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♯ ❝ OPEN YOUR EYES. ❞
CHAPTER EIGHT ✧･ﾟ: * 🌪️🌀
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IF SOMEONE TOLD CHARLIE THAT SHE WOULD BE BACK IN OKLAHOMA, SITTING EXACTLY WHERE SHE USE TO INSIDE TYLER'S RED TRUCK, SHE WOULD HAVE LAUGHED IN THEIR FACE. She never expected to be in the current situation she was in again, not after what happened in the past, but so far she's learnt to forgive and forget -- it's just the second part was harder said then done.

The skies were bright and full of colour like her smiling face was, the environment above matching how she was feeling being back in her natural element. After everything was packed and ready thanks to Kate, the three of them were back on the road for a hunt.

Usually Charlie would ride in the back, since she would rather take photos that way, but her sister shoved her towards the seat instead. She wasn't dumb, she knew what Kate was up to by the way the blonde smiled teasingly when she saw what Tyler was wearing.

He drove them down an empty road with a grass field around them, following the Doppler towards a few incoming storms to test their new plan to evaporate the tornado.

And damn did he look good, she had to admit that to herself the moment he stepped into his truck. Her eyes gawked at his figure, him wearing a backward baseball cap on his head, followed by his red flannel that hugged his fit figure very well.

When he caught her staring at him, a small smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth, and felt his own stomach twist with butterflies. He would never show that her looking effected him though, as he was focused on the road ahead.

"Yeah, that's my radio." Tyler sighed a bit amused, watching Charlie fiddling around with the controls on the console, her eyes wide full of wonder seeing all the different buttons. It was very different to Javi's truck she's been in.

Kate, who held onto her sisters bag and camera in her lap, was looking through some of the filming equipment, and picked up a few pieces, "What is all this for?" She questioned interested, holding a small speaker in hand, "This reminds me of Char's actress stage--"

Charlie shot her sister a warning glance, clearly embarrassed by her comment, but Tyler was quick to say something instead, "Wait, what are you touching back there?" He asked defending the girl, whipping his head around his shoulder, "Stop!"

"You do have a lot of stuff in here, Ty." Charlie added on to the comments, wonder filled gaze moving to the visor and reached up to pull it down, which had nothing attached to that one, "Don't you cowboys normally have something stuck to this?"

She turned to Tyler for an answer but was met with his side profile, and saw how avoided her stare. She raised an eyebrow confused, before lifting her beaded bracelet covered hand up to pull down his visor next, ignoring how he protested about doing it.

Kate snickered to herself amused at her sister stunned reaction, an old picture of Charlie and Tyler posed together as children taped onto his visor that was straight away pushed back up by him. Kate was still wondering why they haven't kissed yet, since it was pretty obvious they loved each other very much.

"Wow, what a romantic guy you are Owens." Kate decided to drag out the teasing, leaning forward from the back seat glancing at the male's scarlet cheeks, "I bet you love showing that picture off to everyone who hopes into this truck."

Charlie, despite the way her heart was fluttering and felt butterflies erupted once more, gently slapped Kate's arm in a scolding way, "Hey! Go easy on him." She deafened before smiling lopsided, "I think it's pretty sweet actually."

If Tyler didn't have such a strong grip on the steering wheel, they would have crashed in that very second. The closed eye smile Charlie sent him had the male going crazy, and tried his hardest not to show it, "Anyway," He rumbled flatly, clearing his throat flustered, "That's a mirror you're touching."

Kate rolled her eyes knowingly at the pair, before reaching past her sisters shoulder, and went to open the dashboard. Her fingers curled around the handle, tugging it backwards to reveal numerous headshots of Tyler that fell out, all of them signed by him.

"Oh... that's--" Charlie gaped with a hand over her mouth, trying to hide her amused smiling as she picked up one of the pictures, "Very interesting, Cowboy." She finished, and heard her sister snickering loudly from the backseat.

Tyler quickly slammed the dashboard shut, clearly embarrassed that they both found the pictures, "Have you ever been in a car before?" He grumbled looking between them, and plucked the picture out of Charlie's hand as he ignored her protest to give it back.

