[ there will be two other chapters after this some time in the next few hours but can't proofread until after dinner — not that proofreading even helps me lol ]

☁︎

PEOPLE ARE SHIPPING YOU AND TYLER.

THE last thing Baby expected late that night was a knock on her motel room door. She was still towel-drying her wet hair after her shower, so she padded to the door, having to stand on her toes to look out the peep hole.

Dani and Lily were on the other side, just looking around the parking lot as they waited for her. But they perked up when she opened the door for them.

"Hey, Baby," Dani said, grinning brightly.

"Y'all need something?" Baby asked politely.

In response, Lily held up two six packs of beer, a smirk on her face. "Just wanna get to know Boone's little sister more without annoying men and brothers getting in the way."

Baby smiled softly, glad that they were showing an interest in her outside her being Boone's sister. She'd been quite worried about feeling like she was out of place and didn't belong. So, maybe a few drinks with the older women wouldn't hurt.

Even though she didn't drink.

"Come on in," she said, opening up the door even more.

Dani and Lily cheered for her as they filed in, both going right to the queen-sized bed. Baby studied them for a moment before joining them, a shy smile on her face.

"So, what do you wanna talk about?"

Twenty minutes later, Baby was two and a half beers in, and though she wasn't drunk, Lily and Dani were learning that Baby was a quiet drinker — no different from sober her.

Dani and Lily had been throwing questions at her left and right, but often times, she managed to reply with either head nods or one word answers. It shocked them so much because Boone had a hard time shutting up most of the time, but as Baby finished her third beer, they were determined as ever to get more out of her.

"Come on, girl," Lily said, nudging Baby's foot with her own. They were packed into the bed like sardines, their feet at the head of the bed. "Seriously, open those lips. Tell us about the real Baby."

"What do you mean? The real Baby?" she asked, her head falling to the side. "What do you wanna know?"

"Whatever you feel comfortable telling us," Dani said while finishing off her second beer. "I mean, what's with this loser boyfriend?"

A pout made its way onto Baby's face as thoughts of Jesse clouded her brain. "Did Boone tell you to ask?" she said, looking at Dani knowingly.

"Swear not," Dani said, holding her hand like she was in the Boy Scouts. "But you know, my girlfriend back home? Before she was with me, she was with this total loser who ended up cheating on her. It sucked, you know?"

"Yeah," she mumbled, running her fingers over the material of the comforter. "I guess it sucks. But I guess... I don't know. I was already in this bad headspace when it happened. Figure he deserved to have some fun with Allison since I ain't been no fun to be around."

"Oh, hell no, we are not thinking like that," Dani said, grabbing Baby's shoulder. "Fuck that guy! And fuck her too! Who cheats on someone as pretty and smart as you?"

"Well, she was prettier and smarter," she huffed, thinking of the taller, perfect blonde girl that was captain of the volleyball team. "And she knows what she wants to do with her life, so that's a plus."

Lily sighed and scooted closer to her. "It ain't no big deal that you don't know what you wanna do with your life."

"Feels like it, you know?" she shrugged. "I was in the gifted kid classes — the one supposed to go to college and get a degree. Now, I'm a dropout who can't even read somethin' if it takes longer than fifteen minutes."

"Well, that's fine, 'cause Boone and Tyler can't read anyhow," Dani said, making her laugh halfheartedly. "And Lily was in them special classes in school too. She don't have no degree and is doing just fine."

"She's right," Lily nodded. "And you'll get there. Just gotta find your passion in life."

Baby blew out air through her mouth while lying back and looking at the ceiling. "Don't got no passion."

"What about your pictures?" Dani questioned. "You seemed like you were having a lot of fun taking them today. And that one of us driving up to the tornado has half a million likes already. Make a job out of that."

But Baby just shook her head. "Only way to make money just about as a photographer is doing weddings and shit. I wanna take pictures of what I want to — not boring stuff people pay me for."

"Makes sense," Lily nodded. Then she grinned toothily. "But for the time being, how about you be our official photographer? And you can run our social media pages and stuff. Just while you're here."

"Ain't that Dani's job?" she asked, looking to the older woman.

"Nah, merchandising is my official job," Dani informed her. "But when time came for us to pick a social media manager, I drew the short straw. Ain't none of us really wanna do all that extra work. But a young thing like you would be real good at it."

"I don't know," Baby said with an uneasy frown.

"We'd pay you," Lily added.

Baby just shook her head. "I don't need no money."

"Yeah, you do," Dani laughed. "Everybody needs money."

"Okay, fair point," she said, smiling a little bit. "And... maybe I can try the whole social media thing."

"Atta girl!" Dani exclaimed, grabbing her shoulder and shaking her hard. Given that Baby was a lightweight, it made her a bit dizzy.

"But fair warning before we give you the logins," Lily said, passing Baby another beer.

"What's that?"

"People are shipping you and Tyler."

"What the hell does that mean?"

☁︎

"I told you to make her feel welcome. Not give my baby sister her first taste of alcohol and get her hungover!" Boone hissed at a sheepish Dani and Lily.

"We're driving to Tennessee all day anyway today. It's fine," Dani groaned while rubbing her own aching head.

