(Tyler Owens x reader) Love In Oklahoma

07 | Goodbye for now

A/n: Hi all! Here's a bit of a shorter one. I'm hoping to have the next one out by Sunday night, fingers crossed 🤞

Word count- 1153 words

Enjoy~

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     The next morning, as you had predicted, Chelsey wanted to know the full details of what happened to you the day prior. You told her everything, starting from when you left her to go out and warn people about the storm rolling up, all the way up to when you waved goodbye to Tyler before entering the building.

     She made sure to tease you about the shirt you were wearing, but also said it was cute that you were wearing "his shirt". You argued that it was indeed, not his shirt, it was just some merch that he gave you, but she wouldn't let it go.

     Through the week, you continued to wear that shirt nearly every night. Not only was it large and comfortable, which was how you liked your sleeping shirts to be, it also briefly smelled like the inside of Tyler's truck. 

     During that time, you did not see or hear from Tyler, other than one text he shot you saying that he was out in Arkansas for a wave of multiple storms that looked promising for tornadoes.

     Through the week, you kept checking the weather. If it looked like it was bad, and you had some free time, you would pop on YouTube to see if they were live. One of those times, they were, and you watched the group of Wranglers happily make their way alongside a twister. It seemed like they were having a great time.

     The start of the third week of June, Aileen told you that you would be out of town by Sunday night. Even though you knew you were ahead of schedule, you still thought you would be here a bit longer. You hoped that even though you would no longer be in a town Tyler lived in, that you would still get the chance to see him.

     You wrestled with the thought of texting him about the move, not sure if that was a weird thing to do or not, but ultimately, you decided to, telling him you were leaving Sunday, and that you hoped he was having a good time out in Arkansas.

     You kept checking the weather, and realized storms were still coming in until Friday evening, which made you worried that the Tornado Wranglers wouldn't be back in town in time for you to say goodbye.

     Saturday evening rolled by. Mostly everything had already been packed up. It seemed like it would be a breeze—not rushed, not last minute—you might even be able to leave early. The drive was only a few hours up the road, but it would still be nice to get there and unpack before it got too late.

     One of the last things to do was tidy the building that you were all living in. Most of it would be stuff that you would do right before you leave, such as cleaning the kitchen and moving your personal belongings out of the rooms. Right now, you were busy moving boxes. It felt like you were always moving boxes.

     Because of carrying so many boxes, you were getting really good at carrying a bunch of them at the same time. Your goal was to always do the least amount of trips you possibly could. Now, you carried three boxes, the top one blocking your sight, so you didn't even know Tyler had entered the room until he spoke.

   "Need some help?"

     His voice startled you because you had thought that you were alone in this room, but also because you were definitely not expecting Tyler to be here, or all people. You tripped, and the boxes of supplies came crashing onto the floor, the top one spilling its contents everywhere. Luckily, it was just some kids coloring supplies, not something breakable. 

    "Woah, sorry. I didn't mean to spook you. Are you okay?"

     You had landed on your stomach, and sat up onto your knees to look at Tyler. He wasn't wearing a cowboy hat, but instead, a backwards baseball cap. He also wasn't wearing the rest of his normal ensemble, instead, wearing a plain white tee shirt and jeans. His eyes were also tired, looking puffy and with darker circles under them than you were used to. You guessed that he had just gotten back.

     Still, as tired as he looked, he was mighty attractive.

    "I'm fine. How was the storm chasing?"

    "It was good. We got to see four of them and saw some old friends and family too."

    "You look exhausted."

     He smiled and rubbed one of his eyes. "That bad, huh?"

    "You should be getting back to rest. Are the rest of them here or at home or?"

    "I dropped them off and came over. Just wanted to say bye before you headed up to Stillwater."

    Your heart leapt at the sentiment.

    "Thank you, Tyler. I appreciate it."

    You began to clean up the mess of supplies, and he got down onto the floor to help you.

    "How are you doing? Your eye looks better."

    "You were right. I ended up with an awful black eye. It looked like I got punched. My leg is healing nicely, but I've hit the phase where it gets really itchy."

    "No concussion or anything?"

    "No I don't think so. I felt fine."

    "Good." He paused. "I was worried when I saw you lying there."

    You tried to ignore that this meant he cared.

    "I know, but thank goodness I was there or else that kid might not have made it somewhere safely."

    "Right." He put the last of the art supplies into the box. You closed the flaps shut, folding them over and under one other so they could hold shut on their own. "He was lucky."

     Tyler stood up and held his hand out to you. You gratefully took it, and he helped you up. "I know we were kidding around a bit when we got back here the other day, but really, the offer to chase again stands."

    "I know. Thank you. Maybe it'll storm up there soon."

    "Yeah, maybe." Tyler paused again. "I'll let you get back to packing, I'm sure you have a lot left."

    Mostly everything was done already, so really, you didn't. But you looked at the dark circles under Tyler's eyes, and didn't have the heart to keep him from getting home and getting some much-needed rest.

    "We're getting there," You said. "Rest up, okay?"

    "Will do. Good luck up in Stillwater."

    "Thank you."

    "Bye, (y/n)."

    "Bye, Tyler."

     He gave a brief smile before walking out of the room.

     You knew this wasn't goodbye—it couldn't be... right?

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A/n: Like I said, that was bit of a shorter once. See ya by Sunday night 🤞

~ B