"I mean, yeah we have." She hummed with a laugh, bangs framing her face as she tilted her head down to touch the switches near the gearshift, fingers flipping them all on, "It's just, you got a lot of cool gadgets."

"Yeah, yeah, don't touch--" He was fast to gently push her hand away, slipping his fingers in-between hers to distract her which had the girl's cheeks flushing red as he held her hand in his briefly, "There's guards there for a reason, honey. And I wouldn't touch that one--"

She didn't have a chance to freak out over the nickname, as she had accidently pressed a button that he warned her not to. Two rockets suddenly shot out from the truck's sides, making the sisters yelp in alarm and both looked outside to see the rockets being shot right up into the sky.

"That's a rocket." He deapans at her once the said objects stopped firing, and she sheepishly looked up at him with a crocked grin. He just sighed, lips forming into a smirk before his hand slipped out of hers and focused back on the road.

Kate nudged her sisters shoulder when she leant forward, and raise her eyebrows knowingly, causing the other to send her an evil eyed scowl. The older one just laughed to herself, passing Charlie her camera gently before leaning back into the seat behind them.

Tyler got the two back on task after they calmed down, and used his finger to point at the Doppler attached on the dashboard, "Alright, what about these two little ones?" He spoke up in question, eyes moving to the road and back quickly, "Just west of Enid."

Charlie instantly turned to her sister, both of them sharing a look only they would understand before Kate grinned mischievously, "Yeah, but this one to the east has the sky all to herself." The brown eyed girl answered swiftly, tapping the screen of where she was talking about.

His green eyes found her ones, eyebrows raised suspiciously staring at the girl, "Yeah, I'm not falling for that again, Cowgirl." He stated shaking his head, but then thought it over feeling her still looking at him, "You serious?"

She bit her bottom lip to stifle her laughter, and shrugged her shoulders casually, "Who knows." She mused rolling her head towards him against the seat, and grinned spotting the frown he flashed, "I'll tell ya later."

Well Charlie was indeed right, like she normal was when it was to do with tornados. And Tyler drove them into a big one, making the trio all scramble out of the car excitedly looking at the forming storm that was a few meters in front of them.

She was the first to jump out of the truck, fumble in her step a bit as she held her camera in her hands. A wide, toothy grin appeared on her face gazing at the storm, and felt the cool breeze blowing through her hair, making it fly around all over her face.

Behind her just getting out of the truck, she heard Kate and Tyler make comments about the conditions of the storm, which she was thinking inside her mind, but not out loud. It was hard to hear them over the wind, but that's why they were yelling to each other.

"Oh, she's perfect!" Tyler's shout reached her ears now, making the girl pull down her camera from her eyes taking a photo, and saw how he was standing next to her grinning widely at the storm.

Charlie tipped her head back to let out a bubbly laughter, which caused Tyler's eyes to go wide hearing the familiar sound he hasn't heard in years. The wind blew around her hair making it look messy, as she continued giggling looking up at him happily, "I know! She's gorgeous!"

   Unknowingly to the girl, she was unaware of how Tyler was staring at her the entire time she said that, mesmerized by how she looked in that very moment. His eyes were soft, full of adoration and his heart was squeezing with so much love for her it almost took his breath away, just like she did.

Kate noticed the entire thing however, and smiled warmly to herself watching them as she took some pictures of the two, "Come on! I think this is the one!" She yelled now coming up beside her sister, and tugged on her arm.

Charlie's brown eyes lit up like a christmas tree, and she rapidly nodded her head, "She's gonna give us something for sure," She glanced back to Tyler, him already looking at her and she coaxed him quickly with her hand, "Come on, let's go!"

He chased on after the girl running back to his truck, only getting halfway before he picked her up in a side hug, causing her to laugh more excitedly. Her chest was pressed against his as he span them around in circle, arm tightly around her, before placing her back down just as they got back inside of the truck.

They didn't waste anymore time to get back onto the road, and Tyler was driving them towards the storm that was just making land fall in the grass filed. And as they did, Charlie saw a thin grey funnel coming down from the sky, making her stomach jump both in excitement and fear.

"Alright, let's harness up." At his sudden comment, both Carter sisters snapped their heads towards the male, seeing how he was doing exactly what he said, and they both shared matching nervous looks.

