𝗰𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗺𝘀﹔twisters

.O2.

The next morning, Demi was exhausted. She had woken up in the middle of the night in a panic. Nightmares of that day replayed continuously over the years, but it had been a few months since one like this had happened. Demi sat up from her bed, clutching her shirt as she hyperventilated. She was trying to calm herself down, but it was proving difficult. Soon, she pulled herself up from her bed and headed to her porch.

Demi opened the sliding doors and leaned against the railing, taking big breaths of the early morning air. It was still dark outside and there were barely any cars out. A few lights were coming from buildings too, overall it was peaceful. Even though it had been many years since she dealt with the chaos of storms, North Carolina's serenity was something she had never gotten to.

Soon, she found herself reminiscing. She remembered the fond memories of her and her friends spending wakeless nights trying to come up with genius plans for stopping tornadoes. There were the times they'd all pile into Demi's truck and spend the night driving around Oklahoma, having the time of their lives.

Demi remembered when she and Addy convinced Javi to help her get Kate and Jeb to finally be together. They spent so long tiptoeing around and trying to avoid their feelings for one another but ended up coupling up in the end. Her heart raced a little when she reminisced about the times she'd spent with Javi. The two had kissed and went out a few times, but nothing happened between each other. For the most part, Javi and Demi just enjoyed each other's company.

She sighed to herself, all those good times were in the past. Ever since most of the group passed away, she had a hard time keeping up relationships. Demi was scared that, the moment she got close to someone, they'd be gone too. Don't get her wrong, she knew that it was a bad habit and even after trying therapy for a little bit, it didn't go away. Just when she was about to head back inside and try to go back to bed, her phone rang. She headed in and saw that it was Javi calling.

Smiling, she picked the phone up, "Look who it is. What are you doing up so early? The Javi I knew from back in the day would damn near be hibernation." She joked.

"Well, good morning to you too. Didn't think you'd pick up... I just wanted- I don't know. I got back home from my plane a little while ago." Javi stammered. Like he said, he wasn't expecting her to pick up. After Demi declined, he got back on the soonest plane back home so he could figure something out.

"Damn, I wish I hadn't sped off like that. We could've caught up or something" She said, feeling a bit guilty. Demi was already tense from the race, and then she had to deal with reporters and cameras, and when he asked her for help, it made her snap at him a little bit.

"It's all good Demi. I mean, now that you're helping out, you'll get to see me again anyways, don't worry." He reassured.

Just like no time had passed, Javi and Demi caught up and spent time talking and joking on the phone til the sun came up. Demi missed this, she missed getting to be so carefree and enjoy her time with someone she cared about. Eventually, they parted ways and started to get things set up. Then, they got Kate in on the mix and before they knew it, the girls had gotten themselves flown out back home to Oklahoma. 

━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━

After picking the two girls up, Javi drove over to catch up with his team. As they drove through the Oklahoma scenery, they approached an underpass. The two girls stared at it as memories flashed in their minds. Sensing the tension in the air, Javi spoke up.

"Not gonna lie, I thought you guys wouldn't come," He said, trying to lighten the mood. 'Nice upgrade from the old van, right?" He joked. Javi wasn't wrong though, the truck he drove now was a lot nicer and it was decked out with fancy gadgets.