𝚁𝙸𝚂𝙺 | ᴊᴀᴠɪ ʀɪᴠᴇʀᴀ

two

i caved.

a few hours later, i was on the road with javi and kate. in his truck. sitting in the passenger seat. kate was sitting in the back seat, grinning after she managed to trick me into reluctantly sitting next to javi on the drive to oklahoma.

half the drive, i sat there pouting with my airpods in, listening to mckenna grace. eventually, we went under an overpass. naturally, my muscles tensed. javi saw this and sent me a sad look. i shook my head in response and he looked away.

"i'm not gonna lie, i didn't think you two'd come." javi spoke, breaking the silence.

i wanted to say rosaliá forced me to come or else i didn't love her, but instead i smiled and kept quiet.

javi smiled back. "nice upgrade from the old van, right?"

"yeah, how are you paying for all this?" kate looked around.

"got investors, you know," javi smugly answered. "storms are getting more erratic, lot of new housing developments going up, so the developers, they want full-time weather data. so, anytime a new building goes up, i want a stormPAR radar right there letting the people know exactly what the storm's gonna do."

i nodded. "cool."

"i'm telling you, i really feel like we're gonna change the game, adaline. same to you, kate."

both of us smiled and nodded in unison.

"what?" javi asked.

kate couldn't find the words. "no, it's just, um..."

"business entrepreneur was not how i envisioned your future," i snickered. javi laughed. "and we used to feel lucky if we could get you to wear pants," i continued.

kate burst out laughing. "oh, my gosh, javi, you were horrible!"

"well, that hasn't completely changed." javi grinned.

the three of us eventually pulled up a gas station, where several other stormPAR trucks and vans were parked.

kate and i trailed slightly behind javi as he walked us over to a bunch of guys in blue and gray hats, probably ones that worked for stormPAR. "bring it in, team," he called out to get everybody's attention. "all right. you guys have all heard me talk about adaline."

he talks about me?

"how no one has better instincts. she's the smartest person i know." javi smiled at me.

i could feel my throat tightening. "well, honestly, kate deserves the credit." my voice was hoarse.

kate punched me on the arm. "stop. you were the brains of the group, ada."

"and she's extremely humble." javi laughed. "she's the best. and you will never work with a more talented team than this one."

i stared at my feet, kicking some dirt around.

"look, we got PhDs from NASA, FEMA, NOAA, NWS," javi listed, pointing some of his proud colleagues out.

"oh, you've got the whole alphabet," kate joked.

"only the best," javi shrugged. "except for scott, my partner here." some dude in sunglasses straightened his back. "he went to MIT instead of muskogee state. but, uh, he makes up for it with his beautiful, amazing personality." javi exaggerated, clapping the guy on the shoulder.

"okay," i exhaled.

"well, adaline and kate are only giving us a week, but while we have them, ooh!" javi smiled widely, walking over so that he was standing next to me. "it's gonna be the wildest tornado week you've ever seen, fellas."