The idea of what was about to happen sounded fun, but at the same time not so much which is what Charlie was feeling. She knew he did that for a living, so nothing really could go wrong, but the fear she felt every time she got close to a storm was starting to come back.

"Uh, we're just gonna drop the trailer in it's path, right?" She opened her mouth to stutter out, expression and voice being unsure as she fiddled with the necklace around her neck, saying what both sisters felt in that moment.

He was driving with one hand still, as he finished off buckling himself up, and turned his head towards her smirking smugly, "I'll tell ya later." He retorted getting back at her from before.

Her face paled realising this was actually happening, and shot Kate a stressed look in the mirror making her sister send her a wonky smile of reassurance, "Oh, great." She mumbled to herself, hands fumbling to grab the straps hanging off the seat she was in.

They were getting closer to it with Tyler driving like an manic on the so called path he made, and he sped up with a loud laugh. Charlie watched him out of the corner of her eye, mentally taking a picture of how happy he looked and tried to savour it. He looked so handsome, she thought.

"We-- we don't have to drive into it!" Kate was protesting in the backseat, fumbling to buckle herself up as she gripped onto the armrest freaking out like her sister was, "It's really dangerous."

"Oh, that's why we have to drive into it." Tyler stated like it was the most simplest thing ever, and turned to briefly glance between the sisters amused at how they were reacting, "Can't miss from in there."

Charlie swore to herself, quickly grabbing onto her buckles around her when Tyler hit a huge bump off road, and the truck completely left the solid ground because of it. When they landed she grunted at the impact, and sent him a scowl that had him laughing fondly.

The truck was now driving through the grass field, one of her favorite places, and they were just about to meet the storm traveling fast over them. She peeked at Kate through the mirror, and saw her gripping on for death life, much like she was.

"Now, look this thing's rated for EF1s, okay?" He spoke up to reassure them both, tipping his head back to glance down at Charlie's figure practically glued to the seat beside him, "Bear should know this. We got extra weight on the chassis. We got anchoring down two feet. Don't worry. I'm a professional."

Her brown eyes flared up with annoyance, and snapped her head towards him, "You're an asshole, Owens." She grumbled which just made him grin at her widely, and she held onto the side of the car tightly, "Oh, shit. This is so dumb--"

Both sisters were protesting in sync, as they were getting closer to the storm but Tyler was still just reassuring them, "Uh-huh, alright." He chucked mid speech, one of his hand dropping to his thigh as he moves the truck's direction, "We got this, girls."

Soon after that they drove straight into the tornado, and Charlie's eyes go flying shut in fear, not daring to look out of the windshield even if she did love watching storms. Debris smack into the truck from all sides, making rattling noises as the truck shook a bit, but the wind wasn't strong enough to knock them away.

"Oh, god, oh, god--" Kate ranted out in panic, pressing the back of her head onto the headrest as her fingernails dug into the buckles, just as the truck was coming to a slow stop.

"Alright, slowing down." Tyler told them over the howling wind outside, coming to a complete stop. He announced his decisions as he made them, pressing the button on the gear shift, making the anchors drill into the ground, keeping them steady and locked in.

Charlie hadn't opened her eyes since they drove into the storm, and instead listened with her ears, too afraid to open them. However, she did peek out from one eye to watch Tyler flip open the guard over the newest control, that would release the latch on the barrels.

"Oh! Here she comes." He cheered looking through the windshield as the storm approaches, his finger hovering over the button until it was over them, "Now!"

In sync all the lids to the barrels were flipped open, and the polymers began to get sucked up into the vortex by the strong wind. This made Charlie yelp at the massive jolt to the car, and reach out blindy to grab something to ground herself, which happened to be Tyler's hand.

She didn't know whether it was his deep, and rich laugh that made her stomach flip, or if it was because of the tornado around her. She figured it as the latter, but wavered on that choice when she felt Tyler squeeze her hand reassuringly, his warm fingers slipping between hers against his thigh.

"Open your eyes, sweetheart," His coaxing drawl was soft through her ears, feeling his warmth embrace her hand as his rough thumb rubs soothing circles over her knuckles, "This is the best bit, I don't want you to miss it."

