HOLY SMOKES

four. proposal

Magnolia had always been a morning person. She was always up with the sun, though she no longer had her rooster to wake her up, she still got up at the same time every morning. It helped that she had a rooster crowing set as her alarm tone, which her college roommate had hated.

She sat at the diner that was just down the road from the motel, close enough to walk, with a coffee and a big stack of pancakes. She smiled as she cut them up into bite sized pieces, which she had drenched in syrup. The diner was mostly empty, there were only three other people sitting at a table in the back.

Two of the men wore white button ups, and the man that sat across from them looked like some kind of business man, though he wasn't in a suit and tie. She didn't really pay them much mind as she pulled out her phone and texted Hunter, he had been the leader of the team that had been sent out at the beginning of storm season.

The door opened and a group of people filed in, they seemed a little rowdy, especially since it was so early in the morning, but just as she glanced up, her phone buzzed with a text from Hunter. She laughed a little, which drew the attention of the rowdy group... well, it had drawn the attention of a certain cameraman.

Boone couldn't believe his eyes. There she was. Just sitting in a random diner in the middle of Oklahoma. She looked the same, her eyes were just as bright as he remembered, her hair still the color of sunshine, her lips still pink.

His heart nearly stopped.

Just as he took a step in her direction, seemingly coming to his senses, the door opened and a tall guy walked right up to her table, plopping down across from her. His heart sank, but he couldn't seem to look away as she smiled at the man that sat before her. Then she laughed at something he had said.

Surely he wasn't that funny, Boone thought miserably.

"Boone, hey-" Tyler clapped him on the back. "You good?" He watched as his best friend shook his head, then he followed his eyes to the blonde across the diner. "Oh, shit. Is that..."

"Maggie."

"I'm glad you're here," Hunter told the blonde, his smile fading a little. "It's been rough, um, I think it's getting to some of them."

"It's not easy, seeing the aftermath of a tornado." She gently rested her hand against his forearm comfortingly.

He nodded his head, placing his hand over hers, "it's bad, Maggie. These storms are tearing up the state faster than we can help. And these storm chasers," he shook his head. "Only a handful of them are worth anything."

"What'd you mean?"

"Most of them just get what they want and leave, but this one group, they help out after it hits a town. Seen 'em a few times handing out food and water, even these stupid shirts. Seems to be the only ones that actually give a damn, call themselves Tornado Wranglers."

Her brows creased and he chuckled lightly at the look on her face, "what does that even mean?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "hell if I know, but they're good people. A few of our guys said they even helped dig a cat out from under some rubble."

"That's good," she nodded as she raised her orange juice to her lips.

"You should meet them, see if they can help get the word out. They got, like, a million subscribers on YouTube, I think."

"You'll have to-"

"Maggie?"

She turned, her brows creased at the sound of her name and her eyes went wide when she saw a familiar blue-eyed cowboy, "Tyler?"

He grinned, moved towards her as she pushed herself up, "thought that was you." He wrapped his arms around her and she chuckled as she patted his back.

"It's good to see you. What are you doin' in Oklahoma?" She asked as she fell back to her heels, even in her boots, she was short next to him – always had been.

And she wanted to ask about Boone. She wanted to know if they were still best friends, and if they were, she wanted to know how Boone was. But she didn't.

"Was gonna ask you the same thing," he nudged her shoulder a little.

"Wait, hold up," Hunter pushed himself up. "You know the Tornado Wranglers?"

Her brows creased as she looked from him to Tyler, "you're the..."

"Yes, ma'am." He nodded.

"This is great!" Hunter grinned, "Maggie, they can help get the word out. We can really help a lot of people."

Tyler's brows pinched a little, "what word?"

Hunter wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his side, "Maggie, here, runs a non-profit. Helps all kinds of people and animals. And working with you could really get the word out about our tornado relief fund. We could help thousands of people."

Tyler smiled at the blonde, who had blushed a little. She was never one for praise, her cheeks always turned beet red. It made sense though, her saving the world or doing her best to. Then he smirked a little, an idea forming in that big brain of his.

"We'd love to work with y'all." He wrapped his arm around the blonde, pulling her away from Hunter, who looked less than pleased as he did so. "Why don't you come meet the rest of the crew, then we can discuss the details."

"Yeah, I'd love to." Magnolia nodded. "Thanks, Ty, this is real amazin' of you."

"You ain't seen amazin'." He winked and her brows creased but before she could ask, they neared a table where four other people sat. "Guys, this is Maggie, Maggie, this is the crew."

