad about using 3-D models to try and predict storm patterns to try and warn people ahead of time?" she asked, truly not understanding where this hostility was coming from. "It sounds like really important work."

Tyler peered at Kennedy for a moment, not knowing she even knew anything about StormPAR's work. But then he figured Javi mentioned it when they first met and she asked about the company, which she'd already told the team about.

"It could be, but it's what they're doing with the data," Tyler told her in a hard tone. "Dani found all the information about them. They're giving it to Marshall Riggs."

Kennedy held back a huff as he didn't explain further. As if she had any way of knowing who the hell Marshall Riggs was.

"Well, what's so bad about this Marshall Riggs guy?"

It was Dani who answered in a gentler tone that Tyler used, understanding that she just simply didn't know because they hadn't taken the time to tell her. Truthfully, she thought Tyler would've mentioned it in all their alone time.

"Marshall Riggs is a land developer putting up housing developments all over Oklahoma," she explained. "And he gets the land by buying it cheap from people after their businesses have been destroyed by tornados and storms."

Instantly, Kennedy frowned and leaned back into Tyler's side, her eyes sliding to Scott's table where the men were all laughing at something Javi said. Well, Scott wasn't laughing, but he at least had a small smile on his face, which was a big emotional reaction from him.

Kennedy was too disappointed to admire his nice smile.

"That sucks," Kennedy murmured, feeling horrible about learning about the company that was doing so much bad. But just because Scott worked for them didn't necessarily mean he was bad, did it? Maybe he had an explanation.

Then again, he didn't owe her one. They weren't even friends, were they?

"So," Tyler told her, "just stay away from them. We got no business with them."

"Okay," she said softly, nodding. "I'll stay away."

☁︎

Scott and Kennedy hadn't made plans to meet by the poolside a third time, but she was out there anyway. She sat on the long chair, her legs criss-crossed as she stared at the water.

Even if he didn't come, it was easier than lying in an empty bed with her thoughts, she supposed.

Thoughts of how horrible today had been. After the second tornado of the day, Tyler had jumped out of the truck excitedly and ran around to her side before she even had a chance to get out. Boone's camera was fixed on them as he cheered and hollered, pulling her out in his strong arms.

"God, I love you, baby!" he's exclaimed before kissing all over her face, and she was forced to giggle and stare at him like a lovestruck fool.

She supposed she was a lovestruck fool, after all.

Such a fool.

And it was as Kennedy was contemplating all the mistakes that got her here that Scott joined her.

"Hi, again," he'd said while sitting in the seat next to her. "Thought you might be out here."

"Hey, Scott," she said, her smile not quite reaching her eyes.

He didn't like it one bit, thinking it reminded him of the smile she had when around her own crew. He didn't understand why her eyes always looked so lifeless when her boyfriend's arm was always around her. 

"How was data collection today?" Kennedy managed to ask, giving Scott her full attention.

"It was good. Not what we wanted," he shrugged, not wanting to talk about his failures with her. "How was Wrangling?"

Kennedy rolled her eyes playfully. "Stressful."

"Ah, you must not be gotten a Coke Icee today," he joked dryly. She liked when he made the rare joke.

Kennedy snickered and shook her head. "Went with blue raspberry," she said before sticking out her tongue that was still stained blue. He smiled as she did so before silence fell over them.

"Can I ask a question?" Kennedy then said nervously. "You don't have to answer."

"Go ahead," he nodded, figuring she was going to ask about the data collection process or something related to the PARs.

"What's your data collection going to?"

Scott's jaw tightened, knowing what she was really asking. If they were profiting off people's tragedy.

"Well, what have you heard?" he asked tensely.

"Not... great things," she admitted. "Tyler and the others said some stuff at breakfast."

"Well, I'm sure your little boyfriend knows everything." Scott didn't know why he sounded so bitter as he said the word boyfriend. Then he sighed. "Javi needed an investor to get his company started. My uncle had the money. We don't get a say in what the data goes to. It'll be a while before we do."

