Shivley: A Now United Story

Ch 46: Like No One Does

Thanks to everyone who waited for this chapter - I hope you enjoy it!

Shivani was in LA.

Yup you read that correctly. Shivani had made it to LA. Basically she went home after texting anonymous, paid for a flight ticket with the $2000 Anonymous had venmo-ed her, then she packed all of her bags and left her parents a detailed note of where she was going, then she managed to find her phone, and then she took an auto-rickshaw to the airport and now she was in LA.

That was her first time flying alone and thankfully she'd paid attention really well the first time she and her mom were going out to LA because there were so many obstacles along the way in international travel.

She'd flown on Air India so she had a direct flight, and it also meant that her phone was probably bursting with texts from her parents, but she'd blocked their numbers so that when she took her phone off of airplane mode she would only see texts from Anonymous.

At this point she had picked up her bag from baggage claim and she was unsure of what to do next. She decided to text Anonymous.

Shivani: I'm at the airport.
Anonymous: Your ride should be there soon.
Shivani: How will I recognize my ride?
Anonymous: Trust me.
Shivani: Trust you? I don't even know you.
Anonymous: That sounds like a cheesy line from some rom com.
Shivani: RIGHT...wait stop distracting me. That's not the point at all. Can you just tell me who I should be on the lookout for.

At that Anonymous stopped responding and that gave Shivani time to process what she'd just done. She had flown to a DIFFERENT country without telling anymore except this anonymous person who was texting her. Now that she thought about it, Anonymous could be a serial killer or a stalker and no one would know where she was. Also her parents were going to either murder or disown her at this point and she just hoped that they weren't too worried. Maybe she should check her texts? Just to reassure them that she was okay. She turned off airplane mode on her phone, but she was shocked to find that she had no texts at all. Well that was strange.

A voice interrupted her thoughts. Well not so much a voice as it was multiple people yelling and running towards her at full speed.

"SHIVANI! YOU'RE HERE!" Those were the last words she heard before Hina barreled into her and then several more people joined in.

"H-hi everyone!" Shivani managed when Hina and everyone finally let her go. As she looked around she saw Josh and Noah from America, Krystian from China, Hina from Japan, Sina from Germany, Joalin and Sabina from Mexico, Diarra from Senegal, Heyoon from South Korea, Sofya from Russia, Lamar from the UK, and Any from Brazil. Then she realized Bailey was also there.

"We're all in Now United!" Hina said excitedly.

It took Shivani a second to process what Hina had said and then she wondered how that was possible.

"Oh and I forgot to tell you the most important part! Josh is apparently Canadian and Joalin is Finnish so it all works out and oh my god I forgot that I was supposed to be mad at you for not texting me while you were in India. But also I missed you so it doesn't even matter!" Hina pulled Shivani in for another hug before letting her go and stepping aside. That's when Noah stepped forward and gave her a hug immediately.

"Oh." Shivani said once she pulled back from the hug.

"Oh?" Noah asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You're not mad at me?" Shivani asked.

"No of course not. I mean..." he leaned in closer to whisper, "...the last time we met we kissed so I thought I made my feelings perfectly clear."

Shivani hoped no one around them had heard what Noah said and thankfully Noah stepped back, ending the conversation right then.

The came the awkward hugs from the people she didn't really know like Josh (who she still was fangirling over and she was glad that he made it into Now United because he was so talented), then Any (who had the voice of an actual angel), then Heyoon and Joalin and Diarra and everyone until there was only one person left - Bailey.

Thankfully neither of them really knew what to do and there was an awkward wave. Shivani was just glad the hug was avoided because her heart was already beating so quickly and she couldn't imagine how she would feel if she had to hug Bailey. She couldn't explain why she reacted the way she did when she was near Bailey but she was always nervous.

Just then she heard another person yell her name. She turned and saw Shawn running towards her.

"Congratulations sweetheart! I knew you would be with us again and I know we all missed you so much especially...well let's just say someone convinced me that it would be totally normal to fly you out. He must really like you."

What? "Shawn, who are you talking about?"

She just laughed. "Girl, if I had a guy like that, I would not be single right now!"

"Shawn who are you talking about? I really don't know!"

Shawn just laughed again and waved everyone to follow her outside where Edward was waiting with a sign that said "Ms. Shivani Paliwaal."

She smiled. It reminded her of the first time she'd come to LA and Edward had been waiting for their for her mom and her. Her mom was now radio silent but was also probably going to kill her at some point.

As the piled into the car they realized there was no room for Shivani.

"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry we seem to have miscounted. Would it be okay if we sent a second car for you guys?" Shawn asked looking worried.

Shivani nodded. Then it struck her that Shawn had said "guys."

She looked back. Bailey was standing there unsure of where to look.

Great. That's just what she needed.