Shivley: A Now United Story

Ch 32: Wake Up

Somehow Shivani had made it through the night. At the time pulling an all nighter seemed like a great idea and Shivani felt weirdly awake, but as soon as she stood up she felt wobbly.

Noah reached out to steady her. "Woah there. You okay?"

She nodded. "I think...I think I'm going to be a little bit delirious today."

He laughed. "Honestly same."

They both stood there for a second unsure of what to do next. It was now 8am.

"As much as I hate leaving you, and I'll stay if you want me to, I think that I should go back to my room so you can talk to him when he wakes up." Noah nodded his head towards the open hotel room where Bailey was still sleeping.

Shivani nodded. "I think you're right."

Noah pulled her in for a quick hug. "Call me if you need me okay?"

She nodded when he pulled back and they smiled at each other. 

As he walked towards his room, Noah yelled down the hallway. "Just so you know, you're going to stop having such a beautiful smile because you're making it so difficult for me to walk away right now."

Shivani laughed. "Oh stop it!"

"What? It's true." He laughed and turned the corner. Shivani took a deep breath in and walked into the room. She was surprised to see that Bailey was sitting upright in bed. Shirtless. Oh.

When he saw Shivani he looked relieved. "Hey. I thought you left because of what I told you last night."

She shook her head. "If anything that made me actually not hate you!"

He laughed. "You really hated me that much?"

"Hmm well let's see shall we? You slammed the door into me the first time we met-"

"I thought I was flirting!"

"FLIRTING? Are you serious? Fun fact, hitting the person you like with a door is not the move. Not that you liked me or anything, but just saying."

He laughed. "But then I could swoop in and help you and be all princely. Don't girls love that?" He winked clearly kidding, but Shivani had to respond.

"Oh yes girls love when misogynistic guys remind them of the patriarchy! It works like a charm every day."

"See when you put it that way...I see the issue. Interesting. Okay now back to what you thought about me and how much of a jackass you thought I was!"

"I never called you...that word. I just said I disliked you. Strongly."

"That word? Wait Shivani," Bailey started laughing, "you don't swear do you?"

"I mean...nothing against it, but like why swear when you could also just not?"

Bailey thought about it for a second. "Point taken. Okay so back to your impression of me when you disliked me. Tell me about it."

Shivani took a seat on Bailey's couch. "Okay so first you assaulted me with the door. Then you were like 'oh don't make me partners with the other girl.' Like hello? The other girl. That was rude."

"Yeah...well honestly? If I had been partnered with you, there was no way that I wouldn't cave eventually." His voice was softer now. 

"Can I ask you something?" Shivani said quietly.

He nodded. 

"Why did you kiss me that day? After I was supposed to help you be a good guy for Joalin...why did you kiss me?"