[ a note on ages : I started this before Tyler's age was confirmed 28. Glen Powell cannot pass for a twenty-eight year old, coming from someone in their twenties. so, I'm keeping him in his thirties in this fic bc I am a slut for an age gap ]
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[ COMING SOON ]
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CAROLINA CARTER was studying meteorology at the University of Oklahoma in undergrad, following in her big sister's footsteps — even though Kate never finished grad school. The nineteen-year-old, who was fairly timid and shy right up until she was faced with a whirlwind storm, was the top of her class, always studying away.
But her favorite place of study wasn't exactly the library. No, there was a bar just a block away from campus called 'Milton's' that one of her older classmates introduced to her. How did she get in, you asked? Well, she had a stellar fake ID — except at this point, the bouncer, Tony, was fairly certain it was fake. Especially given that she never actually ordered alcohol. She stuck to Cokes and Sprite with cherry syrup in it.
Drinking and studying wasn't exactly a good mix, after all.
But Tony figured there was no harm at this point in letting her in.
She just liked the atmosphere of Milton's. There was karaoke on Tuesdays and line dancing on Thursdays. They kept football games playing constantly and had tater tots on the menu. And it was across the street from a motel, so the most interesting kinds of people from all over came inside, often giving her and her friends good stories to bring home.
Carolina wasn't with those friends now. No, she was studying for an climatology final, which was her hardest class at the moment as she sipped on a coke, wholly unaware of the group of five storm chasers that just walked into the joint, already laughing it up after a day of chasing and filming. The Luke Bryan song playing drowned out their laughter and helped her focus.
They were making their way to the heart of Oklahoma, where an outbreak of tornados was beginning to tear up the land. Predictions were expecting the conditions to worsen and worsen over the coming weeks. And they'd be meeting a stuffy reporter from England once they got there who would be doing an article on them and American storm chasing.
The group crammed into a corner booth, Tyler Owens getting a round of beers for everyone before sliding into a seat next to Boone, throwing his arm over the shorter man's shoulder. And his eyes skimmed the bar that looked like every other southern bar he'd ever been in. There was even a dance floor that was full of smiling and laughing people. It put a smile on his face, him feeling right at home.
For a good hour, the crew that was more like a family than anything just chatted and messed around, throwing back beers, knowing it was fine since they wouldn't have to drive to their motel across the street.
"Hey, Sally," Tyler called to their waitress, having learned her name as he always did with servers. The waitress was passing by, on the way to another table with what seemed to be a rum and Coke in her hand. She stopped to glance at him. "Get another round, please."
"You got it. Just let me drop this off to Care," she said, nodding toward the customer who must've been a regular to be on a first name basis.
Tyler nodded and went back to listening to Dexter, who was going on about how impressive the last storm in Arkansas was. But it was Boone who innocently followed Sally with his eyes, taking in the atmosphere of the bar. Only for him to see her set the drink in front of a young and beautiful girl who was crouched over a textbook, her frizzy, blonde hair half pulled up.
Boone couldn't help but smile, thinking she was something real nice to look at. And it was terribly cute how she had a pink highlighter between her lips while she held a mechanical pencil in her hand. Clearly, she was studying hard. And Boone was itching to stop her from doing so.
Little did he know, as he stared, Lily was trying to get his attention and failing. So, Tyler followed his line of sight and then smirked, realizing why he was so distracted.
"Boone's got his eyes on somethin' pretty," Tyler said teasingly. Then he sipped his beer, actually appraising the young girl. He raised an impressed eyebrow. "Somethin' real pretty."
Dani groaned, knowing what was coming. No, Boone and Tyler weren't the type to bring girls home from bars. But the boys who had a habit of fooling around with each other when they got too drunk also had the exact same type when it came to girls. And so she knew the poor girl who was just trying to study was going to be the object of their annoying attention all night.
"Come on," Lily said, laughing a little. "She's studying. Probably goes to the college down the street."
"Yeah, it's April. That means finals are coming up," Dexter said, pushing his glasses up.
"We're just gone see if she wants to dance," Tyler said with a grin, Boone already scooting out of the booth.
"She can't dance with you both at the same time," Dani reminded them.
Boone and Tyler shared little grins before the shorter of the two replied, mischief shining in his eyes. "Well, I bet we can figure out the mechanics of it if we try hard enough."
Lily rolled her eyes with a smile, watching as the two men walked off to the other side of the bar. Then she raised her beer like she was giving a toast. "Good luck to her."
Dexter nodded. "She's sure as hell gonna need it."
