Soulmates ✓

03 | Under The Moonlight

Shay couldn't sleep that night. The weight of newfound emotions was too heavy on her mind. She stared at the faded glow worms on her bedroom ceiling for hours and drifted back to the confrontation with Aarav. Shay was losing her mind over her best friend, after all.

As if on a cue, her phone dinged on the nightstand. She rolled to her side, picked it up, and felt her heart do a backflip when Aarav's name popped on the screen. Swallowing the excitement creeping into her heart, she opened the text message.

Aarav: I'm sorry.

He sent her just two words, but they spoke ample. Shay knew he was wallowing in guilt by now. Otherwise, he would never send her an apology. Aarav would break hearts and even burn bridges but never apologize until he was miserable enough. But somehow, those two words made her angry all over again. I'm sorry. Is that all he could say after avoiding her multiple text messages and calls? Her fingers tightened around the phone in her hand as she cursed through her gritted teeth. After taking deep breaths for a few seconds, she finally texted a reply.

Shay: Where are you?

The response came at lightning speed.

Aarav: At the dock.

Shay chewed on her bottom lip and took a peek at the clock. It was 3:00 AM. Too early for a morning walk and too late for going to bed. With Aarav's image running in her mind, falling back to sleep was out of the scenario.

Shay slid off the bed, changed into her comfy sweatpants and a hoodie, then headed out. With her father out of town for a legal proceeding and her mom pulling a night shift at the office, she didn't have to worry about them.

Her heartbeat picked up an uneven rhythm as she descended the stairs, stepped out through the back door of her house quietly, and walked over to the Tripathi Villa. She paused abruptly at the mouth of the cobbled pathway that led towards the dock, but proceeded anyway.

The cool breeze brushed her cheeks and streamed through her loose strands as she reached the waterfront. She spotted Aarav lying on the worn wooden surface of the dock, with his hands under his head, facing the silver glittery sky and a bottle of Jack beside him. She veered towards him, stepping into his line of sight, and looked down at him. Her hands turned slick with sweat as his midnight black eyes blinked, landing on her from the starry sky.

"You should be sleeping," Aarav said in his deep liquor-induced voice, a ghost of a smile appearing on his lips. He pulled himself into a sitting position and watched Shay with curious eyes. She settled beside him without an answer. Their shoulders brushed as he lifted the bottle of Jack to his lips. He took a long sip, then handed it to her.

Aarav released a low laugh as her face twisted with the smell of the liquor. If her father found them drinking at the Tripathi dock, it would mean never hanging out with the twins again. Thank god, he was out of town. Shay needed the liquid courage in case they were to talk about their feelings for each other.

"Cheers to underage drinking!" She smiled, taking a confident swig from the bottle. The burning effect of whiskey rolling through her throat made her choke. As she started rasping and coughing, Aarav took the bottle from her hand and reached to his other side for a bottle of water.

"I should've warned you," Aarav murmured, brushing away a strand of hair from her forehead and tucking it behind her ear. His fingertips were warm as the summer breeze but electrified every cell of her body. The butterflies were new, and so were the sparks shooting through her veins. She shouldn't feel that way for the boy who had been with her all her life. They had seen each other through their best and their worst.

Shay startled at the sudden effect of their proximity, gulping down a mouthful of water. Her heart pounded in her chest when his fingers remained entangled in her hair, twirling them and gazing down at her face, then her throat, tracing the movement as she drank.