steal my thunder ✷ owens

𐚁 𝟎𝟕. 𝐚 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧

.°˖⋆ ℧ 𓃗 .°˖⋆

"STUPID!" ARIZONA SAID as she slammed her hand on the dashboard. She was infuriated with herself for letting her emotions and feelings get in the way of what she was supposed to do. "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!"

Kate looked up at Arizona from the backseat, unaware of what went wrong out in the field. She had been told to stay in the truck, even when she made it a point that she wanted to help. Kate furrowed her brows, asking, "What's wrong?"

"That stupid fuck!" Arizona exclaimed, as she tugged at her hair in frustration. She probably would have pulled all of it out if it weren't for Kate slapping her hand away. "He's such a prick and he doesn't even realize it!"

Kate looked over at Javi, who sat in the driver's seat. It would be a lie if he didn't admit that he was a little mad. Javi trusted Arizona with his life—he loved her, for crying out loud—but back there, he wasn't sure if she was the same girl he knew all those years ago.

Sure, she had been through a lot. Seeing three of your best friends die changes a person, but Javi thought that he saw the same spark, the same want to chase a tornado as he did before.

Out in the field, all he saw a girl petrified to move. He saw the same girl five years ago, who wouldn't speak a word to anyone, and just muttered, "My fault, my fault," to herself, over and over again.

Javi sighed, knowing he had no right to be mad at Arizona for not helping. When he noticed how worked up she got, he realized that she was already taking it out on herself and he didn't need to. He shook his head, silently telling Kate to not worry about it.

Arizona was about to start yelling again, her chest heaving up and down, but was cut off by that damn red truck pulling up beside them.

She watched as Tyler smiled—that stupid smile that pissed Arizona off more than anything. He stuck a finger in the air and made a circle, resembling a tornado. From next to him, Boone simply waved in respect, but that was enough to set Arizona over the edge.

When they started driving off, she jumped out of the Storm Par truck and stuck her middle finger up in the air, yelling, "Fuck you, you stupid Cowboy!"

Arizona only heard whoops and hollers in response. She groaned, getting back into the truck and taking deep breaths to calm down.

Javi and Kate were silent, not knowing what to do. They knew better than to mess with Arizona when she was mad, so they just sat there, waiting for her to make the next move.

It was quiet for a few minutes, the only sound being Arizona's heavy breaths. Eventually, she sighed, saying, "I'm sorry, y'all. I know I can be a bit of a hothead, and I don't mean to make y'all uncomfortable. It's just— Tyler thinks he knows it all and that he's so cool, but he doesn't realize that some people take this seriously. It's not some fucking joke."

Kate reached forward and rubbed Arizona's shoulder, giving a small smile. "You're okay."

Arizona smiled faintly and turned to Javi. "And I'm sorry about screwing up. I shouldn't have let past events affect me the way they did."

Javi waved her off, understandingly. "Don't sweat it, Ari. It's your first one back. We'll find another one. It's all part of the gig, right?"

"The gig...right, of course," Arizona huffed, trying to smile. She wasn't really there for the gig. She honestly didn't really know why she was there. To save people? That was her main goal.

Javi squeezed Arizona's arm. "I'm gonna go check in with Scott." He waited until Arizona nodded in approval, then got out of the truck.

For the first time, Arizona let everything sink in. She made a fist and hit the side of the truck, a soft sob managing to escape her mouth as a tear slid down her cheek.

She shouldn't have let this happen. She should have just done what Javi said to do and not let her fear of a tornado get in the way.

She used to get a lot closer to them than she did just a few minutes ago. What the hell was her problem? Suck it up.

"Suck it up," Arizona muttered to herself.

"What was that?" Kate asked, looking up from the tablet.

Arizona tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Nothing," she breathed, pretending she wasn't having a mental crisis at the moment. She faked a smile, saying, "I'm okay."

Arizona then looked straight ahead, her eyes becoming emotionless as she hastily wiped a tear off her face. "I'm okay," she repeated.