Charlie gulped hardly with a frown creasing her brows, before her eyes fluttered open slowly and felt him squeeze her hand once more as she watched the magnificent sight before them. She didn't even think to get her camera hanging around her neck in that moment, as she was busy gawking.

The mixture they made was spinning around inside the vortex, her brown eyes wide spotting how some of the sky got lighter a bit, as the polymers was absorbed. She was amazed by the sight indeed, and felt her heart race never feeling so alive.

A few moments later the storm moved past them, making all the sound and movement stop, and all three of them started to laugh giddly, sharing wide smiles with one another at what they just witnessed.

"Did you guys see that?" Kate asked excitedly leaning forward from the back, her buckles off since it was safe now and looked between the childhood best friends with a wide grin, "Oh, my god!"

"We saw it." Tyler agreed chuckling happily through his smile, his larger hand still holding Charlie's on his thigh and glanced at the girl who was staring outside the window in wonder still, "Uh, did it work?"

She snapped out of her daze hearing his sudden question, and blinks rapidly, "Oh, right. Uh--" She begins to unbuckle the belt around her, but fumbles with the harness making Tyler drop her hand and help her instead, "So many belts."

When she was free from the harness, she sent the male a sheepish smile causing him to playfully pinch her cheek, gaining a pained whine back. With a laugh from him, he got out of the truck, and the other two followed behind, all running after the tornado moving away.

Both sisters stood next to each other, with Charlie in between Kate and Tyler as they watched the storm. Her face dropped realising it wasn't letting up, and the tornado kept taking out the things in it's path, "I don't think it's working."

Charlie sighed sadly knowing they failed again, and leant into her sisters side, making Kate wrap an arm around he shoulders to hold her close. Tyler frowned softly watching the saddened girls, really wishing he could fix this for them which he would no matter what.

And so he stepped forward next to his girl, his green eyes trained on her figure, "Hungry?" He asked softly wanting to cheer them up, which gained looks from both sisters who turned their attention to him.

"I could eat." Charlie answered shrugging her shoulders, glancing to Kate who nodded in agreeing and took the hand Tyler held out for her with a sweet smile, making him playfully wink back at her.

A few minutes later, the trio were sitting on top of the red truck which was surprisingly comfortable she thought. They each had a sandwich that Kathy packed for them, and were munching on it as they talked with one another.

Charlie was pondering to herself while the other two talked, the girl stuck inside her thoughts as usual. There was something missing in this project of theirs, and the only thing that neither of them have changed yet was the model, which she felt like that might be the issue they were looking for.

"Uh, what if it's the model?" She spoke up interrupted the conversation, and the other two turned to look at her in the middle, "Like, what if that's the problem?" She finished, swallowing the bite of bread in her mouth.

Tyler leant back to rest his back on the truck, and pressed his shoulder against the girls, "How do we create a better one?" He asked curiously, turning his head to stare at her softly, his sandwich already finished.

The sisters shared a knowing look with one another, both thinking of their friend that neither have seen since they argument with each other. He was the only other person they could think of with the data they needed.

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ANOTHER DAY PASSED BY LIKE A CLICK OF A FINGER, AND JAVI HAD INSTANTLY CAME AFTER GETTING A PHONE CALL FROM KATE. He arrived just under a few hours after the call was made, and unfortunately he wasn't alone in the truck. He brought along his work partner, Scott, who was sat in the car waiting for the male to hurry up and finish.

Kate was the first out of their house door, and Tyler held it happen for Charlie next who playfully bowed to him making the male roll his eyes chucklingly. Both sisters walked down the porch steps together, while he stayed back to watch them from the porch in case something happened.

Javi appeared out from around the car, and Charlie tensed up a bit seeing him, her mind getting flashbacks to the painful words he yelled at her. She felt Kate's hand squeeze her arm reassuringly, and felt Tyler's gaze on her back, which calmed her down more then he could ever know.

The girls met the male in the middle of the front yard, Javi's eyes looking past them to Tyler who stood threatening on the porch. He didn't back down, a glare on his face staring Javi down knowing he hurt his girl, and didn't move from his spot.

