THIS CAN'T GET ANYMORE UNCOMFORTABLE.

BABY hadn't slept a wink. How could she when Tyler kissed her like that — like no boy ever had — and then just left. He just fucking left?

She was still in a daze the next morning as she moved about her motel room, packing her things as they were meant to head to Oklahoma that day. Apparently, weather reports were saying some kind of tornado outbreak was beginning. It could last a few days or weeks for all they knew.

As she packed, Baby passed in front of one of the hanging mirrors and stared at her reflection.

Her fingers traced her lips, and if she closed her eyes, she could still feel the weight of Tyler's against hers. So overpowering and rough and perfect. It was a perfect moment until he ruined it by leaving.

Why did he leave?

Was it bad? Did he regret it? Did he think she was too young? Or maybe he still saw her as Boone's dorky little sister that followed him around everywhere.

Her pondering — actually, it was more like sulking — was interrupted by a quiet knock on her door. With her head down and still contemplating what happened, Baby went to open the door.

Unfortunately for her, she hadn't checked the peephole or she'd never have opened it.

There Tyler stood, his hands shoved in his jean pockets and his head hanging low in shame. Then slowly, he looked up from the ground at her, a truly conflicted look in his eyes.

"Morning... Baby." Something about calling her 'Baby' felt wrong now that he'd kissed her. Like it wasn't her name. Like it was something more.

"Hi, Tyler," she said stiffly, looking at his nose instead of meeting his gaze.

"Can we talk? Before we get on the road?" Tyler asked her.

After a moment, she nodded and stepped back, letting him into her room. He took a second, taking in her packed bags, reminded of the fact that they were about to be in the same car together for hours.

"Sleep okay?" he asked uneasily, failing to ease her into the conversation that had to be had.

"Not really," she mumbled, looking at the carpet. "Lot on my mind."

"Me too," he nodded. Then he sighed heavily. "Well, this can't get any more uncomfortable, so I'm just gone say it. We can't let that happen again."

Baby didn't have to ask what he meant by 'that', of course. They both knew.

But doubt began coursing through her, wondering why he felt that way.

"Why? Was it a bad kiss?" she asked quietly, looking up at him innocently.

Because that had been the best kiss of her life, and maybe she was young, but she knew that no one would ever kiss her like that again. But maybe Tyler hadn't been as blown away given her lack of experience in the department.

"Oh, hell, no, Baby," Tyler quickly said, coming closer. "It was perfect."

Her heart fluttered at the admission. Only for him to crush it once again as if he was leaving her alone by the pool once more.

"But you're Boone's little sister," Tyler went on, his hands resting in her hips. God, how could he just casually touch her after that? "Real little. You can't even drink for three more weeks."

"Please," she mumbled, rolling her eyes, "you and Boone were drinkin' in the basement by the time you were sixteen. But I'll save you from having to tell me the real reason."

Tyler's eyebrows furrowed, not knowing what she meant by that. Not even considering the fact that she thought he hadn't enjoyed himself. That she thought he clearly didn't want her in the same way she wanted him.

"Real reason?" he repeated.

Baby swallowed thickly and looked up at him, stepping back out of his hold. "You don't have to worry about it happening again. It'll be like it never happened," she said stiffly. "Tell Boone I'll be down in the truck in a few minutes. I'm almost done packing,"

"Baby, don't be upset."

She held back a scoff. What did he expect from her?

"I'm not," she lied, smiling up at him, pretending well and truly like everything was fine even though she wanted the ground to open up and swallow her whole. "It was just a kiss, Ty. Didn't mean anything."

Except it sure as hell meant a lot to the both of them.

☁︎

It was a long ride to Oklahoma, and if Boone noticed that both Baby and Tyler were unusually silent, he didn't comment on it. Okay, actually, Baby was always silent, but still.

Since it was too late in the day to catch any storms, they went right for a motel. Boone told his sister that it was close to the truck stop they'd probably be spending a lot of time at, as it was a good central location for the suspected outbreak.

The parking lot was semi-full, and as Baby quickly got her bag out of the truck, avoiding looking at Tyler, she caught a glimpse of a group of men just a few spaces down.

All of them were in matching polo shirts or white button downs, standing around a small fleet of trucks with a logo that read StormPAR on the sides. She titled her head curiously, unfamiliar with the logo.

"Oh, I read about them," Dani said, coming to stand next to Baby as she noticed her staring. "They're doing some tornado research stuff."

"That's kinda cool," Baby said with a shrug.

"Not cool," Lily said. "They're selling the data to developers that are trying to kick people off their land and put up housing developments. Have been for a few months now."

"Oh," she frowned, looking back over at them. "That sucks."

"Big time," Dexter said with a sigh. But then he smirked. "But something tells me Tyler and your brother here might be hindering some of their data collection."

"Oh, you know it," Boone laughed. "Love being a hindrance."

"That's a big word for you, Booney," Baby said teasingly, her first smile all day. "I'm gone go introduce myself since we're gone be seeing more of them."

"Save it for tomorrow," Tyler said, finally speaking to her for the first time in hours. His eyes were glued to the StormPAR bunch who were also eyeing them, clearly sizing them up. Tyler, like Dani, had done his research and didn't want any of his crew involved with them. "Let's all get some rest. Big day tomorrow, hopefully."

☁︎

It was a big day, actually. So big that they caught a storm before they even got to eat breakfast. And Boone didn't know why Baby requested to ride back in the caravan with Dani and Dexter, but he let her with only minimal complaining.

Then, they all drove to the truck stop where other amateur storm chasers were setting up shop along with the StormPAR trucks. And Baby didn't have to be the one to go up and introduce herself, as two men came up to them first after the Wranglers had finished signing autographs and such.