In the parking lot of the motel, with her sunglasses on, Baby was leaning her forehead against the side of the truck, waiting for Tyler to come back and unlock it after turning in all their room keys. She hadn't completely blacked out or anything, but some of the conversations they had were hazy — she'd already forgotten that nonsense about fans shipping her and Tyler.

"And come on, Boone," Lily scoffed. "That was not the first sip of alcohol the girl has ever had."

"Yes huh—"

"Tyler let me try beer when I was fifteen," Baby mumbled. Boone whirled around to look at her, downright scandalized by her admission. Her eyes were still closed, but she could picture his expression. "That night before you moved away."

Baby had been so sad at that going away party. How could she not be when her big brother was leaving? While she was pouting away in the corner, Tyler came to talk to her, promising that he'd take good care of Boone while they were gone. Then he'd told her to loosen up — as if Baby ever loosened up.

He offered her a sip of his beer with a teasing smile on his face, laughing hard when she pulled a disgusted face. Baby never bothered to try beer again before last night.

"Oh, I'm gone kill you, Tyler James Owens!" Boone huffed just as he spotted Tyler coming over, the truck keys in hand.

"What'd I do?" Tyler asked innocently before spotting Baby's pathetic form. "What's wrong with Baby?"

"You got her drunk when she was fifteen!" he said, stomping his foot.

Now, Tyler was really confused.

"Boone," Dani laughed. "One sip of beer when she was fifteen ain't gettin' her drunk. Last night — that was gettin' her drunk."

"God, talk quieter, Dani," Baby whined.

"You should've seen her, Booney," Lily said with a smirk. "She was up and dancing with us by her fourth one."

Baby poked an eye open. "I was not dancing."

"Baby," Dani said with a smirk. "Those hips did not lie last night. You taught us how to salsa dance like your grandmother taught you when you were younger."

Baby groaned as Boone snickered. "Yeah, Baby used to love to dance," he said. Then he pat Tyler on the back. "I forgive you for corrupting her since Lily and Dani are worse influences."

Tyler looked at him, unimpressed. "Thanks, buddy," he said sarcastically. "Dexter almost ready?"

"He just left to get gas in the caravan," Lily told him. "But we're Tennessee bound when he gets back."

"Let's roll then," Tyler said before opening up Baby's door for her. She mumbled a tired thank you before climbing inside.

"Oh, and Baby," Dani said before she shut the door. "Sent you all the logins. Just try to post something once a day. Don't gotta be about storms. Can be about Cairo or some fact Dex has or information about donating to the relief fund."

"What y'all talking about?" Boone questioned.

Baby whined at the thought of having to stare at a bright phone screen. "They tricked me into a job while I was wallowing in self hatred."

"Dang," Boone said, shaking his head. "That'll just about do it."

☁︎

Thankfully, Baby's headache was gone before they made it across Tennessee state lines, which Tyler was grateful for, as he'd hated driving without the radio. But he still kept it off so that she could sleep for a little while longer. The rest of the day was spent driving, making a few stops to walk around and rest and eat every now and then.

And it was a good thing the headache was gone too, because just after sunset, Lily found a storm on the Doppler that they could chase last minute.

Baby was thankful to be in the backseat this time, harnessed up as Tyler headed toward the storm. It didn't matter how cool and beautiful it looked to be inside of a storm — Baby was always going to be scared and, Boone was gonna catch that fear on camera.

"I hate you. I hate you. I hate you, Tyler James Owens," Baby said over and over again as he stopped right in the path of the EF1.

Tyler just laughed while drilling the augers down into the soft grown. "Oh, you love me, Baby, and you know it!" he hollered. "Now, open up those pretty eyes and watch for me, or Boone's gone crawl back there and make you."

With a whine, she did as told, hardly able to see anything at all outside her window because of how dark it was. But the car was still shaking as things slapped against the vehicle loudly. And slowly, she let her head rest against the back of her seat as she convinced herself they weren't blowing away this time, taking deep breaths and ignoring the tears pricking at her eyes.

She missed having Tyler's hand to hold.

Tyler laughed heartily, shaking his head. "You still hate me?"

Baby cut her eyes from the window to him, Boone turning around to catch her steely look on camera. "Yeah, buddy, I'd say she hates you for this one."

"Come on, Baby. Say it with me! If you feel it—"

"Screw you!" she cried as the truck jostled.

Tyler and Boone just laughed in sync. "Chase it!"

☁︎

"He called her eyes pretty," Dexter noted from inside the caravan. They were watching from a mile back as the tornado blew past the parked truck.

"Figure it'll be a trending sound before tomorrow morning," Dani muttered, eating some chips.

Lily hummed while landing Cairo. "Yeah, they're gone eat that one up."

"Boone still not know yet?" Dexter asked.

Dani shook her head while passing him the bag of Lays. "Tyler neither. You know they don't fuss with all that stuff. Just post when I force them to — or when Baby forces them to now."

"Well, I can't wait," he told them. "Once they all three figure it out, they'll have the times of their lives laughing about how silly it is."

Lily narrowed her eyes at Dexter and a chuckling Dani, wondering how two such smart people were kind of dense. Because Boone would certainly not be laughing if there were any truth to what the fans online were speculating over.

"Yeah," Lily said, a smirk on her face as she got ready to go grab Cairo. "It'll be hilarious."

[ immaculate big brother boone gif by the amazing -illyrian and I love it sm ]