Well, that was right until Charlie turned around also to him, and shot Tyler a soft smile of reassurance. Tyler's jaw clenched tightly, giving Javi one last warning look before glancing at the girl and then turned back around to walk into the house to keep the peace.

After he went inside fully, Javi shuffled in his spot uncomfortable and opened his mouth to talk, "Hey, uh..." He greeted glancing between the sisters, before landing on Charlie last with a guilty expression, "'bout what I said earlier, I didn't mean any of that."

"Don't worry, it's fine." She muttered quietly, hands fiddling with her necklace nervously as she glanced away from his face, and suddenly found the cows in their yard more interesting then the conversation.

He knew the better then most people did, so he could tell she was just saying that for the sake of it, "If there's anything I can say or do to make it better--" He trailed off looking between both of them, and waited for an answer.

"Give us your PAR data." Kate instantly inputted over him, one arm wrapped around her sisters comfortingly, while the other was placed on her hip, as she stared at him conflicted, "That's a start."

Javi understood, and nodded his head solemnly before turning around to walk back to the car. He headed for the back seat, fingers pulling open the door and reached inside to grab the hard drive, which clearly made Scott annoyed.

"What are you doing?" The other male questioned not impressed, pressing his elbow on the side of the door and moved his head to glance back at him, as he searched through their equipment.

Javi gave him an incredulous look like he had grown two heads, and held up the hard drive, "I'm giving this to them." He says in a flat tone, closing the door behind him with his free hand, "What does it look like?"

Scott just scoffed making Charlie roll her eyes at his poor attitude, just as Javi came back over and handed the drive to Kate, who grabbed it with a small grateful smile. But it disappeared as soon as it came, and stepped back beside her quiet sister.

"I needed money to start StormPAR. That's why I went into business with Riggs. I want to help people too, girls." He began to explain himself, voice steady but his eyes were sad as they listened to him, "I really do. I said what I said 'cause I... I carry that guilt with me, too. Every single day of my life. So, I'm sorry."

Charlie felt her eyes beginning to sting, making her squeeze the arm Kate leant her for comfort, "I know, I get it. I'm the same." She admitted in a slight voice crack, and his eyes glossed over also in response, "But, Javi, why don't you stay and help us? I need my data buddy back, it's not the same without you."

Kate nodded her head in agreement, gaze pleading looking at Javi now, "That way, we could finally solve this together." She added softly, and wanted to step forward to touch his shoulder, but instead gave him a small smile, "You know, just like old times when we we're all together."

Javi just chuckled sadly through a forced smile, knowing he couldn't leave his job behind, not after everything he's done and put into it. He gazes between his sisters figure, before landing on Kate, the girl he once loved, "You know, there was a time when I'd do anything for you, Kate. Both of you."

Charlie automatically understood what he was meaning, knowing him and her viewed each other as platonic soulmates, but her sister and Javi was a different story. She hated seeing the hurt expression on Kate's face, and it was all because of how he lost his feelings for her because of the hold Riggs and StormPAR had on him.

"Javi, let's roll." Scott called from the truck breaking the silence, and he hit the side of it with his palm to grab the male's attention as he read from the data, "We got a storm developing up near Enid. Team's waiting."

"I got to get back to work." Javi muttered once the male stopped talking, and turned back around to talk to both sisters again, another sad glint in his eyes, "The more data I get, the better for business."

They both only nodded their heads, as Kate reaches into her jeans pocket that matched her sisters, and pulled out a set of car keys to his truck, "Sorry we stole your car." She sheepishly tells him, and handed the keys over.

"It's alright." He reassured chuckling, and took the keys from her grasp now into his hands, "Look... Be careful out there." He spoke seriously now, dark eyes flickering between the girls and landed on Charlie last, "I'll see you both around."

❪ ✏️ ❫ 𝚆𝙾𝚁𝙳𝚂 : 4414
─►☆ AUTHOR'S NOTE :

been a hot minute since i updated guys my bad ive just been busy with my studies and other fics on my page also but i made time for this fic cause i love charlie and tyler so much 🥲🥲

i missed writing them so i hope you guys enjoyed this chap even though it's not as long as i wanted it to be but next chap will be out sometime soon <33