Shivley: A Now United Story

Ch 34: Cruise

"So..." Shivani didn't really know what to say, but saying something seemed like a better option than uncomfortable silence.

"So..." Apparently Bailey didn't know what to say either.

Maya was looking for something in her closet and when she when she found it, she slammed the closet door shut.

"OKAY!" She said loudly. She was carrying a nondescript white box  in one hand and scissors in the other hand.

"Maya what are you up to?" Bailey asked. He seemed tired.

"So this..." Maya gestured at the box, "is my fear box."

"Your fear box?" Shivani wasn't sure where Maya was going with this.

"Yes Shivani. This is my fear box. Every time I'm scared of something, I add it to my fear box and when I finally face my fear, I take it out of the box and cut it up into a million pieces."

"Wow I actually really love that!" Shivani had no idea where Maya was going with this, but that was a cool idea. Maybe Shivani should do something like that because she had so many fears. Before coming to auditions, her biggest fear had been heights, and now the list felt endless...hurting Hina, hurting Noah, disappointing her family back home, and even hurting Bailey. Shivani felt like she hadn't really gained any life experience in her sixteen years of living which is why this week felt so intense.

"Yeah yeah that's cool, but Maya why are you telling this?" Bailey was clearly impatient and Shivani couldn't blame him. Less than 24 hours ago, he'd been emotionally vulnerable, then he'd basically told Shivani how she felt, and she had to shut him out. She really wished she could just stop hurting people.

"Because...you both have the day off, I want to spend time with my older, dumber brother-"

"Hey! That's not true, you know I always get better scores on my A levels..."

"Yeah that's so not the point Bailey." She rolled her eyes and then smiled again. "Anyways as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, I also want to spend time with you Shivani and see what all the hype is about because Bailey literally won't shut up about you. I mean seriously honey you've worked some sort of spell because every call I get is about some mysterious girl from India and then I finally got him to tell me your name-"

"MAYA! She's exaggerating by the way..." Bailey said looking at Shivani. He tried to give Maya the "shut-up" look, but it wasn't working. If it wasn't so awkward, Shivani would've burst out laughing. "Can you please just get to the bloody point."

"Yes okay fine. Way to kill the vibes big bro. So I'm going to take out some of my fears for the day, you're both going to help me get through them!"

"Oh Maya I'm not sure if I can. I sort of promised Noah I would hang out with him today..."

May made a face.

"What?" Shivani wasn't sure what to make of the face. Unlike Shivani's face that conveyed every emotion she was feeling, Maya and Bailey were so hard to read.

"Nothing, I've just heard a lot about him. Invite him along."

Okay that was weird.

"Uh I don't know..."

"Come on! It'll be fun! I've heard a lot about him from Bailey so I really need to see if he's really this week American punk who thinks he's prince charming and is so desperate to get into-"

"MAYA!" This time Bailey also put a hand over her mouth.

Okay now things were even weirder. Maya clearly had no filter when it came to just about anything, but there was something so nice about knowing that Maya would always tell it like it is without pretending or hiding under some cover.