One, who was shorter with curly hair and freckles all over had an easy smile on his face despite the fact that Tyler had nearly run him off the road earlier. The other was much taller — even taller than Tyler — with an indifferent look on his handsome face.

"Hey," he greeted, nodding to them. "You guys must be those chasers out of Arkansas."

"That's us," Tyler said, nodding to him with a charming smile on his face. "And you're StormPAR. Heard a little about what y'all do."

Baby had been silently watching the men and noticed how the tall one rolled his eyes as the other just smiled tensely.

"Well, we just thought we'd introduce ourselves since we might be here a few weeks. Outbreak and all," he said. "My name's Javi. And this here is my boy, Scott."

All of them looked at Scott expectantly, but he just stared at them blankly. So, Javi sighed and elbowed him.

"Smile, Scott."

Scott forced a sarcastic smile before dropping it, and Baby couldn't help but giggle, which drew his attention. His blue eyes scanned her form, taking in the baggy overalls she wore with nothing but a white bandana underneath to combat against the humidity.

"It's nice to meet you, Javi and Scott," Baby said when no one else on her crew offered up their names or any pleasantries. She hated being forced to be the one to talk, and internally, Tyler hated that she was talking to the men. "We've got Dani over there. Then Lily and Dexter. Finally, Tyler and my brother Boone. I'm Baby."

Scott frowned at that, not really bothering to remember any of the names except for hers, which he found odd. "You can't just have 'Baby' as a name. That's not a name," he said, making her giggle. He didn't understand why she was laughing again.

And her brother instantly stepped up to defend the name he was so protective over given that he'd bestowed her with it. "Don't tell my sister about no name as if you ain't got the nerdiest name in the world, Scotty Boy."

"Boone," Baby sighed, pulling him back. Then she looked at Scott apologetically. "Sorry about him. It ain't a nerdy name."

"Well, it's a little nerdy," Javi said with a smirk. Then he looked back at Tyler. "But hey, just wanted to make sure we don't have any more incidents like this morning. We can all drive a bit more carefully."

There was a challenging glint in Tyler's eyes that they all saw. "No promises, Javi. We gotta do what we gotta do to chase these storms. Sure you understand."

Javi seemed to get the message, going stiff. "Got it," he said, clearly annoyed. "Well, we'll be seeing you all, I guess."

"Bye, Javi. Bye, Scott," Baby at least managed to say, trying to keep up the pretense of being polite when Tyler so clearly wasn't.

"Yeah, nice meeting you, Baby," Javi said, definitely not extending that toward any of the others.

Then Javi turned to leave, and before following, Scott just nodded to Baby, who mimicked his actions with a small, polite smile.

"Well," Boone said, crossing his arms a bit childishly. "I don't care for them at all."

"They were nice," Baby said, rolling her eyes. "Nicer than all of y'all."

"I didn't even say anything!" Dani exclaimed, her eyes wide. "Neither did Lily and Dex. It's all those assholes."

As she pointed at Boone and Tyler, the boys scoffed in sync.

"Just be nice in the future," Baby requested.

"Well, only if that Scott watches how he looks at you," Boone grumbled, glaring at Scott's back.

Baby furrowed her eyebrows. "He wasn't lookin' at me any way."

"Oh, you poor, naive, Baby," Boone said, shaking his head as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "I saw it all. I have eagle eyes when it comes to stuff like this."

"Is that right?" Lily asked with an amused smirk on her face.

As if Tyler hadn't had Baby bent over a pool table not four days ago as Boone watched with a giddy smile on his face.

"You know that's right," Boone nodded. "Now, Baby, you had your caravan time, but you're back in the truck with Ty and I for this next one. You can even have the front."

Baby slyly glanced at Tyler, who was watching her intently. He'd been watching her all morning, she knew — stealing glances in the rearview mirror as he drove to the truck stop once she'd moved from the caravan to the truck.

"Yeah, alright," Baby muttered, looking back at her brother. Then she remembered what Jesse had said the night before — she'd nearly forgotten with Tyler kissing her. "And I ain't gone cry this time."

"Sure," he said, patting her hand. "It's nice to have dreams."

"Well, apparently everyone at school thinks I'm a crybaby. That I'm, like, a baby," she huffed, surprising Boone, who didn't think she was in contact with anyone from UCLA. "But they're wrong."

"Yeah," Tyler said softly, her gaze snapping back to him. Clearly, he was recalling their conversation before the kiss too. And he was so proud that she was standing up for herself. "They're wrong, and we're gonna show 'em."

☁︎

Baby was breathing deeply as they drove closer and closer to the tornado. She was nervous — so very nervous as always as Tyler parked his truck in the direct path of the tornado.

The path that StormPAR seemed to struggle to find. But Tyler wasn't about to let them join them.

"You got this, Baby," Boone said, rubbing her shoulders from his spot in the seat behind her before picking his camera back up.

The YouTube live was already going, Lily reporting in with the footage from Cairo. And now that she knew people from school were watching — that Jesse and Allison were probably watching — she knew she had to stick it out and appear brave even though she didn't feel it.

As the tornado got mere feet away from them, she instinctively wanted to shut her eyes, but she kept them open. Admittedly, a little scared whimper left her lips when the tornado rammed right into them, the truck lurching as it did so.

On instinct, Tyler reached for her hand, but Baby shoved him off before reaching to turn the radio up, earning a displeased frown from Tyler. And Boone began singing along, all too unaware of the tension between the other two.

"How you feelin', Baby?" Boone shouted over the wind.

"I feel good, Booney," she said, lying through her teeth. "And if you feel it?"

Boone laughed hard, so incredibly happy that his sister was finally getting into the Tornado Wrangler mindset.

"Chase it!"