[ someone made a comment (not a mean one) so I'm just gonna address it. I do still include a lot of Tyler and Kate dialogue. It wasn't all romantic between them, and their friendship in the movie is very important to me because he is part of the reason why she's able to heal from what happened — it was a combo of him, Javi, and Tyler's crew. so I'm not gonna just write that out of the story ]
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YOU SAID YOU DIDN'T WANT ANYTHING
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ACROSS THE STREET, the rodeo was in full swing. Carolina couldn't wipe the smile off her face as she sat between Boone and Tyler in the stands. Kate was fourth wheeling and sitting next to Boone, trying not to make a comment as Tyler slung an arm around her sister's shoulder and Boone had a hand on her knee.
The rodeo clown was riling up the crowd, and Tyler took the time to tease Kate.
"You've ever seen anything like this, City Girl?" Tyler asked her, leaning around the others to see as they clapped for the show.
Kate shook her head. "You keep calling me that. You know, I grew up on a farm? Yeah. Sapulpa. Couple hours from here. This ain't my first rodeo."
"Hey," Boone said, raising an eyebrow. "That's where Carolina's from."
Carolina and Kate snickered in sync, and finally, the younger of the two broke the news. "Kate's my sister, dummy."
She giggled as Tyler and Boone looked between her and a smirking Kate, trying to connect the dots.
"That actually makes so much sense," Tyler muttered under his breath. Then he shook his head and looked at them both. "So, tell me this. What was y'all's first tornado?"
"Tell me yours," Kate shot back.
"I was eight," he told them, thinking back on it. "Driving with my aunt. Sirens were going. All the sudden, this vortex just lowers down right in the center of the road. I was just mesmerized. Then I looked at my aunt — she's got this look on her face. I realized in that moment I was supposed to be scared."
"Were you scared?" Carolina asked softly. She'd always been scared of storms but just assumed she was surrounded by three fearless people. At least Kate used to be fearless.
"Yeah. Yeah, I was," he said, nodding to her.
"Wow, the Tornado Wrangler scared of tornados," Kate said, shaking her head mockingly.
Tyler just chuckled. "Okay, Sapulpa."
Then one of the bull riders caught Tyler's eye and did that ridiculous tornado motion. Both Kate and Carolina watched in disbelief as Boone just chuckled.
"You know him?" Kate asked, unable to believe it, especially since he wasn't from Oklahoma.
"I used to compete. Got my head stomped on by one too many bulls. Thought cars might be better for my brain," he explained. Carolina knew this, but still liked hearing him talk about it. She liked learning more about why he stopped.