Kennedy's eyes went wide as he admitted to Marshall Riggs being his uncle, which was the last thing she expected. "Well," she said after a moment of silence. "That's your uncle. Not you. You're just doing your job."

"Yeah," he nodded. "Pretty shitty job sometimes."

"I get that — hating your job," she told him. 

Scott just rolled his eyes, figuring she was humoring him. Her life was perfect, after all. She had a million followers and worked on a crew that was like a second family with a boyfriend that she clearly adored.

"Yeah, right," he muttered. "What's so bad about what you do? You've got it perfect."

Kennedy kept her mouth shut, knowing she couldn't just tell Scott that she was being used by Tyler to get better views and keep him from being villainized in the eyes of the media. But she so desperately wanted to open up to Scott about it since he was honest about their business model with her.

Not that he wanted to hear about her problems, she figured.

"It ain't perfect," she said, her eyes watering a bit. But she quickly forced her tears back, not wanting to cry in front of Scott again. "But it's all I have. All I want, I suppose."

Tyler was all she wanted, wasn't he?

Scott watched Kennedy carefully, watching how she took in a deep breath and ceased her crying before it could begin. Then she looked at him and smiled, yet again, it not reaching her eyes.

"So," she said in a teasing tone. "What's so important that's got you out here at one in the morning? Or are you just a night owl?"

"Like I said," he murmured. "I figured you'd be out here."

Kennedy's mouth parted at his incredibly honest confession. But then again, Scott didn't seem the type to toy with someone and dance around what he really meant.

"Well, I am," she said, feeling a bit shy underneath his blue gaze all of a sudden. "You got plans or something?"

He shrugged. "Well, you spent two nights listening to me go on and on. Figured I could pay you back."

"Well, I don't know enough about nothin' to lecture you," she admitted sheepishly. "Unless you count modeling and quoting sitcoms."

"Modeling?" he questioned. "You're a model?"

"Used to be," she said, shrugging. "Stopped to follow Tyler and join the channel when he asked."

Scott frowned at that. "You stopped your career because a man asked you to?" he asked, clearly judging her.

Kennedy tensed up, avoiding eye contact. "Well, I love him, so. You do anything for someone when you love them."

Except Tyler had never made any sacrifices for her. And here she was, slowly breaking her own heart more and more every day just to keep him happy.

"Well," Scott said, breaking the silence. "What was it like? Did you like modeling?"

Kennedy smiled nostalgically, thinking about her life before she'd met Tyler. "I loved it," she admitted. "And I got all these clothes. My favorite is this pair of cowboy boots when I did a southern line show. Got to keep 'em."

"Those ones?" he asked, nodding to the heel-less pair on her feel.

"Oh, no," she said, shaking her head. "They're taller. Tyler don't like when I wear heels. That extra two inches makes us the same height, you know?"

Scott frowned and held back a scoff of annoyance, thinking less and less of Tyler Owens by the minute.

"Well, you should wear them if they're your favorite," he told her, not understanding the dynamics of her relationship with her boyfriend. "He should want to see you happy in the things you love, shouldn't he?"

Kennedy laughed humorlessly. "Tell that to my favorite strawberry lipgloss I can't wear anymore."

"I like strawberries," he commented carelessly. Then he cleared his throat. "Wear the boots tomorrow. I'm sure Tyler won't mind."

Kennedy eyed Scott, who just didn't know. He didn't know that Tyler would be frustrated with her, and that was the last thing she wanted as if she was holding onto hope that he'd change his mind about her so long as she did everything right.

But something in her also wanted to do what Scott was asking of her. She wanted to wear her boots. She wanted to feel even taller, as it added to her crumbling confidence. She wanted to smell strawberries every time she opened her mouth even though Tyler didn't like how it smeared against his lips.

"Come on, Kennedy," Scott said softly in a convincing tone. "It won't be as big of a deal as you're fearing."

"...I'll think about it."