"Hi- Boone." She stopped when she saw him, her eyes never leaving his as he sat in the booth, and her heart beat against her ribcage just a little faster.

He pushed himself, hoping – praying – that this wasn't a dream. It wouldn't be the first time he had dreamt about running into her in the most random of places. "Hey, angel."

Tears had filled her eyes as she pulled away from Tyler, rushing towards the only boy she had ever loved. She stood on her toes, her arms around his neck as he wrapped his arms around her waist. He closed his eyes, tucking his nose into her neck and he took a deep breath.

Tyler simply smiled at the two, he was happy they had finally reconnected. After all, he'd got to watch them fall in love in the first place.

Lily and Dani shared a look of barely contained smiles and raised eyebrows. Dexter merely chuckled, "I suppose you two know each other."

But neither answered as they held onto each other. Though neither were really in any state to talk, both had tears in their eyes and lumps forming their throats. Both were a little overwhelmed. Still, neither pulled back even when her legs started to cramp a little.

Magnolia gripped at his shirt, tightening her arms around him as she tucked her face into his neck.

And Boone... he was in heaven.

He was sure he had died, that was the only explanation. He had been sucked up in a storm and his heaven was wrapped in her arms as he held her. The smell of her strawberry body wash lingering around him as he breathed her in. The silkiness of her hair as he tangled his fingers through it. How soft she felt against him.

Hunter seemed to be the only one at all bothered by the moment, his eyes narrowed a little as he stepped forward, "um, what-what's going on?"

Boone loosened his arms just a little, preparing to take a step back so he could explain who she was, but she had other plans. Her arms tightened around him, "not yet, please." Her voice was a soft whisper and he could never tell her no. So he wrapped his arms around her again, squeezing a little as he lifted her off of her feet.

"We went to school together," Tyler informed the crew as he slid into the booth beside Lily.

"Wait, that's the Maggie?" Lily asked, which made Magnolia giggle and Boone smiled at the sound as she finally loosened her hold on him. And he wanted to kiss her when she smiled up at him as the heels of her boots hit the floor again.

"Another chaser?" Dexter asked, raising an eyebrow.

She reluctantly turned away from the boy, but she stayed close and he couldn't stop himself as he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her in closer. "I'm not a chaser. Don't really like tornadoes much."

"Then why are you in Oklahoma... durin' storm season?" Dani asked curiously.

"Maggie runs a non-profit," Tyler explained. "She actually has a proposal for us. Come on, now, take a seat. You can sit next to Boone." He just grinned at the two shared a look, both blushing. Then Boone waved her forward and she slid in, smiling as he slid in beside her, his arm on the back of the seat behind her.

Hunter looked around, there wasn't anywhere for him to sit, which Magnolia noticed as well. "You can head back to the others, I'll fill y'all in in a bit."

"But, I-"

"I'm perfectly capable of handling a business meetin' on my own." She gave him a sweet smile, and he sighed but nodded before leaving. Then her eyes moved to Boone again, who had yet to look away from her. It was almost like he was afraid that if he did, she'd disappear.

"Well, what's this proposal?" Dani asked, drawing her attention away from the boy.

"Right, um... I run a non-profit, I'm sure y'all are familiar with stuff like that. Hunter filled me in a little bit about what y'all do. He's been leading the team for a few weeks now, but with the outbreak... it's getting harder to keep up."

"Where do we come in?" Boone asked, and she couldn't help but smile just at the sound of his voice.

"I hear y'all are pretty famous."

"Yes, ma'am." Tyler nodded.

"Oh, just a million subscribers," Boone added almost sheepishly.

"Just." She hummed teasingly, rolling her eyes a little. "I've got a pretty decent followin', but not a lot of people really know the effect that tornadoes have on towns and people. We raise enough, but it's the bare minimum. But with a platform like you guys have, we could reach millions of people. We could get donations to rebuild people's lives. If we could collaborate with each other, we can make a real difference."

"We're in," Boone told her.

She giggled a little, "you ain't even gonna ask everybody else?"

He sighed a little before looking around the table, "are we in?"

"Hell yeah," Lily nodded.

"It'd be a pleasure," Dexter smiled at the blonde.

"We can coordinate our socials, and if you could tag us in your posts or somethin' it could really help out a lot." Dani told her.

"Looks like we're in," Tyler grinned and they all cheered, raising their cups of orange juice, water, and apple juice as if they were making a toast. 

NOVA SPEAKS

not sure how i feel about this chapter but here it is!!

also, chapter lengths may very... while some may be short, like this one, other may be longer