Whirlwind

Six

No, I don't ever want to know
No other shotgun rider beside me
Singing to the radio
——————

All day.

That's how long it took for me to begin processing everything that Tyler had told me and he let me process at my own pace and answered every single question that I had thrown his way without any hesitation.

After spending most of the morning parked at Millers Landing, Tyler grabbed us some snacks and drinks before filling the tank and taking us on a drive.

"Where are we going?" I finally questioned.

"To take your mind off of things," he replied, flipping his hat backwards. 

"Oh, no. I saw the way you drove the other day. I don't have a death wish," I teased, causing Tyler to look at me with a laugh.

"There are fewer places to be that are safer," Tyler laughed before turning to pull into my parents house.

Without a word, he grabbed the keys from my hand and got into James' truck, grabbing my camera and video gear before getting it all into his truck.

"We are going to go and find the most beautiful tornado that we can and you're going to get it all on camera," Tyler encouraged me as he pulled back onto the main road.

"Sky looks pretty clear to me," I replied as I looked out of my window.

"Doppler says otherwise," Tyler replied, turning the laptop so I could see it. "Want to take a ride towards Wichita?"

"I have a nagging feeling that you wouldn't let me say no," I teased with a smile.

Tyler's phone began to ring and he quickly declined the call, only to ring again.

"Girlfriend?"

"Your brother," Tyler grumbled. "I take it he isn't thrilled that you're here with me right now."

"Well, if everything you've told me is true then nope, he won't be happy I'm here."

"I have no reason to lie, you know that, right?" Tyler questioned as he glanced at me.

"Guess I'll just have to find out on my own, huh?" I flashed Tyler a half smile before looking at the doppler. "You really wanna drive up to Wichita?"

"It looks promising, does it not?"

"It does," I replied. "So is this a common thing for us to do? Chase together?"

"Once in a while, we'd make it about us and the thrill of the chase, not the science."

"Did my dad teach you?" I quickly questioned.

"He taught me some things, others I learned in school and experience."

"Is that how we met? Through him?" I asked, still curious about all of the unknown.

"Not exactly," he countered. "Your parents knew my Uncle. He died on a chase before I was born but your parents always visited my aunt on the anniversary of his death and I happened to meet them there."

"My parents always talked about him," I admitted. "They were all friends at one point."

"Yeah, well my aunt invited your family for dinner one night when I was in town a few years back and that's when you and I met. You were such firecracker," Tyler chuckled. "Some things never change though."

"Oh yeah?"

"You hated me at first," he laughed breathily. "Literally told me to go to hell within the first few minutes of meeting."

"That definitely sounds like me," I muttered with a smile. "So what made you decide to disobey my brother?"

"Because I had no intentions of telling you anything about the past— I wanted to see if things could happen organically between us again," he admitted. "But when we danced that night like used to, I just couldn't stop myself."

"That wasn't the first time?"

"Absolutely not. We would take night drives and find dirt roads to watch the sky and we'd sometimes end up dancing in the headlights with the music turned all the way up."

I blushed at the thought of Tyler being romantic enough for us to actually have gone on sweet dates.

"You loved watching for shooting stars and would stay awake all night to count how many you saw in one night."

"You're right. Some things never change," I remarked with a smile, knowing that on my first night back in Oklahoma I stayed up all night to watch the sky.

Tyler kept his eyes on the highway, occasionally glancing at me or the doppler as news came in over the radio.

"NWS says that there's going to be a pretty significant storm up there. We'd better hurry,"

As we drove, I watched the sky and from it, a tunnel that began to descend.

"It might not connect," Tyler stated, almost like he knew what I was thinking.

"It's definitely going to connect," I muttered as I watched the two ends of the tornado move towards one another.

I glanced to the doppler and watched the screen light up.

"Look at that," Tyler stated in awe as the twister connected and began to dance around a field.

"It's almost as if it's in my DNA or something," I teased. "Isn't it beautiful?"

"I bet if we skip this one, we'll find an even prettier one for you."

I grabbed my video camera and began filming as I hung out of the window.

"Tyler, we need to get off of this highway," I yelled as I climbed back in and rolled my window up. "It's shifting right towards us."

"It isn't shifting," Tyler fought back.

"Look at the field— at the wind. It's shifting now get off of this road!"

Within seconds, we hit heavy rain and then hail before Tyler slowed down and took my advice, pulling from the highway and to an off ramp before following the backroad.

"Debris," I called out and he stopped, anchoring his truck to the ground.

"Harness, Em. Now please," he instructed.

"Don't have to ask me twice."

I quickly strapped the harness on and watched Tyler in awe as we anchored down.

"Care to do the honors?" He asked as he lifted the switch guards.

"And these do what?"

"We're in it, flip the switches!"

I flipped the switches and excitedly watched out of the window, still in awe, as fireworks snaked their way up the funnel before exploding.

"How in the hell would I ever forget something like this?" I yelled in excitement.

"Hopefully you don't ever forget again."

"I hope not," I admitted, turning towards Tyler, his gaze catching mine.

"Go to dinner with me tomorrow night."

"So demanding," I teased, wrinkling my nose. "We may not even be in the same place tomorrow night."

"If there's anything I can tell you about us, it's that we always find a way, Ems."

And I wholeheartedly began to hope that was true.