Chapter 1
Alexander McLean....27 years old, was standing in the middle of a dirt road in Oklahoma. It had been part of his life for as long as he could remember. His brown hair stood up on end, blonde at the top. Adjusting his sunglasses over his eyes, he kicked at a small pebble in front of him. He had been waiting for at least a half hour while his partner took the truck, getting some gas while the rest of the team milled about nearby. Papers fluttered in the breeze as Alex walked over to look at a data printout. He grinned at the readout.
"Looks like a good day today. The sky is talking already, look at those cloud tops." he said, nudging Nick in the arm. Nick, one of his closest friends in the team was 26.
"Dude, if this storm develops more....that would be so sweet. Remember that F2 we had the other day? That one was awesome." Nick grinned.
"You got hit by a 2x4 wooden plank, I don't think that's something to brag about." Alex laughed, pointing at the gauze on Nick's forehead.
"Ah, its all right...just five stitches. I got some nice pictures before I got knocked out cold. That thing go so close I could feel the truck being pulled into the suck zone." Nick giggled. Alex shook his head at him and walked away, stuffing his hands into his pockets. She was always late....always. Looking up at the sky...he saw the thunderstorm developing quite far from where the set of trucks and vans were positioned in the field. Lightning crackled loudly but he loved every minute of it, nothing best the sound of nature. The red pickup pulled in sideways, the tires squealing.
"About time you showed up." Alex growled as the truck skidded to a halt just inches from Nick's laptop propped up on the haystack nearby. A tall blonde woman stepped out, her white tank top dotted with grass stains and dust.
"Bullshit, freak show. I had a fucking flat tire about a half mile down the road." she snapped, She wore denim capri pants and sneakers that were so worn out that a hole formed in them and you could see her big toe sticking out. She didn't seem like she cared about her appearance, her wavy blonde hair hung loosely in her face. Alex smirked at her as she slammed the door to his truck...the one he had let her borrow. Brandy was not like other women he had met....she cursed and drank beer, arm wrestled and watched football.
"Brandy...you're a fine girl..." Nick sang softly as she walked by.
"I heard that." she snapped, her hand hitting him across the head. Nick always said he would be the first to have Brandy to himself, he was the type to bang first and ask questions later. Nick ate, drank, and slept sex....he was at that age where he didn't care what he did as long as he got laid once or twice a week. Fortunately, this had been a busy week for storms. The dry line spread over most of eastern Oklahoma and there was a line of thunderstorms developing, all of them knew it was not going to be a quiet day.
"She totally wants me." Nick snickered as Brandy took the readout that Alex was looking at a few moments ago and began to study it.
"Yeah, good luck with that. She's got daggers for you from what Brian said."
"Okay so I cheated on her, can we let that one go? I said I was sorry!" Nick said, throwing his hands up in the air, The wind picked up and blew his hair into his eyes.
"Nick, cheating constitutes that you were in a relationship. She finally agreed to go on a date with you, but you picked up a girl on the way there and had sex in the parking lot of the diner." Alex teased, playfully hitting him. The sky was slowly going dark and menacing, he knew they would have to move soon.
"All right, fair enough. You don't know what you're missing. College girls are the best." Nick smirked, sighing.
"Let's move, let's move!!! They issued a warning!" Brandy shouted as she ran past them, hopping into Alex's truck. Nick grabbed his laptop and paperwork, before jumping into his van. The van was painted with a large tornado on the side, clearly his own artwork. Alex knew Nick was talented at art...he often wondered why he was in the storm chasing field. He was glad to have him along as the cars pulled out of the field and raced down the road towards the storm, it was definitely going to be an interesting day.
Story Notes:
This story is loosely based on Twister but I hope to put a different "spin" (no pun intended) on it. This is also the first story I have written with AJ as my main character so I hope you like it!
